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So lets fast forward 6 weeks to fly in the face of the previous chrono only post before. Oh and before I forget, we were served pork burgers in Ohio (about 3-4 posts back), not turkey burgers.

Den is engaged in a game of 'pile on top' [of daddy]. Josie is a rocket and Eddie is a jet.

In this particular session, Eddie was more about the piling and Josie was more about the flying.

Mid August--before the trip

I'm a chronological person--I can't help myself. When I do my scrapbooking all the pictures have to be placed on the pages exactly in the order in which they were taken. If I can't remember, I will ocassionally flub, but only for the sake of the story. Yay to Shutterfly which will print the date the photo was taken on the back!

I digress. Josie was given this babydoll just before we left for Wisc. It comes complete with a hat, a bib, pacifier (all tethered to the doll's neck), a bottle, tiny blanket and toy teddy bear. If that weren't enough it makes noises when you squeeze it's tummy and I think it's eyes open and close. It mainly stays in her bed, as we tell her to put the baby doll to bed when it's nap time and night time and it works quite well.
Here's another outfit I love. What I don't love is that I forgot about it because it was hanging in the closet all summer and she has maybe 4 or 5 dresses hanging in there with the rest of her clothes across the room.

This is an Eddie picture. He made that artwork last fall -- it's popsicle sticks of (L to R), Eddie, Josie, Cookie, Daddy, and Mommy. He doesn't want me to take it down--or any other artwork. I'm afraid if I don't switch stuff out soon, the paint is going to be stained by lack of exposrure to light. It's not like he doesn't have other artwork to hang.

Back that far--early Aug.

These pictures were taken after church the last time g'parents Ohio were out--at the beginning of Aug! They were due to come this past weekend, but g'ma was a little under the weather and the kids were downright germy, so we had a pass. Eddie was pretty disappointed as he had been 'behaving' so that g'parents Ohio would come and visit--it's how we got him to stop beating up on Josie.
I do wonder what will happen after their visit--if it's been long enough that his new leaf is permanent--sure hope so!

Cookie doesn't think this is a good ploy, but I've learned to trust my instincts and they tell me that if this what it takes to have peace in the house, then I have to stand this side of ready to tell g'parents Ohio they can't come or to send them home if he misbehaves. Not sure how well it would go over for the g'parents or kids, but that sure would stick with Ed.

I love the above dress (Josie loves it too). I bought it at a wonderful local store called Monday's Child that I discovered earlier this year. Wish I'd known about it when Ed was little. They have the most adorable classic items that our parents remember from when we were kids and likely before then. I liked the dress so much that when they were having their summer sale I bought one for next summer in size 2T. Course if she continues on her trajectory, 2T will fit winter 09/10. She is STILL in size 12M clothes. Starting to outgrow them, but still wears the pants no problem. Her 18 month check up is the end of the month.

I love these pants on Eddie. He only got to wear them a handful of times, which was disappointing. He has slowly started to leave his blue period in that he is willing to wear other colors. Likewise, he is willing to wear other PJs than ones with dogs on them. He does still have a hierarchy of color--blue, yellow, red, green, etc.

I'm just impressed we got 2 sets of pictures with both kids looking--and looking happy at that. Enjoy.

Still September, Still Here

If I can get one more post out by Tues. besides this it won't be about the least I've blogged since starting this. Went through boxes last night and set aside 15 boxes 'to go through'. 15 (+/-) boxes of books. Discovered I am missing 19 pegs to hold shelves and 4 shelves of my bookcases. Yikes---I didn't have enough shelves as it was.

Had Cookie over Sat. afternoon while Den and I rediscovered our basement, found 5 more boxes for the dining room and nearly emptied out the attic of things we had shoved up there at the last minute, just days before the workmen began demolishing the back of our house.
Pictures soon (of the kids, of course).

You Will Always Have Good Luck in Your Personal Affairs

We are finally getting things back in order. Life is slowly calming down and the kids seem more at peace--meaning Eddie isn't walloping his sister quite as much and Josie is sticking up for herself more by pulling Eddie's hair and poking him in the eye. Go Josie! It's really fun to be with them when they seem like friends, like they are in a secret society together that in a single glance they are talking.

These were taken not long after we got back from our Wisc. trip. We ordered Chinese and Eddie, whom we order the ribs for (as dog bones), asked about the cookies with the paper inside. We hadn't ordered Chinese in close to 2 months! I really liked what Eddie's said: You Will Always Have Good Luck in Your Personal Affairs. Warms a mother's heart. Especially when said mother orries constantly if her kids will be happy in life, that's all I want--my kids to be happy. Well, if one of them wanted to be a doctor, that wouldn't bother me.

Speaking of memories, it amazes me what Eddie can recall. I brought a new clock home the other day and Eddie said it was just like g'parents Wisc clock (it was). It was also very similar to my g'parents clock. And the other day, we drove past Den's office the opposite direction we normally approach it from and before we even got to it, he said, oh we are going to drive past daddy's office.

Josie is doing well-17 months now. Clearly she is the 2nd child, because I haven't done an update in who knows when--also haven't printed a picture of anyone since Feb. Preschool seems to be going really well.

What I Did On Summer Vacation, Part 6

We had a busy summer, ending with a 2,500 mile, 16 day journey to Wisconsin. to celebrate G'parent Wisc's 50th wedding anniversary. Ever since I first visited g'parents Wisc's house, I have wanted to drive out there (so many things to buy, so little room in a suitcase). $500 tickets (that's for each person) and my ire at the state of airline travel with toddlers sealed the deal. Driving 18 hours each direction would be far more enjoyable.

