Sorry I got way behind in September! Just starting up again. We have about a million fall books (compliments mostly from Nana!) so thought you would like to see a few seasonal books you might enjoy!
Makin's current fall favorite. (Great for his age!!!)
Duck and Goose Find A Pumpkin
PRESCHOOLERS WILL CHEER the return of Duck and Goose in their fourth
board book appearance. This time, Duck and Goose are looking for the
perfect pumpkin. Is it in the log? Is it under the leaves? Is it in the
apple tree? Young children will surely enjoy going on a pumpkin hunt
with Duck and Goose . . . especially when they find the perfect pumpkin
at the end!
He gets a book every time he fills up a train car (6 stickers, and thankful for my consignment sale stash of books). Then after he fills the whole train OR is completely potty trained AKA we may add more cars if needed (I have stipulated this, not sure if that is enough train cars for a brand-new-two-year-old!) we get a family trip to Chuck E Cheese!
Lorelei is completely adorable encouraging him on this potty journey. :)
"You are potty trainin' Makin!"
"You are the best boy in the whole world"
"We get to go to Chuck E Cheese! He will run up and hug you!"
"Big sisters cheer for their brothers."
"Which sticker you want Makin?"
This week we have spent a lot of time at home...partially because all of our usual play-date buddies are busy with birthday party plans and moving and partially because it is still pretty hot. (PLUS there are signs at the parks reminding us the mosquitoes here have the West Nile virus!)
While I love our time at home, I usually get stir crazy. I have had fall
crafts and goodies planned since probably July. Thanks to Pinterest, I
had to make an entire kid's fall craft schedule (three crafts a week) in
order to fit it all in...(same thing with goodies, but not quite so
many a week) so we had plenty to keep us busy during our home time.
A couple more keeping busy activities...Brad and the kids enjoyed some time with the dry erase boards in the morning before he left for work. They love, LOVE these. :)
Another time (I think I was baking/cooking) we tried out some of our new shape activities. (Yay for educational consignment sale finds!)
Every morning, since its still fairly cool then, we get lots of swing
and sandbox time. I'm usually prying them away on school mornings.
On the school note, Lorelei and Brad worked on a project for Thursday. Brad built most of the boat, Lorelei constructed the sail on her own with an envelope and tape, then painted it with lots of colors, including glitter glue! She had a ton of fun (I had a ton of messes to clean up) and loved sailing her boat in a kiddie pool at school Thursday. I hear more and more "teacher talk" every day (one of my favs, "Let me put my thinking cap on.") and she loves to play teacher, especially to Makin. The only down side was we have had a few more epic melt downs AFTER school. According to her report she is taking a nap, but she cries and talks as if she has not gotten a nap. Kinda expected this on the first week of school, but kicking in on week three (??) seems a bit odd. Anyway, hoping the "after school blahs" go away because our girl is not-so-sweet lately! :)
We also made some amazing playdough this week...maybe more on another post! No pics yet! :)
We were those crazy parents again this year, waking their kids up before 5 AM to head out to the Plano Balloon Festival. The kids were SO looking forward to it. Just love having both of them at the age where they get super-excited about things. Needless to say they were both up with a jolt as soon as we woke them up at told them where we were heading!
Lorelei ran outside as we were getting at the car and was so pumped that it was still dark out. She was commenting about how excited she was to see the stars and followed with, "This is awesome!!!" :)
And since it was the first day of fall, we brought pumpkin cinnamon
rolls and stopped at Starbucks at around 5:40 AM on the way there for
our fall drinks. :)
Because of weather conditions...(don't as me what...the wind or something like that) we only had a two-balloon glow. Better than last year, but still not the full amount we are looking forward to seeing! We are leaning towards going to one in the evening next year and see how we like that. Was still neat to see, though. :)
Just love the look of awe on the kids faces as they watched them air up the balloons, and then the balloons going up above our heads! :) When the sun came out Makin immediately said, "Eyes! Eyes!" and thankfully I thought that may happen and brought along his sunglasses. :) As they were airing up the bumblebee balloon it looked like the bee was laying on its side. Makin said, "Shhhh. Shhhh. Sleep."
