Stringer Family Antics

School boy

2012-01-24T14:22:00.003-06:00

Today, Petey started at the same 2-year-old early learning program that his sister attended last year! Here he is, not really understanding the importance of such a momentous occasion.

His big sister demanded to be included in the modeling session. Don't you love how Petey decided to accessorize himself by using his new school bag (made by NanaB) as a necklace? Better than his sister, who on her first day of school decided to put the entire bag over her head.

Wow! This is exciting! Now what are we doing again today? I'm a little confused.

My two school kids, taking their first steps in a long journey.

Petey reportedly did "pretty well" today -- good times and bad times. He is quite "persistent" in his tantrums (according to the director of the program) and does not want to transition between activities if he's having a good time. The amazing news is that the teachers were able to distract him out of his freak outs. They're going to help recommend tools I can use to deal with his raging tantrums, and hopefully we'll all learn a little something this year.

Into uncharted territory

2012-01-23T08:30:00.002-06:00

When Charlotte was invited to a "princess tea party" for her classmate's birthday, I panicked. The invitation specified that Charlotte should wear her favorite princess dress. We have one hand-me-down princess dress, but it looks more like the dress Cinderella was wearing after the wicked step-sisters ripped apart her handmade initial attempt (you know, the one she sewed with the assistance of various critters before the fairy godmother poofed her a new one). In other words, it has been ridden hard by Charlotte and several of her playmates.

Luckily, Charlotte's buddy, Odie, in an amazing gesture of selflessness uncharacteristic for a typical four-year-old, happily agreed to lend Charlotte her Belle (from "Beauty and the Beast") dress. The frock came complete with fingerless gloves and a petticoat. I have never been able to pull off yellow (thanks to my olive skin), but Charlotte looked very sweet in the dress. We accessorized it with "jewels" from Charlotte's personal collection, pinned it up in strategic places so it would fit her skinny little torso, and away we went for a great party filled with foam tiaras, pink lemonade (instead of tea), petit fours, and a pink cake. What more could a little girl want?

Here is Princess Charlotte of Franklin, twirling in her borrowed gown:

Not to be outdone, I declared myself to be a queen and put on a tiara of sorts as well. It was actually just the rhinestone headband that I wore at my wedding, but it gave me an air of royalty suitable for escorting Princess Charlotte to her affair.

Even mommies need to play dress-up sometimes. And yes, even though the other moms at the party giggled politely when I explained my bling, I'm pretty sure they thought I was a nutjob.

Great Grandpa Stringer's cornet

2012-01-20T14:03:00.000-06:00

Corey says the story is that this cornet (handed down to him by his Grandpa Stringer) is from the 1800s. Whether true or not, the horn still worked well enough to give Charlotte and Peter another lesson in musical instruments. [Note to self: Get a woodwind out next time, because if both kids go brass I will never forgive myself.] Petey actually got a little noise out of it, and Charlotte got a decent blip of a note before she ran off with the lyre (pretending it was a magic musical wand, of course).

Somehow, the kids figured out that their little heads made fabulous mutes. Peter giggled like a maniac whenever Corey played a note.

After a near-double-tantrum brawl over the lyre, I dug out Corey's old conductor's baton and gave it to Peter to use. Predictably, Charlotte then threw a fit because SHE wanted it. Bath and bedtime soon followed, and all controversial implements were safely stowed away for another time when everyone has a little more patience.

Snowy Day

2012-01-19T08:21:00.000-06:00

We got our first good snow of the year last week. By "good", I mean of course that it stayed for just over 12 hours and accumulated to nearly a half of an inch. (Despite the fact that it was nearly gone by the next morning, the school district decided it was too dangerous and called off school. Charlie Jo didn't have school that day anyway, but it still annoyed me.)

As soon as Peter woke up from nap that afternoon, I bundled the kids all up and we raced outside to play in the newly-fallen snow before it got too dark out. The snow never really accumulated on the driveway or streets . . .

. . . but we had fun scooping it up out of the grass.

It's the abominable snowmen!

All we could really do in the snow was walk around to make tracks.

It was hard to scoop up enough to eat because you got grass and dirt on your mittens when you tried.

Once it got dark, I let the kids ride their bikes in the garage (which was still 61 degrees, thanks to the insulated door!). They had a blast.

Peter likes to pretend he's turning his scooter really fast and makes squealing noises.

This smile turned to tears the next morning when the snow was gone, but I promised her we would be right back outside the next time the snow came back. No, it didn't soothe her, but now each morning she asks if the snow has come back yet. Sorry kid -- this is Tennessee.

Rain dancing

2012-01-18T08:41:00.000-06:00

While Petey napped one afternoon last week, Charlotte and I seized the opportunity to try out her new umbrella (from Auntie Ernie and Uncle Andrew), coat (from NanaB and GrandDad), and rain boots (from Mommy and Daddy). She was in heaven.

[And for those of you who may know what I'm talking about, some of her dance moves reminded me of the Del Oro High School I.D. team with their umbrellas spelling out "DEL ORO" marching in front of the band. I always thought they were so cool, but I still loathed Del Oro, of course.]

The Boogie Monsters

2012-01-17T07:41:00.000-06:00

Peter and Charlotte love the Boogie Monster kit that our friends, the Rineharts, gave them for Christmas. The kit includes a fun book, a CD of funky music, and some furry boogie monster legs for the kids to wear while they rock out and dance. Here was Peter taking his turn wearing the legs:

And here is the other Boogie Monster, dancing as only she can:

Meanwhile, Petey did his signature moves (shaking his booty and turning around in a circle while bopping his head).

Fred and Ginger, they are not. They sure do love to dance, though.

The Charlotte and Rocky Cooking Show

2012-01-15T09:07:00.000-06:00

Charlotte is back on a kick of wanting to "help" me cook dinner each night. One evening, I gave her some ice cubes to stir into some water. Then, I started giving her random things from the pantry to stir into a concoction. She cackled like an old crone over her cauldron as she carefully stirred her brew. If only Rocky was a black cat -- then the witchy image would have been complete. I should have gotten the witch's hat out of the dress-up bin, actually.

Corey got home soon after and actually tasted that nasty mixture. It was a combination of salty, savory, sweet, and just plan strange. (And yes, Mom, I sanitized the counter after Rocky put his grubby little paws up there.)

You know what Charlotte DOESN'T need?

2012-01-14T15:51:00.000-06:00

Amplification. Whoever taught her to make a megaphone out of her placemat needs to rethink her parenting technique.

And yes, Peter was reeeeeeally enjoying his pasta in marinara sauce that night.

Questionable technique

2012-01-14T09:35:00.003-06:00

Really guys? This is how you choose to paint when you KNOW your mother is mess-phobic (or, more accurately, too lazy to even attempt projects that she knows will involve lots of cleaning up)? As usual, Charlotte started the tragedy and Peter "Me Too" Stringer just HAD to follow suit.

Thank goodness for smocks. But not for Alicia and Dan, who stood by watching this catastrophe and cheered on the little artists instead of finding me some sort of medicinal aid to calm me down.

Swan Lake and Michigan State

2012-01-13T10:02:00.000-06:00

While Corey watched his alma mater go to triple overtime in the bowl game, Charlotte had other ideas for entertainment. She busted out the jewelry box that plays the main theme from "Swan Lake" (a gift from her Great Aunt Sibyl) and held an impromptu ballet. Peter is never one to let his sister have all the fun, so he joined in the performance. She looks a little intense in these photos, but she was having a fabulous time.

Corey did a little dance of his own after Michigan State finally clinched the win. Luckily, I still had my camera out.

It was one crazy afternoon. I think Corey is still smiling from that win.

The final product

2012-01-12T18:46:00.000-06:00

I forgot to post a photo of the final product! Here are Charlotte and Corey, testing out the new blanket. Charlotte declared that it worked just fine.

My new love

2012-01-12T12:39:00.000-06:00

I am soooooooo not girly. I don't get pedicures more than once or twice a year, I rarely wear skirts (though do skorts count? I do love my green skort.), it takes me less than 15 minutes to take a shower and get ready to go to even the fanciest of parties (because the most makeup I ever wear is mascara and I have lost the ability to style my hair in any fancy way), and I haven't worn heels regularly since I quit work to have kids almost four years ago.

I am, however, kind of crafty in some old-fashioned and distinctly feminine ways. I love to crochet (even though I don't do it much anymore), I used to love to do counted cross stitch when I was younger, and I have a not-so-secret desire to learn to sew.

I can sew straight lines like crazy, and I have sewed almost all of the curtains in my house. Curtains are easy -- they have lots of straight lines, don't need to withstand going through the washing machine very often, and you can whip up a valance with a minimum amount of material. I would love to learn how to make more fun things for the home though. Things that involve scary aspects like -- gasp -- zippers.

My mom taught me some very basic sewing when I was in middle school (we made a super cool crop top), but I haven't attempted anything wearable since then (unless you count aprons). When I was in my third year of law school, I was bored one day and bought a cheapie sewing machine. I have used that for the past decade even though it skips stitches and has an almost incomprehensible instruction manual. What I needed was a new machine that actually worked well so I could embark on new adventures competently. I was through pining after the sewing skills of my Aunt Janet, Corey's Granny Kappy, and my sister-in-law, Jessica. After consultation with Janet and Kappy, I found a great machine on sale.

Check me out sewing with my new machine that Corey and the kids got me for Christmas!

Yes, I had a little help finishing the t-shirt blanket I started for Corey when Charlotte was a baby. He has a RIDICULOUS number of t-shirts, and the only way he will part with them is if I sew the pictures off of them onto a big piece of fleece and create a memory blanket for him. I had a horrible time doing this with the old machine because of the stitch-skipping issue. It was a whole new deal with the new machine!

I do prefer to sew without a toddler on my lap, but we had just found out that Petey Pie had a broken collarbone and I couldn't say no to his requests to sit on my lap while I sewed. Thank goodness he took a nap soon after and that Corey didn't mind me sewing while he watched Michigan State play in their bowl game. Yes, I have to sew at the dining room table because there is no other place to set up the machine in this tiny house.

My next projects will have to be featured in a later post, because they're still in need of a little tweaking. Let's just say that Peter's room will soon no longer have mismatched valances still featuring the nursery colors.

And even more Christmas fun!

2012-01-11T16:51:00.000-06:00

In the days after Christmas, we had all sorts of adventures.

Charlotte tried out her new roller skates for the first time.

Quinn and Peter tore around like crazed animals (once Peter started feeling a little better).

Everybody but Maisie played with Maisie's new tea party set.

The cousins snuggled while watching a little bit of Diego.

We fed a flock of hungry ducks. These same ducks wouldn't come near us last summer when they were warm and well-fed, but this time they practically swarmed us.

Here duckie duckie duckie!

I couldn't really hear what Peter was saying to the ducks, but he had all sorts of things to say to them.

Come back!

We ate lunch at Lipuma's Coney Island.

We had more fun with Granny Great and Grandpa Great, as well as the Traverse City crew: Great Uncle Dave, Great Aunt Lisa, and Ellie (who drove down the day after Christmas).

