Trip to the park

Yesterday afternoon we decided that it had been too long since we'd been to the park, so we packed up a picnic and headed to the park for dinner. It started like this:

This promised to be a fun time. Luckily when we got to the park everyone was a little happier.

 

We had a hard time keeping Ryan around while we ate. I guess there's a good reason for trapping him in his high chair for meals, because we'd chase him, bring him back, give him some cheese or meat or bread, and he'd be off again until we enticed him back with another bite, or chased him down and carried him back.

 

The kids had a fun time on the slides. Annie's hair is untame-able. It kind of makes her look like she's going super fast on the slides, though.

 

Rachel ran over to me after being on the playground for 15 seconds or so: "Mom! I made a new friend!" She then ran back and spent the whole time playing with her new friend. Annie apparently was not so quick to make friends with her. They spent about 5 minutes yelling at each other about which one was bigger (The other girl was 3, so she was older, if not bigger. Height-wise they were about the same.).

At one point when I was chasing Ryan up the stairs the "friend" told me, "she (Annie) said she's going to beat me up." And yes, Annie was yelling something about beating her, but I think it was in the racing sense, not punching, though you never can quite be sure with Annie.

And the fun park trip ended just about as well as it began: 

Annie didn't get a nap yesterday, and making her leave the fun park is always an ordeal, even when she's well rested. At least they had fun while we were there. :)

Playing around

I borrowed my parents' wheelbarrow to move some of the rock in our backyard to the front to fill in some places where the rock was too thin and you could see the dirt. Annie and Ryan tried to help. By hitching a ride. 

 

Ryan actually didn't like riding much, but really liked trying to move the wheelbarrow. In fact, he did move it a few inches here. Strong boy.

He tried to move it with Rachel in it, but was (thankfully) unsuccessful.

 

We had popcorn for a bedtime snack one day last week. (Some how it always turns out that on days that I sweep and vacuum someone requests, or I decide to make popcorn. There's nothing that more quickly undoes what I do with a vacuum than my kids with popcorn.) They liked sitting around in their pajamas eating popcorn.

 

Annie and Ryan both were laying back chillin' on the couch with their bowls of popcorn. It made me chuckle to see them chilling out together.

 

And the "bunk bed" table continues to be a favorite. Of course Ryan was happy that the CD player got kicked off the shelf because it has BUTTONS! But he's always willing to take a quick break from pushing buttons when he hears the camera beep to say cheese (tseeees!). 

 

Backyard fun

We pulled out the baby pool after the girls saw it sitting in the shed, and Annie pestered me about it several times a day for two or three days. Annie, however, is not a swimmer. She will not get in the pool, except for very occasionally, and then she stays standing. She likes getting water out of the pool and dumping it on the ground, or her brother's head, or her sister's lap:

Ryan is a little fish and loves being in the pool. And Rachel found her goggles, and has been practicing putting her face in the water and floating, as much as you can in a baby pool. 

 

 

Possibly the most exciting part of the "swimming" experience was dumping all the water out and the huge puddle it created. Jumping in puddles need not wait until monsoon season starts in a few months.

(Ryan saw the camera. "Cheese!")

Last Saturday we had a BBQ to get to know our new neighbors. Ryan helped with taste-testing the avocado dip. He liked it.

 

Good times were had by all at the BBQ. Every time we do something like this (every year or two) I think, "We ought to do this more often. It's so fun." But then it's another year or two before we get around to it.

Knowing that most of our neighbors had no small children we decided to invite a couple families that have girls the same age as our girls. They ended up all dressed in princess dressups, running around having a ball up on the balcony. We couldn't quite get everyone to look our way at the same time. But they were having fun.

 

 

Overall the BBQ was a success. The kids had a blast, and the adults had a good time and learned all about how the former occupants of our house were 60+ year-old marajuana growers, and other exciting stories. :)

Kids at work

The kids have been hard at work being kids. 

Annie is saying some really funny things lately. Unfortunately I always think I'll remember them, then forget before I get around to writing them down most of the time. She has taken to calling me mudduh. I guess it's because Rachel calls me mother sometimes, for some unknown reason, and apparently Annie has taken a liking to it and won't call me anything else, except for the occasional middle-of-the-night "Mommy!" The other day in the car Rachel and Annie were having a conversation about Jacob:

R: Do you know who Jacob is?

A:

R: What's Dad's name?

A: Daddy is my fawduh! He's at work.

R: Yeah, but what's his name? (in a very patient, condescending voice)

A: My fawduh is Dad.

R: Yeah, and what is his name?

A: Dad!

R: No, his name is Jacob.

A: No. My fawduh is Dad. He is not Jacob. Dad is my fwend! 

Annie can be a sneaky little devil sometimes. The other day when Rachel was at preschool and Ryan was taking his morning nap I realized the house had been quiet for a little while, so I went to investigate. I heard music coming from the girls' room, and when I got there the closet doors were closed all the way, which they never are. I opened them and found this:

 

Our little Annie had found the iPad and instead of asking Mom if she could watch it and risk a "no" answer, she went to hide in the closet to watch it. Smart girl.

Last night I called up to Annie to tell her to come down for dinner. She yelled back, "Okay! Annie to the rescue!" Later, during dinner I was talking to Rachel about the Junie B. Jones books she got at the library, and turned to Annie and said, "Annie B. Jones, do you want more squash?" or something along those lines. She replied, "I not Annie B. Jones. I Annie to the rescue!"She's hilarious.

