New Pictures

Here are the pictures of the kids that we had done this weekend. Getting a picture of both kids looking at the camera and smiling at the same time has proved to be my own personal Mission: Impossible. I still dream that someday it will happen! Until then, we're getting some funny ones that I'll treasure anyway. So without further ado.....the kids. Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to flip a couple of the pictures!

Eeeek!

I went for a haircut today, which included the obligatory eyebrow waxing. A necessary, but painful evil. I noticed that she got a little wax on my eyebrow, but I thought she just wiped it off. I didn't notice the problem until a couple of hours later when I was standing next to Carter in the bathroom while he was washing his hands. I looked in the mirror and thought, "Hmm. Something looks funny." Well, of course, you would look funny too if a big chunk of your left eyebrow was missing. Oh yes. The stray wax apparently took part of my eyebrow with it. At least my hair typically covers the bare spot. We'll just keep our fingers crossed that it grows back. The odd part is that she didn't tell me what she did. Did she think I just wouldn't notice the deviant eyebrow? I just don't know. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. Eyebrows, that is.

We took Carter and Maggie to the Lion's Club Kiddie Carnival tonight. Aunt Birdie went with us. Obviously, Maggie doesn't ride rides, but her big brother makes up for it. He'll ride anything we'll let him on. Then he waves at everyone while he's riding. He doesn't care if he knows you or not, he's going to wave. And if the Lion's Club worker was close enough, he'd give them a high five on each and every revolution of the ride. Tonight he rode the swings, the cars, the rockets, the parachutes, and the roller coaster. At fifty cents a ride, I'd say that was $2.50 wisely spent for a night of entertainment.

Ashes

Last night we had some friends over to eat dinner. The great thing about my husband is that if you let him grill out, he will handle the entire meal. And we're not talking simple burgers. If you tell him he can experiment, you often get steaks and seafood with gourmet sauces. So for Father's Day, I got Seth some cedar planks so he could make cedar plank salmon. Last night, that's what he was going to make. He soaked the planks for a couple of hours like he was supposed to. Then it called for him to preheat the planks on the grill for a few minutes before he put the meat on. Well, the planks had been on the grill no more than five minutes when our friend came running in to grab a cup of water. Apparently, the planks were on fire and flaming nicely. Seth thought that they might still be salvageable until they threw the water on them and they disintegrated. Guess you can't cook salmon on ashes!

Anyway, the salmon still turned out wonderfully. It had a garlic lime sauce that was delicious. Then he did a grilled asparagus with a red wine vinaigrette sauce. For dessert, we had grilled pineapple skewers. Yummy! And the best part is that when Seth grills out, he cleans up, too! I put the dishes in the dishwasher, and he did the rest. What a great night! Good food, good company, and a clean kitchen! The only thing I'd change is that we'll soak the cedar planks a little better next time!

I Know, I'm Slacking on the Blog!

Long time no blog, huh? I have to admit that lately, by the time I get the kids settled into bed, I just don't have much energy left to write. I've been doing some knitting, but I learned the hard way that I shouldn't knit past 9:00 or I start making big mistakes. I had to take out a huge section of a dress that I was making for Maggie. I think my brain just shuts down at night.

Anyway, enough about me. Onto the kids. We're going to Vacation Bible School at church this week. I'm the snack hostess, so Maggie stays with me and helps me replenish the snacks. Carter spends most of the morning playing in his classroom, but I take him to opening and closing assembly for singing and dancing. And boy does he dance. He flaps his arms like a bird and runs up and down the aisle laughing and shrieking. The child is a dancing fool. I've had several people tell me I should bring a video camera to record him. Maybe I will tomorrow.

Carter's latest thing is wanting to know the name and everyone and everything that he comes across. It's constantly, "Who's dat, Mommy? What's dat, Mommy?" I'm glad he's curious, but it's really embarrassing when he asks who someone is, and I can't think of their name. I try to cover it up with a "Why don't you ask him/her?" Like I think it will just be fun for him to get to ask. You think people are onto me? Probably so.

Maggie is doing great. She's sleeping from about 8:00 p.m. until between 5:00 and 6:00 the next morning. She's starting to get pretty good at sitting up. In the Boppy pillow, she can sit and play for quite a while, and she's getting better and better at keeping her balance without it. She's eating solid food now and loving it. She actually attacks the spoon to get the food. She kind of starts chewing on her way to the spoon like she's trying to get ready for the food. It's really cute.

Well, it's 9:00, and I've already established that my brain shuts down at about this time, so I better quit for now. No telling what I'll type if I don't. I'll try to update more often and post some new pictures soon.

Yuk!

I had to reach into the bottom of the toilet yesterday. I had just put Carter on the potty. He insists on sitting backwards on the potty these days. He was holding a toy car in each hand, and I said, "Carter, be careful not to drop your car....." plop...."in the potty." Awww, not in the potty! The look on his little face was pitiful. "Yellow car in potty, Momma." And there it was, way down in the bottom of the potty - the yellow toy car.

Of course, Seth had magically disappeared as soon as this happened. How do they know to do that? So, I went to the kitchen to look for something to use in my fishing expedition, all the while yelling, "Don't flush the potty, Carter!!" Luckily, the shock of dropping a much-loved toy down the toilet was enough to quell his typically insatiable desire to flush. I came back with a long handled plastic spoon, but unfortunately, it didn't work. I never realized how sharp the angle is at the bottom of a commode. I could have lived without learning that one. Anyway, there was nothing that would do the trick in helping me retrieve the deviant car, so I had to bite the bullet and reach in. Once the car was safe and sound, Seth reappeared. When I told him that I had just had to reach into the toilet, his answer was that research shows that toilet water is cleaner than sink water. "Had a 2-year-old peed in it in this study?" I asked. Hmmm. Probably not. "Urine is sterile, you know," he tells me. Fine. I'll be sure to let him reach into the potty next time.