Ellie and Peter built an elaborate tunnel for the cars to navigate.

The cars flew through the air, too!

Barb made the mistake of telling me this was the coat she wore for skiing when she was in junior high. According to my calculations, that coat is close to 50 years old!

Peter and GrandDad had great fun with the train set out in the garage.

We visited our buddies Amanda, Brad, Declan, and Harry.

And finally, we had a great hot chocolate party after Charlotte and NanaB shoveled the snow off the driveway and made some snowmen (while Peter napped and I went shopping with Granny Great).

Thank you for a wonderful Michigan Christmas, NanaB and GrandDad!

The Christmas post, only 3 weeks late

2012-01-11T15:50:00.001-06:00

The day of Christmas was pretty difficult -- Peter was sick (even though his strep test was negative, he had some sort of virus that caused a fever and ridiculous tantrums) and I had a hard time thinking about anything else. We still managed to have some fun though! It started with the bad decision to wake Charlotte and Peter up before they were ready so we could get the present-opening show on the road. Poor Quinn and Maisie had already been up for hours and we didn't really realize just how sick Peter was yet. Peter only made it through opening stockings and the gifts from Santa before I had to take him downstairs to chill out away from the chaos for a while.

Charlotte's stocking was almost as tall as her!

Quinn was super enthusiastic about everything.

Petey needed a lot of cuddling that day. He loved the plane Santa put in his stocking though.

Corey couldn't back up enough to fit in all of the presents under the tree. It was a little ridiculous!

We Skyped with Great Uncle Dave, Great Aunt Lisa, and Ellie after a little breakfast.

After a rough morning, Peter took a long nap and woke up in time to get dressed up for a fancy Christmas dinner with Granny Great and Grandpa Great. We took this shot of GrandDad with his Mini Me, but Petey wasn't in a smiling mood.

Quinn hadn't seen his Uncle Corey in over a year, but they were good buddies right from the start of this visit.

The Sanderson ladies looked gorgeous.

Somehow, I didn't get any good photos of the great grandparents, but you can see both of them in the background of this picture. I think I took some shots with Steph & Don's virtually identical camera (we had them both sitting on the counter and I just kept grabbing the first one I saw) so she may have some good ones. Quinn got a really cute little playset for his cars, and all the kids were obsessed with it.

Sanderson cuteness! (And there's Granny Great again in the background!)

Maisie (who calls herself "Ya Ya"), carried around NanaB's heels for quite a while that evening (carrying on the longstanding tradition of toddler shoe obsession). She was quite proud of her own snazzy little red shoes, too.

Christmas ended with a whole bunch of frazzled grownups and some overstimulated kids -- just how it should be!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-11T08:07:00.000-06:00

Most of Christmas Eve was spent in the car on the way up to NanaB and GrandDad's house in Michigan, but once we got there we still had some time for a little fun. We kicked it off with an adventure in the woods to leave apples for the deer to find. Each kiddo got a bag of apples to carry.

Maisie somehow convinced her mommy to hold her bag.

Kayla dog led the way, followed closely by explorers Charlotte and Quinn. NanaB and Uncle Don made sure we didn't have a repeat of Camp NanaB (when Uncle Don had to rescue a lost Charlotte in the woods).

Everyone's favorite "tow truck pasta" was served for the kids' dinner. None of them can resist Lightning McQueen in mac & cheese form. I think Peter was trying to tell Quinn how to eat them properly here.

After Maisie's first ever taste of jell-o jigglers (in Christmas shapes) -- I think she liked it!

After dinner came craft time. NanaB showed us how to make jingle bell shakers. Needless to say, the noise was absolutely deafening.

Maisie showed her mommy how to make one.

Later, Maisie showed Uncle Corey how to play with cars.

This was the best group shot of the kids we could manage so late in the evening.

Only the older two would sit still to hear GrandDad read The Night Before Christmas. Only Charlotte actually made it all the way through to the end, though.

Cookies for Santa!!!

More Christmas fun to come!

More pre-Christmas fun

2012-01-10T14:44:00.000-06:00

Before we headed up north to Michigan for Christmas, we opened up some presents sent by Auntie Ernie, Uncle Andrew, and Sonia. Corey was couch-bound and feeling cruddy after a certain surgical procedure, so some early Christmas presents were just the thing we needed to cheer him up.

Unfortunately, Peter didn't want to share his new stuffed Boots the Monkey. It was love at first sight.

Peter also got a stuffed Swiper the Fox, whom he calls "Oh man!"

Charlotte just about lost her mind when she opened up the Busytown Mysteries books. We have now read them to her are least 40 times each. I have actually taken to hiding them for a couple of days at a time so her other books can get some attention as well. NanaB had borrowed a different Busytown Mysteries book from the library for Charlotte over Christmas in Michigan, and she suckered just about every adult around into reading it to her at least once. She has a Huckle obsession.

Peter was imitating me cheering over my new scraping beater for my beloved KitchenAid stand mixer. He wasn't sure what the excitement was, but he always joins in to any celebration. He even celebrates when it is perhaps less appropriate (like at church at the end of a hymn).

Peter tried to steal his daddy's car wheel clock. He kept saying "wheel!" over and over, and he had a minor meltdown when we confiscated it.

Every little girl needs her own polkadot umbrella. Now she just needs some warmer weather so her mommy will let her play outside in the rain.

Thank goodness I got new rain boots . . . so that Peter could insist in wearing them every time he sees them. Oh well. Maybe I can wear them when he's napping or something.

Thank you for all out wonderful presents, Erin, Andrew, & Sonia! We really love them.

Last hurrah before Christmas

2012-01-10T10:46:00.001-06:00

I'm still working through the backlog of posts I need to do, and I couldn't resist posting these shots I took when Melissa brought Madison and Megan over to visit right before Christmas.

Megan is getting to be quite the little chunk! Charlotte loves holding her.

Petey looks so old compared to the new baby in the group.

You can't see her very well, but that's Connie all covered up under that blanket. Madison thought Connie needed to go night-night.

Rocky's latest favorite thing is to sit up on the stools at the table. He's pretty sure he's a human with just a little more fur.

And here's a shot I had taken with my cell phone a few days earlier when we were hanging out at Melissa's house. This is Jerri, one of Rocky's litter mates. She's just as fluffy as Rocky is, but she's much more worldly since she lives outside.

Birthday loot

2012-01-04T14:20:00.001-06:00

Peter is starting to get interested in opening presents, but he still gets lots of help from his big sister (whether he wants it or not).

The choo-choos from Granny Great and Grandpa Great were a big hit.

Peter taught Grandpa Great how to act really excited when you get a great present.

A semi truck that holds little cars!! Peter's 2-year-old cousin, Quinn, picked this out especially for Peter because Quinn loves his own truck like that so much.

Charlotte thought Peter wouldn't mind if she opened his next present since he just wanted to play with the previous ones.

Grandpa Great modeled Peter's new firefighter hat.

The hat goes great with the new rain boots from NanaB and GrandDad!

I sewed Peter some furry pillowcases so he could stop sleeping using stuffed animals as pillows. It didn't work -- he still prefers the pink pig. He and Charlotte loved the box that his pillow and sleeping bag came in though!

The Little People garage that NanaB and GrandDad gave him was also a big hit. Peter has tried to put all sorts of things down that ramp, including a semi truck and a stuffed jaguar. Oh, Peter.

Epic birthday cake

2012-01-04T13:41:00.000-06:00

Alicia really outdid herself this year with Peter's cake. Actually, it was two cakes. Here's cake #1:

And here's cake #2 (sporting Charlotte's favorite flavor frosting -- "blue!"):

Peter donated the vehicles that were strategically placed to be constructing (or deconstructing?) the cake. Oh, Auntie LiLi, how you spoil that little dude!

Petey blew out the candles like an old pro.

But the most amazing part about the cake was the inside -- it was striped just like construction tape! Alicia could tell you how she did it, but then she would have to kill you.

The mess Petey made with the cake was almost as phenomenal as the design of the cake. First, he had to put the cake into the dump truck. Then, he smashed it all over his face before finally finding his mouth.

This kid is seriously enamored with cake (especially cakes made by Alicia).

NanaB and GrandDad kept asking Peter if he was "all done" with cake. Peter, however, will never answer such a question in the affirmative. I think we had to finally cut him off after his eleventh piece. A dude only turns two once, right?

Thank you again for making such an amazing cake, Alicia! Peter sure is lucky to have you in his fan club.

Peter's 2-year-old stats

2012-01-04T12:03:00.001-06:00

Ack! I'm so behind. I haven't even finished posting about Peter's birthday (including his amazing cake!) let alone Christmas. Might as well start chipping away at the backlog.

I took Peter to his 2-year-old well-child check-up at the pediatrician's office. He was in perfect health, but his stats show him to be a little on the shrimpy side. His height is 2 feet, 9 inches (20-25th percentile), and his weight is 27 pounds (25-50th percentile). He did NOT like his flu shot (and neither did his sister, who was lucky enough to get one at the same time), but he enjoyed showing off his mad jumping skills for Dr. Hood.

Peter doesn't have to go back again for a check-up until he turns three! Too bad we had to take him back to the office twice within the few weeks following his appointment -- once for a strep test after CJ had a positive one, and once to diagnose a hairline fracture on his clavicle. If I can get him to wear his sling for more than two seconds I will try to post a photo of the little tough guy. Between the clavicle and the four molars he's cutting (all at once!), he is having a pretty rough time. Tantrums are becoming increasingly difficult to soothe, and he's acting every bit like a two-year-old.

The big news is that he is probably going to start attending the same early learning program that Charlotte started right before she turned two. We have an appointment to fill out the paperwork on January 19th, and he would probably start the following week. NanaB, time to start sewing Petey's school bag! [I'm not just being a greedy brat -- she showed me the cool material she had bought for it when we were at her house over Christmas.]

Here's my super handsome little two-year-old right after his birthday. He's cutting up some plastic veggies that attach with velcro (a gift from Greatest Aunt Janet and Great Uncle Bart) and his new sweatshirt (courtesy of Auntie LiLi and Missur Dan). At age two, he is crazy about cars, planes, trains, and anything soft and furry (but especially his pink pig bubba). Happy belated birthday, Peter!

Strangest concert ever

2011-12-21T16:47:00.000-06:00

Peter, the baritone prodigy (I use that term reeeeeally loosely) gave us a concert when his grandparents and great-grandparents were in town. Who knew his favorite toy would be that old hunk of metal?

Baptism

2011-12-19T13:32:00.000-06:00

Peter's birthday weekend also included a baptism!

Peter is in love with the Christmas tree in the church's narthex. I'm in love with Granny Great's awesome purple leather jacket.

Petey cleans up nicely, don'tchathink?

My mom took all the photos that weekend, so I'm finally in some of them! I love this shot of me and my dad.

Is this Charlotte's model pout?

Charlotte was surprisingly chill about the whole water-on-the-head part.

Peter was not as thrilled, but didn't throw a tantrum or anything.

We had quite a crew there that evening for the ceremony.

Afterward, we headed back to the house for a celebratory supper of yummy wintery soups. NanaB showed Charlotte the cake for approval before we cut into it. Charlotte definitely approved.

