New Carpet

It's been quite some time in coming (4 years actually since we moved into this house), but we finally did it...we had new carpet installed in the bedrooms! Our house now smells like new carpet...and it looks really good too. We had to clean up all the rooms, and help move all the stuff off the floors...but obviously it won't stay clean for too long...Alex already has a good jump at putting his toys all over his room.


You can also see in this next picture our September project (and some of the carpet too) where we installed a new vanity in our Master Bathroom. Two sinks! what a concept. Now we can brush our teeth at the same time when getting ready for bed at night :)

Sea World "Adventure"

On Saturday we went to Sea World with the kids. It seemed like a great situation. My school paid for the tickets via "FAU Kid's Club" and even chartered a bus to go up to Orlando. Sounds great right? Well, we had to get up at 3:30 to make it to the school by 5:00 am. We left at about 6:00 and things were okay until Alex woke up an hour later. He's normally a good natured kid that sleeps well. But he's been sick all week with a cold and he's never been one to sleep on our shoulders. So he started crying and crying for the remaining 3 hours of the bus ride. About 2 hours into the crying Erin turns to me and says that her tummy hurts. I quickly handed Alex back to daddy and began searching around for a bag, a good idea but just a few seconds too late. That's right, Erin threw up all over her clothes, seat, pillow and blanket! (Let's just say I got a new pillow out of this.) Now, we've had a couple of plane rides that have been doozies... but I have to say that this trip may have topped them all. By the time we got there and I had rinsed out all the affected clothes and things and taken them back to the bus, it was almost 11:00 am. We hadn't even entered the park yet and Jared and I were absolutely exhausted!

This was before we entered the park (Erin ran away from the picture)

Erin was really a trooper. She wanted to walk the whole time and besides the incident on the bus, she had a lot of fun and was a very good girl all day.

Riding the carousel was a highlight for Erin as well as petting the stingrays. She also kept asking to see the sharks and was really excited to walk underneath them in the shark tunnel.
I said that I like the dolphins because they look so happy.
Erin said, "I like sharks because they look so mean." Go figure.

We got to see 5 different shows and they were really amazing. Whenever they would do a trick Alex would yell "Wow!" and start clapping. I think I would like to be a dolphin because they do so many fun things. A sea lion wouldn't be bad either, except for the barking. One of the coolest shows was called "Pet's Ahoy" and it was basically a set of a town on stage with a whole bunch of little doors that animals would run out of. A cat would run out of one door, climb across a rope, press a lever that would trigger something else, then run into another door. Then another animal would come out and do something else. There were dogs, cats, ducks, birds, a rat, a skunk and a pig. I don't know if my description does it justice, but I have never seen anything like that before.

This is a good representation of how tired Alex was all day. My conclusion? Sea World is really fun if you are 3 and a half or if you are 31. It's not really that fun if you are 1, have a cold, are really tired and want to run around or climb the steep steps during a dolphin show but can't. Oh, and it's not all that great dealing with a kid like that either. Being stuck on a bus going 45 mph for over 4 hours while everyone is glaring at you for not being able to shut your kid up? We don't plan on doing that again anytime soon. Other than that, Sea World was great!

Scrabble

The other day, Erin was trying to teach Alex about all the magnetic letters we have on the fridge. She was holding the letter "E" and saying "Alex, this is E. Can you say E?" He started saying E over and over again. That night when Jared and I were playing Scrabble, Alex climbed on the chair, looked at my letters and said, "E, E, E." I was amazed because I really did have three E's! However, I realized that he really can't recognize the E, he just thinks that anything that looks like a letter is E. Now he'll pick up any one of those magnetic letters and proudly say "E".

That same day I was so happy and surprised to walk into Alex's room and find all the books on the shelf and toys put away. I came out and said thanks to Jared. After a bewildered look from him I realized he hadn't cleaned up. So I asked Erin if she had done it. She said, "Yes, come see!" Then she began telling me everything she put away. I asked her why she cleaned Alex's room up and she said, "I didn't want him to step on all his toys." The other day at the park someone commented on how well Erin takes care of Alex. I just said, "Well, somebody has to." Erin really is a great sister to Alex.

