Miscellaneous...

I wish I was a great writer like a couple of my friends... every blog post they write seems so eloquent and so well thought out.

Alas, I'm a numbers gal.

So, I'm just adding a post with my random notes about what my kids have been doing lately to crack me up...

LUKE:

• The other night, we were talking about getting a pizza for dinner. I said, "Pizza Hut or Papa John's?" and he replied by saying "papa's in the house". I think he's seen a few of the commercials.
• There's a pesky fly in our house right now. It was on my chair tonight and he said we should try to kill it with the "shoo-fly bugger".
• At the grocery store the other night, Luke's eyes got big and he excitedly asked for some cookies that he saw... I asked what kind... he said, "the chocolate on top and chocolate on bottom with vanilla in the middle cookies". Thankfully, Nabisco figured out a shorter name - Oreos. I told Luke what they were really called, and each time he asked for one after that, he asked for "Wareos."
• When he was younger, he used to call the movie theater the "R" movies. (Not because of the movies we took him too, but because our theater is called "Rave" and has a giant "R" on the side of the building. ) He doesn't call it the "R" movies anymore, but says we should go to the "Movie ahveater".
  

MARISSA:

• Everyone's name is eye-yah. At first, we heard it mostly when she was talking to Luke and we thought it was her way to say "brother". But now, we notice that anyone is "eye-yah" except for Mommy, Daddy, Grandma & Papa.
  
• Her word for blanket is "ah-bet". No matter who you are or how often you're around her, you'll hear this word for sure.
• I may have mentioned this before - but just in case - Marissa won't say the word please. She says the p sound instead... this started because her babysitter was trying to get her to switch from signing please to saying it and was emphasizing the p sound.
• This girl knows no strangers. The other night, I took the kids down to Scott's work to meet him for dinner. She waved at everyone she met and gave a hearty "Bye" as we left... she even blew kisses at one of the workers!
• She still prefers sucking on her bottom lip to a pacifier. That girl has not used a pacifier for a day in her life!

Of course, there are a thousand other things I should be writing down, but that's all I can think of for now... since this blog takes the place of a baby book (I know - it's terrible!), I want to be sure and put as much as I can on here!

Changing Cups

It's silly when you think about it... a trip to the bank usually involves us driving by 15 other banks on the way there. In fact, when we go the "back way" to our bank, there's an intersection where there is literally a bank on each corner.

Luke knew we were going to the bank, and as we sat at that corner, he asked "Mommy, is that the bank where you will change cups?"

Change cups? I admit I was slow on the uptake, but he quickly explained how you pull up to the cup and put your money in and then push the button to change cups.

I love the way he sees the world.

Yard Work

More of my husband's handiwork... We had a pretty steep area by the side of the house that would not grow grass. Scott decided to build a 2 level flower bed... The top level has shrubs and the bottom layer has flowers. It's a nice little touch to the backyard. And we don't have to look at the bare dirt anymore!


I am certainly not the gardeners that my mom & my aunts are... unfortunately, that gene did not get passed on! But I do manage to get my lillies to come back each year. These lillies were first started at my duplex (2 houses ago). When I moved to my first house, I took 3 bulbs and planted them at the side of the garage. They multiplied enough that I split them a couple of times and moved them to various spots. When we moved to this house, of course I had to bring a few. I think I brought 3 (maybe 4) to this house. This is our 3rd summer here and you can see how they've multiplied! I LOVE these flowers - they're so pretty!

Career Day

In 10+ years of life in the accounting world, one thing I've decided is that my kids will grow up to do something they love. I don't LOVE accounting. I'm good at it, but I certainly don't love it. I want my kids to grow up to do what they LOVE.

I thought these conversations were way off in the future... but lo and behold, the other night, Luke announced that he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up.

Me: What's that Luke? What do you want to be when you grow up?

Luke: A chicken clown.

Me: [nothing at first! What would you have said?] Really? What does a chicken clown do?

Luke: [in a very matter-of-fact tone] They juggle chickens on plates.

Me: Oh, I see. Where did you see this? On one of your cartoons? On a movie?

Luke: No, Mommy. It's just what I want to do.


Let's just hope there are more career conversations to come...

Love these people!

Mother's Day

I had another great mother's day... my kids made special flowers out of tissue paper complete with a card (thanks, Jen!) and my husband gave me an iTunes card so I can download my Glee music.

We were at my mom & dad's for the weekend. My brother was also in town. The weather was crazy windy and a little cold on Saturday, but that didn't stop the kids from getting out on their tractor. Sunday was nicer, so of course that meant more time out on the tractor!

