Two Lips

One morning while walking home from dropping Lexi off at school, Zachary picked something up off the ground and asked me what it was.  I recognized it immediately because it is the very sharp part of a tulip plant from a tulip tree.  They fall to the ground when the flower dries out, and when you step on them with bare feet, they hurt - something I did a lot growing up as we had these trees growing in our yard.  I said, "Zachary, that is a little piece of the flower of a tulip tree."  He looked up at the tree directly above us, thought about it for a second and said, "Mama, that is not a two lip tree, that is a one lip tree."

Winky

Last week Lexi asked me for a piece of candy out of her Halloween Bag (that we got at Davin's Party).  She'd had a lot of sweets that weekend so I said no.  Of course, every child has to beg when they get a "no" from the mom or dad...usually it comes in the form of "pretty please with sugar on top?".  Not Lexi though.  That's too boring.  She responded with, "Please??  I'll wink at you for a really long time!"  It made me laugh, but she did not get the candy.  ;)

As Heard Through The Monitor

At bedtime, each kid is allowed to pick one book and either Ahren or I read both books to both kids each night.  It has essentially eliminated arguing about which book we are going to read, which is great.  What's not great is that Lexi is not as patient with Zach being in the "picking the same book every night" stage as we are.  For at least a month he has chosen "I Spy" as his book of choice.  Overtime Lexi has become so bored with this book that she started getting a little fussy about it.  So, rather than giving them the pre-chosen object to pick out, I started finding little things in the picture for Lexi to find, as a way to make it more challenging.  She thinks it's awesome, and Zach is happy no one is complaining the entire way through his book choice.

The other night Ahren was putting the kids to bed, and I could hear through the monitor that he was following my lead and picking out smaller, more hidden objects for Lexi.  After a few stumpers, I heard her say to him, "Wow, Daddy!  You're even better at this than Mommy!"

Traitor!! 

Shopping Buddy

Upon entering Macy's Department Store with me on Friday, Zachary looked up and saw some mannequins that had no heads.  In a very matter of fact tone he remarked, "Oh, I didn't know they had those people with broken heads in this store!"  

Davin's Birthday Party

Every year, our neighbors throw the best neighborhood/Halloween/Birthday Party of the year.  It's a birthday party for their son, Davin, who is almost a year older than Lexi and this year there were over 50 kids, plus all of their parents at the event.  Each year they set up a haunted maze in their garage, they have a haunted cemetery, Curious Creatures comes with all of their crazy animals, and then after pizza and cake they have a candy toss and then the kids trick o' treat around the neighborhood to collect the contents of their goody bags.  It's a crazy party, and an absolute blast every year.  This year Lexi and Zach were excited about the party for weeks.  Since they are both still a bit timid about "scary stuff" we never did get a look inside the haunted maze, and they both took a pass on the haunted hay ride around the neighborhood.  But aside from that there were non-stop smiles.  Here are some of the pictures of the evening, as well as a video of the kids patiently (ha!) waiting for the candy toss.

Apple Picking

We had beautiful weather on the weekend of the 10th Anniversary of September 11th.  It seemed early, but we decided to head to the apple orchards while the sun was shining.  We had a wonderful day picking apples, raspberries, and pumpkins.  The kids pick so fast that we have to buy the biggest bag just to have enough time in the orchards.  By the end of the day we had a carload of fresh farm fruit, and big smiles on our faces.  Of course, we can never let the fall go by without getting cider donuts at the farm.  It's a yearly treat that the kids really enjoy.  Here are some of the pictures of our day.