many moons ago

my last post here was many moons ago. that's how it feels, anyway. between winging it as the only adult in the house for months, lots to do and a particular blogger issue, i just haven't gotten to updating until now. at this very moment, this exact second, it's taken me 3 hours to get this post started. baths and bedtime don't account for much of that... afore-mentioned blogger issue would be the main cause. this "new" post/edit format has me all in a dither.

(and literally in tears)

fortunately, i found a way to bypass it.

UNfortunately, it took 4 attempts before i got all my photos posted without accidentally hitting something-or-other that took me away from my unfinished post.

and to top it off, i have a TON of photos (because this is several posts all rolled into one big long one) so that in itself means waiting multiple times for photos to upload. i do them in sets of three, so you can count for yourself and multiply by approximately 2.5 minutes. then multiply that total by 4, add another 10 minutes, and well, that's my evening.

(i hate math...)

all together now: take a big breath and jump into what may be one of the longest posts in history.

bombs away!

this "talking" pooh bear has been a great source of entertainment for the kids in recent days (er, week and a half). kelvin got it for me when i came back from europe, but the kids have more fun with it than i do. lots of giggles!

this was the view to the west last friday.
(we were at mom and dad's... i only wish OUR view was this splendid. maybe someday...)

the colors were so vivid that i actually messed up the coloring on my camera. what didn't turn out was the brilliant blue stripe of sky between the clouds and the ground. it was b-l-u-e.

saturday came, all sunny and warm, which meant plenty of "motorcycle" riding for cole!

he played in the haymow on the gators (NOT running, of course) with his great-grandma for awhile while my mom and i weeded the garden. madison "helped", then helped herself to a mouthful of dirt.

great-grandma (my grandma p) has been taking painting classes. not to learn, really, since she already has that talent pretty well under control. it's something fun, and she's done several impressive pieces already. she did one of madi- she said she wasn't happy with it (in fact, she told me that she wasn't sure she even wanted to show it to me, but i'm glad she did!), but i love it, and madi does too.

she loves it, in fact. enough to give it kisses!!
thank you, grandma- it's so special to us!

sunday afternoon we came home... and it's a good thing we decided not to stay for supper. we ended up with company:

miss maggie came from next door!

(her brother needed a trip to the e.r., so she stayed with us)

maggie's between cole and madi in age, so she fits in pretty well here. ironically, madison calls HER the "baby". anyway, she and cole got along famously; cole was in his glory with a playmate who was more cooperative at toddler 'games'.

i wound up with an impromptu photo shoot, too. i thought that an extra person around might make it easier to distract the kids while trying to take their photos (something print-worthy), but neither wanted to cooperate. madi made silly faces and cole attempted a fly-by (he threw a hotwheels at the camera). maggie, however, wanted a turn, so i gave her one.

i posted the results here.

and on to the current week...

madi spent some quality time cuddling with pooh.

(she's got more teeth coming through, so i think she was nursing a sore mouth)

eventually she moved on to peek-a-boo with her blanket

(i think the teething tablets kicked in)

she got a pretty big laugh out of the whole thing, which turned into a long game with her brother.

a long, silly game...

... with lots of blankets whipping around...

(we're haunted!!)

... and even more laughs.

moments like those are priceless!

and then i slacked until yesterday (friday).

the kids and i went to mom and dad's to visit with sara and bonita, and to celebrate sara's birthday. bonita made a chocolate cake, and it was my grandma's idea to have a picnic lunch down by the lake.

sara and madison checking out the "baby in the camera".

cole seemed to instinctively know that there was going to be cake and what pan it was in... the look on his face and the squeal of delight when he got a peek was just adorable. delight in the small things... that's toddler wisdom we can ALL use, i think.

madi's found her running feet...

... and her "food sensor" is pretty fine-tuned, too. she can eat her brother (and mommy) under the table any day.

and she bonds with anyone who will feed her.

(i love it- snuggled in between her great-grandpa and great-grandma, happy as can be)

yup, cole turned the lights on all by himself. how he managed to release the brake (if the parking brake's on, the lights won't turn on and the key won't turn) i'll never know, but he did. he didn't give a thought to the key... all he cared about were the lights. oh, and he rode with great-grandpa in the gator to take the picnic table down to the lake. i've never seen a little boy so proud!

it was a tad breezy, so all candle-lighting attempts failed.

sara was off the hook.

happy birthday, sara!

bonita's cake was SO yummy (she had the recipe in her head- she told us it was the first thing she ever learned to bake). cole's chocolate shadow is proof...

