Holiday-Card Harbinger?

There's a great tree on the short walk home from the lagoon near our house. Just for the heck of it, I tried to take a few shots of the kids together on our walk home yesterday. Of course, it was next to impossible to get them to look in the same direction . . .

When I finally got Marci's attention, Osten had discovered something on the ground that commanded his attention.

And then I lost Marci's attention just as Osten decided to cover his face with his shirt.

I'm thinking that a collage of solo shots may be the way to go for us this year!

I Scream, You Scream

We all scream for ice cream! Our neighbor had an ice cream truck come to his birthday party yesterday. It was a real hit!

Osten picked a Spiderman ice cream, of course!

It was priceless to watch Marci cover herself in chocolate ice cream.

The only real screaming came when it was time to go home!

Let the Games Begin!

It has rained and rained and RAINED this week. It had finally stopped by the time we got home today, but everything was so wet outside that playing indoors was really our only option. Osten said he wanted to play some games, and Marci was agreeable as usual.

What a little team effort!

Of course, they got out the dress up clothes.

It's never too early for a little mixing 'n' matching!

Potty Talk

Just this week, Marci has taken an interest in the the potty. At first, we thought she was all talk until she started insisting that we sit her on the potty.

Of course, one of the big perks of sitting on the potty is easy and nearly limitless access to the toilet paper roll.

There's mostly lots of talk, and there's certainly been no action as of yet. However, Marci seems to be taking things pretty seriously.

And because trips to the potty are almost always a family affair, Osten is usually close by and is a great source of encouragement (and inspiration)!

Girls' Night In

Daddy took Osten to his swimming lesson the other night, and Marci and I (and Wrigley) had a girls' night in. As you can see, Marci is still practicing with her spoon.

Wrigley loves licking up the loose ends, which doesn't always sit so well with Marci. (However, Mommy sure appreciates the help cleaning the kitchen floor!)

Would you look at the pout??!!

Preschool Preview

Osten had his preschool open house tonight. They unveiled their two new elective classrooms. (After touring them, I think I've decided that I want to go back to preschool!) Here's Osten in the Math/Computer lab. Finally, he'll have a keyboard to bang on other than Mommy and Daddy's laptops!

He humored me with a quick pose by the growth chart.

Marci seemed to enjoy the multi-cultural room! She's clutching her Daily Progress Report which she is always so proud to show me and tote out to the car.

And here's Ms. Kasey! She's been tapped as the elective teacher this year, but when she's not doing that she'll still be the assistant teacher in Osten's room. It's looking like it's going to be a great year!

Entertainment Tonight

Here's a little light entertainment for the evening . . .

With each day that passes, it seems that the things that Marci and Osten do and say get cuter and cuter. Take today, for example. When I arrived to pick up Osten from school, he came running down the hall to meet me. When I took a closer look at him, I noticed that he had tucked his t-shirt into his underwear, and the band along with the top of his Spiderman underwear were prominently displayed around his waist. Too cute!!

And Marci continues to be just as entertaining as her brother. Her most recent topic of conversation is nose-picking. She and Osten will have entire conversations about it. A most recent one in the car on the way to school earlier this week went something like this:

Marci: "Pick a nooooose, Mommy? Pick a nooooose??"

Osten: "No, Marci. We don't pick our nose."

Marci: "No, Osten. Pick a nooooose!"

Osten: "Mommy, Marci's picking her nose!"

Marci: [starting to sob with her hands in her lap]

Osten: "Mommy, Marci has her hand in her nose!"

Marci: [full-on wailing now and hands flying all over the place]

Every day is certainly an adventure as our children continue to amaze and entertain us!

Here's One for the Books!

This photo is from a month or so ago. It got buried in my camera, and I only recently discovered it. It's posted here to ensure that I don't misplace it again! Is this one for the books or what? I'm thinking this one might need to reappear in Osten's senior yearbook . . .

Time Out

Now that she's become acquainted with the time-out chair, Marci appears to have become a fan.

She will occasionally announce "time out," clear the pillows from the chair, and take a seat!

Gone Fishin'

Daddy and Osten did a little fishin' this afternoon. Daddy got a hot tip from a neighbor kid and caught a nice-sized bass (finally)!

Marci got in on a little of the action, too.

Just as Marci and I were leaving, Daddy caught a turtle!

Look who walked Wrigley home!

Week in Review

Here's a couple of quick highlights from this week:

Marci has decided that she likes the paper removed from her crayons. All of her crayons. While she colors, Daddy and I take turns tearing paper in tiny pieces from her crayons. Hilarious!

Osten continues to crack me up with the conversations we have in the car. When I picked him up from school yesterday, I asked him about his day. He proudly and enthusiastically responded, "Aiden flushed his Transformer band-aid down the toilet!" I guess that was the highlight of his day.

One final Osten story . . . He and Marci came with me to a friend's house the other night, and as we were walking up the steps to the front door, Osten blurted out, "Mommy, is Ms. Heather a girl or a man?"

Marci and Osten sure are keeping Daddy and me entertained as they grow and continue to express their thoughts, ideas and opinions. I love it!

Hot for Teacher

It's official. Osten has his first schoolboy crush. And he's got it bad. So bad. He's hot for teacher!! And it's written all over his Transformer shirt (the $3 one). He wore it to school on Monday and then insisted on wearing it again today "to show Ms. Kasey." I guess he thinks he's going to woo her with some Optimus Prime and bright red shorts (which he also insisted on wearing again today)! As my dad says, he is truly at the age of innocence. And it's priceless!! I figure it will be gone all too soon, so we are going to enjoy every minute of it even if it means extra loads of laundry to ensure that he is cleanly clad for his latest crush!

Even the Dog (Part Two)

The new swingset seems to be a real hit!

In fact, the whole family is enjoying it!

And when I say whole family, I mean the WHOLE family. Even Wrigley!

Whee!!

The Swim Team

Now that Osten is out of his arm brace, we've started back with his swim lessons twice a week. He was so excited that he wore his goggles in the car on the way to the pool!

Every time he swims, his teachers require that the kids ask permission from their parents before going into the water. Here he is (goggles and all, of course!) requesting the go ahead to jump in the pool.

Unbeknownst to Marci, you have to be three years old to enroll in swim school. As far as she's concerned, she's part of the team. In fact, other than the actual swimming, she joins right in! (If she had her way, she'd be in the pool, too, but that's a bit of a logistical challenge for Mommy on a weeknight so we play with her doctor kit and color instead!)

The teachers always give out stickers at the end of the class, and Marci makes sure that she doesn't miss out!

Hurts So Good

Our new swingset was finally delivered on Friday, and life (or more accurately, bath time) will never be quite the same! We've got a bit of a dirt problem in the backyard and have quickly discovered that we need to invest in some dirt-reducing mulch. In the meantime, the kids are having a filthy ball! Would you look at those feet!!

And this little girl went down the slide face first and wound up with a Charlie Chaplin dirt mustache! (I also discovered this afternoon that she apparently has a penchant for symmetry. She and her brother got into the band-aids, and she insisted that hers be applied symmetrically!! Oh, my . . . )

Marci was so giddy that she was literally running around in circles and falling down all over the place. I've never seen her quite that rambunctious. After about an hour, the kids were covered in dirt from head to toe! Daddy stripped them at the back door, while I drew their bath.

It was all smiles until we had to start scrubbing those knees!! I had forgotten how much dirt likes to cling to little kids' bodies. They both got a little squirmy in the tub as we scrubbed them. It reminded me of many a "hurts so good" bath from my own childhood!