Poor Us- part 3

Then, we had to fly to Oahu and stay at another beautiful hotel, with another beautiful vieweat shave(d) ice go to the Polynesian Cultural Center with these cute people go to a Luau and drink a delicious smoothie out of a pineapple (UGH!) and see an amazing show from incredible seats In all seriousness, it was a wonderful trip. I'm so grateful to have such wonderful in-laws who will take us along (and wonderful parents who will watch the kiddos at home so that we could enjoy this wonderful trip without having to worry about them). It was beautiful, exciting, and relaxing all in the same. Thank you thank you thank you.

Poor Us- part 2

They forced us to do fun things, like take a boat out to Molikinito go snorkeling in the beautiful water and see tons of really cool fish and tons of whales really close to the boat on the way there and back. They made us fly around in one of theseto see breathtaking waterfalls like this and other beautiful sights like this and this This guy was there and so was she and him, too. and can you tell that they made us take the front seats? (p.s. I'm a little excited about the fact that our heli pilot was the guy who was the pilot who took Jillian and Reid on their heli ride and told them he was an ordained priest and he could marry them. Saw the episode, remembered the pilot. I was stoked)

Poor Us

Greg and I had to go on a business trip with his parents this week. They took us to Maui. It was rough. This was the first view we saw when we walked through the lobby of the beautiful hotel.The next day was so boring. We sat around, looking at this This is what we had to wake up to each morning when we looked out the window. There was no way to get around it. We had to eat at fabulous restaurants again

(and even though I was wearing white, no one spilled food on me. Annoying.)

and look at this every evening.

23 months

1. Ethan has cut 4 teeth in the past week- his last canine and 3 of his two year molars
2. If you ask Kate what she wants to wear in the morning, she will respond, "Pink one"
3. They love to point out shapes and colors of things
4. They haven't quite grasped the concept of counting. Unless it's 1 or 2 of something, Kate will count 12367. Ethan will count 12323. We're working on that.
5. Given one word to describe Kate, I would use s w e e t h e a r t. She is a nurturing soul. She can wrap any object (be it dolly, train, rock, or crayon) and rock it to sleep.
6. For Ethan, I would use c o m e d i a n. He's a man looking for a reaction. His first choice is laughter (by anyone, really, including himself), second choice, "Good job, Ethan." He's a pleaser, just like his daddy.
7. Instead of oops, they both say, "opes."
8. They love new clothes.
9. Kate has lately been fond of being held. It may be sweet, but the girl weighs over 30 lbs. I'm a little sore.
10. Ethan is really good at playing by himself (which is probably why I left him alone long enough to do this).
11. Kate is becoming independent ("kate do it")- she wants to dress herself, buckle herself into the stroller and carseat, etc. Some day it will be a blessing when she can actually do these things. Now, it's only an annoyance.
12. Ethan has no problem with me doing everything for him (except feeding himself, which I'm happy for)
13. Ethan continues to be a healthy eater (fruits and veggies all day long), with one exception. Chocolate chip cookies will break him down any day.
14. We had our first swim of the year this week, and Ethan is our fish now. He is fearless- he'll jump in, go under, kick and splash around, laughing hysterically. Kate definitely had fun, as long as she was being held.
15. Ethan finally LOVES the characters at Disneyland. He'll run right up to them.
16. They play with their trains on the track at least a couple of hours every day.
17. They love wearing their Duke shirts, especially if Greg is wearing his, too.
18. Ethan will eat carbs, only if he can see that a fruit or veggie is attached. Kate will eat fruits or veggies if a carb is attached, so we eat oatmeal, rice, and mashed potatoes a lot. (pasta is too easy to separate- Kate will pick out the pasta, Ethan will pick out the peas) I'm taking any suggestions.
19. They think every fish is named Nemo, every dog is named Jake (my parents' dog), and every baby is named Binkin (after Lincoln, their cousin).
20. If you ask them what the baby's name is, they'll whisper Binkin, out of respect for the sleeping baby (even if he's awake or not even in the room)
21. Oh, how they love their daddy.
22. They love listening to their music in the car, particularly Five Little Ducks. They'll ask for it over and over and over.
23. In our apartment, the computer is up in the loft. That's pretty much the only thing up here, so the kids never get to come up... except for when we do video chats with family. If you ask them what's upstairs, sometimes they'll say Grandpa, sometimes Jimmy or Kiki. It kinda came out of the blue and it cracks me up.

Few things in life

are better than chocolate milk through a straw with daddy on a Sunday afternoon **this was actually a few weeks ago, but I just can't keep looking at that picture that makes me sick

First, but not the last

This morning I walked in to the living room to see Ethan pounding this on the table, small pieces flying. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried. A lot. I'm not ashamed to admit that he had to say sorry and sit in time out for a little bit while I pulled myself together. (For the record, he was not sorry. It was Kate who kept asking, "what happened, mommy? You okay?") I am ashamed, however to admit that he could break everything we currently have in our house and it would still pale in comparison to the things we broke of my mom's growing up. I'm also ashamed to admit that while getting him dressed, he didn't want to wear his new flip flop sandals because they were uncomfortable. I made him anyway. When we got to story time, I realized that I had put the toe- divider thingy between toes 2 and 3, instead of 1 and 2. I felt bad. But we're still not even.

Gamedays

Following the rules

This in-between stage is awesome. They are really good at communicating their wants/needs and the "terrible twos" have yet to begin. They know our daily routine and are pretty good about following it. This isn't to say that following the rules can't be fun.

• Last night, we went grocery shopping. They love riding in the car cart, as long as I can do all the shopping in under 10 minutes. Last night, I did, so they were really good. As I was unloading the cart, they decided to load their part of the cart with "CANDY!!" (how did they even know that it was candy? They've never seen wrapped candy. Greg, would you like to answer this?) Anyway, I finished what I was doing and asked them to put the candy bar back. They did, and the 7 or 8 candy bars that they had be stashing. One day, we're going to walk out of the grocery store thieves.

• They love "clean-up," usually. Ethan likes to put things in the wrong place, like the blocks in the train box, and say, "Nooooo. das silly!" then quickly putting it where in belongs.

• Kate is really good about saying "excuse me" after a burp or a toot. The other day, Ethan burped and Kate said, "say cuse me, EE." Ethan said it.

• This morning Ethan sneezed. He ran up to me, snot hanging from his nose, and said, "wipe nose, please." I can just just see him now, senior in high school, asking a teacher to wipe his nose.

New Year

Only a month late, here are some pictures of our New Year celebrations. Doug and Janet came to thaw out from their Minnesota winter. Our first stop was, of course, the happiest place on earth. Ethan thought Dumbo was okay. We were lucky enough to have front row seats for the Rose Parade, thanks to the Swindlehursts who watched our spot, starting at 4am the previous day! Grandpa showing Ethan the finer things in parade-watching- kettle corn. Traveltown - and dinner - Happy belated New Year!