Christmas Miracle

So, it's Christmas day and both boys have been running on pure adrenaline since 6am. Andrew had no schedule to speak of and was really starting to misbehave by the time evening rolled around. He kept trying to take Phillip's new garbage truck away while Phillip was playing with it. He was warned and told he would go to time out if he did it again. As predicted, he did and was put in time out, which at his Grammy's house, is his crib. After two minutes, Chris went in to get him.

Chris: Andrew, are you ready to be good now?
Andrew: No, just leave me in here.

HA! At least he's honest about it. It gave us all a huge laugh last night! He stayed in his crib for about 20 min. after that and then came out much happier and obeying at least a little bit better.

See ya later alligator...

Merry Christmas!

Praying your Christmas and New Year are filled with God's many blessings.

When I Grow Up...(Part Three)

Phillip: When I grow up, I want to be a worker!
Me: A worker?
Phillip: Mmm-Hmm
Me: What kind of worker?
Phillip: A worker to drive the trucks.
Me: What kind of trucks?
Phillip: Construction trucks. I want to be a worker and drive construction trucks.

We'll see what he wants to be next, see ya later alligator...

When I Grow Up... (Part Two)

Phillip: I don't want to be a fighter fighter anymore. I want to be a recycler.

Me: A recycler? Wow. How do you know about recycling.

Phillip: On Curious George. You take things with the triangle on them and you recycle them.

When I Grow Up...

Phillip: When I get bigger, I'm going to be a fire fighter. And put out fires. (Imagine this said with lots of sound effects.)

Phillip: Andrew, when you get big and strong, do you want to be a fighter fighter (when he talks fast, it comes out like this) with me?

Andrew: Yes! (said with emphasis!)

Phillip: Ok, when we get bigger, we will be fire fighters together and be big and strong and put out fires.

Chris: You have to be brave to be a fire fighter.

Phillip: Ok, we will be brave. (Again, more swooshing sound effects)

Running a Race

My Mom was here for the weekend and she was reading the boys their bedtime story. It was a little bit later than they normally go to bed, so she was reading a little faster than normal. When she got done with the book, Phillip said, "Grandmom, you don't have to read so fast. We're not running a race!!"


PS-So sorry for the lack of postings, I had no idea it had been over a month. Thank you to all my loyal readers who keep checking back. I've got some great stuff to post, hopefully it will be up soon!

Taking His Words

This conversation happened on the way home from dinner last night:

Phillip: Mommy, did you see that boy in the garage?
Me: Yes, I did.
Phillip: You did? You saw that boy in the garage?
Me: Yes, I saw the man in the garage.
Phillip: Daddy, did you see that boy in the garage?
Chris: No, I didn't.
Phillip: No? You didn't see the boy in the garage?

Chris: No, but I take your word for it.

Phillip: Huh?
Chris: I take your word for it. I believe you.
Phillip: Word? Believe? You?
Chris: I believe there was a man in the garage even though I didn't see it. I take your word for it.
Phillip: How you take my words for? (He still says how for why.)
Hilarious laughter from Chris and I.
Phillip: Don't take my words Daddy.
More laughter by Chris and I.
Phillip: Daddy, How are you laughing for?
Chris: Because you're funny.
Phillip: Mommy, how are you laughing for?
Me: Because you make me laugh.
Phillip: How you take my words for?
More laughter by everyone in the car.

Aren't they just precious how they take everything so literally? See ya later alligator...

Amen!

This conversation happened last Sunday as we were turning onto the road that leads to our church:

Phillip: "Why do we come to church?"

Me: "Because it's Sunday."

Phillip: "Because it's Sunday?"

Me: "Not just because it's Sunday. We come to worship God and thank Him for everything He's done for us."

Andrew: "AMEN!"

I guess he thought we were praying or he's going to be a very charismatic church goer! It was too funny and had us all laughing hyserically while we parked and walked into church.

See ya later alligator...

In Loving Memory

Hi. I apologize for not having posted in so long. We very unexpectedly lost my Dad a few weeks ago, and I just honestly haven't felt like posting lately.

