the honest comedian

gage has taken to telling jokes. he is revolutionizing the comedy industry by delivering honest observations about daily life. i love the hall monitor.

"mom i know a joke"

"alright buddy, lay it on me"

"why are the kitchen counters dirty?"

"why?"

"because they aren't clean"

"that's hilarious buddy, you're so funny"

"mom i know another joke"

"why does no one turn off stuff that runs on batteries?"

"why?"

"because it just charges itself why it's charging"

"that's awesome kiddo"

"mom i know another joke"

"of course buddy, what is it?"

"why could no one reach the cowboy hat?"

"why?"

"because they didn't want to stand up to get it"

gage has taken to narrating everything that happens outside of our home - "mom, the trucks backing up", "mom, the trees are now blowing" "mom, the neighbor is getting into their car". and my new favorite thing is that he follows behind me rearranging everything i put out of charli's reach so i have to stay on my toes double time because i don't realize that he has undone my work. he takes it upon himself to discipline charli resulting in the line, "gage, you are not the parent" to be used at least 3 times a day. he is so incredibly serious and wonderfully intelligent - i know he means well in everything he does, but sometimes i just want to beg him to be 4 and not 40. he does not play like other children and doesn't understand why they would want to pretend to be a pirate when they could wash the walls of the boat. he is so incredibly special and different from other children and i look forward to watching him grow into himself. i know with his mind and ability he could be and do anything. he is beyond impressive.

right now we are working on annunciation because he is struggling a bit with pronouncing words in a way that allows people outside of myself to understand him. i try to stay on him a bit to help him work on certain sounds - sQuirrel  instead of sWirl, comPUTer instead of cuter, and so on - he is responding really well and not shutting down which is nice. gage isn't to fond of being corrected. for some reason he has stopped wanting to draw actual pictures even though he was progressing forward really well. i assume it is the same part of his brain that stalled his speech until he knew he could speak well, he doesn't seem to want to do anything unless he feels he has perfected it prior to being analyzed. i don't even know what that says about him.

i don't think there is a letter he can't write, but he does occasionally get his lowercase b's and d's confused. i am trying to work with him on reading, but see above. one of these days i expect him to just climb up on my lap and read me a book because he taught himself when i wasn't looking. that's how he rolls. he is great at simple addition and can respond quickly to addition problems when he is presented with them. he is fascinated by how things work and the meanings behind new words that he hears. he craves knowledge and understanding and i love to be able to teach him.

lately we have been in the middle of an epic food battle. i have decided to take sweets away from him unless he tries a new food to get one. his diet is less than stellar and his stubbornness makes it impossible to get him to try anything new and branch out beyond peanut butter sandwiches. the first day he decided to test me to see if i really would allow charli to have a delicious new popsicle and not him, but learned quickly that i was serious and had an epic meltdown watching chunk prance happily about with her popsicle.  "moooooom, i want a popsicle!!!" "how do you get one?" "i have to try something new" "are you going to try something new?" "no" insert screaming and round about lawyer gage talk here. yesterday he saw the prospect of chunk eating a popsicle without him and tried yellow peppers (and loved them) to get one. last night after an epic battle over the necessity of protein in his diet, and the possibility of his sister being faster and strong if he doesn't learn to eat well, he finally broke down and tried (and loved) eggs. simple scrambled eggs. the kid won't eat meat and i would be fine with that, but he doesn't want the meat substitutes either. i will give him this, though - he does love his broccoli and mandarin oranges. veggies and fruits for days, chicken and beef for never. 

he acts a lot more 5 than 4, gets bored often, doesn't really like to follow through with much, and takes amazing care of his little sister. his favorite game, which his father and i affectionately call the ram dass game because it is the only one there is, is running away from someone chasing after him and jumping up on a couch or bed rending him "safe" and unable to be gotten. this is the only game he wants to play, ever. this game is exhausting for the pursuer, but hilarious to watch in action. charli will get in on the action with him when daddy hides from him and he uses her as his pawn to seek his dad out to eliminate the element of surprise for him so he can get to the couch more quickly. brilliant, brilliant child. he is hilarious and a lot of fun and i really couldn't ask for anything more. love the ge man.

Tuna steaks in a rainstorm

My husband is awesome.

First thing

Gage picked up one of his dinosaurs this morning and sweetly sang it the Doc McStuffins song - I am pretty sure my heart melted at the adorableness right on the spot. Watching him let loose when he doesn't know I am watching fills my heart with all kinds of happy.

And yes, his favorite show right now is Doc McStuffins. And no, it's not on skinamax.

greetings from nova.

i am writing this here new post from my couch in my wonderful new living room in northern virginia. we couldn't be more happy with our shiny new digs, which is incredibly lucky because we hadn't seen this place in person until we stepped foot on it at 10 pm after a very long 2 days of moving. people said we were crazy for agreeing to a home that we found on the trusty old intertubes, but we really didn't have much of an option and that is kind of how the husband and i operate. we trust our guts. our guts are rarely wrong.

our new house is a three bedroom single floor house with a giant kitchen and pretty hardwood floors. our backyard is nothing short of gigantic and looks like a scene from cinderella could be filmed on site. we have robins and squirrels playing out back constantly and the kids adore the giant, fenced, new play land. it took the minis a few days to feel comfortable, but they are beyond thrilled with our new house now. their transition was made much easier by the fact that our amazing parents flew in from california to help us move and unpack for 4 straight days. nana and papa were a safe place for the kids to land in a week of serious chaos.

our move filled every square inch of a 26 foot uhaul and we learned that everything we own can fit into 75 sizeable boxes courtesy of my husband's work. our extra new bedroom is a little on the small side, but it is nice to have a room for the kids' toys and television. we are transitioning chunk over to sharing a room with gage this week, something that gage is very excited for. chunk has been in our room since she was born (our old master was big enough to fit her crib in) and gage feels like it is his turn to have a roommate. i look forward to being able to watch tv in bed at night or simply read a book with the lights on. chunk hasn't been a bad roomy, but mom and dad will be happy to fly solo for a while.

the kids are doing great lately. we started brushing chunk's teeth at night and she has really been taken with the new activity. she is talking up a storm - forming sentences of 2 - 3 words and following instructions really well. chunk loves her mouse still and is starting to laugh at all the appropriate times during the episodes. she doesn't care for any other tv than mouse, and can be very unreasonable when it isn't on - she totally gets that from her dad's side of the family. tv junkies, all of them. her favorite quiet time activity is compartmentalizing random toys and finding a new place where they all belong. her favorite toys are still anything play food and cooking related, followed closely by the bajillion toy cars that we have. this week she was finally able to enjoy their new water table during our 89 degree day and she loved the freedom of having a new yard to play in.