Our wagon's first outing. :)
After all the balloons had taken off, we ventured over to the free arts and crafts tent where the kids made a few crafts. They also loved that there was a tent set up with musical instruments for them to play. Big fans of the xylophone and drums. :) We were a bit dissapointed after waiting around for an hour in order for the kids to be able to go inside a balloon on the ground like last year, but they didn't seem to be setting it up! Hopefully another year! :) Overall it was a wonderful family morning! :)
We were so glad to spend Sunday with the family.
We all went to church, followed by lunch out at Prairie House. The kids got lots of time on the old tractors outside while waiting and after eating. :) Then Heather and A.J. had to hit the road for A.J. to get back in time for a meeting. Mom and Dad did get to stay the rest of the day thankfully! Mom even took the kids for a ride in their new stylish and dependable John Deere wagon! :)
As usual, I made way too much food, so we enjoyed left over brisket sandwhiches for supper out on the patio. Great vegging evening after our busy day before! :)
Back in the winter around February or March I came up with the idea to do a farm party for the kids. I don't want to do joint parties all the time, but for the time being, they are fine with it, and we will just have a mix of joint/individual parties for years to come I'm sure, depending on what they would like. But this year, the farm idea was perfect!
Texans are big on birthday parties. The whole "everything's bigger in Texas" definitely includes birthdays. It is amazing to look around on Saturdays and see how many backyards have rented a blow up bounce house for a party! :) Needless to say, there were quite a few options for a petting zoo. This was key for me, since we have two animal lovers and wanted to do something extra-special for a shared party.
Probably the biggest undertaking was the bandana banners we made to decorate. No crepe paper or balloons this year! I saw the idea in a pamphlet at Hobby Lobby and Brad tolerated and helped me with my crazy decorating plan. We loved how it looked in the end. And extra-thankful to A.J. for helping Brad hang them! Also loved our goodie bags...another Brad and Elizabeth evening project. :)
And the super-cute shirts were from Amanda and John who had them specially made for them for their party. :)
One of the most exciting things about the party was the people who came! We loved having my entire family here for the big day, (and added bonus, they brought hay bales among a lot of other amazing props/decorations and extra helping hands!) as well as Amanda, John and Sydney. And of course our special "locals" who love our kids so much. All of them coming together was so much fun. We are blessed with amazing, AMAZING people who love our family.
I should also mention a few days before the party...I was panicking and needing lots of prayers. Not only was there a 50% chance of rain on Saturday, but also Makin got sick on Thursday! I was so worried that Lorelei would get sick etc. Amazingly the rain chance went down to 10% (and not a drop came down on Saturday) and Makin was fine Friday morning and no one else got the bug!!!
The kids had been hearing about the party for months and were so excited it was finally here. Their reactions as they were watching the animals walking into the backyard were priceless! :) Let the fun begin!
The first hour was the petting zoo. There were approxamitly 20 animals. A mini cow and horse, a sheep, bunnies, chickens, ducks, goats, pigs and a not-so-slow-moving turtle. The kids loved feeding the animals romaine lettuce and carrots. They also got a chance to hold some if they wanted. The last three who stayed in the pen the entire hour (aka the ULTIMATE animal lovers) were Lorelei, Alysa and Morgan. :)
Then we played a few games. Pin The Tail On The Cow, which only Lorelei and Kaitlyn were interested in... :) Duck, Duck, Goose, and Dance and Freeze (to a techno version of Old McDonald of course). And to throw in my little educational moment, we had two bins of soil along with toy fruits and veggies as well as tractors so they could get a glimpse at what farmers do!
And Aunt Heather was our amazing face painter!!!
Then of course was the food, followed by cake and ice cream. For the cakes, I decided to do tractors, that way each child could have their own cake, but it looked different as well. Growing up I always asked my dad if we could paint our tractor pink, since he had two daughters driving it! Well, I never got my pink tractor, but made sure Lorelei at least got a pink tractor cake. ;) And we sang to each child separately. :)
Some Nana and Papa Moments
My Favorite Cheesin' It Pics
Lorelei's favorite part of the day: "Petting and feeding the animals."
Makin's favorite part of the day: "Cake."
