"Are they chompy?"
Luke (in the kitchen): "What is that, Mommy?"
Me: "Pomegranite seeds. Would you like one?"
Luke: "Yes, please. Are they chompy?"
Me: "What?"
Luke: "Chompy." (Like it's an obvious word/description.)
Me. "What do you mean?"
Luke: "Chompy." (Chomping his teeth together.)
Me: "Ah, like crunchy? Yes."
XOXO
Right-Side Up Matching
So we got this Marvel Superhero matching game a few months ago, and playing with it is currently one of the kids' favorite things to do.
We usually do "right-side up matching," where the tiles are placed face up, vs "upside-down matching," which is harder. We also usually do "big matching" these days, meaning all 100 or so tiles get laid out. One kid gets the top of the box to put their pairs in, the other the bottom. They take turns, in theory, but the game usually goes more like this:
Me: "OK, Luke, it's your turn to go first."
Luke: "OK! Here is one! It's Spiderman! Sissy, can you help me find a matching?" (After which both kids scan the tiles until one or the other finds a match.)
Sis (if she's the one to find a match, handing it to her brother): "Here you go, Bubs!"
Luke (taking the tile and putting the pair in his box): "Thanks!"
Me: "OK, Zo, your turn."
Zo: "Hulk! Luke, can you help me find a matching one?"
Luke: "Yes I can!" (After which both kids scan, etc.)
A full game takes about 15 minutes. Usually they go through one full round, get distracted by something else in the middle of the second.
Doesn't get any more fun than right-side up matching.
XO
Sissy and Bubs Help With Remodeling
We're doing a little work on the house again...the big thing being a plan for new carpet in the bedrooms (a pretty gray instead of the snow white that we have now, which is filthy), so my husband has started prepping for that...we have these weird carpet baseboards that are coming off as part of that prep. Luke and Zo have a little box of plastic tools that they love to get out when Daddy is working on something. He's so good about letting them "help" him, as well.
Happy Monday!
XO
Dogsloppers
Sis: "What do you have in your hand, Mommy?"
Me: "Gobstoppers. From your Halloween candy."
Sis: "Can I have one?"
Me: "Nope. They're not for children under 3. Are you under 3?"
Sis: "Yes, I am. OK Mommy, you eat my dogsloppers."
XOXO
Library Books We Love, November 2014
Some books we've been loving lately:
- Too Tall House--Rabbit and Owl building their houses bigger and bigger in competition with each other...love the illustrations in this one...
- Building Our House--Funny how our pile of books can seem to have a theme, even though selected at random. Love, love, love this book, about a family that leaves the city and over a couple years builds a house from scratch in the country. We re-checked this out today, as my mom is coming to visit, and I think she'll love it, too
- The Day the Crayons Quit--This is a very popular book right now, I see it everywhere, and often I hate those kinds of books but this is funny and delightful and such fun to read out loud. The ending is so great, as well
- Count the Monkeys--An uninspiring title, but this book is not about counting monkeys at all, it's about what happens to scare the monkeys away, and trying to get them back so that you can count them. This book is so funny and so fun to read out loud, as well...I like this book better than I've liked any in a long time...
- Punk Farm on Tour--My husband picked this out, about a barnyard full of animals that hop in a van and go on tour while their owner is at a tractor convention in Reno. I love all the little details of these animals being rock stars, and all the different kinds of animals that show up at their concerts in different parts of the country (deer in Maine, flamingos in Florida, etc.) Luke specifically asked that we re-check this out this morning
- Ollie and Claire--Best friends, one of whom answers an ad to go travel the world thinking the other would never do that, but when they show up to start the trip--surprise, it's the two of them together
- The Little Prince--We only read a few pages of this...I think the kids are a little young for it...but the first few pages were really good. Will definitely revisit in the future...
- Kisses From Rosa and When Aunt Mattie Got Her Wings--These are by one of our favorite authors, Petra Mathers, and both tackle really serious subjects...the first a girl having to be away from her mother, who is sick, and the second a beloved aunt dying...the books aren't heavy or sad, though, just smart and sweet and sensitive
We got a big new batch of books today. And I think we've found a new story hour we like, better for them as they get older...
XOXO
Kid Cuteness, November 4, 2014
Me: "Sis, why are you crying?"
Sis: "Bubs bit me!"