In Loving Memory of
Phillip & Andrew's Granddad
April 19, 1947 - August 12, 2008

See ya later alligator...

The Full(ton) House: Riley's new friend. Andrea???

Check out Madeline's blog (Use the link below to go to the exact post) for some absolutely hilarious pictures of Andrew. Thanks Maddie!

The Full(ton) House: Riley's new friend. Andrea???

See ya later alligator...

He's Free, Free at Last!

Andrew has quickly reached another milestone...watch the video below to see a fairly accurate reenactment.

Last night, as I was hosting my ladies Bible study, the boys had been put to bed and Phillip pokes his head out and says, "Mom! Andrew's out of bed." I thought to myself, "Lord, no, please don't let him have said what I think he just said." So, Chris goes to check and, sure enough, Andrew has crawled out of his bed and gotten in Phillip's bed. I knew it was only a matter of time, but I'm just not ready yet! He proceeded to do it 2 more times. He was very proud of himself and kept wanting to show me (Chris kept going in since I was trying to do my Bible study). So, I guess the crib is being turned into a toddler bed tonight. And I have a feeling that it's going to take them a looooong time to get to sleep tonight, with them both being able to get out of bed now. Here are the step by step instructions...

Step 1: Stand up in the crib with mischievous smile

Step 2: Hold on and do a roundhouse kick up to side of crib (while smiling proudly)

Step 3: With fierce concentration, lean forward, drop leg over side,
and bring other leg up and over

Step 4: Drop other leg over, step to the floor, and give a shout of victory!!

See ya later alligator...

A Manners Lesson

I just overheard this conversation between Phillip & Andrew...

Phillip finds Andrew's juice and holds it out to him.
P: "Andrew, here's your juice"
A: He comes running, takes it from him and starts drinking it.
P: "Andrew, what do you say?" (in a very sing-songy voice)
A: Still drinking, he says nothing
P: You say, 'Thank you Phillip'.
A: "Thank you Phillip"
P: "You're welcome Andrew"

So, are these manners getting so hammered in his head that he's now trying to teach Andrew or is it just something he remembers me saying every time he gets something from me and wants Andrew to do the same thing?!? I guess I should be thankful he's teaching him about saying thank you instead of how to do the myriad of other things he does that he's not supposed to.

Since it seems like I haven't posted any recent pictures, I was going to take one of the two of them being all cute together, well notice there is no picture posted. That's what happens when you want to take a picture, oh well, maybe next time. See ya later alligator...

Counting

Phillip is totally into counting. He counts everything! We're now working on the 13 - 20 part, but he's doing well. At dinner the other night, he was counting something (there is no telling what!) and he stopped at 8. Andrew chimes in,

"9, 10, 11, 12!"

Way too smart for his own good! See ya later alligator...

Phillip's Stage Debut

We just finished VBS at our church. I taught and Phillip got to participate. On Sunday night, June 15th, the church held VBS family night. This is where all the parents come and get to experience a little of what the kids did each day. The kids also got to demonstrate some of the songs they learned in music class with Mrs. Brenda. Since Phillip has never been on stage before, we had to bust out the video camera and get it all on tape. Since I had to be on stage with the kids I taught, Chris stepped up and played camera man. The following video is the 4 yr olds, Pre-K (kids who have finished Pre-K), and Kindergarten (kids who have finished Kindergarten) classes singing "Teach Me" and "I Can Do". The woman in the blue flowered shirt is Mrs. Brenda and the ladies in the green shirts are some of the teachers and helpers. Phillip is mostly in the middle of the shot with the yellow lei on and you can see me during the first song at the very top center of the screen. We had to cut out the first couple of minutes of the video (don't worry, we didn't cut any of the singing), due to size constraints. Sorry, Grandmom and Granddad, we'll show you the whole thing next time we see you. (For some reason, blogger wasn't letting me upload the video, so I used YouTube. It really decreased the quality and made it very pixelated. I will maybe try again to get better quality, but at least it's posted!) I hope you enjoy Phillip's stage debut!