gage is still finding new ways to surprise me daily. he loves sweeping and cleaning right now, something he has definitely picked up from my daily habits. every time he takes a bath he spends a large portion of it "cleaning" the walls of the tub with his wash cloth. he has been very hands on in organizing our new house and finding places for everything to go. his current catch phrase is, "you know. right?" which means, "i am correct in whatever i say and you will agree with me." he is absolutely enamored with our giant back yard and loves that he now has a new place to use his toy lawn mower, play t-ball, blay basketball, and enjoy the gloriousness that is his new water table. watching his run outside and explore his new stomping grounds makes me so happy that we worked so hard to get this place for him specifically. after watching him be confined to an apartment life for the last 2 years, we are so happy to give him the gift of space and freedom. he isn't even afraid of our new collection of outside crawlies, yet.

my birthday this year was the best one i have ever had. i was filled with messages of love and happiness from friends and family. the husband gave me a pretty blue box and we went as a family to explore washington dc on foot for the day. i couldn't be happier with our new big city and am really excited to take the kids to the smithsonians and to show them the history that surrounds them. today i was able to watch as the discovery made its finally journey right over our homes to dulles airport and was happy knowing i couldn't have seen anything like that anywhere else. there is a lot to be excited about and take in and we are trying to slow down and remember to breathe.

grateful

i am a horrible blogger keeper upper. i am an even worse blogger keeper upper in the midst of stress and moving and all of the other things that come along with that. i also feel like a horrible mother because i am letting my kids watch way more teevee than they should be right now because they let me actually pack boxes and go through the house when they do. damn, honesty.

but this is not about me. this is about my amazing little gage man.

having a crazy 18 month old is difficult right now. she doesn't understand why i keep putting everything in boxes and she is mad at me and the world because of it. with her personality alone i have no idea how i would be doing this, but with the amazing superhero that is gage, i can.

you see, my little 40 year old is a miracle worker. he sees me getting into packing the house and he understands what needs to be done to get us from this apartment to our shiny new yard. without me asking gage has stepped up his role of being a big brother and he keeps chunk entertained while i pack each of our things away. gage may be strict in action (uncle tom, donuts are not healthy for us), but he is completely understanding and bending when it comes to the ultimate goal.

i am so proud of my little man for being such a big man. i am so proud of the love and affection that he shows to his little sister during such a difficult stage of transition. he may be a handful sometimes, (mom, i say these things because i know everything and every person else is ridiculously) but he is wise and sweet beyond his years. my little man is such an amazing and important part of this family and i am just grateful to have him and to be able to learn from him.

i never thought these things to be possible - but i love him more with each day and each second. i am so thankful to be his mother and to be able to have a hand in raising him. i love my little man.

scattered updates

- i think it is super cute that chunk says "anks" when you give her what she wants / asks for. pretty proud that gage, her daddy, and myself are good role models creating a polite little 18 month old monster.

- i have 8 boxes packed.

- we have a place to live in virginia. a house. with a big yard. and a great kitchen. that was stressful.

- gage is giving us a run for our money - 4 is a hard age, but i applaud his search for independence and his fighting spirit while he figures it out.

- racism is alive and well.

- ugh.

- gage has been using chunk's barbie to "dust" our house this week in preparation for the move.

- charli is talking like crazy. she talks so much that i can't even keep track of all the crazy words coming out of her mouth. when she talks like a sheep, she screams "BAAAAAA" and that is pretty darn funny.

- we took gage on his first train ride in strasburg, pa. he loved it. he thanked me for the educational experience and told me how much he enjoys that we help him learn.

- my 4 year old is going on 40.

- chunk's doctor ignored my requests to look at her diaper rash the last 2 months resulting in an emergency appointment where i learned (from a new doc) that she had a serious yeast infection. i was not a happy mom.

- balsamic, mustard, rosemary, and garlick make an awesome marinade for almost everything. 

trout

today is my sister's birthday!

happy birthday, brook!

my sister has always been the person i look up to in my life, the person i fear getting slaughtered by in a debate (she's wicked smart, yo), and the person that has always been so consistently her that i marvel at everything she is. when we were younger my sister had the coolest chemistry set and the best color me badd tape on the block. when my sister graduated high school she spent her days hiking with the little red dogs out by the buffalo and mastering the art of drinking tequila better than everyone else. when my sister goes to work for a company she becomes the balls of the operation - men and women fear and respect her brilliance and her take no prisoners approach. when my sister decided she could cook she became the gourmet goddess of the kitchen and she fed us the most glorious food that all we could do was take a nap. when my sister decided she was a photographer she killed that, too. i would be jealous if i wasn't busy wondering how the hell she does it all and still maintains an amazing sense of humor. plus, she will kick your ass if you fuck with the people she loves. be warned.

my sister is going to be a mother soon and i know without a doubt in my heart that she will be the most amazing mother, the most poised mother, the most beautiful and outstanding example for her daughter. you see, my sister is a strong person. she is stronger than almost anyone i have ever met in my life and she never boasts that. she never says, "hey, i am better than you!" but you know it when you are in her presence because it is impossible to ignore. she is well spoken, intelligent, strong, confident, humble, and just plain fucking awesome. i am proud to say that my sister is, like, totally my bff. and stuff. when we moved to the east coast she gave us a place to vacation, she fed us food, she made charli love her and her amazing tricks, and she became gage's most favorite person of all. in short, my sister is better than you.

so happy birthday, brook, i love you so much. we all do. thank you for being the person i can always look up to and for always being there for me. having you in my life makes every day better and i am constantly grateful to have you here and to know you. you will always be my big sister, but most importantly you have become an amazing friend and presence in my life. <3

monday morning blah blah update

this weekend was full of much needed family time and relaxation. we played tons of games with the kids, had movie nights on the kids' new pillow mattresses, tried out elevation burger (yum!), had some homemade sour cream chicken enchiladas (double yum!), played at the park, and finished it all up with espresso cheesecake and a yuengling. like i said, much needed and full of awesome.

yesterday when we were getting ready to walk out of the house the husband asked chunk where her coat was - she threw her hands up in the air and said, "i don't know!" a first for her and a hilarious moment for us. she has also started saying, "bless you", "thanks", "princess", and "want yogurt". he daddy has been gone for the last week and a half or so and was blown away by how different she is speaking and acting. i think sometimes i forget how much she grows on a daily basis and it is a fun reminder when he slows down to pay attention to all of it.

