Meow meows

This afternoon Will and I are in the kitchen because I am trying to keep him quiet while Caroline is still napping. He noticed that the cat's food bowl is empty. He has seen Caroline feed our cats before and he took the opportunity while she is napping to do something about it. I took some pictures because I thought it was so cute that a 19 month old noticed and did something about the empty food bowl. He knew where the food was and was able to scoop a little out at a time to feed the cats. After he put the food in the bowl he started saying meow meow and looking for the cats. Enjoy the pictures. The cat that is in the picture is Elwood. Jake is napping on the bed with Caroline.

Sleeping

Caroline has always been a huge talker. And most of you know how much this girl can talk. Lately she has been saying some pretty funny things that I thought I would share.
She has been listening to the sound track for Beauty and the Beast every time we get in the car and she is often asking me questions about Flea Bay. Well I have no idea what Flea Bay is so I ask her what are you talking about and she says you know Belle's horse, Flea Bay. It is supposed to be Phillipe.
Another cute thing she says is about how she slept during the night. We often ask each other "How did you sleep last night?" Justin has answered, "I slept like a log!" Well Caroline translated that into 3 year old and now when we ask her how she slept last night she says very proudly, " I slept like a tree!! Just like this ( this is where she demonstrated by holding her arms out)."
I can't wait to see what she comes up with everyday. It keeps me on my toes and a smile on my face!

Small world

Well, I was wrong, Justin has been to a Cubs game. It was July 4th last year at the old Nats stadium. The new Nationals Park was beautiful. The metro was packed and thankfully the weather held for the entire game. It started raining as we were leaving at the end of the game. The cubs won by a lot and there were more cubs fans than nats. Or so it seemed. We had a group of about 11 people sitting behind us who were so much fun and kind of adopted us into their group. And it turned out that 2 of them (brother/sister) were from Burlington and even went to Williams high school!!! They graduated in 92 and 94 so we didn't play the "who do you know" game but it was so crazy.
The kids had a blast with the babysitter and the babysitter I think had more fun with them. So it was a wonderful evening and Justin and I had so much fun being out together.

Baseball surprises

So this morning at breakfast I surprised Justin with 2 tickets to tonight's Nationals/Cubs game.  Justin is a huge Cubs fan and has yet to see them in person.  He was completely caught off guard and had no idea I had arranged a babysitter and secured free tickets.  Now if the weather would hold out we should have an awesome night. We are going to take the metro to the game and our rain jackets.  i will post some pictures later.  love to all Julie

fruit or fries?

Happy late birthday Keith!!! I tried to post yesterday but blogger wasn't letting me. I hope your bday was fantastic even though you had to go to class. I am going to make the snowballs for you today and mail them tomorrow if all goes as I would like it too.

Let me start this story with some background info for those of you who have never had to feed Will or Caroline. They are complete opposites when it comes to eating. Caroline prefers veggies, salads, fruit and such. She is not a huge fan of meat and it is sometimes hard to get her to eat it. Will on the other hand just wants meat and starches, no veggies and no fruit. If you give him a piece of fruit such as cantelope, watermelon, grapes, or pineapple, the first thing he does is try to squeeze it to death. He never once even attempts to put it in his mouth. He ends up with juice running down his arm and not much to show for it. He will eat the freeze dried fruits though.

Anyway, last night the kids and I were having dinner outside, Justin wasn't home yet. Will finished all his meal, didn't contain veggies, that's why and Caroline was still working on her cantelope. I let Will down to play at the sand table while Caroline and I ate our fruit. He decided that he was going to climb in the chair beside Caroline and reach for her plate. Well Caroline didn't like the fact that he was potentially reaching for her cantelope so she shoved all the remaining pieces in her mouth. Turns out all Will wanted was the leftover fries on her plate. And Caroline was left trying to chew a mouth FULL of cantelope.

Why Wednesdays

Why do I love Wednesdays?  My neighbor Ellie and I have a swap thing on Wednesday afternoons after naptime.  Ellie has 2 girls, Ashley 2 1/2  and Juliet 13 mo.  So one Wednesday I take all the kids after nap time and then the next week Ellie has then.  Her schedule is similar to mine so it works well.  Her husband gets home around 7 and hopefully Justin does too!  SO withthe kids going to bed later and with naps later we get around 2 hours of free time.  I was able to get dinner done and exercise today during my kid free time.  I have a picture of all 4 kids have a snack on our kitchen floor from a few weeks ago.

Needless to say Ellie and I love Wednesday afternoons.  At least every other one!!

