Smarty Pants

Ok, those of you who have been to our house know that there is a powder room off the dining/living room area. Well of course Tyler has learned to open doors and he just loves getting in there and tearing the place apart. There is no longer a toilet paper holder in there because he destroyed it. He is also fond of taking the caps off the bolts at the base of the toilet and dumping the waste basket. So, we've had to start locking the door so he isn't free to wander in and out. Since we still use that powder room, we keep a screwdriver on the kitchen counter to unlock it.

This morning as we were getting ready to leave the house, Mitch was tending to Evan, I was packing my bag, and Tyler was running around between the kitchen and livingroom (we tend to leave the kitchen gate open in the morning while we're all rushing around). I turned my back for one second. And this is what happened:

He's not even two! I'm not sure how he got so smart, but I'm a little worried about it...

Guess we'll have to start keeping the screwdriver on top of the refrigerator...

Halloween Prep

Today was be-a-u-tiful. Sunny and mid-high 60's. This morning after breakfast we strollered up and went for a nice long walk. It's so nice to be able to do that, especially after being cooped up all day yesterday. Evan slept a bit while we walked, but Tyler stayed awake the whole time which was good because that meant he was ready for a nice nap shortly after we got home. While Tyler napped, Evan was able to play unbothered.




It was also a rare moment of peace for the cats, who enjoyed some sun coming through one of the side windows:

After napping and lunch, it was time to go get some pumpkins!! We didn't actually get any last weekend at Pumpkinville... not sure why. Anyway, there is a really great nursery nearby and every year they have an extradordinary amount of pumpkins, so we headed over there.

So many pumpkins to choose from!!! Of course, Evan chose this time to take a snooze. He slept through the whole thing!


We picked out four pumpkins, one to represent each of us. Tyler thought he might like to push the wagon with our sixty-some-odd pounds of pumpkin...

But he decided it was better to ride along with them instead!!

When we got home, Evan, who had slept through the entire experience, didn't quite know what to make of this giant pumpkin in the livingroom...

And he didn't get much time to figure it out before Daddy and Tyler set to carving it!!


Well, there was more carving to be done, but it will have to wait until tomorrow because we took a break to go outside and chat with neighbors, then it was dinner time, then bath time, then bed time for two very sleepy little boys. I'll post a picture of the four pumpkins when they are complete. And of course, check back here by the end of the week to see the boys in their Halloween costumes!

Saturday Morning

I think anyone my age can agree that most of the "kids" cartoons today suck. What happened to the good old days of Bugs Bunny, The Jetsons, and Scooby-Doo (I'm talking old school Scooby, before that idiot Scrappy-Doo came along)?? Well, the beauty of the internet is that you can basically watch anything anytime you want. Dismayed by what was being offered on the Cartoon Network this morning, Mitch decided it was time for Tyler to watch some classic Bugs Bunny, online.

I think he enjoyed it!!!

And Evan finally, FINALLY, has started to crawl properly - on his hands and knees. He doesn't do it all the time (the army crawl is still faster at this point), but he's doing it more and more. Here's the evidence:

Today is mild, but it is supposed to rain all day, so it will be mostly indoor activity. Wish us luck!!

Feeding Frenzy

Evan has this new... shall we say, game? that he likes to play at dinnertime. Let's call it "swat the spoon". After allowing a few spoonfuls of food, he starts swatting every time the spoon gets near his mouth. And yes, it makes quite a mess! Mitch captured a bit of it on video last evening, after most of the damage was done:

Here is the aftermath...

ICK!!! Nothing like a baby covered in pureed green beans.... After a little clean up and the removal of the green bean saturated sweater, it's Cheerio time. Much neater for my taste, and it keeps him busy long enough for me to choke down my dinner!

And I have to include these pictures as well from Sunday morning - of Tyler enjoying his first tastes of banana bread. I baked it on Saturday afternoon when we got home from Pumpkinville.

He liked it!! Besides the sugar in it (I didn't use Splenda because I knew he would be eating it), it's pretty healthy because I used whole wheat flour. And of course, the bananas. At least, that's what I keep telling myself!

Sunny Saturday

Let me start off by apologizing for not posting since Monday. On Tuesday night I strained my neck and it kind of put me out of commission for a couple of days leaving me at the mercy of muscle relaxants and pain killers. I am almost all better now, and was able to enjoy a beautiful fall day with the family - Fall weather has FINALLY arrived and I couldn't be happier.


Today is October 18th, which makes it 10 months exactly that Evan has been on this earth. In celebration this morning, while his brother napped, he practiced his skills (which include standing and making funny noises):

After Tyler's very short nap and lunch, we headed out to meet Aunt Ashley, Uncle Richard, and cousin Nathan at Pumpkinville! Pumpkinville is an annual attraction that they set up at the Leesburg Animal Park from September through the beginning of November. Leesburg is pretty far out west and it took us about an hour to get there. They have hayrides, huge slides, moon bouncers, face painting, animals, a haybale maze, and all kinds of other fun things. Here is some documentation of our adventures at Pumpkinville:

Evan spent much of the day in his stroller, since he is too small to run around! Next year ought to be much more fun for him!

