Cranky Pants

Despite what this picture conveys, we actually had a really good day today. I happened to catch both kids in a tiny cranky moment that quickly passed.

Owen has started to crawl! Or bunny hop, really, but he's getting around. He gets his knees tucked under him, moves his hands forward, and then bounces the knees back up again. So cute! He takes a nose dive often when he hops forward a little to forcefully, but he's really starting to move. Ultimately, he would really like to be walking and sometimes thinks he can. He would much prefer to be standing up either holding our hands or onto the edge of something than any other activity (besides eating). Then he's moving around the edges or wanting to be walked somewhere. He tends to let go a lot, forgetting that he's only got the balance of a 9-month old. Sophie's running around all over the place, so why shouldn't he? I'm sure he'll be chasing her in no time. Then we may have more frequent, not so fleeting, cranky pants moments to look forward to.

The Deer Store

This past weekend we all headed out to Black Grandma & Grandpa's for a little visit. Greg and I got to get away for most of Saturday to go on his birthday date while the grandparents watched the kids. Greg and I had a great time by ourselves (in a mall & theater full of people) and it sounds like the kids had fun too.
On Sunday we visited a huge "deer store" in the area. A "deer store"--a sporting goods store with hunting gear, decoys, etc.--is where Greg likes to take the kids when I'm not around. This one was the ultimate deer store. They didn't just have decoys, they had actual live fish and real stuffed animals (think taxidermy). Sophie had a great time, though I think Greg had an even better time! Sophie even spotted the little shooting range and insisted on shooting the guns. Daddy and Grandpa had fun helping her to aim and shoot--she got to pull the trigger. After the deer store, we met up with more family to celebrate birthdays and a retirement at a BBQ joint. The birthday sundaes with fireworks were Sophie's favorite part of the meal. I think they were Grandpa's too!

Sophie's favorite color...

is pink...unless it's regarding her eye. Yes, Sophie came home from Grandma and Grandpa's house with her first case of pink eye. Shortly after arriving home after being away for 5 days, Sophie and I headed off to the Minute Clinic to get her checked out and found our suspicions to be grounded in truth. I was a little concerned about how she'd deal with the drops that we have to give her 4 times daily for 7 days, but she's been a trooper! She lays her head right down on my lap and springs right up after the drops are in.

Though we came home to pink eye, lots of dirty kids clothes and water in the basement, we had a great time visiting my parents. We visited a fun kids store where Sophie enjoyed playing with the train and hobby horse. I think Sophie had ice cream every day, which she thought was fabulous! The weather was great, so we played at the park downtown--even Owen got in on the action with his first ride on a playground swing. It's always fun to play with other people's toys, so Sophie and Owen had a great time playing with all the stuff Grandma has collected over the years. This included riding on Grandpa's old rocking horse that his dad made for him when he was little. Sophie got to go to Sunday School with buddies Brenna (pictured below) and Elsa who are family friends. Owen spent most of his waking hours wanting to be walked around the house or standing at the ottoman and coffee table. And I got to do a little shopping, take a nap, visit a new coffee shop in town and even read a book for a while! It was a great time!

On our way out of town it was quite foggy, and Sophie said, "I can't see!" I explained to her that it was fog and that it was like driving through clouds and it made it hard for us to see. "That's bogus!" was her reply from the backseat.

Visiting

The kids and I have been visiting Yellow Grandma and Grandpa's house while Greg has been working on renovating our bathroom. We have been having all kinds of fun and eating all kinds of ice cream while we are here. I've taken all kinds of pictures which I will post when I get home. I just wanted to keep you all updated so that you do not lose hope that I will ever post anything ever again.
Kid updates:
Owen seems as though he will take off walking at any moment. He is loving my parents' ottoman and coffee table, and they are both snot covered as he has a cold.
Sophie has been cutting minuscule pieces of index cards and "vacuuming" them up with the pink vacuum.
I have been sleeping with both kids while we're here, alternating between the rooms of whoever is crying in the night. Last night it was Sophie, who was flopping around a lot and who awoke with a crusty ear. Hmmmm. Suspicious.

Jammies

They annoyed the heck out of me today. Good thing they're so cute!

...and Rosie too

We had Sophie's little friend Ella over to play today. The girls enjoyed playing with playdough for a while, which mostly meant mixing all the colors from all the different containers together. I am amazed at the things in life that I have learned to let go. Formerly, I would have only given Sophie one container at a time, make her clean up all the little pieces, and put the lid back on before getting another color out. Now I figure, if they're having fun and not fighting, who cares?! Smash all the colors together! Playdough is cheap! My, how I've grown!

It was a beautiful day today, so we played at the park down the road. Ella brought her little stuffed cat Rosie along to enjoy the fun. Ella liked the swings the best, as did Rosie, though "not high up in the sky." You may see Rosie in some of the pictures below. Sophie was mostly occupied with cleaning the individual pieces of mulch off of the curly slide, one at a time, and making a pile of them. Perhaps she is related to Aunt Janelle??!!

