Naps

It has been more than a year since Gabby was a daily nap taker. She rarely, if ever will nap. The time it is most likely to happen is if it is 3 or 4pm and we are in the car. Well yesterday I was feeling exhausted and my body a little run down, plus I had taken the kids to the aquarium for a bit. Elliot went down for his nap late, Gabby and I read stories on her bed- meaning I was laying down and already tired. Elliot woke up, but I got him back to sleep, and I convinced Gabby to snuggle and try to sleep too. The 3 of us sleep sweetly in Gabby's twin bed, I woke up energized after only 25 minutes. The kids continued to doze, and I sat watching them! So sweet they are, and their bodies are getting so long I just gazed at them with amazement.

When the kids woke up I remembered why Gabby doesn't nap. She was cranky right away, and then it was more than work trying to get her to bed!

To burn off some of the energy we took the kids to the park after dinner, and really made them RUN. Chase and races were not enough tho, they still didn't want to go to bed when it was time. The park was fun, and it is so nice to be out there when it isn't 90* out. It almost feels like fall with the temps dipping into the 70's.

This may have been part of why G slept, a bribe of yummy fudge pop.
E enjoyed it too. Glad we ate them outside, chocolate ice cream ran down both of their chins and arms.
RUN, get that energy out!Horse ride anyone? The kids LOVE to do this!

Do you see how long this girls hair is? Fresh out of the bath. The curls make it look so much shorter!

Rainy Sunday

surprise, it's water in the sidewalk crack and he is going to play in it! He loves wearing the monkey (paul frank) rain hat lately, even inside with just a diaper on.

Today was a rainy, lazy Sunday- and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Elliot and I were up just before 7am while Gabby and Clay snored on till 8am. The morning was spent with snuggles on the couch, reading Elliot's favorite books, looking out the window at the massive downpour of rain and the listening for the boom boom boom of the thunder.

Gabby and Clayton woke up and we all had a yummy breakfast, made by Clayton with help from his pancake flipper G.

This past week Clay started reading the first Harry Potter book to Gabby, a chapter before bed and another one here and there. They only had 3 chapters left, and with such a crummy day outside it was the perfect day to be inside reading and then movie watching. They finished the book. yes, Gabby is now obsessed with HP, and she pretends she is Hermoine, Clay is ELVIS (Albus) Dumbledore, Elliot gets to be HP himself and I am Professor McGonagall. I have not read the books, and it has been ages since I saw the movies so I am at a lost when forced to participate in it all. She wears her cape, casts spells and is wanting to be Hermoine for Halloween.

The movie was started, Elliot was napping yet woke up for the umpteenth time in a row not fully done with a nap.... I got him back to sleep and together we napped snuggled up while the Wizard readers watched their movie.

I am thinking the kids have both been doing quite a bit of growing, Gabby did a huge sleepy cranky, eat constantly bit a few weeks back and now it is Elliots turn. He has taken a 3 hr nap two days in a row, his feet are busting out of shoes that he just grew into (had to take them off of him while we were out shopping bc they were bothering him it seemed like).

I got out a new pair of shoes he had waiting for him from his Auntie and Uncle in Belgium.. RED converse. I have become a chuck shoe buying addict I feel like... G has pink and nemo ones. E has his red ones, plus some bright yellow ones waiting in the closet. I have white, G has knock off white ones. They are classic, and go with so much and kids rock them so perfectly.

As Elliot and I were headed out to the store, our neighbor Dennis (whom I like to think of as the kids Geographical G'pa) asked where Gabby was, he had something to show her. She loves to talk to Dennis, and always wants to so it wasn't hard tearing her away from the book to come outside. Dennis showed us a circle he spray painted in his front yard,

then lifted up a little patch of grass/fur that was in the middle.... inside was a bunny hole with 3 tiny little bunnies! He said they do it every few months in his yard (even with him owning a dog!). What a neat little treat to see!

Kuspuk

Gabrielle got a Kuspuk last year from her Eskimo Grandma. Her kuspuk is special, and fun made in Alaska by her Great Aunt. Gabby knows that it is special to be Eskimo, and we are trying to teach her more about it. Last week she had big leaves in her hair and pretended she was an Indian Princess. She is, and Elliot is an Indian Prince! Here is the Princess on the beach, in her butterfly kuspuk.

A kuspuk is the traditional Yupik overshirt type garment worn by both men and women. Summer kuspuks are made from light-weight cotton, and are often worn over a tee shirt. Winter kuspuks are made of heavier fabric, and may even be lined with flannel or fur.Parkas are the supreme winter kuspuks, made of heavy fur on the outside. Kuspuks are the appropriate garment to wear for any occasion, from cutting fish to picking berries to Eskimo dancing to getting married. - Tundra Medicine Dreams

dream big!

