Catchin up!

Getting slower with the blogging. Usually post pictures to Facebook now. But still, we get to keep the things I post here, so will try to do better. I think now I've missed Margot's second birthday, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah. Whew that's a lot to catch up on. Pictures. I'll start with pictures.
Margot decided before her second birthday party, that she needed to wear a crown. This is not something she usually does, I guess it just felt right. And if I'd known she was going to wear it, it would have definitely been decorated for the occasion. She had a "Sweet Shop" theme to the party, but it kind of went by the wayside. It was fun though to see some of the kids playing and "making" cupcakes cookies and cake and "selling" them. All pretend! And we discovered why people pay money to have others run their party for them. It's too much work when it's not at your house to get it all together!




Bullet points:
-Nash's favorite songs are "Eye of the Tiger" and "We Will Rock You"
-Margot's favorite song is called "Mouse In My Toolbox" by Laurie Berkner
-They both also love Barenaked Ladies kids album called Snacktime.
-Margot got her first Barbie-ish doll for her birthday - a fairy. And she likes her. But she doesn't really play with her.
-Margot is discovering her emotions and makes faces on command. Mad. Happy. Silly.
-Margot carries around the step stool all over the house turning lights on. Or off. Or whichever they're not.
-Nash writes his name on his own! Just drew an awesome picture of his family under a rainbow :)
-Nash got all kind of great cool presents for Hanukkah but his favorite one is an Iron Man toy.
-Nash and Margot's favorite place to eat is Dewey's pizza. And on the way there every time there are holiday lights they both yell, "Pretty lights! I saw them first!"
-Nash is becoming a better eater! To get seconds at school he has to eat everything on his plate. So he's even had a few bites of green beans lately! Yesterday at home he ate a half a banana. He hasn't done that since he was a baby. Thanks Raintree!
-Nash loves to paint watercolors, and is so very diligent about cleaning off his brush before changing colors.
-Nash wants to wear jeans EVERY DAY
-Margot wants to do whatever Nash wants to do. Right now apparently they both want to take a nap, which is awesome because my birthday is tomorrow and my awesome husband surprised my by getting a babysitter tonight!



Also, Nash graduated from Superhero school with the Superhero name "Black Flame". He is WAY into Superheroes. At Superhero school he learned how to be a good friend and a good citizen, how to mix colors, how to design a pattern, how to draw shapes, the characteristics of a Superhero vs. a hero (Is a doctor a Superhero? Firefighter?)

We all celebrated and it was a happy day.

25 Months Old Counting To 10

Get it?

Nash:
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Interrupting Cow!

Dear Susan,

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the jacket. Big thanks, and hugs :)

Scary = Good??

Nash suddenly likes all things scary. I'm sure there is a fine line between being a big boy and thinking scary things are fun, and actually having the pants scared off of him.
Not too long ago Nash was afraid of the following things: thunder, fireworks, monsters, aliens, sharks, the dark. Straight from Nash's mouth, "Now I'm not afraid of anything." Nash watched Star Wars with his Daddy for the first time yesterday and his favorite guy is Darth Vader! And today his picked out the toothy shark sticker to put on his hand. He loves looking at all the Halloween costume catalogs we've been getting in the mail, and keeps picking out scary grim reapers and ghosts. What a big kid!

It's not always so crazy around here. Oh, wait, yes it is. I actually take my daughter out of the house in rain boots when it's not raining, and with mismatched shoes.
And clearly Nash is allowed to wear his Superman cape as we run errands. In fact, we met another Superman last week at the Post Office! Can you believe it??
During quiet moments Margot likes to sit on the window sill and read.
Deep breaths. Love these kids.

Happy Labor Day!

It went so fast! The weather was SO beautiful so we stayed outside and went to Grant's Farm and partied with neighbors and drove around with the doors off... yes, even the kids doors!



Getting ready to go, the doors came off per Nash's very persistent request.

Loving the wind!!


Not really loving the wind :(

But then we got to beautiful Grant's Farm and all was right again with the world.
Margot on tour at Grant's Farm. Sweater weather! Hooray!
This big turtle was very interested in Margot and Ray.Peek-a-boo elephant!

Next up, Ray's birthday next week!

I have a great idea!

Let's nap together!


Take one. Nashy's bed

No really! We're sleeping!



Take two. Emmy's room - with Nash's bed on the floor.

His bed's just not big enough for him and Eebee and Margot and blankie. So, now, take three, side by side.

This is fun. But I can think of something more fun.

And what's that I hear from downstairs?? Giggles and LOUD thumps?


I don't think the kids are ready to nap together just yet.

Am I not supposed to be doing this?

It's Hot Out Here!

For what seemed like forever, Margot's favorite things were whatever Nash's favorite things were. A month or two ago, that started to change and Margot has her faves now too! They are: Olivia the pig, Elmo, Hello Kitty, and Minnie Mouse! What great things for a girl to love! She's also becoming quite a stacker. And after she's done something funny, she says, "look what Emmy doing!" or "silly Emmy!" or "Good job! Look Mommy! Good job!" and, of course, it's so cute.
And he're Nashy last Monday on his first day of school! Thanks to a Summer of Raintree came he's explored the world of Pirates, treasures, plundering (which included us plundering our neighbors by surprising them with a sneak water balloon attack!), and sports.

