Hallway redo

I spend a few days over winterbreak making over our little hallway. Of course I committed a major home makeover faux pas by not having before pictures...so here are the (almost) afters.  For the before just picture ugly dark rose colored walls, brown rubber baseboard, brass hinges and doorknobs, and 1970s original brown slab doors. The laundry door still needs another coat of primer and 2 coats of white paint. The wall color is "barely beige". It's a little lighter in real life. It's really hard to get a good shot of this hallyway.

Jagee's Bday and the annual Family Huddle Awards Ceremony

After spending Christmas in a snow free Minnesota I took the kids for a weekend in VA. We helped Jagee celebrate his 74th (74!) birthday and his Fantasy Football win (#2 for soilmen).

Cooking with Sitty and Jagee

Haircut from the expert

Alice has fallen in love with taking baths since we introduced her to them about 3 months ago. Around the time she was 16 months she started pooping in the bathtub every.single.night. Lucius would wear his goggles in order to look for poo underwater. It was a very dangerous and often dirty  job. Hence the end of bathtime and hello to shower time for the next year. Fast forward  and Alice is now potty trained. So...we were able to successfully re-introduce her to baths and she loves them! This is a picture of her taking a bath in Sitty's deep tub for the first time. She was thrilled.

Three cheers for kid's wine! Hip hip hooray!!! Lucius quickly earned the nicname Chug after this.

Sitty and Jagee opening their presents.

Sitty and Jage enjoying life.

This girls got to spend a little time together on Saturday.

The boys got to spend a lot of time together.

And for First Place in the Family Huddle it's.....a fake trophy!

And now on to the major award ceremony. For Best Season Record it's Coolguy for the win!

Soilmen!!!!! Second time winning!!!! High fives all around.

And then Miss Alice had to steal the show with her rendition of Somewhere over the rainbow and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

The guys.

Jagee making a wish after Cindy's little mishap.

Lost tooth!

About a month ago I was having a rough day and to make me feel better Lucius said that when his tooth fell out I could hide in his room with a video camera and see if the tooth fairy actually existed or not. Because, you know, that would make me happy. I guess I need to get my hiding place ready because he lost his first tooth this morning! What's the going rate for a tooth these days? I was thinking a quarter...

Final Potty update?

We've been potty training Alice for about a year now and I think she FINALLY has it during the day. She's been in underwear for the past week and doing great. She still wears a diaper at nap time (mostly dry) and bed time (nowhere near dry). Yay!!!! Maybe by next summer she'll be officially potty trained. ;)

Sentences and spookies

Lucius may not like kindergarten but he sure is learning a ton! He wrote his first sentence today... All by himself.
"look at the pond." So exciting.
His second sentence was:
"My Dad es bolt."
Translation = My Dad is bald.

hahahahaha. We're still laughing about that one.

On Wednesday Alice decided that she was finally scared of the dark. This was completely out of nowhere. I turned off her bedroom light to put her to bed and she started throwing a fit. "Put light on! It too scary! I need light on!" I gave her Lucius' old twilight turtle to sleep with and that seemed to do the trick.

Besties

Yesterday our neighbor asked Alice who her best friend was and she said "my mommy" without skipping a beat. OMG. Too sweet. Of course Tom asked her again a little while later and she gave 3 different answers, none of which were "my mommy". But she named me first so I'll take it! She's also started saying "I need my Mommy." She knows she can get me with that every time. Lots of hugs and kisses typically follow.

This morning I heard her singing to herself in her room.
"The mommies on the bus say I love you...I love you...I love you...all through the town"
The babies on the bus go waaa waaa waaa....

I asked her why the babies were crying and she said that they wanted milk.

Stats

Alice and Lucius had their wellness visits today. It's so weird how they seem to mirror our two cats, Ichabod and Tacit.

First there's Ichabod/Lucius...the big boys with strong personalities. Ichabod is currently on a diet and Lucius needs to drop to 2% milk.
Current Stats:
Height = 45 3/4 inches (75th percentile)
Weight = 51.5 lbs (90th percentile)

Then there's Tacit/Alice...the much smaller, more independent yet slightly submissive ones. Lately Alice has had to exclaim (repeatedly) "my pants fall down! my pants fall down!" while trying to hike them back up.
Current Stats:
Height = 36 1/4 inches (59th percentile)
Weight = 24 lbs. 6 oz (6th percentile)
Head = 46 1/4 cm (9th percentile). At least her head is proportionate with her weight now!

