More old pics from Fall...

Here are some pictures I took for AJ at the North Park Village Nature Center. There are none of Elizabeth since I was wearing her in the Mei Tai sling. I think she was still so young that she took her nap in the sling that day while AJ and I walked around exploring!  I can't wait to bring them back soon so that AJ can see how different it looks as all the plants, trees and grasses wake up and turn green.

Little man with a walking stick. He did pretty well at sticking to the path!

This tree was so big and symmetrical and cool...had to take its picture! 

Cute little faces!

AJ sat on this rock himself. He told me he "just needed a rest".

OK, so note the sign in the foreground. They have bee hives here and he wanted to look at them. Uhhh, alright, but since I have an allergy to bees, I was a little wary. I didn't want to instill in him a fear of insects (which in hindsight might have been a good thing) so I pretended not to be afraid and led him over to the hives. We stood at a safe distance and observed for a few moments and then I was able to distract him and move back inside where we saw this:

The indoor hive with a tube that leads outdoors. AJ watched them for a while and thought they were pretty cool and liked that they were "making honey for us".

BUT - as I was putting Lizzy into her carseat and asking AJ to get into his, he started SCREAMING and clutching his hand. He had been stung. Oh my goodness. I think it was actually a wasp and not one of the bees since there was no stinger, but no matter at that point. His hand got a little red and swollen as I was driving home and calling his doctor, and by the time we got into the house, he was telling me it didn't hurt anymore. I think I was more freaked out than him, so I tried not to make it a bigger deal than it was after i saw the swelling stop.  

So, on the way home, after he had stopped crying, I asked him what happened. He told me that he saw a bug and wanted it to crawl onto his hand like WALL-E's bug friend does in the movie. It took all my self control not to laugh!  Instead I told him that bees like to be left alone and don't want to be our friends. I said they are shy and the only way they are nice to us it to make honey for us. (I didn't dwell on the fact that I don't think wasps make honey) Hopefully that sticks and we won't have another sting in 2010!

Here's the comparisons...

I loved looking at all the old pictures while I searched for these! Enjoy (especially you, Long's)!

On the left, our neighbor Kaya and baby AJ in 2007, and on the right, AJ and Elizabeth in 2009.

On the left, Kaya in AJ's bouncy seat, 2007 (and she always wanted the sunshade open), and on the right, AJ in the same bouncy seat next to Elizabeth in 2009.

A Strange Sound Bites

AJ and I talk about all kinds of things during the course of each day, ranging from serious to silly. But today at lunch we were doing a little role playing and I realized if anyone were listening to us, we would have sounded like wierdos. We were playing the roles of characters from the movie Cars. I was being Lightning McQueen and AJ was Frank, the combine that chases McQueen out of his field after McQueen and Mater go "tractor tipping"...here's the strange sound bite that followed:

Me (McQueen): Did you like it when I revved my loud engine and tipped over all your tractors?

AJ (Frank): Um, no. Not Really. I tried to harvest you when you did that.

Another thing AJ has been really interested in lately is our body's systems and how they work. He can now describe all the things that happen to his food as it moves through his digestive tract. It usually sounds like a script when he tells us, and here's the info as he sees it (I'll keep trying to get it on video, but yesterday the camera memory card was filled up half way through the description!):

"First my mouth and teeth grind up my food, and then the throat takes it all the way down to my stomach. The stomach breaks it down, and then it goes through my intestings and they take all that my body needs. When there is nothing left in the food, pee fills up my ba-ladder like a cup and the pee comes out my wiener. The poop waits in the rectum and then it squeezes it out my heiney like a tube."

It's interesting how he mixes the anatomical names with his names for things, and though this might sound a little gross to those without kids, we have become accustomed to this kind of talk around here!

Hangin' Out...

Here's a shot of our little Lizzy hangin' out with her dada. They're both riveted to the TV...she loves to watch football and can't wait for the Superbowl. (She's pulling for the Saints)

It's funny how things are so different with the second child. AJ never even knew the TV turned on at this point in his young life, and other than the random Cub's game on a weekend, the first TV he watched was around 20 months old...when I was pregnant and too exhausted to do more than lay on the couch with him. Ha! And the experiment continues.

And here is Ra-Ewn (racoon pronounced with a silent "c"), half of the duo that is "Bear & Ra-Ewn", playing 'cave' with AJ. This game consists of making caves out of pillows, boxes, etc., and then putting Ra-Ewn inside. Sometimes there is a 'rockslide' and we have to dig her out, but this one looks pretty stable...so far!