charli is growing up a bit and is starting to enjoy playing some games on her own for a bit. we keep her cupcake kitchen in their tent in our dining (play) room and she is often sitting in front of it making cupcakes for everyone in the house. i love that when she puts the cupcakes in the oven she will go, "tick tick DING! all done!" and will come out and present us all with her fresh baked plastic treats. she has so much pride in figuring out all these little things on her own and i absolutely adore watching her imagination bloom right in front of my eyes.

gage man has really started taking this being 4 business seriously. this week he decided that he was open to watching new movies and has really started enjoying new concepts in shows he has never watched. yesterday we all sat down and watched beauty and the beast; he asked questions every 5 seconds about what was happening, who was good and bad, and where the hell is the princess's mom!? i didn't know if he would enjoy the movie, but he did and even asked to have it playing in the background again today. he also started playing dora on the wii all by himself. watching him figure out how to play the wii all by himself was absolutely adorable, and the smile on his face as he plays is priceless. i love that we can play that game on a cold day inside because it gets him standing and moving around a bit and keeps him engaged with thinking about his next move.

our little hall monitor is so cute with how he treats his little sister and how he tries to take care of her. the other day he complained to me that chunk doesn't like to cuddle with him enough, but today when she wanted to share his prized new pillow mattress he was all "get off of me, baby, this is my space!" and then, "you can cuddle with me later because i know you love me." if anyone in the world tried to hurt his baby sister he would be first in line to battle because he is just amazing like that. we have had a bit of a fight on listening and lying lately, but nothing that isn't typical 4 year old boundary exploration. he knows that if he doesn't listen enough in the day the consequence is losing his leappad, and that has worked out effectively for the most part.

the husband is working his ass off and we are still just waiting for news of when everything is going to go down. he rock-stared his financial analysis class and is getting more comfortable with his new role in his company. i couldn't be more proud of how well he is doing and how much he does for our little family.

i am really starting to find my stride with everything. sewing has been such a great outlet for me and i am enjoying taking on new projects and learning all about my pretty little machine. i have never felt particularly crafty, but sewing is different for me. i look forward to learning more about what i can create, even if that means my seam ripper is going to need to be replaced soon. i am going to start working on a project for rapture (my sister's soon to be here baby) this week and am hoping that will go swimmingly. i have never been in this good of a place in my life before and it feels incredibly gratifying. feeling happy is really starting to grow on me.

cha cha chunkers

the husband and i have been incredibly busy not having sick kids lately, which is super amounts of awesome and win. i can admit that i think both of us had had it up to everywhere over the last few months, but finally getting a break has been nice. i am especially happy that we are getting a break leading up to our anniversary because i love me some romantical shit. this year i want to have a glass of wine, watch tv, and go the fuck to bed. romantic? yes, in my book.

i keep meaning to write a chunk update, but then i a fall asleep. or a show i want to watch comes on. or i pretend to be in a coma just so i trick myself into thinking that i had five minutes of calm. it's amazing i can even dress myself anymore. i love chunk, but she is a lot like having a warden. a warden that brings you presents and blows you kisses.

the warden is currently obsessed with bringing me gifts. when i am showering she will bring me toys and lay them in front of the shower door. a few days ago she took out all the puzzle boards and spread them across the bathroom - when i tried to get out of the shower she screamed at me and tried to close the door to keep me trapped in. she likes to bring me presents while i am doing the dishes and she insists that i keep them directly underneath my feet to avoid a complete meltdown. her favorite place to bring gifts me is while i am sitting on the couch, but when i am on the couch the rules change and i am forced to hold everything she wants me to have or she throws herself on the ground and screams for thirty minutes. this morning she started screaming, "hold it!" in the middle of her tears because i didn't want to hold the book that she didn't want to read anymore.

lately chunk has taken to having meltdowns because we won't allow her to take her lovies into the bath with her. chunk has mitti, monkey, and mouse and she loves them with all of her heart. she also really loves her bath time. a + b = why the hell not bring them in with me to enjoy the happiness? the other night i literally had to spend 15 minutes trying to convince her to breathe after i told her monkey would not be joining us in the bath that night. as much as i love her cuddling a soaking wet stuffie to sleep, i don't.

she is hilarious, and is loving laughing and play time. she loves to play the new games her big brother dreams up and for all of her craziness, she really is so incredibly sweet and cuddly. i always look forward to the half hour after her nap because i know she is just going to want to sit on my lap and cuddle until i have to get things done. she loves her goodnight kisses, her stuffies, her books, her daddy, her brother, and i am pretty sure she loves me as long as i don't say no.

she makes me so incredibly happy and i love the light she brings into all of our lives. as she is getting older she is starting to love helping around the house and she is talking at a level i didn't even know was possible for her age. she is an absolute blast to be around and to say that there is never a dull moment is an understatement. my mom always says, "no doubt about it, she is a challenging baby" and she is, but that also has a lot of upsides because her dynamic personality can make the good times the greatest times. i will think that i have had enough after an hour of her screaming at me for no reason, but all of a sudden she will light up, start laughing, and run into my arms happily. that's charli - and i wouldn't change any of it.

New day, new ideas.

"mom cats are just stupid and scary. And when you aren't looking behind you they pop up and then they thppppt all scary and cat. Cats like to pop up and surprise you and your head and then there is milk on your head. And they poop in boxes, mom. In boxes is where they poop."

Guess he is a dog person. ;)

while watching superhero shows

"bad guys don't like water. they don't like to be clean or anything."

Well then.

"this is NOT a drawing. It is a balloon with a smiley face on it and it is not real."

Reality

Gage man has it in his head that things are only real if they can move. Convincing him otherwise is impossible. This blog? Not real. My bed? Not real. Cartoon characters? Real. You know what else "fart on your face for real!!!!!" Kids are weird.

4.

Dear Gage,

For your birthday this year your Nana and Papa got you a sweet new LeapPad that you adored from the word go. You are such a technologically driven child and we were hopeful that this new system would pull you away from the Angry Birds and maybe give you a bit more of the educational play instead of the killing the pigs play. Your LeapPad has a game called Pet Pals 2 that allows you to adopt a virtual dog and care for it. You love this because you love taking care of puppies (just ask Aunt Brook’s dogs who love it when you come over to care for them!) When you started the game you chose a cute little Husky Pup that you named “Cuddly Pup”. When the game told you that you could choose a new dog to care for after a few days of play you were completely offended – how dare the game suggest you abandon your sweet Cuddly Pup for a new dog!? Bastards.

