Our new place!

We drove to Kalamazoo yesterday and took a closer look at our rental house for next year. We brought the kids this time and spent time measuring and planning and getting better acquainted. The kids had a great time and picked out their bedrooms :) Below is a slideshow with some pictures and a link to some videos. Use caution watching the videos - they might make you a bit motion sick

Click this link to view the videos:

New House Videos

SLIDESHOW OF PICTURES
View this link for videos:

Spotty Carter

Poor Carter was allergic to the antibiotics he had been taking for the last 7 days for an infected hair follicle on his back. The little guy is now covered in an itchy rash! He's mostly in a great mood except for the occasional rubbing of his face. I gave him some benedryl and he's napping now. The rash on his face is the worst, but it basically covers his entire body. Unfortunately, he has inherited his allergies to medications from me :( Hopefully his appearance will improve soon! In the first picture I asked him to show me his spots - at least he's still happy enough to say "cheese" for the camera.

Teah's Last Day of Preschool

Well, today was Teah's last day of preschool. The year has flown by and I can't believe that her first day was almost 9 months ago! Here are some pictures I took of her and her class this morning:

Is it all gone?

She thoroughly enjoyed this chocolate shake!

Teah's picture of herself

Teah drew a picture of herself today!

Making Cupcakes

Friday night Robert was on call overnight, so I decided that Teah and I would make some cupcakes in the evening. We bought the cake mix and were all ready to go! I decided to get the ingredients ready first, so I got out the oil, measuring cup, bowl, and it was time to crack the eggs. I showed Teah the first one and she cracked the other 2. When she looked at the back of the box and saw that eggs were the 3rd picture, she totally freaked out. Screaming and crying ensued because we cracked the eggs 1st and we were supposed to do it 3rd. She insisted that we had to crack new eggs and do it third this time. I tried to explain how that would be wasting eggs and that it was fine if we had cracked them first, to no avail. Thirty minutes of crying turned into giving up on the cupcakes for the evening! Ah, the joys of a 4 year old.

So, I put the eggs into the fridge and Carter and I scrambled them up for breakfast Saturday morning. When Carter went down for a nap, Teah and I were ready to try again and this time we were sure to crack the eggs third! Teah cracked all three eggs and did a great job - I never would've guessed that she could do it with so little shell getting in the eggs and making not much of a mess (the video is below). She also used the mixer to mix up the cupcakes and helped me put the batter in. She frosted and sprinkled her own cupcake when they were done and of course she's been helping us eat them all weekend. :) The second time around was a charm! Check out some pictures and videos below.

Teah cracks the eggs

Teah mixes the batter

She gets it...

Today Teah was watching WonderPets and they made a comment about the Tuck the Turtle that "he's really coming out of his shell" because he did something adventurous. Teah said, "That's silly, Mom, because Tuck is a turtle and he really does have a shell". Pretty smart.

Carter Update

Carter is almost 23 months old and doing all sorts of fun things! This week he jumped with both feet off the ground for the first time. This week he has also started consistently waving and saying buh buh to say goodbye to people - he even does it when we're leaving now to the person rather than waving bye bye after we've already walked out! His favorite book right now is "Which Pig Would you Choose?" by Edith Kunhardt - it's a really fun book and lets kids choose from four things on each page. Carter enjoys choosing something different everytime! I weighed him at Teah's appt. the other day and he weighed in at 29 lbs. He is also wearing a size 7 1/2 shoe now! Teah wears and 8 1/2, if that's any comparison. This week I switched his closet over to 2T clothes. I'm so thankful to have such a healthy, growing, and happy little boy! And I'm sure that he'll decide to talk someday :) He has started saying a few words consistently, like "bir" for bird, "bo" for a juice box, "Tuh" for Teah, and of course Mama and Dada very well! Oh - and he gives great kisses and hugs. Here's a few cute videos:

The Mall

Robert worked late yesterday, so the kids and I decided to head out to the mall for the evening. We started by getting Carter's feet measured, since I had a sneaking suspicion that he was outgrowing his current size 7. He now needs a 7 1/2 or 8! Teah wears an 8 1/2, so pretty soon his feet will be bigger than hers. We were at the pediatrician for an appt. right before the mall and weighed both kids. Teah weighs in at 36lbs (~50th percentile) and Carter 29 lbs (~70th percentile), so he still has a ways to go before he passes her in the weight department.

