Fun with Granny and Grandpa Great

A playdate with Granny and Grandpa Great was next on our agenda.  When we showed up, we found a great set-up of car toys that Corey says he remembers playing with at Granny's house when he was little.  The kids were entranced.

Granny is such a cutie.

More pictures!!

The cars were a huge hit!

Charlie Jo, our resident sleuth, had a great time looking for clues with Granny and Grandpa Great's magnifying glass.

Maisie loved goofing off with her Granny Great.

I love this ridiculously adorable photo of GG & GG.

Fun with the golf putter toy!

Buddies!!

These photos of NanaB, Uncle Doug, and Uncle Dave always make me smile whenever I see them at GG & GG's house.

Who knew the shower in the guest bathroom would have provided such entertainment?

Peter liked playing outside the shower better than inside.

Charlie and Grandpa Great checked out a book about birds.

Petey teased Granny Great all morning, but never would give her a cuddle.  A combination of teething and a separation anxiety phase inspired him to be extra stingy with his hugs on this trip.

Thanks for inviting us over for a playdate, GG & GG!  Can't wait to see you again this summer.

Feeding the ducks -- FAIL

Stephanie and I learned a tough lesson one afternoon.  Apparently, a 3-year-old, 2-year-old, 1-year-old, and an 8-month-old are NOT good candidates to feed ducks by an idyllic pond.

First, apparently it is physically impossible for any of them not to to charge wildly at the ducks upon sight.

We dragged the kids to the playground to see if they could run off some energy before harassing the ducks again.  Petey kept stopping by to check in with Maisie.  I still can't believe he was so gentle with her all week.

Quinn raced his mom down the slide.

Charlie Jo ran around and made friends, and I pushed Peter on the swing for what seemed like eight hours.  We finally decided to head back to see the ducks and give it a whirl.  We gave Quinn and Charlie some cracked corn, and then this happened:

Yeah, they charged at the ducks with the corn held tightly in their little fists, screaming "DUCKS!!!  COME HERE DUCKS!!!"  Even with some tutoring, they completely freaked the ducks out.  We cut our losses and left the ducks in peace.  After all that fun outside, the kids needed a bath.  Good thing NanaB and GrandDad have such a big tub!

I had to include this last photo of Quinn and Charlotte watching cartoons the next morning.  So cuddly!

Michigan cousin convention

After Charlotte and I stopped puking our guts out and felt well enough to drive, we loaded up the Big Red Van and raced to NanaB and GrandDad's house in Michigan.  There, we met up with Corey's sister, Stephanie, and her kids, Quinn and Maisie.  For some reason, my first batch of photos from this visit omits both GrandDad and Quinn!  I guess even though Maisie learned to crawl forward that week, she still moved a little slower and was easier to catch on film.

Charlotte was so excited to be reunited with Maisie's "fat cheeks for me to pinch!"

Granny Great stopped by to check on her namesake.

I'm still not sure how NanaB did "Rickety Rickety Rocking Horse" so many times without ending up in the hospital.  Look -- you can see Quinn's rear end in this photo!

Maisie knows how cute she is.

Zoinks!  Is NanaB goosing her?

Cuddles with NanaB are the best.

Crawling around in a hand-me-down outfit from Charlotte.

I'm GORGEOUS!  And MOBILE!

Oh yeah -- Peter was there too.

Oops -- Maisie was still better at crawling backward than forward at this point, and it kept getting her into trouble.  Did we save her?  Yes, but not before taking pictures.

Easter at the Arboretum

After we opened Easter baskets last Sunday, we headed over to the Children's Garden at the Morton Arboretum.  Charlotte, Peter, and Sonia had the place practically to themselves!

The mirror ball was a big hit.

As was the xylophone coming out of a flower.

We put Charlotte in the doghouse and told her to stay there until she learned to eat vegetables other than baby carrots.  We may be able to pick her up in about 10 years.

WHEE!!

Climbing Mt. Everest is easier when you wear lots of purple.

