Halloween Mania

The kids are way too into Halloween already. I've literally been listening to them sing the Haunted Mansion theme song for over a month now. Good thing I love Disney! Vash sings it so often that Rhyla knows all the words now too. Vash asks almost everyday if it's time to go see the Mickey Pumpkins at Disneyland. (We're going to try and get there in the next two year. *Fingers Crossed*) And thanks to Youtube my kids think all pumpkins can and should sing Grim Grinning Ghost. LOL. You know what surprises me? We only rode the Haunted Mansion maybe three times our whole trip, but Rhyla saw a candelabra in a book the other day and says,"Oh, Scary!" (For any persons unfortunate enough to have not yet experienced the magic of Disneyland, there is a floating candelabra down an endless hallway in one segment of the Haunted Mansion.) I didn't think she'd remember that but...clearly I was wrong. 

Look! My baby doll's hair is long enough to braid! Vash is totally in love with Rhyla. He wants to protect her and make sure she's happy. If she's misbehaving, he even tries to get Craig and I to go easy on her. "It's ok Daddy. Rhyla doesn't have to do reverent arms." When she sleeps, she looks very much like a glass doll. Well, the kids and I were laying down for a nap, and Vash says, "Oh Mommy, can I hold Rhyla?" I tried to hand her over but, being a mama's girl, she cried as soon as I let go. Speaking of crying, Rhyla bit her lip earlier and was whimpering a bit. So she turns to me and says, "I's crying Mommy!" 

My silly Boy. Vash is the most popular boy in nursery. Not only with the other kids, but with the leaders. They tell us how smart and funny he is. The other kids do what he does. For example, he got the idea to put a goldfish in the mouth of his sippy cup, then drink and eat the fish at the same time. This caught on immediately and soon the whole table was doing it. The leaders also adore him because he likes helping to clean up. Putting up chairs, vacuuming the floor. I'm so happy to have Vash as a son. A friendly, nice boy, who loves his family.

Did I mention that he's obsessed with crickets lately? We take our walks and he loves walking at night after the crickets are out. He stops whenever he sees one, leans down, waves, saying "Hello Crickets!"

Two other stories: Vash was hungry and it was supposed to be naptime. I was holding Rhyla and couldn't get up to help right that minute. I told him to go ask Daddy. He get half way down the hall and I hear him burst into tears. He comes back and I ask what's wrong. "Daddy will tell me to go to bed!"

I laughed and sent him back out. Craig made him a PB&J. 

And now a story Vash will be mortified that I posted in a few years. Little boys about Vash's age, start to have... well... something like what adult men would call "Morning Wood." We haven't really talked about it with him yet, so he comes up to me after a nap the other day and he's looking kind of confused. "You ok buddy?" I ask.

Hand on crotch, he says, " Mommy, Vash's boy parts stand up!"

I was laughing so hard. I tried to tell him it was ok and it just needed to stretch. He seemed to accept that, but you should have seen his face.

An amazing Pumpkin from the Ranch at Disneyland. I do not own this picture. Got it courtesy of Jason the Disney Geek, from Disneygeek.com 

Are We EVER EVER EVER Getting What We Thought We'd Get?

Sorry about the title. I shouldn't pick out titles for the blogs when listening to Taylor Swift. Yeah, Craig went to look for an apartment for us this morning and it turned out to be a dump... Major Dump. Back to looking around I guess.  Plus, Craig isn't liking his new job very well. He's trying, but cubical work has never been his idea of great employment. (No offense to anyone who likes their cubical job.)

Time for fun kid stories! Vash's speech is improving but he still mixes a few things up. He says "Whoops-Ste!" instead of "Whoopsie!" and "Baby A-mallow" instead of "Maybe tomorrow."  To help both kids learn to listen and repeat words, we've made up a game called the whisper game. We'll whisper a word into one of their ears, then they'll go and whisper it back to the other one of us. (Does that make sense?) So, for example, I'll say "boat" to Vash and he'll go over to Craig and say "pirate boat." (Yeah, he changes the words a bit.) Rhyla usually says the right word back, but if she forgets the word, she'll just say "Mimi!" (Minnie) My favorite moment of this game so far has been when I said "Eeyore" to Vash, then he goes to Craig and says "Eeyore, Piglet, Pooh, Roo, Kanga, Rabbit, Owl..." then starts to walk away, remembers and turns back to Craig and adds,"Oh yeah, and Tigger!" Forgot to mention last week, we drove Aunt Jen to the airport and Vash must have thought she was on the plane the whole time she was gone, because we saw a small jet doing fancy tricks in the air and Vash looks up at it and starts yelling, "Go Jen Go! Go Jen Go!" LOL. 

