Masked

 We had the boys from Davy's playgroup over on Friday morning.  It was crazy, but not as insane as I had dreaded.  There were two accidents, several head bonks and jabs, a few squabbles over toys, lots of minutes on the timer for turns before sharing, and four masks.  I got a kit of foam masks and stickers at Christmas Tree Shoppes that ended up being a big hit with the boys.  They spent a few minutes on the craft part, but a good half hour on running around the house "scaring" each other and being "scared."  Davy spent the rest of the day wearing his vampire mask, even to the store.  He really gets the dressing up part of Halloween this year.

Yesterday was the semi-annual Parent Talk Sale in Needham that I mark way ahead of time on my calendar and eagerly await.  We got some good loot for our $10 bag sale bag.  We successfully stuffed 25 items in the bag, making each item about 40 cents.  "Full price" (still really good resale prices, like $3 and $5 for outfits) at the regular portion of the sale would have cost $75.  The best finds were a brand new Jack and Janie shark hoodie for Davy and a worn-once Christmas outfit for Eddie.  Probably the best find was a great Peter Pan costume for Davy.  He found it when I dumped out our finds to count everything up and rallied us all into dressing up with him RIGHT THEN.  It only took us about half an hour to get together these outfits (in case you can't tell, Collin is Captain Hook, Edward the crocodile, and I'm Tiger Lily).  So we ended up having a fun Halloween family ensemble despite my uncharacteristic lack of enthusiasm earlier in the month.  Davy was so funny as he was watching Collin put together his outfit (the most elaborate and involved), bringing him items he thought might help and without fail calling him "Captain."

 Oh, and it snowed last night.  A wet, heavy snow--yuck.  But at least it was sunshiney today so it was beautiful and a lot of it melted.  My favorite kind of snow day.  Davy was lovin' being in the snow.  "Mommy, come join me.  This is fun!" he cried.  For once I put aside my normal reluctance to be in the cold muckiness and joined him for a few minutes.  Children really make us be better, if we let them!

Davy can sing the whole alphabet song.  Today he was singing for Daddy and I started smiling and nodding encouragingly at him.  He stopped mid-song and told me, "No, Mom, don't shake your head.  Just listen to my song."  Then he paused for a second and started the whole song over.  Funny kid.

Rainy Day at the Children's Museum

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We've had a lovely Fall.  The colors have changed, the tint of the light is rosy and golden, and wearing jackets is cozy and comfortable.  A perfect Autumn.  Still, there are days where we feel stuck inside because of some rain.  One or two here and there is doable, but when they come in twos and threes we get a little stir-crazy.  We had a few rainy days this week.  Amazingly I felt brave enough to go out this week--further out than usual.  One such day we headed into Boston to the Children's Museum.  Great because we were inside but in a huge place to play.  We accidentally went to a different floor than we have normally explored and found this fun construction gallery.  Davy was all over the place, Eddy only just less so.  But all the snapshots seem to be of Edward.

 

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The real Bobcat that kids could climb in and operate levers was a big hit.  After the construction room we found some more fun areas, but I guess we were too involved for me to remember to take some more pics.  Being inside the museum was nice and dry, but the five block walk to and from our parking place was pretty wet.  You can see that Eddy got a bit drenched and worn out.  Fell asleep with half his lunch still in his mouth.  I love happily tired kids!

 

Tahkin' Like a Local

The video is just a minute in the life of the Lambournes.  I was trying to get Davy to say his stuffed toy pig's name.  His pig has been christened "Arnold" after Kipper's friend.  Background:  In the morning Davy is allowed to watch one movie after he does four jobs (use the toilet, get dressed, make his bed, and clear his breakfast dishes).  His usual choice is a show called Kipper, about a British dog and his animal friends.  I find it pretty cute and pleasant, with basic, calm story telling and only one whiny character.  The annoying character is Pig, who has a little cousin name Arnold.  The way Pig says Arnold's name is pretty funny, in a really nasally voice.  Davy can copy it exactly.  Check out this little clip (just the first few seconds) of Kipper:  

then watch Davy:

Maybe I find it so charming because I am hopeless at mimicking accents.  I can't for the life of me get a Boston accent right.  Davy, on the other hand, has started talking like a Bostonian.  In the last few weeks he's started dropping the 'r' at the end of words like "water," saying instead, "watah."  He's also saying "ya" instead of "you" and wanting to go to the "pahk," not the "park."  What?  Nuh-huh.  That's not English!  I suppose we have plenty of time to get these words pronounced correctly later on.  For now it is just another part of the "free entertainment" that our children provide.

