Julia's Joke III

 

 

After opening the blinds one morning:
Me: Wow, it is a foggy morning!
Julia: Let me see.
After looking out the window for a couple minutes:
Julia: Where are all the froggies? I don't see any froggies. Maybe they all hopped away.

"Does a moose say oose?"

Julia: I am going to pick out a special sweater.
Me: Yes, you should pick out something special because it's Valentine's Day!
Julia: This is a special sweater because it's clean.

"My rice doesn't like my belly."

Playing with cards:
Me: Do you want me to shuffle?
Julia: No! I'm going to snuffalo!

"I don't like it when lizards scratch my face."

Getting ready to "read" her bible, Julia turns to the story of Creation:
"How God created God."

While I adjusted an unruly diaper before bed:
"Stop it! That's my toot! My toot wants to be alone!"

Rubbing her eyes:
"I'm getting the nap out of my eyes."

 Me: Julia, look up and smile.

Julia: What is that book?
Me: I Love You because You're You.
Julia: Oh, I Love You by Your Knees.
She then proceeded to read each page of the book, "I love you by your knees and I love you by your knees." "I love you by your knees and I love you by your knees."

Julia: What are you doing?
Me: Clipping my nails because they were getting long.
Julia: Oh, are my nails getting tall?

"My tea is calling to me."

"Sometimes I'm big like a squirrel."

"Sometimes when I eat, my teeth growl."

Freezing February

February was a very cold month this year. At least we had a good amount of snow to play with!

This little guy especially loves the snow!

 

 

 

We kept busy with our usual activities, and of course Valentine's Day was a fun day. We stayed home, and Andy had to go out and work through much of it, but we had some special meals, treats, and activities throughout the day. Philip had fun making Valentine's and so he continued to make them throughout the month. For his best buddies (girls) across the street, he gave a special gift of a bag of rocks and two Dum Dums. He's gonna be a heartbreaker some day, I tell you!

Valentine's Day smoothie faces

Looks like a handlebar mustache

Andy had a trip to Seattle where he gave about four days worth of talks and presentations. He had a great experience and loved being back in Seattle where his family is originally from. He was able to visit his Uncle and catch up with some other friends and acquaintances in between events. Though it went a great trip, we were certainly happy to have that major event over and done with!

Andy's parents were nice enough to come up for a visit while Andy was in Seattle (and stayed a bit before and after, too). We had a great time together! I enjoyed the adult company, the kids had fun playing games and reading stories with their Grandparents, and I enjoyed the benefit of having a cook, a dishwasher, and a handyman full-time in our home! The most eagerly anticipated event of their trip was the party the kids were going to have with their Grandparents while Andy and I went out on a date. Grandma talked it up for a week and let the kids pick the menu. On the way home from school, Philip asked if they could decorate for the party, and so we spent the rest of the day hanging up balloons and birthday banners, and handing out invitations to everyone in the family. Andy and I had a wonderful dinner at a new-to-us restaurant in Annapolis. The kids had pizza and ice cream cones (with candles on top) and then got to watch the Octonauts while eating popcorn before bed! They went straight to sleep without any stories after that, so Grandma and Grandpa must have really tuckered them out!

One night at the end of the month, I told Julia her hair was getting long and she would need to get it cut soon. She surprised us all the next morning by letting us know that she wanted to get her hair cut that day and that we were all to go with her. She was very brave and did a great job sitting in the chair and doing what the hairdresser asked of her. She had a very serious face the whole time and was certainly ready for it to be finished towards the end. The end result was so cute and it is so easy to pull back with just a little a clip now that doesn't fall out immediately! I have many cute pictures from this milestone event, but I'll just subject you to six!

 Before

Doesn't she look like such a little baby in these pics?

Her only smile during the haircut

After - look at that self-confidence!

In kid news, Philip continues to do well in school and is making progress in his alphabet and other skills. He loves to play games and seems to be naturally good at them. Good luck beating him at Memory! I am starting to find out that he has no memories of things that happened, or even things he liked (favorite toys, shows, songs, etc.) from a couple years ago. It seems like it was just yesterday that many of these things took place, so it is crazy to think that he has already forgotten them!

Field trip to a Lego play place

Blueberry sandwich!

 

 

Little Miss, "I can do it myself!" is continuing to progress in her independence. She wants to get dressed the moment she wakes up. After I went out for a mani-pedi Mom's Night Out, she wanted to have her nails done as well, and we have probably painted them at least four times since! She hates it when I am not paying complete attention to her. When she starts talking, if I am listening to someone else (who was talking first), she will yell and scream, "I was talking to you!" This was especially difficult during Grandma and Grandpa's visit because not only was her attention divided with her brother, but with two other people as well. She was pretty extremely short-tempered that week!