Ryan has become quite the cheeseball. He has his fake laugh to join in when everyone else is around him. And when we pull out the camera he immediately gets a big smile and says "eeees" (cheese).

He loves tools and anything he's not supposed to play with. He was especially happy to "help" me put this cabinet together. He kept climbing in, thwarting my efforts every step of the way.

He's getting lots more words every day. He says A-ee (Annie), aych (Rach), vvvvv (vroom), dah dah (dog), eeeow (meow, which apparently dogs and cats both say), ed (bed), da da (daddy), shs (shoes), da (diaper), and more. I think it's interesting that both of the girls first words mostly started with b (ball, bath, bottle, bup (up), etc.), but Ryan doesn't have any words starting with b yet. He's just not into his lip sounds, I guess. He occasionally says mama, but prefers to call me dada. He likes his tongue more for making sounds than his lips, I guess. Including blowing raspberries, and sticking his tongue out as far as it goes, which he thinks is hilarious. 

When Ryan was younger, before he was walking, he would sit on the ground and spin himself around on his butt, pushing himself around with his feet. It was so funny. Last night in the tub he decided to bring back the fun and spun around and around and around saying vvvv (vroom) until he got so dizzy he would tip over. Then he'd start again. That kid loves baths. He blows bubbles, floats on his tummy and splashes so much that Annie sometimes wants to get out. The girls have issues with their faces getting wet sometimes, but not Ryan. I wouldn't be surprised if Ryan is swimming like a fish in a year or two.

Rachel has been having a hard time controlling her temper sometimes lately. But she's learning that when she's mad it's okay to go in a room by yourself, or hit a pillow or a couch, instead of her preferred method of screaming like a banshee and throwing things. So the other day she was mad at me and made her own room that no one else was allowed to come in. In the laundry room. Later when she had calmed down she let Annie join her and they had lots of fun.

Rachel is getting to be a huge reader. She reads small chapter books, like Junie B. Jones, and the Magic Treehouse, and most of the time her temper tantrums come when she's reading and I ask her to help clean up, or do something for me. She loves to read and is really good at it. 

She is also very artistic and loves to make things. She colors, cuts, glues, and paints whenever I let her get out the stuff. At Michael's the other day they had these $1 bird houses, so we got one for both of the girls and they had a fun time painting them. They're hanging up outside now and every day the girls run out to see if the birds have found their houses yet. (They haven't.)

FHE refreshments this week were strawberries with Nutella. And so we had the bearded ladies:

And Ryan, the cool dude:

He loves sunglasses. He'll put them on me (poking my eyes in the process), then take them off and put them on himself, and smile proudly, then take them off and put them on me, and on and on. I think he even says some version of glasses, but I can't remember how he says it at the moment.

So, there's our kid update. They're all doing great and having lots of fun living. And they're fed, clothed (most of the time), and alive at the end of the day, so I must be doing something right. :)

Pima County Fair

Last Monday Jake came home from work a little early and we headed out to the fair. The girls were so excited about it. They enjoyed the rides (except for the snake roller coaster, which Annie declared much too scary). We got some action shots on the rides. Annie was so excited to ride in the car.

 

I got to be the "supervising companion" on several rides. I even got a sticker. 

 

 

This one was kind of a boring fun house, but Rachel liked it well enough.

 

 

The spinning dragons, much like the spinning teacups were a hit. This was Rachel's favorite ride two years ago when Aunt Cari came with us. The girls had fun. I was wishing Aunt Cari was here to ride some of the rides with them. :) (On the ride home we mentioned something about Cari coming last time and the awesome fun of the afternoon was quickly forgotten as Rachel broke down crying "I miss Aunt Cari!" Oops. Lesson learned: Don't mention Cari EVER unless we will see her within the next day or two.)

Annie waved at our fans sitting on the sidelines (Grandma Knight, Ryan and Jacob). Ryan waved back. He's communicating more and more all the time, with sign a little, though we haven't taught him near as much as we taught Rachel, or even Annie, but with words, too.

 

The petting zoo was a huge hit, as always. You'd think that Ryan might be afraid of the animals that were almost all bigger than him. You'd be wrong. He LOVED it. He kept saying "dah dah!" (dog dog). 

 

Ryan loved this pig. He kept trying to bend over to see it's face.

 Yes, Ryan loved this place, except for the one time a rude goat knocked him over.

 Luckily that pig was still close by, so he cheered right back up.

After a bit of searching we found the traditional favorite, the carousel. Last time Annie rode on a big carousel like this the horses going up and down freaked her out. So we pointed out one that didn't move, or said she could sit on the bench. She opted for the bench. Happily waiting:

 We were among the first ones on, so we had to wait a long time. Too long.

 By the time the ride started moving Annie changed her mind and wanted to ride a horse. But I had Ryan and her on the bench, and couldn't muscle two kids to standing while it was moving, so I wrestled with a crying, wiggling, strong little girl the whole time. She finally settled down when I told her we would ride it again and she could ride a horse. Which turned out to be a lie. Instead we got cotton candy and Annie nearly fell asleep riding in Ryan's stroller while waiting for one last ride.

 We successfully wore everyone out and had a good time doing it. Glad the fair only comes once a year. :) And next year, Cari, you'd better come down. ;)