It was completely wonderful and seemed to go by in a flash. Had so much fun celebrating our kiddos! :)
Our baby is two! Can't say it enough...cannot believe it! Yet he already feels very "two" to me, so somehow its sinking in pretty well.
Makin - You bring such a joy to our family every day. You are goofy, sweet, affectionate, fast, energetic, and always ready with a big smile. Cannot wait to spend another year with a very talkative YOU. :)
He is talking so well I'm amazed. Does it need some translating? Sure. What two-year-old doesn't? :) I am loving seeing more and more of his personality.
I have been jotting down notes for months...so bear with me. :)
Everything is "Mef!" (myself) or "Me!"
If anything goes wrong he gives a deep-throat-ed "Aaaawwweeee."
He will excitedly say, "yick" (lick) if Lorelei or himself is pretending to be an animal or if an actual animal licks him.
He will shush you. Put his finger up to his mouth and go, "Fffffff!" Especially if a Little Person is sleeping.
Potty news...I have been scared to mention it, but this boy is probably ready to be potty trained! He loves to go in the big potty. Will go every night before bath and other times as well. He has even told me when we are out places occasionally and we have had to make a trip to a public bathroom. I'm not quite ready for this one, so no sticker chart yet...but a in a few weeks we will see what happens. We HAVE switched to pull ups! Step in the right direction. :) We shall see.
He loves, LOVES trains. :) "Nain!" Is still how he says it.
Loves, LOVES golf. Will ask to play that outside most days and wants to use real-looking clubs. That plastic stuff's for babies. ;)
If he needs help we hear, "Hop! Hop!"
Lorelei is, "Eeeelah!" :)
He has a few neat-freak/OCD tendencies. :) He will point to things and say, "Mef" (Mess), wants all doors closed all the time and will close you into the pantry if you aren't careful (and all the way closed, not even a crack allowed!), and is adamant about asking for the lights to be on if he thinks they should be.
If he eats a banana, it must be cut into small circles, which he will tell you in the cutest little voice and gesture the circle shape with his hand.
He loves having the power of choice and to change his mind and flexes that as much as possible.
When you ask him a question you will often hear, "Ummm" before the answer.
If you say "ow" he will say, "K? K?" until you tell him you are okay.
He sings/hums along with me when I sing to him before nap/bed. He also likes to sing in the car. Definitely our music kid.
He is great about playing by himself. Still has a go-with-the-flow mentality. (MOST of the time...he is two after all.) Brad and I joke that if Makin had been our first child we would have been those parents that think they know everything.
He will fight you to the death over not sitting in his booster seat. This is almost a daily argument, but he seems to grasp that a few things (namely cereal and yogurt) are just too messy not to be in his booster. The rest he gets to sit where he can barely see the table. ;)
He will instruct you to cut most things in "haf."
He has an amazing memory. I am in disbelief of what he is already retaining. He knows his colors very well, can point to almost all of them when asked and can tell you the names of a few. He seems to know the circle shape, and will also help you count to ten pretty well. He also seems to know a handful of letters and is obsessed with me writing his name on every sheet of paper he is coloring on.
And speaking of colors...he is obsessed with the color green. "Neen" to be exact. It is now a given in our household that if there is a green plate/bowl/cup it will be his. Even Lorelei knows this. He has put up a few arguments when I am out of a green sippy cup, but no epic meltdowns yet. But does he have a favorite color? Without a doubt.
When we are stopped at a red light he will yell, "Mo! Mo! Mo!" (Go!, Go!, Go!) And along those same lines, he will also show you the stop sign and tell you that it is a stop sign and means stop.
A few food tendencies...he prefers shell noodles. Because they can be hats. Will refuse to eat other noodles sometimes. :) He is still drinking a crazy amount of milk. He prefers mostly snack foods like crackers (and Ritz must have cream cheese spread on them, if you are out, you can substitute butter but they need something on them. ;) ) and loves yogurt, grapes and raisins. He is really not big on meat. At all. He is even getting over liking hotdogs.
He loves his car blanket. He doesn't need it out of the bed, but its the only one he wants us to use for him.
