Imagine It!

Instead of having a party to celebrate Joe's birthday, this year we went to the Children's Museum of Atlanta. It was wonderful! There was so much for the children to see and do. There was a huge section of levers, pulleys, wheels, and contraptions of all kinds. The children could make the machines perform different ways in order to transfer hundreds of hollow plastic balls from one place to another. Another area had all kinds of food-related stuff -- a plush "garden" area, animal puppets, and a grocery truck along will every kind of (toy) food imaginable! There was a water play area where the children could pick out rain coats to wear while they played. (Joe got soaked, anyway, of course.) This was Joe's favorite spot. Katie's favorite was where they got to choose smocks and then paint on a wall. The wall is plexiglass so when the kids are done it get's "squeegied" clean for the next group of kids.

Every 3-6 months, the theme of the museum changes, and unfortunately this session was Sesame Street. Joe's never seen it, and Katie only a couple of times several years ago. I think if they were familiar with the show they would have really flipped for the setup there. Joe liked talking on the phone to the characters. He liked Zoe, Elmo and Cookie Monster (no surprise!). All in all, a very cool place and both kids had a fabulous time!

Little Joe's Birthday!

My sweet, mischievous little boy is 3! I cannot believe it's been three years since Joseph was born -- although technically I have another hour before it's official. He was born at 9:05 a.m., shocking everyone (including his parents and the doctor) who thought he would not arrive so quickly! I was only in labor for three hours. I highly recommend that if you can manage it! :o) We'll have leftover ice cream cake (from Daddy's birthday "party" on Saturday)tonight. I asked Joe what he wanted for dinner and he said, "Chicken." When asked what kind he said, "Black." Hmmm ... not quite sure how to do that one!

Second Grade

Katie is starting second grade today! We're very excited and looking forward to learning lots this year. Today she'll start reading Aesop's tales, Red Sails to Capri, and More Stories From Grandma's Attic. Her first science book is one about dinosaurs. She's never had much interest in them, so I'm curious how that's going to go. I'll leave you with a picture of Kait reading a comic book -- Baby Blues, her favorite!

Happy Birthday, Handsome!

Today is Jeff's 30th birthday!! And of course, we need to extend the birthday greetings to his twin brother, Joe. Happy Birthday, guys!

Kid Quote

We were loading up in the van leaving the library the other day when Joe said, "Never mind that!" It was such an odd thing for him to say that I asked him to repeat it. He did, and added something I didn't understand. Katie translated for him -- he was quoting from "Miss Nelson is Missing" by Harry Allard and James Marshall! The line that he was saying is, "Never mind that!" snapped Miss Swamp. I just love hearing him talk!

Random Kid Stories

The kids are wearing the hats I brought back from Central Asia. They were made in Uzbekistan. Joe insisted on wearing his to Wal-Mart!


Both Kaity and Joe have loved taking books to bed since they were babies. In this picture, Joe had fallen asleep "reading" "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. He has blue fuzzy socks on his feet.


Katie made her own computer out of paper! It's complete with different screens, a "Yahoo Messenger" type thing (so she can IM her Grammie), and a mouse and keyboard.


One of the children's favorite places to play in our yard is in this trailer. This particular day, they had been out there for half an hour sitting with the umbrella over their heads!

Skip to My Lou

Back in June, Eric Litwin (Mr. Eric) came to the Jefferson Library again. We have seen him in concert there before and really enjoyed the performance. This time, Katie got to get up 'on stage' with Mr. Eric! He sang "Skip to My Lou" which is on the CD of his that we have, and it's Katie's favorite. He would sing, "Hey, hey. . . " and Katie would come in, ". . . Skip to my Lou!" and then when Mr. Eric said, "Skip to my Lou . . ." Katie would say, as countrified as possible, ". . . My Dar-lin'!" Mr. Eric would feign shock at her calling him "Darlin'" and the kids would all laugh. As you might imagine, Katie really hammed it up!

Funny Joe

Yesterday we heard a noise from outside. Joe said, "Where's my daddy?" (Although he usually asks, "Where's my favver?")

It was too early for Jeff, so I answered, "That's not Daddy, sweetie."

And Joe replied, "Who's arriving at our house?"

I think that's probably the longest word he's ever said! Except for when he talks about the excavator that Jeff operates at work. He calls it a "fex-a-fater".

Tag, You're It!

Apparently there's a game in the blogging world where someone 'tags' you and then you get to play along. My sister-in-law has tagged me to tell five things about myself that not everyone knows. Not deep dark secrets, just little known facts. It's like truth or dare . . .only you're being dared to tell the truth! Now, the only blogger I know who hasn't been tagged is Leah, so Leah, consider yourself tagged.

1. Jeff and I are serious Harry Potter fans. We are actually going on Friday night to see the fifth movie, The Order of the Phoenix. We've preordered the new book and at midnight we're going to go to Barnes and Noble to get the seventh and final book!

2. Despite the fact that I tease my mom about falling asleep during movies, I do it regularly! When I need a nap in the afternoon, I put in an old fave like A&E's Pride and Prejudice, then stretch out on the couch and fall asleep listening.

3. I have two major goals for the next few years. One is to save up enough money to build on to our house and the second is to save up enough money for us all to be able to go to Germany.

4. I don't have very many secrets -- this is hard! Umm. . .My closet is a disaster area. But my recipe collection is all catalogued by date, publication and page number. I have a spreadsheet in progress that will allow me to cross reference by method of cooking, major ingredient, etc.

5. I like my minivan. Wow, did I just say that?! I really do. I'm very satisfied with it. It was truly an answer to prayer and came along at just the right time. The outside color is pretty (even if I really dislike the blue interior!). I love being able to have space, and the ability to take friends with us when we go places.

Aw, Shucks!

So Katie painted this picture for me one day -- I think she was trying to butter me up for something!



In case you can't read it, it says "You are too prety to work". Did you get that, Daddy??