Kid's Say the Funniest Things

Story #1
A few nights ago I noticed Andrew's cheeks looked a little chapped. I rubbed lotion into his face and explained to him that when it gets cold out our skin gets dry and needs a drink of lotion. He held perfectly still while I applied it and then took off to play. A few minutes later he came back with a pouty look on his face. I asked him what was wrong and he said, "Mommy, my cheeks are all poky now." LOL! His poor little cheeks were so chapped that the lotion had a stinging effect on them.

Story #2
One evening we all were playing together on the floor. We were playing tag, reading books, playing hide-and-go-seek, etc. The kids were having a great time. Andrew all of a sudden burst out saying, "We have the bestest famiwee!" :-)

Story #3
Tonight we made a supreme pizza for supper. Andrew loves pizza, but like any kid, has a hard time eating the green peppers, onions, and black olives. He had them all picked off and in a pile on his plate. He said, "Mommy, I can't eat these yucky things." Of course he gave me the big brown eye look with the poochy lip out. I said, "I am sorry, but you have to try to eat them. They will make you grow big and strong just like Daddy." As we all know, Andrew is a very small boy for his age. I went on eating my supper and didn't pay any attention to him. Next thing I know he says, "Mommy, look! I finished my veggies! Surprise!" Then his facial expressions changed quite drastically and he quietly put his head down and said, "But I am still wittle." LOL!!! Phil and I laughed so hard! I guess mommy needs to be more careful what she says from now on.

Halloween Pictures and More

Here are my two green monsters dressed and ready for Trick-or-Treating. Carole is an alligator and Andrew is a dragon.

Phil said he was a Transformer. He called himself Optimus Slide. :-) The only problem was that he was too "big" to leave the house!

These last two pictures have a story behind them. This morning, while Andrew was at school, I asked Carole if she wanted to go outside. She ran to the kitchen gate and sat down to wait for me to put her shoes and coat on. After that I opened the gate said, "Let's go outside, Carole!" She said, "No." She then came back to the kitchen clutching the things in the first picture: her blanket, stuffed pink monkey, and the Blues Clues toy. Those three things are her most favorite things in her life right now. I told her we could not take all of that outside. After all, we were just going to walk to the post office. She ran out of the kitchen and cam back carrying her purse. Just like a girl, right? She hung onto that thing almost all the way there. :-)

More Pictures from our trip: Part 3

Carole cooking at Nana's play kitchen

Carole with Auntie San

Andrew reading books with Papa before bedtime

I had the privilege of meeting up with my old college roommate. I hadn't seen her in years! This is Penni and her daughter, Tali. I love ya, Pen! It was SO good to see you!

More Pictures from our trip: Part 2

Andrew flying the rocket with Curious George at the Children's Museum in Chicago, IL.

Carole enjoyed the slide on the back of the rocket.

Carole and Curious George

Andrew and Curious George

Papa and Nana showing Andrew and Carole how to cook safely.

More Pictures from our trip: Part 1

Flying Parachutes with Grandpa while Mommy and Grandma went shopping!

Grandpa tried to get Carole to fly one but she almost blew away! :-)

Andrew having supper with Uncle Michael.

Here Carole is having some snuggle time with Grandma. Actually, feeding her is the only way you get to hold her!

We are still here!

It has been so long since I've last posted. We went on a two week vacation to visit family and friends in the beginning of October. It was unseasonably warm for an October trip. The day after we got back we all got sick with colds. Carole had it the worst and is still fighting it.
Here are a few pictures of our trip to see family.

Here is Carole having fun sliding!

Andrew loved the train at the Henry Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, MI.

Andrew and his cousin, Elijah, sporting there new matching shirts that say "Trouble is my middle name."

Uncle Tom and Daddy helping Andrew and cousin Elijah feed the ducks. Carole is not pictured here because one of the ducks mistook her foot for a piece of bread. She was with Mommy.

Andrew and Carole enjoying a boat ride at Great-Grandpa's house. I won't tell you why we were stranded in the middle of the lake for awhile either. :-)

Carole's Room

Well, I finally got around to making Carole's room more than just the guest room with a crib in it. I just recently bought a "girlie" bed set and thought it was high time to do some painting in her room. This is the before picture. I should add that the curtains have not been made, I just hung the material up.

This is a picture of what it looked like after I painted and stamped the "Big Blossom" from Stampin Up. I thought the flower matched her bed set quite well.

Here is what it looked like after I added some paisley's on the wall, just like on her bed set.

Here is a close up of the pattern I stamped on the wall.

This picture was taken the night I finished stamping just the flowers. Carole like seeing flowers on her wall. She wanted to reach up and touch them.

What's New With Us?

I know it has been awhile since I have posted. Life can be very interesting and crazy taking care of a three year old and a one year old. Some days are more stressful than others, but I wouldn't give this job up for anything!

Carole is now about the same size as Andrew. At her 18 month check-up she weighed 25lbs 5oz. Andrew weighs 29lbs at 3.5 years old, and he is only a few inches taller than her. We now get a lot of bro/sis fights and tattling. "Mom, look at what Carole just did. Mom, Carole is hitting me!" Mmm...I wonder why Carole is hitting you? As much as they don't get along, they are inseparable. Here we have Carole crying because she knows Andrew is about to leave for preschool.