February was a fun month, but we are looking forward to longer days and warmer weather ahead!

Philip Funnies XVI

 

 

Philip: Can we play outside when it's slippery?
Me: You have to be really careful if you go outside.
Philip: I'll go easy on it.

Grabbing a huge block of snow and taking a bite out of it:
"Now I have my whole dinner."

After playing in the snow for about an hour:
"My hands are so cold, I can't even believe my hands."

After tucking his stuffed bunnies into his bed, Philip comes downstairs.
"Everyone needs to be quiet because my bunnies are hibernating."

Me: Did you play outside at school today?
Philip: Yes, we went outside for 45 minutes.
Me: 45 minutes! (Class is only 2.5 hours)
Philip: Too long? We just went outside for 5 hours.

Philip: When I get older, I am going to be a car driver...but where will you sit?
Me: Pointing to the passenger seat. Well, when you are first learning to drive, I'll sit here.
Philip: And Daddy will sit in the back?
This is a funny/sweetie. I love that Philip can't imagine going anywhere without Mom and Dad, even when he gets older.

"Trust me, I've been doing this for years."

After turning off all the lights on our main floor one evening, "This is going to be the best dark ever!"

On the way to a baby shower, Julia was starting to fall to sleep.
"Wake up, Julia! I want you to see the (yet to be born) baby!"
"Do you think Julia will be bigger than the baby?"

Pointing to a structure he built, "This is my Acenodder."

Seeing some droppings outside:
Julia: What is that?
Me: Hmmm, I don't know.
Philip: I think it's from Santa's reindeer.

Playing Mom's Night Out:
"My Mom's Night Out is the best! They have bathrooms there and sleeping beds!"
Sounds like he knows what a Mom wants (minus the wine).

"...and out!"

January Journal

January seemed to fly by this year, which is always welcome in my book since I am not a fan of winter!

Yes, we made our gingerbread house in January

We saw some snow this month. The kids loved it, especially Philip, and we spent hours outside. I got them a sled this year (last year I didn't think about it until after the stores had all sold out), so that was a fun addition to the snowy festivities.

 

Body surfing works too!

I took a photography class at the beginning of the month and am trying to experiment with the settings on my camera. I also went on a day-long retreat for my bible study program, Walking with Purpose. It was a wonderful day!

Andy went on retreat the last weekend of the month and had an amazing experience. He also spent much of the weekends preparing for some major presentations he will be giving in February.

After dinner Bible stories with Dad

We took the kids duckpin bowling one weekend and they loved it. This was the first time they were able to last through a full game! We also took them to a bounce house place on MLK day when Andy was off of work.

Julia beat us all

We were able to participate in the March for Life as a family this year. The weather was perfect and it is always an inspiring day when you see so many young people stand up for life! We also visited a couple Catholic schools this month and we are praying about what will be the best option for Philip next year as he enters Kindergarten.

The kids are a lot of fun. They have started to go off and play alone together for short bits of time. It is amazing, and oh so helpful to have them occupied (without getting into trouble) for a while. They started off the year on a healthy kick, trying to exercise with me each day. Their zeal has since passed, but it was fun and so cute to see them trying to imitate the moves on my exercise DVDs.

Philip is convinced that summer is nearly upon us, now that Christmas is over. He likes to find out when he will be different ages, "When will I be 9? When will I be 16? When will I be 43? He also likes to ask us, "Do you promise?" especially when we haven't agreed to what he is asking for yet. "Can I have a special (dessert)? Do you promise?" And he cracks us up by randomly telling us, "Speak the truth!"

I'm afraid that Julia has a case of the twosies and she is getting increasingly impatient and hysteric about lots of little things each day. I am trying to wrap my head around this whole paradigm shift - Philip (who was tough from the beginning) is getting easier, and sweet little Julia is getting to be the challenging one.

Julia is very much into being independent and especially exerts herself when getting into and out of the car.  She is getting into more trouble these days, but is often quick to snap out of it. When she realizes she is being taken to the stairs for Time Out, she will quickly tell me, "I'm going to be nice." Sometimes it's true, sometimes it isn't...

She loves stories, but it can often be difficult to read to her because she is constantly interrupting to ask questions. She also continues to "read" stories on her own and it is amazing what she remembers from different books and also fun to hear what she makes up. She usually makes up a sentence for each page and then repeats that sentence 3-4 times before turning the page. She likes to have us sit down and read a book aloud while she sits next to us reading her own. She also loves to ask "Why." I know all this inquisitiveness will serve her well. Julia is enjoying being at the counter with me while I cook and also likes to "wash the dishes," which always leads to puddles on the floor and wet clothes, but at least she stays busy for a while! She likes to know who gave her each article of clothing, book, and toy she owns and will let us know who she got each thing from when she is using it. I have certainly got a sharp one on my hands!

