Language Lore

One of my favorite things about having two young children is listening to their language skills develop. Osten's picked up a new phrase in the past couple of weeks, and it really cracks me up.

"Oh my gracious!"

With the magic of Christmas all around us these days, he can be heard exclaiming this new phrase quite often. Marci's starting to pick it up now, too. Sometimes I'm not sure if they're 3 and 5 or 83 and 85!! And best of all, one time Osten got a little tongue-tied, and it came out "Oh my sakes!"

I love it!

Brotherly Love

The kids were off in Osten's room playing this afternoon when Osten suddenly stuck his head into the hallway with the following announcement: "Mommyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Marci just went poo-poo, and it was poo-poo and diarreka."

"Okay," I responded. "Does she need me to wipe her bottom?"

"No," he said. "I already did it."

Wow. Now that's what I call brotherly love! I can't wait to tell this story to them when they're in high school.

Batman Sighting

Marci had her Thanksgiving party as well as a silent auction at her school yesterday. Osten and I both attended. Osten has really been into writing these days, and I noticed him doing some handiwork on a few of the bid sheets. When I went over to look at them later, I noticed that "BATMAN" was scrawled in his penmanship on a number of the sheets. I guess you never know where you might have a Batman sighting!

'Tis the Season ~ Part Two

Just a few more shots from the whirlwind holiday photo shoot this afternoon.

The kids spotted a lizard on the side of our house, and they were in awe.

You can see why we only lasted five minutes!

Sweet!

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season for some festive photos of the kids!

This year's photo shoot was in the backyard, without shoes, and it lasted all of about five, tortuous minutes.

As usual, neither child wanted to get dressed, and they both were unhappy with what I had picked out for them.

Nevertheless, with a little coaxing with some brownie bribery thrown in for good measure, they somewhat obliged!

Party Time

At Osten's request, we had his birthday at the same gymnastics place where we celebrated last year. Believe it or not, it was even more fun the second time around!

Osten was most excited about the rope swing.

He made sure that I remembered to use five separate candles instead of a single number candle like I did last year!

Here's a silly group shot of most of the revelers. Aren't they cute??!!

High Five

I took Osten to the doctor last week for his five-year-old checkup. Here are his stats:

Height: 43 3/4 inches (68%)

Weight: 38 lb. 2 oz. (32%)

He grew three inches and gained three pounds. Way to go, Osten! And he has 20/20 vision. He also had not been to the doctor since his four-year-old checkup. Here's hoping for another super-healthy year!