Pumpkin Carvin'

We finally got around to carving pumpkins today! We didn't exactly make it to the pumpkin patch, but I did allow K to pick her pumpkin out of a cardboard box at the grocery store. Surprisingly she was excited all the same. :) Maybe next year we will actually make it up there.

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We had a pattern book to use in the hopes that we would get some good pumpkins. I think the last time we carved them was before K was born so it's been a while.

And that is probably why I didn't remember how to do it and started carving the wrong part out of her pumpkin after she lost interest on the third cut. Oh well, it didn't turn out too terrible.

She was more interested in poking holes in the pumpkins. :)

Mine on the left, T's on the right.

And K's castle. I redeemed it by carving her name above it. :)

I have lots more pictures to post tomorrow. We have had various events that has led to the girls' wearing their costumes three days in a row...tomorrow will be the final wearing and then we can put the poor things away! They definitely got some use this year!

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Have a safe and happy Halloween everyone!

"Laugh with me" - Part 7

September 2nd

T needed to show me something outside so as soon as we were finished eating lunch we walked out there. K wasn't done so we told her to finish eating and we'd be right back. When we came back in K was hiding under the counter. T told her to get back up in her chair and finish her lunch. She climbed back up and said, "Scuse me, scuse me Mommy, Boo said I could be excused."

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September 7th

K came into the kitchen, "10 or 5"

Me: "What?"

K: "10 or 5 or 6"

Me: "Huh?"

Noni came in: "Oh, she was just telling me that she is going to have kids someday and when I asked her how many kids she is going to have she said, '10 or 5 or 6' ".

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September 12th

We were in the car with Grandma and we had a pretty long drive. We started doing animal sounds.

Grandma: "What does a cow say?"

K: "Moo"

We went through the list: pig, horse, chicken, etc. We had exhausted the list of animals when K finally said, "Toot toot"

Grandma: "What animal is that?"

K: "That is what a rooster says when he toots! (hehehe)"

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October 4th

We were eating corn on the cob. K said she wanted a new cob but she still had a bunch, it was just patchy. T tried to show her how to bite it in a row and she said, quite dejectedly, "But I'm just not as good an artist as you Daddy!"

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October 6th

We use euphemisms for the various private body parts, namely, booty, pee-pee, and chest. I was looking at my facebook and there was a picture of some frosted cookies that someone had posted. K walked up and said, "Hey! What is that?"

Me: "Some cookies."

K: "It actually looks like a lot of chest-es."

Wordless Wednesday

Up Please

Now that Boo is playing on her own a lot more we often leave her in the living room to play. I set her there while I am going about the house. Every time I walk by she raises both hands in the air in hopes of getting picked up.

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Depending on the time of day she reacts in two different ways when I pass her by. If it is close to naptime/bedtime her lip comes out and she starts to cry. If she's well rested and not hungry she will happily go back to whatever held her attention moments before. I love how expressive her face is.

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"Pick me up Mommy! Pick me up!"

If she is really excited she will wiggle around and bounce up and down on her booty.

Sometimes I have to pick her up just because she is so darn cute. Which is probably exactly what she is going for. :)

Doll Baby

Lately, Bug seems to think that Boo is her own personal baby doll. I can't leave them alone for very long or I will find them in some awkward manner. Usually it involves squealing, giggling, yelling, crying, and laughing, by both parties, in no particular order. Our rule is that Bug can pick Boo up and move her if she is doing something dangerous or getting into something that she shouldn't. Consequently, anything and everything has become "dangerous".

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I am having a hard deciding what limits to set b/c I want to encourage their play together and not stifle their relationship by keeping them apart, but watching them play is such a love/hate thing...or I guess I should say laugh/cry. They rarely hurt each other so I guess I should just let them figure it out for themselves, but I do wish they would play a little nicer sometimes.

If I am in the room with them it is usually all smiles and giggles, but I can't just sit there and watch them play all day or my house would be a disaster and we would all starve. :)

I was changing the laundry a few days ago when T got home. He came back to the laundry room to say hi and asked where the girls were. "What do you mean?" I asked him, thinking he was blind if he didn't see them playing in the living room when he walked through. We found them in Boo's room. Bug had decided they needed to go in there to play and had picked her sister up and taken her in there.

I love that they want to play together and are enjoying each other so much.

If only they could stay this happy all the time!

I guess it's just part of that sibiling relationship that I am learning about as we go. Hopefully I can get it figured out before they kill each other. :)

Rainy Saturday

Rainy Saturdays are good for:

sleeping in

french toast

napping babies

staying in pajamas

reading books

and

blanket forts

Jibber Jabber

I got some of Boo's jabbering on video! She is so funny. Sometimes she will just start "talking" and keep going and going. This is a pretty mild version of that. When she really gets going it is non-stop. This was in the car (at night...sorry it's kind of dark) but of course she stopped a bit when I started videoing. You get the idea though. With the way she goes on it is either going to be really bad when she starts talking (to have two girls chattering non-stop) or it will be wonderful because they'll be talking to each other. Haha:) I hope it's the latter.