Terrific Tuesday

I usually don't post at night because i am so tired and the end of the day.  But the day was a pretty easy one so here it goes.  Caroline has her Terrific two class from 915-1245 so Will and I had a good time with some one-on-one time.  He even ended up falling asleep for a little over an hour so I had some great ME time too.  After we picked up Caroline we came home and went to the play ground or a while.  Will and I had our lunch up there too.  After play time it was nap time.  Caroline had a great 2 hour nap while Will and I rocked but he never went back to sleep since he had a nap in the morning.  Then it was a few dances from Dancing with the Stars and then of to the gym.  I did and great spinning class tonight and was exhausted but feeling great afterwards.  Then home to wait for Justin.  Dinner of leftovers outside on the deck and then bedtime for the kiddos. It was a great day and I hope everyone else's was too!

Here are Caroline and Will after they helped wash the van. The temperature was great on Saturday but the water was freezing. They had a blast playing in this puddle and went staight to the warm tub afterwards. You can't tell in this picture but Will had goose bumps all over and his lips were turning blue.
Of course after you wash your car it is going to rain and sure enough it has rained the past 2 days. One of my favorite things to do when it has been raining is to get out of the house and go to Petsmart and let the kids wander around. They love the fish and the cats.

New Job

Well the weather is really nice this week and I have been taking full advantage of it. Here is how I get dinner cooked. This sand table is on our back porch and the kids just love it. Caroline makes me all kinds of yummy treats with made up names. While Will, being a typical boy, likes to put the sand everywhere. Don't know how I managed to get dinner cooked with out this. Oh yes I do but it wasn't pretty and we were all crying sometimes when Justin got home.
For those of you who don't know what I have been up to the past several week (wish i had a pic) I am now a certified water fitness instructor. I taught my first classes today, 2 in a row. I was so nervous but I had lots of fun and it was great to be "teaching" again. I was subing for another instructor at the gym where we are members. The ladies were all very nice to me and helped some too. The first class was a shallow water class and had 4 people. Then the second class was a deep water class and had 8 people. The 2 hours flew by and I was glad when they were over. Now I am looking forward to teaching more classes. I will let you know how it goes!
Love Julie

Dress Up?

As most of you know Caroline is a huge fan of playing dress up. And if you haven't had the opportunity to read any of the Fancy Nancy books then you are truely missing out on a big part of Caroline's world. Yesterday morning she decided that instead of playing dress up with the many princess dresses we have (Julianna will get the hand-me downs), she decided that Jusitn's bathing suit would work. Don't ask me how a 3 year olds mind works, I just go with it and say sure, looks great sweetie! She thought it was a great "fancy dress" and was on Dancing with the Stars. I have video of this too. She was only slightly frustrated by the fact that it wouldn't go over her head and we had a good discussion on how there had to be 3 holes, 1 for you head and 2 for your arms. I think she got it. Enjoy the picture!

Love Julie

PS- i will have a picture soon!

Pillow Fights

Caroline has discovered a new use for all the pillows that are on our couches. Throwing them at people, thanks in part to Susan! Yesterday after nap Caroline wasn't in the greatest of moods and was still waking up but little brother was wide awake and ready to cause some trouble. After first taking Caroline's lamby (something you don't mess with) and getting a huge response from that he tried pillow fighting with her but to no avail. So since his sister wasn't going to play with him he found the next victim to torture, Jake, our cat. Jake was peacefully sleeping on the sofa not bothering a soul when Will spotted him and got really excited. Then he proceeded to pull the cats ears and mash a pillow on him. Well that didn't get a response either, the cat just laid there. So Will moved on and I don't think he will try to have a pillow fight with the cat again anytime soon. Too bad I didn't have the video camera ready because Will was laughing the entire time.

Oh, a little side note. Since the last time I was complaining about Caroline giving up her naps, she has napped very well everyday since then. I hope I am not jinxing myself though!!

The Weekend

Well, sorry it has taken me so long to post again. As I am typing this i have both kids on my lap. Will is not wanting to share his mommy right now either. We had a fantastic weekend. Ok, so I am back but it is several hours later, like 9, but who's counting. Back to this weekend. Susan and Graham came to our house on Saturday and had lunch with us then stuck around so Justin and I could go to a dinner party at his bosses' house. It was so much fun to go and talk with adults and just have a great time visiting. There were about 10 couples there all of which Justin works with. Susan and Graham babysat Will and Caroline and another little boy, Aidan. Graham is definitely not ready for kids he says! Susan and graham spent the night had Justin made his usual Sunday breakfast of pancakes. Yummy! After Susan and Graham left we headed off to church and then cam home had lunch then off to dream land for the entire family. Then we went on a family nature walk on the trail near our house. Will and Caroline had a blast throwing rocks into the creek and we saw lots of deer and 2 fox/wolves(?).
Overall it was a wonderful relaxing weekend and got us well rested to start yet another busy week.