And that is you. You are the most loyal person I have ever met and you are only 4 years old. You’re incredibly loving and would never throw anyone under the bus or abandon them for any new someone or something. You have your circle of people and animals that you love and they are always your best. You are consistent, reliable, and far beyond your years with your attitude and intelligence. We get so many compliments from strangers about your manners and self control when we are out and I always have to tell them that it is not me; you are just that great of a kid. I am so proud of your demeanor and your loving nature.

We have had a hell of a year and have enjoyed so many travels, visits, and adventures. We had a pass to our local zoo (Elmwood Park Zoo) and enjoyed almost weekly visits during the warmer weather (and some of the cold weather, too!) to see the animals and play at the park. You love checking in on each animal and reciting facts that you have learned about them. You love feeding the goats and ducks, and as long as there aren’t too many crazy kids on the playground you love playing there. We took many a trip to our local farm (MerryMead) to visit with the animals and eat some of the best ice cream that exists on this planet. Our normal routine is to go visit the animals, head in and eat our ice cream, and one more round trip of visiting our animal friends before we are allowed to leave. If you aren’t thinking about being a veterinarian yet, maybe you should, you have a kinship with animals rarely matched by other people. Again, you’re just that good.

This year we made countless trips down to visit Aunt Brook, Uncle Tom, and Dominic. You love visiting their house because it is magic. Seriously, everything at their house is like magic to you and I love the way you light up as soon as we are there. It helps that Aunt Brook is one of your most favorite people in the world, and that no dog holds a bigger place in your heart than Martini. The two of you love to cuddle up on the couch and watch your cartoons and both of you always look right where you want to be in those moments; it’s so incredibly sweet. When we watch the puppies at their house while they are out you insist on being the one that feeds them and lets them out and are very responsible about it. I promise that as soon as I can I will get you a puppy, but Aunt Brook’s sub in happily when we are missing puppies in our lives.

You also visited California for the first time this year to spend Thanksgiving with Nana, Papa, and Uncle Jess. I don’t have to say that you had a good time, because you love your Nana and Papa so much and they are always a good time. You stepped foot onto a sailboat for the first time (Papa’s boat, Jessica) and finally had a positive reaction to ocean waters as you played on the beach in Monterey Bay. Nana and Papa were also able to visit us a few times this year and we enjoyed their company so much while we had them. Having family so spread out is hard sometimes, but we all manage to make it work because family is incredibly important to us, but you know that, because you feel it to your sweet little core.

You took a while to find your voice, but this year you have found the words you were always looking for and your vocabulary has taken off. I love our little conversations and all of the rules you place on us during our daily lives. You love to turn everything into a game, and you love manipulating those rules to make sure that you win every single game. You are a brilliant little guy and you love to learn about everything around you. Educating you is impossibly easy because you soak up information like a sponge and you have a very photographic memory that keeps everything in order for you to recall things at a later date. You remember things that happened at the age of two and I love watching you recount the stories because I can watch you visualize everything in your head as you go as if you were reading a story in front of you. I hope you always embrace your intelligence and let it guide you to amazing places in life.

We had the opportunity to watch you blossom as a big brother this year and even typing this makes tears well up in my eyes because of the pride I have for who you are and how you treat your little sister. Charli wants to be just like you in every single way and will often irritate you because she just won’t get out of your business. Every single thing you do, she does, and everything you love, she loves. You treat her so well, giving her hugs and kisses each night before she goes to bed, and giving her reasons to laugh all day long. The two of you fill my heart to the brim with happiness and I love that you love being a big brother. She has really helped to bring that shy little guy out of you and I am happy to report that finally, and with no encouragement from us, you started to interact with other little kids towards the end of this year. I hope you keep finding the courage to laugh and play, because watching you just be  you is one of the greatest joys of my life.

I have such a hard time writing these letters to you because there isn’t enough space in the world to put down how I feel about you. When I gave birth to you I was forever changed and I had no idea then that you would be who you are and continue to change me every single day. You aren’t like other kids. Hell, you aren’t like other grownups. Your light shines beautifully and bright. You have such a peaceful and calm soul and you act much older than you really are. You may be a quiet child, but your thoughts are loud and have such a big personality on their own. I hope that you can always find a way to speak loudly; no matter if you do it by words or by action, but I have no doubt that you will do great things in life.

Mostly I just want to thank you for being the you that you are. I am beyond proud of my 4 year old little man and I love you more than I ever thought I could love something in my life. You are such a joy to be around; being your mother is a blessing and getting the opportunity to spend every day with you makes me happy beyond measure. I hope I can always guide you to be the best possible version of yourself that you can be, but seeing who you are now I don’t know how much guidance you will really need. You’re such an incredible little boy. Thank you for letting me be there to watch you grow and learn, you make me proud of you every single day.

I love you,

Mama

speak up, i can't hear your babble

one of my new favorite things that charli is doing is using baby sentences to tell us things. she will run into a room, point, and say something like "ugh huraah hur ha be tado meow" with firm authority. she really feels confidant when she leaves the room that her instructions have gotten through to us and that we are now ready to follow through with those plans.

one of my least favorite things that charli is now doing is collapsing into a heap on the floor and screaming for at least five minutes because we can't understand her booga booga language and have absolutely no idea what we are supposed to be doing.

kids can be such a joy.

i don't have to wonder

the chunk is being the absolutely awful. my last 3 days have consisted of her either yelling at me, or flipping the other coin and being a complete maniac. yesterday she started laughing at herself and the things she was doing - something she had never done before. i know from raising ge man that she is probably in the middle of a massive wonder week (month? life?) either that or my mom said she is about to start her period. i think it's safe to assume that one of those is plausible. or not. whatever.

i am hoping that chunk comes out of this wonder week with some pretty cool new abilities. maybe she will be able to do fractions, or bake me a pie, or maybe she just won't feel like screaming at me for absolutely no reason. mostly i am just hoping that tomorrow will be easier because it is house cleaning day. usually she decides to be at her absolute worst on house cleaning day, which would mean that house cleaning day might become mommy checks into a mental clinic day. or daddy brings mommy home a bottle of wine day. or fuck it, who cares about this stupid house and all of its toys let's go eat a cheeseburger day.

ge man's 4th birthday was absolutely fantastic. we weren't able to go to please touch because gage and i both had severe gastrointestinal flu, but we were able to spend the weekend together and that is always a good thing. ge and i went to the pottery studio on saturday and he painted an angry birds piggy bank, afterwords i spoiled him a bit at toys r us, and we both talked about how awesome it was to get to spend a mommy and ge day. i need to write his 4 year letter, but it's hard because the little man just means so damn much to me. his birth changed me forever and i love him so much for that, and for so many other reasons.