We then sat down at a BBQ restaurant to eat before heading to the play area. The mall near us has a great play area for the 3-5 year olds. It has a soft, rubbery floor with a big pretend tree that has stairs going up to a treehouse. There is a twisty, tunnel slide that comes down from the treehouse. There is also a child size train with three cars that each fit 4 kids and you can buy $1 tickets for your kids to take a ride. We are so spoiled right now being close to such a fun place! Carter wanted me to go down the twisty slide with him, probably because I have done that a few times lately at the McDonald's play places. This one is just way too small and crowded for me to go down, though, and he was definitely too afraid to go himself. He was OK going down sitting in front of Teah, though, with her hands around him. He loves his big sister! He also was too scared to go on the train the last time we were there, but gladly agreed to go this time if he was in the same car with Teah. She does a great job helping him! It's so much fun to watch their sibling relationship.

Overall, a great time was had by all at the mall and we found a way to pass the time away during our evening alone.

Carter's new favorite thing

Carter's new favorite thing is to play in the water in the sinks in the bathrooms. He stands on the toilet upstairs to reach the sink and he even knows to turn the cold water on and not the hot water. He usually enjoys playing with his toothbrush and really doesn't get himself wet at all! I taught him to just barely turn the water on ("just right"). Well, the other day he decided to stick his whole face in to try to drink the water! It was pretty funny and I snapped a few pics.

Easter

Our Easter plans changed at the last minute due to the death of Robert's Grandfather. So, instead of staying at home, we made a last minute trip to Michigan for Easter weekend. Not exactly the circumstances we would've wanted to see family, but it was nice to see everyone. The viewing was on Easter Sunday in Flint and the kids stayed with my parents for the afternoon and evening. We were able to color some Easter eggs the night before and have an Easter egg hunt that morning before we left. Carter was surprisingly good at spotting the eggs for his age - I was assuming I would have to point them out for him, but he looked around and found them himself no problem! Both the kids LOVED the Easter egg hunt (we hid the eggs numerous times after they had found them all so they could find them again!), so perhaps we'll use our plastic easter eggs and continue the fun at home this week.

Yuck!

Last weekend Robert's parents were nice enough to come into town and watch the kids while we got some work done around the house in preparation for putting our townhouse on the market. Sunday night we went out to dinner at Fuddrucker's before they left - a little risky as the kids were worn out from all of the fun they had with Grandma and Grandpa! Carter had his usual - hamburger, fries, and ketchup. After he had eaten a lot of his food he started getting ansy and cranky, so I pulled out the magic keep your kids from screaming stick (also called a sucker :). Carter proceeded to dip his sucker in ketchup and lick the ketchup off! He didn't just try it once or twice - he kept doing it! I really can't imagine that tasted good, but he seemed to like it :)

Shedd Aquarium

The kids and I packed up and went to Shedd Aquarium this morning to meet up with my Great Aunt who was visiting my cousin who lives downtown. I realized that the last time the kids and I were there Carter was a baby, so it had been awhile... These things are so tough with little kids, because they cost a bunch of money, but kids enjoy them for about an hour - maybe an hour and a half. After that they both lost their interest and just wanted to run around like mad, which doesn't exactly work with two kids when they run in opposite directions! We really enjoyed ourselves a lot though in that first hour :) Carter's favorite thing was the huge tank that's in the middle of the aquarium. He pointed at the stingray when he saw them, but if they got too close to the glass where he was standing he would back away and look for me. Teah spent 20 minutes looking at the red sea urchins, but claims that her favorite part was the jellyfish she saw for about 2 minutes at the end of the day. There were no meltdowns and a good time was had by all, so I call it a successful morning! Carter passed out asleep in the car before we even hit the highway on the way home. Unfortunately, I had temporarily misplaced my camera this morning, so no pictures this time.

