Dance party in the van

If we fold the third row seat of the van down into the floor, it makes a perfect place for a dance party.  We pump some Yo Gabba Gabba tunes, dig into a Red Velvet Cheesecake Sonic Blast, and accessorize with some sunglasses that Cousin Sonia left in the van.  It's the perfect way to cheer some kids up who have been stuck inside for a few days with an icky cold.  BTW, the RVC Sonic Blast was a little rich for my taste, but it didn't stop me from finishing the whole thing (minus the bits eaten by the kids).

I think I may enjoy watching a little kid try to put on sunglasses just a little bit too much.

Every toddler's dream

A new refrigerator!  Seriously, Charlotte had such a fun time watching the delivery guys install the fridge and she was downright giddy helping me load our food into it.  Even Peter (once he woke up from napping through the entire delivery) giggled with glee when he first saw it, and then he hugged it (the ultimate Peter compliment).  These kids need more excitement in their lives.

We love spring!

Can't you tell?

The dress-up bin gets an infusion of new blood!

Cousin Ellie just sent Charlotte a big box of all sorts of crazy dress-up clothes.  Many of those were actually handed down to Ellie from Cousin Erin and Cousin Katie.  Considering Cousin Erin is just a few years younger than me, this means that the frocks are bordering on vintage!  I didn't have my camera handy for the initial foray into the box, but I was able to get Charlotte to stand still long enough to snap one picture with my cell phone.  Actually, the teeny-tiny red plastic high heels slowed her down quite a bit.  Thank you so much to all of the Taylor family cousins for handing down these timeless treasures!

Notice Peter (sans pants, after a particularly wild diaper change) in the background, having fun with (what else?) some costume jewelry necklaces.  Aren't those some skinny little gams on Miss Charlotte?  She definitely takes after her father's side of the family in that respect, because I have never had such slender legs.

Bigfoot

Is it just me, or do these photos (from yesterday's visit to the doctor) make my kids' feet look ridiculously large?

And lest you think I have little angels who are always this good in an exam room, let me assure you that moments after these photos were taken they were both racing around the room and competing to see who could make the loudest annoying noise.  Otherwise, they were fairly well-behaved.  They both love the doctor's office for some reason.  In fact, Charlotte cried rather bitterly when we left.

Who needs water (or warm weather)?

Not us!  Pools are fun in any season.

Two teddy bears are even better than one

According to Peter, you can never have too many snuggly bears to drag around.

Charlotte's Oscar submission

Well, I'm not going to post the actual video here, because it mostly consists of shots of the ground and up close views up Peter's nostrils, but Charlotte got the bug to use the Flip video to make another movie this afternoon.  I did get some shots of the filmmaker in action, though.

Peter was not a particularly cooperative cast member and performed kind of like a toddler-sized Charlie Sheen -- trying to grab the camera himself and throwing a fit when he didn't get his way.  Actually, it was remarkably like Charlie Sheen as of late.  Just with less drugs and hookers, and with more teddy bears and sippy cups.

Peter conquers the kitchen chair

I fondly remember the days when all I needed to do to keep Peter's tiny fingers off something was to put it up on the kitchen island.  Now that he can climb up onto the chair that Charlotte insists we keep there so she can "help" me cook, I have lost that option.  Pretty soon, I'm going to be putting everything on top of the fridge (although that reminds me of a story our friends told us of their son climbing up and retrieving a camera from the top of the fridge for the express purpose of dunking it in his cereal bowl).  I finally had to push the chair away from the island so Peter wouldn't maul the pizza I was making, so he decided to just climb up there with his teddy bear and sit there grinning away at his audacity.  Oh, Petey . . .

Mr. Fancy Pants

Remember Peter's strong interest in Charlotte's Mardi Gras beads?  Well, he has a new love now:

He's a guy who likes accessories.  Too bad he doesn't like keeping his socks on when it's 42 degrees outside.

An application to art school

Dear Aunt Martha --

Please please please consider accepting Charlotte and Peter into the high school art classes that you teach.  I think you will find they have skills beyond compare and would fit in nicely among your colony of budding artists.  I submit as their application the following evidence of their artistic aptitude:

Yesterday afternoon, Charlotte woke up from her nap in a foul mood.  I pulled out a watercolor "Paint with Maisy" book that I got at the discount bookstore and dressed her in a smock courtesy of Granny & Grandpa Great.  Once she got the concept of watercolors, she forged ahead on her masterpiece.

Peter got super cranky about Charlotte having all the creative fun, so I decided to introduce him to crayons for the very first time.

They were a hit!  Unlike his sister, cousin Quinn, and cousin Sonia, Peter actually kept the crayons out of his mouth during his maiden voyage.  His technique needs a little refinement, but he was starting to be able to make marks on the paper all by himself by the end of the session.

He liked to hold all four crayons at once.  Well, at least he tried to.

Hey!  This coloring thing is all right!!

Charlotte eventually moved on to coloring with markers and decorating with sparkly stickers.  (I like to call this her "Popeye" smile.)

Aunt Martha, you can plainly see that Charlotte and Peter are both excellent candidates for your program.  If you could also potty train them, I would be eternally grateful.

Very truly yours,
Niki

Toddler pandemonium with guest star, Sonia

My sister, Erin, and her 21-month-old daughter, Sonia, came to visit this week!  The three kiddos got along like three peas in a toddler-sized pod.  The kids are finally old enough to really play together without super close parental supervision/direction, so we got a glimpse into the future where Erin and I can hang out and relax while our herd of kids roams around together.  

It was especially fun to see them pretending together, like when Charlotte and Sonia put themselves "night-night" on the couch together not long after Erin and Sonia arrived.

The rescue center slide was a big hit with all three kids.  It was surprising how well they (usually) took turns.

We did lots of exploring outside.  Sonia has been cooped up inside for a long, snowy winter, so she loved romping around in the grass.  The temperature got into the low 60s one of the days, so she was in heaven!  She especially adored following Connie the dog around outside.

Charlotte and Sonia conquered the mall playground together.

Sonia got to hold her first ice cream cone!  I think she liked it.

Then again, she also seemed to enjoy eating Peter's shoe.

Sonia tried dressing up as a fairy and decided she kind of liked it.

We must have gone outside to romp around at least once a day.  Such a nice treat after the cold winter we had!

Sonia met Charlotte's friend, Madison too!

While Charlotte was at school, we took the two little ones to Peek-a-boo Playtown.  Shhhh -- Charlotte still doesn't know we went without her.

Kids always put firefighter hats on backward!

At one point, Sonia grabbed a big plastic T-Rex and announced "snuggle!"  She then carried him around for quite a while and took him on several adventures.

Hey!  Does anyone notice that I'm drowning in a sea of plastic balls?

Such a sweet little smile on that girl!

If Peter could talk, he would have said "me too!" about a million times this week.  He was always about two steps behind the girls and desperate to join in on whatever they were doing.  Like here, during pants-free story time on Charlotte's bed before bath time.  Poor little guy.

We had such a wonderful time with you, Erin and Sonia!  We promise to come visit sometime very soon.