And it was!

Get out your atlas because you'll need it to follow along. I've considered any number of different routes to take to visit Wisc, but this one worked the best for 2 young kids--lots of stops and breaks with people we know.

Sat. Drive 6 hours to g'parents Ohio.
Collapse after arriving at 8pm. Kids fired up.

Sun. Drive 2 hours to the parents of E's college roommate--a real live farm (well, live with crops). Eat the freshest corn on the cob I've ever had--picked from their garden. Ccntinue after an early dinner to Fort Wayne, IN, arriving around 8pm. Consider using Benedryl to help the kids relax in the hotel room. Feel too guilty at the prospect and just fall asleep with the kids.

Monday. Kids sleep until 7:30am. We are so getting room darkening shades at home. Den is supposed to be at work at 8. Whoops. Drop him off and visit the Fort Wayne Zoo. Attend a BBQ that night.

Tue. Den gets into work by 8:30, we head to the zoo--it was that amazing of a zoo. Phenominal weather both days didn't hurt. Take kids to Japanese for dinner. J eats her weight in rice, Den spills more water than he drinks, and Eddie likes the pasta (udon noodles). Order WAY too much yummy food and end up with enough leftovers to have a full second meal.

Wed. Head to IL to visit Den's brother's family. Realize en route that we are traveling to CDT and we'll arrive as promised even though we left later than planned. We could have visited the zoo for a 3rd day after all and I should have bought the annual pass.

Stay Wed. and Thurs. for 2 very relaxing days in IL. Eddie learns Lacrosse--hold it like a church basket, his cousin says. Thurs. is visiting E's cousins.

Fri. head north. Beating the IL cousins up to Wisc. by maybe 15 -30 min., we fall behind due to a blow out diaper over lunch.

Weekend spent with g'parents Wisc. and Den's brother's family at a resort with condos. Great time had by all. COLD weather (for Aug, but it is Wisc.)

Monday, head to g'parents Wisc. house for one night so E can shop and the kids can play.
Tues. head south for 4 hours to stay with cousins. When you head to this part of the state, you don't just visit one cousin, but about 30, maybe more. Stay up later than intended. Kids have a blast with cousins they've never met.

Wed. Make one more cousin visit and then drive 12 hours back to g'parents Ohio (technically 8.5 hours, but must adjust times for kid-travel). Stay 4 nights in order to get up enough energy to get in the car again to get home. Sunday of Labor Day weekend, after being gone for 16 days arrive home in record time (kids must be used to being the car).

Our saving grace: a DVD player. We don't watch much TV in our house (the kids get bored after 30 min. to an hour), but this thing was magic. Baby Mozart and Baby Back induced sleep and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was played so often I think I can recite some of the episodes by heart.

These pictures are of the farm. The corn was pretty cool to see. Turkey burgers were yummy (as was everything). Top picture is college roommate's kid playing with our kids.

Preschool

Den left on Sunday for Hawaii. And I only briefly tried to scam my way onto the trip (afterall, we had just returned from a 2 week vacation). He says he doesn't sleep well while he's away. Well, I don't either. When the kids were younger, it was because they woke me up, but now, no matter how many glasses of wine I drink, I can't relax enough to sleep. Last night I went to bed at 10, but was up until just past midnight. The night before I had barely 5 hours combined, so hopefully this post isn't too warbly as a result.
So, these pictures really are for Den. They are from last week. Eddie started preschool last week. His previous jaunts into preschool don't really count, as they were more along the lines of babsitting in my mind.

Eddie was definitely ready and excited to go. We had sent him for a month of summer camp in June and it really paid off, as he tried to walk right to the room he'd used then (unfortunatley he is in a room with no windows this year).

Today, his second day of school (they go Mon, Tue, Wed.), he said after school that he didn't think he wanted to go, but once he got there, it was a fun time. I usually/used to have a difficult time getting info from him, but he's been quite talkative.

Our first day last week was going well, we were ahead of schedule and everything. Then Eddie pushed his sister down a stair (from the front landing). She fell back hard on the back of her head--no hitting the butt first. She didn't cry that long, but it was a hard fall. After I chewed him out for 10 mintues, there wasn't much time to capture a first day photo, but he happily stood for one--and then tried to physically kick at his sister.

What in the world am I doing to engender this behavior?

He and J are having a pretty rough time with Den gone. Not sure what is different this time, as it's not like the first time he's been gone. Maybe it's that they are a bit older, and this is one of his longer trips, or that we're halfway into our new space, but for instance still don't have a proper dining room table, or maybe that we were back 5 days and then he left? Any number of things, to be sure.

MOre photos to come later in the week at some point. I set the alarm for 5am this morning, so I could be showered and dressed before the kids woke, as was my second day with them them. Needless to say, I'm a bit wiped.

Oh and today when I picked him up, they asked what our cat's name is. I chuckled and said that Josie is the cat and then Eddie and I proceeded to give them the run down of family animals. Apparently they had been confused because Eddie had been telling them that Josie was the cat and probably that Eddie is the dog and they were perplexed as to why we'd name the cat and our daughter the same thing.

We're Back

I just realized I had 4 posts hanging out there, to be posted...whoops. We just got back from a 16-day, 2,500 mile trek to celebrate G'parent Wisc.'s 50th wedding anniversary, with many stops along the way. I'll detail the journey, with pictures soon, but in the meantime enjoy the posts below that were supposed to have been made whilst we were gone.