When I was a kid...

We spent a wonderful week visiting the Reimer family for Christmas. A week at Grandpa's house is full of fun and exciting things to do. Garrett and Avery collapsed into bed every night. As I was tucking Garrett into bed one night, he was studying a poster on the wall of Vernal Falls in Yosemite. When I was 18, my family hiked to the top of this waterfall. I told Garrett the story beginning with, "when I was 18..." He had a story of his own to contribute. He said, "When I was 16..8..9 point 2, I climbed to the back of that waterfall."

The Terrible Two's??

Avery seems to have suddenly entered the world of "the terrible two's." I'm puzzled because she's not two yet, but it sure seems that way. I can't help but wonder what turned my sweet, darling, easy to please little girl into a mad hatter almost overnight. She screams "no," points her finger at me, runs in place, stomps her feet, and throws herself on the floor. Yep, sounds like tantrums. BIG ones. It makes me realize how much my Garrett has grown up. Now he is the reasonable and rationale one. That makes me proud.

I do have to share my favorite thing that Avery says. She says "w" for "l" (here goes the speech pathologist in me...) and she says, "wook at dat, mommy!" (look at that, mommy!) She shows me things all day long. This is especially cute when we are driving in the evenings and she is watching the Christmas lights!

Eat Your Broccoli

I've tried to introduce my kids to a large variety of vegetables. This is pretty easy, considering that I like most vegetables myself. Greg on Garrett on the other hand, well that's a different story. As I sat the broccoli on the table at suppertime on Wednesday night, Garrett says, "I don't eat broccoli for you." I said, "Oh...do you eat broccoli for Lynette?" (our daycare lady). He replied, "Yeah. Yum."
Oh well, at least he eats broccoli for someone.

Snow Days!

We LOVE snow days! With somewhere between 8-12 inches of snow, we've had three snow days in a row. That doesn't happen often. Poor Avery hasn't been outside since Sunday! Yikes. She doesn't want to go outside in the snow. Garrett on the other hand could stay outside all day. I'm always ready to come in before him! With the strong wind, we have BIG drifts in the backyard and most of the yard is covered in snow that is almost knee deep! Casey is pretty cute bouncing through the snow. Sometimes it takes a little snow to get us to really slow down and enjoy what is important. No running around, no shopping, no eating out, just sitting down and enjoying the day with my kids!

Thankful Thursday

I intended to post this last Thursday on Thanksgiving, but we were visiting the Stohs family so I was away from my computer. Here is a list of the things I am thankful for this holiday season:

1) my incredibly supportive husband who puts up with my wild mood swings and crazy ideas
2) my darling little people - Garrett & Avery - they can always bring a smile to my face and never cease to amaze me
3) our loving extended family - we wish we lived closer to you so we could hang out all the time!
4) warm winter weather
5) snuggling by the fireplace in the evenings
6) Christmas lights and the look on the kids' faces when they see them
7) hot chocolate and apple cider
What are you thankful for?

Growing up too fast

Garrett is all about being a big kid lately. He really admires the school-age kids at daycare. He tells me that he wants to go to school and he wants to do homework. Hopefully he'll still feel this way in a few years! He's excited that he is "older" since his 4th birthday. This is our conversation the other night as I was tucking him into bed:
Garrett: I'm a lot more bigger when I'm 4. Can't I stay up later?
Mommy: Maybe you can stay up later when you are 5 or 6.
Garrett: Ugh.
Nice try.

This was a night when he was being particularly silly. He also said, "I'm older than you." I said, "I'm 31. How old are you?" He replied, "34."
He was full of giggles that night. I'm not sure where this came from, but he kept asking me to "Shake my sillies out. Shake my sillies out!" I obliged.

Making Progress

What we thought would be a one-week potty training trial is turning into the "real deal." We've made some progress. Avery has not had a (for lack of a better term here) #2 accident all week. She's been telling us and making it to the potty, including when we were all the way across town visiting Toys R Us! She kept telling me she had to go #2, but when I would try to sit her on the adult toilet in the bathroom she would cry. This happened twice, so we hurried out of the store and drove the 20-30 minute drive across town. She made it home to do her business on the potty! #1 is taking a little longer to figure out...

Potty Training: Day One

The good news is that Avery did pee on the potty once yesterday. The bad news is that she peed on the couch too. Lynette gave Avery a lot of water to drink yesterday to help this potty training process along and I think it kicked in last night. We're using underwear rather than pull-ups because in our experience, pull-ups just don't work. So that means cleaning up some accidents. And yesterday evening, there were a lot of accidents! Luckily, other than the couch, all of the others were on the vinyl floor. But Avery wasn't telling us she was having accidents, we were just discovering big puddles. We'd clean it up and discover another one about 20 minutes later. We discovered that she peed on/in Greg's lunch box while standing on it to try to reach her Halloween candy! Greg wasn't so thrilled. After each accident, we'd take her to the potty and she'd sit while we got clean clothes and undies. Then she started to get a little silly. She'd strip off her underwear and come tearing out to the living room naked. She'd start laughing when she saw me and then go tearing back into the bathroom and sit back down on the potty chair. I just ignored it.
Turns out our "easy to clean" microfiber couch isn't always so easy to clean. It smells terrible. And it turns out that upholstery cleaning companies can't clean microfiber because the heat of their equipment is too hot for the fabric. But a very helpful upholstery guy gave me some great tips on a baking soda/peroxide combo that should help. And Greg is headed to Target to buy some "plastic" training pants after work today!

Big Girl Panties!

Big news at our house today...Avery is wearing big girl panties! We are officially potty training as of today. She liked her pink Elmo undies until we put them on her! They must feel a little different than a diaper. We didn't make it on the potty this morning. She sat several times but no luck. Maybe Lynette will have better luck. She seems to be an old pro at this. More to come...

A boy and his dog

These two friends are inseparable. Garrett can't go to bed without Casey in his room and Casey can't handle it if he's not included in Garrett's bedtime. If I had known what buddies they would become, we probably would have had a dog much sooner.

Garrett has been waking at night and coming into our room several times a week. He always brings his two "blankies" and his favorite stuffed cookie monster and orange cat (aka Morris). He climbs up onto our bed and attempts to sleep at the foot of our bed. This lasts for several minutes and then he climbs down onto the floor with his blankets and animals to curl up with Casey who sleeps next to the bed. I often will tuck him in with a blanket. He is fast asleep in no time at all, snuggled up with his best friend, Casey. Sometimes I worry about him not sleeping well on a hard floor and we'll move him back to his bed after awhile, but last weekend, he slept all night on the floor with his pal.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my birthday. Garrett greeted me with a great big birthday hug, kiss, and a "Happy Birthday Mommy!" Avery greeted me with a "Happy Mommy!" Pretty cute. We had yummy burgers at the Red Robin tonight to celebrate. We had so much fun driving the race car video game after eating that we walked out and forgot to grab balloons. Garrett realized this on the way home and became a little upset. Greg tried to distract him by saying, "Let's sing Mommy Happy Birthday" and he started to sing. Garrett started screaming, "No, stop singing!" and did NOT want to participate. At the end of the song, Avery chimed in, "Again Daddy!"

Avery's Latest Tricks

Here is the little rock star that I was hoping to catch on video:

You'll hear her ask "why?" in this video too! She has some new little tricks up her sleeve, not counting feeding the dog a LARGE amount of sunflower seeds followed by homemade playdough which he puked up all over the carpet... Let's just say that homemade playdoh colored with a red Koolaid packet and puked up on carpet is not a good combo.

