tinkle, tinkle!

so, ella tinkled on the potty on friday. although, until later that day, i really didn't believe her. she sat and tried and since i reallly didn't "hear" the tinkle - i assumed she was fibbing. shame on me! later that day, i knocked over the potty, and low and behold, TINKLE! so, after the fact, i rewarded her with two little m&m’s. i was SO proud of her - and yet annoyed by my disbelief! ugh. what a terrible, doubting momma i am!
now, if we can get wilson on the tinkle train, it would be lovely!

got your nose

so, you know that game you play when you pinch a nose and then put your thumb between your first and second finger - making it seem to a very young person that you actually "got their nose"? well… i added another step to that. so, i "got" wilson's nose and then "threw" it away - off the couch onto the floor. he totally believed me and was quite distraught in thinking that his nose was gone, and that he couldn't find it on the floor. how funny. i cracked up laughing, he was quickly distracted and wandered off. hmmm… i wonder how many times i can do that again.
so, tonight, we watched charlotte’s web. the kids actually sat through most of it. it was okay. yesterday, doug and the kids and i went to Pendery Park in Melbourne, Kentucky for a birthday party. the celebrants were Joshua and Noah Rittinger; our friends Craig and Gina’s boys. Noah turned one and Joshua turned 3. the kids seemed to have a nice time. the rest of the weekend has been a rather lazy one. house chores, grocery, naps, dinners. nothing out of the ordinary.

busy, busy, busy

what a busy and fun weekend we had. lots of visiting and playing. friday, my friend lucie and myself went to the 2007 homearama. lucie had free tickets with connections, so we had a great time visiting with her friends.



saturday, the kids, meema, nicole, aunt chris and myself drove to dayton, ohio to visit doug’s grandma - grandma frey. she didn't recognize the kids and i at first, but after a while, regardless of who we were, she was warm and welcoming. we had a picnic lunch in their backyard. we walked around their property and played ball.



today, the kids and I went to visit my dad "grandpa jim" at his new house in clarksville, ohio. he recently moved there with his wife, carol, from springboro. he's about 10 minutes closer now, with a lot more land and a smaller, more manageable house. the kids, pa and I played in the creek for most of our visit. his dog, bob the beagle, treed two baby racoons. the kids had a great time looking for salamanders, crawdads and bugs in the creek - along with skipping rocks. i got a small amount of poison ivy (as i thought i would) on my right ankle. i'm expecting more to surface by tomorrow. ugh!
ella has a cold. very snotty nose with sneezing, although, i'm not convinced that its allergenic in nature. luckily, she was very good about taking her "pink medicine" and has even learned how to wipe her own nose! what a relief!
will had a great time today playing with his trains in the bathroom window ledge. he picked up two new ones while visiting grandma frey. she told us that he could take them and that she probably wouldn't miss them too much!
i wonder what tomorrow holds....
oh- the weather this weekend was exceedingly beautiful.

first day of school eve

well… sorta.
the kids are attending their first half-day of preschool tomorrow. its sort of a test to see how they'll do without us around for a half day; and to introduce them to their teacher and so that in september, they won't be totally shocked by the three day a week attendence that is going to occur. i hope it goes well! im nervous for them, but im also very excited for them to experience all that kindercare has to offer them.
today was a nice day we had lunch at a local "wendy's" restaurant with some friends of mine who i used to work with at interbrand. the kids did great. they sat for most of the time and were conversational and sweet. we all fell asleep during nap time today. ella tries to 'outlast' you when going down for a nap. today, she won. i awoke in the lay-z-boy at 4:30pm- the last time i looked at my watch was at 2:45pm and thought= okay, she'll just be another minute.... almost two hours later, i woke up! she won! ugh.
tonight, we grilled out burgers and then went to a local park - pioneer park - in symmes township. we watched another family fish for bluegills. the kids got a great kick out of that.
now, story time on the eve of school!

story time

ella and will LOVE their nightly story time. every night (unless we are traveling without daddy) doug reads the kids stories. "best mouse cookie", "big fish, little fish" and "goodnight moon". each night, doug tackles each book, like its the very first time he's reading it to them. they love the books and look forward to each page. its funny how it never really gets old - even doug and i both have memorized them into our sleep.

