Getting into the Olympics

We are just not big sports fans around our house. However, I've always enjoyed watching the Olympics and we're all getting into it this year. Our mantel is adorned with an Olympic flag (well, sort of, it was the kid's project at Home Depot this month). So to get into the spirit it sits on the mantel where we all can see it everyday for the next couple of weeks. Every morning Claxton is sure to remind us that the Olympic rings are on his flag. We've talked about China and where it is. We've even had our first map lesson. Brian and I are enjoying following Micheal Phelps (kind of hard not to though) and cheering him on. Claxton really likes the swimming competitions too but is also really getting into gymnastics and diving. We've been allowing him to stay up past normal bedtime to watch. This started last Friday night with the opening ceremonies. Claxton's favorite part was all of the fireworks and lighting of the torch. And that's exactly what he thought the Olympics was all about - fireworks and lighting the torch. On Saturday when we started watching the actual sports events he didn't understand and kept telling us that he wanted to watch the Olympics. After going back and forth several times we came to understand that he wanted to see the fireworks again. We had to explain the whole sports events to him and now every morning when he gets up he says "Mom, can we watch China today?" We are working on getting him to say Olympics instead of China. But that's cute and we have a good chuckle with it every morning. None the less, we are having a fun time. I'm sure there will be a sad little boy when they end in a couple of weeks. We should have ordered Chinese food for the opening ceremonies, but hadn't really put that much thought into at that time. So maybe we'll do that for the closing ceremonies.

He watched just as long as he could...

Updates, updates, updates

Ok, so it's been a while. No excuses other than time is just getting away from me. Every day I think I will spend some time working on my blog after the kids are in bed...and everyday I don't. And this past month, I've had some really good blogging material, but now that I've sit down to blog I can't remember much of what I wanted to blog about. Old age is settling in I suppose (no comments please!). Anyway, here's a rather lengthy report of all the happenings since my last post.

1. Last weekend in April - One of Brian's really good friends from college along with his wife and son came for a visit. We decided to take the kids to the aquarium and they all loved it. It was especially exciting for Julia, she couldn't stop pointing at all of the fish...and of course vocalizing her excitement as well (lots of grunting and screaming). It was rather crowded that day so the noise level was already at a high level. Thankfully no one really noticed all of her squeals...

Back at the house, Claxton and Samuel enjoyed being firemen before bedtime…

2. I finally reached my wits end with our antique washer and dryer. I mean, how efficient is it when you have to sit on the washing machine to prevent every load from becoming off balanced and thus producing an obnoxious buzzer going off? A buzzer that would wake the dead no less. Then after that great pleasurable experience you have to in fact dry your clothes 2-3 cycles before they are completely dry. Enough already. We had actually been shopping for a washer and dryer for a little while so that when the time came and ours actually kicked the bucket we would have knowledge of what's on the market these days. So, we found what we wanted on sale. Date nights just aren't what they used to be...

(Click picture for full image)

3. Mother's Day - Well, it was a low key sort of a day. I was treated to lunch at what has become one of my favorite places to dine - Five Seasons. The rest of the day was spent hanging out at home with Brian and the kids. Upon arriving home from lunch I noticed a couple of gifts waiting for me on the hearth. I was very surprised to receive two very unexpected gifts - a camera, and a pair of earrings that I've had my eye on for a few years now. I've kind of wanted a small camera I can carry in my purse for a while, but not high on the priority list, just something I thought would be nice to have. I love Brian's camera and will still continue to use it to, but it is just too bulky to carry around for play dates and things like that. Very cool. I'm so excited. And then the earrings. Ok, I admit it, I'm picky. And it's not really often that I ask for something very specific, but I had seen some earrings a while ago that I really wanted. Nothing fancy, just some silver hoop earrings. The uniqueness of them is that rather than being just round hoops, the edges are square/round, just like my wedding band. I saw some when we were in Banff a few years ago and have wanted some ever since. I actually put my order in sometime ago and was really starting to give up on this one. But just when you least expect it... And the reason it has taken so long is that Brian was searching all over and couldn't find the ones I wanted. Well, leave it to H&A, they seem to come through for us on all of our jewelry needs…or I guess more appropriately…my wants. I love them!! Thanks for searching until you found just the perfect ones.

4. We wrapped up swim lessons in mid May. We could not be more pleased with Claxton's progress this year at Dynamo Swim Schools. Claxton is jumping off the side "like Jonah" (thanks Veggie Tales), swimming six to eight feet out to Dad. Then Dad turns him around and sends him back to swim to the side of the pool. He reaches for the side and pulls himself out. We are taking a break from swim lessons over the summer and will advance to regular group classes (without Dad) in the fall. Julia will start lessons for the first time in the fall. So it looks like Dad will still be going to swim lessons for a little while longer!


5. Early to mid May Julia took her first steps. It is just so hard to believe that she has reached this stage already. Claxton was her biggest cheerleader. I had been telling him that it would happen just any day so he was keenly aware to be on the look out. In fact, he was the first to see her walk and proudly announced it to the rest of us. "Mommy, she's walking. Sweet Girl is walking!!"
Julia loves her big brother. If he's in another room, she's looking for him or calling him. And he knows her call. Right now it kind of sounds like Dai, but he knows she's trying to say his name. His usual response is "here I am, Sweet Girl". The two are really starting to enjoy each other's company and it's a whole lot of fun watching them!
She likes sitting at the bottom of the steps and kicking her feet and occasionally she's try to sneak up the stairs when were not looking. We bought beach chairs for the kids for our vacation. But in the meantime we've had them in the house and Julia really likes climbing in and out of her chair. I think she spends about fifteen minutes at a time just doing that over and over again.