Avery is very into fashion. She is obsessed with new clothes and shoes and socks and now a belt. Isn't this starting a little young? She fell in love with this glittery metallic belt covered in hearts at a clothing store. I bought it for her thinking that she could use a belt for some of her pants. Now she brings it to us all day long saying, "Buckle me, Mommy." But she only wants to wear it for a few minutes and then take it off again. Her latest stylish look includes fleece PJs with her sparkly belt around her waist and her shiny black patent leather dress shoes. She has been wearing this the last two evenings! I don't know if I would call this "stylish," but to each their own...

Every little thing that she accomplishes lately is followed by, "I did it, Mommy!" This is pretty cute.

She continues to boss the dog around. "Casey, no barking."

She snuggled up to me tonight as I rocked her before bed and she repeatedly said, "tri or trea," (trick or treat) with a big grin. We went trick-or-treating tonight at Boo at the Zoo. The kids had a blast and devoured lots of candy! Tuesday night we'll trick or treat the neighborhood assisted living facility and then make our way around the block on Halloween night. What a fun week!

Garrett's New Bike

I don't have pics from Garrett's birthday downloaded yet, but I do have a cute video to share.

Grandpa Reimer gave Garrett a Strider bike for his 4th birthday. Notice it doesn't have any pedals. It teaches balance and makes the transition to a regular bike without training wheels very simple. Garrett can really cruise on it. He's way ahead of us on our walks now. He has actually had this bike for about 6 weeks now and he LOVES it!!

Here is today's cute quote from Garrett as we took our cats to the vet for their annual check-up/shots:

Garrett: I wish I was a cat.

Mommy: Why do you want to be a cat?

Garrett: Because I love cats.

Isn't he sweet?

Happy Birthday Garrett!

Happy 4th Birthday Garrett! We are so proud of the sweet and loving boy that you have become. We love you so much! Love, Mommy, Daddy, & Avery

New Shoes

Avery is a little fashionista. If she gets a new pair of shoes, socks, or a jacket, she wears it proudly. I bought her a pair of shiny black patent leather shoes to go with her Christmas dress the other day. As soon as she spotted them she said, "New shoes, new shoes," and she put them on. We are impressed that she can put her own shoes on already. Wednesday night she even put her new shoes on over the top of her footed jammies. This morning she just had to wear them to Lynette's house. She was wearing a cute but casual little outfit with shiny black shoes! I'm not sure if I would call that a style statement. She definitely knows what she likes and what she doesn't.

Temper Tantrum

Greg and I witnessed Avery's first big temper tantrum. We ate supper the other night and Avery barely ate. I have to give her credit, she did take a bite and apparently didn't like what I made. Right after supper she started saying, "I want gum," (Gum is her word for candy. Everytime Garrett gets a piece of gum, she gets a jelly bean.) and then, "I want nack" (snack). I said, "No Avery, we just ate supper, you can't have a snack" (Don't worry we wouldn't let her starve. She did get a snack later). She proceeded to head to the pantry to help herself to a snack and then realized she couldn't open it (child-proof lock). Then it happened. Screaming and stomping her feet. She even picked up a paper grocery sack on the floor and threw it as hard as she could. Greg and I couldn't help but giggle. Just the beginning of the wonderful tantrums to come...

Big News

Big news at our house. Or Lynette's house, I guess I should say. Avery went #2 on the potty!! Yippee!! Woohoo!! She went on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. Well, actually Lynette caught her in the act and then moved her to the potty. But that still counts, right?

Double Trouble

The other day we were playing outside in the backyard. Garrett was playing on his slide. Avery would follow him up the stairs but just stand there and not climb the to the top. This was irritating Garrett. After a few squabbles, I intervened. I said, "Garrett, if you ask her nicely, I bet she'd move." And she did. I said, "See Avery will do anything you ask, if you ask her nicely." You could see the wheels start to turn and his face broke into a huge grin. He smiled at Avery and said, "Avery say poopy." And of course, with a big smile Avery said "Poopy." What are we up against?

Welcome Isabella Faye!

Greg and I are a proud new aunt and uncle to Isabella Faye Peddicord. Greg's sister, Kimberly, and Tucker and the proud parents! Isabella was born Sunday, October 4th, weighing in at 7 lbs. Congratulations Kim & Tucker! We can't wait to meet our newest family member!

5K Studs

A few weeks ago I ran my first 5K. Yeah! This is my awesome team. My sis, Annie, is standing next to me. We ran it in under 30 minutes and didn't walk at all which was our goal. Next time I think I will definitely have an IPod and will attempt to train a little first! The last stretch was a lap around the track and as we rounded the last turn, I had to ask Annie if she felt as crappy as I did! She said yes! We had a blast. Thanks for encouraging me, Sis!

Little Mother Hen

Avery is a little mother hen. You can definitely see that females have an innate ability to care for others and it is evident at an early age. If I so much as cough, she strokes my face and asks, "You otay?" with genuine concern. She also will touch me really nicely and stroke my hand or face and say, "ni" for "nice."
She loves loves loves to help her brother. She is constantly bringing him his stuffed animals, blankets, and pillows, even when he doesn't need them. I think he gets a little tired of this! Anytime we need to leave the house, she gets his shoes and his jacket for him.
And here is the true evidence of her helping skills: one evening after eating supper out on our deck, I carried the leftovers inside. Avery then proceeded to clear the entire table and bring me all of the dishes and condiments as I loaded the dishwasher. I just assumed that Greg had told her to do this, but come to find out, she did it all by herself with no instruction from Greg!

E-I-E-I-O

Avery loves to sing! She walks around singing "E-I-E-I-O" all the time! It is darling. We can ask her to sing us a song, and that is what she sings! It has not been captured on videotape yet but if it is, I'll post it.

Grandma's Surprise Visit

Greg's mom came up to visit yesterday and to surprise the kids! We planned for her to pick the kids up from daycare with me and surprise them. On the way to Lynette's house yesterday morning, I dropped a hint to Garrett. I told him I will have a big surprise for him when I pick him up. He guessed that I was bringing him bubble gum! I said, "No, it's much better than that." He didn't take to this very well. He yelled, "Just tell me what it is!" Apparently he has a hard time with surprises, just like I do!
Anyway, the surprise was a hit! Garrett and Avery had a ball with Grandma yesterday evening and this morning. Avery was quite talkative for Grandma, showing her everything, "Look Grandma, see..." and showing her pictures she has colored.
She even said, "I wu woo" (I love you). She just started saying this by herself without us telling her to say it. The first "I love you's" must make every parent melt.

Grandma got called away a little early when we got the news that Greg's sister, Kimberly, is in labor! She is having a little girl. I will post an update on my new little niece very soon!

Sweet Baby Talk

Avery is chatting up a storm lately. Here are her latest little sayings:
She imitates every move her brother makes. That includes asking, "Why?" but it is with a long drawn-out "eee" sound such as "whyeeee?" She's a little young to be asking "why?!" I have a feeling we will be answering this question for several years!
She also asks simple questions such as, "What that?," "Where Casey at?" and "Where Daddy at?" Every day when I pick her up from daycare, the conversation goes something like this: "Where Casey at?" and I say, "He's at home." Avery says, "Whyeee?" I'm pretty impressed at her questions and at how articulate her speech is for an 18 month old.
We can actually have a 2-3 turn conversation. Here is an example of one:
Mommy: We need to wash your blankie.
Avery: Wash blankie. Whyeee?
Mommy: Because it's dirty.
Avery: It clean.
Mommy: No, it's dirty.

