March madness

Just a few little things that are going on around here, but first did anyone else see the Davidson vs. Kansas game. I mean Congrats to Kansas, but I was really rooting for Davidson to make it to the final four, those guys just play with a lot of heart. OK moving on.

Here is Gwen, you may notice that she is wearing panties. She wants the glamor of panties but none of the responsibility, hence the diaper underneath. ( I have no idea why this is underlined)
This is a crime scene that I found this afternoon, looks like the work of a two year old to me, but you never know James could be the one that left the lids off the color wonder markers?
And why is it that you would never be able to tell that Harrison had a great bath this morning. And from the looks of his magnificent drool/spit up filled shirt I can tell you exactly what he has eaten today. I promise that I really do clean and change my children, some days you just wouldn't think so by looking at them.
Here is a few more little things that Gwen has made us laugh with in the past few days:

Harrison sneezed Gwen says "Bless you baby, bless you" in a totally serious voice.

Gwen got hurt and was crying, when I picked her up she was sobbing saying "No dads computer, dads camera." Apparently we tell her not to touch James' computer and camera a lot. She was really worried about them. The best part is that she was not even near either of them.

Feed the birds

For our playgroup on Thursday we went to feed the ducks, but it turns out that the birds were more interested in the bread than the ducks were,
for that matter Gwen was more interested in the bread than the ducks were too. I guess that the bread was mighty tasty.

what to do?

So I have offended someone. Well at least I think that I have. But the thing is I am not sure what it is that I have done, or said to change the way this person is acting around me. Now I find myself in a tricky spot, do I say something, or offer an apology? How does one go about fixing things after offending someone, when you don't even know what it is that has offended them?

letter of the day

Gwen loves the alphabet. She is singing it all the time. I like to play a little game with her when she sings it, I randomly stop singing on different letters so that she can tell me which one comes next and I have to admit that she is pretty dang good. So for Easter we got her this little alphabet set that sings the song, as well as teaches the sounds of each letter. She cracks me up because all day today the favorite letter that was played the most between all the other ones was...


The W. She even showed James what her letter said. Every letter makes a sound the W says wa. I thought for sure that her favorite would be the G. Because she says that G is for Gwen, but alas the mom is wrong again. We sure do love letters around here.

The real Easter

Ok so here we are getting ready to leave for church. Harrison thinks that James wants to play a game, and so he is laughing, but sadly it was the get strapped into the car seat game, not so fun.
Here is Gwen in her Easter dress. Honestly I was the one that wanted her to have it. I don't think that she likes it as much as I do, but she did call it the pretty dress, so that is something.
Sadly this was the only other picture that I took of Harrison that day. Poor second child.
Hunting for eggs, before anyone else was supposed to, Oh and the flowers that are behind her, she managed to de-petal before we finished, I don't think that we will be invited back.
Here are a few of the lucky egg hunters. Everyone was looking in the eggs for treats, and they all had their mouths full within seconds of finding the eggs. It is fun to see all these little kids running around laughing and screaming with each other. And so another Easter leaves us with a sugar high, and some great laughs.

friendly fun

We had a great opportunity to play the day away with Kaitlin. I know that these are not such great pictures, but they wouldn't really stop and smile for me. Congrats to Kaitlin's mom, she had a healthy baby boy, and we are so excited for them. Hooray for little brothers.

Hunting season

Today marked the first egg hunt of the season. For playgroup we met at the park and each kid brought 1/2 dozen treat filled eggs. The eggs were scattered across a soccer field and the kids were let loose. I thought that we had prepped Gwen for the hunt, but I was wrong. She ran to the first egg that she saw sat down and opened it up for an instant treat.
While all the other kids were running and gathering all across the field Gwen was eating her treat from her one egg.
Kaitlin tried to help her out, but Gwen just wanted the candy. No more, no less.
She just opened it up and dumped it on the ground so that she could see what she was eating.
In one last attempt to help her out Tyson came over to show her what you really need to do, and how many eggs he was able to get. But Gwen just tried to take his candy. I don't know where she got that little sweet tooth, but I am not fessing up to anything. Maybe she will do better on the next hunt.

party tricks

Harrison is up to some new tricks. He has been practicing them just in case we ever have company around. I know that when we were in school the sitting up trick was always a good laugh.

And who can forget the classic toe touch. I am sure that he is going to need that one when he is playing some kind of sport. I think that is one of requirements of being on the basketball team. It sure is a good thing that he is staring to practice now. Maybe by the time he is in grade school he will be able to do it standing up. I think that I need to practice touching my toes.