Peter is a cake fiend. He most certainly approved.

Granny Great and Grandpa Great gave us a beautiful ornament for our tree.

Petey got a special coin handed down through the family.

Grandpa Spike got a nice hat.

And thus began an extended session of "put stuff on people's heads and pretend to sneeze so it falls off." I said it before and I'll say it again -- my dad can get Peter tanked up like no one else can.

TANKED UP!!!!!

Time to switch from a box to a bow.

Whew -- GrandDad finally got Petey calmed down. He loves his new "Cars" storybook that the Chabots gave him for his birthday.

It was a fun party!

By popular demand!

2011-12-18T12:28:00.000-06:00

Per request, here is Grandpa Spike careening down the waterslide at Peter's birthday party:

Nice form, dad!

Peter's birthday swim party

2011-12-18T08:01:00.000-06:00

When Corey first suggested going swimming for Peter's birthday, I thought he was nuts. Swimming in December? But then, I remembered the super cool indoor pool in Murfreesboro that my friend, Kym, took us to last summer. There's a little structure for the kids to climb on that has a tiny tube slide, and then there's a big waterslide for the big kids and adults. The best part is the zero depth entry, which is something Peter always loves whenever we swim at a pool that has one. We were able to rent the whole thing out for an hour for a ridiculously low price, so NanaB, GrandDad, Granny Great, Grandpa Great, Grandma JoJo, and Grandpa Spike all flew in to help us celebrate. I mean, how fun does this look?

There was a little tunnel in the structure that Peter spent the majority of his time in.

He loved charging around all over the place in the shallow water!

Charlotte conquered her initial fears of the little tube slide and then ended up going down it about 400 times in a row.

We invited the Chabots (Kym, Drew, Luke, Odessa, & Gabe) to swim with us. Gabe liked it best when his daddy swung him up in the air.

Corey had a little trouble going down the big slide and got glares from the lifeguard on duty.

The little slide may have been more his speed.

GrandDad liked Corey's sliding technique so much, he tried it on the big slide. Like father, like son. I hope I'm not disowned for posting this photo.

Charlotte and Odie are great buddies.

Luke spent the entire swim party careening down the big white slide, so this is one of the few photos we got of his handsome smile. He's getting to be such a big guy!

I must refrain from posting many more photos of the adults, because I'm pretty sure I won't get any Christmas presents if I do. More photos to come of the rest of the weekend's festivities!

Premature start to Christmas break

2011-12-13T15:26:00.000-06:00

Charlotte's last day of preschool before Christmas break was December 8th, and she doesn't return to school until January 5th. Huh? Does she really need a month-long break? And a break from WHAT, exactly? From having ridiculous amounts of fun with her dearly beloved Miss Sally? Sheesh. All the class parents were taken a little by surprise by the length of the break, but we had fun at the class Christmas party last Thursday anyway. Here is my little elf, ready to head to school and party:

But first, she had to give Santa (made for us a few years ago by my Aunt Janet) a big smooch.

Guess who else insisted on having his photo taken?

Charlotte's class party started with pizza and grapes around the lunch table in the classroom. That adults just stood around and watched the kids eat.

Petey (who had eaten at home) happily played with the classroom toys.

But then Petey decided he wanted to eat some popcorn with the big kids. He pulled up his own chair to the table and made himself right at home.

Later, he was playing back at the "station" with the cars, and Chase (one of Charlie Jo's classmates) decided Peter needed to follow the rules and wear the color necklace that corresponds to the station (thus limiting the number of kids in each station because once the necklaces run out, no one else can play at that station). Petey was a little confused, but wore the necklace like a good boy. He does love a good accessory.

At one point, Petey had to be rescued from the boisterous and overenthusiastic big boys. Here, Chase, Tyler, and Braden had put Petey "in jail" and Petey kept repeating "hep Mommy, hep!" ("help Mommy, help!") for goodness knows how long before I realized I should put the camera down and go help him.

Charlotte was beside herself with grief when she realized she didn't get to go back to school for four whole weeks, but I reassured her that we would have a lot of fun in the meantime (starting with Peter's birthday weekend extravaganza -- post coming soon!).

Time to catch up!

2011-12-12T23:36:00.000-06:00

Crikey! I have all sorts of great stuff to post about this past weekend, but I'm still behind on posting the last of the Thanksgiving photos. I absolutely can not miss posting these photos, or else my sister may kill me.

Anyway, the day after Thanksgiving, we drove over to the playground at a nearby elementary school and had a BLAST! Petey had tested out all the equipment when he and I flew up in October, so he showed everyone his favorite slide, shaky bridge, dinosaurs, etc.

Despite barfing all night, Sonia had a good time with her new friend that morning.

We put Sonia in Illinois and Charlotte in Tennessee. Charlotte, of course, decided it was time to dance.

Air Malahowski!

Sonia must have gotten the modeling gene from the Malahowski side, because my kids are definitely lacking that talent.

The shaky bridge was a little slippery without some grandparent assistance.

Here come the monkeys down the slide!

Climb, Sonia, climb!

I'll meet you in the middle, okay?

Sonia was shockingly good at pull-ups. It might have had something to do with her daddy, though.

Grandpa Spike needed rescuing after a particularly harrowing trip down the slide.

I'm pretty sure I have NEVER seen my mother on so many different pieces of playground equipment. There's something about being a grandmother that makes you act like a kid again.

Shouting through the tubes is always a big hit. Sonia, unfortunately, was legitimately scared of the monster that Grandpa Spike told her was in the tube. I'm still not sure if we ever convinced her that there really wasn't a scary creature in there.

Here's Andrew, feeding his daughter to the monster.

I was trying to teach Peter how to be a Jurassic cowboy. He took to it like a natural.

We had left Erin home to sleep while we were at the park (she had been up with Sonia much of the night during the barf-o-rama), but once she saw these pictures she was super jealous she hadn't gone as well. I guess we will need to get back to the Dallas Palace again sometime soon!

Santa history and debut

2011-12-05T08:14:00.003-06:00

It's time to debut the 2011 visit to Santa photo, but first we have a look back on our history with the Cool Springs Mall Santa:

2008 -- Charlotte was nine months old and very curious about this dude with the cool beard.

2009 -- Charlotte was 21 months old and eagerly awaiting (in my mind at least) the arrival of her baby brother. She was NOT amused by this crazy old dude holding her.

2010 -- Peter had just turned one year old and Charlotte was two. Santa was mad that he had to take one more photo before he could close down shop early because of the blizzard (which is what people in Tennessee call 1/2 inch of snow). We swore we would never return to this mall again for Santa photos.

2011 -- Peter is a week shy of turning two and Charlotte is just a few months from turning four. Despite our best intentions, we took the easy route and stopped by Cool Springs Mall before a quick dinner and the church youth Christmas program. The results were less than magic. Charlotte couldn't seem to do anything other than grimace and Peter wasn't sure what the heck was going on.

Corey swears we're going to do some sort of breakfast with Santa experience next year instead, but I'll believe it when I see it. The nature of his career makes this time of year extremely hectic and there's hardly time to breathe let alone make time for something like that if we want Corey to be involved. Okay, enough whining about our less-than-perfect photo. We are grateful to have the means and time to make a photo with Santa part of our Christmas tradition.

Scenes from Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T21:58:00.000-06:00

Erin already did a great job posting about our Thanksgiving together at our parents' house in Dallas (here and here). Here are just a few photos of the shenanigans that she skipped over.

Scooby and Scrappy Doo, cruisin' the driveway.

Look! A monkey escaped from the zoo!

Why are pool noodles so much fun outside the pool?

A local motorcycle gang invaded Monticello Estates and wreaked havoc.

We taught Peter how to levitate.

Whew. Andrew corralled the escaped monkeys back in their cage.

Charlotte liked to use Uncle Andrew as a chair.

The kids bellied up to the bar for all their meals. It was awfully nice to eat at a completely separate table and not have to see the carnage up close.

We got parboiled in the hot tub.

It makes me smile to see Sonia wearing Charlotte's old shoes and jacket.

Erin does a mean elephant impression.

Charlotte hasn't seen a landline telephone in years, and apparently she thought this was what I meant when I told her tales of such archaic tools.

The kids were enamored with the little lettered tiles from the Scrabble game.

Charlotte helped me cheat (if you consider giving me the tip to "make a word using this letter, Mommy!" as cheating).

I won that game by the skin of my teeth, thanks to the insightful assistance of my illiterate daughter.

Snow bunny or artist? You decide!

2011-11-22T05:00:00.001-06:00

Charlie Jo was helping me excavate the bin we use to store our winter accessories (like mittens and hats) and she pulled out Corey's old (and I do mean OLD) ski goggles that he hadn't worn in a good decade. In my quest to put my children in as many goofy situations as possible (AND take pictures of it so they can curse me later), I couldn't pass up a chance to document this discovery. She thought it was hilarious and wore the goggles happily for a few minutes before abandoning them for some other more interesting item.

Second random shot -- a Charlie Jo original. For some reason, she is usually not interested in drawing anything but scribbles. She is always demanding that I draw something or other for her (perhaps indicating she has a future in arts patronage?) instead of attempting to draw it herself. When I found her drawing this little dude the other day, I was both tickled and surprised. She evaded answering any questions about the artistic process or end product, but she did seem pleased that I hung him on the fridge.

All aboard!

2011-11-20T19:10:00.002-06:00

We needed an outing on Saturday morning because Corey planned to work all day at the office. I asked the kids if they wanted to go see a steam engine and they tried to climb in the Big Red Van before I could even get them dressed. We sped up the road to Nashville's Centennial Park to see this big guy:

Both kids had to wear their engineer hats that Grandpa Spike got them.

Peter kept offering the train little handfuls of rocks and saying "here go, choo choo!" He also said "all 'BOARD!" about 400 times.

This thing is seriously massive. It was part of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway.

"Here go, choo choo!"

There's also a plane from the Tennessee Air Guard on display. Peter also loves to say "PAIN!!" (translation: "plane") a lot, so this was a big treat for him to see. Charlotte wanted to know why it was on a big stick.

Alas, the plane didn't hold their attention so it was back to the engine.

My little choo choo ragamuffins.

There was a bunch of birds with a nest somewhere on top of the engine or something, because we heard lots of loud squawks every time we got near the train. Somebody wasn't happy that we were encroaching on her territory.

Whoah. That's one big choo choo.

After our visit to the park, we brought lunch to Corey at work. We ate in the lunch room, which the kids thought was the coolest thing ever.

No trip to Daddy's office would be complete without playtime with Daddy's little cars.

Peter wasn't happy until we had inspected each and every car.

We had to wake Peter up after he napped for nearly three and a half hours. It really wears a guy out to visit a choo choo AND Daddy's office all in one morning.

Peter's Top Ten

2011-11-16T16:14:00.001-06:00

These are the top ten cutest things to hear Peter say:

10. "RICE!" (translation: "SURPRISE!") -- Alicia and I heard him saying "RICE" over and over at us yesterday evening, and it took us a while to realize he was saying it after hiding briefly behind a curtain. Today, he has been running up to me with pieces of paper bearing his artistic scribbles and presenting them to me while yelling "RICE!"