She really surprised us last week. Greg jumped up and touched the neighbor's basketball goal while holding her. She said, "Cool Daddy."

Facing Forward

We bought a new set of carseats for our car a few weeks ago. This particular type of carseat has great ratings, a good price, and is only a forward-facing seat. Avery is still rear-facing in our van since she just hit 22 lbs. The new recommendation is to keep children rear-facing until there is no leg room left, since it is safer in a high speed collision. We decided with the small amount of time that she spends in the car, it would be fine for her to face forward and it's about time to do that in the van anyway. She is 18 months old. She LOVES it! She sits there with a huge grin on her face the entire way home from daycare when Greg picks her up. Now Greg is trying to convince me to turn her around in the van too. I'm being the over-protective mother. Maybe by Christmas?

Playing School

I arrived at daycare 2 days ago to a very cute site. Garrett was busy playing with two of Lynette's neighbor's girls. They are both school age and were sitting in the garage with Garrett next to Lynette's blackboard which is mounted on the inside of the garage. The oldest girl was the teacher and her younger sister and Garrett were the "students." He was sitting in his chair holding a little chalkboard and chalk listening attentively to his "teacher!" It was precious. Lynette says that he likes to "run with the big kids." He is very drawn to older, school-age children and admires every move that they make, so playing school was right down his alley.

The Sunken Gardens

We love the Sunken Gardens. Every summer we head there to snap some cute pics of the kids when the plants are in full bloom. Garrett & Avery love running along the path and watching the fish in the koi pond. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Sunken Gardens also holds some dear memories too. When Mom was battling cancer, she and Dad visited us. Garrett was 9 months old. We took them to the Sunken Gardens and snapped some pics. Mom, being the great gardener that she was, loved it.

It's a Boy Thing...

Preschool boys are like their own little species. Most of them roll over in giggles at the sound of words such as "poop" and "pee." We've gotten used to this. Garrett's latest little boy fascination is with gas. He will say, "Hey mom, watch this!" and then proceeds to hold up his stuffed animal or lift the dog's tail and make gas sounds. He dies laughing. We just smile.

We Miss Summer

My dear sweet Garrett knows that summertime means staying home and playing with mommy all day. When I woke him up yesterday to get ready for the day, he rolled over, smiled, and asked, "Is it summertime yet?" Unfortunately fall has just begun. I have a feeling this school year will go quickly though.

Growing Up

I can't believe my baby girl is 18 months old this week.
Where does the time go?

This next picture is from 2 months ago (back in the binky days) but I had to include it:

I've taken a bit of a blogging break lately. School and 2 young children are getting the best of me! My goal is to post weekly as things settle into a routine. We'll see what happens.

Little Ears

I had to take some work stuff home the other night. I try to avoid that at all costs, but the beginning of the school year has to be the exception. Garrett was helping me, watching me cut out some laminated picture cards. He says, "Pretend I'm Grandma and I work at Velmont (his way of saying Belmont). I said, "Oh okay, what are you doing at work, Grandma?" He says, "I'm trying to get this schedule figured out." (That's funny because that is exactly what I've been doing at work!). He said, "My Velmont is in Omaha." I said, "Omaha, really?" Garrett said, "Yeah, kind of outta the way." (Again, something that I say about Belmont because it is across town from our house.) At least I know he listens to what I say!

Bye Bye Binky

It's time. Time to ditch the binky. We're on day 2. So far, so good. Well...so far, not bad.

We've been saying we'll get rid of it by 18 months, but I didn't really think it would happen. We knew it would have to be cold turkey. She's only been using it at naptime, nighttime, in the mornings, in the evenings, okay, quite a bit. She fell asleep without it at Lynette's on Tuesday. We decided we'd try it that night and sure enough it worked. So that was it. There's no going back now. By morning she knew it was missing and she was MAD. She cried most of the morning while I got ready for work. Last night as I was putting her to bed, she was looking for it, peering into her crib and looking everywhere. We haven't said the B-word around her, but she knows it's missing! Luckily she's in love with her pink blankie (see above picture), so that helps. It looks like we're binky-free!

H2O

Garrett does NOT like to drink water. We are constantly preaching to him about drinking more water. Yesterday evening during supper Garrett finished his milk and asked for more. Greg told him he could have some water. He got the usual response, "Nooo!!!" So then Greg asked, "Would you like some H2O?" Garrett thought about this for a minute and then agreed. Greg walked to the sink. He said, "H" and put some water in, "2" and put a little more in, and "O" and added some more. He gave it to Garrett, who took a sip right away. Greg asked him, "How do you like it." Garrett said, "Mmmm, pretty good." Unfortunately these tricks don't work for long.

Stayin' Alive

We survived. Four days without air conditioning in 95 degree weather. Thank goodness our air conditioner will be repaired and running when I get home today. Our house has been about 90 degrees inside. It was so hot last night that Greg, Garrett, and I sat outside until 10:30 soaking up the cool breeze on our deck. Now we don't normally allow Garrett to stay up that late but he couldn't sleep after multiple attempts at putting him to bed probably due to the heat. He enjoyed looking at the stars with us.
I also survived my first week back at Belmont Elementary. We had some tears shed in the mornings before daycare, but both kids have thoroughly enjoyed being back at Lynette's house. By the time I pick them up after work, neither one wants to leave! In fact the first day, I had to chase Avery down and strap her in her carseat, kicking and screaming, because she didn't want to go home! That is a good sign.

Goodbye Cereal

I am always trying to turn myself into a cereal eater. I've never been one to sit down and eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast, but it's healthy and easy, so I'm always trying to find a kind that I like. I've been on a Multigrain Cheerios kick lately. Until now. Two days ago as I was finishing up my cereal, a dead weevil (spelling?) floated to the top. If you don't know what a weevil is, they are tiny little bugs that hatch out of grain foods (cereal, flour, crackers) etc, if you keep them past their prime. I managed to eat another bowl of cereal the next day. After at least 10 bites or so, a large housefly come crawling out of my Cheerios and milk. Apparently he had been under the Cheerios and couldn't surface?? I cannot figure out how a fly go in my cereal, underneath my Cheerios without me seeing it. So I may very well not ever eat Cheerios again. We'll see.

I Want Swim

This little girl is quite the talker. Yesterday I watched her dig thru our pile of swimming suits to find hers. She brought it to me and said, "I want swim." Unfortunately our pool was empty, but it will be filled up this weekend, when the weather will hit 100 degrees for the first time all summer!

Learning lyrics

This curious boy is always listening. We were in the car yesterday running errands when he began singing along to the radio. It took me a minute to realize that he was singing the chorus to a song before it had been played, so he had recognized it and remembered the words! He must be a country music fan. I can't think of the singer or the name of the country song, but the lyrics are, "God is great. Beer is good. People are crazy." Pretty cute to hear a 3-year old sing this!
By the way, that is Garrett at the zoo holding a giant grasshopper. I don't think you could pay me to hold one of those!

Summertime

It's official. Summertime is almost over. Next Tuesday I head back to work. I can't quite wrap my head around that idea yet. We've had a blast this summer. I've loved every minute at home with the kids, although my parenting skills have definitely been tested. Here are a few of my favorite things about summer:

1. the smell of sunscreen on baby soft skin

2. the sand that gets tracked all over my house from the kids' sandbox. this drives me crazy but still makes me smile.