Not completely free, however.  This week we had an incident that cost us a bundle.  I was checking my email (everything bad that happens in this house happens when I sit down to check email) and heard Davy taking care of his business in the bathroom.  Then perfect quiet, then commotion.  I sensed something was wrong, ran the seven feet to the bathroom to find Edward bending over the bowl and reaching as far in as his little arms could go.  I rushed to scoop him up and wash his hands.  The I heard Davy say, "Mommy, there's a phone in the toilet."  Say again?  A cell phone-turned-toy got flushed down the toilet.  Thank goodness not my real phone . . . Apparently the old phone was also the perfect size, shape, material, etc. to get stuck at just the right angle to be totally irretrievable.  The plumber came and dismantled the toilet, going at the plumbing from both sides to no avail.  The thing was lodged and wouldn't budge.  We had to replace the whole toilet.  Collin thinks this is a very hilarious story.  I am not amused.

Edward's 1 Year Fancy Pics

I decided to try to take Eddy's studio-esque pictures myself this year.  But then I couldn't get the sheet to hang right and then it kept falling down.  Yeah, it was a sight and I'm sure the neighbors thought I was crazy.  Crazier than usual, at least.  So we get a "natural" setting instead!  In any case, the background is not what we focus on when this cute kid is the subject.

Edward is such a nice boy.  He has grown so much and so beautifully this year.  We have loved watching his personality emerge.  He is easy to please, determined, busy, charming, mischievous and a darling.  Life would not be as sweet or full without him.  Love you, Eddy Bear.

 

 

We Are Toy Story

Davy:  "When I get big, I'm going to grow to be like Sid."

Collin:  "I hope not.  We want you to be a nice boy like Andy."

Davy:  "No, I'm going to be Buzz."

Collin:  "Okay."

Davy:  "And Eddy is going to be Molly.  A really BIG Molly."

And now, some bathtub pictures.

Pretend the film-grain effect was on purpose.  Kind of lends it a 70s look.  Couldn't resist including this one because it has the best of both of them covered in suds.  These boys are so fun together.  I am so grateful they have each other!

It's been a while.

I've been taking a lot of pictures with our camera, but mostly concentrating on stills for the past little while.  Here are some videos of the last week or so (though the first is from our Pennsylvania trip in September) to show how mobile and funny our boys are.  Davy's added a few phrases to his repertoire, such as "I'm not good at this" and "That's easy" and "Excuse me, Mom, but I was wondering for a hug and kiss" (when trying to get out of staying in bed).  And Edward is a healthy, happy baby, according to the doctor.  I could have told her that  . . .  I love how we pay people to tell us what we already know.  Anyway, the important thing is that we have some measurements to boast about!!  He weighed in at 24 pounds and .5 oz and was 31 inches long.  Not a baby anymore!  Big kid, walking more and more every day, understanding plenty, loves mom, dad and adores Davy, and wants to be in the thick of things. 

At least it's spell-checked!

A usual General Conference, Sunday afternoon session = everyone dozing.  I woke up from my own snooze to find this cute picture.  We wanted to make a little tent to watch conference from, like King Benjamin's people.  I think we'll try to make tent building a GC tradition.  The sleeping part already is!

I'm not quite ready to do a real jack-o-lantern.  I remember it being such a mess as a kid, and now being on the cleaning-up side of the ordeal I hesitate even more.  So that'll wait for another year.  Painting was just as satisfactory an experience this year.  I think I am even less of a holiday decorator than my own mom, and she was much less than her mother.  I look at some of my friends in the ward who are big into holidays and decorating and it really looks great.  But again, so much set-up and clean-up.  Am I lazy or just practical?  Both?  Anyway, I'd prefer to concentrate on festive foods!  Like soup, warm bread, cider, pumpkin donuts, assorted apple confections, etc.