9. "Joo" (translation: any liquid to be consumed) -- I suppose he always heard Charlotte referring to her sippy cup as "juice", and decided that "joo" must mean something that you drink. He spits out juice whenever he tastes it and he vastly prefers drinking plain old water, but he still calls it "joo".

8. "M'ow" (pronounced like a mashup of the two syllables of meow; translation: "meow" or "cat") -- Peter has a love/hate relationship with the cats. In other words, he loves them and they hate him. Peter's great love is to lie down on something soft and squishy (like his pillow pet bubba), and he figures cats fall into the acceptable squashing category. The cats disagree. Peter also thinks it is HILARIOUS to poke at Pacey when Pacey is up on his pillow (barely within Peter's reach if he stands on the rocking chair in our room) and for Pacey to hiss and smack at him. Pacey disagrees. Peter's idea of a good time is to try to drag Rocky around by his gorgeously fluffy tail. Rocky sincerely disagrees.

7. "Ree, GO!" (translation: "ready, set, go!") -- This one is made even more hysterical when accompanied by the visual of his stubby little legs pumping as fast as he can make them go as he races away.

6. "FWEEEEEEEEEE!" (translation: an elephant's trumpeting sound) -- This was one of his very first animal noises, and he does a pretty darn good job making the sound while pretending his arm is a trunk. Okay, so this isn't really a word, but he also uses it as a noun to refer to elephants.

5. "Nonnie foo foo" (translation: "Connie dog") -- All dogs are "foo foo" to Peter. That's also the sound he makes when you ask him what a dog says. It's funny how Peter can say a hard "c" sound when he refers to his beloved "car-cars", but he says "Connie" as "Nonnie".

4. "Wa' show" (translation: "watch show") -- Unfortunately, Peter watched much more TV much earlier than Charlie Jo. He gets into crazy scary tantrums sometimes when the only thing that will calm him down is to watch a show. These tantrums can't be soothed by cuddles, food, music, books, stuffed animals, time, or any other techniques that I have ever tried. And believe me, I have tried it all. He still absolutely adores books and his favorite time of day is cuddling story time before nap and bedtime, but the TV is sometimes the only magic trick to snap him out of a rage.

3. "Rea' book" (translation: "read book") -- He's starting to learn how to weasel one more book out of me before I kiss him good night. I spent so many months worrying about his speech delay that I can't help but obey a sweet request for another book. He's such a dream to put down for naptime and bedtime (much easier than Charlie Jo, so Corey and I always sigh with relief when it is our turn with Peter at bedtime) that I haven't refused this request yet. The books he likes are all pretty darn short, anyway.

2. "Chah-yee" (translation: "Charlie/Charlotte") -- He says it probably 400 times a day, and I never get sick of hearing it. It's especially cute when he says "'mon Chah-yee" ("come on, Charlie") and then motions for her to follow.

1. "PEE-yoh" (translation: "Peter") -- He says it so fast it almost sounds like one syllable. He love love loves to assign ownership to darn near everything, so it's common to find him pointing to the kids' sippy cups and saying "Chah-yee joo. Pee-yoh joo. Chah-yee joo. Pee-yoh joo."

--------------------------------------------------------------

Honorable mentions: "Wee-wee" (LiLi, aka Alicia), "Fay-fee" (Faithy, aka Faith Carol), "Babbee" (Abbey), "Beeee" (NanaB), "Ga'dah" (GrandDad), "Sho-nah" (Sonia), and today's newest word, "Shah-shun" (Madison).

Okay, so pretty much any words out of that child's mouth are enough to make me melt. His speech has been later and slower in developing than his big sister's was, so I savor every semi-intelligible word he utters. I know I will yearn for the wordless days sometime soon, but for now I'm enjoying the chatter.

Stringers at UT

2011-11-11T21:59:00.001-06:00

This past weekend, Niki, Charlotte, Peter, and I traveled to Knoxville to stay with some friends of ours for a weekend. The highlight for the weekend was attending the UT/MTSU game in Neyland Stadium.

On the way to the game, we walked past the SunSphere - the centerpiece for the 1982 World's Fair.

Here is the business school at UT.

The band takes the field. This stadium is HUGE!

Kay and Niki.

The football team takes the field.

MTSU brought their band. They had a great sound, but they never marched.

UT won, 24-0. Niki and I after the game.

Lloyd and I.

Charlotte's Adventure in the Cobb Creek Woods

2011-11-11T21:44:00.001-06:00

Okay, these pictures go back a few weeks. After Charlotte went to her first cider mill, NanaB and GrandDad took her on an adventure in the woods, where she found four little pumpkins.

On her way into the woods . . .

up the hill . . .

and around the bend.

NanaB and GrandDad have been keeping up the adventure path.

GrandDad and his adventure path.

Charlotte finds the last pumpkin!

And off she goes back home.

Later on in the afternoon, she found this little berry.

NanaB and GrandDad.

On Saturday, Charlie made this picture and told NanaB a story while making it.

Tea parties were a hit all weekend.

See anyone familiar?

2011-11-11T07:56:00.001-06:00

Charlotte has a subscription to a bi-monthly magazine called "Turtle" (a gift from NanaB and GrandDad that she adores). Each issue has a two-page spread called "Turtle's Pet Show" that features photos of readers with their animals. When we got the most recent issue, we were all hanging out in Peter's room while Charlotte flipped through the magazine. She suddenly said, "hey -- there's me, Mommy!" I looked over her shoulder, and sure enough there she was in all her ballerina glory holding Rocky on the day he came to live with us at 5 weeks old. (Click on the photo to make it larger.)

I couldn't stop giggling. Even though I had uploaded the photo to the magazine's website a few months ago, I had forgotten about it and never really thought the photo would get in there anyway. We Skyped with NanaB and GrandDad to show them and they were as tickled as we were. Charlotte really wasn't exceptionally impressed. After all, she has grown up with seeing herself plastered on the fridge, the walls, the internet, in photo albums, in those self-published photo books, etc. This was just another piece of evidence to support her conclusion that the world revolves around Charlotte JoAnn Stringer.

Cellular oddities

2011-11-07T11:31:00.000-06:00

Shots of our wacky life as seen through the cruddy lens of my crappy cell phone:

1. Baby Megan came over to visit (and brought along her mom, Melissa, and big sister, Madison). My arms were the crib of choice that afternoon. I took this photo to send to Alicia to make her jealous.

2. It turned out, however, that Rocky was the one who got jealous.

3. Charlie Jo LOVES to do "homework", so I dug out an activity book I had bought her ages ago just to scribble in because Dora was in it. Here, she was working hard coloring each shape a particular color.

4. We still mostly have temperatures in the 60s and even 70s right now, but a few weeks ago we actually had to wear jackets outside. One of the kids' favorite games is to race between the two trees in our front yard. There is no particular purpose other than to touch the tree trunk and shriek "I WIN!"

5. "I WIN!!!!"

6. A very special little girl named Evelyn came to visit us last week. Her mom, Kate, also came along. Evelyn just couldn't be bothered to wake up so I could hold her, so we're going to have to get together again soon.

7. Peter loves the dog statue at the vet's office. When we picked up Connie from being boarded over the weekend, he decided to ride the statue like a horse while yelling "NONNIE FOO FOO! NONNIE FOO FOO!" (That is Peter speak for "CONNIE DOG! CONNIE DOG!")

8. Our garage door opener inexplicably died a few days ago. Corey decided to install the new one himself. I was way too scared to do anything but watch and hold stuff when I needed to. He's going to finish the job tonight, so cross your fingers.

9. We needed to buy food for all of the animals, so I packed up the kids and told them we were going to a sort of zoo. They thought the PetsMart fish section was just as good as a fancy aquarium, and we spend a good 15 minutes mesmerized by the fish. Peter, of course, was shrieking "HI FISH! FISH! FISH FISH FISH!!!" Why does everything need to be shrieked? Anyhow, I would really love to beg PetsMart not to have their cheapie goldfish down low with open tops on the tanks. Peter does not yet possess the self control to refrain from petting the fishies so I had to watch him like a hawk.

A review of Charlotte's costumes through the years

2011-11-03T23:04:00.000-05:00

This was Charlotte's fourth Halloween, and I got all nostalgic about the Halloweens past. It's so much fun dressing her up like a little doll. This was probably the last year I will have been able to heavily influence her costume choice, so I'm going to savor it.

2008 -- a ladybug. She was new to crawling and solid foods. I'm not even sure we took her to any houses. I think she just helped us hand out some candy.

2009 -- one half of the epic punk rock duo "Toddler Tantrum". We probably had the most fun planning this costume.

2010 -- Ruby (from the TV show "Max & Ruby"). She understood the whole trick-or-treating process a little better that year, but she still had to be heavily coached.

2011 -- Ladybug Girl! She babbled on and off for weeks about being a princess and I kind of just ignored her (because every other little girl on the planet chose the same costume). One time she mentioned how much she loved Ladybug Girl and I asked her if she wanted to dress like her for Halloween. She said "okay" and I raced out to buy the costume before she could change her mind.

What will she be next year? Stay tuned!

Halloweening

2011-11-03T22:49:00.000-05:00

Ladybug Girl and Rapid Roy the Stock Car Boy took Cannonwood by storm on Halloween night.

No, that's not them. Those are the pumpkins that we might have carved just a wee bit too early. They were kind of a moldy mess by Halloween night, but that didn't stop us from lighting them.

There's my Ladybug Girl! Yeah, the costume got ridden a little hard a few days earlier at the preschool Halloween party, so it was already coming apart a little at the bottom.

Rapid Roy carried Daddy's Wii steering wheel to compliment his costume. Note the sponsor patches that Corey painted for me to sew on some jammies.

How can you go trick-or-treating without some pumpkins to hold all the candy bounty?

Anxiously waiting for Daddy to get home so we could get the party started!

Once Daddy arrived, they took off running to the first house.

Trick or treat, LiLi! (Rumor has it Alicia was waiting with special treats that the usual Cannonwood riffraff didn't get.)

One last stop -- let's see if we can sucker Mommy out of even more candy!

They got a surprisingly good stash from just a few houses. Luckily, they don't like much of it (yet) and had no qualms about handing it all over to us.

Corey got us an adult treat as well -- vodka in a little creepy bottle. We mixed a couple of drinks and took the edge off the sugar high to end the night.

Happy Halloween 2011!

Indiana tailgating

2011-11-02T21:25:00.001-05:00

All sorts of family descended on Indiana University this past weekend to attend the Homecoming football game against Northwestern. We wanted to help Abbey celebrate her 18th birthday AND cheer on our cousin, Brandon (the punter for Northwestern). We started the day with a chilly tailgate outside the stadium. Abbey brought along her friends Megan and Marissa to hang out too.

My sister's coat just so happened to match IU's colors.

Great Aunt Bev and Great Uncle Leo had to support their grandson, Brandon, by wearing his jersey. We decorated the tailgate carefully with 50% purple and 50% crimson to show our loyalty to both sides.

Mom, Erin, and I tried to warm up in the van.

