Time for Touch a Truck

Last year was our first time attending this event and we knew we would be returning. Claxton is still into police cars, big trucks of any kind, and of course fire engines as much or more than he's ever been. I'm thinking he'll probably carry this passion with him for a very long time. Based on last year's experience, we knew it would be best to arrive when it opened to avoid most of the crowd so that the kids could spend a little more time on each truck checking out all of the bells and whistles (aka - buttons to press, knobs to turn, etc). There were all kinds of vehicles to explore - police cars, fire engines, school bus, UPS truck, semi trucks, trolley, and more.

Julia is old enough this year to enjoy it as well. She was quite amused with all the activity and things to see and by the way, not at all phased by the loud horns and sirens. Her favorite part was seeing a police dog (she has recently learned what a dog says and demonstrates at every chance she gets).

His favorite - driving a fire engine

Everybody has to take a turn running in the back of a semi...

Claxton and Julia waving to their fans from the big yellow school bus

Vroom, vroom!!
(This is for Unlce Brad)

Just a little too loud

He'll be cutting the grass for us real soon

Look closely at Julia's face -she had just seen the police dog

Conversations this morning

As we are getting ready for the day:
Claxton: "Dad, what's the plan?"
Dad: "I don't know."
Claxton: "Oh."

During breakfast:
Dad: "Claxton, ask Mommy what you asked me upstairs."
Claxton: "Mommy, what's the plan?"
Me: "The plan for what?"
Claxton: (no answer)

Riding in the car:
Claxton: "Dad, Dad what's the deal?"
Dad: "I don't know. You tell me what the deal is."
Claxton (with great confidence): "Oh, ok. Well, first we are going to church. Then we are going to eat at Chic-fil-A. That's the deal, Daddy."
Dad (laughing heartily): "Well, we are going to church. But Chic-fil-A is not open on Sunday."
Claxton: "Yes it is."
(Then we actually passed one and it was indeed closed.)
Dad: "See, they are not open, it's not even an option."
Claxton (pointing out the window): "Well, that restaurant is open, so maybe we can eat there."
Dad: "Maybe."

I'm glad to know we have another planner in the family!

If at first you don't succeed...try, try again

Claxton was playing out in the backyard for a while this morning. He was continuously moving from one point of interest to another in a matter of minutes. i was in the family room with Julia all the while keeping a close eye on him and his activities. There is a trapeze bar on the play set, but he is still too short to reach it. I looked out and saw him reaching for the bar...and then falling to the ground. Then he would get up and try again and again and again. He figured out that he could stand on the frame of the base of the play set, then stretch to reach the bar. And after many attempts he finally did. Hang time was only about 1.5 seconds, but he did it!! And then it was on to the next challenge.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

We have been trying and trying to read books to Julia on a regular basis for sometime with little to no success. This is a different experience than what we had with Claxton. In the past two to three weeks, she has basically gone from no interest to total interest. Quite amazing. The other day, she spent about ten minutes or so on the floor by herself flipping through the pages of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?". And now, she even enjoys lying on the couch with Daddy and Claxton to read. It's thrilling that she has finally started to gain a interest in reading.

What we've been up to

Playing outside, going to Chic-fil-A, going to the park, and riding in the car. This has basically been our life for the past week and a half. Literally. Why? Because we are finally doing a few things around our house that we've wanted to do since we moved in three years ago. You all know that we like color on our walls, so the monochromatic khaki walls are history (at least downstairs). Painters were here last week and we are having some minor repairs done on the floors this week. Which has turned out to be a good thing because we found a leak that we were told had been repaired when we bought the house, but in fact was not. Thus creating more work for Brian this week than he really has time for. And I almost forgot to mention that the track lighting in our kitchen is gone. Hallelujah! I am not a fan of track lights. And that too was a good thing because in the process we found a live wire laying in the ceiling. Our electrician friend pondered how the house had not burned down. With all this activity I knew it would be best to get the kids out of the house...the truth is out of the way so the work could get done in a timely fashion. It sort of feels like we just moved in because stuff is everywhere. This part is driving us all crazy, but it will all be done in just a few more days and we can get back to some normalcy around here with happy colors on our walls. So if you want to see our new colors, come on over for a visit!

Uh-oh

I walked in to get Julia up from her nap to find her paci and animals all in a pile on the floor. She just looked up at me then down at the pile and kept saying "uh-oh, uh-oh" in a very soft, innocent manner. Guess she knows more than we had been giving her credit for. Let the games begin!

Amy, this is for you...

I know you told me that we should take pictures of Julia in the green bucket and I keep forgetting to do it. Well, it was on the floor and I needed to contain her for about five minutes or so. So I set her in it with a couple of toys. When I went to get her out I noticed just how adorable she looked. So of course I quickly found the camera.