See ya later alligator...

Spider-Man and Super Man

Phillip got a Spider-Man costume for his birthday. It's just been sitting around and he hasn't really mentioned it...until today. He woke up from his nap asking if he could put on his Spider-Man costume, so he put it on.

Soon after, Andrew woke up from his nap. When I came walking out of his room holding him, Phillip was standing there in his costume. Andrew's face was priceless! He was really scared, he let out this little wimper and couldn't stop staring. I said that it was just Phillip in a costume. He said, "Oh.", but I don't think he really believed me. Then Phillip said, "It's just me, Phillip." and Andrew was still staring. Then, Phillip lifted the face mask and showed him and he got this big smile and said, "Oh." again.

Then, when I laid Andrew down to change his diaper, he kept saying that he was Spider-Man and I said, "No, Phillip is Spider-Man." So, I asked Phillip if he wanted to be Spider-Man for Halloween and he said that he did. So, I said to Andrew, "Well, Phillip is going to be Spider-Man, so how about you being Super Man?" He said, without hesitation, "Yeah! I'm Super Man!" He then went running out of his room like he was some sort of super hero. I think he thought that meant there would be a costume for him too! Considering the child doesn't even know who Super Man is, he was pretty darn excited! I wonder if these choices will hold up for Halloween or not?!?

Frustration

Here's a conversation between me and Phillip today on the way home from his doctor's appointment.

Me: Breathing a big, exasperated sigh because the person in front of me took forever and a day to turn.
Phillip: Are you so frustrated mommy?
Me: Yes, Phillip, I am.
Phillip: How are you so frustrated mommy? (He uses the word 'how' for the word 'why'.)
Me: Because the people in front of us took a long time to turn.
Phillip: They took a long time to turn? I know mommy, I know. (All soothing and comforting, like he was the parent!)

They really do say the darndest things! See ya later alligator...

Ding Dong

I need to give you a little background information to make this story even funnier. From the time that Phillip & Andrew were little, Chris' mom would push their belly buttons and say, "Ding Dong", like it was a doorbell. We still do it to both of them and they love doing it themselves whenever they see their belly button.

We went swimming this afternoon. We normally strip the kids out of their wet suits and bring them in wrapped in a towel. I had Andrew on his changing table, finishing drying him off. As little boys do, he started playing with himself while I was finishing up. He then started pushing it and saying, "Ding Dong, Ding Dong!!" It was too funny, because technically, he was right!! I said, "No, you do that with your belly button." and put his finger in the right place. He looked a bit confused, but then it was time to get dressed, so he forgot about it.

See ya later alligator...

Phillip's 4th Birthday

Phillip is now 4!!! That is totally unbelievable (at least to me!). He actually turned 4 on May 24th, but his party wasn't until the 31st, so that's when we celebrated. When we first started talking about his birthday a few months ago, he told me he wanted to go bowling for his party. Ironically, the child has never been bowling in his life. But, he's been saying that's what he wanted to do ever since I first asked him, so that's what we did. We invited 10 of his closest friends to come to the bowling alley and celebrate with us.
And we all had a blast!!

He was also very specific in that he wanted a "Spider-Man cake with icing and 4 candles, balloons, and decorations" at his party, so he got that as well. My friend Madeline made this awesome Spider-Man cake, isn't it fabulous?!? Thanks again Madeline!


Here's Phillip blowing out his 4 candles, which he'd been practicing all weekend. That's our friend Wesley to the right just helping him out a little! And that's Wesley's mama, Nancy, holding his arm and trying desperately to get her child out of there before he blew them out himself.
(Don't worry Nancy, I don't think Phillip even noticed he had a little help!)


And now, how about a trip down Birthday Memory Lane...

Here's Phillip on his 3rd Birthday at Pump It Up, what a big boy he is!!

Here's Phillip on his 2nd Birthday, we celebrated at home that year.
Can you tell how much he loves cake?!?

