Halloween 2010

I just realized I never blogged about Halloween, so it will be a little out of order, but here it goes . . . Several months ago, Will decided that he wanted to be Evil Emperor Zurg from Toy Story 2 for Halloween.  Because Disney made Zurg costumes once upon a time but now they are VERY expensive on ebay, we put Nana on notice.  She made a fabulous Zurg costume to go with the headpiece I ordered and the Zurg blaster a resourceful friend found for us at the Disney Store.  Christopher's costume was much simpler, since we have had Buzz Lightyear in our costume box for awhile now.  :)

The boys had a great time Halloween weekend . . . they got dressed up to go to the library Halloween storytime with their grandparents, and then we went trick-or-treating with their cousin Caroline on Halloween.  They also loved handing out candy to "customers" like they did last year.  Sarah Kate rode along for the fun but wasn't a big fan of having her hood up for the full bee-utiful effect.  (Sorry, couldn't resist!)  And of course, scroll down for the next day when Sarah Kate found her brothers' treat bags unattended--she was a happy girl!

Boys Will Be Boys

A couple of weeks ago, I took the boys with me to buy some flowers for their aunt's birthday.  As we walked from the floral department to the front of Sam's Club, I silently admired how Christopher was carrying the wrapped bouquet so carefully, like such a big kid.

About two seconds later, he had lifted the bouquet on his shoulder and announced, "It's a flower gun!"  Without missing a beat, Will chimed in, "Fire!"  They spent the rest of the time in Sam's with Will pointing out targets, and Christopher taking them down.  Oh, well.

Sarah Kate--19 months

A slightly belated post, but I need to acknowledge another month has passed in the life of Sarah Kate!  She is becoming a toddler with a mind of her own.  She loves to play with her baby dolls and push them around the house in the stroller.  She needs a double-stroller--she sometimes has three babies piled on one little stroller!  She also is using more words like Grandma, Grandpa, Will, and Bubby (brother) more regularly.  She jabbers all day long, we just can't understand most of it!

In November, Sarah Kate joined us for a trip to Silver Dollar City and actually rode a ride!  I hadn't realized when we were there just a few weeks earlier that she could ride one of the kiddie rides.  She wasn't so sure at first, but once we started moving, she loved it!  In fact, she threw a fit when it was time to get off!  We rode it twice while we were there, and she had a great time.  She also got in on a little of the Frosty the Snowman show with Daddy after a nap in her stroller.  And of course, she got a front-row seat during the lights parade, complete with funnel cake for dinner.  It was a big day!

Sarah Kate--18 months

A year and a half old already!  I can't believe it.  Sarah Kate loves to talk and sing.  Her favorite songs are the ABC's (which she sings "dee dee dee" but with a pretty good tune), the Itsy Bitsy Spider (often requested on the changing table), and Holy, Holy, Holy.  (See video below.)  She understands a lot of language and will obey when we tell her to do something or put something back where she got it.  She answers almost every question with "no," but sometimes she'll nod her head "yes."

Sarah Kate loves to play with her kitchen and her dolls and, of course, with shoes.  She loves to climb on things and has learned to climb into the van and onto the dining room chairs (especially if her brothers leave Halloween candy where she can reach it!).  She can point to her ear, eyes, nose (usually sticking her finger into her nostril), mouth, hair, hands and feet.  (See video.)  She can often been found wandering around the house with her toothbrush and toothpaste, waiting for someone to brush her teeth!  Such a silly girl!

Sarah Kate--17 months

Sarah Kate is definitely out of the baby stage and into the toddler stage!  She seems so grown up, jabbering and staying busy all day long.  She loves to play with her plastic tea set and take care of her babies.  She loves to sit in her big brothers' chairs and ride their plasma cars.  She's learned to use a spoon pretty well.  And she's using several words:  Mommy, Daddy, bubbas (brothers), pees (please or can also mean cheese if she sees a camera), dah pees (down, please), baby, shoes, hi, bye-bye, no, dah dah (all done).

She also loves books . . . she will sit and look at them herself for quite awhile, and if you are willing to read to her, that could never end!  She definitely has a few favorite books that she brings to me over and over again.  Like this one . . .

and this one . . .

and of course, this one . . .

Sarah Kate continues to be very interested in shoes and clothes.  She loves to wear shoes, and even managed to convince two different grandparents to put her shoes on with her pajamas!  In fact, "shoes" is one of the few words she loves to say.  A couple of weeks ago, she was having reading time in her crib, and when I went in to get her, this is what I found:

If she could only get her arms out of her sleeves, she would have been completely undressed!

