No, You Listen to Me

James would like to read you a bedtime story.

Today in James

Overnight, it seems, James has gone from saying almost nothing, to saying almost everything. Today he's all:

"Okay! Let's go! I got my shoes on!"

Head out the do'

Our household is quite orderly and in no way would it ever take us 20 minutes to just get socks on. Everyone falls in line, as a testament to our superior parenting skills. We offer you this video as a completely representative sampling of our lives with children.

Dancing Queen Bee

It's a dance party!

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Today was just one of those days we'd sooner forget. The kids woke up grumpy and our attempt at redeeming the day with a trip to the pumpkin patch failed because we started too late in the day. By the time we hit the patch, the kids were tired and hungry and unwilling to satisfy their snap-happy mother with even one decent look-I-found-a-pumpkin-in-this-field pose. By the end of they day, we were all unimpressed.

To remind ourselves that even our grumpy days have their moments, we're posting those moments here:

1. Ava and Brian made their first stop motion movie.

2. We were able to contain the children in a wagon so they could be photographed against their will.

3. Ava used a new word.

4. James almost used a new word.

September 2013

September 2013

With the start of the new school year, Ava added another day of preschool to her week so she now attends three days a week.  James, however, still only attends two days a week so while Ava is off palling around with her buddies and gettin' her learnin' on, James and Helen now have a day to spend together. Ava was hesitant at first, offering a tender, "But I don't want to go to school all by myself," with tear-filled eyes. We prepared for a long goodbye in the play yard and then she just ran off giggling with her friends. There was a brief adjustment period on the other end too, as it appears Ava has been doing a fair amount of co-parenting without us realizing it. During James and Helen's first day alone, James was coloring on the walls within moments of a mommy potty break. And while said mommy was cleaning the walls, James grabbed a CHEFS KNIFE from the counter (he's quite tall, if you recall) and began drumming on the kitchen surfaces. Where's Ava when you need her to scream out, "Mama, James has a chefs knife!"?

September also marks the month of our always oddly-timed annual block party. After four completely dry months, the rains came down for this year's festivities. For many, this wouldn't seem like a big deal, but our street goes all out for the block party. All told, the party spans 14 hours and includes dog races, parades, painting the street, pot lucks, alcohol, and carnival-type attractions. This year, we adapted. Bounce house? Cancelled. Dunk tank? Cancelled. Bonfire into the wee hours of the night? Cancelled. We're a resilient bunch, though, and we still managed to stretch out the festivities for 10 hours, focusing more on eating, puddle-jumping, hat-wearing, and wagon-riding than we have in the past. The kids were none the wiser so, as usual, a fun time was had by all.