... and madi enjoyed a few bites too.

bathing beauty!

first, second and fourth generations.

(the third is manning the camera)

cole wanted a ride on the pedal boat- grandma and sara kindly indulged him.

"oh-ho-ho-ho-ho, boat!!"

madi ended up ditching the swim suit and opted for a diaper instead. she wasn't super keen on playing in the water; rather, she'd run to the edge, where the grass was half-submerged, declare "uck", then turn and run away. she'd turn back around and repeat the process... kept her quite entertained.

cole was a total fish, even taking a total dunking (self-induced, accidentally). he had quite a time, splashing away. he's got the hang of blowing bubbles in the bathtub and the wading pool, something that he probably remembers from his lessons last summer. it surprised me when he did it out of the blue, because he didn't do it last summer, and i haven't worked on it at all with him. hmmm- guess he DOES retain some of the stuff he sees and hears! good to know... :)

~
as a consolation for months of failed photo attempts, i was finally able to snap a few of the kids that i could work with. we now have cole's 3-year photo a little early (because he's not going to change much in two months and i really don't want to try another sitting) and madi's 18-month photo all set- just have to order prints. you can see them here.

annnnnnd... i now sign off.

thanks for bearing with me!

ba-a-a-a-a...

madison knows what a sheep says! and she knows how to say 'lamb', but you really have to work at it to get her to say it. totally pays off, though, because her sweet little "yaaaaaaahm" is SO worth it!

yup- she likes her "yaahm"!

cole had a fun time making his little sister giggle on sunday afternoon. nice change from the rain-and-gloom-and-boredom-induced challenges...
~
cole spent the night with my parents sunday night! as soon as he was gone, i missed him like crazy. he was excited, though- once he was strapped in his carseat in gramma's car, i asked him for a hug and kiss. i pointed to the door of the house and said "no! mama go inna house now!". my heart broke a little... but mended right up on monday when he greeted me with a huge hug and kiss. he does quite well on overnights away from us... i'm glad he's confident, but secretly, i'm a little sad that he's growing up so fast.
eh... he'll always be my baby!

(p.s.: there's a new item here!!)

whups

little miss squish has a great set of lungs, and uses them frequently.

sometimes it's serious, sometimes not.

~*~
~*~
this time it was only slightly serious...
she was stuck one step up.
and she let the world know it.
(this whole "baby's-mad-but-mommy's-taking-photos-and-laughing" moment reminds me a bit of this one... what a trip!!)

how we kicked off the month of june...

since it came in a little on the chilly and rainy side, we didn't get to do much outdoors. but that's ok... we had fun driving mommy nuts!

(hahaha!)

for example: when i asked cole to please put his cup in the kitchen instead of leaving it lay ______ (<-- insert various inconvenient spots here), he put it in the kitchen.

it wasn't the kitchen that i was thinking of, but technically, he obeyed.

so, i thanked him, quietly stuck the cup in the fridge and made a mental note to specify which kitchen next time.

cole has been doing excellent with potty training; only one accident in the past two weeks, and a diaper only for night and naps. i promised him that if he could keep his underwear dry, i'd make more syrup for chocolate milk. i did (last friday)...

... while cole hung out in his (dry!) skivvies as madison helped make a royal mess.

reason #1 that i don't particularily care for rainy days: bored toddlers don't bum around, they make messes. big ones. ones that take all evening to clean up.

at least they were occupied.

madison and cole (and i) got to go shopping with grandma in oshkosh last saturday. poor cole- before kelvin went to tennessee, he was working in oshkosh for a few weeks. cole got used to hearing that his daddy was working there, so when i told him we were going to go shopping in oshkosh with grandma, he perked up and said, "daddy work ah-kosh!!". he was a tad disappointed when i reminded him that daddy was in tennessee, but he got over it reasonably quickly. anyway, madison got a cute little sundress (in the photo above), which she had to model and then wear home. she was having cheerios for a snack, and because it was damp and rainy, they were a little sticky- she had one stuck to her head for the longest time!

earlier this week, i caught madi walking around the house poking her tummy.

just walking and poking...

i thought it was slightly odd, so i took a closer look.

she's managed to peel all the little stickers off the holes on the side of the toy cart, the ones where the screws hold everything together. how she even noticed them, i don't know, since they blend in very, very well.

oh, the little details they pick out!

makes me wonder what she notices about me... yikes!

today we did something a little different. we met grandma for lunch!

jennerjohn park in greenville was the spot:

cole was far more interested in playing. he had a few bites of his "sah-wench" and decided he had better things to do.

like play in tunnels.

this little guy was on the go!

madi nibbled a bit more than cole, but was pretty distracted, watching cole run and itching to get down herself.

