Risks of Creative Bedtime Songs

Matt started singing "American Pie" to Daniel as a bedtime song months ago. He now knows all the words and will correct any minor slip-ups. As an extension of this activity Matt started giving Daniel interpretations of some of the verses, for instance, "You know the girl who sings the blues is Janis Joplin." Well, as most things do with Daniel, this one came back to us yesterday when Daniel asked if Janis Joplin was going to be at the Wastewater picnic. The host got a good chuckle out of that one!

Crash!

Farmer's Market Fun

Highlights of the Farmer's Market today included star cookies and the Capitol. We almost got asked to leave the Capitol, but as we were not pouring beer on any legislators, they let the boys continue their hide and seek and echo games with only a hairy eyeball. Believe it or not, we actually made it through 2.5 of the 4 blocks, but in an effort to limit my purchases to what we wanted instead of what Daniel wanted, no pictures were taken.

Little Logic

Daniel asked me if he could use his Thomas puzzle tin box to bring his lunch to school. In lieu of just saying, "No Daniel, that's rediculous," my response was to ask him where the puzzle pieces would go. He responded in a not so subtle way.

Thomas puzzle box in the lunchbox cabinet

Thomas puzzle pieces in Daniel's lunchbox.

He's got it all figured out doesn't he? I guess the idea of a lunchbox with Thomas and wheels on it was just a little too exciting.

I guess I'm not in charge

Sorry for the infrequency of posts. Everytime I have something to blog about I get sidetracked. Life is pretty fun these days, but on occasion, things fall apart. Like today for instance. Here's the play by play:

9:45 am - Ok, time to put Chrisopher down because I have a conference call at 10 am.
9:58 am - Time to dial in for the call. What's that I hear? Christopher crying from upstairs.
10 am - Start conference call and cue "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"
10:45 am - Oh no, someone is digging in the pantry. *6 was mute for the call right?
10:46 am - Use food to distract the boys during the last f 15 minutes of the call.
11:10 am - Finally done. Boys were fine. Time to regroup so we can go out to eat for lunch.
11:45 am - Alright, out the door and headed to Dumpling Haus. Very excited to treat the boys to lunch and hopefully birthday shopping for Matt.
11:46 am - From the backseat, "Mom, are we going to Noodles?" - "No, we are going to a new place called Dumpling Haus." - "Mommy, I don't like dumplings, I want macaroni and cheese" - "You are having macaroni and cheese for dinner, will you try dumplings at lunch? It will be fun. Is Christopher sleeping?" - "I don't want dumplings. Yes, Christopher is sleeping."
11:47 am - Enact plan b. Cluver's drive through. I suspect Christopher will be asleep for a while.
12:15 pm - Home for lunch. Relocate Christopher to the crib. Daniel eats nothing for the next 20 minutes.
12:35 pm - Daniel finally starts to eat.
1 pm - Put Daniel down for a nap only to hear Christopher start to wake up as I walk in front of the door. Seriously?
1:15 pm - Daniel is down, but not happy about it. Now it's time to get Christopher and feed him lunch.
1:57 pm - Here we are, blogging together, Christopher being a small tornado in my lap. Daniel sounds quiet. If he's not asleep, he'll come down at 2 pm. If he is asleep, great.

The real question is, should I attempt birthday shopping again when Daniel comes down? The way my day is going I think that might lead to a reapeat of what happened at 11:46 am. Christopher is going to need more sleep. Wouldn't that be fun? Online shopping, here I come.

Day Out With Thomas

Yesterday we surpised the boys with a trip down to Union, Illinois, to do Day out with Thomas. The boys had a blast. I was really amazed that they did not even start asking about where we were going until we were on the road, and then a simple, "Illinois" was sufficient for about an hour. Then Daniel started to get curious. We told him that it was going to be a surprise. His list of guesses as to what the suprise might be was quite entertaining. First on the list was a marble race track. I've forgotten the rest of them, but one might have been getting peanut butter and liversausage sandwiches. Seriously, who could eat that? I have Matt to thank for that one. So here are the pictures. The boys got Thomas tatoos, and have been avoiding baths ever since Saturday in hope that that tatoos will last longer.

Our first Thomas sighting. Unfortunately, it's impossible to get the boys to look at me when Thomas is nearby.

Having a warm-up ride on the streetcar.

Ready to go!

Someone scary must have been walking by.

Tickets!

My squirmer.

Boys

I don't even know where to begin on the blog these days. So much is happening so quickly that I just have not had time to share much. Sorry. I think this is mostly a result of Daniel virtually giving up his nap. I say virtually because he is actually napping as I write. Probably the reason why I'm writing. Anyway, they are both growing up and changing so quickly. I'm enjoying the freedom of having slightly older children whose eating and sleeping needs are slightly less demanding. Like today, we want shopping, then we went out to eat lunch, and we finished by walking over to our new library. It was a lot of fun. Not to mention the few hours before leaving that the boys played together in the living room. It's been a fun day. I'm sure the evening will be difficult just because I'm jinxing myself by writing about it. We shall see.

We have been swimming a ton this summer. Daniel can do amazing things in the water, and he loves it. I'll have to take another video soon. He was jumping into the deep end today! Maybe he will be able to do the diving board this year. He can't wait. Christohper loves the water just as much. His favorite thing is jumping in the water. He likes to count to three instead of having me do it. After about half of his class he usually starts asking for his towel. When I don't clue in right away, he starts clarifying by saying, "Thomas" and pointing to our chair where his Thomas towel is. Usually I can distract him through 2/3 of the remaining swimming lesson time, but sometimes he gets his way.

Here are some pictures from July!

Farmers Market!

Neighborhood bike parade. Neither boy made it the block on their vehicle.

Cousins!