Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Helping (August 10-16)

Sometimes we get a lot of help.  Help with cooking.  Help with chores.  Help with school projects.  And now we've got allowances and piggy banks, too.  Lots of independence and responsibility and learning going on.  And, of course, plenty of giggles, too.


August 10:  We made pizza dough!  Well, mostly Brenna and Liam played with flour.

Blowing flour, really.


We've been talking about doing banks and allowances for a while.  Today, we decided to put it in action.  The banks have three slots:  to save, spend and share.  We talked about sharing our money at Christmas, when some kids don't have money for toys.


August 11:  Our babysitter was over today and the kids - as always - had a blast.  Here they were riding mop and broom "horses".


August 11:  Devoted nap snuggler.  A boy and his dog.


August 12:  Last $1 movie of the summer.  And, of course, Brenna and Liam went in capes.


Later, they shared Liam's Batman costume.


And then, a package arrived.  With the Halloween costume Liam picked out and has been asking about for ages.  He couldn't wait to try it on and pose for pictures.


Brenna wanted in on costumes, too - a mask and cape.

I somehow completely missed August 13.  Busy week and distracted by a million projects.


August 14:  We have ants in our house.  They are coming in the front door, down our long hall, around a corner, and into the pantry and up into our garbage.  Sneaky ants.  Brenna and Liam love them.  They like to watch them crawl up and down the hall and on their hands and arms.


New clothes, new size.  Her long torso means she's now in a 4T.  Liam is also in a 4T, although he has plenty of tshirts and shorts in a 3T that still fit because he's pretty slim and limby.


Playing ball in the hallway with Dadda.


We've got to put together a collage for Brenna's first day of school.  So, we made extra collages for Brenna and Liam's room, too.


August 15:  Tablet games on the couch in boots, of course.


I took the day off work, because it was the last weekday before school starts.  We headed to Children's Fairyland, a toddler amusement park in Oakland.


Fun on the trolley ride.


This slide was supposed to be for kids 4+, but both Brenna and Liam loved it.


Little pig, little pig, let me in!


Carousels built just for the preschool set.


Steering the boat with the King of the World!


Liam is getting really brave at climbing.


And, of course, we had to exit through the gift shop.  Brenna got Ladybug Girl wings and Liam was desperate for this knight getup.


Ladybug Girl!


August 16:  Bubbles on the deck.


Diggers and dump trucks.



"Helping" Dadda role out his back.


"Helping" to make the pizza, which actually means eating lots of sliced olives that were meant to go on the pizza.


Hallway chasing.


Brenna and Liam were just having such a fun time together, making up games, while we cooked dinner.  I looked over and saw that they had invented a "falling hugging" game, where they hug and then flop over onto the couch together.  Giggling and hugging and laughing.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Posing (August 3-9)

It was a pretty normal week, with bikes to ride, treats to enjoy, books to read, and playgrounds to play on.  And, always, our beloved Ravioli close by to supervise all our shenanigans.

I usually have my camera with me.  When the kids start doing something cute, I grab it.  About half the time, Liam looks at me and says, "No pictures!"  But lately, he also asks me to take pictures of things he wants to see.  So, I am missing some moments and capturing others.  But it all works out.


August 3:  Liam can ride without training wheels.  He went up the block and back, with Brian just holding onto his hood.  But he seemed to freak himself out a bit, so he didn't want to do it again.


Ravioli was equally unsure.


So, we swapped out for scooters, instead.


Brenna was starting to get the hang of it.  But she likes to ride and have me pull her.


We picked up burritos to bring to the park for a picnic lunch.  But Brenna couldn't wait to dig into her salsa.  That girl loves salsa.


Climbing.


And lots of playing together.


Liam befriended two five year old boys.  But they were not very nice to him.  So, he said, "That's not nice.  I don't want to play with you anymore.  I'd rather play with my sister."  Not sure where he learned to stand up for himself, but that was a proud moment!


Brenna was more than happy to oblige.


After nap, Brenna helped me make - and eat - kale chips.  She's such a good toddler eater, unlike her brother.


August 4:  He either doesn't want me taking his picture, or he poses for me.  With his hands on his hips.  Silly boy.


Liam really loves Shel Silverstein.  We read Falling Up a lot lately.  And our bedtime book count is back up to 6 again.  Need to get it back to a manageable amount, but these kids just love books (and avoiding lights out).


Pink sparkly Batman with her Hello Kitty electric toothbrush.  Normal 2 year old, right?


August 5:  Someone stole my breakfast - a spinach, yogurt, banana, peanut butter smoothie.


Liam was running up and down the hall, hiding under his pillow.  And trying to avoid the camera.  A fun game.


Someone has been turning bedtime into a real challenge, staying up and roaming upstairs for an hour or more.  So, we installed a hook outside her door.  She was curious to see it go on, but not amused when we put it in action.


August 6:  Our babysitter, Laura, took the kids to art class.  I love seeing pictures of them having fun when I am at work, particularly when they have fun together.  They get to ride the bus and have a picnic at the playground, which is actually more fun than the class.


It was warn enough in the evening for fun with the water table and buckets in the backyard.


Ravioli loves to water the plants, and sneak a drink.


August 7:  We went down to the apartment to check on the progress.  Liam and Brenna just wanted to run around in the open space.


Brian explained all about framing and what is going where.


Brenna just wanted to play with sawdust.  It makes fun patterns on the floor.


Then we headed out front to play basketball.


Which was actually more like soccer.


Ravioli even got in on the game a little.


August 8:  We introduced the kids to the Muppet Movie, for our movie night.


Liam was hamming it up for the camera and dancing along to the music.


Of course, Brenna joined in, too.


August 9:  We tried out our new bike trailer and biked to Dolores Park.


There were some musicians playing next to the playground, so we had our picnic lunch there.


Mmmm, leftover cold mac and cheese.


Good lunch was rewarded with popsicles from the popsicle carts that inundate the park.

Brenna is such a different soul than Liam.  She loves to break rules and giggle and run away.  She's going to be trouble.


She also likes to "dress" Ravioli.  Good thing she is such a patient, good spirited dog.