Bears, Bears, Bears

Bears, Bears, Bears Are Awake
Bears, Bears, Bears Are Asleep

A story dictated by Teah - transcribed by Mommy

It is winter and the bear is asleep. But one day, it wasn't winter anymore and the bear woke up. And then the bear snuggles. And then the bear plays. The End.

It looks much shorter when not written with crayon :) We proceeded to act out Teah's story today and she told me that we should add the letter S to the word bear so that I could be in the story with her. She came up with the title and the story entirely on her own!

Our "GPS"

The kids and I have been riding around in our car instead of the van the last few days because the car needed to be at home and ready to get its windshield repaired. Teah has a whole new view in the back of the car and she can see the entire front console. Everytime the blinker would come on Teah would say, "Mommy, Mommy, turn that way!" She thinks that the car is telling us which way to go to get to our destination and she has now taken it upon herself to watch for the "blinking green light" and tell me so that I'll know which way to go. She has so much fun with it that I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was making those green arrows light up! Who knew that we have GPS afterall :)

Do you know what kind of bird this is?

After looking at the Illinois Bird of Prey website I think that it was a Cooper's Hawk: http://www.illinoisraptorcenter.org/Field%20Guide/cooperpix.html . Pretty cool! Thanks Ann and Mom for the links.

This bird was sitting on a tree out by our parking lot for a couple of hours this morning. I snuck out to take some pictures - it was a pretty big bird and very beautiful! Now I'm just wondering what kind of bird it was. Anyone know?

Peanut Butter and Turkey

Per the advice of Jane Nelsen and her Positive Discipline books, I have changed our mealtime routine. Instead of fixing a plate for Teah, I set all of the food out on the table and let her decide what she wants and get her own food. The first night we did it was pasta night, so I set out the plain pasta, a bowl of sauce with a spoon, and some shredded mozarella. I have tried in the past to get her to eat her pasta with cheese on it, but she has always refused. On pasta night, I showed her how I liked to put some white cheese on my pasta and eat it. She ate a few helpings plain and then decided that she wanted to try it too. She did and said she liked it. She's always been very picky and I think this will help her to try new things!

Yesterday at lunchtime I decided on sandwiches, so I put out 2 types of bread, cheese, peanut butter, and turkey. Teah decided to put peanut butter on cinnamon bread. After spreading some peanut butter on one slice, she told me that she wanted a peanut butter and turkey sandwich. I had the immediate impulse to tell her not to, but then I thought, "why does it matter if she eats a peanut butter and turkey sandwich?". So, I told her to go for it. She put on one piece of turkey, some more peanut butter, and her top slice of bread. She ate half the sandwich and said she liked it! I guess we'll see what she decided on next time.

Hey, That's Funny!

Teah has been trying to tell me jokes for weeks now. Usually she says something like, "Mommy, I want to tell you a joke. How do people walk? On their feet". Her jokes have generally been plain old statements that for some reason she thinks are jokes. So, when she told me that she had a joke to tell me yesterday I was expecting the same thing. Here's what she said:

Mommy, how do chickens learn to fly?
They just wing it!

Hey, that's funny! :) She said that she made it up herself, but I eventually got out of her that she took a joke from Word World that Duck said and changed it to a chicken instead of a duck to make it her own!

Our Little Observer

In preparation for selling our townhome, we have been aquiring a few new items to spruce things up a bit. We ditched our disgusting old rug in the living room for a new one and put up a new shower curtain and rod in our bathroom recently. I put down the new rug while Carter was napping and when I brought him down from his room he immediately ran over to the new rug, pointed and stared for a minute, then hopped on and did a little dance. OK, the new rug was pretty obvious, so I wasn't too surprised when he noticed that. Well, I took the kids upstairs for a bath tonight and Carter immediately pointed at the new shower curtain. I was holding him and as I got closer he pointed to the new shower curtain rod! Seriously, this kid is observant.

How Big is Carter?