Baby Wearing Babies

Our favorite game right now?  Well besides "You be the bear" is "I need a baby carrier/dog carrier." 

Take one scarf and baby doll and voila! Instant baby carrier. 

Or puppy carrier.

Right now I'm gearing up for my kid-free VACATION to Las Vegas! So Grandma and Bo, you had better brush up on your scarf tying skills!

Our Food Adventure

Recently we have begun to change the way we are eating.  We have cut out all processed foods, focusing on eating more vegetables and only whole grains.  I have to say, we all feel better and Mike and I have both lost a little weight in the four weeks we have done it.  Here are some of our favorite meals so far:

Farmer's market stiry fry with broccoli, yellow squash, carrots, cauliflower, shrimp and some kind of bean that I already forgot the name of!  With a little brown rice it was heaven!  The kids didn't love it, but they did pick out the veggies they liked and ate the brown rice.

I also made a homemade spaghetti sauce:  tomatoes from my garden and the farmer's market, onion, eggplant, basil and a little honey.  The kids ate it up with whole wheat spaghetti.

Meme, you laughed at me but we made Kale chips.  They were good.  Between the kids and I we ate an entire bunch of kale in one sitting.  Mike wasn't in love with them, but the batch that he tried was a little burned.

Ava helped to make (and eat) Kale chips.

Baby verdict:  kale chips get two thumbs up!

I think the biggest change for Mike was meatless dinners.  Although he prefers a dinner with meat, he has ate my meatless concoctions and enjoyed them.  Even the ones with onion, squash, and peppers!

Tonight I served salad (!) for dinner.  Mike ate it, and even said he liked it.  Later on, he told me "Wow, I'm really stuffed."  What a huge change from the man I met ten years ago who would eat 80+ wings in one sitting!   

I have to say there have also been major successes with the kids  Carter did eat some lettuce and avocado, but mainly picked the eggs out of his salad.  Then for dessert he asked for applesauce!  I'm so proud of that little boy!

It's been a learning process for me, because really I know very little about the actual act of cooking.  I know how to open a jar of spaghetti sauce and dump it over noodles, but I've never made a homemade sauce.  Or homemade granola.  Or homemade tortillas (they were to die for!)  On the downside:  I feel like I'm cooking/cleaning up the kitchen all the time.

Thank you, grandparents for putting up with this very non-grandchild centered post.

Memories

Carter is slowly becoming a little boy every day, but little things remind me that he is barely out of toddlerhood.  I want to hold onto these things as long as possible.  By becoming a big brother twice by the time he was three years old, he had to grow up quickly.  Here are some of those little things:

• instead of restaurant he says restaur-naut (like astronaut)
• instead of overcast he calls the weather cast-over
• At his soccer game he tries his hardest to stay in the pack of kids, but goes out of his way to avoid contact with the ball.  At one point Mike told him "If it was a snake that ball would have bit you!"

Poor Dawson Baby.  You have earned the unfortunate nickname of Doc-noxious (kind of like obnoxious, but with a doc.)  You have just been out of sorts for the past couple of days, fussing any time I set you down and refusing to eat.  You have also been running a temperature on and off, so there must be something going on.  Maybe those stinking teeth will finally make an appearance?  But the good news in all this is that your spitting up seems to be decreasing! It started a couple of days before we took you to the doctor, but we went anyway, just to be sure.  You are on prilosec now and while you are still spitting up, the amount and number of times during the day is definetely getting better.  Hooray!!  Maybe now I can finally wear a shirt all day without having to change or deal with the smell.

Ava, what a funny little creature you are.  Your favorite game to play right now is teachers.  You pretend to be Miss Gena and Carter pretends to be Miss Katie and you walk around bossing each other around.  You are definetely pushing all your boundaries to see what you can get away with right now.  You know the rules, such as drinking water between meals, but you still will push and push and push to see if you can get milk instead.  If Daddy is giving you a bath, you want Mommy.  If Mommy is helping you to the bathroom, you want Daddy.  You are one little fickle pickle!         

It was a great morning!