Here is Phillip turning 1 at Frank Brown Park. We're very lucky that this catastrophic cake event did not traumatize him on birthdays and cake for the rest of his life. Mommy did a very poor job of planning the party and decided to have it during nap time, not a smart idea. He was upset from the second we put him in his high chair, we had to force him to even touch the cake. And he continued to be upset until we got him out of there. Best laid plans...

Here is Phillip on his Birth Day at the hospital. What a sweet boy he is!!

I'll be posting more about his great gifts later, but wanted to get these posted for those of you who couldn't be there. Happy Birthday Phillip! You're growing up too fast.

Vacuuming

A few days ago, I had a doctor's appointment and Chris stayed home with the boys. Being the dear, sweet husband that he is, he vacuumed the floor after he put the kids down. I got home before the kids got up, so he left to go to work. Phillip woke up and came out of his room, said hi to me, then looked at the floor and said,

"The floor looks wonderful Mommy!!"

Is that a hint that I should vacuum a little more often?!? :)

See ya later alligator...

Another Potty Training Milestone

When starting the whole potty training process, I read several things that said that staying dry at night was a whole separate thing, so that's something we haven't even been worried about. You really can't teach someone to wake up when they feel like they have to go potty and Phillip is a very deep sleeper, so I haven't even been worried about it, thinking that it would happen later rather than sooner. Phillip has just been sleeping in a pull-up since he became potty trained and it hasn't been a big deal.

To our amazement, about a month ago, Phillip started waking up and going to the bathroom on his own. It was pretty incredible that this just started happening on its own. But, he wasn't doing it on a regular basis, so we praised him when he did it, but left things the way they were.

Then, we noticed that starting a couple of weeks ago, he was waking up both from naps and regular sleep with a dry pull-up. This was quite an accomplishment, but we wanted to make sure it wasn't a fluke, so we didn't change anything just yet. After several weeks of dry pull-ups, we decided to take the plunge and go pull-up free. I'm proud to report that Phillip has slept in his underwear and has gone accident free since Sunday night!!! Now, I really hope I'm not ginxing his streak by bragging about him, but I had to tell you all the good news. This is a pretty major milestone that puts us close to being completely done.

The following pictures are not of him actually sleeping in his pull-up. These were taken a couple of weeks ago. When I went to check on the boys before going to bed, this is how I found him. Maybe he was hiding from the boogie man?!?

See ya later alligator...

The Booster Chair

Up until now Andrew has been eating in his high chair. He's still pulled up to the table, but it keeps him completely restrained and the tray helps curb the messiness (at least a little bit!). A couple of weeks ago, he started running and trying to get in Phillip's booster chair and letting us know pretty clearly (like pitching a fit when we'd put him in his high chair) that it was time to move him up. It's always hard when they physically move from something 'baby' to something more grown up. And it would be so nice just to keep them where they are...This booster chair think is such a nightmare, Andrew is one big giant mess at every meal. The compete opposite of his brother! But, I'm learning to deal - slowly, but surely. Here's a few pictures of the big boy.

To be honest, this is actually the booster chair that Phillip has been sitting in since we moved him to one. We bought a nice, new one for Andrew, but the waist strap wouldn't fit around his waist!! And the child absolutely has to be restrained during meals, so he gets to use Phillip's old one and Phillip got the new one since he doesn't need to be strapped in anymore.

See ya later alligator...

Strawberry Picking

Back at the end of April, we all packed up and went strawberry picking. We went with some of our friends from MOPS, which made it all the more fun. There's quite a few pictures here, I'm sorry, but I just couldn't narrow it down even more, they were all so cute.

First, here's Phillip, who I would describe as a very careful strawberry picker, making sure he didn't get any bad ones. He finally did eat a few, but was very careful not to eat any of the husk. He did great at picking and gathering though.











And, here's Andrew. I would describe him as a strawberry eating machine! He picked and collected maybe 3 strawberries, then went down the row picking and eating as fast as he could. He was eating every kind of strawberry, mushy, perfectly ripe, still white, didn't matter to him. He was often seen with one in his mouth and one in each hand.