Melanie (Brandon's mom) was sporting some super cool purple boots that I accidentally cut out of the picture.

Cuddling for warmth!

Peter partied a little too hard and had to take a little break.

I didn't get many photos of Sonia at the tailgate, but that's her in the panda hat. She and Charlotte set up camp in the back of Erin's car to play during the tailgate.

The stadium is small but cute. Even the nosebleed seats we got had a pretty good view of the action.

I took Petey and Sonia back to Erin's hotel for naps while Abbey, my mom, Charlotte, Erin, Corey, and my dad cheered on IU (and Brandon) at the game.

Charlotte apparently made up all her own cheers. They involved strange things like grocery stores.

After the game, we descended upon the Brown County State Park lodge dining room and wreaked havoc.

Cheese!

Our second or third cousin (I'm never sure how to calculate it), Sarah, also attends IU, so she and her parents (cousins of my mom and Brandon's dad) joined us for the tailgate and dinner as well. I bet my mom got better photos of everyone, so watch for them on Erin's blog.

The next morning, we had some breakfast, said our goodbyes to Abbey, and headed back to the cabin at the state park (where Corey, Charlotte, Peter, and I stayed) to pack up. Well, Corey and I packed up while the kids had the time of their lives in the leaves.

I'm not sure why, but our cabin was named for someone named "Grandma Pash" who apparently looked something like this:

After we packed up, we hit the state park lodge's indoor water park. Corey went down the big slide a few times, but the kids mostly just splashed around in the pool.

Then, we turned the Big Red Van south and headed home. It was an action-packed weekend and we came home exhausted. Mission accomplished!

Attack of the pumpkin carver

2011-10-26T08:27:00.019-05:00

"Daddy," says Charlotte, "you're doing it wrong."

I asked Charlotte to show me a scary face. I'm scared, but probably not for the reason she intended.

For some reason, Peter decided he needed to camp out under the table with Bubba Pig.

I asked Charlotte to demonstrate a goofy face.

Charlotte tried to draw what the face of Peter's pumpkin should look like.

But then she got distracted and started mugging for the camera.

Peter migrated out from under the table, but he stuck with Bubba Pig while we finished carving the pumpkins. I didn't take any photos of the finished products, but I plan to remedy that oversight tomorrow.

Randomness by cell phone

2011-10-25T21:48:00.000-05:00

I have crocheted countless baby blankets for all sorts of newborns, but this one may qualify as the weirdest one. Anyone who knows the baby's father will completely understand though.

On a completely unrelated note: IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! The way Pacey shrieks and hisses whenever Rocky comes within 8 miles of him is loud enough to wake the dead. And yet today I found them resting together on my bed. It didn't last long once they figured out I was documenting the moment for posterity. (I sent this photo to my mom on the cell phone and the first thing she commented on wasn't my adorable cats but my unmade bed. Thank you very little, Mom.)

ROCKY! GET DOWN FROM THERE!!

2011-10-25T15:24:00.000-05:00

You are NOT allowed to jump up and sit Peter's booster seat to lick yogurt off the table where Peter painted it during breakfast a few moments ago. NOT ALLOWED! Do you hear me? I don't think you do. Sigh.

We gotta work on this kid's modeling skills

2011-10-23T18:44:00.000-05:00

At library story time last week, Peter posed for the camera saying "CHEESE". Most people smile when they say "cheese". Peter just looks a little freaky.

Yes, he is a super handsome little dude, but somebody better get him a gift certificate to Barbizon.

Trip to the Cider Mill

2011-10-23T06:58:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday, NanaB and GrandDad took Charlotte and me to the Rochester Mills Cider Mill, one of the Rochester area's four cider mills.

NanaB chose this cider mill for Charlotte because it had some fun things for pre-schoolers, like sheep to pet . . .

. . . and hay bales to climb. (Even NanaB climbed some hay bales, too.)

Yay!

After playing outside, we headed in.

Charlotte picked out a little pumpkin.

The cider mill had a great selection of pumpkins and gourds.

NanaB and a display.

Being a cider mill, they had lots of apples for sale.

Here's the cider press in action.

We settled down with cider mill donuts and cider for a mid-morning snack.

Mmmm. Cider mill donuts . . . . with sprinkles!

There's just something nice about a place that advertises "pies" on the building . . .

My traveling buddy on his trip to (and from) Dallas

2011-10-19T21:48:00.003-05:00

Hey! There are planes outside the window! PLANES, MOMMY!

I love love love the play area outside Gate C18. I think I went down this slide 49 times.

Holy cow! This plane is so cool! And I got my own seat!!

Those dudes out there with the luggage sure are having fun throwing those bags around.

I think Bubba Bear needs me to feed him some pretzels.

Now that we're on our way home from Dallas, I can honestly say that I love to fly on an airplane.

And I seriously LOVE these little bags of pretzels.

All right! Last plane from Houston to Nashville. Let's get this puppy off the ground!

What? Whaddya mean this flight is full and I have to sit on your lap? I think I should demand to play with my cars the whole time and throw a fit if you don't pick them up immediately every time I drop them accidentallyonpurpose. It shouldn't be a problem for you to bend down to blindly grope around on that dirty airplane floor to retrieve my cars with me sitting on your lap and sitting next to a guy with the broadest shoulders in the world, right? Right??

[Actually, Petey was a pretty darn good boy on the airplanes. He didn't fly nearly as much as his sister did in her first few years of life, but you would never know he's not a seasoned pro. Soon he'll be too old to be a lap child and I'll have to pony up and buy him his own seat on an airplane. He's growing up so fast!]

Peter messes with Texas

2011-10-17T23:05:00.000-05:00

Peter and I dropped Charlotte and Corey off at the airport on Friday and were anticipating a quiet weekend home alone without them. Then, my mom called at about mid-morning and convinced Peter and I to use a free ticket to fly to Texas for the weekend. I called Corey and it was decided that Petey and I were Texas bound. A few hours later, we were back at the airport -- this time to hop on a plane ourselves!

We got in pretty late Friday night, and Petey went to bed without complaint. Saturday morning, Petey and Grandpa Spike were goofing off right from the start.

It's always fun to see my mom's ultra-clean house assaulted by the toddler food explosion. Peter was in especially messy form that morning.

We took a walk through the beautiful path winding through the neighborhood and imagined how much fun all three kids would have there over Thanksgiving. Peter could have thrown rocks into the little creek we found all day long.

Peter insisted on using the lawnmower on the driveway. He kept calling it a "car-car" of course.

It must have been the novelty of being the only kid there and enjoying the undivided attention of three adults, but Petey was a pretty darn good boy during lunch at Stir Crazy.

After Petey took a great three-hour nap, we headed to the neighborhood's Octoberfest. We put one of Grandpa Spike's hats and a name tag on his back and set him loose to flirt with the herd of little girls running around.

Peter got a dragon tat to make him look tougher.

His favorite part of the party was this terrier puppy who gave him all sorts of love.

After we ditched the party, Petey had a brilliant idea!

Let's heat up the hot tub and take a dip!

Hot tub hijinks!

I have no idea what they were doing there.

Sunday morning, we zipped over to a local elementary school's playground to, well, play.

Both Petey and Grandpa Spike thought it was the height of comedy to slide down on their tummies and crash into each other.

Peter Knievel!

Peter didn't understand why we sat him on this big green blob.

Petey and Grandpa discussed strategy for their next game.

Cheesy!

We were wondering if Petey would be able to hold on to the bar, so we put him to the test. He held on like a champ and started making monkey noises all on his own. What a little monkey boy!

Grandpa helped a little with some pull-ups, then Petey and I ate a quick lunch and flew home. We had just enough time to retrieve the Big Red Van from the economy lot before Corey and Charlotte's flight from Detroit arrived.

The dynamic duo was reunited, and all was well with the world.

Thank you so much, Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike, for flying us down to Texas! We had a blast on our whirlwind trip and can't wait to see you in a few weeks in Indiana for the IU/Northwestern football game.

Charlie Jo at MSU

2011-10-16T23:07:00.001-05:00

This weekend, NanaB, GrandDad, and I took Charlie to my beloved MSU for the first time. We took her up on October 15, the day of the MSU/UM game. We did not go to the game, but took in the sights and sounds of the campus. We started at Beaumont Tower.

After that, Charlie tailgated with Mr. Drew and Miss Kym.

After socializing a little bit, we took Charlie up to Adams Field, where the Spartan Marching Band assembles before each game. We found the Baritone section.

It was fun to watch all the action on Adams Field before the game. Each section warmed up, going through their traditional pregame rituals. Some things never change, and that's a good thing.

Charlie met this member of the Color Guard. Charlotte's mommy and Aunt Stephanie used to march in the color guards at Duke and MSU.

After the sections warmed up, then the whole band assembled.

Professor Madden conducts the SMB through their warm-up exercises. After each song, Charlie yelled "Good job, Band!"

After the band warmed up, Professor Madden announced that the band would begin their traditional "March to the Stadium" in seven minutes. The crowd headed down across the Red Cedar to wait for the band.

On the way over to our parade-watching position, Charlie gleefully participated in the random chants of "Go Green, Go White" that echo around campus before games. She even high-fived people coming by. She especially enjoyed using her "Go Green, Go White" gloves that NanaB made her.

Sparty led the band. Even though Charlie did not get to meet him personally, she was delighted to see him up close.

The Big Ten Flags came next . . .

and then the Color Guard . . .

After the band went by, Charlie insisted that we follow them to Spartan Stadium.

As we walked back to take pictures with The Spartan statue, I found this Cadillac. Green, White and 455 cubic inches of V8 Detroit glory!

CJS, CJS, and The Spartan.

Three lifetime Spartans.

We really enjoyed taking Charlie to MSU, and she had a blast. I can't wait to introduce Peter to MSU, and for many more campus visits with the kids.

As the game kicked off, we headed for lunch and for home and listened to the game on the radio. We pulled into the drive way at Cobb Creek just as the Spartans defeated the Wolverines for the 4th time in a row.

That means that UM has never beaten MSU in football in Charlie (and Quinn and Peter and Maisie's) lifetime.

Go State!

Popcorn!

2011-10-13T15:27:00.000-05:00

My children think popcorn magically appears from a little brown bag that I put in the microwave. Charlotte always asks me what those "seeds" are at the bottom of the bowl when we finish eating -- no matter how many times I explain it to her, she still refuses to believe that popcorn comes from exploding kernels. I even looked up slow-motion videos of popping popcorn on the web, but she just said "oh" and scampered off to play somewhere else.

When we ran out of the microwave popcorn, I decided to dust off the old air popper and show them a better illustrated way to get their favorite treat. They were suspicious right from the start.

After asking me 4,000 times whether the popcorn was done yet, we finally got some action.

Then we learned why the bowl needs to stay in place under the popper.

Charlotte ate a couple of pieces and then declared it to be unfit for her consumption. She refused to even touch it after I poured some melted butter on it. She requested the "good kind of popcorn that we usually have." When I told her this was it, she stormed off grumbling about how Mommy needed to go to the store to get her the kind of popcorn she liked. Peter had a great time dumping a small bowl of it onto the floor, then picking it up and placing it on the chair. He then licked some of it directly off the chair like a dog. Thank goodness I gave him the bowl of popcorn before I added butter.

