Nope...

Aaron has been getting rather chatty lately.  It is great to hear his little voice piping up over his sister's.  I had worried that she'd talk so much that he wouldn't get a chance, instead he just tries to repeat everything that he says.

One of my favorite words that he says is 'Nope.'  This is his answer to most questions.  He will shake his head very seriously and say 'Nope.'  Even better, if the answer is yes he will reply with a Sling-Blade-esque 'mmm hmmm.'  I ask him questions frequently just to hear his answers.
He also talks constantly about 'daddy's truck.'  Every truck we see he says 'daddy truck.'  And I'll say, 'no, daddy is at work,' and he will then say 'buh-ball (football)' because he thinks daddy's job is watching/coaching football.  I think we have that same conversation about 5 times a day.  Even more if we leave the house.
Some of my other favorite Aaron-isms are:
Bink-eek - this is what he recently started calling his binkie and blankie
Wa-ful - waffle, his favorite breakfast food
Why - Super Why, his favorite tv show
Wor whorl - Word World, his other favorite tv show
B-Ball or Buh-ball - Football, or any ball related sport - although he will say soccer ;)
Buh-ee - Buddy, Nana and Pop-pop's dog, also the name he has given Dog on Word World
Car cart - any cart, but he is always hoping it is a cra shaped one
Ummmm - he does this when thinking about an answer to a question  (I love when he says 'Ummmm, nope!)

Aaron has gotten very good at repeating most words you say to him and he will put two and three together to make little sentences.  He really likes to list all of the people that he knows as well as add car after their name.  And jsut today he correctly identified the letters 'O' 'N' 'R' and the other day he got 'A'.  All of the letters in his name!

But, they very best are his songs.  His favorite is 'Twinkle twinkle little star.'  He will as for 'Twin'l star' and as you sing he chimes in for many of the words.  He also likes the 'Baby Bumblebee' song if you yell 'ouch' (he will yell it too and giggle).  Any song that you sing to him a few times he can pick out a few words and join in.

Bye-Bye Binkie

I had hoped that Ally would be potty trained before she lost the binkie, but I guess we will take what we can get.  Yesterday she decided to throw her binkie away - Mike let her.  Well, kind of, it fell behind the trash and I may have hidden it away somewhere, but as far as she knows it is gone.  I had told her recently that when she was done with her binkie the Binkie Fairy would come to get it and leave her a present.

As expected there were some tears last night.  She cried for awhile, but somehow we kept from caving (I know Mike and I both really wanted to give it back) but after awhile it seemed even meaner to give it to her and have had an hour of tears for nothing.  Mike read her several books and then, just like that, the tears ended.  She started making excuses to stay awake, but she did not cry.
This morning she was super excited to see that the Binkie Fairy brought her a Rapunzel Polly Pocket doll.  She was even more excited when I came home from Kohl's with a Cinderella to keep Rapunzel company.  She didn't really ask for the binkie all day, but she also did not lay in her bed like she had been with the binkie.  No nap either which really surprised me after she was up until 1 last night.

Bedtime was not the fight I expected.  She told me that she wanted a binkie.  I told her that it was gone.  She suggested that we buy another tomorrow and I told her that if we did that she had to return her dolls to the Binkie Fairy.  She let the subject drop but was downstairs asking for food a little while later.  I let her eat some cereal and put her back in bed.  No tears again and she fell asleep.
There is no going back now.  Ally is binkie free.  I guess it is time, she had been spending a LOT of time laying in bed with the binkie.  I had to take it away several times just to get her out of her room.  As happy as I am for her independance and her teeth, I am a little sad to see binkie go.  Although, Aaron still has his and I think that he will put up more of a fight.

Mommy Brag

Actually, I'm not bragging about the kids today, just my super awesome crafting skills.  (So modest right?)  I've become slightly addicted to Pinterest, a kind of crafty version of Facebook but you can organize all the things you like (think of them as bookmarks) on separate boards and they all have pictures so you can quickly see what they are.  (You just have to check it out.)

Anyway, I found this picture posted on Pinterest and figured that I could make my own version. (Click HERE for a link to the website for this picture if you are interested)

So, I made my own Ariel- it is amazing what you can do with some ribbon and hot glue!