I dug out Andrew's costumes from last year and the year before. They sure looked so cute running around.

Carole has learned to climb on the table much to our dismay. Nothing keeps her off now. She does get in trouble for doing it, but seems to forget why she got in trouble a few minutes later. Here you can tell by the startled look on her face, that she got caught.

Since I have last posted, Carole has begun to show interest in the potty. Right now it is more me training myself to get her to the potty, but once she is there she knows exactly what she is supposed to do. Pretty smart for an 18 month old.

Andrew is such a boy and is becoming a clown, so to speak. He always knows just what to do to make us laugh.

New Pictures

One day I walked into the living room to find my kids each in their own cubby in the entertainment center. I couldn't resist taking a picture. :-)

Andrew started Preschool

Well, it happened. My baby boy started preschool. His first day was last Thursday. While I was getting him ready to go he chattered non stop. "Mom, the school has a park. Maybe my get to play there. Don't worry, mom, if I get hurt the school has bandaids. They take care of me." Then he turned to Carole and said, "Bye Carole. My have to go to school now. My a big boy now. You have to be a big boy before you can go to school. Don't worry I will come home soon."

The school van picked him up around 8:30am and he was dropped off around noon. He said he had a good time. These are some of the things he told me when he got home. "There was a girl there that was crying. She was crying because she wanted her grandma. I wanted my grandma too but I didn't cry. My a big boy now. My went potty in the toilet not in my pants. We had crackers and milk for my snack." When I asked him if he was good he said, "Well, when we were all done some of us was running around. The whistle got louder and louder. But don't worry, mom, I only got in trouble one time." Later I found out that he and his friend, Chris from church, got in trouble for throwing dinosaurs. Funny he didn't mention that. :-)

Here are a few pictures I took before he left that morning.

Two New Pictures

This picture was taken on Sunday morning. Carole packed one of her board books in her purse and ran to the gate and said, "Go. Go 'side." Translation... Go outside. :-)

Andrew was laying on the couch watching TV with his hand on his cheek. I thought he looked so cute I went and got the camera. He turned and looked and gave me this cute expression.

Bathtime dessert

I just had to share this video. Strangely enough, our daughter loves to eat the bath soap. Whenever we are washing her or Andrew, she is constantly trying to lick whatever soap she can. In this video clip she is "licking" Andrew just like one would an ice cream cone. :-) Sadly, Andrew did not like being Carole's dessert.

First of all, I am going to start off by saying that our living room lamps are in BAD shape. Mmmm... I wonder how they got that way? The shade on one of them is barely hanging on and falls off a lot. Well, today Andrew bumped the end table as he rumbled by and the shade fell clean off. Carole immediately erupted into tears. She came running up to me in a tearful voice saying, "Ma ma, uh-oh, uh-oh." She took my hand with one hand and pointed to the broken lamp with her other hand as she led me over to the scene of the crime. She did not stop crying until the lamp was fixed. I just thought it was so cute how she was very concerned about the lamp being broken. Maybe she thought she would get in trouble for it. :-)

Today I took the kids to the grocery store by myself. That was an interesting trip. I can say it was the first time Carole went to the store without screaming and embarrassing me. I had Carole in the baby carrier on my front and Andrew in the cart. All in all, it went pretty well. Maybe that is because I brought a container of goldfish crackers. So it wasn't so bad until we got to the checkout counter. Andrew was holding onto food and not letting the cashier take it. While I was trying to deal with him Carole was pulling everything out of my purse that was sitting on the counter. One thing is for sure, the cashier and the bagger got their laughs for the day. The cashier said, "Don't you normally come with just one of them or by yourself?" YEP! :-)

Random Pictures

This picture was taken on Sunday. Carole got a new dress from Papa and Nana in the mail. It is one of her longest dresses. I think she must have felt like a "lady" wearing it because that morning she pranced around with a purse on each arm and her phone on her shoulder. Sadly, I was not able to get a picture of that. As soon as she sees me get the camera, she drops what she is doing and does something silly.


This picture I just took today shortly after I laid her down for her nap. She was so tired, she went right to sleep. That is rare for her. Usually she she likes to play in her bed for awhile before giving in to sleep.


I took this picture right after lunch when Andrew was doing his "business." I walked into the bathroom and found him in this pose. :-)

Oscar the Grouch

On Monday night we were playing "hide and go seek." Monday night is also the night we collect our household garbage. Thankfully I had just finished emptying the diaper pail and spraying it with Lysol. When we went to look for Andrew this is where we found him! :-) At first he thought it was funny until he realized he was stuck in there. Don't worry, we got him out!

Recent Pictures

Yesterday I walked in the room to find that Andrew had dressed Carole up. He was so proud of himself. He said, "Look Mom! Carole is a conductor now!"

The kids love playing in the tub. One night I was taking pictures of them hugging each other and this is the face Carole gave me!

Carole loves putting things on her head. I tied this hankerchief around her head and she proudly paraded through the house.

This is a classic Carole expression. I would have to say that Carole probably smiles at least 75% of her day.

Andrew's hair was getting so long that Phil decided to slick it back to see what it would look like. Andrew told me, "Mom, my no like my hair like this." It didn't stop him from making a funny face for the camera! :-)