Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Playdate Reunion

We got together with some old friends today who we hadn't seen in a long time. They played around each other and with each other and I was both surprised and appalled at how gender specific each child's behavior was. After all that work trying to stay equal...

Eventually the three-year-old boys retreated to the living room to play the Fighting Game and essentially beat each other up until they were sweaty and their moms made them take a potty break. The girls chose the smaller toys, or the ones with a system or routine like the house with mail delivery or the kitchen with the microwave that opens and shuts. Geez.

Here is Baby Kate, who is obviously no longer a baby:



And Henry can't quite figure her out:



Kole and Svea:



And Arwyn:



Svea and Kate giggling in the kitchen:



And, finally, the Fighting Game, with Svea watching from the Dora chair:





(I didn't get any good ones of Drew, Aubrey or Elissa...so we'll have to get together again soon. Sorry Kelle and Jaime!)

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Three Failed Attempts

There is a great winding, low-branched tree in the front of UE's campus on which Meredith and I tried to get a good posed shot of the three children. Hmmm. MAYBE if I cut and paste some of these pictures together we would have ONE good one, but they were not in the mood for posing and after 20 clicks between Mer's camera and mine, we weren't in the mood either.







Oh well. Sometimes these shots tell the story better.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Legos

Henry's new favorite thing in the playroom is playing Crash Legos. That's the official game title. This picture is before the crash part of the game.



Svea, eating of course, is kindly feeding raisins to the Lego boy in his Lego car.

Helping Mommy Unload Groceries

Prizes from Arts and Smarts Camp

Here are the arts Henry brought home from Camp. I'm not sure what to make of all of them...but I hope he had fun in the process.



This little guy is Svea's favorite.



Do I have to save these to show them when they are older?

Thanks, Leta, for posting your pics here.

Henry at Art Camp


art camp7
Originally uploaded by letajoy
I haven't mentioned that Henry attended an "Arts and Smarts" camp at a local church a few weeks ago. We were trying to do this with our buddy Arwyn, but they ended up not being in the same class...
There was a final performance at the end of the week and the toddlers got to sing on the big stage. Henry was on the back platform and jumped off a few times, but I think he had fun overall, pumping his fists in the air while singing, "Jesus! Jesus!"
We're proud parents. A little embarrassed, but definitely proud.

Leta and Bryan took this photo. Thanks y'all!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Storyboard

H: Time to go to work! Everyone get your backpacks! Here, Svea, I'll help you with yours.



H: By "work" I mean it's time to wash the car. Ever since I rode my tractor naked in the backyard, my parents have stopped resisting all redneck urges and full on drive the car into the backyard so they don't have to move the hose. Lazy? I would say BRILLIANT. Especially because Mom opens all the car doors to clean it out and lets my sister and me run through the van at top speeds. I even pretend to drive.
My sister's not much help. She's in the back playing with the swing. Whatever, dude, I get to hold the hose.



S: Come on, Mommy! Gotta show you something!



S: See? There was an airplane that flew through the sky this one time and I will never forget it. Ever.
And did I mention that I like to pick out my own clothes now too? Especially my shoes.



Until tomorrow...

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Pre-Dinner Activity



Our afternoon routine has turned into:

1. Lunch

2. Naps


3. Some errand

4. Some sport in the backyard

5. Naked time in the baby pool to cool off

6. Play-doh (pictured)



7. Finally, dinner







(Svea does the sunglasses on her own)

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Just Like Pops

The other morning, iHusband let me sleep in and he took the kids to some garage sales (at which he thought he could find some tools). They did not purchase any tools, but did in fact find the ugliest Lightning McQueen sandals a size too small for Henry. Svea got a bright blue construction hat. I think they spent one whole dollar. Awesome.

Henry loves these shoes as much as I dislike them. I canNOT wait to rid our house of the nasty suckers. We took them away from him for a few hours this morning as a punishment (which worked wonders) and gave them back after his nap. He ran to put them on and came in the kitchen to say, "Hey Mom! I look just like Pops!"



