Aquarium

My dad has been in town this week. I snatched up a groupon to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and we went down to Newport on Thursday. The kids did great on the drive.




Carolyn loved the touch tank. She spent a good while poking and prodding all the little animals living inside of it.


This was Blake's favorite feature. There is an exhibit with tunnels through large tanks where you can see the fish swimming all around you. They also had a plexiglass on the ground--perfect for a little guy to press his face to and watch all the action underneath. Once he got up again, he had dirt smudged on his nose from the bottom of everyone else's shoes.

Little climber

This wasn't the picture I hoped to capture. I had gone in Blake's room and found Carolyn snuggling with him in his crib. I grabbed my camera, but by the time I got back I caught Blake climbing out of his crib.

Scouts

Carolyn has tagged along with me to Scouts for the past year or so, and wants to be a cub scout so badly. Today was our last day with the boys, and she was so excited to come. We did a tool project and, by golly, there was one extra block of wood. She was in heaven spending a good 30 minutes concentrating and turning the screws down.



Anyone know anything about Girl Scouts? I am interested in it as a program for Carolyn possibly. She is a bit miffed that she can't be a cub scout, understandably so.

When Blake dresses himself...

My date tonight

While Jeremy took Carolyn to a Winterhawks hockey game, I went on a short date with this cute little man.

Snow day

Blake made his first snow ball a few weeks ago.


Carolyn worked on a snowman.

And I found out how wonderful it is to have good neighbors. We are in a townhome with no yard. I also have children who wish they could play outside all day, especially Carolyn. She begs for it, but there is only so much time I can spend outside before I need to get back to things like dinner and laundry. In this case, poor Blake was frigid. He wanted to play in the snow so much, but once we got outside, he just stood there. I needed to take him in, but Carolyn asked to stay outside. I told her she had to come in with me. Our neighbors were out playing and their pre-teen daughter offered to keep playing with Carolyn until she needed to go home herself. I agreed and took Blake in the house. This shouldn't seem like such a big deal, but Carolyn was able to play outside while I was inside. Without a yard, it is a huge deal. Also, Carolyn ate up the attention of the older girl. The best part was I know her family, and I knew she was a wonderful example for Carolyn to look up to. The only downside to this situation is they hope to move this summer. But until then...Carolyn has a little more freedom. As do I.

Elmo

I found an Elmo costume on clearance after Halloween and swooped it up for Blake's birthday. I figured he loves Elmo and $4 is a fabulous price. My great idea was a bit of a bust. He didn't want to wear the Elmo costume at all. We threw it in the dress up box and moved on with life.

But a few months later...

...and it was hard to get him to take it off again.


Aren't sisters the best? They like to jump in on Mom's picture of you and "hug" you around the neck.

Rosie Souffle

Blake amused himself in the kitchen one night, so I just let him be. After about 15 minutes I went to see what fascinated him so much. He was baking up a culinary treat!


For the video, click here.

Carolyn rebels against my parenting style

I have to admit the first part of this conversation is approximate because I tuned out after the 15th request for TV.

Carolyn: blah blah Barney blah blah Waverly Place blah

Me: no

Carolyn: blah blah pretty please blah blah blah

Me: no

Carolyn: When I have kids, I am going to tell them, "Kids, you watch TV all day!" And I am going to give them treats EVERYDAY, and sometimes for breakfast!


This marks my first foray into blogging for awhile. I apologize to the grandmas. Skype has made uploading pictures less of an immediate need. I love Skype. But there will be pictures again.

Mmm mmm good

Doesn't this look like a something chocolaty and yummy that Blake is biting into?

I had to do a double take when I saw him rip into this sucker. That's no brownie. It's a giant chunk of raisins. Ewww.

I feel like such a quitter

Before we get to why I feel like a quitter, let's have some happy memories:


My brother's house has a small putting green out back. Blake managed to get a golf ball in the hole and immediately went Happy Gilmore all over the green. "Gee-up! Gee-up!"


You see how Carolyn is so talented in pulling the flag out to empty the hole? These skills were put to good use when she told Jeremy she had killed a "beetle." She pulled up a flag, saw a bug, and proceeded to bash the living daylights out of it with the flag. Good thing. It was a scorpion. Jeremy really wants us to live close to grandparents, which sounds lovely and all, but if it involves living somewhere with scorpions, I'll pass.