A couple of cute stories -
We were looking for something (my guess is a train?) and I said, "Where did you have it last?" and his response was, "Hand." :)
We went into a local farm store to get bedding for the guinea pig and had to wait a bit for the owner to get off the phone. As Makin looked around he saw several deer heads mounted on the walls...he kept pointing to them saying, "Beebee!" (Bambi)
When I look back at videos of Lorelei two years ago I cannot believe how much she has changed, especially when it comes to talking. So, wanted to catch Makin in a few videos at this age to easily see just what he was like when he turned two.
He still calls Brad "Ni Nine" and we joke that trying to get him to say "Daddy" is like trying to teach Joey French. Had to put a couple of videos together for that...
And a couple more videos...
Okay sorry so long but doing a 2 year interview post just in case I print them into a book someday. Some of them a repeat of info.
Makin's 2 Year Interview
*answered himself
Favorites -
Food: "Wawak" (yogurt)*
Place: park*
Show: Doc McStuffins*
Color: Green
Thing To Do: park*
Animal: giraffe*
Books: Any with trains and trucks are favorites
Song: I'd Like To Visit The Moon
Treat: cookies!
Holiday: any day that mom lets me have aforementioned cookies! ;)
What do you like to do with Daddy? golf*
What do you like to do with Mommy? cars*
What do you like to do with Lorelei? anything and everything...especially when it involves us running around like crazy people
What makes you happy? my family, play time
What do you think about before you fall asleep? :) probably trucks and trains! :)
What do you want to be when you grow up? Professional golfer and when I retire from that I'll go into the medical field. ;)
Why? His colors of course. White for marshmallow, dark brown for chocolate and tan for graham cracker.
My thoughts so far:
He seems to be just as much work as a dog.
He LOVES to sit on Lorelei's lap and cuddle. He will sit perfectly fine for her and she loves to watch a show with him on her lap, and if she has already watched her shows for the day, requests me to read to her while she holds him.
He loves people food. (Only the healthy stuff for him. Apples and carrots seem to be major hits.)
He pees on my floor EVERY SINGLE TIME we let him run around in his "pen" of giant Legos.
My kids love having a pet, and I'm very happy for them. And at least I'm not having to scoop up his poop from my neighbor's yard. Or vacume up hair every day. :)
We had a fun day planned for Makin and just love having a day all about him.
Our big surprise for him was a new train table! He is in love. Every morning since his birthday he says his version of "table" as if he cannot believe it is still here. Now just have to get it moved to his bedroom and get some more tracks. :)
(P.S. I would think it goes without saying that this money-wise Mom got everything trains on clist and consignment for a steal right? :) )
Lorelei has been adamant that Makin needed a piggy bank. (Like mentioned it anytime we went shopping for 6+ months now.) So, she gave him one for his birthday.
Of course, birthday not complete without Mickey pancakes. Lorelei leaned over and gave him a hug and said, "You're the best little boy in the whole world."
He requested golf for his birthday. (And no his dad had nothing to do with it! The kids a natural!) We had decided quite a while ago that it would be more fun for Makin to golf in the backyard rather than head to a mini-golf course. He would rather hit it all over whenever he wanted than to follow the "rules" of a course at this age. I was elated to stumble upon a little mini golf set at a consignment sale on Friday! :) We had it all set up and when he was eventually pried away from his train table, they enjoyed the mini golf course. (Minus the fact the wind kept blowing them over, but we were so thankful for the cool front we were not mad about the wind!) It was an absolutely gorgeous day so we loved our outside time. Makin did the most adorable "victory dance" Brad and I have ever seen when making one of his "puts." Wish we could have caught it on video, but it was completely priceless. Just wanted to note it to remember the moment. :)
We also headed to Kroger for him to pick out his cupcake, which then they had after nap that day. (Giving the sugar buzz a little more time to wear off before bed. ;) ) He picked the Oreo Cookie cupcake. Yummy! I cannot say it enough, just cherish that look when they are being sung to. :)
I have been meaning to share some of Lorelei's artwork on here for a bit and was waiting to put a few pieces together. I love watching how much she enjoys it and how it has changed through the years! :) And what I love the most is that she is now starting to tell me stories about her pictures! :)
The bottom right is a chalk drawing. This is how she has started to draw pictures of people. We all look a bit Mr. Potato Head-ish. :) Love it.