Carter's newest thing is announcing that he wants to go to a party. In Carter-speak, this sounds like, "I want to potty." So I have to ask him, "Do you need to tee-tee or do you want to go to a party?" Usually, it's a party. And he's decided that Julie's house is the place to party. He's also decided that there must always be cake at Julie's house, since he's had it there once. He makes plans for his parties. He says there will be cake, cookies, singing, dancing, and that we'll play trains. Sounds like fun to me.

Maggie is eating cereal now and loving every bite. She actually attacks the spoon. I have to try to hold her hands back so she doesn't pull the spoon away from me. Then she lunges at it with her mouth and gnaws on the spoon until I can wiggle it out. She's such a cutie pie!

Well, that's it for tonight. Hope you all have a good Memorial Day tomorrow.

A New Kind of Cool

I was driving down the road today with the kids in the car. Carter has a new obsession with having the wind in his face as we ride, so we had the sunroof open, the windows down, and the radio blaring - to the Blue's Clues soundtrack. Oh yes, I'm driving through town singing at the top of my lungs, "You've got to find the first paw print. That's the first clue. You put it in your notebook, cause it's whose clues - Blue's Clues!" It was at this point that I realized that I am now longer cool (if I ever was to begin with!). Then I looked back at Carter's face. He was smiling and laughing and singing along with me. To him, it's cool to drive down the street serenading passersby with music about a blue cartoon dog. Funny, the things that would have been embarrassing a few years ago are cool now, just because they make my kids smile.

Anyway, it's been a while since I've blogged. Things have been busy around here. Carter's out of preschool for the summer, so we've been having fun at home together. He loves to paint, glue, color - anything artistic. He's also grown quite fond of the park. He requests to go almost daily. Usually when Seth gets home from work, he takes Carter out to the swing set in the back yard to play. Last night I looked out the window, and Seth was working diligently on the slide. I yelled out to him, "Dear, it looks like you're waxing the slide. You're not, are you?" He looked up with a gleam in his eye, "Oh yeah, I am." Apparently, it had gotten a bit to slow for his taste, so he waxed it. Two coats. Now Carter goes flying down the slide, off the end of it, and straight into the grass. He, of course, loves it. Seth says he's putting another coat of wax on. At least Seth can sew him up when he needs stitches.

Carter continues to keep us entertained. He has a toy truck that he has decided is Birdie and Kevin's truck (these are two very good friends of ours). Not only does he have their truck, but he puts two crayons in the back of it - they're named Birdie and Kevin. He drives the truck all around the house announcing, "Birdie and Kevin are going to work. Birdie and Kevin are shopping. Birdie and Kevin are home." It's really cute. This morning, Carter was playing in his room and I kept thinking that I was hearing him say applesauce. This didn't make any sense to me. Then I looked down and realized what he was playing with - an abacus! Seth teaches him the oddest words! He also loves to talk about terrariums.

Maggie is doing great. She's rolling all over the place now. She gets her eye on something across the room, and off she goes, rolling until she gets to it and grabs it. She LOVES her big brother. Her face just lights up every time he talks to her. And she's a wonderful sleeper! Last night I put her to bed at 8:30 and she didn't wake up until 6:00 the next morning! We're so lucky! Well, that's about it for us. I'm going to finish watching the Dancing With the Stars finale. I'll try to do better with updating!

Who Needs a Pacifier?

Miss Maggie has found something even better - her toes!!

This is one of my absolute favorite stages of babyhood. She will just lay there and eat her toes forever! And she's gotten so active! I sitting here watching her play in her play gym. She reaches for toys, then kicks toys, then rolls to get to a new toy - all the while stopping to munch on her toes every few minutes, of course. She's a very happy, busy girl.

We got a new addition to our kitchen this week - the Learning Tower. It's a wooden platform that Carter can stand on to do things at the kitchen counter. He's been standing on it painting with water for most of the day.

When he got tired of painting, I let him "cook." I gave him some dry pasta and some bowls and spoons, which was good for another hour of entertainment. I'm thinking this was a good investment.

In other Carter news, last week was his last week of mother's day out for the summer. He's really going to miss it - he loved going to play, and he loved his teachers. We're organizing a weekly playgroup for the summer, though. The first week will be at our house. We're doing bubbles and sprinklers this Friday.

Carter has also started this fantastic run that he does around the house when he has no shirt on. He runs full speed around the house, slapping his belly and laughing hysterically. We've got to catch it on video - it is really, really funny. Also, Carter has a new found love for Maggie's exersaucer. He climbs into it and sits and plays, referring to himself as Baby Carter. "Baby Carter's playing exersaucer, Mommy!" Then he points at things across the room and asks me to bring them to him in the exersaucer. I'm thinking, "Hmm. At least I know where he is and what he's up to for a while." The funny thing is that his little legs probably fit in the holes better now than they did when he was a baby. He was such a chunk, and he's thinned down so much! Leaving you tonight with a sweet picture of Carter and Daddy that I took right before bedtime tonight. You think Daddy's crazy about his little buddy? Carter's pretty wild about Daddy, too!