This is what the website's Ariel looked like:

Ally liked it so much that she didn't want me to glue it to the headband.  (Although, she did ask where the arms were.)  She ran around the living room (dressed as Ariel of course) with the ribbon Ariel making her swim around.  Then she started requesting that I make a King Triton, Prince Eric, and one with a pink tail.  Eventually, she consented to letting me glue it to the headband, but she did ask I make another that she can play with.


I could not get that goofball to keep the binkie out of her mouth, but she was in bed so I didn't fight much.

Now I only wish that I had some nieces that I could make some Christmas presents for.  I have a plan for a Rapunzel one.  Maybe Ally can give some to friends!

Happy Halloween

Today is actually Halloween, but I feel like it has been going on for weeks now.  Ally decided that she wanted to be the Little Mermaid this year for Halloween (after a brief period of wanting to be Rapunzel).  So, a few weeks ago I took the kids to JoAnn fabrics to buy some costume making supplies.  I found some great green fabric to make a 'tail' and some fun sparkly purple fabric for the top (Joshua M. from Project Runway would have been so proud of my fabric selections).  And this is what I came up with:

I did a few modifications after the picture to get the top to sit better and I shortened the skirt.  We also had a pink, long sleeve t-shirt for her to wear underneath.  Well, I made the mistake of giving her another dress that a co-worker generously gave to her and so, instead, this is what she wore:

At first I wans't too slighted, we had over a week of festivities after all, so when she dressed that way for Boo at the Zoolast saturday, I was fine with it. 

On Monday she got to dress up for gymnastics class.  For some reason she decided to wear her witch costume (sadly I did not get a picture of this one).  I figured that it was a good choice since the skirt was shorter and she could move around better.

Wednesday she had story time and I assumed that she was supposed to dress up.  They had dressed up last year the week before Halloween.  My mother-in-law, who takes Ally to story time, hadn't said anything, but when I asked Ally she told me that she was supposed to (why would she tell me otherwise?)  I meant to call the library to confirm this, but I get easily distracted and never did.  Thus, she was the only kid dressed up in story time, but I hear that she got quite a bit of attention in her Ariel costume.

Thursday was story time at my library (this time I knew she would dress up, it is my story time after all).  Aaron finally got to wear his costume again.  Thanks to some new boots from Nana the pants didn't look quite so short!  We also had the neighborhood trick-or-treat Thursday evening.  Luckily, the rain stopped just before the fun began, but it was COLD.  I could see my breath.  I decided that Aaron needed something warmer, otherwise his coat would cover his costume (not that anyone would care, he's cute enough with no costume).  So, I grabbed Ally's band costume from last year becasue Aaron has some warm pants that match and that seems to be a hat that he tolerates well.  For as cold as it was they lasted over an hour.  Ally finally asked to go home, but I think Aaron would have gone all night.  He was simply fascinated that people were just handing him candy.  I loved watching him when they held the entire candy bowl down for him to pick from.

Saturday was our last party.  This time we got together with our church group at Carter's house.  Ally changed her costume plan 4 times before the party.  She went from 'Ariel with a tail,' to 'Ariel with a dress' (she claimed that with this costume Carter would tell her how pretty she is and let her play in his room!), then she wanted to be a ghost (this brought on lots of walking around with a blanket on her head - not good when you live in a split level house).  Finally she decided that she was going to wear the bumblebee jacket that she wore when she was 18 months old.  Since it was warmer, Aaron was able to be Superman once again (mostly due to Mike's requesting it).

No matter what they were wearing, the kids seemed to have lots of fun.  Carter's neighbors have a miniatur horse farm, so the owner took all of the kids in a hayride over to see the horses.  I stayed behind and sent Mike with the camera.  From what I was told, most kids were a little aprehensive of the horses and the horses felt the same way.  Aaron however had no fear.  (He probably thought they were large dogs.)  Mike said that he was chasing the horses, who ran away.  Eventually, the horses warmed up to their visitors and the rest of the kids ventured closer.

Once the kids got back we feasted on great food (as usual with our wonderful church friends) and the kids played pretty well considering there were about 18 kids age 6 and under.  Surprisingly, Carter's house was still standing when we left.

Long Overdue...