We had a great morning!  Dawson slept from 7 pm - 8 am.  Usually he wakes up at five for a bottle and then goes to sleep until 8.  Thank you so much little guy!  I found something important (my engagement ring) that I thought I had lost.  Turns out, I put it in a spot that was so safe I couldn't even remember it was there!  We found some good things at Jungle Jim's including an almond butter that was peanut free and sweetened only with honey, and some 100% whole grain pretzels (with no added sugars).  The kids loved them and couldn't get enough!  I love that place and the kids love all the singing Elvis dogs and campbell's soup cans!  We also looked at my favorite kid's resale shop and found some goodies including:  a christmas outfit for Dawson, jeans for Carter and Dawson and.........

A chicken costume for Dawson!  He was flapping his wings for us!

Ava was super excited for the Hello Kitty pajamas.  She has been asking for a hello kitty shirt for ages, and while I'm still pretty anti-character (I know Carter has spiderman and scooby doo shirts, they were moments of weakness) I figured pajamas can't hurt, right?

This kid is going to be a great dad one day, if only because he has a wonderful Dad of his own!

This kid is growing so fast!  I'm sad to say that his little baby mohawk is no longer.  This weekend he was still army crawling most of the time.  It was pretty funny because he would find a play knife in the kitchen and army crawl around with it.  He looked like a little army commando!  But, the days of army crawling are gone as well.  Yesterday and today he has firmly committed to crawling!

Dance Party

Four years old is such an awesome age because:

• We have caught Carter cleaning up his bedroom and the playroom.  We did not ask him at all, he choose to do it on his own!  I have been waiting for this day for ages.
• As you can see in the video, he is starting to listen to directions and follow them!  We haven't had a good dance party in a long time, but this was the first time I noticed him listening to the song and following the directions in the song.

Two years old is such an awesome age because:

• It is so much fun to watch Ava play with her baby dolls.  Lately we have to have her high chair at the dinner table so we can feed her dolls.  We have to have her baby doll bed right next to her crib so she can put her babies to bed.  She also loves to "read" books to Dawson.
• Daddy has always been Carter's idol, and I must say that I am Ava's idol.  She wants to be just like me!  It's so fun to have a little mini-me.

Nine months old is such an awesome age because:

• Full body snuggles.  There is nothing better than cuddling in the rocking chair with my baby before he goes to bed.  Carter and Ava are out of the cuddling stage, and I really miss it!
• Sweet little smiles as he is trying to figure the world out!  I love watching him explore.  Right now cabinets and drawers are insanely fascinating to him! 

Safety Fair

This weekend we went to the Safety Fair!  We have gone back every year for this, mainly because Mike the kids love seeing all the big fire trucks, ambulances, helicopters and army tanks.

Our Junior Firefighters

In front of the Brutus Fire truck.  We have two other pictures in front of this fire truck from previous years.  See?

Inside the ambulance

and the army tank

The helicopter landed SO CLOSE to us.  The wind was kicking up and it was really loud.

I can't believe the amount of wind it made!

We had to protect little eyes and faces.

Now we get to check out the helicopter with Meme!

Thankfully Bob Bob the baby whisperer was there to wrangle the littlest one.  If only Bob Bob would let him play with his glasses.......

Bob Bob can get him to sleep every time, even with the Macarena blaring, sirens roaring and people chatting.

We have such a fun time each year, and it was nice to be joined by Meme and Bob Bob this time.  At one point Meme looked at me and said "I think Mike enjoys looking at the big trucks more than the kids."  And you know what?  I think she is right.  In the car the first thing Mike said to me was "I love coming to the Safety Fair and seeing all the trucks."  So, I'm sure we'll be back next year! 

The trials and tribulations of being the third child

Today in the mad rush to get out the door to church, I set my mascara down on the bathroom counter and walked away.  Later I found Ava walking around with it and took it off her.  Then I went to get the baby dressed and this is what I found:

Cute baby, but he looks kind of mad dosen't he?

Luckily I don't wear waterproof mascara!

Then later, Dawson was crawling around in the playroom while Carter was playing with his cars.  Carter yelled for Mike and said "Put Dawson in the high chair.  He's ruining my world!"

Poor third child.  He may have to take a little abuse, but in reality he is one of the most loved little babies.  Brother and sister (generally) love and adore him!  It's much more common to see Ava hugging and kissing her little brother than covering him in mascara.

Phone Pics

Dawson's first ride in the wagon as a big boy!  I think he likes it!

Bunny Helmet Head

Dawson at church on Sunday.  I'm a sucker for a cute boy in a polo shirt.