Rhyla's getting to be more and more silly everyday. She's way into bouncing right now. She likes to hold my hand then hop around wherever we go saying, "Bounce, bounce!" The other day she wanted something really bad but couldn't seem to tell me what it was. So I asked her, "What is it you see that you want so badly?" She looks straight at her mermaid ball and says "DAT!" Also, she's getting really good at singing along with us. I'll sing black bird to her and she'll sing the words "Black Bird Fly" with me, then hum the part that are more complex. And when Vash is singing "Grim Grinning Ghost," which is all the time, Rhyla sings "Ghost" and "Socialize!" right along with him. I'm sure enjoying the kids and this phase of our lives. I don't understand people that don't like having little kids. Sure, there are days that are hard and you get tired or stressed, but just because something can be difficult, doesn't mean it isn't worth it. Quite the contrary actually. The best things in life are usually the things you have to work the hardest for or at. 

Camping Pix and My Funny Kix

Belated camping photos. Thanks Jen!

Cutie Bug Rhyla is all excited to be outdoors. 

These are the two little girls she made friends and played with the whole trip.

Papa Dawg, author of Dawg Chronicles. 

Rhyla eating her first s'more. Hey Mikey! She likes it!

Sleeping in after the sun is up. Got to get her beauty sleep.

Loves her some Daddy.

Is this not the best brushing teeth picture you've ever seen?

Lack of a mirror forces Rhyla to see how pretty she is in the fender of the car.

Craig, Rhyla, and Cool Aunt Jen. Great pix uh? Got to get me a Nikon!

These are my kids having a jam session on the floor in Target. See Vash's groovy pose? He's been really into music lately. Dancing along while singing his favorite tunes, one of them being a song he seems to have made up, that simply goes, "I"m aweek! I'm aweek!" over and over again. I think he even rocks out in his sleep. He was clapping the other night and when I went to check on him, he was whispering, "Come on! Let's go." Clapping wildly. Funny kid. 

Pretending to nap under the shopping kart. Did I mention I caught the kids saying a morning prayer together the other day? It was so sweet! They were standing together, arms crossed, heads bowed, and Vash was asking Heavenly Father to give them a good day. I almost cried. 

Other funny stories: The kids are really into an animal book right now. We read it and talk about the sounds the animals make and what they're called. Some they are already very familiar with, Cow, Pig, etc. Other, like chimpanzee, chameleon, and parakeet, are obviously a little harder. The first time I said that last one, Vash asks 'Pair of Feet? Two feet?" and Rhyla just declared it was a shark and snapped her jaws to show us. 

Vash was given a balloon at the pawn shop the other day. While he napped, Rhyla claimed it as her own and was walking around, holding it to her chest, saying, "Oh, Bawoon! Wove! Pway!" (balloon, love, play!) 

The kids also got attacks by ants last week. We're talking major, several tens of bites on each of them. They were screaming. We felt so bad. Showered them off, covered them in bug cream. Vash still says the bugs are coming and wont get in the wagon. Rhyla seems to have forgotten already, even though her little thighs still show signs of the attack. 

Lastly, this week marked our final week for swim. At least for the year. We love the school and as you can see in the videos the kids are doing great. So we'll definitely be back next summer. 

Oh My Swollen Hand! A Camp Out and A Date.

This last weekend was the Daddy/Daughter Camp Out for our ward. Obviously, Craig was super excited to take Rhyla. (She actually ended up being the youngest daughter there! If only by a month or two.)

It rained all morning, and we feared they would never get to head out. But eventually it let up enough for Craig to load up the truck so he, Rhyla, Papa, and Aunt Jen, could be on there merry way. They ate lots of yummy food. (Aunt Jen makes amazing cupcakes!) Rhyla ran around with two other little girls about her age, and they played in the mud to their hearts content. Apparently, she slept really well too, in the bed of the truck with Craig. Even slept after the sun came up, rolling away and yelling "No!" when Craig asked if she was ready to wake up. (I currently don't have pictures of this event. Note to self: steal photo's from Jen.)

