Who needs toys?

This is what Josue says when he sees the kids playing with everything but their toys. I recently ran across this great book on Dr. Laura's website and checked it out at the library. It's "Unplugged Play: No Batteries. No Plugs. Pure Fun" by Bobbi Conner. It is perfect for toddlers through age 10 years. I used it as my inspiration for this idea. I took the box from our new wagon (so much fun) and made a tunnel for the kids to crawl through it.

Joshua loves it.

Tabitha has yet to crawl through it.

I can't wait to do other ideas I've found in the book.

Poor Cubbies!

First of all, I would like to apologize to Josue, Marissa, Enrique, and any other lifelong Cub fan for bringing this up when the wound is still so fresh. The Cubbies didn't make it to the World Series as you probably know. It was very sad to watch them lose in the first round of the playoffs.

It's amazing how they have become a part of our family. I walked into Tabitha's room today to see an absolute mess on her bed. She had pulled out many clothes from her drawers and books from her basket. In her hands she was holding two Cubbie outfits and saying, "Dada". She wanted me to dress her in them.

Cub fans-Doesn't the look say it all?

Our DJ

Today Josue came home with some earphones. He had them at work for himself, and when he saw them today he thought, "I bet Joshua would enjoy these." Just take a look. (Isn't it funny how your thinking changes once you have kids? You start thinking their likes much more than your own.)

Doesn't Joshua look like a DJ? He definitely loves music. He's started singing lately, and it cracks us up. He doesn't know all the words so he'll make up his own or just mumble until more lyrics come to his mind. In this picture he's listening to the Imagination Movers.

He also likes to dance. That's what he's doing here.

And he's not shy about it. One evening while at Pappasito's for my cousin Lane's birthday, Joshua tells me he wants to dance. There was floor space near us, and maybe for a second I thought, "What are people going to think?", but then I thought, "Oh well. My kid wants to dance. Let's do it." And there we were dancing together to the Mariachi music in the background. What were people's reactions? "Oh how cute!" was the look on all their faces. Soon Joshua wanted everyone at the table dancing with him. Even his daddy! Josue isn't particularly fond of the art of dancing, but he did it for his son. My heart melted watching them together.

Oh what fun to be a kid!

The Past Three Days

We had a nice weekend. On Friday evening Laura, Enrique, and Sofia came to spend the night. They live in Taylor, so we invited them to hang out like we used to. Since neither of us can stay out late anymore (kids change everything...for the good of course), Josue and I thought it would be nice to have them over, put the kids to bed, then play games. Sofia was a good girl. She let her parents play games; however, they didn't get to sleep the entire night. Hopefully everything went back to normal once they got back home.

The kids (especially Joshua) really enjoyed Sofia. He was so proud to hold her for the picture.

The following day (Sunday) was church. I recently found a little pink Bible from when I was a kid. I gave it to Tabitha once and told her it was her Bible. Now she carries it around with her. I'm really glad she likes her Bible.

Monday we were back to our weekly routine (at least trying a routine). We had breakfast, got dressed/brushed teeth, then had Bible time including arts and crafts. Here's Joshua sporting his new headband.

I hope he is always this happy!

Kid Stuff

Today we spent some time at the park with Ella and Elizabeth. It was fun just letting the kids run around and not have to run any errands. Here's Joshua with Ella down the slide.

Here's Tabitha and Joshua. It's really hard to get them both in the picture looking at the camera and smiling.

Tabitha always wakes up from her nap before Joshua. (In fact, she's awake right now as I blog. She only slept one hour, so she's spending some solo time in her bed. She's content right now.) Yesterday when she woke up, I took her outside to play. She wanted to wear a hat. Hook 'Em Horns!

Then she started collecting rocks. She put them on the doorstep and sat down to play with them.

Once Joshua woke up, I had a craft ready for them. They tore pieces of paper, dipped the paintbrush in Elmer's glue, rubbed it on the paper, and stuck on the torn paper. Their works of art are currently on display next time you visit our house.

Time to go get Tabby!