Uncle Andrew led the way across the bridge to the tree house.

Peter charged right across like a pro, but Charlotte needed a little help.

What do you see, Charlotte?

Sonia was looking for baby animals to rescue in the trees.

Hold on tight, Charlotte!

The floating granite sphere was so cool.  Andrew wants to put one out on his deck.

The next morning, we set off for Michigan to rendezvous with Aunt Stephanie, Quinn, and Maisie at NanaB & GrandDad's house.  More photos to come!

Home again, home again

I'm taking a break from unpacking and cleaning up the inevitable disaster that results when the kids come home after a week away and reacquaint themselves with all their toys by spreading them all over the house.  I realize that my ornery little sister already posted the cream of the crop of the photos from our visit, but here are some fun ones she missed:

1.  Charlie Jo, Sonia, and Petey had countless tea parties (often lasting only a few seconds) with the new tin sock monkey tea set we gave Sonia for her birthday.  Auntie Ernie is going to LOVE hunting down all 15 pieces of it every day when she cleans up!  You're welcome.

2.  When the cousin convention got a little whiney or crazy, the kiddos took a little TV break.  Erin and I are trying to figure out how to get the kids together at Halloween so they can dress up as the Wonder Pets.  Charlotte would make a great Linny the guinea pig, Petey would of course have to be Tuck the turtle, and Sonia's blonde feathery hair makes her a dead ringer for Ming Ming the duck.

3.  There were many many hugs exchanged between the cousins.  By the time we left, Peter was getting in on the act and hugging all sorts of people.

4.  The sheer look of glee on Petey's face inspired Grandpa Spike to feed this train full of about $50 in quarters at the All Aboard Diner.

5.  Driving a train is serious business.

6.  The best part about the All Aboard Diner is when the train runs down the counter to bring you your food.  There are tables for the poor unfortunate souls who can't squeeze in a spot at the counter, but we made sure to get there right as they opened to stake out our stools.

7.  Grandpa Spike's entire job during the visit was to charge up the kids.  He is an EXPERT at making Charlotte laugh like a hyena.

8.  Meal times were wild.  The kids took turns driving their respective mothers crazy while the grandparents giggled and reminisced.

9.  There was always a big pile of shoes near the back door, and all three kids mistook them for toys.

10.  We celebrated Grandma JoJo's birthday a little early (it's today, in fact!) with a chocolate cake that sported a marshmallow top drizzled with warm icing.

11.  I was smiling in this photo despite suffering from a nasty stomach bug that knocked me for a loop and caused us to delay the second leg of our journey to Michigan.

12.  We were never successful in getting those three knuckleheads to pose for a pretty picture.

13.  Easter morning, we managed to limit the candy intake by distracting them with toys and books in their baskets.  With the stomach bug making its rounds, we feared the worst in the event of a candy binge.

That's enough for now.  I'm sure Erin and I will do competing posts about our visit to the Arboretum on Easter morning, so stay tuned for more!

Happy Easter from 3 Funny Bunnies

The dynamic trio of goofballs had a lovely Easter with beautiful weather.  Still leery of the stomach bug, my sister and I didn't allow very many Easter treats to be consumed.  We did let them play outside most of the day and gave them some fun little toys, but never fear -- we will make up for it in years to come.  Charlotte, Petey, and I leave tomorrow and will take with us some great memories!

More and more words

Petey has acquired a good little vocabulary over the past few days at Auntie Ernie's house in Illinois.  Here is his complete lexicon:

Car ("cah")
Ball ("baw")
Bo Bo (Ernie's cat's nickname)
Da Da (he sure misses his daddy!)
Choo Choo (for trains)
Shoe

We're still gathering evidence on whether "again" and "mama" are truly being said.  He also loves to make a "vroom" noise when he runs his cars along the floor, and he does a hilarious little imitation of "a-choo" because he thinks sneezing is the funniest thing in the world. He may be saying more words, but it's pretty hard to shout over his sister and cousin.  Those are two girls who like to hear themselves speak and sing.  As I type this, we're listening to Charlotte spew a stream of discipline at the trains she's playing with, and we're cracking up as we identify all of the phrases I have repeated a million times (like "No!  I said NO!").