3. sunbleached hair

4. pulling weeds and picking tomatoes in the garden with Garrett

5. pigtails and sundresses

6. chubby baby legs, although these are rapidly turning into skinny toddler legs

7. weekly trips to the zoo (see the above pics)

8. seeing the kids smile and hearing Avery's "choo choo" when we ride the train at the zoo

9. swimming in our blow up pool

10. lazy evenings in the backyard, sipping a cold beer

11. daily walks and regular trips to the nearby park

12. sitting outside with our neighbors by their firepit and chatting into the wee hours

13. water gun fights

14. playing fetch with Casey

15. the list could go on and on....

Sleepovers

Garrett is always begging me to sleep in his bed with him. He always says, "Sleep with me all night long," so finally last week we had a little sleepover. I snuggled up with him for the night. It is pretty cozy. However, I woke up at 2:30 am with a crook in my neck. When I got up, he immediately rolled over and took my spot. So I crept back to my own bed because I didn't want to disturb him and thought I could use a little room. In the morning Avery was the early riser so I was up with her when Garrett finally woke up. He was pretty disappointed that I wasn't still in his room. He said, "That makes me really sad." So we'll have to have another sleepover soon!

Avery's buddy

I haven't downloaded my picture of Avery and her buddy, Casey, but when I do, I will post it. She and the dog are inseparable. If Casey goes outside to go potty without her, Avery stands at the backdoor and cries and Casey justs sits and looks back at her. It's like I'm separating two best friends. So usually we take him out to go potty together. She tells him, "Go po-y, go po-y." I think she likes to tell him what to do. If he picks up something he shouldn't, she says, "No, no, no, no, no!" She also requests his "ball" all day long. We have to put his balls away so he will settle down during the afternoons, otherwise he could play all day. He drives me a little nuts by repeatedly pushing his balls just out of reach under the furniture. Avery also hand-feeds him his dogfood and occasionally eats it herself and tries to drink from his water bowl. As if that's not bad enough, when we took him to the vet, she licked the floor in the exam room. Yuck! Maybe she thinks she is a dog??
One morning last week as I was cleaning up after breakfast, I peeked into the living room to find her propped up on Casey like a pillow, watching cartoons.

Go Potty

Avery may toilet train very early. At least that is our hope. She has watched and admired her brother for some time now. Before she hops in the bathtub she tells us she needs to "go po-y" and she plops down on Garrett's little potty. She sits for several seconds and then hops up on the stepstool to wash hands. She's 16 months old, so we're hoping she might be training by 18 months?? We'll see.

Reverse Psychology

I have figured it out: how to get your kids to eat their veggies...
Just tell them, "You better not eat your carrots. Don't do it! Do NOT eat those."
I tried it with Garrett and it worked like a charm, several times actually. Until we had peas. He ate several handfuls in between giggles, then made a funny face and spit them out. He said, "I don't really like peas."

Obedience Training

We enrolled Casey in obedience training which was part of our adoption contract with Golden Retriever Rescue. Our first class was quite interesting. I don't know if Casey was really tired or if this was his reaction to the stress of being in a strange place with strange dogs, but every time we stopped walking during class he would curl up at my feet and appear to fall asleep. This dramatically different than the handful of older puppies in the class that are jerking at their leashes and gagging themselves. Everyone is probably wondering why we are there! We are headed to our 3rd class today. So far we've learned to sit, heel, begin to stay, down, and turning while heeling. Casey seems like a bright student!
We did learn something about Casey the first day of obedience. We had kind of figured out that he becomes car sick after about 35-40 minutes of driving. Obedience class is about 35 minutes away, but not wanting to medicate a dog unnecessarily, I decided to try the trip without motion sickness medicine. It worked fine on the way there, however, just as we rounded the corner for home, he began licking his lips A LOT. I pulled into the garage as fast as I could and jumped out to open his door just as he puked! Luckily on his dog blanket and not the floor of the van!!

Take-out Only

Our days of dining out are rapidly coming to a close. I just blogged about our disastrous meal at Cheeseburgers in Paradise and we had a similar time tonight! After church tonight, we decided to hit Applebees for supper since we had a gift card. It was pretty much a repeat of the night before. Avery screamed bloody murder the entire meal. I asked for boxes and paid the tab as soon as our food arrived, thinking we were going to box up our food and hit the road. We did manage to quickly scarf down our food while taking turns standing and bouncing Avery. If we attempted to sit down with her, the screaming would begin again. So I guess it's take-out only or "Brooke's Kitchen."

Back from Vacation

We just returned from a "mini vacation." We spent a day at Coco Keys Water Resort in Omaha and a day at the Henry Doorly Zoo. It was a wonderful time and we are all tuckered out. We had a blast at Coco Keys. The kids were too small for most of the water slides except for the area for small children and the "lazy river" as Greg and I dubbed it. We spent most of our time floating around in big circles on inner tubes with the kids relaxing on our laps. Avery even took two naps on our laps while floating around. I have to admit, this was quite relaxing. Greg and I did venture up to try out the biggest water slides for ourselves. Greg went first while I watched the kids and then I took my turn. He advised me to try the dark tunnel which sends you whizzing down a loopy slide in complete darkness on an inner tube. I think I screamed most of the way down! We also spent our first night in a hotel as a family of four. Garrett loved it and didn't want to leave the next morning! However, he crashed at 9:00 that night while watching cartoons. Avery on the other hand was running laps in our room until lights out at 9:45. By 7:00 the next morning, we were all snuggled together in our king-size bed.
We hit the zoo the next morning. Unfortunately neither of our kids are really interested in zoo animals. Garrett is more fascinated in comparing the dirt in each exhibit and picking up dirt, rocks, gravel, and sand everywhere we go. They both loved the train and we even tried out the new Skyfari exhibit which is like a ski lift ride over the zoo. I was a bit surprised that there were no age/height restrictions so both kids could just ride on our laps. Garrett loved this. Avery was very quiet but would wave at people below and say, "Hewoo" (hello).
We finished off the day by hitting a favorite burger joint in Omaha, Cheeseburgers in Paradise. Unfortunately Avery was exhausted and literally screamed thru the entire meal. If we attempted to talk to her, ask her a question, or tell her "no," she would just scream louder. We ordered Garrett & Avery a kid's meal and neither one took a single bite! All in all we had a great time, but it's good to be home!!

The Bug Catcher

Last week I was mopping the kitchen floor. Since Garrett has recently given up his afternoon naps, he was hangin' with me. As I was mopping he said, "Are you gonna get those bugs over there?" I looked over near our patio door and there were 5 dead flies lying on the floor. We seem to have a ton of flies coming in from our garage every time we open the door. Maybe our bug spray is affecting them because they are moving pretty slowly and Garrett is able to smash them with his fingers. Later that day I caught him trying to smash some more of them in our window. I said, "Let me do that. Don't smash them with your fingers." He said, "But I want to help you. I'm the bug catcher."

Role Models

Garrett has a wild and creative imagination. He plays all sorts of imaginative games and can easily entertain himself with his creativity. A latest favorite is to pretend that he is Greg or I. He will say, "I'm Dad and you be Mom." So I will say, "Hi Dad, how was work today?" He says, "Pretty good." "What did you do today?" "I fixed some stoplights." This conversation can go on and on. He puts a lot of thought into how Greg might respond to my questions.

The Screamer

Avery is becoming quite a screamer. It seems to be her way of communicating, "I don't want to," "I want that," "I had it first," "Don't touch that," "Stay away," etc...
Last week at the library Garrett was playing with a big wooden toy. Avery was sitting in a rocking chair nearby, watching him play. A little girl came running up to join in the fun. Avery looked straight at her and let out one of her bloodcurdling screams. That poor little girl started crying and ran away. I had to explain to her mother why she was crying.
We've been telling her to us a nice voice every time she does this and this week she says, "Otay" (okay).

