original little hellraisers

eating McDonald’s hot mustard.  i know… i’m embarrassed, but the kids occasionally get McDonald’s.

i was more surprised that he liked the mustard.  he actually seems to enjoy spicy things.

i ask owen to show me his faces, sad, silly, happy, disappointed, angry and serious.  the above is my favorite and was the first picture i took which inspired me to ask him to show me his faces.

it has been a long time since i have written a post - kara has taken over the site for the past year or so.

but i wanted to take a moment and acknowledge the whole concept of marriage after kids.  i am proud of how well kara and i have been managing.  i mean, sometimes i do get text messages that i need to come home so she can open a bottle of wine because the boys are running rampant, the house is a mess and she could use an adult to talk to.

at which point i do try to race home…

however, i am certain that kara and i are going to more shows after we’ve had children then we were prior to having owen.  partially it is to feel like normal adults again, but a bigger part of it is recognizing what is important to us in our adult lives and not allowing that to stagnate because we have two little people running (naked, their new favorite thing) around the house.

don’t know why this is relevant to post — but i guess i understand the challenge my parents faced after having tom and i.  they stuck it out, stayed together and focused (i have to assume) on both their kids and their marriage.  it would be easy to ignore the marriage in favor of the children.  every now and again, we’ll look at each other and decide it is time to call the babysitter to see if we can go out and have an adult dinner that does not involve chicken fingers, booster/child seats and constantly moving silverware and glassware out of the reach of dylan (who will most certainly throw them.)

and i *like* chicken fingers.

we’ve been at my parent’s house for the past week, the first time since we left them here for our trip to argentina last decemeber.  owen has just loved being at lola and grandpa’s house basking in the attention, being a big boy in the morning and getting up all by himself and just waiting for someone else to wake up, drinking milk from a glass, no more sippy cup, yeah!

dylan on the other hand, i think has some anxiety about being left again.  he loves grandpa and uncle johnie and will go to them regularily but with lola, since she was the primary care giver when i was gone is a little hesitant unless i’m there also.  he LOVES his lola, constantly teasing her calling her “ho” with an impish grin, even though he knows to call her “lola”.  over the week you can tell he’s gotten less paranoid and more and more comfortable but ALL WEEK HE HASN’T SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT ONCE!  after a couple of nights of back and forth, up and down i just brought him in the bed with me when he woke up in the middle of the night.  i put him next to me but he toss and turns until he’s literally smothering me while he sleeps.  i know i’m babying him and have a little guilt over this but and feel like he might have a hard time sleeping when we get home but i’ll deal with that with john.

i don’t want to jinx it but we are on day 4 of dylan pooping in the toilet.  he is so proud of himself.  the first day he did it he was screaming “poop” with his arms up in victory all night long.

*update*  i think it jinxed it.

a few days ago at brunch, the kids we’re having pancakes and i was having the mexican scramble.  dylan stands up, points to my refried black beans and says  ”poop” loudly and waves his hand back and forth, the way i tell him not to touch when we see dog poop.  i repeatedly tell him they are beans but, no poop is soooooo much funnier, so he keeps screaming “poop!” owen joins in, so they are now both screaming “poop!” at me while i eat.

why do i bother to buy toys, when clearly an empty box is the best toy ever!

everyday owen’s drawing and writing skills get better and better.  he’s actually writing fairly legible and his drawings of dogs, flowers and people are getting more and more detailed. owen wrote his name all by himself, without any coaching from me, in the picture above, it’s probably one his best so far.

meet our new pet snail, salmon.  owen picked him up in the yard and wanted to keep him.  if you haven’t guessed from the title, salmon 2.0, the snail has been secretly replaced once already and after a quick google on “how to feed a snail” i feel much more confident that salmon 2.0 will live a long snail life.  did you know that a snail will eat it’s own shell if it doesn’t get enough calcium?  so far salmon 2.0 loves spinach and cucumbers.

making cookies at michelle’s house with mia and kira

preschool valentines day party