Late Night Fun

The other night, I put M&E down to bed and sat there listening to Eli play for the longest time. I heard power tools going off and the flute being played, etc. Finally at around 9:00, I asked Brandon to go back there and check on him. He came out crying he was laughing so hard and told me I had to grab the camera and go see for myself.

Eli had loaded almost every toy in his room up onto his bed. You can't see the amount of toys because most are blocked by the big airport that he even managed to lug up there. You can see in the picture that Eli also thought this all was very funny. What a nut!

August in Review

I've been MIA for a while, but I have a good excuse: I'm really stinking tired. In a nutshell, here is what the Rooks family has been up to the past few weeks. Ready? Here we go...

A few weeks ago, Brandon, M&E and I made the 12 hour drive up to Virginia to attend my 10-year high school reunion and visit my dad. Here we are reuniting with friends Megan and Lolly and their significant others.



The next day, we headed up to DC where we visited with more friends at the Air & Space Museum. M&E really enjoyed meeting Harper and Roman and totally ignoring the barriers set up around the exhibits. Madeline decided she needed no formal NASA training for an up close and personal view of the space shuttle.



We left the museum and headed to Dulles, where we dropped off Brandon to catch a flight home. The kiddos and I stayed in Culpeper for another day to visit with Granddaddy, which included a bike ride. That's a skort, not a skirt I'm wearing, people, and no, I did not plan to participate in this ride. It was really hot and my impression was that G'daddy would take M&E for a ride without my help. No such luck.



The next day, I hopped in the car with M&E for the long car ride home - alone. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was and it only took us 11 hours to get home. Praise God!

We had to get home because M&E started school 2 weeks ago. The adjustment has been wonderful. In fact, I don't think there has been an adjustment. I walk them into their classroom and they dissapear without so much as a "Bye bye, Mommy" and that's just how I like it. Here they are on their first day. (That black front door that I have despised since we moved in is gone now - more on that later.)



Another big hurdle that we are leaping, well, creeping over is potty training. I'm happy to report that M&E no longer wear diapers while at home except while sleeping. We've also gone out several times sans-diapers. Eli is proving to be quite the boy and has an accident every day, but Madeline is impressing me with her control. My hope is that soon we will be able to pay for school with the money we will save on diapers. A few people have asked me for pointers on potty-training. Here's what I have to say:



Naked time! I'm telling you, it works.

So, in my spare time between emptying potties and cleaning up after failed potty attempts, we've been trying to wrap up the work on our house. Brandon and I are all moved into the new master suite and as you saw in the last post, M&E are settled into their big girl-boy rooms. We have a few odds and ends to wrap up (paint) and we'll finally be finished. Pictures to come shortly!

New Cribs (or lack there of)

Madeline and Eli are babies no longer, and they have the beds to prove it. Last night was the big night - we moved M&E into their big girl/boy rooms. While they are still works in progress, they are ready for their new inhabitants, and these kiddos are ready to inhabit. Brandon and I had a little visitor at 4:00 on Sunday morning. I rolled over to a sweet "Hi Mommy!" from Eli. The little boy had been escaping his crib lately so we decided it was time to abandon it all together. I have been pleasantly surprised with how easy the transition has been. Eli has gotten a few spankings for climbing out of bed, but after a couple each time, he gives up and stays put. Madeline seems to have some invisible force field around her bed because she will not climb into or out of it on her own. So far, one night down and M&E are currently snoozing away at naptime. I think we can call this a success!

The Soundtrack of Summer '09

While this age offers its challenges (tantrums and independent attitudes), it is more than anything, a lot of fun and very high on the entertainment value. Lately, M&E's language is really starting to develop and I'm amazed every time they voice a new observation. Madeline definitely has the more advanced vocabulary of the two, but Eli seems to be learning from her too. Here are a few samplings of my daily soundtrack...

"Wuvy, no!" : Eli has been referring to Madeline as "Wuvy" (like lovey, as in lovey dovey) for a couple of months now - no clue where he came up with that, but she answers to it.

"E-I!" : Madeline calls Eli "E-I" (like e-i, e-i, o) and she usually says it very, very loud.

"Jump Big Pool!", "Mommy, I wanna go pool.", "Mommy, pool!!" : Can you tell where we've been spending a lot of our time?

"Outside!", "Eat Outside!" : Can you tell where we've enjoyed many meals?

"On my knees.", "Eat outside pool on my knees." : M&E have discovered that it's often easier to reach their food whilst dining al fresco in aforementioned position.

"Bobbles" : goggles

"Butt" : bike

"Neigh" : horse

"Dadoo" : tractor

"Tup" : truck

"Peak, Dog!" : speak, dog!

"Slops" : socks

"Mommy night night" : I want to get up on Mommy's bed, throw all the pillows off, make a mess of the bedding and jump around.

"Ice" : ice, ice cream, icing - a multipurpose word dependant on context

I would have to say that M&E's current range of vocab may be nothing to write home about now (although blog-worthy in my book). However, considering how it's grown in just the past couple of months, I'm excited to see how quickly it explodes once they start MDO this fall.

"I Two"

Madeline and Eli are two. My goodness, time flies when you're having fun! We woke them up Thursday morning with a Happy Birthday serenade, which was followed by gifts...

What two-year-old doesn't need his own set of power tools?

After gifts, I loaded M&E up and took them to Panera for a big cinnamon roll for breakfast and a ride on the escalators afterwards. Then, we spent the morning at the pool because that's what Madeline said she wanted to do and she was the birthday girl after all.

On Saturday, Brandon and I had a wedding to go to in Atlanta, so on Sunday we had a little birthday party for M&E with some family members in Newnan that day.

We scraped the icing off of M&E's cupcakes so they wouldn't stain their cute new clothes from Mama Kaye. This was not okay with Madeline however, who demanded "ice," so when we got home that night, I stripped Little Miss down and let her go to town.

Thanks to Mama Kaye and Grandma and Grandpa for the birthday party and to all the grandparents, aunts and uncles for the gifts. We're looking forward to another fun-filled year with our two two-year-olds!

4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July this year. Unfortunately, we had to steer clear of the pool this year due to a bout of swimmer's ear Eli was fighting. Yep, we've been at the pool A LOT this summer, so much so that we literally got sick of it. But, really, what's better than spending all day every day at the pool in the summer? It sure makes for some good long naptimes!

This year, we actually stayed up to watch the Vulcan fireworks. They start at 9:00, so that was pretty impressive, and the kiddos did great. Eli started out saying "Uh oh, Mommy" every time one went off and then he changed to "Wow" for each one. Both M&E ended up in my arms for the show, so I got a little added work out in.






Brandon and I reminisced about how we watched the same fireworks show two years ago while sitting outside the Labor and Delivery wing of Brookwood Hospital eating popsicles with my big belly stuffed in a wheelchair praying for labor. My, two years sure did fly by!

I Scream, You Scream

We all scream for ice cream!