Tasty Little Meatballs

On Monday on the way home from work/school I informed T that we would have meatballs for dinner. He got really excited and asked me to make little meatballs like they have at school and specifically ... "They are little and they are very very tasty and they go on your plate on the side."

PS - despite his excitement about said meatballs I had to badger him just to try one bite once I presented the tiny turkey meatballs at dinner.

The Spirit of Giving

The week before Christmas I was taking a shower (and yes, I've had one since ... probably more than one ... maybe two?). T barged in, letting out all the warm air, and announced that he found my favorite fruit snack (orange) in his freshly opened bag of Mott's fruit snacks. I do find these orange snacks quite tasty and was about to open the door a crack to let him pass it in when he said he'd save it for me and ran out of the room. Some time later, probably at least 30 minutes I found him in the family room and asked if he still had my fruit snack. He excitedly handed it to me and I immediately thanked him and popped it in my mouth to find it much warmer and squishier than I expected. At this point it registers that it's been warming in his little paw for me all this time. The first thought that popped into my head ... "Do you want a gummy bear? They're all warm and squishy cause they've been in my pocket." What a sweet, sharing little man ... orange fruit snack, palm sweat, and who knows what else.

T4

I can't believe I have a 4-year-old. He's been four since last Thursday, and I'm only just getting the family birthday party photos posted. He's having a party with friends on Saturday, but we'll deal with that photo procrastination sometime after the fact.

Black Magic cake from Whole Paycheck

Unwrap in motion (or removal from cool party bags). I don't have a before picture, but one of the gifts was too big for all my party bags so it came in a pillowcase! Yep, I'm mom of the year.

ooooooh, admiring "Bucky" (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates). I bet you can't guess the theme of T's party this Saturday. K is espeically fixated on "Tick Tock Crock" who pops out of a trap door in the side of the boat when you push a button. He keeps bringing it to me to push the crock back in so he can pop him out again.

"Bucky" is the life of the party.

Cute cousins playing together. Luckily the "Jolly Roger" and a small battle boat also emerged from random party sacks so everyone could join in the fun. Boats and children stampeded up and down the hall until bed time and fun was had by all.

T sports his Halloween skeleton PJs while showing some of a toy power tool from the tool set he got from Grandma and Grandpa.

Garbage Man

K is the garbage man. He's been helping us clean for a couple of weeks now, but yesterday was the first time I heard him say "garbage" over and over when I handed him a something and asked him to throw it away. I'm so ticked that he took it from me in the family room and deposited it in the garbage can in the kitchen without help or extra prompting. He not only gladly complies when asked to throw something away, he also finds things to throw away all by himself. Gotta keep an eye on that one!

We have words!

Ever since K learned to walk he's taken a real interest in language. He's such an active boy I don't think he had any extra energy to devote to language until he was fully mobile. He's just started running and is quite the climber. It's not uncommon to turn my back and then turn around to find him on top of something I thought was too high for him to climb. In addition to the words below, he also communicates by shaking his head vigorously when offered something he doesn't want and he points and says "that" to indicate he wants something. He says more and all done in sign language and uses the "milk" sign to indicate he wants something to eat or drink.

• Dada
• Mama
• Uh Oh
• mmmmm (as in yum)
• owie
• thank you (usually when he hands me something)
• apple
• pumpkin
• kitty
• drink
• diaper
• that
• get
• all done
• hi
• cracker
• up
• down
• all done

Little Yellow Goes to Work

This morning I walked out of the bedroom after giving T a hug and telling him I was heading to work. He called me back just as I got out the door and held little yellow out for me. He told me to take it to work with me to keep me warm. It's 97 degrees outside right now, which means the air conditioning is running full blast and it's quite cold at my desk. I just put my sweater on and Little Yellow is keeping my legs warm. My little Hammy (T) is such a sweat boy.

Happy Birthday Vanilla Bean

K had an awesome first Birthday. Oma and Opa visited from California, and both K and T got to stay home with them for the day while The Scoot and I were at work.

K discovers the Saxoflute

A new car! (and also a talking shape sorter)

Uh Oh!

K checks out the yard in his Birthday Suit while the older kids (T and cousins) play in his new splash pool.

Hey! Who's in my splash pool?

It's T and the cousins

Picking grass

Yay grass!

That! (K's favorite word - I used to be Mama, but now I'm just "That")

Someone REALLY enjoyed his Whole FoodscChocolate ganache cake.