Dress up is a daily occurrence these days.  Even Aaron joins the fun :)

So, it has been a woefully long time since my last post, but we have been a rather busy family.  In addition to my regular work schedule I have been completing my practicum, plus it is football season so Mike is gone a lot as well.  Luckily I have completed my 100 on-site hours and can work on the rest of my project from home - you know, in my spare time.

Ally took this picture all by herself.  She even turned on the camera.

 Anyway, fall is here, both my favorite and most dreaded season.  Favorite due to weather and leaves etc., most dreaded because of Football.  The kids and I have managed to squeeze in some fall fun here and there when we get time and it is not raining.  Two weeks ago we visited the pumpkin farm.  They had a small 'haunted' maze for the kids and other decorations to look at.  We picked out several pumpkins, some apples, and some mums to make up the fall decor at home.

Hmmmm...should we go in?

Halloween is quickly approaching and this week I think Ally is dressing up almost every day (for reasons other than hanging around the house.  today was not a dress up day yet she wore an Ariel dress for our wagon ride around the neighborhood.)  Ally wants to be Ariel for Halloween so I made her an Ariel costume.  Then, someone gave us an Ariel dress, so now she has options.

This is the costume I made.  I have modified some since the picture.

Last week we got to go to a super-awesome birthday party.  Ally's friend Joshua turned 4 and had his party at Pump It Up.  I wasn't sure if Aaron would be able to do much, but he LOVED the bouncy house.  He mostly ran in circles and fell down, but he had a blast doing it.  Ally had fun too, but she never wanted to do the big slide which I thought she would enjoy.  

Aaron listened to the instructions just like the big kids.

Getting a group picture was rough.  Micah was the only one who would sit still and smile :)

 We went to Boo at the Akron Zoo on Saturday and it was so crowded!  Last year we went a week later and everyone else was trick or treating at home and there we far fewer people.  I think the kids had fun, it was hard to tell when I spent most of the time not letting Aaron run away or get trampled.

 Last week we made a fun 'spider web' game on the floor.  Ally had fun with it.  The goal was to pick things up from the web without stepping off of the lines.  You also had to jump over ghosts.  Ally's favorite part was playing chase around the web.

 Today we had a few visitors, Hannah and Jackson came over while Deb attended the shortest Halloween party ever.  Ally had a lot of fun helping me 'watch' our little visitors.  She was really nice to them. (Aaron was probably wondering what was gong on!)  She gave them toys and showed them how they worked and even shut the door at the top of the stairs before Jackson had a chance to climb them.

Ariel supervising play time.  She stood like that most of the time.  It must be her princess stance.

 After they left, we decided to paint our pumpkins.  Ally did a really nice job and seemed to enjoy it.  Aaron did too, I was surprised how long he actually sat and painted.  He would close the lid of a paint once he was finished and point to the color he wanted to use next.  He did end up messy, but I have to say I expected worse.

Aaron was done when he decided to paint his face...

So we went out and enjoyed the beautiful weather before lunch.  Ally wore her Ariel costume and drew lots of attention from the neighbors.  After lunch we decided to take baths; toddlers, paints, and a damp backyard lead to messes!  (But it is the good kind of mess!!)

Day Trippin'

 Today we decided to have a family fun day before the craziness of fall begins and took a day trip to 'that big city in western PA' to visit the Zoo and Children's Museum.  We had a fun day, and despite the kids not napping as planned, nobody got really cranky!

We started out at the zoo and were a bit worried when we were unloading the car and discovered that Aaron had really messed his pants.  Thankfully, he must have just done what he thought was appropriate when we crossed the city line and it didn't happen again :) - though he did mess up a pair of shorts.  After that it was pretty smooth sailing.

Ally found a 'cow fish' (they were white with black spots).  Aaron kept mooing at them.

 Ally kept talking about how she hoped the zoo had a snow leopard.  We tried not to get her hopes up just in case, but guess what the very first animal that we saw was?  We didn't take a picture of the snow leopard, he was sleeping - both times we passed by.

The elephants were actually making noise!

 The zoo was really nice.  There were lots of animals but they weren't spaced too far apart.  And you could get pretty close to many of them.  The only disappointment (other than those darn sleeping lions - every zoo!) was that there we no bears.  There were spots for them, but we saw none.  Well, there was one polar bear, but we didn't count him.