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P.S. You get to hear her say "Da-da" in this video!

Wordless Wednesday

Hooray for the Cheese

I did something yesterday that I haven't done in probably 20 years...went to Chuck E. Cheese! It was definitely not as cool as I remember it, but I don't think my daughter would agree. She was jumping-out-of-her-skin excited. I love when she gets that way. All the joy and wonder of the world tightly balled up in a three year old package. Love it.

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Our actual plan for the day was to go to the Pumpkin Patch and let her pick out a pumpkin and do all the fun harvest-y things like cider and the corn maze and all that good fall stuff, but the day had other plans.

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The hot water tank at our rental house was leaking and T's dad said that is one thing you don't want to take a chance with so we decided we'd better replace it. My husband is amazing. I SO do not understand how he knows how to do stuff like that?!? He has never replaced a hot water heater before, but did that stop him? No. He just went in there and started doing it. I. Just. Don't. Get. it. How does he even know where to start? We couldn't find one that was the exact same size to replace it with, and the old one refused to drain so it took a long time to switch them out, but by golly he replaced that water heater! Amazing.

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Anyway, by the time we ended up being through it was too late to go to the pumpkin patch. K had been SO excited about it, but she was so sweet when we told her that we couldn't go that we wanted to reward her for her good attitude (something we have been working on). We tried to think of something fun and since we were near a Chuck E. Cheese it won.

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She had been there once before with Noni so she was so excited to show us the ropes. Her first ride was taking a picture with The Big Cheese himself. You ride this little car and it snaps your picture at some point. Apparently last time it got her when she wasn't looking and she didn't want that to happen again. She sat perfectly still looking at the camera with a half-smile the whole time the ride was going to ensure a perfect picture. So funny.

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Then it was time for a few games. Nothing like catching some bugs with your lizard tongue.

And riding a little horse.

And taking your baby sister for a helicopter ride.

And stomping the guts out of some spiders.

After dinner she talked Daddy into a few games.

The day might not have gone quite as planned but it ended up being lots of fun!

And hopefully we'll find another day for all the pumpkin fun.

New Old Crayons

My mom gave me a Family Fun magazine the other day and it had a little article on how to use all those broken crayon pieces most people have lying around. Since it seems like K breaks crayons every time she picks one up, we have lots. I usually just throw them away, but I managed to find enough in her pencil box to do the project.

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All you do is sort out the colors you want and put the broken pieces in a muffin tin. It said to bake on 350 for 8 minutes. Ours took about 12 minutes to fully melt b/c we had some extra thick crayons in there. Then we just had to let them cool. Once they were fully cooled they pulled away from the sides and popped out easily. (I did spray the tin with Pam b/c I was worried they wouldn't come out).

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She was very happy with her new "circle" crayons.

It's funny how much kids can enjoy the little things.

Creating a masterpiece.

Ta da!

I just ordered Family Fun from our neighbor boy's fundraiser so I'm looking forward to getting some fun, new ideas to do with the girls! Anybody have any good ones I can use?

Vatican Cooties

We picked some zuccini from our garden the other day and ever since then K thinks it is hilarious to beat her stomach with a zuccini and say what sounds like, "vatican cooties, oo, oo, oo". I had her say it over and over to me and I have no idea what she is saying. I thought she was trying to say zuccini but I really have no idea. I got it on camera so maybe someone else will hear what she's saying? Whatever it is it makes us laugh which makes her keep doing it. :)

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So for your viewing pleasure...vatican cooties. Oo, oo, oo.

Jump and Bounce

We got to go to a really fun birthday party on Sunday! It was at one of those inflatable places. K was so funny. When we walked in the door the was gripping the present so hard it was shaking and she said, "I'm so excited!!!!"

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She whipped off her shoes and ran straight for the slides!

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And picked up quite a bit of speed on the way down!

She was about to bust out of her skin!

She's smiling so hard she kind of looks like she's making a monster face. :)

She ran from one to the other trying them all out.

I put Boo down on one but she didn't seem to like it too much.

Or maybe she was just exhausted since she was supposed to be napping. Thankfully Daddy was there. He is the best at getting her to sleep. I can't hold her like this b/c she automatically thinks it is time to eat, but when Daddy holds her like this she knows it's time to sleep. He managed to keep her asleep for over an hour, even amidst all the squeals from the party goers. :)

K wore down about halfway through. Probably something to do with the fact that she hurt herself. I think she must have thought she was still on an inflatable b/c she jumped up into the air as hard as she could and landed smack on her bottom! I'm sure she was anticipating a bouncy surface...too bad she was on the floor which was cement with just a thin carpet over it.

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She must have really hurt herself b/c normally she will get right back up and keep going no matter how much it hurts, but this time she cried and cried. At one point I said, "Don't you want to go play some more? You don't want to spend all your play time crying." She said, "I do! I just want to cry!"

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Thankfully she seems to have just bruised her tailbone. We were worried when she said her back was hurting later that day, but the next morning she was just fine.