 

These two little ones are growing up much too quickly for my taste, but they sure are fun to watch!

Julia's Jokes II

At the playground:
"There are two slides here. One for Daddy and one for the cat."

Seeing my pjs.
"Maybe one day I can get jammies like those. "
Pointing to her ballerina footie pajamas.
"Maybe you can have some like these one day. When you get tiny, you can try these on."

While watching a show where Santa loses his reindeer:
"Mommy, Santa lost his donkey."

At the tree farm, which was a pumpkin patch a couple months earlier. Julia noticed that the pumpkin patch had been mowed over and asked, "Why is it all pump'ed out?"

Trying to zip up her jacket:
"It's not zippening!"

"This is baby Jesus. I'm not baby Jesus. I'm a girl."

"Now I'm going to drive to South Carolina. Everyone hold on tight!"

After showing her some new socks, Julia wondered why she needed new ones.
Me: Well, you are getting older and so your whole body is growing, including your feet!
Julia: My feets are growing up! Why are my feets growing up?

Me: Why don't you read a story?
Julia: No, I  can't!  'Cause I'm too old!

Andy: Who do you want to pray for tonight?
Julia: Ummm...Christoff and the reindeer.

What I Remember from December

December - what a fun month! I love how joyful and cozy it feels even though the days are short and cold.

 

When we returned from our Thanksgiving trip it was already Advent. We were staying home for Christmas this year which meant more cleaning and preparations than usual, but also the joy of being at home on Christmas morning. I have learned the last couple years to tone things down in December - I don't take the kids out to as many activities during the day and we try not to schedule extra get-togethers with friends this month. It helps me to get my list checked off at a more relaxed pace, and allows us to focus more on Advent.

We did have some fun, of course!

A "wild" lunch we had with friends

I had planned to go out in October or November to get Christmas pictures of my kids, but of course I put that off and then got stressed about personally capturing a good family photo for our cards. We ended up going to a photo studio and getting some classics for the photo albums:

Naughty and nice?

Julia did not like having all the attention focused on her and was especially mad when Mommy wasn't able to hold her for the sibling shots.

 

We did get one good one for the Christmas card, so it was worth it!

Philip and I went on a Mommy/Son date to the Symphony with Philip's preschool. They played songs from Duke Ellington's Nutcracker and a dance company performed as well. It was all geared towards children and was a wonderful event. Philip had fun riding in a school bus for the first time!

We celebrated St. Nicolas Day. Each child received an orange, a bag of gold coins, a small toy, and a Saints for Little Boys/Girls book.








We took the kids to a local nursery to visit their train garden and then picked out our Christmas tree on the way home. Philip and I both saw our tree and knew it was the one. It was beautiful. The only beef Philip ended up having with it was that it was so tall we couldn't put a star on top. He is still telling us that next year he wants to get a smaller tree so we have room for the star.

Andy and I got a baby sitter one afternoon and went to the mall for lunch and shopping. We always used to love going shopping together at Christmastime, but we haven't really done it since we had kids. It was a lot of fun to get out together, but the time flew by quickly!

My parents arrived the weekend before Christmas and we had a great time with them! Philip loves to build things with his Grandpa and Julia loves to read with Grandma.

Having Christmas morning at home with the kids was so special. We opened stockings and presents, had a nice brunch, and then went to noon Mass. Julia was so exhausted by then that she fell to sleep at Mass - there is nothing like having a child fall to sleep in your arms - such a great Christmas gift! The kids happily played the rest of the day away and we had a nice dinner together.

Hmmm, what to open next?

Wow, Andy's jacket is doing some crazy stuff in this picture!

The following day my Mom and I did a little shopping and that evening we packed up the family and went to a Christmas Light show. So pretty and fun!

We also took my parents to one of our favorite museums - the Fire Museum of Maryland. They still had their train garden up, so we enjoyed that in addition to all the beautiful fire trucks and the play room. Andy and I went out that evening to a friend's 40th birthday party and then caught a late movie afterwards.

My parents departed a few days later and their presence was missed by all. We had a nice New Year's Eve at home, playing games together and drinking hot cocoa. The following evening we took the kids to another light show, which was great too. Now we know the best ones to go to in our area!

The kids had a doctor's appointment tucked into the month. Philip shot up more than 1 inch over the last two months. He is growing fast! He was so excited about Christmas this year and really got into Santa Claus. Amazing how much they pick up on Santa without the parents ever saying a word - school, TV, random strangers all teach your kids for you.

Julia is a girly girl. She loves her baby doll and dress up clothes, but is also happy to play with cars and other boy toys. She is silly and likes to make us laugh with her funny faces and silly expressions. She asks to read stories (and eat peanuts) as soon as she wakes up and many times throughout the day. There is never a dull moment around here with these two!