Kelly and Mike came to visit for the weekend. They couldn't come without the newest member of their family, Simon-the-Siamese-Slanket. I must say it's cozier than I thought.


Carolyn loved it.



Do you see this cute boy? The one in the underwear?
He has been begging for at least a month to go on the potty. He wants underwear so badly. We've been trapped in the house since last Tuesday due to sickness. Once I thought Blake was better, Carolyn came down with it too. I figured if I was glued to the house, I would start potty training Blake. He was so excited. This picture is him ta-daing for Carolyn.

This is why I am a quitter. I don't think I can do this right now. Carolyn was so easy. Unbelievably so. I knew Blake would be harder, but I don't think I thought through everything going on right now. We started on Day 9 of not leaving the house, so my sanity was already at its breaking point. Blake has probably had one success in the last 24 hours, which doesn't sound that bad, except it's a lot of laundry, and I started to feel extraordinarily claustrophobic in my home. Every time I thought of an errand, I realized I couldn't take Blake. I couldn't count on him to recognize what his body was telling him. He can sit on the toilet forever, not do anything, then let loose everywhere two minutes later. Carolyn has gotten sicker and needs to go to the doctor this afternoon. The thought of taking Blake to the doctor was daunting. If we continue potty training, he needs all new shirts because he really owns a plethora of onesies and not so many regular shirts. When would I dare to go to the store to buy clothes? And what of groceries? We've been on the low end since the sickness started because I hate taking sick kids to the store. It's awful.
Normally I would rely on Jeremy for some relief, but he is right in the middle of a really busy time at work. So I can't even wait until Saturday to go to Costco alone. Jeremy won't be home before Costco closes. This sounds awfully whiny, and it isn't supposed to. It's just why I am taking Carolyn and Blake to Costco with me and buying more diapers.

Let's face it. Blake is really young. He is just a month over two and if he hadn't shown so much interest, I wouldn't have wanted to potty train. He's ready, but I don't think his body is. I usually ascribe to the idea that once you start, you just keep going until it sticks. But for my own already fragile sanity, we will be waiting a few more months.

Merry Christmas (a bit late)

Oh Christmas in Arizona, how I love thee.

This is how Carolyn spent her Christmas day.

Our last night there, she told me, "I don't want to go back to Portland. It's boring."

You've had a birthday, shout hurray!

Look at my teeny, tiny Blake. This was way before we knew he had red hair. That has been my favorite surprise from this little guy. I never would have thought I would have a kid with red hair, but I love it.
























I also love Skype. I know I am about 5 years late to the party. It seems like Oprah's been loving Skype forever, but we've joined the club in the last six months. It's wonderful when Grandma is across the country and can still watch Blake open his presents from her. You can also see from all the fingerprints on my computer screen how much my kids love Skype.


















Here's my cute little Elmo boy with his Elmo cake. If Blake wears his Elmo jammies, in the morning, when I tell him it's time to get dressed, he responds with, "no, ELMO!" Now, he can wear Elmo without me feeling embarrassed to take him in public.























Now, Blake is two. He has a wide vocabulary that grows with each day. Carolyn finds great joy in getting him to repeat words and phrases, luckily she's not a bad influence yet. She still finds "watermelon!" to be the best joke.

His favorite food is chicken nuggets. He loves bubble baths.

Phrases we hear most often: Awwww, man! Ma, you silly! Is that funny, Mama?

Happy Birthday, little man. We love your smile and snuggles.

Blakers

This little boy makes me smile most of the day. The times I am not smiling are when he is trying to empty my knife block, or running around with chunks of turkey in his hands that he stole out of the fridge.

He's learning songs. It took me about two weeks of him yelling "Bee-bo! Bee-bo!" at me in the car before I realized he wanted to listen to Bingo. I curse that song now. Anyway, he's added a new one to his repertoire lately. The ABCs. You can hear it, but hardly see it because of the crappy video our camera takes.

It's snacktime!

That was Carolyn's pronouncement as we headed outside to play with the dusting of snow that constitutes Oregon's impending "blizzard" I've been hearing about for the last 5 days.



















Schools closed and we can now stay home with nothing to do. Just what every mother needs with a a toddler and a preschooler.

I have the Christmas music playing because who knows if we'll get anymore snow before then, and we will settle in for cookie baking.