New Glasses

It's probably a good thing that I work, because if I didn't, every day would be like Saturday. And if every day was like Saturday, two things would happen for sure: one, there would be way too many baked goods in the house, and two, things like this would happen all the time, and my children would probably be even weirder than they already are.


Catherine wanted to do a craft project, and she wanted some glasses.


Not sunglasses, which she has, but "real" glasses, like Daddy.


Every time she put them on all afternoon, she would say, "Oh, NOW I can see better!"


Mary was so excited about them that she didn't even complain about Catherine claiming the only pink pipe cleaner.


And they both got to be just like Daddy.

"I have glasses. Daddy have glasses. Fafrin have glasses. I have glasses!"

General Toddler Weirdness

Mary has really been enjoying all the baby toys that we got back out for Michael. Turning anything and everything into a hat never gets old.




We had a few hot days here this week, and we all know what that means...



Eventually Catherine did get dressed because she was having a party, and she had the wonderful idea to accessorize with bow pig-tails.


So of course Mary had to have bow pig-tails as well (although she didn't follow Catherine's lead on the whole clothing thing).


She's really just a hippie at heart.


At dinner last night, I commended Catherine for chewing with her mouth closed, and she was really excited that she was doing it, but then got really sad because Daddy wasn't there to see, so she insisted I take a picture.


Daddy will be more pleased with this than you probably think.

Toes

Mary is currently impressed with the universality of many human traits. You will often hear her running through a list like this: "I have toes. You have toes. Fafrin (Catherine) have toes. Baby Michael have toes. Daddy have toes. I have toes!" Every time she is both surprised and delighted. This happens with many parts... eyes, ears, pink fingers, knees, we've even heard about bottoms (You have a bottom. I have a bottom too!").

One day Mary told baby Michael he had toes too, which was apparently quite the revelation, and now that he knows he can't get them out of his head.

This video is really boring after the fist five seconds or so, but it is what he does all day. Incidentally, the sitting-in-my-lap aspect of the video is also a requirement for most of the day. I think the heat might actually melt us together into a single person.



He did sit in the swing by himself the other day for about four whole minutes, only because his giant head and general instability worked together to make him accidentally discover that he could make the swing go wildly by throwing his upper body forward now and then. He was pretty pleased with himself.

Recovering

We jumped from a fun, busy weekend with family right back into normal Monday work schedule, except normal Monday work was actually extra busy since I took Friday off, so I really haven't taken the time to pick up my camera or notice anything going on around me. However I found some pictures from the past few weeks that never made it online that I'll share so I don't feel like I'm completely neglecting you. : )

I just noticed that these are all of Mary, so we'll just call this an extension of Mary's birthday week posts.

This is what happens when you take Mary to the park.


This is what happens when you give Mary sunglasses.


This is what happens when you give Mary stickers.


This is what happens when you catch Mary doing something she thinks she probably wasn't supposed to do.


There are also some pictures from Michael's baptism on Grandma's blog.

Happy Birthday Grandpa T

Grandpa T's birthday was actually yesterday, but technical difficulties prevented this video from making it online then.

Mary received this microphone for her birthday and the girls have been using it pretty much nonstop since then.

Michael's Baptism

You're going to be sadly disappointed in the number of pictures I have for you in this post. We had a wonderful and eventful day, but this is the only picture I have:


We started the day out early with beach church, then headed to the Brewster church pretty soon after because I had to finish setting up and get the food in the oven for the brunch after church. With a lot of help from grandmas, grandpas, and friends, I managed to prepare and serve brunch for about 50 people, and although I didn't stop to eat, everyone seemed to enjoy the morning!

Michael was a little angel for his baptismal service. He looked at everyone, kicked his feet a lot, didn't cry at all, and smiled at me for a long time after Daddy poured water on his head (and he usually hates when anything touches his head). He was happy to let anyone hold him while I was busy with the food, and the girls were just as good during the service and celebration. It really was a great day.

Have I mentioned my fridge has been broken since Friday? I woke up Friday morning ready to prepare for Mary's party and then make a giant shopping trip and spread brunch prep out over Friday and Saturday, only to find out my fridge was about 60 degrees. Were it not for the generosity of our delightful friends Craig and Holly, who let me both take over their basement freezer and let us borrow a small fridge now in the dining room, I might have cancelled the whole weekend!