A beached baby whale

I know that you are all wondering what a beached baby whale looks like, well look no further. Harrison has dressed up for the occasion, to show you what it looks like when he is too full to roll all the way over. He is not a professional at this trick yet, but he has pulled it off a few times. All of which I have been too slow to grab the camera. Naturally. He is getting trickier though, he is also getting bigger, I think that I am going to need to start wearing some kind of a back brace when I hold him. Just kidding he is not that big yet, maybe next month. Check out the dimples in his elbow.
He has mastered the smile though, and we will take one of those anytime of the day, even in the wee hours of the morning. That little grin is a welcome site. I especially love it when there is a little squeak or giggle that goes along with it. I think that is the reason that people continue to have babies. The little moments that melt your heart are so worth the hard work, and the chubs are pretty fun too.

One for the books

I just wanted to say that last night Harrison woke up to eat at 1:15 am, and then he was back to sleep by 1:30 but, after that feeding he slept until 8:00 am!!! That was the longest that he has slept since he was in my belly. I just feel really good today, maybe it is because I just slept for almost seven hours straight. Wow I forgot how great sleep feels.

Salon a-la Gwen

Gwen has decided that she wants to open a salon. I thought that we better see what kind of skills she has before investing that kind of money into her interest. So she rounded up a few hair tools and did a little practicing on me. First she looked over my hair and brushed it out, and got to work.
She was a great stylist, and we can't forget to mention the fun salon gossip. She had lots to talk about. I have to say it was a fun experience, but I think that we will hold off on handing over the scissors for now. But if you are looking for someone to brush your hair for a good 10 minutes straight, then she is the girl for you.

becoming a big boy!

Sometimes it seems like from one week to the next the kids make really drastic changes in appearance, or maybe even from day to day. I feel like Harrison is making the day to day changes, and it could just be his weight, but I think that he just looks more like a little boy all the time. So I guess at this rate he might look like a man in a few weeks.

different kinds of kids

So I know that boys are different from girls, but I am still surprised each time something between Gwen and Harrison is so different. For example, Gwen was sleeping through the night in her crib by four months, Harrison not so much.

Gwen did not care for baby food, rice cereal, baby juice etc. until she was around 8-9 months. Harrison is a food animal. He is practically licking the bowl of rice cereal when I feed him.

Gwen was pretty mellow as far as attention needs as a baby...Harrison is super high maintenance.

I thought that Gwen was a chubby kid, well Harrison has out done her by a few good pounds.
I don't know what is to come, but I am sure that it is going to be interesting.

family's that function

Simone celebrated her second birthday and invited us to attend. It was at a really fun park that had lots of new toys, and swings, and all sorts of fun things, but where do you think that I found my kid playing?
In the dirt, and with sticks! And she even coaxed London and Maddie into joining in.
Then it was on to the garbage cans. Oh boy what a great beginning.
Finally we were able to get the kids all rounded up, we just had to say the word cake.
Everyone sang a little happy birthday tune...
and all the kids wanted to help Simone blow out the candles.
Then we let them eat cake, and more cake. And after we sugar 'em up we let them loose and they ran around until it was time to go, I am not sure what happened in everyone else's cars, but in ours there was not an open eye after about 15 minutes. Phew, that was exciting.

kites are for kids, or are they?

On Saturday we went with Ryan and Leslie and the twins to a kite festival.
First we had to play on the playground, until Gwen got pushed down by an older boy.
Then we played by the water, James taught her how to throw rocks into the water.
Then it was onto make kites. This was one of the little activities that they had for kids.
Here Leslie is trying to help London and Maddie fly theirs. Two kites at a time is pretty tricky.
Then James and Ryan brought in the big guns...real kites.
And they tried to fly them.
Notice who is doing the kite flying, it is not the girls, it is James and Ryan who were crazy about the kites.
James was more into trying to fly the Elmo kite than Gwen was. But we had a great time being outside and playing in the sun, breezy weather, and we can't forget the dirt! I can't speak for Leslie but when we got home and I put Gwen in the tub the water was practically black from all the dirt that she had on her. I guess that meant that she had a good time.

double take

This is me as a kid. Does this remind you of someone that you have seen before? Maybe. Maybe not? I found this picture while I was looking for another one to use, but it seems that I put it somewhere else. I actually have a picture that is almost identical to the last picture of this post of me sitting on our kitchen table the first time my mom was able to put my hair in French braids, but I guess that since the photos are basically the same it won't matter that I can't find it.
There are days when I look at Gwen and it is like I am seeing my childhood pictures come to life. Today was one of those days.
My mom used to do my hair like this, and finally I have found something that works so that Gwen is distracted long enough for me to actually do something with her wild mane.
I love to see her crazy little dances and language skills evolve. I know that she and I have a lot in common besides our stubborn streak, but I am curious to see what she will be like when she is older.
This was one of my favorite ways to have my hair done when I was younger. My mom was amazing, she had a different hairstyle for each one of her three girls everyday of the year. And her braids were always straight and even, we will have to work on that one. So this one is for you mom, does it bring back some morning routine memories or what.