Thankfully, after a couple of months of sheer rebellion, Sarah Kate has realized that if she will just say "please," we will clap and cheer and give her whatever we want.  So our little girl is finally getting some manners!  My favorite is when she sweetly says, "down, please!" when I'm holding her.  (Of course, even better is when I'm holding her and she hugs my neck tightly and lays her head on my shoulder.  She is such a snuggler!)

We can't wait to find out all that Sarah Kate wants us to know!  All day long, she says, "Mama?" followed by a string of gibberish.  You can definitely tell that much of the gibberish is the same set of "words," but we haven't been able to decipher much yet.  When she babbles on and on and on at the the dinner table, Noel gets a little concerns and asks, "This talking thing is just a phase, right?" He's learning what life is like with a little girl!  She's got a lot to tell us!

Go Hogs Go!

In honor of the Hogs' new football season, a flashback to three years ago . . . wow, they've grown so much!

First day--First grade!

Christopher started 1st grade last week.  He was sick for the first day of school, and he was so devastated!  But he was able to make it for the second day of school.  His teacher is fabulous, and he is enjoying all his subjects.  He also liked the upgrade from kindergarten:  no rest time!  And the most exciting thing about the first day of first grade?

"Mom!  At math, she had a light, and it shone a clear math worksheet on the WALL."

Yep, the overhead projector.

Here's pictures from our "first" day of school:

Sarah Kate--16 months

This has been an eventful month for Sarah Kate.  Two days after I blogged about her lack of interest in walking, she decided to start walking across the room!  (See video below.)  While we were on vacation in Kansas City, she started to transition from crawling more to walking more.  And by the time she turned 16 months, she had abandoned crawling all together.  She's a great walker now! 

This month she also went with us on our family vacation to Great Wolf Lodge.  She had a blast playing in the pool and water fountains.  It was so fun to watch her joy!  We also enjoyed a visit from Aunt Amanda and 9-month-old Asher this month.  Sarah Kate loved "baby!"  That is, until I started holding him.  The two littlest cousins had a great time playing together when Sarah Kate wasn't bopping Asher on the head.  

She has also been busy cutting one-year molars (still missing other teeth in between) and eating everything in sight.  She has gone from eating almost nothing to clearing her high-chair tray once or twice (or three times!) a meal.  Such a big girl!  

Sarah Kate has finally gotten to the point where she doesn't want me to leave and cries.  But I've been told she gets over it quickly.  She gets SO excited when Daddy gets home from work and wants to give him kisses.  She also loves to hug and kiss on her brothers.  We all love hugs from Sarah Kate!  

Below are videos of Sarah Kate's first big day of walking, Sarah Kate riding on her brother's plasma car, and some photos of her with her cousin Asher and brothers.  

Great Wolf Lodge 2010

We took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City again this year, and it was a big hit!  I think it was even more fun anticipating the trip since we already knew how much fun we would have.  We gave the kids clues from The Mysterious Monday Messenger for a few weeks before the trip and so they got to figure out what we were doing:

When the big day finally arrived, the boys were SO excited.  We got to Great Wolf Lodge on Tuesday afternoon and went immediately to the indoor water park.  We played all afternoon, then got settled in our room and went to dinner at Ted's Montana Grill.  Yum!  By dinnertime, Grandma and Grandpa had arrived.  We were so thankful to have them there.  Vacationing with a 4:3 adult to child ratio is definitely the way to go!  

Grandpa and the boys at story time:  

On Wednesday, Grandpa and Noel took the boys to play miniature golf and go explore at Cabela's.  We had lunch at the much-anticipated T-Rex Cafe.  I was worried that Sarah Kate might be scared of the dinos this year, but she was fine.  We also discovered a travel tip:  if you are a GWL guest, you can do the digging activities at T-Rex Cafe for just 99 cents.  Hooray for a bargain!  (Ok, let's be honest.  Nothing about T-Rex is a bargain, but it sure is fun!) 

We spent the afternoon at the water park, and then ate a quick dinner at Culver's.  That evening at story time, Will became a little obsessed with Violet the Wolf.  The kids scream to wake up Violet from her nap, and she comes out to say hello.  (Will wanted nothing to do with actually saying hello to Violet, but Christopher waited in line to see her every night.)  Will just had to know where Violet was sleeping.  So we asked one of the GWL staff, and she pointed down a hallway and said it was in a room that way.  Will wanted to know if he could go in and see Violet's bed.  Uh, no.  So plans for a stake-out were hatched . . . 

On Thursday, we went to the water park for the morning, and dined at Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch.  That afternoon, we went to the Cub Club at GWL, where the kids decorated some over-priced t-shirts.  They also had puppets, toys, and a video playing.  The boys didn't want to leave!  That evening, my parents let Noel and I go on a date while they fed the kids and went to story time.  This time, when it was time to wake up Violet, Will went down the hallway so he could see which room she came out of.  Mission accomplished!  

