Sibling Love

Can you feel the love??

My kids love each other! It warms my heart to see them be so sweet to one another. Sure, they have their moments and as they get older I'm sure there will be even more. For the most part though, they really, really care about each other. This was our hope in having them so close together. They make each other laugh, they sing and play together, they want to go where the other one goes and most importantly, they give each other hugs and kisses all the time!! I hope they will be best friends and always keep each other on the right path. 

chillin'

Watching some Saturday morning cartoons!!

Sharing a snow cone at Fall Festival!

A Day At The Park

With the gorgeous weather on Sunday we decided to head to the park! Skylar and Jimmy loved the duck pond we visited this summer in Ohio so we wanted to find one here to visit as well. Someone suggested Burroughs Park so we thought we'd check it out! Since we got there nice and early there was no one else around... and the ducks or geese?? were curious about us! They headed our way and I really wished I'd remembered to bring some bread. We had fun checking them out and I think we will go back to visit them often. At one point though, the white ones starting "yelling" at the brown ones! Jimmy and Skylar thought that was quite funny. Jim was a little worried we were in the middle of a territorial dispute.                               

stuck in "jail" he kept going back and saying "uck, uck!"

My Little dare devil!

Atter a short time we left the duck pond and hit some of the playgrounds!Skylar found an S for her name, a "J" for Jimmy and an "L" for Laney!

She wanted to swing in a baby swing for a bit since Jimmy got to be in a big boy swing

Swinging all by herself like a big girl!    

                         

Swinging with a little help from daddy! Using those tummy muscles just like in gymnastics.

On the way home he was stylin' with his sunglasses (that he put on by himself)

How Do They Know SO Much??

I know that I am not the only mommy in the world who thinks her kids are so smart! But it is a really cool thing to actually watch them learn new things! It is one of the reasons I became a teacher... That "aha" moment that happens when you teach where you can actually see the wheels in the brain turning from "I don't get it" to " Oh, I get it!" Unfortunately, since I am not fortunate enough to be a SAHM I don't get the benefit of actually watching my kids learn a lot of new things. So, it always amazes me when they say or do something that they couldn't say or do the day before.

Tonight, it was Skylar counting backward. She said "mommy listen to me. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" While this is far from the best thing she has learned, it just amazed me so much that this little girl who couldn't count up to 5 a short while ago, can now count up to 20 and count down from 5! The human brain is truly an amazing thing!

I could name a hundred things my kids have surprised me with, from colors, to naming or pointing to body parts, to words that seemed to come out of no where. Still, every time it happens, I am in awe. I love being a mommy. I love watching these babies grow and learn, I love watching them make connections to their world. I would also love if this would slow down..... where are my babies????

I struggle with being a full-time working mommy. I know I miss out on so much and I feel sad that my kids spend more time with their school family than our home family. On the flip side of that feeling though, is satisfaction that they are learning skills that will last them a lifetime. They are learning how to share, care, sit still to hear a story, socialize, and just those "school rule" types of things. I know they could get that at home with me too but it is just not doable for our family right now. Any way, I feel so blessed that my children are able to learn and grow and that I get to witness these small feats everyday.

Scared!

Skylar has always been scared of loud noises. As she is getting older though, she is becoming scared of more and more things. Now she is scared of;


The dark - this started around 2 1/2
Thunder - has been afraid of it since I can remember
Fireworks - has been afraid of them since she was 1 1/2
Rain - this is a recent fear and she is only afraid of rain at night when she is in her bed alone. She is not bothered by it if she is in our bed??
Wind - same as the rain and it started during a very strong storm that blew stuff around
Disney movies - scared of the Beast and any witches / wicked step moms. She covers her eyes with her hand or a blanket at those scenes and even moves over into our lap sometimes.
The train whistle - scared of this only when in her bed at night, started when she was a little over 1. Again, only bothered by it if she is alone in her room when she hears it. 
Random men - has always been afraid of men. It is not all men and I can't figure out a pattern. She loves some of our male friends, all the male teachers at her school and all the men in our family but is terrified of male doctors, some of our male friends, and some of the male coaches at gymnastics. So strange and bothersome to me... 


I worry that she is an anxious child. I feel like every time I let her get out of bed and run downstairs or into our room I am feeding into her fears. Making her think there is actually something to be afraid of. On the other hand, I feel terrible if I stay strong and make her go back to bed. Am I being manipulated? I don't know what to do. Seems both "schools of thought" don't work for Skylar. God love this stubborn, stubborn child!

Batter Up

We have had a tee-ball set in our backyard for over a year now. Every once in a while I would try to show Skylar how to hit the ball off the tee. Until tonight, she didn't really get it. I showed her how to hit the ball. Then Jim took a turn. At first she didn't want to listen to our instructions but eventually she gave in and tried it our way. When she made contact with the ball we cheered and clapped and she was so excited. After that, there was no stopping her. She hit the ball over and over again. Her only problem was remembering which hand was suppose to be on top when holding the bat. With daddy's help for the hand thing and my "keep your eye on the ball" reminders, we have ourselves a little softball player! I am so excited. I hope she continues to love it! Softball was a huge part of my life and I have such fond memories of playing all throughout school and even intramurally in college. I hope Skylar can spend hours playing catch with her daddy like I did with mine! I hope she has a love for the game!

