Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ducks in a Row

Before going to Boo at the Zoo, Krista got all her ducks in a row... literally.



Monday, October 27, 2008

Princess & Bear

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful Princess.

She was very artistic and loved all the colors of the rainbow.


A brown Bear lived nearby.


The loving Princess tried to greet the Bear with a hug, but it only enraged him.


The Princess finally tamed the Bear with a bag of his favorite snack.


Sunday, October 26, 2008

Superpowers

As an addendum to my previous post, I wanted to list my child superheroes' abilities.

Krista has several and they are varied:
  • Can emit a high pitch squeal that only dogs can hear
  • Mind Control - just by saying "mine," every object belongs to her AND she can elicit responses by giving commands, "Mommy, YOU want to go outside?!!"
  • Gives hugs and kisses that will melt your heart

Gabriel also has a few good ones:

  • Emits a contagious laugh that is irresistible
  • Sucks all the air out of the room in one deep, squealing inhale
  • Super-fast reflexes, he can grab the glasses off your face before you even "see" it coming

These are pretty good powers, but I have some of my own to counter them and keep them in check:

  • Sad Face - Krista cannot let me have a sad face and will comply with any command if it will make Mommy happy
  • Magic Countdown - if you don't listen by the count of 1, the world WILL explode
  • Juggling Act - doing multiple tasks with a heavy child in one arm and another running around my feet

I bet you're pretty impressed, huh? It is quite fantastic.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Child Superheroes

If my children were superheroes, Krista would be "The Mimic" and Gabriel would be "The Bull".

Krista, the amazing mimic, can sound like anyone she wants. Currently, she's been addressing me by saying, "Tina! ....garble garble garble." It's funny how accurate she has Josh's voice inflection when he's telling me something, she just doesn't know what words to use besides my name.

Gabriel, the raging bull, can charge any hard object. He goes full force with his his head down and rams hard furniture. Then he's all like, "oh here's the table." He looks up at this point and climbs up to standing.

The kids will next appear in a comedy sitcom and Krista will reinact the time where she ran across the room, her foot steps through a circle shaped toy and she trips and falls (canned laughter would ensue).

Monday, October 20, 2008

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we wanted to take the kids to their first pumpkin patch experience. I searched high and low to find one that did not charge an arm and a leg admission fee for things the kids are too young to do anyhow. I found Sunwest Farms off of N 84th street and it was FREE! I highly recommend this place. They had a complementary hayrack ride to the pumpkins and back. Several pumpkins were piled up in different areas. There was a "scarecrow" inside the building that told stories and sang songs. Krista loved everything and when we asked her what her favorite part was, she said, "the hayrack ride!"

Of course we got the standard "cute kids among the pumpkins" pictures. Some are posted on our favorites and I will post them all on our Photobucket site as soon as I can. My favorite has to be the picture of Gabriel's round little "pumpkin" head among the pumpkins.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Animal Sounds

Krista is getting quite adept at telling us what various animals sound like.

What does a cow say?
Moo. Moo.
What does a pig say?
Oink. Oink.
What does a duck say?
Quack. Quack.
What does an owl say?
Who. Who, farted.

Thanks Josh.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Paper, Paper, Paper!

Just like Leo the Lion at the local children's zoo, my son likes paper. He likes to crumple it. He likes to tear it up. He likes to even eat it, if I don't catch him in time. Yesterday we had a new paper situation from my perspective.

The setting - I'm in the Kitchen, making Krista a waffle. Krista walks to the bathroom where Gabriel has crawled.

K: Gabriel! You are a messy boy.
G: AAhhahhh
K: Gabriel, you are oddry (ornery).

Pitter patter, pitter patter - Krista enters the kitchen.

K: Gabriel... Gabriel is got the tissue.
T: Did Gabriel find a tissue and tear it up?
K: Yeah.

I head to the bathroom where Gabriel has about the entire roll of tissue paper surrounding him on the floor and a very big smile on his face. I like paper!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Nap Time

Nap time is usually my refuge. A time for an adult time-out from my little angels. Some days Krista will be asleep in her room after a few minutes, those are the good days. Other days, she will not go to sleep at all.

This weekend, Josh put Krista down for her nap and shut the door. I finished feeding Gabriel and got him asleep and crept into their bedroom. There was Krista, sitting up on her bed and singing to her babies. Josh had forgotten to shut the blinds, so the sun was blaring in and brightening up the room. I laid Gabriel in his crib, pulled the blinds shut and told Krista to lay down to take a nap. Krista continued to talk and sing in her room. After a while I thought she might have gone to sleep and opened her door to peek in. Where was Krista? Not in her bed. Not on the floor by her bed. Not in the closet. "Krista, where are you?" All of a sudden, a smiling, toddler face peeks her head out from under Gabriel's crib. "Hi, Mommy!"

Ok, I guess nap time's over for today.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Laughter

Gabriel has the most contagious laugh. When he starts going, we all start laughing. Usually it's Krista that somehow makes him laugh. Last night on our way home, Gabriel started getting fussy. Krista started singing, "Round and round the mulberry bush." He was still fussy. Then she says, "Goobert, goobert, goobert!" Gabriel must have thought that was hilarious, because he then started laughing his contagious laugh. And because he thought it was funny and Mommy started laughing, Krista did it again. More laughter. And the cycle continued until we got home.

On another *update* note: Gabriel is now pulling up to his feet all the time. This morning when I went to get him, he was standing in his crib. He's starting to move his feet a bit when he's standing and he almost dared to cruise from the laundry basket to his activity walker. He will definitely be my little dare-devil.