The left picture of the tree...in case you can't tell, is a chocolate tree of course. She asked me to draw her a Christmas tree and then she colored it in. As she colored in brown, she told me that it was a chocolate tree that people can pick chocolate from. She then drew some lines up to the tree, which, of course, are the ladder for people to climb to pick their chocolate.
The top right picture is a bit of fun sketching. Grandma got her a sketch pad and having a pencil was a whole new world for her! The most "human looking" one is me with my new hair cut. :) Then she started to tell quite a story I had to jot down as she was drawing. "This is snow. All that white stuff. It was cold out there so you put on your mittens. Then we saw a big bear. Then we ran as fast as we could run. When we saw it, Makin was over there, then the dragon took him. Then the dinosaur and daddy were friends. He's not naughty right now!"
:) Changed from a bear to a dragon to a dinosaur, but love these stories!
Thursday was another great day at school. All good reports from teacher and student. One chuckle I got was when I saw her "friends" basket outside the classroom. Tuesday I asked her if her friends name was L...something, whatever the teacher told me. She said, "No, it's Bunny." I told her she must have misunderstood. Thursday I couldn't believe it when "Bunny" was written on the little girl's basket. Apparently her family calls her Bunny instead of her actual name, which was on the name tag! Guess Miss L is a better listener than I thought!
And her first teacher trait she has picked up on? "Mom, you should clap for us to listen, instead of send us to our room." :) And boy the one time I tried it she got quiet with eyes wide, ready to listen. Guess it may just work! :)
She also had her first homework assignment, which was right up her alley. To draw a picture for each day of creation in a booklet they sent home. She did great!
Lorelei is completely adorable encouraging him on this potty journey. :)
On the school note, Lorelei and Brad worked on a project for Thursday. Brad built most of the boat, Lorelei constructed the sail on her own with an envelope and tape, then painted it with lots of colors, including glitter glue! She had a ton of fun (I had a ton of messes to clean up) and loved sailing her boat in a kiddie pool at school Thursday. I hear more and more "teacher talk" every day (one of my favs, "Let me put my thinking cap on.") and she loves to play teacher, especially to Makin. The only down side was we have had a few more epic melt downs AFTER school. According to her report she is taking a nap, but she cries and talks as if she has not gotten a nap. Kinda expected this on the first week of school, but kicking in on week three (??) seems a bit odd. Anyway, hoping the "after school blahs" go away because our girl is not-so-sweet lately! :)
The kids had been hearing about the party for months and were so excited it was finally here. Their reactions as they were watching the animals walking into the backyard were priceless! :) Let the fun begin!
The first hour was the petting zoo. There were approxamitly 20 animals. A mini cow and horse, a sheep, bunnies, chickens, ducks, goats, pigs and a not-so-slow-moving turtle. The kids loved feeding the animals romaine lettuce and carrots. They also got a chance to hold some if they wanted. The last three who stayed in the pen the entire hour (aka the ULTIMATE animal lovers) were Lorelei, Alysa and Morgan. :)
Our baby is two! Can't say it enough...cannot believe it! Yet he already feels very "two" to me, so somehow its sinking in pretty well.
He will excitedly say, "yick" (lick) if Lorelei or himself is pretending to be an animal or if an actual animal licks him.
He loves, LOVES trains. :) "Nain!" Is still how he says it.
He loves having the power of choice and to change his mind and flexes that as much as possible.
We had a fun day planned for Makin and just love having a day all about him.
Lorelei has been adamant that Makin needed a piggy bank. (Like mentioned it anytime we went shopping for 6+ months now.) So, she gave him one for his birthday.
Thursday was another great day at school. All good reports from teacher and student. One chuckle I got was when I saw her "friends" basket outside the classroom. Tuesday I asked her if her friends name was L...something, whatever the teacher told me. She said, "No, it's Bunny." I told her she must have misunderstood. Thursday I couldn't believe it when "Bunny" was written on the little girl's basket. Apparently her family calls her Bunny instead of her actual name, which was on the name tag! Guess Miss L is a better listener than I thought!