Even though I loved the book Popcorn from my childhood, I had to conclude that I had grown far fonder of the microwave version. I dumped the soggy batch into the trash and we had some crackers instead.

Almost 2

2011-10-12T19:08:00.000-05:00

Peter is officially 22 months old. It's hard to believe he is going to be two soon, but when I look at pictures like these I realize what a big boy he really is becoming.

Who's ready for preschool picture day?

2011-10-12T19:03:00.000-05:00

With the cheapest package starting at $42 (for only four prints!), these will likely be her official shots. Sigh.

A day on Madison Avenue

2011-10-12T09:16:00.068-05:00

Since Madison's baby sister, Megan, was born last Friday, we decided to give her parents a little time to bond with the new baby (aka get some rest) and take Madison off their hands for a day. Charlotte loves Madison like a sister, and it's possible Peter actually thinks Madison is one of his sisters since we have hung out with her so much since before he was even born. We had a great time playing outside all morning, but it was the after lunch hijinks that I caught on camera.

Good thing I have three of these bins, because they were a huge hit. The kids dragged them all over the house and pretended they were boats, cars, bathtubs, and beds.

I put the tent on the table, and of course they had to drag the bins in there. Then Charlotte forced Rocky to get in on the action. You can spot him trying to escape through the handle.

Madison's turn to exploit Rocky!

ESCAPE!!

While Petey napped, the girls did their "homework". Each of them drew about 800 purple flowers.

Then, they insisted on hanging them on the fridge and the door to the garage.

Whew -- being artistic is hard work!

We played some more outside until Peter woke up. Madison didn't show any signs of missing her mommy or new sister until Melissa sent us a photo of Megan on a walk. Then Madison started requesting to see the baby. Melissa confirmed my suspicion that Madison wouldn't rest until her demands were met, so we all went for a field trip to see the newborn. Megan was a little cranky and tried to nurse on my bicep, which brought back a lot of memories. Charlotte threw a fit when she realized we were leaving Madison at her house and Madison tried to leave with us, but we finally convinced both girls that we could play again later this week.

Congratulations on becoming a big sister, sweet Madison!

Temporary insanity

2011-10-11T10:28:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while, I go temporarily insane and suggest that we have a picnic at the park. Maybe this wouldn't be such a problem at a park without a playground, but once my single-minded children catch a glimpse of the playground equipment, all hope is lost for any dinner to be consumed without a huge fight. My memory again failed me last weekend when I suggested another such outing. Dinner was painful (complete with returning Petey back to his seat no less than 12 times and threatening Charlotte with going home about 800 times), but we eventually got to the fun part -- monkeying around on the playground!

On your mark,

get set, GO! Oops -- maybe Peter jumped the gun a little.

For the first time ever, Charlie Jo braved the tricky bars between the lower playground set and the upper one. She did it a bunch of times, but always wanted one of us right there.

She still needed help with the climbing wall.

Zip, zam,

ZOOM!

The twisty slide isn't nearly as fast, but Charlie Jo humored me and went down it a couple of times.

Who will win? Age and experience, or a little butt that actually fits in the slide?

Somebody PLEASE remind me to feed the kids first next time I have the ridiculous notion to feed the kids within sight of a playground. Maybe I should just attach a note in all caps to the lunch bag we bring for picnics.

Two birds with one stone

2011-10-07T18:00:00.000-05:00

Giving Peter a sink bath (after he gave himself a dirt bath outside) accomplishes two things:

1. It gets him clean. (duh)

2. It calms him down from the outrageous tantrum he throws every single time I make him come inside. He and Charlotte would live outdoors if I let them, and both kids are absolute dirt magnets when I take them out to the yard. The only thing better than digging in dirt, however, is the rare treat of playing with running water in the sink.

Thank goodness for my deep sink (this never would have worked with my old, shallow one) and the tantrum-ending properties of running water. Whew.

An afternoon of glamor while Peter sleeps

2011-10-04T14:50:00.000-05:00

Every so often, I ask Charlotte if I can paint her toenails. "NO!" I wait a while and then test the waters again. "NO!" I explain to her that she can be just like her buddy, Madison, who sports a new manicure/pedicure every other week or so (her mom, Melissa, recently revealed that she brilliantly uses the nail polish as an incentive for Madison to cooperate with nail trimming sessions). I have no problems getting Charlotte to let me cut her nails, but she never wants them painted.

The one and only other time she ever consented to it was over a year ago. She immediately had buyer's remorse and insisted she wanted her toenails back. Today, Charlotte asked me if she could see photos from last Thanksgiving (we were talking about how she and her cousins were all wearing matching jammies). We looked at some other old blog posts (ah, the modern photo album) and came across the one with photos of her painted toenails. She immediately requested that I paint her toenails and gleefully ran into my bathroom to help find the nail polish. I was flabbergasted, but complied. Then she wanted me to have matching toes.

I gave her the hairdryer to use to help speed up the drying process, and she thought this was hilarious. I only got a shot of that with my cruddy cell phone camera.

Don't her little piggies look glamorous? Someday, maybe she'll let me actually put barrettes or headbands in her hair and then keep them in there for longer than three seconds.

Matching toes!!

I turned on the TV to keep her still (and on the old, nasty carpet) while the polish hardened. That child is a TV zombie.

Maybe next week, we'll dye some streaks in her hair. JUST KIDDING, COREY!

The evening in photos (and a few words)

2011-10-03T21:27:00.000-05:00

HEY! WHY IS CHARLOTTE TAKING A BATH WITHOUT ME?!?!? (Because when I put you in the bath earlier and saw the copious amounts of dirt coming out of your hair and off your grubby little feet, I knew she was going to need her own bath afterward with all new water.)

I WOULD LIKE TO REGISTER MY OFFICIAL PROTEST AT THIS INJUSTICE. (You're preaching to the choir, buddy. Trust me -- I never wanted to run two different baths and miss out on the dual bath antics that amuse me each night.)

I AM NOT AMUSED. (Wah wah wah -- just shove over a little so I can wash your sister's hair.)

I'M JUST GONNA CLIMB IN AND JOIN HER. THAT'S OKAY, RIGHT MOM? (Oh no you don't, you little twerp. Let me see if I can get you interested in a different activity since Daddy is out of town tonight and not available for Petey-wrangling.)

HEY THERE, GOOD LOOKIN'! (Whew. My little narcissus and his obsession with peek-a-boo saved us from an epic tantrum.)

Catsploitation

2011-10-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

Of COURSE the kitten makes a good road on which to run your car. In Peter's world, everything is a good road.

Help me before he runs me over again!

Rocky the shark

2011-10-01T08:26:00.000-05:00

Rocky has learned to circle like a shark as Peter eats in his booster seat. There's always some sort of treat being dropped (or thrown) onto the floor that is at least worth a little exploration if not consumption. Sometimes, the kitten gets a little sleepy in the middle of the hunt and just has to take a power nap though. (He opened his eyes as I moved in to get the photo, but trust me when I say he was practically snoring entwined in the base of Peter's chair during breakfast yesterday morning.)

Huh? What did I miss? Any chicken or cheese?

It's hard to see, but yes that is Peter's plate in the sunny spot behind Rocky. Peter had flung it down just moments before, but Rocky couldn't be bothered to budge from his comfy spot to run away from the loud noise.

Surly and unruly

2011-09-30T22:35:00.000-05:00

Before school on Thursday, I was trying to take pictures of Charlotte in an outfit that her Grandma JoJo bought her. It was uncharacteristic for Charlotte to protest having her picture taken (this shot elicited shrieks of protest).

But when Peter wouldn't even say "CHEESE!" I knew something was amiss.

There was no real reason for the surliness, but the photos I took as evidence just cracked me up. Peter looks especially tough clinging to his favorite pink pig bubba and slurping on his finger. Charlotte never did pose for her glamor shot before it was time to leave for preschool, and after Petey and I had a hellacious trip to the library I realized I should have taken the hint and not even attempted to drag this surly customer around town on errands. I learned my lesson, boss. Must have been the phase of the moon or something.

One more Hoosier moment

2011-09-26T11:45:00.001-05:00

My new favorite sports bar is Yogi's just off the IU campus. Where else do they bring you your drinks in mini pitchers? Next time I go there, I'm hoping to order a beer in such a glass. Poor Abbey has a little over 3 more years until she can do that legally. Yes, that is just ice water in Abbey's pitcher.

Hoosier hijinks

2011-09-26T08:29:00.004-05:00

This weekend, we invaded the campus of Indiana University to visit my sister/cousin, Abbey, who is a freshman there! The leaves were just starting to change, which combined with all of the gorgeous limestone buildings made for spectacular scenery. Being showed around by a beautiful coed didn't hurt either. We started the visit with a quick walk to a favorite campus eatery.

We told Charlotte to be on the lookout for Goldilocks -- we hear she likes to sample your pizza if you're not looking.

Waiting for a table was worth it -- the pizza was delicious! Charlotte ate two big pieces.

While I dropped the boys off at the hotel for naptime, Charlotte inspected Abbey's dorm room. She declared it to be awesome.

Ta da!

I talked to my mom on the phone during the drive up to Bloomington, and she told me to look for evidence that Abbey was using the Swiffer duster that Mom sent her in a care package. Really? You sent her a Swiffer duster? Not sure whether Abbey's friends would understand how funny and appropriate that was coming from my obsessively clean mother.

The view out of Abbey's window is beautiful! This was one of the few brief moments of sun we saw all weekend. Otherwise, it was a typical rainy midwestern fall weekend.

While Petey napped and Corey watched college football, Abbey and I took Charlotte downtown to WonderLab -- a fun science museum for kids. She met a big dinosaur,

got to bang on a lot of things, and much much more!

After a fun dinner at Yogi's sports bar, we headed to the Memorial Union (the student center) to let the kids wreak havoc. We came across not one, but two wedding receptions. Petey tried to trip a couple of groomsmen and then attempted to crash one of the parties, but we snatched him up just in time. Charlotte liked seeing the ladies in the pretty dresses.

There's a break in the rain -- let's go outside to run around out there so we won't ruin anymore weddings!

When we first arrived, all four of us had on our Indiana shirts. When Abbey showed no hint of embarrassment, I was super impressed. We changed the kids before dinner, but Corey and I decided to keep looking as dorky as possible on the off-chance we might run into some cute boys that Abbey knows. No such luck. It was a gameday (although the game was away), so we just blended into the crowds.

Sunday morning, Abbey took us downtown for brunch at a great restaurant that even had a special back room in which to stash all the families with obnoxious children. Good thing -- Petey was especially obnoxious and was ejected from the premises (by Daddy) while the girls finished eating. Here is the little rabble-rouser with his new favorite toy.

IU's campus was beautiful and everyone we met seemed very nice. I think Abbey's Hoosier blood will carry her through the initial difficulties of moving thousands of miles from home. We can't wait to come back at the end of October to see the IU/Northwestern Homecoming game. I'm already getting pressure from the Northwestern side of the family -- will we be wearing purple or red? Maybe both??

