Same Stroll

We've taken a lot of walks since it warmed up outside.  They usually look something like this:

Xandra with her scooter and some hair accessory like a crown.

Aliyah with her stroller and Theia with a ride on toy.  After about two minutes on the ride on toy, which gets us about six feet from our drive, Theia changes her mind about the ride on toy and takes it back home while I snap photos of everyone else.  Then she returns to hold hands and walk with momma or push Joey in the stroller.  On this day daddy was at home working in the yard and Joey was napping in his crib.

Xandra leads the way on the scooter.

Aliyah sloooowly brings up the rear with her dolly and bear.

I stop to gaze at some flowers while I wait for Aliyah.  Theia runs ahead.

Someone begins crying at multiple points along the way.  This time it was Aliyah.

Everyone stops to pick buttercups and that cheers everyone up.

Xandra gets hot riding her scooter and starts whining.  I carry the scooter the rest of the way home causing me to wonder why I choose the two block loop instead of the one block loop.  Theia and Xandra walk ahead and Aliyah, refusing help, lags further and further behind.  She's little and it's hard work pushing that dolly stroller.

When we reach our circle we stop to chat with our neighbors, tell them all about our walk, show daddy our flowers, and then head inside for a cool drink of water.

Tomorrow we'll do it all again.  Same stroll.  Second verse.

Remembering

It's Memorial Day.  This day always makes me think of my grandfather. 

He served in the United States Army and was wounded in two wars defending the freedoms we enjoy today.  My grandfather and his family was forever changed by his wartime experiences.  Many of those changes were difficult.  Today, as I reflect, I'm grateful for him and the sacrifices that he, my grandmother, my father, and each of my father's siblings made to preserve our freedoms.

I'm also thinking of a few other families today who we know whose husbands and fathers are deployed overseas while the moms/wives are home with young children, bravely holding down the fort, awaiting their return.  These pictures made me think of you.  They also made me cry.  We're praying for you and I look forward to celebrating their return.

Today we remember and thank each of you:  Grandpa, Dad, Grandma, Maureen, Doug, Carter, Cooper, Nina, Steven, Lily, and Mason.  Your sacrifice is not forgotten.

On A String

Earlier this month we left Joey at home with our neighbor, Ms. Carol and took a visit to Glen Echo Park.  On Wednesday mornings The Puppet Company Theater at the park hosts a 30 minute performance for ages 0-4 called Tiny Tots.  The kids sit on the floor of the theater, the lights stay on and a variety of marionettes and their manipulator put on a fun show for the kids.  Xandra and Theia were the perfect age for this performance.  They seemed to thoroughly enjoy the performance.  The show we saw was Baby Bear's Birthday.  This is baby bear:

and he has a similar problem to Theia,

he cannot for the life of him keep his pants up.

After the performance and getting to meet Baby Bear, we headed to the carousel for a ride and

paitently (or not) waited for our turn.

Aliyah's opinion of this carousel has not changed from last year. She did not like her ride at all!  Our plan was to stay at the park and play and enjoy a picnic.  The pouring down rain altered our plans and we ended up at a nearby mall for lunch and some playtime with our friends Audrey, Jillian, Faith, Anna, Madeline, Oliver, Ava, and Andrew.

No Problems At All

We're going camping over Father's Day weekend in June.  The girls are very excited about the big camping trip.  They've been telling everyone who asks about their summer plans all about the upcoming camping trip.  They've also been pretend camping in the breezeway.

They've got everything they need:

camping chairs,

a fire to warm their feet by,

and all the other necessary camping gear, including bubbles.

I feel confident we won't have any problems at all when we're actually ready to camp, 

since they're all practiced up now.

No Stopping Him Now

Last week he did it.

He stood up in the pack n play.

And after that,

he stood up in his crib.

He seemed very proud of himself.

He also seemed stuck,

as he couldn't figure out how to sit down on his own.

Which presented his mother with the perfect opportunity,

to take a million pictures.

And there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

He's standing everywhere he goes now:  the futon, step stools, chairs, couches, sofas, and next to the deep freeze.  He's also figured out how to sit down, too.  Good thing I got my pictures of him, before, because there's no stopping him now.

The Breakfast Table

Nose Ring

Don't you hate when you've been somewhere with people and you leave only to discover something stuck in your teeth or hanging from your nose that no one told you about? 

 Me too.

 

What's really embarassing is when they point, laugh

and take pictures.

Piece of Cake

This is Beth. 

She's adored by young and old in our house.

Earlier this month, her dad, James, who is a train loving weatherman, had a birthday.

A big birthday.

His 50th birthday.

We (Trisha) made the cake

Do you see the fingerprint on the E?  The handiwork of unsupervised small hands.

and attended his suprise party.

We're glad he's our friend for so many reasons.  One being that he didn't notice the fingerprint in his cake.  Another, more important, being that he shared his birthday cake with us.  

Happy Birthday, Mr. Aman.  We love you!

When No Ones Looking

When they're not bickering, fighting, biting, kicking, hitting, tattling, screaming, or yelling at one another, they have a lot of fun together.

They're also a lot of fun to watch.

They're usually at their best

when they think no one is watching.

That's my favorite time to watch

 and it almost always makes me wish I'd had a sister.

Multipurpose

Babies are fun. 

If you can get them to sit still long enough,

you can put them to bed in a basket.

When you tire of that,

you can use them for motor skill development.

(I love Aliyah's attempt at hopping here.)

 (I have no explanation for Theia.  None.  Whatsoever.  She must get that stuff from Joe.).

The World Will Never Know

Two year olds are unpredictable.  Sweet one moment, grumpy the next.  Quiet one moment, acting out the next.  Cuddling one moment, hitting the next.  You never quite know what they're going to do and knowing why they do what they do is an even greater impossibility. 

Take the simple act of putting blankies and dollies in a baby's crib, for example.

Just after Easter, I popped into Joey's room to get him up from a nap and found he was still asleep.   I also found that Aliyah had shared some of her most prized possessions with him:  her yellow blankie, polk-a-dot blankie, bear, and lil peanut.  

At first I was touched.  It's sweet to see your kids show unprompted kindness toward one another and I initially assumed this was the case. 

After awhile, I began to think differently.  I recall Xandra doing this to Theia once when they were both napping in the same room at a friend's house.  She emptied the entire contents of a friend's dresser drawers into the pack n play on top of Theia.  I think she threw a few pillows in there for good measure, too.  Reportedly, Theia was laughing under the pile of suffocation hazards when our friends discovered her.  I also recall finding their credit card in the pack n play two months later.  They still talk to us and everything.

I like to think Aliyah was being sweet sharing her most treasured things with Joey, but I'm not so sure.  History would indicate that the real reason may be that there's just something really cool about dumping things into a crib on top of a sleeping baby.  I'm guessing that she's just not as good of a shot as Xandra, so her things ended up next to Joey instead of on top of him.

There is one other possible, sweet, explanation.  Around the same time as the above pictures, Xandra had taken to making up Aliyah's bed for naptime.   One afternoon while Xandra was getting ready for nap, she came running to me and asked me to come see what she had done.  This was the result.

 Maybe Aliyah was just trying to make Joey's bed nice like Xandra had done for her.

One thing's for sure, the world will never know.