Responsible Parenthood

Last week Avery stumbled on our steps on our front porch and bumped her head on the concrete. It didn't leave a visible bruise or bump, but I heard her head hit the concrete so I called the nurse at our doctor's office to see what we needed to watch for. I was talking to her on the phone as I watched the kids play in the backyard. She said to keep a close eye on her and wake her several times that night to make sure that she was okay. As I was speaking to the nurse, Greg hollered out the back door, "Hey, you wanna beer?" That nurse was probably thinking, "No wonder their kids are falling down the stairs...."

Surrogate Grandparents

I think Avery is missing her grandparents. Last Friday we attended the opening ceremonies to the Cornhusker State Games which is much like a smaller version of the Olympic opening ceremonies. The kids had a blast. We were sitting in the stadium and there was a little space between us and the next couple, an older couple with their kids and grandkids sitting around them. Avery kept wandering over to them, giving them cute little smiles. It wasn't long and the lady was tickling her and Avery was showing off her belly button. The next thing we knew, Avery was sitting on her lap and a bit later on her husband's lap. I think she found some surrogate grandparents. We were fine with this and Avery was obviously enjoying it. Although I think this couple's own grandchildren were getting a bit jealous. Avery, however, was refusing to come back to us! Apparently this family was more fun than we are! We decided to sneak out a little early to beat the parking lot rush and I had to pry Avery out of this woman's arms, kicking and screaming because she didn't want to go with me.

Big Brother

A sweet thing happened last weekend...Garrett gave Avery a big hug and said, "I love you, Avery." This hasn't happened in quite awhile.

When I was a kid...

Today Garrett and I were reading a book about 5 little ducks. I said, "When I was a kid growing up on Grandpa's farm, I had ducks and chickens." Garrett chimed in, "When I was a baby, I had a farmer a long time ago and a combine and a tractor."

Rough Times

Garrett always has a rough time adjusting to changes. And coming home from Grandma & Grandpa's house was no exception. We expected some major grumpiness. On Sunday Greg and I took the kids to the zoo. It was a cool beautiful day and we had a great time until it was time to leave the Stego Dig site (where the kids dig for dinosaur bones in the sand). The zoo day ended with Garrett being carried out kicking and screaming. Now Garrett is usually a pretty well-behaved kid in public. Luckily we have never had to do this many times. We went home and he crashed for a 3-hour nap. We chalked it up to exhaustion. So the next day I decided to take the kids to the public pool. We had never been to the public pool, only our backyard pool! I had been tempted to wait until Greg could go along, but we have summer fever so off we went. The closest pool to our house is pretty incredible, more like a water park than a typical pool. The kids had a great time for abour 4 hours. However when it was time to go, Garrett decided that he was staying. I ended up dragging him out of the pool, kicking and screaming with Avery in the other arm. This continued the entire time I gathered up our towels and shoes and headed for the door. Luckily he followed me because my arms were full. Although he was still screaming and running in place. When Greg got home that day I said, "I think everyone was staring at me. Actually I KNOW they were staring at me." So I think we'll wait for Greg to come along before we attempt the pool again.

Speaking the Same Language

Avery is quite the talker. Most of the time it is quite a bit of "jibber-jabber" with some recognizable words mixed in. Apparently Garrett can understand her better than me based on this conversation:

I made baked beans with our lunch and as I was setting the table, Garrett proceeded to tell me, "I don't like beans." After he said this Avery jabbered off a nonsense sentence. Garrett replied, "No Avery, I DON'T like beans." She repeated the same nonsense sentence and then Garrett yelled, "I DON'T like beans, Avery! Mommy will you tell Avery to stop saying that I like beans because I DON't like beans!!"

A Week at Grandma & Grandpa's

This cute little man spent the week at Grandma and Grandpa Stohs's. We visted them for the 4th of July and then headed home on Monday. Garrett has been going to Vacation Bible School with Grandma all week. Avery and I are headed down Friday evening to watch him perform some of the songs that he has learned in a church program and then we'll be bringing him back home on Saturday. Unfortunately Greg is on-call so he can't go with us. It sounds like Garrett had a fun week! Grandma said he wasn't homesick at all. The house has seemed so quiet. Avery and I hardly know what to do with ourselves! She has had a bit of a virus and hasn't been up to par, so it was nice to be able to focus my attention just on her. But I can't wait to see my little man tomorrow and give him a huge hug and kiss! I have missed him dearly!

Look Mom!

Yesterday, I took Avery inside to change her diaper and left Garrett playing outside in the sandbox. When I came back out he said, "Look Mom, my ears are full of sand!" And sure enough, they were. I brushed the sand out as well as I could. My first thought was to flush the sand out with water, but I decided to call the nurse's line since it was after hours. The nurse said that's a new one that she hasn't heard before. She said, DO NOT flush them since I could do more damage. Instead we visited the dr today to have his ears checked. Luckily there was not much sand remaining in his ear canals and she easily removed it.

Back from Vacation...

We are back from Colorado. We had a wonderful time. Thanks to Kimberly and Tucker for taking us in with 2 rowdy kids and a dog! They were great hosts and we loved spending time with our family at their house. We also attended Greg's cousin Kelly's wedding at a beautiful lodge in Estes Park. The reception hall had a nice deck wrapping around it with beautiful mountain views. We spent a lot of time socializing with family outside.

On Monday we did something special. We rode this:


the Georgetown Loop Railway. We rode over that bridge in the picture! It was a bit scary for me, but the rest of the ride was beautiful. Garrett loved it and has been making his "train sounds" for days now!

On our way home from Colorado we stopped to visit a friend. My friend and former co-worker, Julie, just moved to rural Paxton, Nebraska with her family as her husband begins a farming operation. We had a great time and explored some of the outbuildings on her property. It was a bit reminiscent of my childhood days.

Baby Finn

Here is Baby Finn, Annie's little boy. He's a sweetie. I've been meaning to post his picture for awhile. He has already grown and changed a lot since this picture was taken. I also included one of Grandpa Reimer getting over-taken by his grandchildren. Very cute.

Oh the cute things they say...

Here are a few of my favorite things that the kids say right now:
Garrett always dramatizes things a little bit. When he tells us that he loves us, it sounds like this, "I love you sooo much!" The "sooo" is very long and drawn out. I could listen to that cute voice all day.
Avery has a very sweet "uh-huh" right now. She doesn't even open her mouth to say it. If you ask her a question, she answers "uh-huh" in this tiny sweet voice. And her giggles...I'm listening to them right now. She is in love with Casey. She's sitting by him and he's licking her. She likes to grab his ball, hold it like a football and take off walking. He's always right behind her, poking his nose around her sides trying to touch his ball and she just rolls in giggles. This is truly one of the best sounds on earth. Casey also likes to lick her toes at suppertime while she's sitting in her highchair. We all get a laugh out of this.

Off to CO

We are off to Colorado for a wedding and to visit Greg's sister, Kimberly and her husband, Tucker. They live in Johnstown, CO (east of Loveland). We haven't seen their new house that they moved into last summer. We're excited. We will be attending a cousin's wedding in Estes Park on Saturday. It will be nice to catch up with the Stohs family in such a beautiful place. Casey gets to travel with us. Garrett is very excited about that! We'll return on Tuesday and will pack up again on Friday to spend the weekend in Wamego with Greg's parents for the 4th of July. So you may not hear from me much in the next week or so...

