Thankful

We were talking about Thanksgiving this morning at breakfast (chocolate chip pancakes, YUM!), and about what we were thankful for.  Dexter stated that he was thankful for toy trains, because he likes playing with them.  And for yummy food.  And for Daddy.

And then as an afterthought he said he was also thankful for Mama, and only a little bit for Erin.  Because she is always telling him what to do.

Erin declared she is thankful for olives.  Me, too, kiddo.  Me, too.

I personally am thankful right now for the fact that there are two children playing in the basement while I am typing this post, and John is sorting cranberries before cooking cranberry sauce that only he will eat.  I am thankful that they are playing nicely together (or at least not yelling at each other), and that they are doing so without me supervising.  This older kid thing is kind of liberating.

I just found and posted on Facebook this little gem:

I am thankful for my big sister, who was often a pain in my butt but has become my closest friend.  And also for my mom and dad, who are always there for me and are wonderful grandparents.  Sorry we can't be there to eat turkey with you today.  We shall be eating dinner with our very own turkey.

PS - the quiet in the basement was short-lived.  Now Dex and Daddy are flying helicopters in the basement, while Erin is building a choo-choo out of cups in the kitchen.  Wish we had some toys for that kid...

Pitter Patter

Yesterday during lunch we were talking about what the pitter-pattering of little feet means.  I thought it best to demonstrate.  So I demonstrated pitter-patter.  And then I demonstrated how Dexter stomps around.  The children thought it was hilarious, and have been doing their own random demonstrations since.  Behold, Erin's Pitter-Patter vs Dexter, whilst wearing her new penguin hat from Aunt Maria.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

This morning Aunt Maria and Dexter helped while Erin got her picture taken at Portrait Innovations.  Erin does not like strangers, but after ten minutes or so she would actually look at the photographer, so things didn't go too terribly.  We got some cute shots, but I always have a goal of bringing home only one picture.  I did not manage to do so today - I needed a cute shot of both the kids, as well.

Erin's two-year old portrait

Erin hugging Dexter, just moments before her tackling hug knocked him down to the ground...

And then we went to Trader Joe's, and WHOOOBOY am I ever glad we don't live closer to THAT store.  Cuz that could get bad.  Really really bad.

Macaroni

Before bed tonight I was reading Erin Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See?  I read it a couple times before telling her this was the last time I could read it, and then because she is super sneaky she said it was HER turn to read it to me.  So she "read" to me, pretty admirably.  Sometimes she had to ask what the animal was, but she mostly remembered.  And then she got to the macaroni penguin.  And read, "Macaroni cheese, macaroni cheese, what do you see?"  HA!  HAAAAAA!

Grandma has been here for the past couple days, watching swimming lessons and hanging out with Erin while Dexter went to TheraPlay, and hanging out with Erin while I went to volunteer at school to help kids in Dexter's class trace their hand and cut out the tracing.  It's big, important stuff, man.  The kids have been delighted to have her here and shall be sad to see her leave tomorrow.

It was the last nice day before the Polar Vortex moves in tonight.  The leaves on our maple trees have FINALLY changed colors and are starting to fall.  I figured we'd better take advantage and grab some photos with fall foliage, before the fall foliage gets blown away, or snowed on, or frozen.  So this is what we did after Dex got off the bus at 11:30.  Until some grumpy kid decided she needed something to eat, and asked for a chocolate star for lunch.

"Dexter, hold mine hand."  I love it when this happens.

Leaf throwing

You can't really see Dex holding Erin's hand, helping her climb the well cap.

The best picture of the day.  I love it.  I love it when Dexter's idea of climbing the tree (he needed my help, but once I got him up there he did great) turns in to awesomeness.

One last little bit of cuteness, from Monday.  He rides so gently and carefully when she is on the back.  It warms my heart.

QOD

Today's Quote of the Day comes from Erin, while reviewing body parts.

Me:  What's this, in your mouth?
Erin:  Tongue

Me:  What are these?
Erin:  Teeth

Me:  What's this?
Erin:  Arm

Me:  What are you going to use to go up the stairs to bed?
Erin:  MAMA!

John almost fell down the stairs laughing.

In other news, we went to tag our Christmas tree this afternoon.  It's gonna be WAY too tall.

Dex picked this tree and could not be persuaded to look any further.  So, this tree it is.

Waaaaaaay too tall.

I think Grumpy Pants here got poked by a tree branch early on and held a grudge the entire time we were out there.

Also she wanted Mama to please stop taking her picture, already.

Perhaps my favorite family tree picture to date.  :-)

After spending five whole minutes picking a tree, we spent a good hour playing.

Erin LOVES Santa.  And Dexter is waaaaaay too tall.

Hooray trees!

First Lesson

This week is the first week of a new session of swim lessons at the Y.  Dexter moved up to a new class - he is now a Starfish.  And after over a year of essentially private swimming lessons because nobody else signed up for his class, Dex finally had some friends.  Which I think is kind of good for him.  He was excited when he came home last night because he was way faster than another kid.

And Erin started swimming lessons for the very first time.  I didn't think she would have any trouble with the skills - we've been doing them for two years.  But I wasn't sure how she would handle being in a class without me being there.  Especially since there was no school today, so I had Dexter with me, too, and we were in the pool swimming and watching during her lesson.  We talked about it before class, and Erin claimed that she would be ok, and she would not cry.  Damned if she didn't do just exactly that.  She was a champ.  Not a peep out of her.  She followed instructions.  She had fun sitting next to another friend and kicking in the water.  She was super awesome and I was super proud.  I didn't take a picture because I was in the pool with Dex.  She essentially looked like this, except with a swim suit on.  And her goggles on her forehead instead of over her eyes.  Fashion statement, you know.:

On Not Matching

Tonight when I was getting Erin ready for bed I picked out a pair of pink PJ pants with dogs, and a green PJ shirt with cats.  Because I could not find the dog shirt.  Erin looked at it and said "No, Mama.  This not match."  So I had to dig around for a while to find the matching PJ shirt.  Because heaven forbid the child doesn't match.  In her bed.

This morning I was blow drying my hair (unheard of, I know).  Erin was doing who knows what in my room.  I came out of the bathroom to find her standing over the ball popper.  Blowing her hair.  We then went in to the office to say hi to Puff (you know, the dragon.  He's magic, and stuff) and she said "I be right back.  I hafta go blow my hair."

This child.  She is trouble and a half.  And way too smart.  And, fortunately for her, cute.  Very very cute.