Happy Birthday, Will!

Will turned two today!  Honestly, it is seriously hard to believe that I had him two whole years ago.  I'm not sure he knows exactly what "his birthday" means but he knew enough to announce "it's my birthday!" when he woke up this morning.  We spent the day with Grandpa Mac and Aunt Louise and, thankfully, with daddy who is now home from the fire (a welcome change especially since he missed Will's first birthday because of a fire).  When Will arrived a week before his scheduled c-section date two years ago, I was not too thrilled (well, thrilled with Will, but not so thrilled with the whole labor experience again!) but he did arrive at a great time because his birthday falls near the Sisters Folk Festival every year.  The SFF is the BEST event in town all year--a full three days of music, happening all day long at seven venues around town.  It's amazing and fun and is like a whole town party falling right near Will's birthday!  We spent this morning going to the annual Community Celebration, which is held in a park downtown.  Will and Kate got to play and dance and, best of all for them, sit on the top of a double decker bus and eat french fries (it was one of the food vendors).  After the music, we had lunch and cake at home, and then headed to Scout Lake.  Grandpa Mac brought his canoe and we brought our inflatable kayak, so Kate and Will had a great time taking trips being paddled around the lake.  Although it was colder out than last weekend, the kids got to swim with a brave Grandpa and "Aunt."  We came home for presents and dinner, and now a very tired two-year-old boy is sound asleep!  We love you, Will--you're a sweet and snuggly not-so-little boy, but you'll always be our baby boy!

Baby Iris, this is for you! :)

First day of school!

It was Kate's first day of four-year-old preschool today and it garnered two vastly different reactions from the kids.  Kate was over the moon, grinning from ear to ear the moment she woke up.  She got to be the "line leader" and lead all the kids into school, and she didn't even say goodbye to me.  Will, on the otherhand, completely and totally freaked out.  Although we've talked and talked about Kate going to school, he apparently still did not get that he wasn't coming along.  The poor guy gave the teacher a huge hug, just like the other kids, and tried to line right up with them to go into school.  When I broke the news that we were leaving, he burst into tears and kept saying, "NO, I go to school too!!"  I don't think I've ever seen him so upset.  Fortunately, it was short-lived once we left and I kept talking to him about how special it was the it was just the two of us.  He got to take a bath by himself, which seemed to undo the majority of the trauma.  Kate came running out of school and gave both of us big hugs, and claimed to have had "so, so, so, so, so much fun!"  I'd say the day was a success--only one year until Kate is in kindergarten.  It's so hard to believe my baby girl is a school girl now!

Scout Lake through the kids' eyes

We had a great day with Aunt Courtney today, complete with a trip to Scout Lake.  Ryan and I have heard a lot of people around town mention this lake, but we've never visited it ourselves.  Courtney and I decided to give it a try today and I'm really glad we did--it's about 15 minutes from our house and the water is nice for swimming.  The only drawback was the super aggressive little chipmunks.  They were tiny, but relentless!!  After we finished eating, though, it was a really peaceful, pretty place to be.  With the exception of the two pictures of both kids, Kate and Will took all the pictures below.  Not bad!  I think I'll start handing them the camera more because it's pretty fun seeing things from their perspective.

 

Look closely--that's a badass chipmunk behind them!

New jokes & a new leg!

Seven years!  Today, Ryan and I have been married seven years!  I know I say it every year, but it hardly seems possible.  For the third year in a row, Ryan's gone on a fire so I will be spending our anniversary on a date with Kate & Will.  But he does get tomorrow off, so we'll only miss it by one day--we all can't wait to have him back!!  The kids and I had a good weekend, though, because we had a visit from Grandma Star and Grandpa Bobby.  I am eternally thankful to them for coming up because I had my vein surgery on Friday and I could not have made it through without their help!  My leg is on the mend and looks like a NORMAL leg again (or will once it's not bruised and I don't have to wear a compression sock anymore!)  So worth it.  While I was a little less mobile this weekend, we still kept busy with lots of watching the kids swim and a really nice dinner out at a new restaurant in town (always big news in Sisters!)  There was also a lot of joking around from Kate and Will.  Okay, I admit that these jokes are NOT FUNNY.  Not at all but what is funny is how the kids tell them (Kate generally gets all the words right, but tells it as one big joke because I don't think she understands the whole pinch-line thing; Will, on the other hand, just says part of the joke and laughs hysterically).  So, here are there latest ones:

"What do you call a dog who tells time?"  "A watch do!"
"Knock, Knock" "Who's there?" "Barbie" "Barbie who?" "Barbie Q!"

My bandaged leg--not a cast, but still good enough for the kids to decorate!

Will getting his first crack at birthday presents--he definitely does not have the system down yet, but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it doon!

Kate loves the Barbie joke because she thinks Barbie is a princess (and because we don't really let her have Barbies yet, so it's kind of a forbidden fruit).  I'm not sure what Will likes about the Barbie joke, aside from telling his own version which, with Grandma Star and Grandpa Bobby here this weekend, turned into: "Knock, knock?" "Who's there?" "Bobby Q!"

My two princesses

There are definite hazards to having an older sisters, which I've documented before.  Will just thinks that everyone loves princesses and sparkle because Kate that what Kate loves.  Lately, Kate is really into getting decked out.  She chooses multiple pieces of jewelry, multiple bobbles and barettes for her hair and, usually, wings and a crown.  This is on top of multiple frilly layers of actual clothing.  So, what' Will to do but try to keep up?  He has adopted this bright orange tutu as his own and calls it his "spinny dress."  In the picture above, he's also wearing a bracelet.  But at least he has a Spiderman shirt on and "boyish" rain boots (you never know, right?)  I let him wear all this stuff around the house and, obviouly, outside but I do draw the line at wearing it out and about (I mean, you've got to have some limits, right?....Which is why they both now often wear superhero style capes when we go out...it's all about negotiation!)  On the day above, Kate and Will actually got in a fight about who was prettier.  Kate said, "Don't I look pretty?" and Will said, "I look pretty!" and Kate said, "But I look the prettiest." and Will said, "No, I prettiest" and on it went.....poor guy, I'm sure he'll be horrified by all this in ten years!

Random kid funniness....

Funniness?  Is that even word.  As my brain deteriorates daily with the duties of motherhood, I'm not even sure anymore.  It does describe my kids, though.  Now that they can have conversations, they are complete jokesters, always cracking eachother up.  Both of them like to try to be funny and the funny part to me is not whatever they're saying, but that they both dissolve into giggles before they even get the "punchline" out.  Will cracked himself up a few days ago when he told me his name was "Willy Wonka"--he knew that one was going to get a laugh.  Even though neither kid has any idea what "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" is, they've both heard the name, so Will calls himself "Willy Wonka & Factory."  And Kate just learned her first actual joke off of a juice box and now tells it all the time (she really doesn't care that we've all heard it 1000 times because she says the punchline before we'd even have a chance to answer).  Even though many of you have already heard this joke numerous times, I'm going to record it here because in years to come I know we won't remember it.  So, the joke is: "what's the difference between a fish and a piano?"  The answer is, "You can't tune a fish!"  Kate (and now Will) LOVE this joke.  Will just goes around now saying, "You can't tune a fish!!" and then laughing hysterically.  He was doing it in the grocery store the other day and someone passing by said, "I'm not sure what he's saying but, boy, it must be funny!"  Since that joke worked so well, they've also just adopted the format and invented their own.  There's a lot of "what's the difference between a lion and a refridgerator?" "You can't tune a banana!" going on in our house.  It keeps them entertained.  There's no real point to this post, just that it is such a fun thing to watch your kids invent their own humor.  When they're joking around at dinner, laughing at their own inside jokes, I always think of you, Starla, and how you've told my about Ryan and Jay doing the same thing.  I guess it's in the genes!