Luke (in explanation): "I'm a shark and Sissy is a seal! We are both sharks and we are eating seals!"
(This on the heels of a very graphic children's book about sharks.)
(That my husband picked out at the library, I might add.)
Me (trying not to laugh): "Well, let's just PRETEND to eat seals from now on, OK?"
Sis (hugging her Daddy's legs and trying to look as cute as humanly possible): "Daddy, don't go to work! Stay here with meeeeeee!"
Me to Luke (in the wake of a lot of racket): "What are you guys doing?"
Luke: "We're 'cock-a-doodle-doing'!"
Sis, running away from me naked, Luke at her side, after a bath instead of getting into her PJs: "We're on the loose, Mommy! We're on the loose!"
Luke, loudly and whine-ily complaining about his dinner, which was served on a three-compartment plate, one compartment of which has a picture of a cloud: "But I don't WANT my mac-and-cheese on the cloud!!!"
Sis, with Daddy bouncing her, wanting to be suspended in the air vs just going up and down: "Bounce me Daddy! No, hover bounce me!"
Daddy: "It's time to take off your superhero costumes. It's time to be your alter-ego. Now you're 'Regular Bubs.' And 'Regular Sis.'
Luke: "Hey, Regular Daddy!"
Sis to me one morning, when she didn't want to hear stories: "Don't read Mommy, it's driving me CRAZY!"
Halloween
A few pics of the kids with their grandma, who made their costumes...she is amazing...
Halloween was such a delight this year, with my husband and I taking the kids out after dusk, a mild night, lots of families, Luke and Zo taking turns ringing doorbells, saying, "Trick or treat!" and, "Thank you!" and then with excitement and hopes high, "Can we go to ANOTHER house?" We were out way longer than I expected. It was one of those times when I say to myself, "When I'm old, I'll look back on this and remember this night as a particularly lovely night..."
XOXO
PS Oh, and the next day, Sissy said, "Can we do trick or treating AGAIN, Mommy? Please?"
Pumpkin Carving, Halloween 2014
We carved our pumpkin in PJs this morning (I assumed it would be messy, and I was right), leeks for tonight's ham-and-leek quiche simmering in the background, the sun streaming in, the kids having fun especially with pretending they were excavators and wanting to do the job of removing the seeds all by themselves...they got out every last one.
The big debate was whether to make our pumpkin happy or sad. Happy won out. We never even talked about scary...an oversight in hindsight...ah, well, there's always next year...
Happy Halloween!
XO
Sarah & Duck Make Their Debut
A few pics from just before yesterday's Halloween party...
XO
The Playground With the Excavator
The playgrounds we frequent each have a name:
The "wood chip playground." (Shaded in the afternoon.)
The "sand playground." (Shaded in the morning.)
The "really beautiful playground." (Luke's name for it...it's got big grassy fields, mountains in the distance. This is where the kids have been riding their little bikes...more on that later...)
This is the "digger playground." Not the closest, but the excavator makes it totally worth the trip.
XOXO
In Which Daddy Slimes Sissy
Daddy got slime for the kids--green for Bubs, purple sparkle for Sissy.
"Im my defense," Daddy says, "I slimed Luke first, but the consistency was different and it didn't stick in his hair."
(It all came out for Sis after 3 shampoos, by the way. Cashew butter was key.)
XO
"What's the meaning of life?"
A conversation yesterday, in the car on our way home from the library:
Luke: "Mommy! Ask me a question!"
Me: "Ummmm...what's the meaning of life?"
Luke: "Hold hands, Mommy. You've got to hold hands."
XOXO
The Great Lotion Incident of 2014
Working crazy-hard today...I usually monitor what the kids are doing when they're supposed to be napping but not, but today left them to their own devices.
Until the sounds coming from their room were too weird to ignore.
After which, I went in and found...baby lotion, all over the kids, floor, beds, bathroom, everything.
I couldn't even be mad at them because otherwise I would have cried. I just put them in the shower and told them to stay there until I cleaned up. They had a great time in the shower (something pretty novel for them). I needed a break from work anyway.
The lotion is no longer accessible.
XO
Last Pajama Hike of the Season
In the 40s this morning, so probably our last early-morning bagel-filled pajama hike for a while. ('Til spring?) Both kids are pros at peeing in the woods, though. :)
XOXO