Pumpkin Patch

Today we met Karen, Jonah, and Katelyn for some fall fun at the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm. They had an open house today for pumpkin season. It was surprisingly an easy drive from South, South Austin. And the kids did great in the car.



Joshua got to decorate a pumpkin, which he was very excited about. It now joins his other pumpkin on our dining room table. If you are to come over in the next couple of weeks, he would love to show them off to you.




We also got to go for a hayride. Joshua told Josue all about it when he got home. We passed witches and ghosts in some brush that had been decorated. And when asked who was driving, Joshua replied, "A tractor." How does he know what a tractor is? I don't recall even mentioning it while we were there. By the way, I cherish this picture because never do I get to be in a picture with my kids. It's always me taking the picture. Thanks, Karen. You must be a mom.



Here we are just being silly.

Here's Tabitha getting some play time.

Joshua is driving a pretend tractor. If you look closely, Jonah is behind him, and the blonde hair on his left belongs to Katelyn. We did try to get a picture of all the kids together, but it just didn't happen.

What a fun trip!

New Things to Eat and Say

Today we stayed at home. I love days like these when we have been running all week. Or when I have been running all week. We decided to invite our neighbors over to eat, play, and make caramel apples. While we have never had caramel apples in our house (it's not something I even crave), I figured it would be fun since apples represent fall, and the outside is nothing but sugar. But it doesn't count if it's surrounding fruit, right?

So we had Amber (mom) and Kylie from next door along with Rachael (mom), Lilyan, and Sara. Here's a picture of them eating the finished product.

Really the only part I let them do was put sprinkles because the caramel was super hot. Oh, and Lilyan was able to put her popsicle in the apple. Joshua devoured the apple, along with a couple of seeds until I told him not to eat the core. Tabitha is too young for this treat (and I still don't like her eating much sugar), but she kept making her way to the plate that had the sprinkles. After a couple of trips, I hid it from her.

The kids went down for nap and slept a long while. When they got up, we played together for awhile then somehow made it into our office where the computer is. My screensaver is all my pictures of the kids. I was holding Tabitha when I heard her say something I recognized. I thought I heard, "Gigi" with a slury sound. I looked and sure enough there was a picture of my mom. To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I showed more pictures of my mom. (She picked the name Gigi before Joshua was born. She says it stands for Groovy Grandma.) And she said it again. Her vocabulary now consists of, "Mama, Dada, and Gigi." Here is the video of her saying it. I have included dialogue so you can follow along.

Joshua: Gigi, Mommy, and Me!

Lyndsay: Okay. Tabby, who's in that picture?

Tabitha: trying to say Joshua-Dada

Lyndsay: Gigi

Joshua: Mama

Tabitha: Mama

Joshua: Say, "Mama", say

Lyndsay: Mama. Who else?

Joshua: Tabita, Tabitha, Tabitha

Lyndsay: Uh,huh.

Joshua: Right here.

Lyndsay: Who's in that picture, Tabitha?

Tabitha: Gigi

Lyndsay: You see Gigi!

Joshua: Gigi! Me.

Lyndsay: That is a clear "Gigi".

Okay, Gigi. Send this to everyone you know. Your granddaughter said your name!

We love the weather!

Wow! I woke up this morning not really noticing a difference in the weather until I opened the door as Josue was leaving for work. It was chilly. Our thermostat in the house read 72 degrees, which I haven't seen in months. The change in temperature was exciting because it meant looking at some different clothes. The kids would definitely need pants for the morning.

Once they woke up, I told them how it was cool outside. Somehow Tabitha found her hat (did she understand what I was telling them?) which meant Joshua needed his as well. They had breakfast and then Buela came to look after them while I ran an errand. They enjoyed some time on the back patio sporting their hats.

