It's Halloween

Kids are napping and dinner is being prepared. We are getting ready to experience trick-or-treating with a 2-year old tonight. The jack-o-lanterns are in place and the costumes are ready to be put on. We'll see how it goes.

Salesman in the Making

In sales, they always teach you to use questions to lead your customer to answer yes when it comes time to close the deal.

For a while, Claxton would state what he wanted immediately followed by a very positive "OK!". It was always funny, but we never thought much of it.

Recently, we have really started to teach Claxton how to properly ask for things. "May I please..." and "Would you please...". Claxton has really taken to it, maybe even to much. "May I please have sharks (they're fruit snacks)?" And without breaking stride he simple states "Yes, you may!"

He's almost two and a half. A salesman in the making. I'm just a little scared!

We've got pumpkins

Four of them to be exact. They've been sitting on our deck for a week. And a certain somebody informs us every morning during breakfast that we have four pumpkins out on our deck. Well, yesterday two of them became jack-o-lanterns. Here's a look at the fun time we had.

Just trust us

Last night we had an early dinner and dressed the kids in their pajamas immediately after we were done. Of course Claxton's initial reaction was, well, let's just say not very positive as naturally he thought it meant bed time. It was still daylight outside and he knows we don't go to bed until it gets dark. So after convincing him to trust us on this one, we loaded everyone in the car and headed into town. We arrived at what has become one of his favorite places to go - The Reading Tree. They were having a special event which included pajama story time. He kept saying how silly it was to be riding in the car in his pajamas, but was very excited when he realized where we were going. Miss Linda had on her pj's too. She sings songs with the kids, generally reads one or two books and makes a craft. Claxton loves to sing. Best way I can describe it is that he likes to sing as if no one is listening. Unfortunately no one has a choice but to listen!!

Mr. Fix It

Today a hinge on one of the doors on the cabinets where we keep the toys broke. Claxton informed me that the door was broken and he had to fix it. He wanted to get Brian's tools out of the garage, but I convinced him he could use his own tools. So he ran to his tool bench and came back with a drill, a hammer, and a screwdriver exclaiming "I fix it, Mommy, I fix it"! And interestingly enough he actually went about it the proper way, (except for the hammering part, I'm not sure why that was necessary, but I kept quiet on that one), and even tested it to see if it worked as it should. After several good hearted attempts, I suggested he wait and ask Dad to assist him. He was good with that. But I learned that he is quite a determined little fellow today. And yes you can tell I've became a blogger because I ran for the camera to capture the whole thing.

This is where he is testing it to see if it works properly

In this one, he turned around and said, "Mom, take my picture!" (Ummm, I wonder if we take enough pictures around here?!!)

It's about to get hectic

Julia is quite the mover these days. If there's something she wants she gets to it by rolling and scooting, and rather quickly too. This trick has been going on for a while now. Tonight however, she figured out how to get on all fours and sway back and forth. So I'm sure it's just another few weeks before she puts it all together and is crawling. We've enjoyed having the gates down for a while now, but I suppose those days are about to end again for a while. Here she is:

These are her cheerleaders

Squealing like a pig

A couple of days ago Julia was playing in the exersaucer and appeared to be having a really good time. She was "expressing" herself about something and in doing so the volume continued to increase at a rather high level. After two or three minutes Claxton yelled, to the top of his lungs I might add, "Sweet Girl, Sweet Girl, please quit squealing like a pig, quit squealing like a pig!!".

Seven months old

Julia is seven months old today. She's been quite a busy bee this past month or so. While she has been rolling over for several months, her newest trick is to keep rolling until she gets to where she wants to go. Just about anything she gets her hands on goes in her mouth. She's been eating baby food and cereal and is quick to let you know which ones she does not like. She's learning to drink from a sippy cup. One of her favorite past times is to watch her brother at whatever he is doing. We are really enjoying watching Claxton and Julia interact. I think he is really looking forward to having a playmate around all of the time. She is also starting to sit up on her own. And much to our surprise she does not like to be left alone, not even for a minute. Lastly, her newest thing which we are all having to adjust to is that she is a squealer!

Fall is here

Finally! The leaves are falling and the temperature is too. I hope this means the last of those blood-sucking mosquitoes for a while.

THD Kid's Project

Yesterday we went to The Home Depot to participate in one of their kid's projects. Bet you can't guess what the project was. Would it help if I told you it just happened to be one of Claxton's favorite things? Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, they brought two of them in for the day from the local fire departments for the kids to see. Think we had a happy little guy or what!?

Will fall ever come?

It's October but some days it still feels like July. We are over the heat around here and ready for some cool crisp mornings. And more than that I'm ready for all mosquitoes to die a quick death.

Have a great weekend!

What we've been doing this week

My mom was here with us for a few days this week. Of course Claxton loves it when there's someone else other than just Mom, Dad, and Julia around. The weather was absolutely beautiful, rather warm, but beautiful the whole week so they a lot of time outside. Mom is very disciplined at walking three or four times a week and made no exception of that while she was here. Only she had company who I think may have slowed her down but was a good sport none the less. She and Claxton walked almost a mile everyday and Mom would have gone farther but didn't want to take the risk of having to carry him home. When they weren't walking they were either swinging, sliding, playing ball or reading books. The remaining free time she had was spent holding and playing with Julia. She also joined us this week at swim class, story time at a new local children's bookstore, and for a family fun day at a corn maze and pumpkin patch. We all enjoyed her being here and wish we could see her more often. Mom desperately wanted Julia to start crawling while she was here, but it didn't happen. And frankly I'm glad, she will learn soon enough for me!