This is the conversation I had with Gabrielle today:

G "when I am a teenager and I can go to school.... I will move out of this house and I will build my house next to you. you can call me on the phone and I will cook you lunch"

me- "what will you cook?"

G- "an egg sandwich"

Me- "yes I do, I love egg sandwiches. So when you go to college what do you want to learn?"

G- "I want to learn how to hang spoons on my nose."

enter tonight when I tell Clayton the story, he says she doesn't have to wait till college and gave her the family secrets.

We tried to take the kids out on their bikes, right away Gabby's bike tipped on the slope of the sidewalk and she skinned her knee. Needless to say we ended up playing at the park.

Elliot practiced for his strong man competition, doing pull ups on the bar above the slide. The other day he pushed over the toy kitchen then did a big grunt.

Yesterday we were outside in the morning, eating edamame and starting to play. Elliot went to go in the playhouse, I saw a HUGE spider and web that he was grabbing. The boy has NO fear. I grabbed him, took the kids inside, googled the spider. It was a yellow and black garden spider that is said to be harmless, makes strong big webs and eats big insects. I left it all day and waited for the bug removal squad to get here aka Clayton. I usually am not bothered by spiders but this one freaked me out- it was black with bright yellow stripes on it. ewww.

these two love to do the balance beam around the park, and are pretty good at it too!

Hapy 3-0

Happy 30th Birthday to my wonderful, smart, sweet, beautiful, kind, hardworking, fun big sister Molly! Hope this year blesses you and that all your wishes come true! You are such an amazing friend and confidant. Miss you mucho! LOVE you.

JUMP for JOY

OBX

We took a short trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina this weekend, oh what a wonderful place that is! This trip was much different than our amazing family vacation there last year, but it was still something that brought us JOY and that we would do again. and again. and again! My cousin Chris, his wife and two boys who live in Atlanta were camping in the OBX. Sunday morning we loaded up the van and made the 3 hr drive down the scenic highway. The weather was not perfect, cloudy and "chilly" only being in the 70's. We sat around the campsite and visited, the boys 9 and 11 I haven't seen in at leas 6 years! We all got ready to head to the beach, and somehow* the keys got locked in the van (I was in the bathroom changing, and heard the OHHH NOOO!). Chris and Clay spent the next 3 hours working on getting the van unlocked, half the time they drove around looking for a wire coat hanger to use. Just as I had suspected, as we hauled all our stuff (well not much considering the toys, towels, camera, etc were locked inside the van) from the chilly beach back to the boardwalk, there was Clay and Chris driving OUR van, with fishing licenses and eager. We put the tired, sandy kids in the van, said bye for the night to the cousins, found a hotel, stopped at a grocery store where I bought sandwiches for dinner in my bathing suit! Elliot woke up from his little evening nap, we washed most of the sand off in the bath and the re-energized kids jumped on the king size bed that later had all 4 of us soundly sleeping on! We woke up and headed back to the partially damp campgrounds where we had a good breakfast, worship (my cousin is a Minister), songs, and then headed to the beach- ALL of us! There were a few other snags in our trip, mainly dealing with the cacti growing all over the campsites! Gabby got a big cactus stuck to her shoe, and then we noticed a pokie thing sticking in her leg. Elliot grabbed at one and had many tiny little cactus hairs stuck in one hand... and then we saw the other hand too! All in all it was a great trip! Monday the sun came out from the clouds and kissed us! We all are sporting that love today, rosy cheeks around. Sisters: start saving your pennies for a big family vacation summer 2011.. I am already plotting to make everyone matching shirts! note: pics are not great, and in reverse order!This little boy was hilarious when he woke up from a good snooze on the way home, wild hair, red triangles below the eyes and goofy faces!
The bridges are much more enjoyable when you can see out the windows, unlike last year in the monsoon rain!
Showering after the beach, Elliot LOVES water! Where there is water, he will find it, and get wet! He loved pulling on the string to make it rain!
Walking on the boardwalk to the beach. WAY off in the distance is a lighthouse. The night before (when I was without camera) my mental picture includes us climbing the sand dunes (Elliot included, imagine the sand- everywhere), flying a kite, beautiful fancy shells on the beach below us, part of the beach roped off due to the sea turtle nest full of eggs just about to hatch, and two deer running in the grass!
We did fish, caught a couple but quit early due to the mix of people swimming and boogie boarding around us and the wind. Clay was worried someone would get hooked.
The boys were awesome at riding waves!
Second cousins? lots of fun to let them get to know each other and play!
I'm not ready to commit to camping yet with two small kids- too much to get into! We did like the semi camping tho!
My peach pie, made special for the trip. Clay and I had a slice in the hotel room, put it in the cooler in the morning when we went to the beach..... ended up in the cooler water and got tossed! Glad I got to try it, now to attempt another one.