on his actual bday he woke up to happy birthday signs, balloons (his favorite), and a bunch of gifts to open and enjoy. we had been telling him for a month that nana had sent him an awesome bday present so when he opened up her other present first, some really cute super hero underwear, he burst out with, "UnderWear!? UGH. That's IT!?!?" i love the honesty of kids. fabulous. he loved his leappad (the big gift), his new squishy football (thanks brook and tom!), super hero movie and book, art stuff, leappad games, and catwoman (for his bat cave and joker house). we had a super hero day complete with batman cake and playtime in our capes and with batman. he really seemed to have had a great day, even if he was still under the weather a bit. he is a champ. and i am so proud to have a little 4 year old man.

we are still waiting to hear a move date for virginia, but i am so ready to go. my apartment walls feel like they are closing in on me with the prospect of 3 (3!) whole bedrooms. plus, a kitchen table! my living room and dining room won't be toy boxes anymore and i cannot wait. plus, virginia sounds good. my mom says the most important part is the ham, and i like ham, so i must like virginia. i especially like ham when you saute up some onions in butter and red pepper, brown the ham in the mixture, add in eggs, and top it with cheese. if virginia is like that, especially if virginia is sour cream and hot sauce on top of that, then i will love it.

the day after

"hey mister 4 year old, i am super glad you weren't sick again last night."

"shit yeah, mom. throwing up sucks."

fact.

eff you see kay

january got one final jab in last night when gage woke up at 10:30 puking his guts out. fuck you too, january.

i blame this all on target because i am pretty sure that is where he picked up the croup and the flu that became the bane of my existence in january 2012. it should be illegal to be the kind of asshole that takes their sick kids out of the house to infect everyone else. yes, having sick kids is an inconvenience, but getting other people's kids sick makes you an inconsiderate prick. people should care a lot more about being a prick than they do.

in the last few days chunk has really started to string words together in sentences. this morning she woke up as her alter ego - a kickboxing instructor - and ran around the house going "punch punch kick" and following it up with the appropriate actions. this was surprising to me mostly because gage was in bed so this must have been something she dreamed of last night. dream big, baby - you're can be a kick ass fitness instructor if you really want to. or, you know, just as a hobby.

he knows what he wants

"as you know, mom, i don't always enjoy playing with those goopy paints in my bath. sometimes i would like more colors or even a crayon."


this last week ge decided he needed to be able to count to 100. i have him up to 20 and he is completely irritated with me because he isn't able to count to 100 yet. we have been working on writing our letters for the last week and he is doing exceptionally well, but is also irritated with me because he can't spell complex words. i take a lot of shit because my kids have unrealistic expectations. i prefer this over the other, though, and will try and remind myself of that next time chunk yells at me because she doesn't know how to operate heavy machinery, yet. the challenges of having intelligent and driven children ... yeesh. first world problems all up in my house today this month. 


speaking of this month - january can suck it. yes, we got a hug job promotion this month, but it has pretty much just sucked a nut from start to finish. i am looking forward to february and all of its gage and husband birthday glory. i think i might even accept valentine's day into my life this year and doing something nice just for skuz for the husband and kids. normally i hate valentine's day, but i think we could use all the reasons to celebrate that we can find in the second month of the year. hopefully we get a move date soon so i can finally take a big step forward and figure out what we really need to do next. 


birthday weekend is fast approaching for my little man. i can't wait to have the husband home for 3 days of celebration. superhero birthday weekend is totally going to rock socks. 

place over all the

i would like to begin my next thought by saying that there is nothing funny about the costa concordia incident. nothing. but the captain saying that he tripped and fell into a lifeboat is absolutely hilarious. that is all.

yesterday chunk had her 15 month check up even thought she is technically 16 months old. a month of holidays and sickness kept us from the appointment, but i personally hate the mmr shot so i didn't mind the delay. i don't hate the mmr shot because of the autism thing, i don't believe there is a link there at all, but because it gave ge the measles and he was super sick for a week. way to be the 4%, ge man. so far it seems like chunk is not the 4% and we are grateful for that.

doctor rozwat says she looks great. and that there is no vaccine for evil. apparently i just made that one up. stats are : height - 32 1/4 inches (85%) weight - 26.2 lbs (80%) head 20 1/2 cm (97%). seems like our big gal is shrinking down, but still has a giant head. perhaps we will have to call her something other than chunk one day. i could think of a few of them, but none of those seem appropriate.

chunk has taken to playing fun games like stab mommy in the leg with a plastic screw driver, hit mommy and daddy in the face with cars, throw yourself on the ground in a heap and throw a tantrum like a wild monster baby, put your fingers in daddy's ears while he sleeps, headbutt daddy while he sleeps, and scream unreasonably because you don't know how to play angry birds on the old smart phone because you are only 16 freaking months old. she is completely unreasonable, totally dramatic, and absolutely insane. her combination of intelligence and stubbornness mix terribly with her lack of reasoning skills and create a volcanic like situation every moment of every day. she is a handful, to put it simply.

she is super sweet (sometimes), and she really is a smart baby. in the last week she had started looking at things differently - more interested in how they are working instead of that they are working. she expects to be able to do the same things ge does, but she can't because he is awesome and she is limited what with the whole 16 month thing. her vocabulary is huge and i can barely keep up with her new words. she is starting to string words together to make cute little sentences and is rocking to syllable words. she is starting to really understand that words are the best way to get what she wants and i hope that we move more into that phase as quickly as possible. i think once she can communicate with us a bit better she will be a lot easier. but probably still completely evil.

i can't believe my ge man is going to be 4 soon - time has gone so fast with him. the kid is so wicked smart and could walk circles around a lot of adults at using a computer. the other day he taught his dad how to play angry birds and was completely irritated when his dad didn't do it right. he has such a little imagination on him and i love watching him come up with new games and new rules to accommodate his winning streak (ge - 45,697 us - 1). we are looking forward to putting him in sports this summer and hopefully watching him blossom some new friendships. ge has always been my little introvert and we are hoping to help him come out of his shell a bit before he enters school in a year and a half.

ge keeps me laughing all of the time with his wild antics and hilarious phrases. he really loves learning and enjoys working on his pre-k books and playing connect the dots. he hasn't really shown much interest in writing his letters, but i can get him to write all of them if we turn it into a dot game. his favorite thing to draw is "papa's sailboat" and he is pretty good at drawing it. he is starting to delve into the world of super heroes and is grasping the good guy bad guy concept. he loves beating up the penguin and joker and having his heroes capture them and return them to the prison in the bat cave. i love his, "ha ha mean guy! we kicked your butt!" because we did, and we had fun doing it.

