Saturday, September 29, 2012

Touch-a-Truck


I kept my distance from the garbage truck...ewwww! That truck was super smelly.


Gus is walking! He loves to hold my hand as we walk, I must enjoy every moment as I am realizing it is all over way to soon.






The only picture that I managed to snap of the three of them. 


He spent the entire time trying to collect all three stickers. There was one at the fire truck, the ambulance, and the cop car.

Lunch Artwork


Making appetizing, original food for Vera's lunch (which seems to be the trend these days...bento, anyone?) is not my strong point. So, instead I am learning how to draw. Here is a My Little Pony and that is supposed to be a cowboy hat on her head. I have also drawn a walrus, dragon, butterfly, and bee. My plan now is to draw and write five notes on Sunday to be prepped for the week. 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Thanks, TaTa!


TaTa took Vera to the SB Library for a presentation on reptiles, right up my lil gal's alley. Guess who got to hold a lizard and was extremely happy?

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Dirty Gus


My Cute Girl Scout


Shoes


Over a year now, time for shoes. The boy is not too sure about them and it does decrease his walking skillz. 


Whoa, whoa...feet don't fail me now. 


What I can only title, "The Stink-eye."

Fall Family Art Project


Vera


Mommy


Keller


Gus


Daddy

Friday, September 21, 2012

Misc Collection


Mama, what big hands you have. On a positive note, I really like my new sunglasses. 


This just cracked me up, seriously, you took a picture of the carrots. She wants me to buy these specific ones, the Costco ones just aren't cutting it around here. 


The Dude chilling in La Arcadia.


August turtle watching. One of the few pictures I got of him, as he spent the majority of the time by the fountain trying to climb in. 


Please, please tell me I am raising another reader. Love that he loves books. 


Proud of J for staining and putting together our new picnic table, adds a lot to our outdoors. 


What can you say...Bucket Head!!!

Training the Monkey


I know that if he could talk, it would be something along the lines that he is not a circus performer and that we look like goobers trying to get him to repeat a word over and over.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Vera's Newest Gear



J and I didn't imagine that our orthodontics bills would start quite so soon, but as of Wednesday, Vera is the proud wearer of a "retainer." It is not the traditional retainer for teeth, but one that is hooked to four separate teeth (two on each side) with a metal piece in the middle. Once a day I give it a little crank and it is going to slowly seperate the two halves of her upper jaw. Then, she is going to get gear to help pull her jaw forward. Yep, little miss is getting her under-bite corrected. The hope is that if they can fix it now, she won't have to have her jaw broken and fixed when she is older (which is the more traditional approach).

It has helped that we have a friend who is about 6 months ahead of us in a similar treatment plan. Vera has talked with her friend and has received lots and lots of reassurances that everything is going to be fine. For me, the craziest part has been the effect on her speech. Having never had braces, I wasn't prepared for the lisp it has given her. Again, reassurance from J and friends that the wearer becomes accustomed to the gear has helped. Still, pretty crazy. Oh, and the slurping sounds as her mouth adjusts to having something permanently glued to it. The nurse warned that her mouth would be making extra saliva and she was not kidding. Dude, I have to wonder what her teacher thinks and I hope that Vera isn't slurping away at school.

Vera is handling it well. She seems to already be adjusted to wearing it, only gripes a bit about her mouth being to sensitive to eat, and loves to clean it with her special brush. One week down, 6ish months to go.

Batman



Zia and Uncle Damien, well done. He loves his Batman. Also, on a side note, Gus just got his first molar and all the sleepless nights are now explained.

Famous!


Guess Who...


...learned how to climb and is so darn proud of himself.

Keller's Friend Turns 5!


Keller loves his buddy and was so, so excited to see him turn 5! Both kids were uber thrilled with the science experiment theme of the party. 


Experiment #1 = elephant toothpaste. 


Experiment #2 = dry ice magic bubbles


Gus was thrilled by all the sticks and rocks around...nom, nom, nom. 


Awesome


I found this little gem of J's grandparents...true love, a great example for what J and I hope to achieve.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Captain Underpants



Chapter books are the "it" thing at our house. Vera is reading them by herself (her favorites at the moment are The Magic Tree House Series and The Rainbow Fairies). I am trying to steer her to books that I loved as a child, The Happy Hollisters and Bunnicula. Keller loves having them read to him as well. For some reason, both kids also love to have books read to them from the kindle...must be the novelty of it. The #1 choice of the moment is The Adventure of Captain Underpants Series.

Main character running around in his underwear = check! Potty humor = double check! I  have to admit, the books are hilarious. Keller, particulary, gets pure joy out of them. He chuckles throughout as each story unfolds. He also loves the flip-o-rama! You have to try it to love it!!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Own Drummer



Picnic Table in the Works


We bought a picnic table kit from Lowe's and J is personalizing it Mazzetta style using stain that we bought 6ish years ago. Now, our picnic table is going to exactly match the rocking chair that sits in our living room.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Crafts


I love that I invited my sister over...and then made her do crafts with my children while I showered. I like to call that delegating, something I am getting very good at doing. ;) Side note, Keller's new 'do is slicked back while we continue to grow his bangs. Yep, going for a shoulder length surfer dude look.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

R-r-r-r-random







Baby Fever


Congrats go out to our friends and their beautiful baby girl.

HA!


I don't usually take pictures with cardboard people, but when I do, it has to be with the most interesting man in the world.

Name Practice








The goal of the week was for Keller to learn how to write his name. Check! Boy made his mama proud.