But honestly I don't think the fridge breaking right as I was trying to prepare food for more people than I've ever cooked for before will be the thing I remember about this weekend. It was a joy to be able to celebrate Mary's birthday and Michael's baptism with grandparents and great-grandparents and friends. Grandma actually arranged the spare bedroom (and even put the window air conditioner in) while she was here, and I think someone should be in it pretty much... always (and the kids agree - trust me). Who's coming to visit next?

ps - hopefully Grandma has more pictures... I'll be keeping an eye on her blog.

Happy Birthday Mary!

On this day in 2008, we were celebrating the fact that Mary was born in a hospital and not in our car. I have to admit, today was a bit more fun than that.

Early this morning the kids helped me make the cupcakes for Mary's party. Mary checked on them in the oven every 10 seconds.


After lunch we had a small party with friends and neighbors at the park right down the street. The kids decorated sun visors with sparkly stickers while everyone arrived.



And then we of course spent most of the time playing on the playground.

Mary went down the slides with everyone.



Lots of playing on the swings.



And racing on the dinosaur by the Green Team.


Then we corralled everyone for cupcakes, which was actually slightly more difficult than you would imagine with a group of preschoolers - at first they just wanted to keep playing.




All the great-grandparents enjoyed watching the commotion.


As soon as each of the kids had swallowed a cupcake whole and washed it down with some watermelon, they all took off back to the playground.



(Thanks to Grandma for all the park pictures, as I did not even take my camera out of the bag).

We didn't have presents at the park party, but did have a little gift bag for each of the kids which included some of these bracelets that pleased Mary to no end.


Grandma and Grandpa had given Mary her new big wheel tricycle earlier in the day, and in the evening she opened some more presents from the grandparents:

A Dora floor puzzle which she took off with so quickly that I didn't even get a picture (it has already been put together twice), Dora pajamas that she is currently sleeping in, some movies that will be watched hundreds of times,


an awesome princess card,


and a microphone that makes your voice really loud (as if either of the girls needs help in amplification!) and also give you applause - they love it.


Catherine was so excited the whole time it was very difficult for her not to "help" Mary open all her presents.


Mary was completely exhausted by bed time, but she definitely had a very fun day, and we still have two more days with family before they have to head home!

Yeah!! The house is full of grandparents! I know, because neither of the girls will read a book with me, cook with me, hold my hand, let me help them take a bath, or go on a walk with me, and I only saw baby Michael today when he was crying or hungry. The kids know how to take advantage of grandparent time.

Actually, so do I. Michael and I gave everyone a couple hours to get settled when they arrived yesterday afternoon, then left the whole crew to their own devices and went out to dinner for our anniversary. After two hours of enjoying delicious seafood at a table overlooking the ocean and managing a few topics of conversation that did not involve the children, we returned home to glowing reports of the kids' behavior, even baby Michael. Who knows... we might sneak out again before they all leave!

I still had to squeeze in some work today, which did not bother the girls at all - they kept everyone busy. After dinner we took Grandma and Grandpa to the beach.

Grandpa volunteered to go in the water with the girls. My hero.

Mary ran right out into the water with him, because she knew when she got there...


Weeeeeeeeeeeee!


Catherine saw the fun and headed out too...


Weeeeeeeeeeeee!


This happens to Mary a lot at the beach. She thinks the little waves are really funny and harmless. Then one knocks her over, and one right behind it goes over her head. See, this picture is the "in between" where the wave behind her pushed her down, and the one building in front of her is about to get her head very wet.


It makes her cry and whine and run out of the water begging for a towel, then she goes right back to running in the waves.


Or crawling, as the case may be.


Although she does sometimes feel more comfortable playing in the little pools made when the tide comes and floods the holes people like to dig in the sand.


Grandma stayed out of the water, which was fine with Michael. They got to watch the fun from the beach.


And play with their toes.


And smile at each other.



Going to the beach never gets old - I think the kids somehow find it more exciting every time we go!