The giraffe was imitating the tree

 One highlight of the zoo was the aquarium.  I think that Aaron would have stayed there all day if we had let him.  He loved watching all of those fish.  It probably helped that he could get right up on the glass and watch them swim at his face.  It also helped that it was air conditioned.

There fish are as big as we are!

You can't tell he is at an aquarium, but you can tell he is having fun

Ally on the lazy river log ride.  We didn't let Aaron go because we thought he would jump out.

We hoped that the kids would nap between the zoo and Children's museum.  They did fall asleep for about 30 minutes, which for neither of them is great, but it was enough to get them though the museum.

The kids did a lot of eating at the zoo.  Within the first 30 minutes of being there both had downed the lunch I packed them.  It was only 10:30 at that point.

The children's museum was really awesome.  They had an art room where you could paint, make paper, play with clay, and do all sorts of artsy things.  It would have been fun to stay in that room for longer, but Aaron was antsy and not in the mood for crafts.  (He was also a little put out by the fact that I had tried to distract him in the outdoor sand box and neglected to think about how hot the sand was before squishing his poor bare feet into it.) 

Aaron did not like me dressing him up

So, on we went.  Two of the highlights were the 'garage' area where there were cars big and small and the water room where there was water a plenty.  (Aaron needed another wardrobe change after that room.)  I really liked the 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood' exhibit.  But, I was the only one that had the warm fuzzy memories and the kids refused to sit properly in front of the trolley.

Ally (or Princess Rapunzel) in the Land of Make-Believe

Aaron like pushing the button to make the trolley go

The 'zero gravity room' had a slanted floor at about a 45 degree angle

Ally had no problem with the slanted floor

Riding in the smart car - they washed and gassed it first

There's water, what should we do with it?

Our future aquatic distribution engineer

Then, on the way home, we expected the kids to be zonked out and sleep the whole way.  They however, did not.  So, it is an early night which is nice too.  Overall, it was a great trip.  Just the right amount of activity for one day and it was enough to make the drive worth it.  Now that we had a nice family day we can cherish it all fall until we get to see each other again come November!

Ally heaven: McDonald's cheeseburger and binkie - the binkie was in hopes of her sleeping

Cars, cars, and more cars

That is what our life has become - lots of cars.  (Ally is even watching the movie right now.)  It is funny to see how much both kids enjoy playing cars, and how differently they do it.  Aaron, all boy, throws, smashes, and crashes his cars around.  Ally lines them up neatly and gives rides to her Little People and baby dolls.  The movie 'Cars' has definitely added to this obsession, but I often wonder how much Ally would have gotten into them were it not for having a little brother.

 

Ally has also been inspired by the movie Gnomeo and Juliet, which she liked and watched several times before we had to return it to the library.  She discovered my gnome stash in the garage and they are now her playmates on the front porch.  Last night she lined them up and was teaching them to march.  

Since my last Aaron post, I realized I forgot a few words he was saying (like Ball) and he is now saying many more such as:Tah-tur: Tractor
Bi: Bike
Please: sounds like peas and he only says it when told to
More: I'm surprised he doesn't use this one more without prompting
Paaa: This would be the ipad, he asks for it frequently and he is usually screaming it because I won't let him play with it all day :)

Aaron is also making an attempt at letters.  All letters and numbers are E, but he will point them out on my shirt and shout 'E!'  I tell him the right ones, but he insists they are all E.  But he does call his bear B, so I know he can say at least 2 different letters.

A few weeks ago we took Pop-pop to the Cleveland Zoo for a late Father's Day present.  We had lots of fun wandering through the Rainforest and then the zoo.  A highlight was the new elephant pen.  Then, thanks to Pop-pop, Ally got to ride a Camel!  It was fairly bumpy, but Ally liked her camel.

I had been worried about the trip since Aaron had a rough night the night before.  He was up on and off and finally fell asleep in the living room.  Mike slept next to him until he had to go to work and then I moved down to the floor until it was time to get up.  We never really figured out what was wrong, but he slept really well in his bed the next night!

Other than that, it has been the usual summer shenanigans.  Picnics, parks, pools, pals, and playtime!

Aaron was so excited for this spaghetti he had crawled up onto the table to get it while it was cooling off.

Ally dressed up as Princess Dora.

Ava was over  and the kids went on a train ride.

Daddy joined the train fun