Shake Out Your Arms And Legs!

Dylan loves to dance. She also loves Sesame Street. Here is a fun clip of her "Shaking out her arms and legs." The song is from a Sesame Street Sing-Along video. She's showing off specifically for the camera, and thus her storming for the camera after she is done so she can "see it! see it!!"

(We are at Grandma Karen's house...)
Enjoy.

Timeout, Broncos!

Dylan, Noah and I went to our first Bronco basketball game of the year on Thanksgiving Eve. Jason's team played Thornwood at the Lincolnway East Thanksgiving Tournament. Grandpa Warren and Grandma Karen met us there to watch the game/help me watch the kiddos.

Most of the game was spent doling out books, snacks and toys, keeping Noah from scaling the bleachers, and keeping Dylan from jumping down the bleachers. But then, there were moments when Dylan did watch the game. And then there was this..."Timeout, broncos!" All eyes on daddy and his team. Dylan looking very concerned..."Mommy...did daddy and his team get a timeout?"

Maybe this two-year old is getting a few timeouts herself lately...?

Halloween at the beehive

Halloween has come and gone. Dylan had the privilege of being a bumblebee once again. And I was lucky enough (although Noah might disagree someday) to find a honey pot (or hunny pot - as Pooh bear spells it) costume for Noah. The only thing that would have been cuter is if Jason and I would have dressed up as beekeepers (I really wanted to...just no time to make costumes...)

So here's a couple of shots from our day.

Dylan "fingerpainting" with orange vanilla pudding. Yeah, not so much painting but licking repeatedly.


Decorating Halloween cookies. Not so much spreading as licking.


The family all ready for trick-or-treating!


Daddy and Dylan finding another house with a porchlight on! Dylan can't stop staring at her candy. She would say, "Do I have SO MUCH candy!" and laugh.

Waiting patiently at a door for candy. She would usually say "trick-or-treat" at our prompting. But then would always wave after she got the candy...and say "Happy Halloween!" on her own. Oh yeah, and one time she took one candy and then reached back for more saying, "I should get one for my baby brother..." So sweet or so sly?


This is how Noah spent his first year trick-or-treating. He was pretty content considering it was bedtime.


Showing off her night's accomplishments.

Kalona, Fall Festival

The last weekend in September, the kids and I visited Jason's sister and bro-in-law Mo and Dwight and their kids Michaela, Eli and Caleb in Kalona, Iowa. They had a Fall Festival that weekend, so we went twice and enjoyed the rural fun! Dylan had a blast. Here is a taste of the weekend.

Grandma Karen and Grandpa Warren have HUGE pumpkins by their farmhouse. In the foreground is Gypsy, one of Dylan's favorite friends.


Dylan holds MVP, the most mellow of the kitty cats. She's in HEAVEN! Every morning she would wake up and the first words out of her mouth were "Can I hold the kitties now?"

Dylan and Michaela rode this little train around downtown Kalona.


They had this HUGE pit of corn for the kids to play in. It was awesome! A mega sandbox of corn! Dylan could have scooped and buried for hours.


My first apple fritter. YUM.


Yes, Noah was there too. But there wasn't much for a 7.5 mo. old crawling baby who puts everything in their mouth. So, we did a lot of sitting, slinging, holding.


"I got a golden ticket..." Actually, it's a ticket for a PONY RIDE! What joy.


Look at that big girl riding a pony all by herself. Of course, it was "Again, mommy!" as soon as the ride was over. No, I didn't give in.

dialogue

Inspired by my sister's post of a conversation with her daughter.

Recent dialogue between me and Dylan. I was going to teach a couple a Bradley Method of Childbirth Refresher course that night and I was telling her that I had new students. Sidenote: I just finished a couple of weeks ago my first series of classes with one couple who Dylan had the privilege of meeting.

D: Mommy, are your students broken?
H: No, they're not broken - what do you mean?
D: You had to get new students. Are the old ones broken?
H: (laughing hysterically). No honey, they're not broken...they had their baby.
D: (laughing hysterically). Can you believe it darlin'?

I guess I've made it clear that when things are broken, you have to get new ones. We obviously don't reduce, reuse, recycle enough...geeeesh...