Pops happens to wear socks with his Birkenstocks.

Much later, Henry did take off the socks to be like Daddy in his "chocolate" sandals (iHusband wears Chacos). Smart kid. He doesn't miss or forget one thing.
We are so screwed.

Summer Doldrums

The month of May and most of June were very busy for us, as August will be, but July...July is so very slow. And our little group of the Jackson/Erickson clan does not DO slow very well. We have learned many lessons.

For starters, I ingeniously declared these four sweaty weeks in the middle of the summer to be "Diaper Free July." Which means we are doing a lot of laundry, and a lot of bribing. On the whole, Henry is doing wonderfully. Svea loves sitting on the potty and wearing her "buh-looooomies" (underwear) but has yet to actually GO on the toilet. They love peeing in the yard, which Brian and I totally count as a victory.



They are both growing and changing so much, as any three and almost-two-year-old will.



Henry is such a happy, sensitive child. He is still obsessed with baseball, football (especially Van Tiffen - I tried to put in a link here to Van Tiffen who was a punter for Univ. of AL in the 1970's but the pictures of Alabama fans that came up in my search were just too disturbing), shoes, dressing himself, changing clothes 4 times a day, turning on the light in his closet and picking his own shirt off the hanger then turning off the light himself, Smarties candy, Hershey kisses, orange juice, Wallace and Gromit, his Papa, his Pops, repeating himself incessantly, and riding his bike after watching the Tour de France.



Svea is so tough and such a crack-up. She loves to eat (almost all the hours that she is awake), she sings all the time and makes up the words for the parts she forgets. She loves her ABC's, taking her shoes off in the car, to have her arms and back tickled very slowly and lightly, Sesame Street, looking at pictures of cousin Lydia on the computer, to run with Henry, to be with Henry in any capacity, to call Aunt Merpha on her play cell phone, to draw and color in any media, to spell, to read books, to say NOOOOOOOO to everything even if she really wants it, and to be naked.



They keep us so busy and so happy.



When we were trying to decide to move to Evansville, a very wise man I worked with told me that, "When you live away from family and you have young children, the truth of the matter is that you just spend a heck of a lot of time with your kids." Thank you, Tom.

It's true that we spend so much time together and I am really grateful for that. Especially this summer.

Of course I have times when I can imagine being away from everyone for weeks, and I have no idea if we would have more or less time together if we lived anywhere else, but just for today, for where we are, I am so glad for all of this time, this laughing, these potty-training fiascos, this family.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Le Tour



The Tour de France is finally here!

We have yet to pick our absolute favorite rider (we need to get to the major hills first) but the sprinters have had us on edge since Saturday. I still have a lot to learn about the insane and awesome strategy in all of this. Like Henry, I tend to get distracted by the riders' cool gear and the crashes in the peloton.



These pictures were actually taken at the beach by Aunt Beth since Uncle Brad brought all of his bike gear. Henry especially loved the gloves. He's been asking for some ever since. Big surprise there.




I'm sure we'll have more "bike wrecks" in the driveway and dressing up moments to share for the next few weeks...

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Gardening, Cutting, and the Superhero Sous-chef

Here's our future master gardener who loves to water the plants from the baby pool water. I think Henry was upstairs changing his clothes while Svea and I played in the backyard. Backyard play requires a different outfit than say, running errands attire, of course. That's my boy.



Safety first in our house, I always say. For the ears at least.



The superhero requested this cape be put in her shirt just like this. No kidding. I was going to tell her that Violet (her favorite) on "The Incredibles" does not have a cape, but She was really too busy "cooking" me pancakes and singing Happy Brithday. Sweet girl.

Old MacDonald...

had a farm, E-I-E-I OOooooooooooooo:



We made a guitar strap out of a belt from our dress-up box and Henry was a new man. Or musician or something.

Svea: Cheese! My turn! Cheeeeeeeeeeese!



Seriously.