The baby latches on this cabinet were installed incorrectly.  Dawson is the only baby that has figured this out, and is constantly in this cabinet pulling out my pots and pans.  So I have taken to taping the cabinet shut during the day.  But then the little stinker sits and tries to peel the tape off!  Maybe someone will fix the baby latches soon **hint hint**.

Today we made a chalk neighborhood on our driveway.  I couldn't keep this baby out of it!  Well, there goes the third outfit of the day!

Crazy Tuesdays

Tuesdays around here are nothing short of jam packed.  I wake up at six to shower and get ready before the kids get up.  Then at 7:30 the kids are awake and its breakfast, brush teeth and out the door.  We drop Carter off at preschool at 9, then head to Mighty Max at 9:45.  At 10:45 Mighty Max is over and we head back to preschool to pick up Carter at 11:30.  Then lunch, naps, play, dinner and then at 6:45 its soccer practice.  When the kids finally go to bed tonight at 8, I think I'm going to want to join them!

I also did the math today about car seat buckling/unbuckling.  Here it goes:

Load car at home                  3
Unload car at preschool       3
Load car at preschool          2
Unload at MM                        2
Load at MM                           2
Unload at preschool             2
Load at preschool                3
Unload at home                    3

For a grand total of .......... 20 TIMES!!!!!!

I could be a professional at this rate!

But here are some cute pictures of Ava and her friend Elliana (neighbor across the street)  who is also in her preschool class:

Ava did so well in preschool today.  She loved singing and dancing to all the songs, in fact I had to sing Open Them Shut Them about a hundred times since we left.  She was able to sit and follow directions well, and was able to name all the colors except red (which she called pink, no big suprise there!)  I think all those library story times have really served her well.  What a fun day we've had so far!  Poor little Dawson just gets to come along for the ride, but he did well hanging out in the stroller and playing in my lap.

1st Soccer Game

Today the Rangers had their first soccer game.  Carter had a blast chasing kids back and forth.  The team we played had obviously had plenty of experience, so they were pretty tough opponents.  But our kids had a blast, so that's all that mattered.

Rainy Day escapades

Heard Around the House

***Updated with two new stories.  Boy, this girl is on a roll today!*******



This morning Carter and Ava were jostling each other to get in the van first.  I was strapping the baby in the car seat and I heard Ava tell Carter  "Don't push me bro.  I'm a lady."

Sibling rivalry plus Daddy's lessons on how to be a gentleman plus Daddy's brotherhood of dudes = one funny little girl.


This evening at the dinner table we were talking with Carter about his day at preschool.  During a quiet pause Ava looked around and said "So, I want to go to preschool today."  Don't worry, silly girl you will get your wish next week when we go to Mighty Max.


I was helping Ava on the toliet and she started unrolling the toliet paper.  I stopped her and said please don't do that.  Later I started unrolling some toliet paper for her and she looked at me and said "That's despicable.  You go to time out."  I really have no idea where she got the word despicable from, I do not say that in my daily speech.  We have watched the movie Despicable Me but that was ages ago!

Hocking Hills - Part Deux

Rock Climbing 2011

Rock Climbing 2003

Family Photo 2011

Family Photo 2003

Conkle's Hollow

We also visited Conkle's Hollow this weekend at Hocking Hills.  Be prepared for a lot of pictures, it's such a beautiful place.  It's hard to believe there is anywhere is Ohio that looks like this!  It was a half a mile walk back to a little waterfall.  Carter boy walked the whole way!

Here is a picture of Dawson at the cabin.  It looks like he is giving a thumbs up!

First Day of School!

Carter started preschool this morning!  Despite our bumpy exit last year, he seemed excited and happy this morning to be going.  After a minor upset over

shoes, we made it to school. 

Carter and Ava on the bench outside school.

(Who would have ever guessed we would have needed coats on the first day of school?)

After school I let these two play in the muscle room for a bit.  They have a great tricycle that lets Carter pull Ava.  They both love it!

This is Carter doing his work job.

After school report:  he liked the hamster and playing with playdough.  The girls were making pizza, but he decided to make Texas Caviar instead!  They read The kissing Hand.  I asked him if he would like to call someone to tell them about his first day.  He picked Aunt Margie!  So they had a little conversation about preschool.  All in all, a good first day!