6. We're spending more and more time outside these days. Claxton has become quite the little explorer. He likes exploring the edge of the wooded area of our yard. He likes pulling the bark off the trees, playing with sticks and pine cones, and checking out the different leaves (thankfully we haven't come across any poison ivy). We have a couple of small trees that he can climb on and does as often as he can. On another day, he found a caterpillar on the swing set. He is indeed all boy. And if the mail comes when we are outside, well, he must run to get it. Often times before I'm ready for him to go because he's not allowed to go by himself just yet.

First spotting of the caterpillar

Must call Dad to tell him about his find

Showing off his find...

7. Julia is quite the littler explorer in her own right. However, most of hers is done inside the house. Her favorite place to go on an adventure is in the pantry. If the door is left open and Julia is nowhere in sight, the first place to check is the pantry. 99% of the time you'll find her there. I think she might have a napkin fettish. There are napkins in a drawer she can reach and she loves to pull them out one by one, wad into a ball, then take to the trash can. She would do this all day if I would let her. So I retrieve them from the trash, spread them out to make the look like new again and put back in the drawer for her to do the next time she sneaks into the pantry. It's a fun game. Her other fun thing to do is open the Crystal Light boxes and dump the packets on the floor, pick them up and put them back in box and do it all over again...and again...and again. Another fun game - who needs expensive toys?


She's become quite the little helper too especially since she started walking. She likes to take her dirty diapers and any other trash to the trash can. She knows exactly where it's at, how to open the door and put it in…and is very proud of herself when the job is done.





8. In late May we started having two visitors show up either in the mornings while it was still cool or late in the afternoons when the temperature began to drop for the evening. Our visitors were Peter and his friend... The kids both enjoyed looking for them everyday. And for about a week, they showed up everyday.

9. The last week of the month we spent with Grammy, Grandpa, Uncle Brad, Aunt Anne, and Kyle. We really enjoyed our time together and a special highlight was being able to celebrate Kyle's birthday with him this year. Here's a glimpse at some of the things we did on our trip.

More updates coming soon, stay tuned...

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.

Just a swingin'

These two just love to swing, and the higher the better, for both of them. I have to admit, it was one of my favorite things to do as a kid, in fact, I still enjoy swinging. But I don't think I was as brave as either one of my kids are at their ages. Claxton will probably be one of those kids who figures out how to swing all the way around one day. Lord help me!

Train them early

We believe in training our kids at a young age to pitch in and help out with household chores. Julia's first assignment is to unload the dishwasher.

Dreamland

We have been asking Claxton for some time what he dreamed at night. Normally, he looks around and "sees" what he dreamt about - a toy, Daddy, Mommy, Julia, etc. And normally every morning we wake to screaming from the other end of the house "Here I am Daddy. MOMMY, HERE I AM." This signifies it's time to get Claxton up.

This morning was different. There was no screaming, so I figured Claxton was still sleeping. But since we had swimming lessons today, I went into to get him up. He was not sleeping as I expected. In fact, he was standing in the corner of his crib looking at me very sad.

"Daddy?"
"Yes Claxton."
"Daddy?"
"What Claxton?"
"Daddy."
"What is it Claxton, what's wrong?"
"My swing set. It's broken. Bentley {one of his best friends in the world} broke my swing set."
"When did that happen?"
"Last night. While it was dark. Daddy can you fix it? My swing set is broken. Bentley broke it."
"Claxton, Bentley didn't break your swing set. He wouldn't do that."

I quickly picked him up and took him into the guest bedroom. I opened the shutters and told him to look at the swing set, it's not broken. A smile came across his face... and then quickly disappeared. A look of confusion then appeared.

"But he broke it. The ladder. He broke my swing set."
"Claxton, it was only a dream. It wasn't real. It was like when you pretend."

Claxton remained perplexed all day, trying to reconcile the situation. But one thing is for sure Claxton just had his first dream - first that he remembered anyway.

You can tell it's March

Typical spring weather in our neck of the woods. A few days ago we had on shorts and t-shirts and today we had to bundle up when we went out. Right now it's cold, windy and snow flurries have been falling off and on all day. My entire household is ready for spring to be here permanently.

Easter Weekend

A busy few days

Whew!! It's been a busy few days around here. Over the weekend we have been to three Easter Egg Hunts of which one was combined with a birthday party, and yes we had one in our own backyard and it counts. We, or more accurately, Brian, assembled an airplane. Claxton and I dyed Easter eggs along with a little help from Dad. Went to church this morning and played outside with the kids today (even though a little windy) for quite a while. We tried to get some photos of the kids dressed up this morning, but let's just say they were a little less than cooperative. Maybe next year.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow of our weekend. In the meantime, here's a conversation in the car on the way home from church this morning:

Me (looking at the craft he made): This is nice Claxton. What is the round brown thing?
Claxton: It's a stone. It rolled away.
Me: Rolled away from where?
Claxton: The door to the cave.
Me: What cave?
Claxton: That's where Jesus was.
Me: Where is he now?
Claxton: Mommy, he's looking for stones.
Me: Are you sure?
Claxton: Yeah, he's looking for stones.

I'm just assuming that he got restless before they finished the end of the story so he missed it, or he got sidetracked when they got to the part about the stone and his little boyish mind began thinking about how much fun it would be searching for stones. In any event, seems we will have to keep working on theology a bit.

Happy Easter!

From us to you, wishing you a Happy Easter

Be careful what you dream for

We all know the phrase "be careful what you ask for - you might get it." Well, in this case it could be said "be careful what you dream for - you might get it." My husband has the dream of building an airplane in his garage. That dream came true last night. Something tells me not exactly what he had in mind!

So, not exactly your dream, but your children will be very appreciative for years to come.

And today, we have one very excited little boy.