Since I last posted we've had Grammy visit from Florida, we've taken another trip to VA, Nashy's started school, (I've started a diet), we went to our first Cardinals game, and we've endured day after day of scorching heat... and more! As Ferris Bueller said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

Yesterday Nashy was in trouble and we asked him to go to time out. He was moving slow and Margot said to him, while pointing, "Go, Nashy! Now!" And Ray and I muffled our laughter and told her "Thank you Emmy, that's enough."

Some more highlights:
-Margot thinks she's hilarious. She climbs stairs. Throws herself off the couch. Throws the ball into the street. Do you see a pattern? These are things her parents do not think are hilarious.
-Margot also gets away with these things without us being too mad because she's so darn cute. And when she knows she's been bad she puts herself in time out.
-Nash and Margot are both obsessed with Dots. Are you aware of dots? If not, RUN to the store and get some. And a Dot book.
-The kids love the books by Leslie Patricelli No No Yes Yes, Big Little and Yummy Yucky. The baby in those books can be a very naughty baby.
-Every day before school Nash asks if I can have a Superman cape for him when he comes home. I think a boy at his school had one for costume day. But also, there's a Monster Truck called Superman and Nashy is way into monster trucks.
-I sing three songs to Nashy every night before bed. Twinkle Twinkle, You are my sunshine, and one we made up that goes, "It's dark outside sleepy silly head, close your eyes it's time for bed, have sweet dreams sleepy silly head, I love you silly sleepyhead." I used to sing Sunshine normally, but since Nash doesn't like gray skies, he asked me to sing "You are my sunshine my only sunshine, you make me happy everyday. You'll never know Nash how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away." But then he asked me to change it to "...you make my happy when I love you, you'll never know Nash how much I love you..." but then we went back to "...everyday." Then, a few nights ago he asked me to change it to, "you make me happy when I love your projects! You'll never know Nash, how much I love you please don't take my sunshine away."

"Who wants lemonade??"

We had a very exciting morning this morning as we had our first lemonade stand! Nash and Margot have become HUGE Olivia fans (for those who don't know she's a very imaginative little piggy with her very own show on Nick Jr.) and Olivia sometimes has a lemonade stand. I've been trying to build a little shop on Etsy which,recently, has included some fun paper banners. So a lemonade banner was obviously in order! And we decided to also have cupcakes. Because we like 'em.
Margot and Nash looked awfully cute in their lemonade-colored clothes.
Nash called around the neighborhood, "Who wants cupcakes? Who wants lemonade? Cupcakes! Lemonade! 50 cents!"
Nashy poured the lemonade.
And now on to cupcakes. Why don't kids like cupcakes? They think they do, but they just like the frosting. We threw away 4 whole cupcakes with the frosting licked clean. Nash and Margot made $18! Way to go kids!

Names

Sum Sum Summertime

Apparently a trim can really bring out Margot's curls!

Nashy got a SCOOTER!
The kids love to play construction. Nashy calls himself a "decstruction" worker. HA!
Margot ready for work.
Nash loves to run back and forth and all around the bottom floor of our house. Usually half dressed.



>Margot loves to play with blocks! She uses her imagination and puts together great playscapes.

Colors and Sorting

We missed our last visit of the season with our friend from Parents As Teachers, so I'm kinda taking a guess at some things she might have brought for Margot. Nash loves his toys and doesn't always understand that it's time to pass them on, or at least share them with Margot. They've always been his. But it's so amazing to watch her learn to play with them and figure them out in her own way, totally differently from Nashy. So in the mornings while Nashy's at school, the toys come out and I try to help/teach Margot, and watch and see what she does with them. This morning we were working on colors and sorting. I guess it's probably a little early for her to know her colors and how to sort, but never too early to start learning.

The Great Caper

Why is it that one day Nash loves grapes, and the next he doesn't? The same is true with macaroni and cheese (he thinks he likes the white kind, but not the orange kind) and he loves peanut butter sandwich crackers from Trader Joe's, but oh-NO he does NOT like peanut butter. This very complex little boy has big responsibilities now and makes big decisions. Let's hope he continues to make the right ones most of the time! So, last Saturday Ray and I were having "stinky" breakfast, bagels and lox, which we load up with onions and capers. Nash decided that he would like to eat capers. An what Nash does, Margot does too. Which led to the great caper eating fiasco.


Nash and Margot ate so many capers that I started to wonder if the acid in the brine would hurt their tummies. But, as far as I know, no tummies were hurt in the eating of capers, though whole caper populations were consumed.

Can you read this, G?? We miss you!

She's a wild one

After splashing around in the pool this morning, Emmy roamed around in her birthday suit for a few minutes. She was playing very quietly, so I rounded the corner to see what she was doing and had a good laugh when I saw her pigtails and tush in the kitchen. Stick her in some heels and she's every boy's dream.

Memorial Day Weekend Fun!

Fun and games outside! Kiddie pool + assorted sprinklers + water table + "Daddy home" + beautiful day = magical weekend for Margot and Nash.

Before heading outside, Margot is stationed at her favorite spot, where she's not supposed to play...


Nashy doing his thing. The kid did at least a dozen run-and-jumps into the pool.


This is Elmo's 3rd Summer sprinkling us with water. For this we are grateful.


Run, Emmy! Run!


Margot has recently discovered the joys of snuggling! Hoorah!
Yes, Margot's in pants even though it's 90 degrees outside. Because she has fallen on the same knee three days in a row and OOOOOOF does it look awful.