Tonight we invited our youth volunteers and spouses to our house for supper. I let Mac stay up past his bedtime to play. When he finally went to bed, he was desperate to stay up and hang out with the grown-ups. He didn't cry or throw a tantrum, though. Instead, he (apparently) brainstormed ideas of how to get me to come back into his room after he was tucked in.

All kids do this, right? They ask for water, or say they have to go to the bathroom. Mac has used both these methods before, but tonight he was a little more creative: about 2 minutes after he was tucked in, I heard from his room, "My fingernails are LOOONNG! My fingernails are LONG!!!!!"

I had to tell him that cutting his nails can wait until the morning.

A Juicy Insect and Other Stories

When I asked Mac what he wanted for a snack today, he responded--with a completely serious look on his face--"A juicy insect."

{Background info: He's been really into a book about chameleons lately. In the book, the chameleon eats 'a juicy insect'. So it's FUNNY, but not completely out of the blue.}

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I was planting flowers a few weeks ago in the front yard, almost finished, when Mac began pestering me for lunch. (Arden was napping.) I kept telling him I was almost done, but he kept telling me he was hungry, so I finally succumbed and came in and got him lunch. I left him eating at the table and ran out to plant my last couple flowers. A minute later, I heard yelling from inside the house. I stood up to come closer and find out what he was saying, and I heard, "MAY I BE 'SCUSED? MAY I BE 'SCUSED???" (Translation: "May I be excused?")

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Along the same lines of the previous story: Saturday Brad and I were doing yard work in the backyard Saturday, Arden was napping, and Mac was running around, in and out of the house. He'd been inside for a little bit, and I wondered what he was up to. As I got closer to the back door, I heard yelling (again!). This time, "PLEASE WIPE MY BOTTOM!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!! WIPE MY BOOOOOTTTTOOOM!!!!! WIPE MY BOTTOM PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I'm not sure how long he'd been waiting for me on the potty!

With both of these events, I've been thankful that Arden's room was an addition to our house and has bricks under the plaster! Nice sound insulation!

Time is Relative

Our normal morning routine:

Brad and I get up, enjoy coffee on the porch, spend a little time together.

Mac calls for us at 8 o'clock. (We have a clock in his room and he knows not to call for us before 8. He usually wakes around then, but if he wakes earlier, he 'reads' books until it's time. Then he calls to us, "It turned number 8!!! It turned number 8!!", until someone comes in.)

Arden wakes between 8 and 8:30. We feed both kids, Brad leaves for work, I take Mac and Arden for a walk.

Saturday mornings:

We all sleep until 8 : )

This morning:

Brad and Mac were up at 8, Arden was still sleeping so I slept in too (waiting for Arden). When I got up around 8:30, Mac and Brad were sitting at the breakfast table. Mac says, "It turned number 8 for Mama!"

I wish I could relay how cute and funny this was! I suppose Mac thinks that the clock in our room had just turned 8--and that's why I got up then?

A Slew of Pictures

Last weekend we spent at Bonclarken, my favorite place: the place where I met my husband, the place of 1,000 memories growing up, the place where I see friends I've known my whole life and will know until I'm old, the place where Brad proposed, the place where I feel the most renewed. We had a great time! The weather was wonderful and it was a great celebration of Brad passing his comprehensive exams! He was in a meeting Saturday morning, so Mac, Arden and I strolled around and visited several family members there last weekend as well.

Then we visited the playground.

I wanted SO MUCH to get a nice shot of them together. This is the closest I got...maybe next time.

I have so many sweet pictures of Arden lately. I thought I'd try to get some good ones of Mac. Why do I even try? He never stops moving. (Don't know what's up with his shirt collar in these, either.)

A moving target...

Oh well. So much for a photo shoot!

The best photo of him all weekend was taken when he was eating:

Just makes me laugh!

Here is where Brad proposed to me, one freezing cold November night. FREEZING. COLD. I couldn't believe he was dragging me out in such weather to take a WALK. After he got down on his knee, I don't remember being cold anymore at all : )

After we got back home, life got back to normal:

(Please notice the empty TP roll on the wall, the underpants and shorts on the floor.

We kept my nephew Samuel later that week. He and Mac had a ball playing together. He looks so much like my sister it stops me in my tracks sometimes.

All in all, a great week!

Two and a Half: A Life of Contradictions...

Mac is 2 and a half. His life is full of contradictions:

-he says, "I do it myself!"; but he sometimes needs help

-when given a choice between 2 options, he keeps changing his mind; then is upset when we make him stick with one of the choices.

The most poignant example: Last night I went to check on him after he was asleep. He was sleeping sweetly in his bed, with a paci in his mouth and a football in his arms. You can't get much more contradictory than that!

Our girl...the diva?

We have long known that Arden doesn't like sleep sacks--like this:

We figured out that she didn't like them because whenever she wore it she would cry and cry, until we took it off. She loves to grab her feet, so we think the "limited foot access" kept her from liking these.

Then she decided that she doesn't like socks. (Or maybe she just enjoys the challenge of taking them off?) She immediately takes them off whenever we put them on. (I don't like sleeping in socks either!)

Next she decided that she doesn't like footed pajamas. I put her down the other night to sleep, and she screamed--SCREAMED--until I came in. I brought her back out and tried to calm her down, only to have her screaming louder and louder--so loud that my ears were ringing. I finally realized that I should try taking off her pajamas and putting her in something else. She sighed and slept almost immediately.

Her latest? She's decided that she doesn't like one piece outfits. Brad put her in foot-less pajamas last night (I was gone at Bible study)...and the Arden wail began. Through trail and error he figured out that she wanted to be out of a one piece, and into a shirt and pants. I think she wanted to play with the hem of her shirt.

She's so sweet most of the time. So happy with just about anything. It's so weird. If she's this picky about what she wears as a six month old...what do we have in store??

Sweet girl...

(The picture above is her most common expression--the worried smile.)

Sil-wee brother...

Sil-wee

I love that Mac says "sil-wee" for silly. He uses "sil-wee" instead of "funny". So anytime time he's laughing really hard, he says, "That's sil-wee! That's sil-wee!!" It cracks me up.