Here are some pictures of the kids chasing each other last night (okay just Erin chasing Alex). The weather has been so beautiful lately. Ever since November started it's been like one of those perfect spring days after a long winter... only it's like a perfect fall day after a long summer.

Halloween

Halloween 2007

Halloween 2006 - They haven't changed a bit. Actually, I was amazed to see how much Erin has changed this last year. She's becoming such a big girl.


At our ward Trunk or Treat


Erin and Clara. Clara is one of Erin's best friends from church who also goes to preschool with her.


Cute Giraffe

Alex and Daddy

This is our pumpkin that we carved when our kids were really tired, but it was the only time we could do it when we were all together and awake. I think it's probably the cutest jack-o-lanterns I've ever done.

Erin named our pumpkin Ed and then took the marker and said, "Mommy, what letters spell Ed?" So all our neighbors knew his name too. Erin is getting really good at writing and figuring out what letters words start with. I tried to explain "phone" to her today but eventually gave up after she looked at me and said again that phone starts with f... (duh, mom)

Alex's Birthday

So Alex's first birthday was pretty uneventful, but it was kind of funny. I didn't get home from class until 7 pm and we were going to have cake then, but the kids were so tired. Erin said, "Mommy, I'm weally tiwed (really tired)" and I asked if she was too tired for cake (thinking any kid would stay up for that). To that she said yes and proceded to find a comfy spot on the futon and fall asleep for the night. We decided to just have the cake with a very tired Alex instead. Here's what happened...

Here comes the cake (what is that thing?)

"First you strap me into the high chair and then you plop this thing on my tray... with fire on it!"

"Stop the torture and get me out of here!"

We tried again the next day and he did eventually eat his cake and like it (though the candle thing still freaked him out the second time).

And he made a nice big mess (you should have seen the seat of his high chair!)

Happy First Birthday Alex!!!

We have entered the Blogosphere...

Well...we have finally done it...and here we are...officially part of the blogosphere (is that even a word?). You can expect updates only sporadically and at fairly random intervals...so hope for the best. I couldn't find a decent picture of the entire family (Family pictures are on our short list of things to do), but I did find a cute one of Erin and Alex playing in our mini pool outside...and boy....do they love to play in the water!

So...what's been happening here lately? Not too much really. There haven't been any exciting hurricanes in Florida this year but the rain has been fairly consistent the past few weeks. Our yard is finally completely green...but there are way too many weeds. I'll be spreading some weed-killer soon. My latest project has been installing shutters for the windows on our house. I have successfully installed them on 2 windows...there are only 8 left to go! But I have all the equipment and supplies that I need to complete the job...so the plan is to do one or two windows a week until they are done (or all of them very quickly if a hurricane is coming in).

Laura continues to excel in her architorture classes. She has 3 of them this semester, but that is manageable because she is not taking an actual design class. She has been on a cleaning spree lately and dejunking our home. She has done such a good job at this that she rewarded herself last week by getting the carpets cleaned! She has also convinced me that I can have a reward once I get all the shutters installed...hmmm...I think a table saw would be nice :).

Erin is continuing to go to pre-school, and really likes it. This simple act of needing to be somewhere by 8:00 am has really regularized our schedule. I am now getting to work earlier, and leaving work at a more decent hour. I've also stopped working from home so often...probably because the project I've been working on for the past while is also slowing down, but still...it's a good change. Erin is such a great helper around the house, and loves to play with Alex.

Alex is now walking everywhere! It's great fun to watch him as he still needs to concentrate on exactly what he is doing or he will fall...and as a result his arms are held straight out for some balance and fall-protection, making him look a bit like Frankenstein, complete with a wide step and lurching walk. A bit amusing, but hey...he loves being able to get around! And because he can get around, he gets into plenty of trouble. A couple of weeks ago he managed to open the toilet lid and climb into the bowl, where he promptly sat down and began crying for Mom or Dad because he was stuck! Gratefully he only did this twice before moving on to other endeavors (such as placing as many small objects as possible into our sub woofer...where the only way to get them out is to remove the speaker from off the back).

Well..that's all for now. I'm sure that Laura will have more to say in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.