Luke loves his Uncle Wade!

thanks to Scott for taking the picture!

sweetest kids in the world!

Extracising

Luke loves to "extracise". That's how he says it. He not only loves to play with the treadmill (see Invention post), but he loves to run and walk on it. He knows how it works and he knows how fast he can go.

I had to post some video of him extracising... and please forgive my laughter in the background. It still cracks me up.

Inventions

Luke has a new favorite thing to do in the playroom...

He will say "Come see my new invention".

This is code for turn on the treadmill and make a giant mess.

I do love the creativity of it... it started with the play food bucket. He would take out the play food (say, an apple) and put it near the top of the treadmill belt. Then, he'd turn on the treadmill and the apple would make its way down the "assembly" belt. Soon, the food bucket was empty, thanks to the help of his assistant, Marissa, who would hand him something each time an item fell off the belt.

Every toy in that playroom has been on the assembly line... big toys, little toys, you name it.

Swingset

Luke & Marissa now have something to do outside in this wonderful April weather! Thanks, Grandma K!


Much unlike Rome, this swingset WAS built in a day! Thanks to some Saturday help from our good friend, Brian, it was assembled and ready to play on by Sunday afternoon! It has a rock wall for climbing, a ladder, and a slide. You can also see the glider swing (which is VERY high and looks like an accident waiting to happen if you ask me!) and 2 swings. Believe it or not, we tried to be proactive by purchasing the toddler swing, but lo and behold, Marissa would rather swing on the regular swing! Of course she would!

Luke has developed quite the imagination, so this set includes some pretty fancy extras, like an "attic" where he stores his "engine", a food shop where you can order anything from a hot dog to crunchy bugs, a lair for Batman and his entire entourage, and various other things.

We've already logged quite a few hours on the swingset, so we're looking forward to a fun summer outside!!

No, I didn't quit!

No, I didn't quit the blog! I've been busy... LOL.

I haven't posted since Christmas which means there's no way to catch up on everything... in summary, we had a nice holiday with Scott's sisters and brother and their families; we played in the snow several times since we had so much this winter, and the winter highlight was probably our trip to Disney World with Grandma & Grandpa Ellis!

The other thing I realize is that it means I haven't posted for almost 4 months of Luke & Marissa's little lives! They have changed so much in the past few WEEKS, let alone months! I'm so grateful that my friend / babysitter Jennifer writes down the things they do each week! She's kept a better record of my kids than I have! Thanks, Jen!

About Luke...

• rides his bike (with training wheels) any time he has a chance
• knows alot of shapes, including parallelograms (which I love to hear him say that word!)
• can almost write his name! The "L" and the "U" are good... "K" needs some help, and the "E" looks like a comb because he puts so many lines on it.
  
• enjoys hitting golf balls off the tee in the back yard
• plays "Lego Batman" on the x-box and knows all the little tricks
  
• buckles himself in the carseat
• gets dressed by himself in the morning
• potty-trained! (still use a pull-up at night)

About Marissa...

• has lots of words, including mommy, daddy, bye, puppy, mine, baby, up, brother, all done, and various other words that only WE know.
  
• she eats like every meal is her last! vegetables, fruit, meat, junk - you name it, she'll eat it!
• she's tough! scrapes and bruises all over the place
• personality plus! And she certainly makes it known when she doesn't get her way.
  
• she has lots of teeth - 10 I think - and she has been an easy teether just like her brother. So glad these kids know how to sleep!

Scott is back to working 2nd shift, so it's just me & the kids in the evenings. As tax season wraps up, I know that I have been short on patience and haven't enjoyed my time with them like I should. Tonight, as I tried to get supper on the table, Marissa had a death grip on my leg and Luke was trying to tell me something in the midst of it all. I found myself about ready to lose my patience! Something inside me whispered "they won't be little for very long" and I literally stopped. I stopped in the middle of the kitchen and just tried to soak it all in. I've been thinking alot about how fast the kids are growing up since I talked with a few parents in the parking lot at church yesterday - they all have older kids and were teasing me about how soon they'd be asking to drive and other things that I must confess make my knees buckle. What a couple of precious gifts I've been given!

I managed to get a couple of really cute shots of Luke & Marissa all decked out for Easter. I love to see them dressed up...








I hope to be more regular with my posts after this week... It will be nice to have some "free time" after the kids go to bed instead of heading back downstairs to my office to work!