the biggest news is that the husband got a big ol' promotion at work and we are moving to virginia in a few months. i have loved living in philaburbia because i have loved the east coast, but i am excited to be in a place that we both are ready to put roots down in. plus, we will be closer to my sister, brother in law, and their soon to be own personal real live evil baby. we are going to have to keep rapture and chunk separated so they don't think up new evil plans together. we are both excited to start this new chapter of our lives and feel very blessed for the opportunity. the husband is a pretty damn amazing guy and i couldn't be prouder of him.

breakfast calls. well, children call for breakfast. i have recipes to post, but i suck at doing that so we will see if i ever get around to it.

smks

while coloring : "hey, remember that i have dark blue eyes like you? and charli has light blue eyes. but daddy has brown eyes so he can't see in the dark."

science.

also, "charli, get back here you big fat bandit."

i love him.

glorious pork

i have this vision that i will wake up tomorrow morning and learn to be the woman that uses my copious amount of natural light to take pictures of the amazing food i cook right after i finish up with a day full of crafting with the kids in my beautifully clean house. i have that vision in a world where i don't start a blog with a run-on sentence, too, but that would be counter to the point. or something. i have that vision and then i remember that my little apartment doesn't actually have much natural light. and that my house is only half clean because the children i would like to craft with were monsters yesterday. and that i don't have time to be that person because i am too busy living in the real world. still, visions.

i did manage to snap a picture with my iphone of the glorious lean pork roast i made last night.

see all that juiciness? me, too. i could also taste it in every glorious bite. we expected our little pork loin to last for two meals - i am planning on a new dinner tonight because we forgot to stop once we started eating.

and it's easy! super easy! i put the loin in a zip lock bag and added balsamic vinegar, a bit of olive oil, dried rosemary (the last of which i have from my previous new mexico home - tastes like beautiful desert. sniffle.) (also, make sure you rub it between the palms of your hands to open up the flavorness), pepper, salt, obscene amounts of crushed garlick (obscene. period.), and red pepper flakes (also from new mexico. double sniffle.) make sure everything is all happy and marinating together and stick that baby in your fridge for a few hours, or until you are ready to cook.

take your loin out 15 - 30 minutes (30 is better) before you are ready to cook it and place it in a shallow roasting pan. could you use foil for easier clean up? sure, you could, but i don't like easy things. no offense to my old neighbor. preheat your oven to 450 and ignore your husband telling you to stick with your regular method of cooking pork because his mother was a terrible cook who always dried pork out and you finally brought him back from the nightmares with your ability to not dry out pork and he doesn't want to go back to the days of oyster stuffing. IT WAS BLUE.

side note. i looked all over the internet for advice on how to make this dinner. i took advice from almost everything i read and turned it into our own personal vanishing loin. so kuddos to the intertubes for my success.

anywho. with the oven preheated it is time to put the pork in (that's what he said.) (you know it was bound to happen.)  before i placed mine in the oven i gave the top of it a healthy dose of black pepper and salt to create an even spicier crust. depending on your love for spice i would strongly suggest this to be a choice you make as well. in fact, you should probably do that part back at the step where you take the loin out of the fridge and put it in the pan. i am a little all over the place this morning. FIBER! CHERRY PIE! now you know what it is like to live with my four year old. FART FACE!

cook your pork loin uncovered at 450 for 20 minutes until it has a beautiful looking crust and your house smells amazing. drop the oven down to 375, tent your loin with foil, and continue cooking until the internal temp is at least 145. i got talking to the husband at this point and cooked mine to 152 - it was still amazing, but 145 is optimal so don't let anyone distract you. tell them there is only room for you and you pork in the kitchen and that they will thank you later. or don't be completely selfish and weird. whatever.

make sure you let your pork loin rest for at least 10 minutes before you cut into it. redistribution of meat liquids is a very important step in the awesomeness of this beauty of a dead pig. while you wait you can apologize to the person you kicked out of your kitchen during the quest for the perfect internal temperature. or poor yourself a glass of wine and enjoy your domestic bliss in silence.

i paired this with basil and herb pearled couscous. mostly because that's what i had on hand, but it turned out to be a nice side. a salad would also work. something green and / or herby is a nice compliment. or just eat the pork and drink your wine. no judging here. PIE FACE! SOCKS ON YOUR HEAD! CHICKEN STRIPPERS!!

another night

i am covered in vomit. is that a pretty picture? no. is it terrifying? absolutely. i put chunk down to bed tonight and a half an hour later she started coughing so hard that i pulled her out of bed and she immediately dispelled the contents of her stomach on me. i called the doc and he proceeded to explain that as "normal". i found myself half believing him and half still worried. i am so tired of this. i know i am complaining, but seriously ... rabble.

my little ge man was such a champ today, as always. i have a never ending amount of amazed by what a good kid he is. i am so grateful that he was my first born because he made having kids such a cake walk in so many regards. we are looking at a lot of changes coming up and he is all like, "hell yeah, mom, bring it on." i wish that i had half of the strength that he does, but i sleep well at night knowing that we help him along with the environment to believe.

i am so bored at this point that i am willing to climb walls, i just lack the energy. 2 more days until answer time. waiting....

gtfo

dear sickness -

please, gtfo. we are done with you. we hate you. you are like the person at the end of the party that refuses to leave. we do not want to put you up on our couch for the night and next time we have a party we will tell bill not to invite you because you were only an annoyance. you have more than overstayed your welcome (and, let's be honest, you were never really "welcome" in the first place.)

sincerely, 

sick of being sick. 

on a more serious note - this cold sucks. i don't even know if it's a cold anymore since it is also acting like a flu. my poor husband woke up yesterday being a little bit complainy and today he woke up in full blown sick land and we do not have time for this shit. my husband has the biggest moment in his career coming up on tuesday and he can honestly not be sick for it. i have been loading him up on tea and medicine with a side kicker of soup all day and all we can do is cross our fingers. i personally have been battling a 6 day migraine with a chest full of awful and cannot seem to move anywhere past the stage of "bleecccccchhhh". 

on a strange yet related note i had a moment of super pride with the husband tonight when chunk puked all over him and he didn't even flinch. go husband. 