Trouble: and the pictures to prove it!

There are many time that I find my children doing things that they shouldn't be doing... in that moment I have two choices.

1. Take a picture for proof later in years or

2. yell.

I am not perfect and sometimes I choose option number 2 but I really try to capture these moments on film (assuming they are safe enough to wait) These pictures are just from the last year alone.. and there are many others. I have two VERY willful, stubborn, independent, inquisitive, smart children who feed off of one-another and have an uncanny ability to climb... anything. There are two moments from the last month that I really wish I had had my camera for. Jimmy managed to get himself into my deep tub and turn on the water. Thankfully I was nearby and got to him before he turned on the hot water, but there he was, fully clothed (shoes, socks and all) standing in the tub with a huge grin on his face. The second was one of those moments when it was just too quiet. Upon investigation, I found Jimmy sitting in the bathroom sink laid back like he was going to take a nap in there. Oh brother! Well, here they are... some of our "finer" moments.

We were filling the pool this summer. I went inside to get us some drinks and when I came back out, there they were.

They climbed in the dryer. The best part was they threw the clean clothes on the floor first so that they could climb in.
This has already been blogged about but it is a favorite. Skylar got into the cake I was going to bring to school.

Jimmy got into a fight with a green cupcake at Seth's party and the cupcake won!

Jim literally hosed Jimmy off so we could get him dressed to go home!
Skylar has been climbing up on stuff in the pantry since she was

old enough to do so. I must have 30 pictures of her in different outfits

doing this same thing. We used to be able to lock the door but she has

since figured out how to open the lock :(
Jimmy was helping us sort the laundry!

I guess he thought the floor was hungry....

The Next Better Crocker

Today the day school was closed for teacher in-service so I got to stay home and play with my babies! It is very cold here so I had to find stuff to entertain the kids and keep cabin fever at bay. Skylar is always asking to help me in the kitchen and she is always wanting to bake. I remember always being in the kitchen with my mom and loving getting to make cookies with her! It is so fun that I am now getting to share those same experiences with my own children. My mom tells me I was very impatient (I have a hard time believing that) and she loves that Skylar is the same. You know what they say about payback! So, baking with Skylar has its challenges. She wants to do everything herself but doesn't want to wait for directions first. No matter what though, I feel blessed I get to share this love of baking with her and I hope that one day she will share it with her daughter as well.

Getting ready to bake!

putting a "rounded" teaspoon of dough onto the cookie sheet

This would be the point where I decided these cookies couldn't be given to others!

adding food coloring to make pink for our Valentine's cookies

What a fun science experiment!! She thought it was so cool watching the white frosting slowly turn into pink!

Spreading the frosting: this was about the time I had to remind myself that this was an experience and that she is just learning... I was like the little mommy/teacher that could "It doesn't matter that they are not perfect, it doesn't matter that they are not pretty.."

The final touch - pink sprinkles!!!

Jimmy was a taste tester! He seemed to really like them!

Jimmy watched me clean everything up! With any luck he will get the cleaning gene from his daddy :)

The things kids say (that we want to remember forever)

Skylar has always said things in a really cute way. I used to worry nonstop about her articulation but not so much anymore! At any rate, I just wanted to record some of my favorites from the mouths of my babes!

Skylar:

lem o laid = lemonade

hunky colmonino = Funky Cold Medina, yes, the 90's song by Tone Loc.. thanks Jim

valuma = vanilla

Are you kdding me??: completely animated with her hand up and palms facing the ceiling- Thanks Grandpa Jim

backlard as in, "mommy, I want to go play in the backlard" = backYard

Some of my favorites from the past (words she now says correctly) include; 'mon gingi which was "come on Gingi", Peedocciho which was Pinocchio and lelotard which was leotard!! So cute. I also love that she still confuses tense although I always repeat it back to her correctly so I know it won't be long until she self corrects. One of my favorites is when she adds an s to to the ends of words that are irregular plurals!

Jimmy:

dinks = drinks

pass = paci

blank = blankie

baby = his bunny and all other stuffed animals he sees!

footbawl = football

bbee = basketball

baaaaallllll = ball

mump = up

gee get = jacket

bouk = milk

wawa = water

I ink = I stink as in change my diaper now! It also comes with a fanning hand motion!

I uck = I'm stuck - this is a personal favorite. It is used a lot! in the car seat, in his booster seat, on my lap when I won't let him up, when he has climbed up onto something and can't get down, etc....

bink = bonk like when he has bumped his head... this is used a lot too unfortunately :(

I love the way he calls "mamma" or "dada, daddy" over and over from his crib in the morning and the way he calls Skylar "sissy" like that is her only name! He also cracks us up when he is upset.. he tells us, "no, no, nooooo" in this funny high-pitched whine. He is also very good at telling us he wants to go ow sigh which of course means outside.

I love these kids so much and listening to them master this crazy language is completely amazing! They learn new words everyday and fix their pronunciations over night. It is true that they are little sponges and I just hope that through talking with them about everything they will develop amazing vocabularies that will allow them to grow and learn anything they want to.