Reading Brothers

Today I was cleaning the bathroom so I asked Carter to play with his little brother.  After awhile I realized that Carter was "reading" his brother a story.  Of course it was Rudolph but he is Mike's son after all.  It is moments like these where I realized how much I love staying at home with my kids.  What a good big brother!  

Baby Sandwich

It's a Baby Sandwich!

Ava, don't smother your brother!

Carter, don't pull at his ears!

Carter?  Are you ok?

Aww.  Nice sweet smiles.  But sometimes I like the outtakes better!

Little Girl Pigtails

I love little girl pigtails.

And of course, I love this little girl.

Incohesive Drivel

• I asked Ava what animals she wanted to see at the zoo tomorrow.  Her response?  Angels and Cinderella
• Is everyone familiar with our spooky fur real kitty?  It's a stuffed animal cat that can purr, lick its fur, blink and roll to its side.  Well, Dawson is smitten with it.  Everytime he sees it he goes crazy flapping his arms, smiling, and generally trying to eat it.  Pretty funny to watch. 
• Carter is becoming too smart for his own good.  Today I told him that he had lost television and his after dinner treat for being disrespectful.  Fast forward to dinner time, he asked me "What's for dinner?"  I responded with "chicken."  He started to whine about how he dosen't want chicken every day.  Mike told him not to worry, because we had pork chops the previous night and spaghetti the night before that.  In fact, chicken is a special treat!  Carter looked at me and said "But Mommy I'm not allowed to have treats tonight."  Not even four and already turning my words against me.
• Ava is becoming quite the little conversationalist.  At dinner she looked at us and said "Nice day today, not raining."  It was so funny to hear her strike up a conversation with us about the weather.
• It has been wonderful to see Ava becoming such a little Mommy's girl.  Carter has always preferred his Daddy, and for awhile Ava did too.  But for whatever reason that has drastically changed, and now she asks for me when she is upset or sad.
• Luckily we are all on the upswing, Carter's spots are gone and nobody else has broken out. 
• Ava is doing really good with potty training.  While we were on vacation in Gettysburg she woke up one morning, asked to go to the restroom and refused to put a diaper back on.  I hadn't packed any underpants for her, so I put her in a pair of Carter's for the day.  She didn't have a single accident that day, so I bought some pull ups and just went with it.  Since we got back she has not been in a diaper a single day!  While she has had some accidents, they are getting fewer and further in between.  I can't believe it was this easy with her!

So those are some of the little moments in our life lately. 

Chicken Pox

Yup, we got them. 

Chicken Pox.

Not the end of the world, but certainly a big inconvenience.

Even though we have had the vaccine and typically it's a late winter/early spring virus, we still managed to contract it.  My kids are overachievers like that.

So far only Carter has it and all his spots have scabbed over today so we should be able to leave our quarantine tomorrow.  I just really hope Dawson dosen't get it.

Very easily the hardest hour of my life:  trying to entertain three kids in the doctor's office for an hour while we waited.  There was nothing in the exam room for the kids to play with. I had very little in my diaper bag because I really didn't think it would take that long.  Plus I had to wake Carter and Ava up out of bed to get there so they were cranky and hungry.

On clearance bib at target:  Star of Mommy's blog!

Although we all know who the real star is.

Last week before he broke out, Carter went to his very first dental appointment.  He did wonderfully.  Of course, it helped that our dentist's office has cable TV for everyone to watch while they get their teeth cleaned.  He zoned out watching Word World.  They also have massaging dental chairs!  I must say, I'm looking forward to getting my teeth cleaned in January, it almost felt like a little relaxing vacation!

Baby Food

I know it goes without saying, but I am smitten with this little guy.

FEED ME.

What a sweet boy.

Notice the cheerio stuck in the middle of his chest?

But speaking of baby food, we had a close call today at the grocery store.  I ran in for a few quick items and left him in the baby car seat in the middle of the shopping cart.  Naturally there is food piled up on either side of him.  My attention is being pulled in ten different directions when I suddenly look down and see Dawson with a bag of grapes in his lap.  He also has two fistfuls of grapes and obviously a mouth full of something.  I had to pry his jaws open to fish out a gigantic grape that was clearly a huge choking hazard.  He had the audacity to yell at me for taking away his yummy new snack.  I also had to pry grapes out of his hand.  He was not a happy baby.

Sudsy Situation

Meme, the kids loved the bath time soap finger paints.  We decided to do them in the baby pool.  I have had the bath crayons stain the grout in our bathroom, so outside we went.

Although next time we won't let them use all three paint cans in one day!