chunk sounds horrible. i have had more mucous and vomit on me in the last week than anyone at a rave ever dealt with. as much as i appreciate the magnificence that is a nasal aspirator, i am fucking sick of using one. i encourage everyone to steal the nasal aspirator the hospital provides you with when your babies are born, though, because i have never been able to find anything better than the ones they "give" you at the hospital. turns out chunkers hates being sick and turns even more drama when filled with the devil mucous. she can scream really loud. 

ge is finally getting better and has finished out all of his meds as of tonight. i couldn't be more proud of my little man for how well he has handled taking so many disgusting medications while on his quest to fight the death cold. we have had a few minor incidences of coughing up meds, but he has taken them like a champ for a week and a half and the results are a happy little boy that is back to making crazy sounds and jumping up and down. his only issue has been that everyone has gotten sick after him so we are all pretty much boring and germ infested. poor ge. 

i am trying to keep my head above water right now and get everyone in the house back on track before i truly sit down and take care of myself. i have this never ending learning curve of appreciation for how much my mother did for us growing up. until you have a family of your own it is hard to understand the sacrifices and work that go in to really caring for a family and making sure they are okay. i have no complaints, honestly, but shit it's work. i wouldn't sign up for any other job - even if this one is currently covered in snot. 

the millionth time

this is chunk's favorite book in the whole wide world. the child loves books. i cannot emphasize enough how much she loves - nay, LOVES - books. she spends the majority of every day bringing us books and screaming at us until we properly comply with her wishes and read to her with the proper tone in the proper place. if we do not have enough excitement in our voice? tantrum. did you want to sit like you were sitting? tantrum. are you doing the dishes? push and pull on your legs and proceed with a tantrum. is she awake? tantrum.

i lost my train of thought.

monkeys. (MONIES!!)

this morning chunk brought me her "monies" book. she was excited to have found it agains because it has been "lost" for the last few days. i have no idea who would have misplaced such a lovely book. perhaps someone who has read it at least 20 times a day for a month. do you think i am exaggerating? come babysit. she handed the book to me, sat on my lap, and when i opened it up she said "hand hand thumb". which, aside from the word fingers is the beginning lines of the book. not bad, chunkosaurus. perhaps all this book reading business is actually paying off. and i thought she was just fucking with us.

okay, i know she is fucking with us, just not when it comes to monkeys.

sew cute

my mom gave me a sewing machine for christmas. i am super excited to get past this germ filled beginning of the week so i can start to learn how to use my pretty new machine. i was just explaining to ge that when i figure out wtf i am doing i will make him some fleece pants as one of my first project tries. his reply was -

"don't you know everything? i thought grownups already knew stuff."

"nope, not everything."

*heavy sigh - "fine, i guess i will have to teach you that, too."

croup watch, now 2012 edition

new years eve brought us the gift of our sweet baby boy being the sickest he has been in his almost 4 years. i spent the morning at the doctor's office with ge hearing words like, "severe ear infection" and "croup". i also spent the day getting prescriptions of steroids and amoxicillin while the husband and the chunk bought bed bound presents to keep the ge man feeling special and entertained. watching my little boy struggle to breathe and gasp for air was the most helpless feeling i have felt as a parent.

we have spent many moments of the last few days sitting on our patio in the middle of the night to open ge's airways as he struggled to breathe. sunday night he laid down into bed with tears in his eyes and asked me if he would ever feel better. sunday night i spent 30 minutes in the freezing middle of night air with him wondering if this was the moment we give in and head to the hospital against his wishes. yesterday he spent the day curled up on the couch, the most defeated of all the days since the sickness came on, but we saw light at the end of the tunnel because he started wanting food and sleep. last night he woke up, but not as a seal, and i let out the biggest sigh of relief that ever was.

this morning my little man is lying in bed watching his 1989 super mario cartoons and feeling like there might be hope left that he won't feel like shit forever. after not really sleeping for the last 4 days i am hopeful that the worst is over. did you know that it is impossible to sleep when your kids are sick? it is for me. i am delirious with the no sleep. the husband and i are keeping our fingers crossed that chunk escapes this and that we can reclaim our house and our lives. here in phillie we are under the grasps of an arctic blast for the next few days, but this weekend is shaping up to be 50 degrees and i think we are all ready to get the hell out of this house and enjoy some sunshine.

the husband and i did get to enjoy our new year's eve together at home while on croup watch. we watched the dick clark special, made a lot of jokes, had a lot of laughs, shared the most amazing nye kiss i have ever had, drank a bit of champagne, and simply enjoyed each other's company. i know this is cheese tastic, but i really do benefit so much in my life from being married to him. i am lucky that my husband is the best friend i could ask for.

chunk is still talking more and more every day. she has not liked the fact that we have kept her and ge separated so much the last few days and i know she misses being allowed to play with him. she has acted out a bit more, but really she couldn't be much more of a terror in general. well, i think. what she has developed the last few days is more of an ability to keep herself entertained, which is relieving in a lot of ways. i keep telling myself that she will get a bit older and will be easier to deal with, but as she gets older she just gets more stubborn angry diva. trifecta of insanity inducing frustrations. she is lucky she is so cute and hilarious because right now she is a lot of hard to handle.

we welcome 2012 with open arms. after the last few days i am hoping for some sleep. ge is hoping to feel better. the husband is hoping for better month ends and to wrap a peruvian neck tie on someone tonight at jits. chunk is hoping for chocolate, a billion books to read, and more people to scream at. wait, no, i am hoping that she screams at someone other than me. i have no doubt that 2012 is going to bring us a lot of exciting changes and opportunities in our life and i am looking forward to all that is on the horizon.

unanswered prayers

chunk is currently in front of me practicing throwing tantrums. not just any type of tantrum, either - the kind where she throws her body onto the ground and screams. these are the times where i find being an atheist completely inconvenient because i have no one to pray to.

this week has been one of those weeks where both of my kids have challenged me in ways they never have before. we have had a busy few months and it seems that all of the chaos has finally caught up with them and rendered them both emotionally unstable. it also seems that i am the person they most want to take out their frustrations on be them good or bad. chunk thinks that i am the only person in the world who can take care of her problems and will come screaming to me after the slightest injustice happens in her tiny toddler world. this morning she couldn't lift the new batcave her brother got for christmas - the meltdown took 15 minutes to get through and included her literally throwing a book at me. i was never able to understand that some kids could just be inherently evil - bitter pill and all that jazz. sheesh.