Vash, who was excited about getting to wear a coat because of the rain, decided to keep it on all day... despite it having stopped raining. 

I wanted to make sure Vash didn't feel left out about not going on the camp out, so he and I went on a date!

We got a tractor set from wal-mart and painted it over at my parents empty apartment. (They're on vacation in California.) Then we went and saw Brave in the theaters. Vash loved it! He was so excited about seeing it that as soon as we got to the ticket stand, he stood up on tiptoe and hollers into the box "We see Brave please!" The woman working the counter and the people around us were laughing pretty hard. Lastly we went out to dinner and then Vash got to sleep in Craig's place on the bed, seeing as how we both missed Daddy.

Saturday, we got to visit urgent care, after Vash was bit by something and his hand swelled to the size of a catcher's mitt. He insisted I take a picture of us in the waiting room. (By the way, Dr. prescribe steroids for swelling and antibiotics so the bit doesn't become infected.)

This is the tractor. Vash painted it all by himself. Put the stickers on wherever he wanted too. I think it's cute.

The kids were happy to be reunited Saturday afternoon. Vash had been looking into Rhyla's crib and asking me, "Mommy? Is Rhyla ok? Where is she?" So sweet and sad. I can't imagine our family being complete without either one of these two. And I'm so grateful they feel love for each other and want to protect and care for each other as well. I just know they're going to make excellent friends and excellent big brother and big sister someday. 

Labor Day Weekend

Ok, so the long and short of it is: we didn't do anything especially special this weekend. (Although, Craig did fly out to Texas so he could take a test to further a job interview last week. That's exciting. Maybe not fun though. We sure missed Daddy.)  Ate some yummy food. Took the kids to swim. Went to church. We did spend a lot of time together though, which is always a plus in my book!

As always, I have a few funny stories about the kids to regale you with. The two of them have taken to playing doggies together. They walk around on all fours and "Woof" enthusiastically to communicate. Vash, who's actually pretty coordinated for his age, will even lift his foot to his ear and scratch his head. Both the kids also love to dance and when we were rocking out in the car together today (While Craig washed it), Vash imitated everything I did almost perfectly! Rhyla joyfully did the head bob, still strapped into her car seat. 

Vash loves the Haunted Mansion theme song, Grim Grinning Ghosts. He calls it the spooky song and walks around singing it practically all day long. When he gets to his favorite part, "Now don't close your eyes and don't try to hide, or a silly spook may sit by your side..." He shouts SPOOK at the top of his lungs and throws his claws up at you. 

We got Rhyla a cute, new, training potty and turns out both Rhyla and Vash love it. We haven't officially started training her yet but Vash has tried to help. He sits on the potty and pretends to poop so Rhyla can learn. LOL. 

 Lastly, when Craig was gone, he called a lot to check in and tell us how things were going. Once, I had just barely hung up with Craig while we were at the store and Vash wanted to talk to him. So Vash grabs a toy phone and says "Daddy? Are you there? Where are you? Are you ok?" I told him daddy was fine and would be home soon. Was funny, sweet, and totally broke my heart. 

Rhyla is learning to talk better and better everyday. Sometimes, she gets so excited trying to tell you something, that she's stutters her words over and over again, before she finally gets to what she wants to talk about. EX: "Mommy... It's it's it's its's  it's it's.... a a  a a... (deep breath) a shoe." 

Rhyla loves riding in the laundry basket. Craig will pick it up with her and Vash in it and spin wildly. Vash looks dizzy after, but Rhyla announces "It's Fun!"

Speaking of potty training, anytime I'm getting ready to take Rhyla in the shower with me, the water will be warming up, she'll be naked, I'll be undressing and she'll be doing the pee pee dance. So... I put her in the shower and she tinkles, knowing she's not supposed to tinkle on the rug... something she has done before. It's a funny dance for those of you who have never seen a pee pee dance. Legs bent, knees together, tiny steps to nowhere. Hand to patting tummy, like that will help. Look of concern on the tiny face. Adorable.