today, the kids and I went to the Newport Aquarium. the kids wanted badly to see crabs and sharks. we got to touch a crab in the touchtank and we saw many species of sharks. the aquarium was not crowded and the kids behaved wonderfuly. all in all, a great trip. we got a special picture taken of the three of us to give to daddy on father's day. i hope he likes it!
there were several severe thunderstorms in our area today. wilson especially was afraid of the thunder (along with jessica, too!)
now, we are just waiting for quiet time to set in…

what fun!

this weekend was filled with much fun. saturday, the kids and myself went to uncle kevin and aunt chris' house to swim. the water was a bit chilly, but the air was steamy and humid- so although it was a bit chilly initially, it was refreshing too. after a bit of coaxing, wilson agreed to join us in the pool. however, he insisted on going ”au naturel“. so, naked he was! I applied sunsreen to his bumm and his back and off he went! we left a bit later and went home to nap.
today, we went to uncle bob and aunt patti's house to celebrate cousin zachary's gradution from high school. wilson and eleanor played with bella, amy, aunt erin and kes in the wading pool. wilson again, naked and later, eleanor joined in the nudity! weeeee. a bit after stuffing their bellies with cake and cookies; bubble blowing started. then, eleanor decided it would be a good idea to drink the grape-scented bubbles. she promptly threw up. yuk. so much for that. for about an hour, the kids and amy played "crash" on the kid-sized elephant-shaped slide. it was a blast watching them chase eachother around and see who could crash the best. grandma had a great time watching them and commented on how much they've grown!
so now, we are enabling "quiet time" and they are snug in their beds, tuckered out and hopefully - in sleepy town soon. what a day - and what fun!

ahhh… sleepy heads

here i sit, in the lay-z-boy chair in your room. you both are napping away - with much resistance today. will went down crying and ella had to make sure and arrange her stuffed "friends" into the correct configuration. today was day 4 of will's speech therapy and will be day one of his occupational therapy. luckily, cousin amy watched ella today, so i could take will with me - alone - and see if he was more productive… he was.
its quite warm out. the garden is dense and weedy. the fish pond is clean - thanks to my unemployment - i've had lots of time to get extra projects finished - however- i'd rather be making a bit of money. perhaps next week.
i've been on the edge of major decisions lately-= trying to decide which preschool will and ella will attend in the fall - and when "fall" actually will begin. currently, im thinking late august and "kindercare" in blueash. we'll see what i think about that tomorrow. :)
we've just ended a long spell of mini-and long vacations -= texas in april, savannah in may and knoxville this past weekend. maybe we'll stay home for a bit. :) the kids have been doing really well with the travels, so its been quite nice to be able to take them places and share them with folk who don't usually get to see them.

mad genii?

after not typing for a while, i've decided on a few things. i will type when and if i can. ideally every day, but as often as time permits. also, i've been switching "tenses" a lot, and that drives me mad. so, now- narrative, 1st person.

post dinner activities:
wilson lined up all of his "choo's" - that's trains for those not in the know; as if they were all gathered, standing at attention. it was a bit maddening and really quite methodical. he worked for quite a bit; finding, ordering and arranging.
i'm going to attribute it to the several cold/allergy medications that he's currently taking for an unknown malady. the doctor thinks its seasonal allergies; but- now ella is showing symptoms too. ugh.
eleanor made her own "piano" tonight. she fetched 5 rectangle blocks (1" x 3/16" x 4") and arranged them long sides together to form what was her keyboard. she then began to sing (and play) "twinkle twinkle little star" - her best attempt anyway. so cute! it took me 3 times to realize i couldn't tell what she was singing and doug once to catch on!

oh yeah, for the record: eleanor is hard as hell to medicate. trying to "trick" her into taking any medicine (other than suppositories) is an impossible feat; even mixed in ice cream or pudding. i did however, trick her into drinking the benedryl and cold medicine a cherry juice bottle. mommy 1; eleanor 300
so, now the kids are in bed (or pretending to be) - i can hear will playing with his trains again. i've got some substantial holiday baking to commence. hopefully, they'll both be slumbering soon.