More Trunk-or-Treat Pictures

Okay, it seems that blogger.com or my internet service or whatever was causing the problem is all fixed now, so here are the rest of the pictures from Saturday night:

Sam in a more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed moment:

Sam in a much less bright-eyed and bushy-tailed moment (he pooped out about 1/2 way through the trunk-or-treating):

Noah taking a break to enjoy a sucker:

At home after the party:

Our cute little lion cubs:

Trunk-or-Treat

Saturday night our church had a Halloween party, complete with a "Trunk or Treat" where people decorated their car trunks and the kids trick or treated around the parking lot. There were also games and dinner inside the building. It was so much fun, and Noah got so into the trick or treating. It was seriously so cute - he learned to say "trick or treat" (which became more and more audible as he got more comfortable) and "thanks!" after getting his candy. He was so adorable walking around the parking lot with his little pumpkin container. He really cashed in on the candy too - I'm enjoying some of his spoils at this very moment (it's the responsible mom thing to do - after all, I can't let my toddler eat all that candy himself, right?)! Sam had fun observing all the action, but got a little worn out toward the end and konked out.

Both our boys were little lion cubs - Noah referred to himself as "Mr. Lion." A big thank you to my friend Libby for loaning me Sam's costume. I had a mild snafu with Noah's costume. I had borrowed a lion costume from my sister but didn't think to try it on Noah until last week. Well, it was too small. Plus it was yellow and orange, not brown, so it looked a little bit girlie (her daughter wore it a couple of years ago). The combo of the colors and the too-small size made Noah look like (to quote my sister) "a fancy pants lion," which is definitely not what I was going for. Anyway, as any mom will tell you, you're in big trouble if you wait until mid-October to go looking for Halloween costumes because all the good ones are taken. But I totally lucked out and found his cute lion costume on clearance at Babies R Us. Halloween catastrophe averted! Anyway, after that long tangent, here are some pictures from the evening:

Although you can't tell from the picture, Noah really did have a fun time and looooooved dressing up. He just gets a little weirded out by cameras sometimes. :)

Evidently blogger.com is taking issue with uploading so many pictures on one post so I think I'll have to post the pictures in phases. Stay tuned!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It is pouring outside right now! We are having a great thunderstorm. Contrary to what my title would make you think, I actually love listening to the rain - when I'm nice and dry inside of course. This morning, however, that was not the case. It's been raining off and on all day. Well, after the rain stopped this morning I went walking with my friend Joy. We were having a lovely time just chatting away when the rain very suddenly returned full-force. I'm not talking about light showers either - I'm talking about a torrential downpour. It was crazy! Fortunately I had a rain cover for my double stroller so my boys stayed nice and dry. For some reason, though, Noah found the rain cover extremely offensive and kept trying to kick it off. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem because the cover is made to attach really securely to the stroller, but I had Sam's carseat clicked into his side of the stroller and I don't think the rain cover is meant to fit when the carseat attachment is there. So between that and Noah's incessent kicking, Joy and I had to hold the rain cover down. We must have been quite the sight, me pushing the stroller from behind, Joy running alongside it holding the cover on. I'm not actually sure why we bothered to run because we were completely drenched anyway - it's not like we would have been less wet if we got inside sooner. It was all very comical. I can't remember the last time I got stuck in such a heavy rainstorm. When we finally got inside Noah looked at me and said very simply, "Mama's wet."

Mr. Helpful

The puposes of this post are: 1) to sing the praises of my in-unit washing machine and dryer and 2) to document Noah's love for helping me with the laundry.


Seriously, I love, love, love having a washer and dryer in the apartment. No more traipsing up and down three floors to do my laundry and/or going to the laundromat; no more getting rolls of quarters; no more cramming 4 people's week's worth of laundry into one day so Ben can be home to stay upstairs with the boys (or, alternately, bringing the kids with me - that was always a treat). Ahhh, it's been wonderful. I would even go so far as to say that I love doing laundry. And I really think I mean it.

My child also loves doing laundry and he asks me several times a day if he can help with the laundry. He enjoys putting the clothes in the washer and taking them out of the dryer, but his favorite part is the transfer. He'll announce "Clothes all clean!" very excitedly (often with his arms thrown up in the air) and then he'll run over to the laundry closet and wait for me to hand him the clothes from the washer for him to put in the dryer. When he gets handed a towel or something he goes "Whoa... BIG one. Heavy." Such a good little helper.

Wow, I just wrote a really long post about laundry. Sorry I'm so lame.

Bathtime

Isn't this a cute picture of my boys in the tub? Whenever I tell Noah it's time for his bath he always says "Bath - two boys!" Noah thinks it's so fun to take a bath with his brother. I think it's at least partly because I let him help me fill Sam's baby bath with water, which is apparantly great fun for a toddler. You would think that doing one bath would be less work than bathing them seperately, but sometimes it's actually more work. Tonight, for instance, I ended up draining and refilling the tub and rewashing the boys I think three times. Boy #1 would pee. Drain water, refill tub, rewash both boys. Then Boy #2 would pee. Drain, refill, rewash. Then boy #1 peed again. Sigh!