She got her second wind when we went over to the baby/toddler area which she was technically too old for.

Boo woke up and enjoyed a little play time too.

Go, go, go!

"Ta da!"

After the tailbone brusing incident K would only slide on her stomach on the slides b/c she said her booty hurt so I went up with her a few times. It was actually really fun!

I used to love things like this when I was a kid. It's fun to watch K enjoying it so much. :)

There was a little play set in one corner of the room.

And I actually managed to get a good picture of these two together!

After that we went into a big room and had pizza, cake, and watched the birthday boy open presents. What a fun day!

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Happy Birthday Ry!

Oh Tooo-dle!

When we went to Canada, K was introduced to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She thought it was great and ever since then she has been calling people in the same manner as they call the little Mouse-ka-tool guy.

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Are they saying Oh Tool? Or Toole? Or is it Toodle? I can't really tell. K says Toodle, and ever since she has been calling for all of us in the same way, "Oh Daaaad-dee! Oh Moooom-mee!" When she is calling Boo she says "Oh Tooo-dle!" and the funny thing is that Boo answers "Ahh?" and it sounds like, "Yeah?" I only got them doing it once on the video, but they had done it about a dozen times before I started videoing.

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And speaking of talking, I swear Boo is. We're pretty sure she has "Da-da" down. We have also heard "Ma-ma" and her sister's name as well. But odd as it is, it totally sounds like she is saying words at times. The other night during our young marrieds' bible study she looked up at T and said, "Hi Daddy!" Clear as a bell! T and I looked at each other like, "WHAT?" and one of the other ladies said, "I heard it too!"

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So we think she's talking but for now I think we will just claim "Da-da" as her first word...just like her sister. She rarely stops chattering and is always making noise. I'll have to see if I can get some of her "talking" on video.

Goodbyes

Our good friends, the Gustafsons, are currently back in Russia! Which makes me both happy and sad...sad for myself because I miss them already, but oh so happy that they have chosen to follow God's calling on their life and serve the people of Siberia. They are such amazing people.

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You might remember from earlier posts that they came back to the states to have their second little girl, Ella Joy. What a cutie. We went to an open house a couple of weekends ago to see them one last time and say goodbye. It was hard to believe how much Ella has grown this summer! She actually weighs just a little bit more than Boo.

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Ella - 3 months, Boo - 8 months

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Jami and I and our baby girls.

Me and my girls.

When they first got back at the beginning of the summer K was actually a little bit taller that Anneka, and now look at them! Anneka is actually a couple inches taller! It's amazing how much kids can grow in just a couple of months because I know that K got taller too. I put some pants on her just yesterday that fit her just fine this spring, and now they are several inches above her ankles. Anneka and K are 5 months apart too!

Goodbye hugs.

We will miss you Gustafson family! But we will pray for you everyday! We love you!

"Laugh With Me" - Part 6

August 3rd

K and I were talking about a reward for her staying dry at night.

Me: "If you don't get wet for five days in a row we will buy some new undies. Maybe Elmo or Princesses or Strawberry Shortcake!"

K: "Or LIGHTS!"

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August 4th

Grandma was over and gave some licorice to K. Later K asked, "Can I have some more of that liquor?"

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August 10th

K came down from her nap and found her Daddy. "My undies were not wet today! Want to feel them?" Then she stuck her butt out in his direction. He looked at me with a "help!" expression on his face. :)

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August 23rd

Lately if K is trying to get our attention she gets close to our faces and says, "Hear this!" and my other favorite right now is if I tell her to be careful, or if I see her standing on a chair (ect.) she says, "Don't worry about it Mommy."

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August 25th

We were out to eat and K had to go to the bathroom. She wanted Noni to take her and when they came back my mom's face was red from laughing so hard. She explained that she and K were playing one of their "silly words" games where they call each other by different names. K had said, "I'm done...Daddy!" so Noni said, "Okay...Koala...let's wash our hands." K responded with, "I need some soap, Loser!" (After we got done laughing I realized that she heard it on one of her cd's where the "bad" kid says it.)

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August 29th

We were riding in the car. S was squealing so I turned around and said, "You're so noisy Boo Bear." K repeated, "Boo Bear, Boo Bear!" Then she turns to me and says, "You call her Boo and sometimes Boo Bear. I call her Boo and sometimes Booby!"

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August 31st

I've never really noticed before but when the girls do something bad I call them a "stinker bear". We were grocery shopping at Walmart and I put something in the basket with K to find that she had gotten a Capri Sun out of my bag, unwrapped the straw, put it in, and was drinking it, all without asking. I said, "Hey stinker bear! Now you don't get to have a snack later b/c that was your snack." Later when I was picking fruit I asked her not to touch the apples. She grabbed one anyway and I gave her THE look. She dropped her eyes and asked quietly, "Do I have two stinker bears now?"

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September 1st

K and Daddy were in the living room and she randomly looked up at him and said, "Burping sounds like hot dogs."

Wordless Wednesday