Perfect

A neighbor visited us today with her grandson. As we chatted in the backyard and watched the kids playing in the sandbox she commented, "This is perfect. You've got the kids, the dog, the garden, the sandbox..."
I have to admit, it feels pretty perfect. I have two healthy beautiful kids, a wonderful husband, and a nice home. Who could ask for more?

Where's Cookie Monster?

This morning at 5 am, Garrett woke me up asking for his beloved stuffed Cookie Monster. He said, "I can't find Cookie Monster anywhere." I went into his room and looked all over his bed and under his blankets, but couldn't find him. So I headed back to my room to grab my pillow so I could sleep with him. I figured he wouldn't be falling back to sleep without his favorite stuffed pal. That's when I found Cookie Monster. He was lying in the middle of the dog's bed. Uh-oh. Casey must have snuck into Garrett's room and stolen his favorite animal right out of his arms in the middle of the night. I did tell this story to Garrett in the morning and he and Casey are still best of friends!

You Need to Talk Nice

I keep reminding Garrett that he needs to be nice to the dog, Casey. Sometimes he plays a little too rough. Yesterday I was loading the dishwasher when Casey came up and started licking the silverware. I had several exposed knives laying there, and I yelled at him to move. Garrett piped up, "You need to talk nice to him. You'll hurt his feelings. He won't be your friend." Sometimes we need a 3-year old to put things in perspective.

Happy Father's Day Greg!

We had a wonderful Father's Day. We spent the morning playing on the playground at Holmes Lake Park and walking around exploring. Then we had a picnic lunch. It was a nice morning. Casey got to join in on the fun too!

Casey

Meet the newest member of our family! We welcomed Casey into our home last Wednesday, June 17th. That explains the week-long break from blogging! We met Casey Tuesday night at his foster home in Omaha and fell in love with him. By the time we went to bed that night, we knew he was supposed to be our dog. We adopted him the next day. He is finally getting the love and attention that he deserves! His previous owners didn't have time for him and confined him to their basement.
As you can see, he is wonderful with the kids. Casey is fully housebroken, loves to take long walks, and can play fetch for hours at a time. He brings the ball to you and drops it at your feet or puts it in your lap to throw it again! He enjoys sneaking in naps on our bed. We are smitten.

Siblings

One of my favorite things is listening to Garrett talk to Avery. He has such a sweet little voice and he can't make all of his speech sounds (yes I do analyze my children's speech development..). He will also mimic many of the nicknames that I use with Avery and the way that I speak to her. We took a walk to the end of the street the other evening (both kids on foot with me following them). When we reached the corner Garrett turned around and headed back toward home but Avery needed a little encouragement. Garrett said, "C'mon wil Avwy" (Come on lil' Avery). I wish that I could capture the sound of this in writing, but I can't.

What's Your Name?

I've been talking to Garrett a lot about safety lately. What to do if you get lost in a store. To stay away from strangers, etc. We just had this discussion again the other day. I asked Garrett what he would do if he got lost in a store. He said he would find another mom with kids. I said, "Yes that's right. Or find someone that works at the checkout counter. They will probably want to know your name. What's your name?"
Garrett replied, "G-G-Garrett!"
You can tell we've been working on our letter sounds!

Little Mama

Avery is a little bit of tomboy and a little bit of priss wrapped into one cute package. She has a nice start to her doll collection from Christmas and her birthday but has not been interested in them, despite Greg and my attempts at showing her how to care for her "babies." This changed after meeting baby Finn. We came home from our weekend visit and Avery picked up a dolly, and carried her around the house hugging and kissing her. She would tuck her into her doll bed and say, "Ni Ni" (night night). I guess she just had to see this in real life in order for it to make sense!
She also rocks her dolls. She stands up and swings them back and forth wildly and sings, "Ra ra ra ra ra." (Rock-a-bye-baby)!

Puppy Love

We visited Cimarron and Dodge City about a week ago and met my new nephew, Finn Martinez! He's a cutie and a very happy baby! We were lucky to be present for his baptism as well. Mike and Annie treated everyone to a fun BBQ in their backyard after baptism on Saturday evening. Avery is in love with Boscoe, their golden retriever. She followed him around all day on Friday and Saturday evening. Late Saturday as the BBQ was wrapping up, Avery watched Boscoe drink water from a big galvanized tub that was holding cold drinks. The ice had melted into water and Boscoe was thirsty. Avery walked up to him really slowly as he was drinking, studying him closely. Then she leaned down next to him to get a closer look. When Boscoe walked away, she helped herself to a little sip too! She would stick her tongue out and touch it to the water, just like the puppy dog. It was precious.

GRRIN update

Here's the latest update with our golden retriever adoption:
We are at the top of the list. There are 5 dogs available and 3 coming up for availability very soon. So far of the 5 available, 3 of them are not a good fit (don't like cats, older dog, etc). The case manager will be calling soon with more info about the 5th dog and the dogs that will be available soon. The 5th dog is a 5 year old farm dog that was used as a breeder for a backyard breeder. The 3 coming up are younger male dogs. We are trying to wait patiently for the right dog to come along!

Summertime!

Wow! The last two weeks of school were a little crazy. Lincoln Public Schools was in session until June 4th! It's crazy - school in June?? But Friday was the last day. It's SUMMERTIME! We are pumped for a fun and exciting summer at our house. As I tucked Garrett into bed on Friday night, we hugged his stuffed animals (Cookie Monster and the orange cat aka "Morris") tightly and said, "Cookie Monster and Morris can't believe that it's summertime!"
My thoughts exactly.

We kicked off summer by breaking out at swimming pool on the driveway on Saturday. Avery and Garrett both had a blast even though it was only about 85 degrees outside. We hit the park on Sunday, the zoo on Monday, and will visit another park tomorrow! The fun begins...

Feel the Love

Although my job can be frustrating at times, there are always moments that make it worth it. Today one of my 3rd graders stopped by my room. I wasn't able to see her group on Monday because of Memorial day. She wondered if I could see her on Friday to make up for it. Unfortunately I don't work on Friday, and explained to her that she only has speech one more time before school is out for the summer. Then I proceeded to tell her that on her 4th quarter progress report, I wrote how well she is saying her "r" sound and that she will be done with speech soon. Her response was, "I'm gonna try to make bad "r's." I'm gonna try to use a "w" for them." She used to substitute "w" for "r" such as "wun" for "run." She really wants to keep coming to speech!

Another GRRIN update...

Here's the latest on our golden retriever adoption:
We are now at the top of the adoption list!! The coordinator is on vacation until next Tuesday and will call us next week with information about the available dogs!! She said they have about 6 dogs available right now. They have "several wonderful 5-year old females," she said. We can't wait to hear more and start meeting dogs!!

What Kind of Animal Are You?

Anyone that knows Garrett knows that he loves animals and pretending to be a cat is a favorite pastime of his. He also loves gymnastics. Sometimes he has such a good time at gymnastics that he gets a little too carried away, acting silly and pretending to be a cat. We've had to have a few "talks" about when it is okay or not okay to pretend to be an animal. So tonight before gymnastics, Greg prepped him that gymnastics is not a good time to be a cat. Then during gymnastics, the instructor wanted all of the kids to pretend to be spiders or other bugs. When it was Garrett's turn she asked, "What kind of animal are you?" Garrett grinned and said, "A big scary bear" with a growl. He proceeded to walk to the next instructor and bite her shirt. Then he headed to the next instructor and licked her! Yikes. We may need to have a few more talks...