The table tent

2011-09-23T15:54:00.000-05:00

The kiddos were playing in the table tent (a felt cover I sewed for our kitchen table for the kids for Christmas) a couple of days ago and suddenly they were awfully quiet. I peeked in and saw this:

"Shh, Mommy! We're playing sleepover. Don't wake us up!"

I was informed that the third pillow in there was for me, and I had to go in and lay down too.

Charlotte requested the table tent again today, and soon after the kids abandoned it to play upstairs I caught another little critter playing "sleepover" inside:

Shh! Don't wake me up!!

Sorry, Rocky. I'll just back away quietly and go about my business.

WHAT ON EARTH?!?!?!?

2011-09-23T12:37:00.001-05:00

We were driving home from Murfreesboro this morning on Highway 96 after a quick trip to pick up something from my friend's house. We were near the turnoff to Arrington Vineyards and I spotted some ponies and horses (maybe 5 or 6 altogether) walking on the shoulder of the road. The car in front of me wisely slowed down and stopped. One of the horses looked a little funny to me. I squinted, and sure enough IT WAS A FREAKING ZEBRA! I whipped out my cell phone and started snapping photos. (Click on the photo to see it larger.)

He is the one all the way on the right in the above photo. Below, I got a great shot of him mooning me (on the left).

Then, a woman appeared from a driveway and started trying to round up the horses/ponies/zebra. They all got nervous and tried to cross the road. Luckily, they reconsidered and went back. The rest started to cooperate, but the zebra started looking like he was going to hitch a ride with us in the Big Red Van.

Finally, we stopped gawking and rolled by slowly. I sure hope they got the animals all back under control. I probably could have stopped to help, but I likely would have just caused more of a ruckus because I know absolutely nothing about equines. Charlotte wants to go back and ride the zebra, but I told her we would just have to use our imaginations to do it instead.

The question remains -- what on earth is a zebra doing living out in Arrington, Tennessee?

Little Shop of Horrors

2011-09-19T21:46:00.003-05:00

When I told Charlotte we had dental appointments today, she told me she was afraid to go. You never would have known it once we got there! She hopped right up in the chair and let the hygienist do a full cleaning on her. She picked chocolate for the flavor of the polishing toothpaste stuff (which made me gag) and as long as she was holding her favorite monkey (the one whose teeth she loves to brush every time we go to the dentist) she was more interested in watching the TV up in the corner of the room than worrying about what the hygienist was doing.

The funniest part was that Peter just HAD to sit up on the end of the chair by her. He watched on and off until the hygienist got to the tooth polishing part. Then, he started protesting and climbing up to make sure Charlotte wasn't being hurt or something. It was pretty sweet.

When the dentist came in to check everything, Charlotte climbed back up into the chair (I had gotten my teeth cleaned after she did) and donned the sunglasses he lent her to cut the glare of the bright exam light. He declared her to be cavity-free and sent her on her way.

I was so relieved she actually opened her mouth this time. Six months ago, she only let the hygienist count her teeth. Then she clamped her mouth shut and refused to open it again until we were safely out of the building. The first time, the monkey was the only one who opened his mouth. She was a whole new kid this time -- whew!

Birthday at the Car Show

2011-09-17T20:59:00.002-05:00

Today for my birthday, Niki and the kids took me to the annual Music City Mustang Club car show, which was held at the Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, TN. I had a good time looking at all the Mustangs, and the kids enjoyed watching cars lap the track.

Does this car look familiar? No, it's not my old car, but it IS a 2003 GT.

Niki and Charlie in the grandstands.

Me and the kids in the grandstands.

Mustang on the track.

After we watched the cars lap the track for a while, we came down out of the grandstands, and Charlie and Peter ran in circles "vrooming."

There were new Mustangs and old Mustangs, nice Mustangs, and really beat up Mustangs.

There were other non-Mustang cars there. The owner of this Cobra let both Peter and Charlotte take turns sitting in it.

After looking at a few cars, Charlie made it clear that she wanted us to go back and watch the cars lap the track from the grandstands.

Niki and I decided not to enter the Mustang in the show, because we figured it would be all old cars. One of the first cars we ran across was this 2011 GT with 2000 miles on it.

They even had Mustangs from the early 90's, when I was in high school.

Niki liked this one. She picked out a 1967 Shelby GT500, with a 428cid 355 hp V8. This car is a beast.

Charlie picked out this 1969 Mach 1.

I like how nonchalant Charlie is about Niki carrying Peter by his overalls. Peter loves it.

On the way home, Peter was tuckered out.

Two things that never get old

2011-09-17T16:23:00.000-05:00

Petey clomping around the house in whatever shoes he can find:

... and Rocky sunbathing in a patch of sun:

It doesn't take much to amuse me, as you can see. My two baby boys are the sweetest things ever (unless they are annoying the crap out of me).

Happy birthday Corey!

2011-09-17T13:47:00.000-05:00

We took Corey to a Mustang car show this morning at the Nashville Superspeedway (yes it's all one word!) for his 36th birthday. More on that later, but I just had to post this ridiculously adorable photo. Like father, like son.

Another typical school day

2011-09-15T14:02:00.000-05:00

School (well, preschool anyway) is becoming part of the regular routine. I'm still getting up extra early to actually shower before drop-off because I still want to make a good impression. We'll introduce the other parents to "unshowered Niki" once I have earned their trust and/or fallen back into my slothful habits. Thanks to last night's storm, it was cold enough to dress Charlie Jo in a cool new top courtesy of Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike.

Peter and I dropped her off and then ran a bunch of errands (library, gas station, drug store). We ate lunch, played some with Alicia, and then headed back to school to get Charlie Jo. While we waited the last few minutes before it was time to go in, Petey watched forlornly as other kids played on the super cool playground.

Then, Petey raced up and down the hallways as other moms admired his overalls. Finally it was time to reunite with his beloved sister (aka his nemesis). They hugged and then trotted down the hallway hand in hand. My stupid cell phone only managed a blurry photo of the cuteness.

Now we're home and it's time for naps. Just like clockwork!

Camping!

2011-09-14T20:54:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, we went camping with some friends of ours to Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park. This was our first time camping together, and we had a blast!

We looked at turtles at the Nature Center at the Land Between the Lakes . . .

We played in Kentucky Lake . . .

We played in the dirt at the campsite . . .

Home sweet home (in the field) . . .

TENT!

More photos from rainy play and today's playgroup

2011-09-07T18:04:00.000-05:00

Ugh! You're heavy!

Today, at Monkey Joe's, the playgroup goofballs all ended up in the bathroom at the same time. Had we known what a hit the automatic hand dryer would be, we would have saved the admission fee and taken them to the local gas station bathroom for free.

At lunch at Oscar's Taco Shop afterward, we let the kids sit at their own table (GASP!). Well, the older kids sat, anyway. They're getting so big!

First day of "real" preschool

2011-09-06T12:18:00.000-05:00

Today we sent Charlie Jo off to her first day of preschool. This is preschool for which you have to be potty-trained. Since her potty training is pretty solid for #1 (yesterday's epic accident in front of Alicia and Faith Carol notwithstanding), I'm feeling okay about her chances of success. Just as long as she doesn't have to go #2, we'll be fine. Oh how I pray she won't have to go #2 . . .

Anyway, since the mid-50s temperature and rain forced me to scrap my plan to dress Charlie Jo in the super cute gray and pink sleeveless dress Grandma JoJo bought her, I was able to substitute another cool Grandma JoJo gift originally meant for later in the year. I tried to take photos of Charlie Jo alone in the outfit, but Peter (also wearing a cool shirt from Grandma JoJo) refused to let his sister hog the spotlight.

CHEESE!

I finally got Charlie Jo alone and asked her to pose in her new sneakers. This is apparently her idea of how to model footwear:

Then Peter caught wind of the modeling session and had to get in on the action. Those Converse were originally his sister's.

The preschool explicitly requested "FULL-SIZE backpacks" in the instructions sent to the parents, so I complied. Charlie Jo looks a little goofy wearing a backpack that hangs down to her knees (even though I tightened the straps as much as I could).

Drop-off went very smoothly. Charlie Jo's experience at the early learning program last year made this not such a big deal for either of us. Peter was the only one upset because he didn't get to stay and play with all of the toys and kids. Poor little dude!

Forty degrees cooler and super soggy

2011-09-05T09:50:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, it was 101 degrees and we just about melted waiting to ride on Thomas. Today, it is 61 degrees and has been raining since yesterday afternoon. When I dressed the kids to go outside to play in the rain, they acted like I was putting them in space suits or something. Peter pulled at the sleeves and kept yanking up his pant legs to make sure his legs were still there under the long pants. I guess it has been a while since we dressed in anything but shorts and sandals! We lasted a little over an hour outside until Charlotte started asking me to wipe the water off her wet clothes (she doesn't believe me when I tell her it just doesn't work like that) and Peter was covered in mud from head to toe. Here are some shots of the goofballs dancing in the rain when we first got out there.

Thomas comes to town

2011-09-04T21:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we took the kids to see the biggest rock star in the land of the toddler/preschooler. If you haven't heard of Thomas the Tank Engine, you must not have spent much time with anyone under four feet tall in the last decade. His show is sometimes the only thing that will soothe Petey during a freak-out temper tantrum, so Thomas is very near and dear to my heart.

He looked so cool up close!

Unfortunately, the ridiculous heat and humidity wilted the kids a little while we waited for our turn to ride the train.

CHOO CHOO! CHOO CHOO!

Even Corey got in the spirit. Too bad the engineer's hat was a little small.

The car we rode in had a cool upper level that scored us a terrific view.

The view of the Cumberland River was great.

Just what every kid wants -- a certificate.

Taking in the sights.

Not sure what precipitated this display of affection.

Thank you, Thomas, for such a fun ride!

Aaaaaaargh!

2011-09-04T20:46:00.000-05:00

There was no good explanation given for why there was a large parade-float-sized pirate ship at the local farmers' market this weekend, so we figured we had better check it out. Of course we had to dress Charlotte up as a pirate for the adventure. Faith Carol was home from college for the weekend so she, Alicia, and Dan came along to see what the kids thought of the spectacle.

Yo ho ho!

A pirate hat for Petey!

Neither of the kids turned out to be all that interested in the ship. Charlotte refused to get on it and Peter begged to get off as soon as he boarded. Oh well. At least there was kettle corn!

We had to at least pose the kids by the ship (which is, according to the sign, available for rent for children's parties).

Peter found a live bluegrass band and just had to dance.

It was a pirate adventure cut short by rising temperatures and oppressive humidity, but we're glad we went!

The hair affair

2011-09-04T09:29:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know gals with curly hair have a MUCH tougher time taming their manes in the morning than someone like Charlotte who has stick-straight hair. But this is what Charlotte wakes up to every day, regardless of whether her hair is wet or dry when she goes to bed. What on EARTH does she do in her sleep?

Poor little cup o' cat

2011-09-01T11:27:00.000-05:00

Rocky recently had a little bit of surgery to make sure he doesn't, well, reproduce. He's home from the vet but still with the indignity of the special collar to keep him from licking himself. Poor little dude.