(Thanks to my friend Madeline for this great picture, it's one of my favorites!)




And, finally, here's a few with both boys and a few with all 3 of us. It's nice to actually be in a picture for once.

(That's our friend Emma off to the left.)




This is Riley, Phillip, Alex, and Andrew. They're great friends because we always hang out together. Riley and Alex's mommy is Madeline, who took this awesome picture where they are all actually looking at the camera and smiling!


And one of the highlights was the tractors and animals.


We'd invite you over for some strawberry shortcake, but those strawberries are long gone! Between Phillip, Andrew, and Chris they only lasted 2 days! We had fun and we hope you enjoyed looking at our pictures.

See ya later alligator...

Hugs

Okay, this is a quickie, but goodie -

Phillip and Andrew were rough housing (surprise, surprise!) and Chris told them to stop. They stopped, but then quickly started up again. Chris told Phillip to get off of Andrew again. Phillip said,

"But...I was just trying to hug him!"

See ya later alligator...

Train Engines

On our way to and from church, we drive parallel to some train tracks for several miles. The highlight of the boys' days is if we get to see an engine. It's a bonus if the engine is actually moving! So, every time we approach the train tracks they start asking if there is an engine.

Last night as we were leaving church, there were 5 engines in a row pulling a very long train. It was very exciting! After they looked and exclaimed for a few minutes, Phillip asked if there were any more engines. I said, "Phillip, we just saw 5 engines! We've never seen that many before. I doubt there will ever be more than that at one time again." He didn't say anything else, so I thought that was the end of it. A few minutes later he says,

"Well, there could be six!"

That little smart alek, at least he knows his numbers and how to count!

See ya later alligator...

A Fish, A Duck, and A Frog

We're all in the car going who knows where and Phillip says, "A fish, a duck, and a frog go in the big pile of poop."
Knowing that I had to have heard him wrong, I say, "In the pool?"
He says, laughing, "Nooo, in the poop!"
At this point, Chris and I are really trying hard not to laugh, not wanting to encourage talk of poop outside of the bathroom. I hadn't heard this particular story before, or for that matter, any talk of piles of poop, so I asked him, "Where did you hear this?"
He answers, "In the potty."
Chris and I eye roll each other because that makes absolutely no sense and it also means we will never know where he got this from.
He then continues to chant, "A fish, a duck, and a frog go in the potty a big pile of poop!" several more times.
Where do they come up with these things and why do they always involve poop???

These animals seem to have recurring themes in Phillip's life. He sleeps with a frog and a duck and his favorite book is Duck in a Truck which features a frog and a duck! So, who knows, maybe he really did come up with this little story all on his own. If so, I'm certainly glad he's using his imagination, but really, does it have to involve poop?!?
See ya later alligator...

Pancakes

First, I apologize for not posting in awhile, it's been a crazy week.

Here's a quick story to bring you laugh on this Monday. We were eating breakfast this morning. Andrew was saying a word over and over and I had absolutely no idea what he was trying to tell me (don't you just love that "we only understand half of what our 2 year old says" stage?!?). I kept guessing what he was trying to say. One of my guesses was, "pancakes?" At this, he got a big smile on his face and said, "K." That's his version of okay, and what he says instead of yes. I'm not sure if this really is what he was trying to say or not, but it was my best guess. You see, Chris has gotten in the habit of fixing the boys pancakes on Saturday mornings and it is a huge hit! They look forward to it all week. So, pancakes were fresh on their brain from this weekend. After I guessed pancakes and Andrew said okay, Phillip says, "No Andrew! Mommy doesn't make pancakes! Daddy makes pancakes. Mommy only makes (he pauses for a moment, thinking) oatmeal and raisins and yogurt." HA! Oatmeal with raisins and yogurt are our typical morning fare and obviously the only thing I can fix. I guess that let's me of the hook for lunch and dinner! See ya later alligator...