(Kids=Joy) + Cousins = MORE JOY!

I just plain love and adore the little ones in my life.

...but not to fear, I also love my WIFE!

Today's silly rhyme was brought to you by...
-UK

You know she is the third when...

You know she is the third child when at 17 months you hear her exclaim "Awesome!" "Cute!" and "'dorable!" at various occasions.

Eye-ya YOU!

This evening I called home to let Lisa know I was leaving work.

RING! RING!
[sound of phone being answered]

[gabriella] "Hiyee dadd!"

[me] "Hi Gabriella!"

[whisper in the background, "Blow kisses?"]

(MMmwAH! Mmmwaah! Mmmmwaaah!)

[g - unprompted] "I yuh yooo daaadd"

[me... melting] "I love you too Gabriella."

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhh :) Sing...in' in the rain...

-k

Missing the boys

Gabriella is really missing her brothers these last few days as they have started school. She asks about them while they are gone and can't wait to play and dance with them when they come home.

I just put her down for her nap and here was our conversation:

Siah?
Josiah is at school.
Bye-bye Siah.

Daddy?
Daddy is at work.
Bye-bye Daddy.

Nen?
Ben is at school too.
Bye-bye Ben.

Repeat twice...

Gabbyduda cuggle Mama.
Seep.......Bye bye Siah Nen?
Yes, after your nap will go pick-up your brothers.
"Sleep!" she said and dove into her bed.

Kissing Hand

The night before school started I cuddled between the boys and read them "The Kissing Hand", a story about a raccoon who was a little scared the day before he headed off to school. In the story the mommy raccoon kisses the palm of little raccoon and has him squeeze it tight. She tells him anytime he needs a kiss, he can bring his palm to his cheek and feel it say "Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you." Then Chester the little raccoon did the same for his mother. So we read our book, and kissed each others palms. And I thought that I might need those extra kisses a little bit this week.
This morning on the way to school, Gabriella was sad. Josiah was entertaining her and letting her play with the zippers on his backpack. Then he started holding her hand and telling her the story of the kissing hand. He ended with a kiss in her palm and said "Anytime you are feeling sad and missing me Gabriella, just put your hand on your cheek and you will feel it say 'Josiah loves you, Josiah loves you.'

Eyeballs and (Owl) Eyes

I was just putting Josiah to bed, and holding Gabriella (who, in turn, was holding her new dolly baby blanket with a stuffed "owls" head with great big round eyes printed on it. Since we had just been at parent's night, I started talking about Josiah's first key word of the year, "A." As in: A party; A table; A house; etc. Josiah segued rapidly into silliness with, "An EYEBALL!" and Gabriella smiled yelped excitedly, "Eyes!" and turned her little dolly blanket's "head" so that he could see it. "Eyes." "Eyes!"

-k

The Drawing Game v.8-21-2009 (1 of 2)

This evening we played a rousing round of The Drawing Game. It's a simple, yet engaging activity that I first played with Ben two or three years ago. Two or more players sit down, each with their own sheet of paper and a pen or pencil (crayons or colored pencils are optional). Every player contributes one word of their choosing, and then all of the players draw pictures based on all of the words contributed during that round. Two players, two words, three players, three words, etc... As you can see below, there is a plenty of room for creativity and individual artistic expression.

Tonight we had four players: Kevin, Lisa, Ben and Josiah.

Jump to Post 2 of 2 (Round 2)
Round 1: transformers, shrimp, tree, crayon

Ben's Transformer is getting ready to dive behind a “tree” made up of a crayon and a shrimp.

Josiah's Transfomer is standing next to a tree drawn with crayon, shooting a fried shrimp that's lying on the ground.

Lisa's Transformer with tree branch arms capped with shrimp tails, and tree trunk-crayon legs. He's mad because he keeps turning pink.

Kevin's little Crayola (Creole-a?) shrimp sporting crayon legs sits atop a power tranformer just out of reach of the topmost branches of a tree.

Jump to Post 2 of 2 (Round 2)

The Drawing Game v.8-21-2009 (2 of 2)

Jump to Post 1 of 2 (Round 1)
Round 2: skeleton, vehicle, banana, doughnut (donut)

Lisa's skeleton is sitting in a vehicle and juggling cars, donuts and bananas (eating the bananas as they go by).

Ben's policeman waited too long in his vehicle and turned into a skeleton, having only eaten most of a donut and a bit of banana.

Josiah's skeleton driving a “bug” vehicle (like Herbie) with a banana sign on top (Herbie Goes Bananas, anyone?) while eating a donut. A bite is visible in his belly.

Kevin's skeleton flying in a doughnut saucer vehicle with his favorite banana peel hat.

Jump to Post 1 of 2 (Round 1)

First day of school, 2009-2010

Off they go!

From 2009_08_20

From 2009_08_20

From 2009_08_20

They've got... Personalit[ies]

 

Going through photos from Ted and Pam's 40th anniversary this past Sunday, and this one struck me as amusing. It's not necessarily the best with respect to the originally desired smiles and poses, but it's a glimpse into a little piece of each of 'em.

-uk

Telephone

This morning the phone rang. I heard Gabriella's little feet running to the kitchen as she shouted, "I('ll) get it!"

TIme to dance.

Coming home. It's part of reason that traveling is so much fun, and is most certainly true when I travel without my family.

I returned to Ames late this morning after a weekend filled with good friends, trips to Manhattan, food, tasty beverages, a fantastic wedding celebration, food, food, food, laid back time with friends, a day-after brunch with more food and friends, a delayed flight home, an unexpected overnight in Chicago, an early flight to Des Moines, and some impromptu time with my parents, sister and niece.

As I bounced up the walk, suitcase in hand, my beautiful Lisa opened the door and Gabriella, beaming and beside herself, ran onto the porch to greet me. Dropping my bags, I scooped her up for a hug, relishing the sweet, excited sounds of "daddy!" tumbling delightedly from her lips. (Lisa said that she squealed out loud when she spied me through the dining room window :) )

After a too-brief cuddle, G straightened up in my arms. With one arm on my right shoulder she grabbed my left thumb and pulled my hand up, pointing it toward the living room where Chicago's 25 or 6 to 4* filled the air.

Time to dance with my little girl :)

-kt

* 25 or 6 to 4 is a favorite high-energy dance motivator in our household.

Freckles

Gabriella just noticed my freckles today and she is very worried about them. She keeps pointing at them and saying "Owie?" and then kissing them. Since I have freckles all over my arms and shoulders it has made for a lot of concern and a lot of kisses this morning. If you have freckles too, watch out!

Josiah and Daddy's date

 
 
 
 
One afternoon Kevin and Josiah had a special date. They went mini-golfing at a Dinosaur themed course that Josiah loved. Afterwards they went to a 50's style diner, played the jukebox and ate cotton candy ice cream. One-on-one time with the boys is such a treat for all of us.

Gabriella at the waterfall

 
 
Another challenge in Branson was Gabriella learned to climb out of her crib. She is an excellent sleeper at home, but in Branson we ended up taking 5:30am stroller rides to get her back to sleep. Here she is at the waterfall barefoot and in her pajamas on a little nature walk with Kevin to greet the morning.