We said goodbye to Ella after a picnic lunch at the little table. As I started to peruse the pile of mail on the table, Sophie said, "Mom, Ella left Rosie!" and held out the little stuffed cat she'd found lying somewhere that no one else had seen it. I quickly called Ella's mom, and she quickly turned the car around to rescue dear Rosie. We were so glad to discover her so soon and to see her restored to Ella before Ella even noticed she was gone!

Reading

My kids both love books! Sophie is particularly fond of reading the Bible lately. She always wants to know everyone's names in the pictures. Owen likes books too...mostly to chew on them. Sophie gets very upset about the chewing and snatches books away from him whenever they enter his mouth. I've been trying to at least have her replace the snatched away books with board books that are okay to chew on, but she has a hard time letting him desecrate her beloved books!

Yesterday Owen and I went into the room to get Sophie up. I plunked him down on her bed and dashed out for a second. When I came back, this is what I saw, and I had to take a picture of it. Sophie was "reading aloud" to Owen from the Bible while he was perusing (not chewing!) a counting book. They were doing so well together that I left them for a few minutes to go get ready for the day. Moments later I heard, "Don't eat my Bible, Owen!"

Indoor Fun

We're having dumpy weather here again, so the kids and I headed to a nearby indoor park to have some fun. Aunt Cassie lives near the park, so she came over to join in the fun and to go out to lunch with us. We ran into a few church friends while we were there, and Sophie hooked up with "Kenna" who led her around and helped her to climb up some platforms she struggled with. I'm sure this made Cassie happy, as she had previously needed to kick off her shoes and climb in there to run to Sophie's aid. Greg was busy for the evening, so the kids and I headed back to the park after supper to have even more fun. This time Cassie AND Gerrit came to play, which Sophie thought was great. Uncle Gerrit was a good sport and followed Sophie around through the tunnels and slides, and Cassie even took a turn and gave it a try too. Owen and I didn't do any climbing or sliding, but I'm sure by this time next year he'll be loving this park too!!

Another shameless plug

We love Chipotle! Chipotle is a fast Mexican food type place around here that has amazing, HUGE burritos. When Owen was born, 8 weeks early at only 4 pounds, Greg thought he was about the size of a Chipotle burrito and therefore nicknamed Owen "Chipotle" and "Little Burrito." Greg even wanted to put a burrito in Owen's incubator for pictures so we could show people how small he really was. However, food wasn't allowed in the incubators, so that never worked out.

Recently, I went online to try to find a Chipotle shirt for Greg because he loves Chipotle, and because of Owen's nickname. The shirt I was interested in was sold out, so I started to call around to local restaurants to see if I could track one down. On my second call, I connected with Phil, a manager of a nearby Chipotle. He didn't have the shirt I was looking for, and he asked me if there was a story behind why I was looking for it. I explained the whole story about Owen, which Phil thought was great, so he told me he'd do some checking around and get back to me in a few weeks.

Two weeks later, Phil told me he'd found my shirt and that I could come and pick it up! When I arrived at his Chipotle, I was presented with a goodie bag of items, all "on the house," which included the shirt I was looking for for Greg, 2 other shirts, a shirt for Owen (pics below) and many cards for free burritos and chips & guacamole. Phil even sent me home with supper for the family that night. Incredible!!!

We, who already loved Chipotle, are now madly in love!! Check them out!

Donut Day

Greg has Donut Day at work each Friday when each person on his team takes a turn bringing in donuts for the group. Not just any donuts. These people are donuts snobs (like I would be about coffee). No gas station donuts for these people! I think Greg would happily eat a donut (or two, or three...) from anywhere, but on his turn this past week, he got donuts from a local bakery. Being a wonderful daddy and husband, he set aside a few special ones for Sophie and I, so we got to have Donut Day on Saturday morning.

Sophie's special sprinkle donut

Sophie's donut when she was "done" with it

Kind of like cousin Jared's donuts when he was little, huh? Maybe he still does it!

Donut Day led to a discussion of favorite donuts. Greg and I have been married for almost 10 years now, but we didn't know each other's favorite kind of donut. Turns out, my favorite regular donut is just plain glazed. Pretty exciting, huh? However, if I was to choose a Krispy Kreme donut, my favorite of all time, it would be the creme-filled, chocolate frosted donut--so amazing!!!

What's your favorite?

Little Friends

We had our little friend Aaron over to play today. He and Sophie look forward to getting to play together, and then they pick at each other a lot of the time. Aaron is the only kid (that I know of) that Sophie intentionally antagonizes. Not sure why. Perhaps due to Aaron's dramatic reactions (ie. "Sophie, stop spitting at me!!" yelled at the top of his lungs, standing 50 feet away from Sophie). So hilarious!! So, we decided to head to the park, neutral territory, to enjoy the warm sunshine and air. Both kids came home with mud on their clothes, but they had a great time! Owen, as usual, watched the action and then took a nap.