Maaa!

I have to add one more cute thing about my Avery...when I pick her up each day at daycare and she sees me for the first time she holds her hands up high in the air and walks to me as fast as her little legs will carry her. As she heads toward me she says, "Maaaaa!" for "Mom!" I melt every time.

Miss Avery

Miss Avery turned 14 months old last week. She is such a charmer. Her latest milestones are shaking her head and saying "huh uh" for "no." On Mother's day I would ask her, "Avery did you get Mommy a Mother's Day present?" and she would shake her head and say "huh uh." Very cute. Starting this past weekend, she now nods her head for "yes." It's a lot of fun to see her answering yes and no questions.

Before and after her bathtime, she likes to break away from us while she is naked and she walks around the house as fast as she can, rolling in giggles and trying to get away. It's so cute that we can't help but play along!

Avery also likes to take her favorite pink snuggle blankie with her everywhere. Recently we gave her a little blue snuggly bear/blankie that was Garrett's to use as a substitute at naptime when her blankie was in the wash. Well she latched right onto that one and it goes everywhere with her too! It says "Thank heaven for little boys!" Then this past weekend, I bought her a little crib for her baby dolls and found another little blue snuggly blankie that was also Garrett's when he was little to use as a blanket for her doll bed. Well, she loves this one too! So now she carries her little pink blankie plus two little blue blankies everywhere she goes! I will try to snap a picture of this!

Babies, Babies, Babies

Our extended family continues to grow:

Annie & Mike welcomed a new baby BOY on Sunday, May 17th around 9:30 in the morning. His name is Finn Charles Martinez, weighing in at 7 lb 10 oz and 20 inches long. They said he has a lot of dark wavy hair and large hands and feet. Both baby and mom are doing great! I am waiting for email pictures and will try to post one when I get them. We are headed down to meet the new babe over the last weekend of May. I can hardly wait to see my new nephew!

More exciting baby news:

Kimberly (Greg's sis) and Tucker found out on Monday that they are having a baby GIRL! Avery will be thrilled to have a little girl cousin! Congrats Kim & Tucker!

I'm falling a little behind with blogging. The flu bug hit our house over Mother's Day weekend and then I battled a terrible cold this past weekend. My house looks like a disaster zone. And our next two weekends will be spent on the road. So we will see what I can squeeze in during the next 2 weeks!

T-O-P-S

Kids never fail to surprise us! We've been gradually teaching Garrett his letters when the opportunity arises during our everyday activities. His wonderful daycare teacher, Lynette, also works on letters during natural learning opportunities such as storytime. For the longest time, he wasn't very interested, but lately he is a little sponge.
We stopped at ShopKo to pick up some flowers for my pots this weekend. We parked next to a stop sign. As I parked, Garrett said aloud, "T-O-P-S, Stop." I was amazed that he knew all 4 letters! I can't quite give him credit for reading yet, because he knows what a stop sign is! He is always asking me, "What that sign says?" He is an inquisitive little boy. I'm so proud!

Update from GRRIN

I got home from work late yesterday with the kiddos and we picked Greg up at home to head off to the Olive Garden for supper. Greg told me that GRRIN - Golden Retriever Rescue - had left us a message today. I grilled him for details on the way. He told me I'm so excited that I'm "like a little kid!"
Here's the scoop: the 2 families ahead of us on the adoption list are currently looking at dogs. Three new dogs have also just joined the rescue! I'm guessing that the families in front of us will have to make their choice before we start meeting dogs. Hopefully it won't be long!

Avery's Animal Sounds

I wish I had this on videotape. Maybe I can catch it soon. We've been working on teaching Avery animal sounds. She can do "baa" pretty consistently when we ask, "What does a sheep say?" and sometimes "moo." These aren't quite consistent enough to 'perform' them yet! However, yesterday I showed her a picture of a train and said, "What does a train say?" Immediately she rounded her little lips and said, "whoo, whoo, whoo!" Big Brother is a better teacher than Mommy...

The Power of Siblings

Avery loves to do everything her big brother Garrett does. She even watches what he eats. If he is picky, so is she! She is like a little mirror image. It's pretty cute to watch (most of the time!!) Tonight we had Lucky Charms for snack before bedtime. Garrett loves to eat the little marshmallow pieces and then often refuses to eat the cereal pieces. Of course, Little Sis observed this and decided to do the same. She was signing "more," looking at the picture of marshmallows on the box, and repeatedly saying "ma, ma, ma, ma, ma." Every now and then she would cry a little! She often says "more" when she signs, and this was different. I'm guessing she was trying to say "marshmallow?"
Finally I told Garrett that he had to eat his cereal so that Avery would eat hers. I needed his help! He was happy to help me. Avery however, wouldn't eat any of her cereal. She needed some of Garrett's. He would give her little pieces and she would eat them. She wouldn't take any cereal from Greg or myself, only from her beloved big brother!

*$&%*(#

Awhile back Greg and I observed that Garrett was saying a few choice words. He dropped something and immediately said "D$(# it." We questioned him about where he learned these words. I said, "Who says that?" Garrett replied, "Daddy does!" Well I won't point any fingers, because I can recall one time that I said them myself. We chose the path of ignorance and didn't comment on this again in hope that it would fade. It did.
Fast forward a few months and those words are back. Garrett and I have been reading the Little Critter book, "Just a Toy," which is a book about a little porcupine that picks out a new toy and then it breaks. Every night when we read the page where the toy breaks, Garrett chimes in, "D(#* it!" I've continued to ignore this, but then tonight at the grocery store, out of the blue, he said it again! This time I did speak up and explained that those are not nice words and if Mommy or Daddy said them, then we are sorry and we will try really hard not to say those words again. Luckily, Garrett didn't choose the Little Critter book tonight!

Garrett's 1st Prayer

Every night we say bedtime prayers with Garrett and Avery. Tonight Garrett chimed in with a request of his own. "Dear Jesus, please bring us a present tomorrow."

We had our first "family movie night" tonight. Even Avery got in on the action and enjoyed some popcorn and sat in her rocking chair. We watched Toy Story 2. I think this will become a regular event at our house!

Our Dog

On Friday I got an update on our status with our golden retriever adoption. We are still the 3rd on the list. The first family is waiting for a female. The second family wants a puppy or an adult male and we have requested either an adult male or female. The rescue group has several (3 or 4) goldens that are becoming available this next week or so and at least 2 of them are females. The first family on the list will get to meet the females and then we will be next! The adoption coordinator will call me toward the end of this week with another update. She thought that they may have a dog for us to meet at that time! So hopefully we are only 1-2 weeks away from meeting our dog!!

Fat and Flaky

Here is an update on Willie's vet appointment:
Luckily they didn't have to sedate him ($). He doesn't have a medical condition. In Greg's words, we paid $37 for the vet to tell us that Willie is "fat and flaky." We know he is a little overweight. We've been measuring he and Molly's food for several years now, but they continue to be a little chubby. Willie actually weighs 18 pounds but in his defense, he is big-boned. According to the vet, Willie was born with a certain number of oil glands in his skin and when he exceeds his intended size then the oil glands can't keep up, resulting in dry flaky skin and dry fur. So we are cutting their food even more. We have to feed the cats separately twice a day and when they walk away from their bowls, we put them away until the next feeding.

A weekend at Grandma's?