We had to amend our plans and put off continuing on to Michigan for a couple of days when an icky stomach virus struck Charlotte and me, but we hope that we're well enough to make the drive tomorrow.  Cross your fingers and hope Peter doesn't come down with it too.

Chugging along in Illinois

We're in Illinois with my sister, Erin, and her daughter, Sonia.  Grandma JoJo and Grandpa  Spike are here from California as well, and we're having all sorts of fun.  After a visit to the All Aboard Café, the kids (resplendent in their engineer's caps) played train with Grandma JoJo as the engine.  More photos will be forthcoming, but I had to get this one posted because it was too cute.

Next, we're swinging through Michigan to see Corey's parents and his sister's family.  Too bad we're making this trip sans Corey!  Anyway, I'll get the pictures posted from the whole trip once we get home.

FINALLY! HE SPEAKS!!

Petey has maintained a strict code of silence since birth.  He has made many a cute noise, but he has been much later at speaking actual words than his verbose older sister.  (As far as I can recall, she came out of the womb speaking in paragraphs and arguing about exactly why I shouldn't make her eat her dinner.  I could be wrong though.  I'm always annoyed when my mom can't remember details of my early childhood from over 30 years ago and here I am unable to recall less than 3 years ago.  I should probably stop giving Mom such a hard time about her "momnesia".)

Anyway, Petey has been saying "BUH-BUH!" whenever he picks up one of his beloved plush creatures, and he does a good "uh-oh!" after (and sometimes before) he throws a toy.  But as of yesterday morning, he has started reliably saying "CAH!" every time he sees some sort of vehicle.  We are choosing to interpret that as "car" and are declaring it his first word.  Considering his father's deep love of the automobile, I guess it's only fitting.  Petey is also going to get along swimmingly with his cousin, Quinn, whose first word was "truck".

The best part about this new word is that he often says it a dozen times or more in a row as he practices his new skill.  He also makes "vrooming" noises when he runs his cars along the ground.  Charlotte is thrilled with Petey's new word and keeps bringing him cars to get him to say it.  As I type this, they are vrooming cars together off into the sunset.  Well, off into the bonus room anyway.  Uh oh -- now I hear shrieking about Petey knocking over some of Charlotte's "aminals".  Sigh.  It was nice while it lasted.

Charlie and Lili go to the prom

Not many three-year-olds get to go to a high school prom.  Charlie Jo was very lucky that she got to hang out in the lobby outside of her buddy Faith Carol's prom tonight before Alicia and I went in to take photos of the seniors being introduced.  Isn't that a sweet tradition?

Charlie declared that all the girls looked like Cinderella in their prom dresses.  FYI -- apparently it's not cool anymore for the guys to wear dress shoes with their tuxedos, so we saw a whole array of everything from Vans to tennis shoes.  Meanwhile, their dates were teetering around in gorgeous heels, amazing dresses, professionally done nails and hair, and fancy jewelry.  Faith Carol looked absolutely gorgeous, and it seemed to kind of intimidate Charlie!  Here she is, trying to lunge back into my arms after Faithy picked her up.

After we got home, Charlie Jo wanted to dress up and go to the prom.  I have a feeling that her animals will be acting out that very scenario when she plays with them tomorrow.

A mother's biggest fear

Racing home after lunch, praying the kids will stay awake so they can take good naps in their own beds, I looked over my shoulder and saw this:

CURSES!  Foiled again.  Even one minute of a car nap completely precludes any possibility of an afternoon nap upon arrival at home.  It is so rare that the transfer to the crib/bed actually works that even attempting it is laughable.  Instead, I drove straight to the park so their inevitably cranky awakenings (wouldn't YOU be cranky when you woke up from sleeping in one of those positions?) could be nipped in the bud with the promise of swings and slides.  Worked like a charm.