Train Ridin'

We haven't ridden the train since Charlie was born. I decided it was time he tried it out.



Edmond was so excited to be on the Toot Toot again. He saw it in the shopping center and told me, "I need a ticket, Mamma. Where's my ticket?" So I bought him a ticket and we climbed aboard.



Charlie sucked on his fingers the whole ride and seemed amused by it all.

The best part about riding trains is that I get to sit down.

Swinging With Papa (Kind of)

My boys love to swing on Papa's swing set.




If he were here, and not on a mission in the Phillippines, he would love to push them.




It's a shame that he's missing out on this, because I could use a break!

I like to think that he is with us in spirit.

I really think that they can feel him out here.

I know I can.

Get Ready to Ride

Let's start her up and let her run
Get ready to have some real good fun
It's clear to the left, and clear to the right
So put her in gear and hang on tight!

-song from the 4-wheeler toy (I have it memorized.)



Taitum loves to ride Edmond's 4-wheeler toy. He loves to hop on behind her while she's riding.

The other day Edmond snatched a toy out of Taitum's hands. I've been trying to get him to stop doing that. "Edmond!" (he ignored me) "Edmond!" (more ignoring). I leaned down near his face and took him by the chin to make him look at me. "Edmond, we don't snatch things out of people's hands. That's not nice. If you don't want her to play with your toy, then you get something else for her to play with and you take turns."

His eyes got real big and he took a gasp of air. "Ow Mamma. Owwww." There were no tears, but he was struggling to get control, "Ow Mamma. That hurts me."

"Edmond, I didn't hurt you. But did I hurt your feelings? Did I make you feel bad?"

"Yes. That hurts me." (more big eyes and gasping for air.)

"I'm sorry honey. I don't mean to hurt your feelings." I gave him a big hug. "I just want you to play nice and share. Ok? Let's play nice." We cuddled for a minute. He gave me a kiss. Then he was off to play some more.

Daddy Writes a Post

Edmond was on the toilet yesterday with his toy monkey and crab. He was shoving toilet paper down the toilet and he dropped the monkey. He looked at his hand and looked down the toilet and looked back at his hand and said, "MONKEY! I DROPPED IT! So I got him off the toilet and thought about it for a second, so did he. He almost made a grab for it but I stopped him. So, I just pulled the lever and down went the monkey. He looked at me and looked down at the toilet and was like, "Monkey all gone. Monkey went bye bye." And I said, "Yep." And he talked about it for the rest of his bath.

I thought it was hilarious.

This Little Piggy

In case you were wondering, Charlie wears Edmond's hand-me-downs.

The hole gives the outfit character, I say.

Charlie is now almost 8 months old. About three weeks ago when he was barely seven months old he started crawling. It was kind of like how a caterpillar moves at first, with the torso reaching forward and the hind legs pushing his bum in the air and then moving his body forward. But it has evolved into the traditional baby crawl.

He is strong. He tries to do all the grown-up things, like walk, play on the computer, talk on the phone, and eat regular people food. I have to almost force him to nurse...he thinks it's boring. He is learning how to use his voice and has perfected the "baby screech".

And, he has one meesly tooth.

Behind Closed Doors

The door to the toy closet was closed. I could hear the faint sound of happy little voices.

So I opened the door and found these two little hooligans having fun without me.

Edmond loves his cousin Taitum.

Yosemite

"Edmond! We're going camping! It will be so fun! We get to sleep in a tent and cook marshmallows!"


He grinned at me. "We go camping."


We talked about camping for the next three days. My children don't do so great when we attempt to have them sleep anywhere other than their beds. I was nervous about how he would react to sleeping in the great outdoors.


I made him a special camping pillowcase to help him be excited to sleep in the tent.


He liked his "LightaQueen Pidow".


We arrived at the campsite near Yosemite. It was beautiful.




We planned on staying two nights. The first night we all layed down to sleep, Charlie in his pack n play, B and I on our air mattress, and Edmond on our other side. Charlie fell asleep. I closed my eyes. I was drifting off...when I heard rustling coming from Edmond's corner. Then I felt jumping. Someone was jumping on our air mattress. I sat up and yelled at him in a whisper voice. "Edmond! You're going to wake up Char-Char! Lay down! It's time to sleep!"

I picked him up and layed him back down in his sleeping bag. I tucked him in nice and snug, reminded him about his Lightning McQueen pillow, and told him to shut his eyes and go to sleep. I got back in my sleeping bag, got myself all nice and comfy. Just when my breathing was starting to get deep and slow...I heard rustling in Edmond's corner again. Then sniffles. I opened my eyes and found that Edmond's face was hovering over me.

"Mama?" sniff, gasp, sniff, "Mama? I want to go home. I want to go back to Grammy's house. I want to sleep in my bed."

"Edmond, we're camping. We're sleeping in the tent. It's fun!"

"No. I want to go home...(sniff, gasp, gasp)...Waaaaaaaaaa!!!!!"

Then Charlie woke up and chimed in, "Waaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

I layed back and stared through the mosquito netting up to the starry night. Then I looked over at my husband and he looked at me. We didn't even have to say it. We could read each other's thoughts. And we were thinking, "Yeah. There's no way we are staying another night."

I think we all finally fell asleep around 2AM.

So, since this was our last day, we made the most of it. We went to the lake and Avery and Edmond enjoyed riding their bikes down the grassy knoll.

Then Rebecca and I played on the beach with the kiddos.

And Daddy played in the boat with Edmond.

It was the perfect day. We decided to keep it perfect by sticking with our plan to go home and sleep in our beds that night.

I Wanna Ride in a Fire Truck

I stumbled across this little man all decked out in his fireman gear.



Edmond has a thing for fire fighters. He calls them fider fighters.

Whenever I'm on the computer he comes and sits on my lap and says, "See fire truck." So, I have to get on Utube and show him footage of the firetrucks with their sires blaring. It never gets old....for him.

The Haro

If your 2-year-old doesn't have a kick bike, this is what they're missing out on.




They go off road and on road.

These two are riding the Haro, but there are lots of manufacturers. It's been one of the smartest kid purchases that we've made.

Best Buddies

Avery is one of Edmond's best buddies. They are thrown together quite a lot, since their Mommies are good friends.



One day we were swimming and I caught these two sitting close together eating their lunch in the shade.



She calls him "Medmon" and he calls her "Avwy". It's so cute to see them together.

Mama's Benz

Recently we sold my car.

And I was heartbroken.

But...



They say the best way to get over somebody, is to get with somebody else.

Well.

I'm rebounding with this bad boy.



The kiddos like it too. Edmond calls it "Mama's white Benz".



It seats six, which gives us all sorts of room to spread out on our long road trips.




I spend my days thinking of errands I need to run, just so I can drive it.

My husband spent hours and hours researching to find the best car for our family. I sure love him. And my new ride.

Clones

What do you do when you find pajamas for $1 at H&M?

Buy one pair for each of your offspring, and make sure cousin Taitum has some too.




If I was smart I would have bought two pairs for each of my children, because Edmond loves to wear his "stripes", and gets bummed when they are in the dirty clothes.

Cute little buggers.