Garrett and I have been reading, "The Berenstein Bears and the Week at Grandma's" lately. He picked it out at the library. I thought this would be a good book because I know Grandma and Grandpa Stohs are really looking forward to keeping Garrett sometime. When we read the book the first time and Garrett realized that Mama Bear and Papa Bear left the cubs at Grandma's house, he asked (in his sad little voice), "Why would they leave them there? Why?" So I explained that in the story Mama and Papa Bear were taking a second honeymoon and the cubs would have a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa. I said, "Your Grandma and Grandpa would really like you to stay with them sometime. Would you like to do that this summer?" Garrett thought about this for a minute and then said, "No I want to take a second honeymoon with you!"
Don't worry Grandma, we'll keep working on this!

Dining Solo

I attempted something new on Friday. I went out to eat with the kiddos...by myself! Eating out with the kids these days is a lot like the quote from Forrest Gump, "it's like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get!" They can either be really crabby or really happy. But Garrett was begging to go out to eat on Friday and Greg had plans to eat with his coworkers to we couldn't meet up with him like we sometimes do. So we hit Jimmy Johns and ate some delicious subs for lunch. For some reason they do not have highchairs at our Jimmy Johns so Avery had to sit on my lap! We had a great time, minus the small meltdown that Garrett had when his Sprite was gone and I told him that he couldn't have a refill. Otherwise, I'm pleased to say that it was a success!

Wild Willie

Poor Willie. He doesn't know what's coming. Friday morning he has a vet appointment. You could say that Willie and the vet are not exactly friends. His most recent vet visits have consisted of biting Greg, shredding the hands of a substitute vet that didn't heed our warning, and being placed in an isolated room with a sign on the door that read "use extreme caution." Even the poor receptionists are afraid of him. But our beloved vet, Dr. Gengenbach, continues to take good care of him. It's hard to believe such a sweet boy could become so vicious.
Willie has always had flaky skin, but all of a sudden it has really become flaky and it's time for the vet to check it out. They are planning to sedate him if needed to examine him and draw blood if needed. I'll post an update when we know more.

The Cookie Snatcher

Here's a funny story about those cookies that I took to work:
I had an IEP meeting with the parents of one of my students yesterday. They brought along the student's older brother who has autism. The cookies were sitting on a filing cabinet across the room from this boy when he suddenly jumped up, made a beeline for the cookies, grabbed 2 of them and started gobbling! I assured his parents that it was fine for him to eat them, but they couldn't even get him to give part of one to his little brother. So I shared a cookie with him too!

A Dream or a Nightmare?

I definately have dogs on the brain since we are anxiously awaiting to hear when we may be able to adopt a golden retriever. I had a crazy dream a few nights ago. I dreamed that GRRIN (Golden Retreiver Rescue in Nebraska) had a golden for us to adopt and they also gave us a 3 year old boy from Australia to adopt as well. How crazy is that? We would have our hands full...

Comfy Carseats?

Greg and I have been seeing a chiropractor regularly for about 2 months now. We recently started taking the kids as well. Chiropractors can offer wellness care to children just like adults. I have to admit that I was skeptical at first, but with Garrett's on-going tummy issues and Avery's recent ear infection, we decided to give it a shot. They've been seen for about 2 weeks now and the chiropractor detected slight swelling along Avery's spine in the middle of her back. He asked us to bring in our carseat today so he could take a look at it. He removed the cover and showed us how the dense foam padding behind her head and shoulder blades abruptly stops, creating a horizontal ledge along the middle of her back. Since he showed this to us, I have been amazed that we never noticed it before because you can feel it as you run your hand down the seat. We have a nice plush Evenflo carseat. He said that most carseats do have this problem including the nicer brands such as Britax. This is especially a problem with younger children when they sit rear facing and their seats are reclined, placing them somewhat on their backs. So on his recommendation, we bought some thick batting and cut it to fit to fill in this gap and make a smoother surface for her back. This makes me feel terrible, thinking of the many long trips to Cimarron when Avery screamed for hours at a time. Now we know her back was probably hurting. It will be interesting to see how much of a difference this might make.

Cookie Cravings

I made homemade chocolate chip cookies tonight and am taking them to work tomorrow. I don't often make homemade goodies to take to work. I think that is because Greg and I both have to dig in to them as soon as they are cooled from the oven. That doesn't work so well with a pan of brownies for example. You hate to take a pan of treats with 1 or 2 missing! But I decided it's time that I invest a little effort for my co-workers.
Is it a bad sign that I can make my chocolate chip cookies from memory...

Big Brother

Garrett and Avery have their moments together, just like all siblings. It is fun to watch them play together and see how much they love each other, but they also know how to drive each other crazy. I was pleased when Lynette told me during week 2 of our new daycare that Garrett is always keeping an eye out for his lil' sis. She said that he always has to know where she is! That makes me smile.
Today Lynette said that Garrett found a small toy on the floor and brought it to her. He said, "This might be a choking hazard for Avery."
What a great brother.

Missing Miss Kysa

Mondays can be tough for all of us. We recently switched daycare from our in-home nanny, Miss Kysa, to a traditional in-home daycare. Garrett & Avery are both missing Kysa very much! Garrett also misses being able to hang out in his jammies every morning. Now we rush about to get out the door in time. Kysa watched the kiddos from August until March, so this was a big change. Avery had never been cared for by anyone else. But they've adjusted well.

It's nice to see Garrett playing with other children. Lynette is their new daycare provider and she runs a small daycare out of her home. She only takes a few children and Avery is the youngest. Lynette incorporates a lot of preschool-type activities - which are wonderful for Garrett. He loves doing storytime and he brings home many arts and crafts that he has made. Last week when I picked them up, Garrett didn't want to leave! That is always a good sign!

More Time Outs!

Time out seems to be the norm at our house. We've been working really hard with Garrett, trying to teach him to listen and follow directions the first time, without us having to give him repeated directions. He has definately improved when we are consistent with time-out, but he still likes to test his limits! At suppertime today, he was pushing the limits and smearing his food on the table. He didn't stop after we told him the first time and then Greg picked him up to carry him to time-out. Avery was sitting there in her highchair waving "goodbye" to him! It's hard to keep a straight face when these things happen.

Dave Ramsey

Greg and I are quickly becoming big fans of Dave Ramsey, the financial guru. We are reading his Financial Peace Revisited book and listening to some of his audio books. He has great ideas regarding how to become debt free and make your money work for you. We are currently starting to implement his "debt snowball" ideas to eliminate our debt and are thinking of ditching the credit card! Although it's still a little hard for me to imagine life without a credit card!
For a taste of Dave Ramsey and his view on purchasing cars, check out this link:
www.daveramsey.com/etc/lms/drive_free
It really makes you think...

Zoo Day

We've had plans to go to the Lincoln Children's Zoo on Friday all week long. Avery has been battling a cold though and it seemed like Garrett was getting congested on Thursday night. He kept telling me Thursday night that he was getting sick. Then he asked me, "What are we gonna do tomorrow?" I said, "Well if you and Avery feel well and aren't sick, then we can go to the zoo." A little bit later he was laying on his bed, holding his breath and grunting really hard. I asked the logical question, "Do you need to go poop?" He said, "No, I'm trying to get the sick out of me!" He realized that he better not be sick if he wanted to go to the zoo! If only getting over a cold was that simple!
We did go to the zoo and had a great time! We had to leave a little early because Avery was getting tired, but Garrett was a good sport! He had a blast. Riding the train was his favorite part, of course. As I'm typing this, I asked him what his favorite part of the zoo was. He said, "The poopy train!" Potty talk is a big thing at our house these days.