READY TO CONQUER THE WORLD!

2011-09-01T10:49:00.000-05:00

Well, ready to conquer preschool, anyway.

You may not be able to tell it, but she's holding a long stick like a sword or something. I'm not sure this teacher knows what she's in for when Charlotte officially starts school next Tuesday. Today was just a preview day, and Charlotte marched right in like she owned the place and told her teacher "I'M POTTY TWAINED!" Her teacher was greatly amused.

I filled out a bunch of forms while Charlotte explored the centers of the classroom and introduced herself to a few kids. There will be eight kids in her class, and they all seemed pretty normal. None of the mothers looked like "Brentwood Barbies" (over-bleached blonde, over-tanned, over teeth-whitened, etc.) and none of the kids had bizarre names like Apple or Moxie CrimeFighter. Corey even got to come and meet the teacher. So far, so good!

They've done lost their minds.

2011-08-28T08:45:00.000-05:00

Soccer hooligans

2011-08-26T19:11:00.000-05:00

The kids had ridiculous amounts of fun watching our neighbor, David, play indoor soccer last night. Unfortunately, the other team was too scared of David's team and didn't show up, so the guys just scrimmaged against each other. Charlotte didn't care. She was cheering wildly (with her mismatched pom-poms from Vanderbilt football game giveaways) before the game even started. "GO DAVID GO! GO GO GO GO!" She was a big hit with the rest of the spectators.

It was hard to get any good shots through the glass (plexiglass?), but here's David (in the shocking orange shoes) looking all ready to score.

Peter was TANKED running around in the facility. It was nice because there really wasn't far for him to go and no serious game going on for me to worry about him annoying the spectators.

Here's Charlotte, demonstrating her "super soccer kick".

We brought the kids' teeny soccer ball and Peter kicked/dribbled it all over the place, dreaming of the day he would be out on the field.

Here's David's cheering section. My attempts at group shots involving my children always inevitably fail, but at least Dan and Alicia look good!

Random shots from the cell phone

2011-08-25T22:29:00.000-05:00

I was cleaning photos off of my cell phone's teeny tiny memory chip and just couldn't let these ones go without mention.

Charlie Jo loves to hold her pinwheel (a gift from Joslyne and Zoey for her first birthday!) in front of the giant fan we use to cool off the bonus room. I love the grin she gets when the pinwheel spins like crazy!

Rocky is getting so lanky and long. He also is clearly not in his right mind if he is comfortable enough to sleep in such a vulnerable position with Peter in the house!

Speaking of Peter, he was showing off some fly dance moves in the car the other day while we waited for a drink at Sonic. Note that he can dance like a maniac and still keep a tight grip on his pink monkey bubba.

This last shot was taken when we were standing in line at the county fair. Peter looks so serious about the fun he is about to have. He adores riding on his Daddy's shoulders.

And that's all for now!

Last day with Grandma JoJo

2011-08-25T11:00:00.002-05:00

Grandma JoJo stuck around for one more day after Aunt Kim, Abbey, and Cady Lane took off for Indiana. We started the day with a pilgrimage to the new Antique Archaeology store in Nashville, located in the old Marathon Motors factory. Mom and I are totally in love with the show "American Pickers" so we chanced the disaster that could result from bringing a toddler and a preschooler to an antique store for a slim chance of running into the owner, Mike Wolfe. Despite Charlotte's confirmed reputation as a star-magnet, we didn't see Mike.

The old Marathon Motors building is super cool, and it houses a few other businesses.

It's hard to see, but this is the Antique Archaeology logo cut into an awesome metal sign.

Back at home, Grandma JoJo tested Charlie Jo on the skills her preschool materials say should be (hopefully) mastered before entering kindergarten. Charlie could do about 75% of them, so we have decided to send her straight to kindergarten instead of preschool. Okay, maybe not.

Grandma JoJo took a family photo of us (complete with Connie grinning in the background) while we had ice cream cones that evening.

After Charlie Jo inhaled her own cone, she asked for another. Peter was still far from done with his, so we joked that she should ask him for a bite. She did, and Peter happily complied. Over and over and over and over again.

My mom headed home the next morning, and now we're trying to catch up on mountains of laundry that piled up while our dryer was broken for a week. Fun times!

Visit with Abbey, Kim, Cady Lane, and JoJo, v. 2

2011-08-25T09:51:00.000-05:00

Sunday of our weekend with the girls was just as action-packed! Corey and Peter had some adventures on their own that day (and sadly took no photos) while I took the girls for a tour of the post-flood Opryland Hotel. We gawked and marveled at the sheer size and ostentatious features of that wild place.

Photo op in the Cascades lobby!

We found some more of the kooky horses (like the ones at the Wildhorse Saloon in downtown Nashville). Cady Lane and Charlotte fell in love.

Charlotte declared the girl horse to be the most beautiful in the world.

Lounging in the Delta shopping area.

We took a boat tour of the Delta river, and Charlie Jo cuddled with her Grandma JoJo.

There are tons of waterfalls in this crazy place.

We tried to reenact the previous night's line dancing escapades.

Watching the fountain show down below the little restaurant where we ate lunch.

Charlie Jo is getting to be such a big girl!

Cady Lane and her baby posed by the little waterfall too.

Before we left, we stumbled upon an arcade and couldn't resist.

Back at the hotel, Charlotte and Abbey Skyped with Abbey's boyfriend.

Then, we went swimming of course!

After dinner, we walked around downtown Franklin and had ice cream.

It was a nice way to end the weekend and send Abbey off to college. After getting groped by Peter, Abbey was certainly ready to get out of town! Hee hee.

Good luck in college, Abbey! We hope to see you for IU's Homecoming in October!!

Visit with Abbey, Kim, Cady Lane, and JoJo

2011-08-24T14:09:00.001-05:00

We were lucky enough to get a whole weekend with my cousin/sister, Abbey, on her way to moving in for her freshman year at Indiana University! She, her mom (my Aunt Kim), and her little sister (Cady Lane), drove to Dallas from California, and then they kidnapped my mom and all drove up here for a visit. We started the weekend with dinner at Pie in the Sky on Friday night.

Mom and Aunt Kim are hiding somewhere behind that toppings caddy!

Abbey helped Charlotte make all sorts of cool things with the pizza dough the restaurant gives out for kids to play with while waiting for their pizza.

Peter and Cady Lane played peek-a-boo!

The next morning, we headed to Cheekwood to see the train exhibit and the art museum. Cady Lane and Charlotte were great buddies right from the start.

Trains!!!

All three of the little kids were exceptionally excited whenever Thomas whizzed by.

Frameworthy! (At least Abbey and I are smiling . . .)

We walked around outside a little, but the heat and humidity drove us indoors soon after to see the art collection in the Cheek mansion.

At lunch afterward, Peter entertained himself (and the rest of us!) in the mirror behind the seat.

While Petey napped, the older girls swam with Aunt Kim and Abbey in their hotel's pool.

We're pretty sure Cady Lane is part fish. That girl would swim all day, every day, if she could.

Then, the girls snuggled up to watch "The Wizard of Oz". I can't believe Charlotte was able to watch all of the scary parts!

Poor Abbey resorted to the old toothpaste and band-aids method to deal with some nasty mosquito bites she got while strolling by the Mississippi River in Memphis a couple of night before. Amazingly no one else was bitten. Abbey must taste extra sweet to bugs.

Back at our house, Abbey and Grandma JoJo entertained the howler monkeys . . .

. . . while Cady Lane cooked us all dinner.

That evening, Aunt Kim, Abbey, and I went out on the town for some line dancing and sight-seeing. Someday when Abbey is 21, we'll have to do it again and hit the honky-tonks!

Here is the obligatory shot with the weirdo horse statues at the Wildhorse Saloon:

Whew -- that was one fun, action-packed day. It makes me tired just writing about it. The fun didn't stop there though. We spent all day Sunday running around too, but that's going to have to be a whole other post.

Poor little girl

2011-08-18T23:12:00.000-05:00

Last week, Charlotte and I got a terrible stomach bug. It passed quickly, but we sure had a rough night. Corey came down with it this week and had an even tougher go of it. I refrained from documenting any of his pain and suffering, but I couldn't help but take a shot of Charlotte after her night of terror. She was one pitiful little customer -- at least until she declared she wasn't sick at all and that her barfing was over. Then it was business as usual, with a side order of cranky.

Scenes from the Williamson County Fair

2011-08-15T18:09:00.000-05:00

A vision of the future

2011-08-12T09:32:00.000-05:00

The marching band tradition is strong in our family. Corey and I both had musical grandparents, and BOTH sets of our parents met in marching bands (Corey's at Rochester High School and mine at Arizona State University). Corey and I each had siblings in marching band and colorguard, and anyone who knows either one of us even casually probably knows that Corey and I are both high school and college marching band alumni. It's not a matter of whether Peter and Charlotte will be in a band. It's only a question of woodwind versus brass. (We're not sure we are ready for a percussionist, though we are not completely discounting the idea.)

When Charlotte received a cool collection of dress-up clothes handed down from Corey's cousins, there was included an old marching band jacket that apparently Corey's mom and aunt had purchased at a school rummage sale. The other night, Charlotte decided she needed to wear it while she and Peter tooted on Corey's ancient baritone horn. They can get surprisingly good noises out of it, and then they giggle like maniacs. I don't mind this early introduction to brass, but please oh please let one of them be a woodwind player!

Petey wants to join the band too!

It may be hard to actually march until she is strong enough to hold the baritone. For now, it has to sit on the floor while she honks.

Peter looks a little disturbed by the sounds emanating from that monster.

One of Charlotte's big heros, her buddy Madison's big sister Mia, plays the tuba, so low brass may be in CJ's future. I can picture Peter as my little saxophone player, can't you?

Mallrats

2011-08-11T14:42:00.001-05:00

Like I said before, it was HOTTT in Texas. We resorted to the ultimate in suburban entertainment on our final day there -- the mall! Shopping is getting more and more challenging with Petey as he seems to prefer racing around as fast as he can (all the while making "vrooming" noises like a car, of course) regardless of direction. Then, he has to be carried kicking and screaming out of each store. After visiting only one shop, we were exhausted and needed some lunch. Peter's two-fork technique was, well, nauseating to watch.

Charlie Jo thought she was hot snot drinking all of her juice box and most of her brother's. We feared the results as she was on this shopping trip wearing her big girl underpants. Good thing she's usually pretty enthusiastic about going potty in public restrooms.

Petey got tired of waiting for Charlie Jo to finish her trip to the potty.

He perked up when we hiked across to the kids' play area. It was beautiful and cheery.

I'm not sure why bellowing is necessary while sliding, but Petey seems to enjoy it.

Charlie Jo spent a lot of time on this caterpillar thing.

She copied a bigger girl and tried some trick riding.

Now how did she get up there? I gotta try some of that too.

On the way home, we spotted this correctly-spelled restaurant! Next time we're in Texas, I feel the need to patronize this bistro to support whoever this Niki is. Do you think I could get a free appetizer or something?