Santa

So we saw Santa today. It went as expected...Rylie screamed, Paige got bashful. At the end (after we removed the screaming banshee from Santa's lap), Paige got to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas. She told him she wanted a "dog pit." I asked her afterwards what a "dog pit" was and she said, "my present from Santa." Duh.

This is the best picture we could get. The lady wanted to re-take it because, "the older one is leaning away from Santa." I was like, "uh, I think that if we're concerned about anything it's that the younger one is screaming, and while I think she'll forgive me for putting her there once, I think we'll need a baby therapist if we do it again."

Enjoy:

Shelf, the Elf on the Shelf

Last year, after a lot of discussion about the matter, we jumped on the "Elf on the Shelf" bandwagon. We heard our local Target had some in stock, and headed out to try to get us one. We may have had to elbow some desperate mothers out of the way to get ours, but we now have our very own little bundle of elf joy. We eagerly read the accompanying book with Paige (Rylie was only a few months old and we didn't think she could possibly begin to understand the idea of constant surveillance and reporting to Santa), and about half way through, they have this part where you have to name your elf. So when Paige was asked what we should name our elf and she barely thought about it before deciding on, "Shelf." We were like, "Ha ha, no, you don't understand, what should his NAME be," and she declared that his name is, in fact, Shelf. So last year we played along and didn't make a big deal out of Shelf, but he was definitely there when we needed him. This year, though, Shelf is like a celebrity in our house.

We got out the book at the beginning of December, and immediately Paige recognized her friend Shelf (I was secretly hoping she wouldn't remember his name, so we could make it a normal elf name this year...I never actually wrote it in the book, but I think we're stuck now). Our elf, Shelf, is not as creative as some other elves, he just hangs out up high, constantly watching. The very first thing Paige asks every morning is, "Can we go find Shelf," so we do have to be pretty diligent about moving him. She asks how his night was just about every morning, and sometimes will be like, "so did you tell Santa I was a good girl," to which he replies.....well, nothing, because he's a doll. But she still asks, every day.

Rylie still doesn't acknowledge Shelf, but I have high hopes for next year. When she is throwing a tantrum and I say, "Uh oh, I hope Shelf doesn't see you..." she doesn't even pause for a second to think about what I've said, so, like I said, next year.

Video Update

Here are a few videos from the last two months:

Paige has embraced her inner dare-devil and this is what she does every time we go out in the cul-de-sac. Don't worry, we've started making her wear a helmet. It was unsafe, I know...



A few months back I bought a deal for 4 cheerleading classes for kids. This was their final activity on the last class. As you can see, Paige has a real future here.



Andrew and Colleen went down to W&M for homecoming weekend. We got to watch Drew, and he's hysterical. Not sure why we didn't put clothes on him...watching 3 kids was hard.

Election Eve 2012

Tonight at dinner we were talking about voting tomorrow. Paige excitedly exclaimed, "We're going on a boat tomorrow?!" I decided to give her a brief overview of voting, and what it means to vote. Then I asked, "Who should I vote for tomorrow to be our next president?" Paige responded, without hesitation, "SANTA!"

Since we're on the topic of Santa, Paige decided that since we've checked Halloween off the list for this year, Christmas is really soon (not sure why she has that idea, Costco has only had Christmas decorations out since the second week of October). She told me that she's excited that Christmas is soon because it's almost time for Santa to bring her a dog bed. That's right, a dog bed. Apparently she would like a dog bed for when she's crawling around pretending she's a dog (which happens more frequently than I'd like to admit).

So, get out and vote for Santa tomorrow. Turn those states white.

Nom Nom

Rylie's palate is an interesting one. I foresee an episode of "My Strange Addiction" in her future. She's a great eater at all meals, and will eat just about anything I give her (exceptions are eggs, shrimp and tomatoes), but it is her non-approved between meal "snacks" that concern me.

Example 1: The other day I met a friend at Starbucks and we were sitting outside enjoying our coffee while her baby and Ry walked around on the sidewalk. There was a planter close to us and Rylie decided to try a handful of potting soil. Now, I get it...potting soil looks a lot like crushed up Oreos, so why not give it a go?! You'd think, though, that after one handful, Rylie would have thought to herself, "hum, that was gross," but instead she went back for about 5 more handfuls.