I already decided that when I got home I was going to take them to the park. They needed to burn some energy, especially Joshua. The day before he didn't take a nap. That boy was in his room for two hours and never napped! I went to check on him occasionally and found him in his bed each time. At the end of two hours I decided I would just let him out, but when I went in, he had dark circles under his eyes. I knew that it could mean a difficult evening if he didn't nap, so I laid down with him and he fell asleep in less than 5 minutes. It was 4 P.M. so I let him sleep until 5 P.M. or else the same problem would occur at bedtime. Okay...so we were going to the park to burn some energy. It was absolutely gorgeous. Tabitha went down the slide a few times...Check out her hair!

Joshua wanted his hair to do the same thing. So this picture is for him. If you strain your eyes, you can see his hair standing on end. (Look at his shadow on the slide, and you can see spikes.)

We came home to eat lunch, and yes, he took a nap. Yea!

This evening, we ate chili dogs for dinner. Get it, chili? He can tear them up.

Then we headed off to church. Since it was evening, I told him he could chose one of his new shirts. These are the long sleeve shirts hanging in his closet that he is so anxiously waiting to wear. He wanted to wear the blue Thomas shirt. Tabitha just wears whatever. I know this will not last long. For one thing, I already see how Joshua likes to pick out his clothes, and for another, she is a girl. Here she is sporting some of her clothes. She was hiding under a table at church having a great time!

We can't wait to enjoy the weather tomorrow! BTW-anyone have any great fall soup recipes?

Playing Around

Yesterday was a play day by far! The kids and I had been running around all week, so we stayed home to have fun. Joshua's favorite game is hide-and-seek. Usually we play when Josue is home. Either Josue or myself hides with Joshua while the other seeks with Tabitha. It's always an adult with a child. But it was different yesterday because Joshua wanted to play while Josue was at work. I started counting expecting him to run off by himself while Tabitha and I looked for him. He surprised me when I heard him saying, "Come on Tabs (that's what he calls her), hold your hand." Here's what I saw.

She played right along with him. What a smile this put on my face!

Then later I found them hiding together under a dining room chair. I lifted up the side and...

two smiling faces were greeting me. I love that they want to play together! I hope this lasts for quite some time. In case you didn't know, Joshua and Tabitha are 18 months apart. I have heard that kids this close in age tend to be pals. So far, so true.

Later that morning, Elizabeth and Ella showed up to play. Ella is a month and a half older than Tabitha. Ella is a good friend to the kids.

Joshua really likes to play with her. Oh, and he just loves playing with Elizabeth as well. Take a look!

He decided he was going to give us haircuts. Where this idea came from, I have no idea. Thankfully he was using the triangle musical instrument and a stick to be the comb and scissors. He also found a blanket to use so, "Hair no get on you."

Ella and Elizabeth stayed to nap so we could work on the girls' Halloween costumes. (You know you can't do projects while children are awake.) They're going to be flowers. Elizabeth got the idea from Martha Stewart. I just followed along because I am not creative. Elizabeth knew exactly what she was doing and had Ella's costume ready before they were awake. And it looks awesome! I wish I would have taken a picture, but I know plenty will be snapped on Halloween.

They left at 4:00 P.M. and next thing I knew, Josue was home. Here's a picture taken this morning of Daddy and the kids. We do have lots of fun!

Dinnertime

Trying to cook is difficult in my house, and I understand it to be a problem for other moms. I will get started preparing the meal, and Tabitha wants to be held. I'll pick her up for a moment, and then try to set her down and she gets upset. Joshua then comes in wanting me to read or play hide-and-seek. Sometimes I play along, but most of the time, I'm just trying to finish dinner or get it started. I have some success if I just open the back door. Fresh air and the sand table suits them for quite some time, and I can watch them from the kitchen.

Yesterday's meal preparation was no different except that Joshua was entertaining himself in his room reading his latest library books. I really wish I could have caught that moment on camera. Tabitha wasn't happy and was directly under me when I decided to open the tupperware door. It was the first time she had taken interest in it. She found an HEB Buddy book there and was so content climbing in and out of it once she had taken everything out. Did the mess bother me? Absolutely not! She was happy, and I was able to finish dinner.

Joshua is 16 months old doing the exact same thing. We were living in an apartment then waiting for our house to be built. He would work up a sweat doing that. What entertainment!