Here is Tyler on the pumpkin swing! He loved it and hung on very well for a little guy!

Nathan decided he wanted to see the whole park at once so he took advantage of the view from atop his very tall daddy's shoulders!

Here we are on the hayride!

There was a big sand box that Tyler enjoyed too - I think maybe he thought we were back at the beach :).

Tyler and Nathan kept taking turns at the wheel of this (stationary) tractor -

Nathan got his face painted - cute!



Some fun cut-outs...









And hey - there are PUMPKINS at Pumpkinville!!




But probably the biggest source of fun there were the big slides!! All the boys/men took several trips up the hill and down the slides. Tyler even went by himself one time:




And I decided that Evan should do more than just the hayride, so I took him down one of the tamer slides:



And here is one of the many trips that Tyler and Daddy took together:

Now, it wasn't on that particular trip, but on a later trip down one of the slides, that brought about perhaps the funniest moment of the day:


Mitch's shorts got caught on something and ripped!! Luckily his boxers were not damaged at the same time! We all got quite a giggle out of it! Needless to say, there were no more trips down the slide!!


Ashley and I were talking about what this will be like next year. Evan will be running around like Tyler is now, and her new baby (due in about a month's time) will be just a little older than Evan is now!


Such a fun day! And with all that fresh air and exercise, Tyler had passed out before we were even out of the parking lot!


Both boys should sleep well tonight. Save for a few cat naps, Evan didn't really sleep much at all today, and fell asleep while eating his dinner! Let's hope they can both last through the night!

As promised, here is the super cute beach video of Tyler. The other cute little boy in the video (dressed in green), is my six year old nephew, Max.




We arrived home Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. The drive was just under six hours. The boys weren't fed up until just before we reached home, so it wasn't too bad!

The rest of the weekend (mercifully, a three-day holiday weekend!) has been spent recuperating. And having a little fun - this afternoon we went back to that playground we were at several weeks ago:
Tyler of course wasn't much interested in the section of the playground for his age group - he only wanted to play in the big kid section!


Evan just wants to stand ALL THE TIME now!

This was the first time he has felt grass under his feet - he was quite perplexed!

The weather was beautiful today and we were glad we got to spend some time outside. Now it's back to work and daycare tomorrow. I'm not exactly looking forward to it! Oh well, the holidays are coming up, so I have lots of time off to look forward to!

Lastly for today, I just have to post this picture I took of Tyler this afternoon:

Isn't that precious?? He is so aware of the camera now and sometimes he refuses to smile. But I guess it doesn't always take a smile to get a beautiful picture!

Farewell

This is the last night here *sigh* . I've finally gotten the boys off to sleep, and we're all doing some cleaning up and packing.

Every morning this week I've gone for a nice walk on the beach all by myself.

It's been very peaceful, even if I have felt a little guilty taking some "me" time. I brought Ziploc bags with me on my walks so I could collect shells to commemorate Tyler and Evan's first trip to the ocean. I will have to figure out some way to display them, or store them away safely. They will probably be no big deal to them, but I've felt compelled to do it. My walks might be what I miss most when we leave here tomorrow. I am anxious to get back to our own surroundings, with the boys back in their own cribs, and back to my own dishwasher!! Funny how you can miss such a thing, but the dishwashers here (there are two) are terrible! And I'm grateful that it is a holiday weekend so I'll have two days to recover before returning to work!

On the second night we were here, we had a professional photographer come to take family portrait photos on the beach. It was a great experience, and the pictures came out beautifully. Yesterday, my mom, my mother-in-law Fay, my sister-in-law Ashley, her mother-in-law Daphne, and I went to the studio to look at all the pictures and pick out the ones we wanted to order. It was not easy!! I bought two prints of my clan, and a montage of four pictures of the boys, and I spent more money than I had a right to. As Mitch reads this, I'm sure he's wondering just how much I spent, but sorry honey, I don't plan to tell you. The bottom line is that the pictures are beautiful and I see this as a one time deal. And I know I'm going to get my money's worth. I really wanted to do Christmas cards as well, but those were ridiculously expensive. So this afternoon, we got back into our picture clothes and had our own little photo shoot on the benches at the top of the walkway to the beach. The quality won't be as good, and I don't have the ability to do any of the "touching up", but I think the cards will be nice just the same. Here are a couple of shots from today's photo shoot - without showing you the one I chose for the cards because I want you all to be surprised when you receive them :)!!

And here are some shots from a trip to the neighborhood playground this afternoon:

Time to pack up the laptop now and head off to sleep. A lot to do in the morning (we have to be out by 10:00 a.m.!!!), and a long drive ahead of us.