Just your Typical Thursday

Thursday mornings I usually go to Walter Reed to get my allergy shots then over to the commissary for some grocery shopping. Well this Thursday turned out a little different. I had a scheduled appointment at 9am and I didn't even leave the house until 9. We got up at 8 because Justin had already left for work. It was nice sleeping late though!
Once at Walter Reed I dropped the kids off at hourly care (can't take them with me to get my shot) and then tried to find a parking spot in the garage. Got in to the clinic, shecked in and sat down to wait. I had to see a doctor because of the cold I have and then they could give me my shots. After waiting around the requisite 30 min I went to the pharmacy to get my antibiotics filled. I was number 342 and they were only on 305 so there was no way I was waiting around for that since at this point it was already 1140am. So I go pick up the kids and we head over to Justin's office and find that he is in a meeting, in of all places, Bethesda, no where near us. The kids were totally disappointed. I didn't have my cell phone (lost at home somewhere) so I couldn't call him either. So, since it was now lunch time Caroline requested the cafeteria at the hospital. I didn't complain it has healthy options and is much cheaper than McDonald's. So off the 3 of us went. After a very successful lunch(no spills or meltdowns) we go back by Justin's office to see if he is back yet. And to my surprise he is and the kids have fun playing outside with him for about 10min before we have to leave to get back for naps.
Well I never made it to the commissary so no groceries this week, so we shall see how dinners go until I can get there next week.
We got back home at 2pm and talked with the neighbor outside for a few mintues then off to naps, except Caroline has decided that this week she doesn't need a nap anymore. She has only napped 1 day this week and she even has a cold too! UGHHHH! I didn't want her to ever give up naps until she started school ( I know wishful thinking).
After all that we ended up having a wonderful afternoon playing outside until dinner at 730pm. The weather was beautiful finally and so it was nice to be outside and not getting the house messy.
Julie

Drama Queen

So, the morning routine normally consists of me doing the whole personal hygiene thing and watching the kids while Julie does the breakfast startup.  After all the grime is gone, I dress my little angels.  Well, most times they're angels.  On this particular day, I have yet to dress either one and I am putting on the boots for a long day at the office.  Caroline is in her room (which if you've been to our house, you know that from the Master Bedroom glider you can see the kids' bedroom) and she is being her usual helpful self.

I tell her to get a pair of pants, a long sleeved shirt, socks, and an undershirt.  She happily retrieves all items except the undershirt and brings them to me as she starts to take off her jammies.  I tell her, "Caroline, you need an undershirt."  She goes into her room and begins to reason with me.  Big Mistake.  She says, "I really don't need an undershirt, I won't get cold."  How she comes up with these excuses is beyond me (Julie), but I stand firm and say a typical Dad thing that I thought I'd never say.  "Caroline, don't come back in here without an undershirt."  She begins to sniffle, sob, then all out cry.  At this point, it dawns on me that her undershirts are on the higher part of the shelves we have in the kids' closet.  Now, it's time for Dad to use his ever-present calming skills.  "Caroline!  Please, darling, save the drama for your mama."  This has an immediate impact.  She appears curious, but definitely stopped crying.  "Whew!" I think to myself, I dodged that bullet.  No more tears.  I then tell her to get her step stool out of the bathroom and she, again, goes happily about her business.  She gets dressed without further dismay.  We eat breakfast as a family and I go to work.

While slaving away at work, a phone call somehow separates me from my Outlook nightmare where I am trying desperately to fix my latest debacle in Times New Roman, Pitch 10.  Julie is chuckling.  "I was getting ready for lunch and asked Caroline to go wash her hands," says Julie.  "I had to get her to stop what she was doing and I had to ask her several times."  This normally results in a small battle of wills with Caroline that normally results in a small whine and compliance.  Today, Caroline had a classic meltdown.  Obviously, Julie felt something more was going on.  Julie continues to tell me, "I asked her to tell me what's wrong and she says 'Oh mom, daddy told me to save the drama for you!!'"

Now, if I could get her to save the drama altogether........

Kitchen helpers

Yesterday I desperately needed to mop the kitchen floor. So i decided that instead of using up my precious time while they are napping I would mop after lunch before they go down for a nap. Caroline really wanted to help so I had her pick up the floor before I swept it, with the promise of holding the mop of course. So here is a picture of my helpers, Will of course has to have something to do too so he has the Swiffer.

Tutus or tattoos?

Caroline has this facination with tattoos.  Don't ask me why since neither Justin nor I have one, but she does.  She often asks me to draw a tutu on her hand.  So I do and she tells me it looks like a cloud.  Well, I think a tutu would look like a cloud.  It turns out she interchanges the word tattoo with tutu.  I didn't realize this until much later of course.  But now that I know that tutu really means tattoo life is much easier.  

Julie

Brown Crayons

Last night i went down stairs to change over the laundry.  After taking the clothes out of the dryer i realized that there were marks on some of the clothes.  I had no clue what it was but it turns out it was all the clothes and the inside of my dryer.  Well, I found the culprit, a broken piece of brown crayon!  Pink panties don't look good with brown crayon on them!!  And it even shows up on black sweatshirts.  Lesson learned:  Don't leave the dryer door open.

Julie