(love the sunchip in one hand and sandwich in the other!)

yumm...

tunnels!!

madi experienced sand for the first time.

she didn't eat any, thank goodness.

anyway, the kids had fun running off some steam (several days' worth) and it was nice to spend some time with mom/grandma. i wanted to take some photos of the kids by the fountain (and cole and grandma playing on the equipment) but my camera card was full. all 8 gb, all used up. jiminy cricket, i thought i'd never be able to fill that thing! guess when you forget to delete 2 1/2 months' worth of LOTS of activities and family time, that's what happens. now my chip is clear and i'm facing the daunting task of putting months and months of photos onto cd. i keep putting it off, so the longer i leave it, the more scary it gets.

that's my next project...

memorial day weekend

meh... i'm only a week late on this. not bad, considering what the week has been like and that i'm, you know, flying solo here. not that it's an excuse... just a reason. :)

~

kelvin was home for a few days for the holiday weekend, probably our last chance to see him until the job in tennessee is finished. we made good use of it, spending time with the kids.

on a slightly random side note, i finally tended to the rhubarb by the side of the house. it's a pretty small patch, but looks can be deceiving. i got enough for 8 pies plus a little extra from it. i couldn't use all of it, because as you can see in the photo, some of it was just too big. like, 2 inches across.

'barb on 'roids?

madi gets to ride facing the front now! it's gotten to be a real headache anytime we go somewhere because she's got nothing to look at except the headrest of her seat. the poor thing was nearly bored to death and quite literally bored to tears.

all madison really cared about at this point was her toes...

friday night we took the kids to see grandpa dan and grandma ruby. we had supper together and the kids got to spend a little time with their grandparents.

this, however, was the highlight of cole's day. maybe his whole week...

he got to see the "baby killies"!

(that's how he says 'kitties'... sounds cuter in real life!)

he tried to convince us that the baby kitty was coming home with us.

well, this mommy loves kitties, but i've got enough little creatures to clean up after right now!!

someday...

madi and her daddy

it's like the bluetooth of hydration: hands-free cuppage!

daddy, cole and grandpa dan got a little four-wheeler riding in, which cole was more than excited about.

~

kelvin left early monday morning... it's much easier when he leaves before everyone's up. since we didn't have any plans, the littles and i ended up taking a day trip up to the farm to see grandpa cal and grandma laurie.

cole's in love with the "motorcycle" at grandma and grandpa's house!

madison doesn't much care yet, but i don't give it long...

miss cutie pie herself!

her hair got messy after she fell asleep in the van. the a/c went out late last summer, and we just got it back friday. fortunately, the problem was covered under an extended warranty issued just for the rear a/c lines (or something like that) so it didn't cost us. whew! until then, though, once it started warming up, that van got pretty hot, and the kids wound up pretty sweaty. made for some neat hair-do's, though.

these two love to chase each other.

until someone gets an owie... then they cry. after the tears, they start the whole process over again. i feel like a broken record... "stop running!!".

ahhhh, summer...

while madison took a nap, i got to spend some one-on-one time outside with cole. that kid... he's just a hoot!

even when he got scolded for taking the "motorcycle" into the garden (thankfully he missed the veggies and things... no harm done, but a good scolding took care of the issue for the rest of the day), i had a hard time keeping a straight face. apparently, he was pretty shocked that he would do such a thing! :)

as if the dirt and "motorcycle" weren't enough, we had a total "boy" moment when he spied a caterpillar. he's never seen a real one... he knows "the hungry, hungry caterpillar" by heart, but a REAL LIVE one was new to him.

here's the creepy-crawly himself.

larger than life.

(shudder)

captain underpants??

potty training has taken a turn for the better... he kept these dry all day (he saw one of his new pairs and HAD to wear them- not trainers, REAL underwear. this photo was taken shortly before the changing of the britches...)

this was the only time he got them wet. and then it was the garden hose, so technically, they were still clean.

he watched grandpa wash the grill, so he took it upon himself to wash everything for grandpa... the swing, the concrete, the grass...

grandma and madi

oooh-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo, fire!!

ted and suzanne...

... and mariah and sarah.

~

yes, it turned out to be a wonderful holiday... perfect weather, hanging with family...

what more could we have asked for?!