Example 2: When I get ready in the morning, often times the girls will play in our bedroom or next to me in the bathroom. Rylie is known to get into the stuff under our sinks, so I have to do a lot of dancing around to keep a knee on whichever vanity door she's trying to open. However, occasionally she will get through my Fort Knox like security and get something out. A few weeks back she got out Dave's deodorant, popped off the lid, and took a big chomp (this is the point that I would like to make this a little less disgusting by saying it was a brand new deodorant, but that wasn't the case). Bad, right? Well, after that, she was zoned in on that deodorant and would wait for me to look away so that she could get another little taste. She's even gone after mine a few times. In total, I think she's taken about 3 big bites of deodorant.

Example 3: To prevent Ry from rummaging around too much in our bathroom cabinets, I've started putting her in Dave's sink while I get ready. His contact solution is usually sitting on the countertop and she'll drink from it like a bottle. So now I have to survey what products are out, make sure all lids are securely in place (or put them away), then plop her in the sink...all just so that I can brush my teeth.

Example 4: When I was unloading the groceries the other day, Rylie went into the pantry, grabbed the canister of brown sugar, carried it to the tv room and started shoveling handfuls of brown sugar into her mouth. Now, this is the first of her "odd foods" that I actually understand, but maybe not eating around a cup of it at once.

These are just the items that she actually ingests that gross me out, there's a whole laundry list of things that she just puts in her mouth that I think are pretty foul as well (toilet plunger, toilet brush, rocks, mulch, chalk, etc) so we've basically hidden everything in our house.

Family Update

It has been a while since we've updated our blog. So here's an update on the whole fam-damily.

Molly
I started up this school year on a part-time contract. I'm only working 2 days a week, and am "off" the other 3 days. Basically, on my days off I sit around and watch TV while chatting on the phone uninterrupted. It's awesome. Actually, I'm really enjoying my time home with the girls (but I could do without a little of the screaming). We go to the library, the gym, the playground, and in our spare time run around and do errands. We signed up for a CSA again this year (community supported agriculture; we get a tub of fruits and veggies every week), so we head out to the farm one day a week to do our "farming." Currently we have tons of potatoes, so I also spend my days figuring out what potato recipe I'm making that night. The girls really just enjoy the tractor ride to the fields, but I like that our weekly menu gets spiced up a bit with things I wouldn't normally buy (for example, say, 30 lbs of potatoes).

Paige
Paige is still growing like crazy and towers over most 3 year olds. She also talks A LOT. Like, if she's awake, she's saying something. Sometimes in the car she'll be talking, and I'll be like, "Paige, I can't hear you because my window is open." So she'll say, "It's okay Mommy, I'm just talking to myself." And she is. Some of her best things she has said recently are, "I'm not jumping on the bed, Mommy, I'm just squishing it with my feet" (for the record, she was totally jumping on the bed) and "Why we not need to ask why to everything, Mom?" She's doing one day a week pre-school ("fre-school" in Paige-land) which she likes but never seems to remember what she did when I pick her up. Today she said, "I don't remember what we did, it was too long ago." We were pulling out of the parking lot. She loves watching TV and playing on the iPad, and when we've told her she can't do either of those things, she'll go play with her dollhouse or dolls.

Rylie
Our little Ry isn't so little anymore. She walks, she runs, she jumps, she talks, and OCCASIONALLY she will sleep. She's often awake for the day before 5 am, which we all really enjoy. Rylie really likes to eat, her typical breakfast includes, but is not limited to: toast, yogurt, cereal and a banana. She'll eat that, then beg for Paige to give her bites of her oatmeal (which Paige will do because she likes feeding her). Rylie still enjoys climbing on stuff, but will now go, "un, chu, shree" which means she's about to leap. She also will hop around on the floor and can get some pretty good air when she jumps. She's always very impressed with herself after she's had a good jump (we all are, really). She's also developing a great sense of humor, at least I think she is, but that's probably because she thinks I'm hilarious.


Here's a video of the girls doing their favorite things:

Shape Sorting

I heard the girls playing in the toy room this afternoon and became alarmed when the sounds were not shrieks from Rylie because she wanted whatever toy Paige was currently using, but instead they seemed to be happy sounds (something MUST be wrong, right?). Anyhow, this is what I found. I thought it was cute, but I'm their mom and I think everything they do is cute - well, maybe not the shrieking over toys.