Friday morning, we went to the water park one last time before check-out.  We also had to make one last stop at Cub Club to play with the toys.  After lunch at IHOP, we headed for home.  

It was fun to see how the kids reacted to the trip differently this year than last year.  Christopher was Mr. Independent and wanted to not only ride everything in sight, but to ride it by himself.  Will is still pretty cautious and didn't want anything to do with the water slides.  He spent most of his time dog-paddling around the pool or floating on the lazy river.  Sarah Kate never made it out of the stroller last year, but this year she was toddling around the shallow areas and fountains, having a blast.  She was not afraid to get her face wet or have water pour all over her head.  I'm so thankful we got to take this trip again!  

Monkey Prayers

Yesterday Will said he wished he were a monkey.  This seems to go along well with his career goal of being a bear.  This morning at breakfast, this was his prayer:

Thank you, God, thank you for this food.  And please let us be a monkey.  Amen. 

Nothing like takin' it to the Lord in prayer.

Straw Skills

Yesterday Sarah Kate wanted one of her brother's drinks (Orange Crush), so I let her try to drink from the straw.  It took several tries, but finally I could see the orange liquid make it all the way to her mouth.  It was her first taste of anything other than water, diluted juice or milk, and she wasn't sure what to think!  She made a face and didn't want more immediately.  But she had figured out that straw pretty well.  Good job, Sarah Kate!

Sarah Kate--15 months

Sarah Kate is getting to be such a big girl! Is it possible we're starting the terrible twos already? That girl has some OPINIONS. She answers most questions with "no," although she does answer "yes" occasionally. She wants to eat whatever we're eating, and she lets us know by leaning toward the desired object, opening her mouth wide and saying "Ahhh!" She also does this when she sees me with a drink or sees any toothbrush. :)

One sweet new skill this month is giving kisses, complete with the sound effect, which she pronounces "mmm-NA!" When Daddy came home from work today, she said "hi! hi! hi!" over and over again, until she saw him kiss me, and then she said, "mmm-NA!"

Sarah Kate is slowly becoming more of a walker. She's taken up to 10 steps at a time by herself, and she loves to walk all over the house if she can just borrow one finger from someone else. Most of her walking has been done when she thinks no one is watching. If you try to get her to walk for you, forget it! So we might not have video of this feat for awhile.

She's also started using a fork, primarily because the other day she brought a little plastic fork from the toy tea set to lunch with her, and I noticed she was successfully stabbing banana slices and getting them to her mouth.  So I gave her an actual baby fork,  and she did great!

Sarah Kate has learned where her nose is but can't seem to remember any other body part. And while learning about her nose, she has discovered it has these two nifty holes in it that are just the right size for her finger. She spends a lot of time at the dinner table with a finger in her nose, just checking it out.

Will's new bike!

Last Sunday we got Will his first bike.  He's doing awesome with it already!  We're so proud of you, Will--you are such a big boy!

Sarah Kate--14 months

Sarah Kate continues to make us laugh with her babbling, squealing (must be a girl thing!), and laughing.  She is starting to do more pretend play with kitchen toys and dolls.  (While we're on the subject, she loves dolls!)  She loves to say "hi!" and points to things all day long saying "those?" and wanting me to either tell her what it is and/or give it to her so she can put it in her mouth.  She continues her obsession with shoes and often tries to get my shoes on her feet, which is an improvement over putting them in her mouth!

Sarah Kate loves books and will sit on my lap through however many books I have time to read.  Today she kept turning back to the front of "Peekaboo Kisses" several times until I finally put it away!  She has gotten really good at her upright crawl and shows very infrequent interest in walking.  She also went to the pool for the first time this past month.  She loves splashing in the water!  In fact, she gets upset if I'm holding her in the pool and she can't reach the water.

Here are some photos and videos from this month . . .

This one gets a little slow in the middle, but it's funny again at the end:

Baseball 2010

Christopher had a blast playing baseball this year.  We were blessed with fabulous coaches, and they were so encouraging to Christopher (despite a definite lack of natural ability).  At his age, they get three pitches from the coach, and then they get to try to hit it off the tee.  Midway through the season, I tried my best to talk Christopher out of his desire to play baseball next year, when the tee is absent.  He just wasn't hitting it from the coach at all.  Well, in his last game, he proved me wrong--he hit it with the coach pitching TWICE!  The last hit was a strong drive inside the third base line.  I was so proud of him!  He definitely earned the right to play again next year if he decides he wants to.  Here's some videos of photos of Christopher in action.

Last big hit:



Sliding into home:



Hitting off the tee, with his "fake-'em-out" strategy: