Bunkbed

Once again Charlotte is sharing her bed with us. Charlotte got a new bunkbed, and she asked Jack and me if we wanted to have her old one! Of course we said yes. Charlotte's dad and our Dad put the bed together this evening. Jack and I sat on the sofa with Mom so we would be out of the way while the dads worked.

In a little bit the bed was put together! I hopped right up and got all my blankets and animals arranged. Eventually we'll get matching sheets, but this will do for now. Jack was a little unsure of things, so Dad held him and talked things through with him.

Pretty soon Jack was happy and excited to give his new bed a try!

My brother snuggled right in!

As for me...well...I'm super-duper excited! Mom hopes I calm down and get some sleeping done.

Mom thinks she might want to paint the bunkbed a navy blue. She thinks that might be a fun boy color.

Weekend Fun

Last night we started off our weekend making bubble beards in the bathtub.

Dad thinks we look like little Amish men. :-)

This morning we continued with weekend fun by taking a walk downtown. We did a few errands before stopping at the cafe for a smoothie.

We also spent some time drawing in our journals. We like to draw the things we see. Summer colors will only be here for a few more weeks. Before long we'll be using mostly the fall-colored pencils.

We're looking forward to the change in season.

Playing

Charlotte came to play for a bit this afternoon while her mom went to a meeting. We decided to crawl into Jack's tent. Even Norah came!

We tried to convince Mom to let us have dinner in the tent, but she wasn't having any of that! Maybe when we're older...

Yes, we're alive.

No, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Rather we've just been busy figuring out a new routine while living in our pretend house without most of our stuff. Thanks to those of you who emailed to check on us. It makes us feel good to know we were missed. Here's what
we were doing while we weren't blogging...

On Monday we went on a treasure hunt. We closed all the blinds in our house so it would be dark. For whatever reason, I'm convinced pirates like the dark. We used our flashlights and searched for "diamonds and treasure".

On Tuesday we were cold. Mom made us snugly on the sofa with blankets and pillows.

Mom isn't sure why we were cold as it is far from cold in our part of the country. She thinks the "feeling cold" may have simply been a ploy used by us to convince her to make us "cozy".

And this morning, well, we've been playing with dried beans. First we glued the beans on to papers. Mom drew some letters and we glued the dried beans to the letter lines. Then we spent some time scooping beans with our trucks.

Except for Jack. While we were gluing, Jack stuck two of dried beans up his nose. Mom used her tweezers to get the beans out, and Jack has been banished from ever touching beans again.

We're just grateful Mom is good with tweezers! She thinks it's a skill every mother should have. She's considering teaching a class titled "Tweezing Skills for Mothers".

So there you have it. We hope you have a wonderful day, and remember, do not put dried beans up your nose!

Is he, or isn't he...

Mom isn't sure if Jack is teething or under the weather. We decided that, just in case he was sick, Jackie should stick close to home.

He started off the day by writing a few thank yous.

Then he wore his new goggles for a while. We couldn't help but laugh at his goggle face.

Then I wore the goggles in the shower! I didn't even have to close my eyes when I shampooed my hair! Amazing.

After I was clean, Dad and I headed off to Auntie Joy's to see our cousin Mike who was in town for a speaking engagement while Jack and Mom stayed home. We hope Jack feels better tomorrow.

Jack's Goldfish Party

Jack's goldfish party was lots of fun!

It was a little bit challenging entertaining without most of our stuff (remember a lot of our stuff is in storage until we find a "real" house), but we still think the party turned out great!

Here's the table with the cupcake and bubbles (party favors).

Another view of the table. We had goldfish crackers for a fun theme snack.

We borrowed a friend's pool so we could swim like fishes!

And...we borrowed another friend's sprinkler so we could splash like fishes!

This is Jack having a serious moment blowing out his birthday candles. He knew just what to do after practicing on his M&M cake in Colorado. Jack sure likes birthdays.

Even little Sullivan got in on the water fun! The water table was a perfect height for him to hang on to while he splashed. And, boy, can my little cousin splash!

We're thankful the day was beautiful! It made for lots of fun celebrating Jack!

Now, finally, it's time to start planning my birthday! I told Mom I want a cement truck party. She's going to start working on my theme starting Monday. I'll keep you posted!

Party Prep

We've been busy working on another birthday party for Jack. We're keeping it small--just community group and cousins and one other special friend. Our theme is goldfish. We started off our day making some cupcakes.

And, yes, I poked my finger in two of them.

At naptime Mom got to work on the decorating part. Here are the cupcakes after steps one and two. The water and rocks are complete.

And here are the finished cupcakes. Mom thinks her goldfish bowls turned out pretty cute!

In case you were wondering, the seaweed tastes great! I accidentally ate some of it. I just couldn't control myself. Then I licked some frosting. Mom asked me to stay away from the cupcakes. I'm sort of wondering if I'll be allowed to eat a cupcake tomorrow...

Chameleon Tigers

Mom: What kind of animals are you guys today?

Me: Chameleon tigers.

Mom: I'm not familiar with chameleon tigers. Can you tell me about them?

Me: It's when your mom is a tiger and your dad is a chameleon. And they hop instead of crawling.

Color Boot Camp

Well, we're starting to get concerned about Jack and his colors. Dad thinks Jackie might be color blind since he mixes up green/red and blue/yellow ALL the time. Mom feels guilty because perhaps she hasn't spent as much time teaching Jack as she spent teaching me colors.
Regardless, Color Boot Camp is now in session.

This week we're working on red. Yesterday we drew red shapes. And today we ran around finding red things for Jack to take pictures of.

Mom was an awfully good sharer today. She let Jack touch and hold her camera.

I had a fun time teaching Jack about colors. But I'm ready to move on. Enough of red!

I'm sure you're wondering how things are going. Well, after two days of intense Color Boot Camp (learning ONLY the color red), when asked what color is this (red), Jack replies, "geen!"

It seems Mom and I still have a lot of work to do...

Baby Sharks

Today Jack and I are pretending to be baby sharks.
The pack-n-play is our aquarium.

And...
...just in case you were wondering...
We are VERY scary baby sharks with VERY sharp teeth!

Busy...

We've been busy...
Busy settling back into real life.
Mom has checked quite a few things off on our to-do list (and still has lots to do!), but Dad and I needed a break.
And so we watched a little golf.

We were quite happy when Tiger did not win...
We can't help it. We're just not Tiger fans...

Cleaning Up

Partying with Sullivan got us to bed kind of late last night, so we didn't get our baths. Not to worry because we spent the morning pulling the weeds between the cracks in our little patio/porch. How did so many weeds grow in just five weeks? Anyway, we were filthy by the time we finished, so we hopped in the bathtub! Our shoes were dirty, too, so we scrubbed those before Mom scrubbed us.

All clean, we climbed up on the sofa for some snuggles and books.

A morning outside before reading books inside? Well, it's the perfect combination!

After rest time Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere said good-bye. Tomorrow will be the first day in 8 weeks that Jack and I haven't had a grandparent to see. We've had two weeks with Grandma Carolyn followed by 6 weeks with Grandma Lou and Grandpa Jere. Let's just say we are going to be having serious withdraw issues. We sure are thankful for the time we got to spend with these special people, but now it's back to real life...

Happy Birthday to Sullivan!

Today my cousin Sullivan turned one. We were invited to his house to help him celebrate.
First things, first. Pictures with grandparents.

Time for cake! Sully didn't really know what to think of the sticky frosting. He liked how it tasted, but didn't like how it felt.

Oliver and I sure enjoyed watching Sullivan trying to decide if he was going to grab the cake or not!

Jack was mostly excited about getting a piece of that cake!

Presents finished the evening. Sullivan loved his new train!

We can't believe you're a YEAR already. How did that happen? We love you little cousin!

Unpacking and Settling In

We're back at our duplex! We got in late Saturday night, and we've had Internet trouble ever since! Sheesh! I guess not keeping up the blog allowed us to unpack all the more quickly.

Here's a picture of me on unpacking day (yesterday). Do you like my outfit? I picked it out all by myself. Mom said the socks were her favorite part.

Here's Jackie. He's still in his jammies standing by our pile. It took us most of the day to get all our stuff put away.

Today we're spending the day settling back into life in a small town. We headed to story time at the bookshop before swinging by the cafe for a bowl of fruit and a glass of iced tea (for Mom). Over all, things are good with us, but we're having a hard time adjusting back to the weather. I told Mom that it is way too hot here. She didn't argue.

Next up: laundry! Mom wonders how it piles up so quickly...I think most moms wonder that very thing!

The Zoo: Part 2

After our ride, we headed off to find Cousin Kyle and his friend Amanda. They really wanted to see the alligators (or was it that I really wanted to show them? I can't remember).

Next up; the bird house! Dad and Kyle caught this bird for Jack to see up close. Isn't his face funny!

I found two little, cute birds in a pot who wanted to eat my birdseed. I am big enough to be careful and slow so the birds don't run from me.

The "precious" snake was out in the reptile house, so we went there next. You'll notice that Mom is not in this picture. She disagrees with the zookeeper, she does not think the snake is precious.

It was a super fun time at the zoo! And, now, Dad, get back to work!!! The fun is over!!!

The Zoo: Part 1

Today was our last trip to the zoo. Dad decided to take a half-day off so he could join us for the fun.

First we took Dad to feed the giraffes.

Then, since there were two parents--one to hold each boy--we headed up to the ski-lift-deal for a high-in-the-sky ride!

Jack wasn't too sure about being up in the sky. He hung on TIGHT!

Here is Jack looking down at the spot where we usually picnic.

It was a fun ride to the top, and an even more fun ride down! Mostly because Jack knew what to expect and wasn't nervous.

It sure was fun having two parents at the zoo!