Davy loves having his hood on.  Whenever I wear a sweat shirt he wants my hood to be on too, but I really don't like things on my head.  Regardless, he's very sweet with his hoodie on.

Edward loves nothing better than a ball in his hand.  We went to the InfantSib Research project thing again this past week.  They were impressed by his ability to play the catch and throw the ball game, and by his motor skills.  One lady asked specifically to see him throw a ball standing up.  He obliged, but until they gushed over it I didn't realize that was something special for his age.  He's just been throwing a ball and chasing after it any way he could for the past 6 months.

We've had several pajama days this week.  That means we've stayed all day in our PJs, one or another of us being under the weather.  Drat these colds that will inevitably linger all winter long.  No, Rachel, think optimistically.  Maybe at least they won't lodge in our lungs and cause racking coughs that keep me up at night--whether it's me coughing or one of the boys . . . Nice try, but still pretty pessimistic.  I'll try again later, after this congestion goes away and lets me get a full night's sleep!

Our friends asked us to help them take some family pictures, in exchange for dinner and a movie at their house.  Deal!  We went to the HBS (Harvard Business School) campus--a beautiful and much bigger campus than I had been prepared for.  We found some great places to take pictures and their girls were very cooperative for a long time.  Davy was great about staying behind me and helping the girls smile, but he also wanted to play with them.  At one point he was walking in between the two girls, holding each of their hands.  Lucky boy!

Collin really helped entertain the kids while I took some photos of the grown-ups.  It was great practice to take photos of people other than my kids.  I have got to get the whole technical part of the camera figured out better.  I felt like I was fumbling the whole time.  But I did get lucky enough times, I think, that they will have at least a few nice pictures. 

After all, a few photos is all you really need, I'm slowly learning.  One doesn't need thousands of the first years of life.  100 awesome pictures is sufficient!  Still, I like taking pictures and kids change so fast that it is fun to see their growth from day to day, or week to week.  Hence this blog!  I don't always have something "blog worthy" to post, but I like to keep this weekly journal for our family of the every day things we do and a few good snapshots mixed in.  What I'm saying is, thanks for reading, everybody, but I'd still be doing this even if you weren't!  Knowing someone is reading just makes it more fun for me and helps me remember to spell check.

Potty Humor

Janeil here, visiting from California for a week:
Rachel asked me to describe first-hand an experience I had this week with Davy, a situation I've never found myself in seeing that I've never helped raise any little boys.  Girls, yes, but not boys.  Davy asked me to help with the bedtime routine of "Teeth and Toilet", and I proudly accepted, feeling so special that he asked me.  Immediately after I helped him lower his pajama bottoms and sat him down on the toilet, he said in a very desperate voice, "Help me aim!"  Now I was pretty sure of what I was expected to do, but I hesitated, never having been in this situation before.  My hesitation was just a second too long, and before I was able to help with the "aiming," Davy's underpants, pajama bottoms, and floor got a little wet.  Again immediately, and again in a desperate voice, Davy said, "I need some new pants."  We finished "Teeth and Toilet", cleaned up the floor, and found some new underpants and pajama bottoms.  I struggled a little getting his feet into his pajama pants, and finally sighed and said "I'm not doing a very good job, am I?"  Davy promptly replied with the praise, "I think you're doing a good job."  Maybe he'll let me help again.  

Family Pics 2011

It's that time again!  Family picture time is one of those times that I both look forward to and dread.  Growing up we were the worst sports about family picture time (sorry, Mom) and it was one time when my parents resorted to blatant bribery.  We got by with a few gummy bears this time, but I can already tell that cooperation will come easier in the future with something to look forward to.  Janeil took our pictures and Mom was the attention-getter for the boys.  Very nice to have so many hands!

Wilson Farm Pumpkins

 

After a long day in Boston on Friday, we took it pretty easy yesterday.  We enjoyed a little outing in the morning to Wilson Farm to show Grandma and Aunt Janeil all the awesome pumpkins and get some apple cider.  Then we went home to watch Conference and veg.