Halloween '09

Halloween. Wow, that seems like ages ago! But I can't NOT post all these cute shots. AJ was a fireman and wore one of his dress-up outfits from his Grandma Cheri (Gooma). Elizabeth wore AJ's baby pumpkin costume, so I had it easy this year. Halloween was COLD this time around, so we were able to bundle them both up and just went once around the big block. After one of the last houses, AJ asked me to hold his candy bag for him because it was too heavy. I guess you have enough candy if you can't carry it! He really got into the trick or treating this year and he was so cute, as you can see in the video below.

We moved the pumpkins somewhere dark so I could

take their picture, and AJ loved looking at them.

Brother and sister

Here's my pumpkin!

I drew the face (with some help) and mom and dad cut it out for me.

What a cute fireman!

I love this picture.

Here's our little pumpkin all cute and warm.

She wore a knitted had my grandma made under the pumpkin cap to stay warm!

Look, I'm standing up!

Here's AJ practicing his lines before we got started.

'09 Pictures/Update #2 - Pumpkin Farm

It's been a family tradition since AJ was born for us to go to Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm in Hampshire, IL every Fall. This year was more work, but more fun, which seems to be the theme of our lives now! We met our friend's, the Hrubec's there this year and it was fun to experience the pumpkin farm with them. We were blessed to have picked a pretty day and the sun was shining, even if it was pretty chilly. This year I walked the corn maze with AJ and let him pick a lot of the paths, which was fun, but made it long. Too long I guess, since Andy and Elizabeth were there waiting for us when we emerged...and not long afterward we had to clean up a serious diaper blow-out. Or more like a diaper overflow! Maybe that's too much TMI for some of you, but I have to say we managed well given the ground was cold and muddy and the place is, well, a FARM! Luckily the Hrubec's took over keeping track of AJ! Thanks, Jeff and Nancy!

Here are some pictures of all the fun...

Whatchu lookin' at?

AJ and Izzy, scoping out the pumpkins.

AJ and Lizzy posing for pumpkin shots. Lizzy was wearing

the pumpkin hat I made for AJ when he was a baby...

let's just say it was not so tight on her!

There's our happy little girl!

Row, row, row your boat...

"Being the boy with the yellow hat really tired me out!"

Driving the fire truck! This was AJ's favorite part of the day,

as he announced to us on our way home.

"I think we should get this one."

Mama and Elizabeth

AJ asks for a little help, and Izzy supervises.

"No, I changed my mind. How about this one?"

'09 Pictures/Update #1 - Random Fall Pics

I want to get up to speed, but I can't just skip over all the great pictures and events from the end of 2009. It was truly a great year and the kids made it so fun to celebrate all the year-end holidays from Halloween through Christmas (they were kind of duds on New Year's Eve though, I have to say). So here's the first installment of our Fall in Review. Enjoy.

This is a pic from when we used to still swaddle Elizabeth even as she was becoming too long to fit her legs in the sack part. I think we gave it up somewhere over her 4th month? Anyway, now she flips over to her tummy as soon as she touches the sheet, and the swaddle is no longer in sight (or even in the house! This one, the Miracle Blanket, which was on loan from the Long's and did live up to its name, is back at their place. I donated all the others to a women's shelter before Christmas...).

Because we have the upstairs and the main level, we ended up with 2 of most pieces of "baby gear"...and I'm happy to say all but our portable swing were borrowed! But before we could get the second bouncy seat moved upstairs, this is what happened. :)

Our neighbors' daughter, Kaya, used to do this when she was about 2 and AJ was the little one, and I think I have a pic of her in the seat too...maybe later (in all my spare time) I'll post some comparison shots!

Also, note the underwear. AJ's completely potty trained now, except for overnight. Woohoo!

This pic of Lizzy is one from when she was starting to lift her head up 90 degrees (a milestone). I think she was about 10 or 11 weeks old here.

And here she is on the same day showing off her precious little smile!

AJ also liked to get under the playgym with his new little sister. It was one of the first ways that he purposefully interacted with her. Kaya used to do this too...so I guess the comparison shots will be coming soon!

Here's a little smile. Man, I love her cheeks!

Lizzy and Daddy hanging out on the playgym.

I think this playgym has been used by all of my sister's and my kids now...

5 kids over 6 years? Nice!


And here is a video of AJ being silly one night. We had gone to gymnastics that day and the video started out with us wanting to catch him doing a somersault on video. I don't think we ever got it, but the video is still pretty cute!


This Fall I reconnected with some of my old college roommates via facebook. We decided to meet at the play area in the Woodfield Mall. I know I grew up going there, but I felt like I was suffering from a bit of culture-shock. AJ kept asking questions like, "What are all these stores for?" and he didn't understand why we were there to play vs. shop. I think it might have been only his 3rd or 4th time in a mall, and definitely the first he remembers! It was so great to see Allison and Jenna again, and their kids are so cute.

My cutie and me...

Here's Janie, Owen and AJ all together in the wagon.

And here's Elizabeth starting to vocalize...she's got the cutest little voice.