the kids, the husband, and i cleaned up for christmas. the husband got me the gift of crafting and i gave him the gift of jiu jitsu. the kids loot included a ginormous play tent, stuffed animals, books, a play kitchen, the batcave complete with a ton of accessories, candy, a learning clock, puzzles, a leap frog laptop, and minnie mouse. they have done a surprisingly good job sharing everything they received, and aside from the damn elephant we have had no fights. the damn elephant came from aunt brook (at my request, so she is totally not on the hook for it.) the damn elephant is an adorable plush that has a wireless remote with a little button. the damn elephant makes his elephant noise when you push the button. you play hide and seek with the damn elephant and fun is supposed to ensue. if you live in my house, though, you have a crazy toddler that pushes the button over and freaking over again while you try to beat her into a room to hide the damn elephant and a (almost) 4 year old who sits in a corner crying because he wants to push the button. do you try to explain that the fun of the damn elephant is the actual finding part not the pushing the button part? you do. but they don't listen. and so you put the damn elephant in the closet and close the door because this is no fun anymore. damn elephant ain't no fun.

i think i just blacked out there.

we are hoping to make the elephant fun again in 2012.

we here at this house that we live in have been blessed with an amazing year. have we had our ups and downs? of course. the husband and i talked last night about how blessed we are that he has a job that can support me staying home to try and help our children not become future convicts, and that we have cool things like running water and electricity. we really don't have any right to complain about anything in our lives. in fact, i don't have many complaints outside of some incredibly annoying and selfish family members. really, though, the gift of living so far away from people is a beautiful one. so yes, good year and all that. plus, in 2012 i get to meet my niece, and i really couldn't put into words how happy that makes all of us here in this house.

i am not one to make goals for myself. so i won't.

i have a lot of hopes for 2012 and i am going to write those down for myself just as we did last year after i burn all of the things i want to let go from 2011. my biggest burn item is letting people get under my skin. i want to learn how to not give a shit in 2012. here's to hoping.

for now i have a toddler screaming, "here! book!" at me. that's a pretty clear message and since i am terrified of her i am going to meet her demands.

leveling up

right now (and for the past 6 months) ge is obsessed with games. everything that ge and daddy do must be a game. there must be rules, winners and losers, and always a name for the game. recently these games have begun to include levels, complicated structure, and rounds. there are 3 rounds and 4 levels within each round, or 1 round and 3 levels of increasing difficulty. there are rounds that only ge can play, but levels that we are somehow included in. it's safe to say that i do not completely understand how most of this goes down, but he does, and seeing as he is always somehow the winner of these games - well, i try not to complain.

this weekend the husband was trying to get some work done from home. ge stared at his dad's computer, completely confused by the black and teal database page that he was boringly typing into. "dad, what are you doing?" "i am working (insert boring explanation of credit database structure here)" "where are all the pictures in your game?" "this isn't a game, this is work." at this point the husband switched from the database to an email and back to the database again to which ge replied, "yeah. you lost that last level and now you have to be back here." so true, kiddo. so true.

our little princess tonka truck is obsessed with chocolate the last few weeks. the thing i find most amusing about it all is that she calls chocolate "cu-cow" which sounds a lot like cacao. she will run to her advent calendar a few different times a day and scream, "MORE CACAO!" and melt into a heap on the floor before she becomes bored and finds something to go destroy. i have to give her credit - she is persistent. her new words the last few weeks include car, train (tain), neigh (when she sees a horse), dink (drink), poom (for book - i have no idea on that one), bite, eyes, sprise (surprise), mine, and money (for monkey). she wants to read books all day long. all. day. long. mostly this horrible book about monkeys that drum and if i don't put the right sort of excitement into it she will literally throw the book at my head.

we have my brother in town for christmas and i have so much to do before than. of course i chose right now to blog because i really should be making cookies. damn procrastination.

the ge man

i have two blogs almost finished, but still sitting in my "i am too lazy to write 3 sentences to finish these up" box. one is a recipe for cheeseburger soup, the other a recipe for cream cheese enchiladas - both were friggin amazing. i also have chunk's one year book to finish up, a house to clean, presents to wrap, family coming in for christmas, and sleep to catch up on on my to do list. in fact, i am so tired of making a to do list that i simply stopped making one. instead i decided that i would make these cream cheese snickerdoodles and enjoy some time with my wonderful kids this week. besides, i am done with christmas shopping and that gives me at least 2 days of wasted time credits.

after i made the cookies my sweet little ge man proclaimed them to be, "the best cookies ever, mama" and said to me, "thank you for making these delicious cookies for me, mama. that was very really nice of you to do that." yes, that is how my 3 year old speaks to me. in fact, today he stated, "mama, when you bought me that hot cocoa it made me feel very special. thank you for thinking about me and making me happy, mama." the child would have been perfect in one of those old timey shows where families loved each other and said nice shit to each other when they were going to bed.

over thanksgiving we flew out to nana and papa's house to enjoy family, puppies, and gluttony. on the plane flight there ge was his normally well behaved self for the entire 6 hour flight. after we landed a lady approached me to compliment me on ge's behavior and told me i was doing a good job raising him. i thanked her, and admitted that we work hard on behavior and appreciation with our children, but was honest in telling her that the husband and i are just incredibly lucky to have a ge. he is an exceptional child in every way.

right now ge and i are making our way through a pre-school book to get him ready for the day i spend hours in the fetal position crying because my baby is in kindergarten. the first book centers around learning to write letters and draw his shapes - something he is working at very diligently. every day when chunk goes down for his nap he happily grabs his book and is ready to learn something new. afterwards he gets to play a few computer games until chunk is up and we go about our day. he has such a love and capacity for learning.

at this time ge can count to 15, but is close to getting up to twenty. he can spell his name and is learning to hear a word and spot out beginning letters. he knows his shapes, letters, and colors like a champ. he has mastered the art of somersaults, loves to "get his exercise", and has taught his baby sister how to play tag with him - a game that might be the cutest thing in the entire world. ge loves to laugh and to make people laugh. he and his little sister are the best of friends and she loves being his little shadow - everything ge does is the most amazing thing in the world.

i can't believe he is rounding the corner towards 4. i have cherished every moment with him from the day he was born and can remember so much of it like it was yesterday. i am excited to spoil him over christmas. he has brought so much christmas magic to our house with his love for the elf on the shelf, his christmas countdown happiness, and his love of decorations. this weekend we are making a gingerbread train together and i know that he will make it the best train ever, because that's just how he rolls.

it's funny - i don't feel like he is growing up too fast, but his thoughts are so incredibly grown up. he acts like a 40 year old sometimes, but he plays like a 4 year old and is always such a great joy to be around. we couldn't love him more than we do or be more grateful for him. our little man is just a super cool kid. we thinks he is the coolest kid in the world, but i am pretty sure we are bias on that one.