Poor Lucius had to get 5 shots. That did not go over too well. At least he's set until 11.

First day of kindergarten!

First day of kindergarten!



Wow. How quickly things changed. Lucius was over kindergarten after one week. Getting him on the bus is difficult and he repeatedly tells his teacher that he just doesn't want to be there. At least his teacher is great!






Poor Alice. She wants to ride the bus too. "When I odder I wide buth too????"

Love it. Hate it.

Alice is into loving things and hating things.

I love Ichabod. I love Tacit. I love candy. I love chocolate. I love it!

Tom picked out a shirt for her to wear: No, I don't want it. I hate it. With emphasis on the hate.


Never!!! Is another favorite. Following in her brother's borderline footsteps...

Future vegetarian?

Alice: What dat? (pointing at the pulled pork on her plate)
Tom: Pig.
Alice: Pig?
Tom: Yes.
Alice: Eat pig?
Tom: Yes.

Later on that night...

Alice: Dis pig?
Eve: No, that's a marshmallow.
Tom: We also eat cows and chickens.
Alice: Eat chicken?
Tom: Yes.
Alice: Chicken crying.
Eve: Why's the chicken crying? Because we're eating it?
Alice: yeah, chicken crying cuz eating it.

Uh oh. Alice is now very curious about her food and asks what everything is. She's a little hestitant to eat meat now.

Green Lantern

Alice and Daddy being silly

Vacay 2011

We're getting ready for a month of vacation time over here. I have no desire to pack which is why I'm actually updating the blog.

Here's some pics from a bday party that we went to a few weeks ago. It was at the Okey Doke ranch.

Waiting for some pony rides.


Lucius and Drew.




Peanut on a "Pink" Pony

White balance

I just learned something in Photoshop that I should've learned 5 years ago. White and black balance! It can make a huge difference in pictures. Man, I need a photoshop class or something.

Alice "unbalanced"


Alice "balanced"

Do you see the difference???!!!!


Here's the tutorial I used:http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/2011/02/photo-tips-with-emilie-lets-try-this.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlueCricketDesign+%28Blue+Cricket+Design%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Like father like son

Lucius broke his right elbow this morning and it took an entire day with 3 trips to 3 different doctors to figure it out. Luckily it was Tom that had to handle it and not me. ;)

Mom and Lu day

Lucius went to the dentist and has one wiggly tooth! And more importantly, no cavities. We had an entire Mommy and Me day with a trip to the diner for lunch (Lu wanted soup) and to the movie theater to see Rio. In the car Lu commented on how quiet it was without Alice saying "it's like a vacation!"....yes, Lu...now you know how me and daddy feel.

Perfect!

Alice has started saying "perfect!" when she's done something that makes her proud. She's also asking "why? why?" and "what dat?" to everything. Alice also refused to say "sorry" after her timeout the other day. I asked if she was going to sleep on the stairs the whole night and she shook her head yes. I finally squeezed a mumbled "sorry" out of her. She's definitely a full-fledged 2 year old.

Pronunciation

I love the words that Lu mispronounces...I just can't bring myself to correct him.
Mush-stache
smarsh-mellow

He's still having trouble with his L's, but he's getting there. Too bad that his name starts with an L (U-shus) and Alice has an l (ah-yis).

Alice calls phones "hellos", stars "twinkle twinkle", and clocks "tick tocks". Too cute.

Alice came very close to having her first ER visit yesterday. She was down for a nap and I was cleaning up cat puke off of our white duvet cover when I heard her start crying really hard as if she were hurt. I ran into her room and she had her hand stuck in her mouth. I thought that maybe she bit her check until I removed her hand and saw her tiny metal barette at the back of her throat.

If you're eating stop reading now.

I did the finger swipe and couldn't get it...luckily (?) that made her throw up (into my hands and I didn't get a single drop on her Tommy Hilfiger duvet cover, thank you very much). Long gross story short I managed to retrieve the barrette and put her butt back into bed for a nap. Hopefully she learned a lesson. I sure did! No more barrettes at nap time.

2011 School Pictures (Preschool)

2011 Target Pictures

The session went much better than the first time we went.