Simple Solutions

Today we experienced some joys of apartment living when our upstairs neighbors ran the water in their kitchen and caused our kitchen sink to overflow... again. (We don't live in a dump, by the way. It's a very nice apartment, but evidently the clogged pipe from last week was not properly fixed.) After calling maintenance (which is a joy of apartment living!) I just stood in the kitchen doorway watching water flow out of the sink all over the counters and the floor, under the stove and refrigerator, out of the dishwasher, and into some of the drawers under one of the counters. Noah's very matter-of-fact solution for the disaster? "Need a wet-wipe." Evidently wet-wipes are good for cleaning up any kind of mess. When I explained that, while it was a great idea, a wet-wipe was a little bit too small for this mess, Noah thought for a second and then suggested a towel. Another great idea, but I was more partial to the enormous water-sucking vacuum that the maintenance guy brought over. Although I did go through a few towels to finish the clean-up after maintenance and the plumber left. And several Clorox wet-wipes.

Brothers

One of the fun things about having two kids is seeing them interact with each other. I love watching Noah and Sam together. Noah is such a great big brother, and Sam thinks Noah is the greatest thing ever. Noah is generally very sweet and gentle with Sam and always likes to hold him (he'll hold his arms out and make grabbing motions with his hands saying "want it Sam" or "Noah's turn" when he wants to hold him). Sam really likes when Noah holds him too (usually - sometimes I think he's more bewildered by it, as you can see in this picture!) - he smiles and even laughs.

Noah usually has some sort of comment when Sam cries. He'll say things like "Sam's cheezed" or "Sam eat!" (while pointing at me so I'll remember that it's my job to feed the baby) or - my personal favorite - "Hey! What's the hub-bub, Sam?" Although one time recently Sam was really mad in the car and Noah had nothing to say about it - he just covered both ears with his hands.

Noah also likes to talk to Sam a lot. He'll get up really close to his face, as you can see in the picture below, and say things like "Hi Peanut! How are you? Having a good day?" in this really high baby-talk voice. And Sam will just smile and coo back at him.

Texas So Far

We're starting to feel pretty settled here in Sugar Land (that is until we find a house and move out of our apartment). I'm finally getting comfortable with where everything is and I feel like I can drive around without getting lost. Sugar Land's a really pretty city - so many trees and lots of green. It's different from anywhere I've ever lived before - mainly in the topography with it being so flat (I know, I just came from Illinois which is flat too, but I was in Chicago so you don't really notice it when you're living in a big city among highrises). It's not bad different though, and all the trees and walking trails and small lakes and things make it very pretty. Plus, there are some really great shopping areas. That's always a plus!

It is such a nice day here today! It's sunny with mild temperatures and a light breeze. We've actually had several great weather days lately with a whole bunch more in the forecast. I know it's incredibly boring to write about the weather, but I mention it because the weather was a serious concern for me moving to Texas. I just heard how hot and humid it is so I was very nervous. It's not that my concern is unfounded - last week it was so humid one day that my sunglasses actually fogged up when I stepped out of the car. But it's nice to know that there are plenty of really fabulous days here too!

Happiness

Tonight I was putting Noah in his jammies and he looked at me with his big blue eyes and said "I'm so happy." My heart melted.

Scootin' Sammy

I can't believe how big Sam is getting already. He just turned 3 months - I can't believe it! Here is his 3-month picture with his froggy (I take pictures every month on his birth date with the same frog so I can see his growth compared to the frog - I did the same thing with Noah and his monkey and it's so fun to look back and see his growth from month to month).



Anyway, he's getting to be a real pro at holding up his head and he just learned how to grab at toys in front of him. Another thing he's starting to master is scooting himself along on his back. When I lay him in the crib to look at the mobile he'll rotate himself around. The other day he was laying under his Gymini and I left the room for a couple of minutes. When I came back he had scooted himself right off the Gymini mat! Apparantly this pooped him out because he had fallen asleep! It was so cute I just had to take a picture (his eyes look slightly open from this view, but he's totally out).

Terms of Endearment

Noah is such a funny little guy. I have to resist the urge to try and recap all the funny things he he has said and done pre-blog. Anyway, like all 2-year-olds, he picks up on everything we say and it's so cute to hear him apply the things we say to his own situations. One thing he does lately is use terms of endearment. For example, normally when he wakes up from his nap I'll hear him call out "Mama, Mama" for me to come and get him out of his crib. But yesterday instead of calling for Mama he called out "Hon! Hon? Hon!" It was so funny. Another time I went to get him up in the morning and as soon as I opened the door he smiled at me and said "Good Morning, Sweetie!" He'll also say "Hi, Sweetie!" to my mom and dad when he's talking to them on the phone. Then last night when Ben was changing his clothes after work Noah started looking for him calling out "Babe? Babe?" And just now I had Sam laying under his Gymini and Noah layed down by him and got really close to his face and said "Hi, Little Guy!" It's so sweet to hear him use little pet names for us all.

Hi There!

I love reading my friends' blogs so I thought I would join the world of blogging myself. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it.

So I thought I'd start off by posting a picture of my little family. Sadly, I only have family pictures from two occasions - Sam's birth and Sam's blessing day. And of course the one from Sam's birth I'm in hospital get-up (very attractive) and the day of Sam's blessing was impossible to get a shot with all of us looking at the camera. Alas, this is the best I've got so here they are.





I do have a more recent picture of my little boys. I took this the other night. And yes, I am the kind of mom who dresses her kids in matching pjs - but only sometimes, I promise!



So there we are. Welcome to our blog!