tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-752723884999946152011-10-25T10:48:53.907-07:00In which Mommy gets to talk in complete sentences, if only to herself...Kathrynnoreply@blogger.comBlogger791100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-16091026033870581872011-03-21T19:44:00.004-07:002011-03-21T21:00:30.311-07:00

Elizabeth was laying on the playmat over the weekend when Patrick decided that maybe she does exist after all, came over, said hi to her, and gave her a kiss. Since he usually ignores her, I'll take this as a step in the right direction!Also, Elizabeth finally got upgraded to a real belly button, so she got her first bathtub bath last night. She was the calmest of the three kids, and didn't

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-76840370370202901802011-03-17T14:02:00.004-07:002011-03-17T14:09:47.017-07:00

We're celebrating our VERY scant Irish heritage here! I found $5 shirts yesterday afternoon by chance, and Grandma found a sleeper for Elizabeth. Christopher was a bit miffed this morning that Patrick was getting another special day since he just had a birthday. I tried to explain that although it was called St. Patrick's Day, it wasn't actually about his brother, Patrick. He asked if we could

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-47468499416393303832010-10-15T22:22:00.005-07:002010-10-15T22:37:45.418-07:00

We had our 20 week ultrasound today and saw a squirmy, healthy baby. He or she weighs in at about 3/4 pound and looks great. Here are a few pictures of the newest Schneider-in-training.Waving helloTiny feet - one in each frameProfile shotGumby Baby - Folded in half with feet next to head Here we have the big brother in training "rocking" his baby Elmo in a dump truck. Gotta use what you have,

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-72002555918042003682010-10-07T15:25:00.003-07:002010-10-07T15:29:43.056-07:00

After much coaxing, pleading, and promises of playing Cars Movie with him, I've finally gotten Christopher to start practicing letters. We worked on two the first week and three last week and this week. On Monday, he wrote his name (well, the first part of it) all by himself for the first time. Needless to say, Mommy was very pleased and Christopher wanted to know if we could play tractor tippin'

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-77526616902519319692010-10-04T11:20:00.004-07:002010-10-04T14:56:53.890-07:00

Many moons ago, back in May, we took a day trip to Legoland while we were in San Diego. The boys loved it and it was perfect for the under 8 crowd. They did have some stuff for the bigger kids, but we mostly skipped that. Here are a few pictures from our adventure.It was downright chilly when we got there and predictably, Christopher was in a funk about it Dinosaurs seemed to make things better,

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-61858280196799184452010-09-28T10:57:00.005-07:002010-09-28T11:11:31.231-07:00

Last weekend we went out to Apple Annie's orchard in Willcox, about 1.5 hours east of here. It was a great time - the boys got to pick apples and peaches and have ice cream and fudge after lunch. And Grandma, Papa, and Daddy got to taste wine on the way home. What's not to like!I now have enough peaches for a cobbler and a crock pot of apple butter cooking as we speak!Really funny action shot!

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-18157907539837549622010-09-05T19:20:00.002-07:002010-09-05T19:25:36.337-07:00

Here we have the face of a boy who has pooped on the potty!He even went on the big potty with the little seat - no baby potty for this big guy. For his efforts, he was rewarded with his very own Bertie the Bus. He is now running around screaming GO and BUS at the top of his lungs.

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-73414729354031915982010-08-29T20:02:00.003-07:002010-08-29T20:26:16.491-07:00

Two weeks ago Christopher started 4 year old preschool. He goes three days a week for three hours a day and Mommy and Patrick get some much needed alone time (at least until March rolls around). He was not at all pleased about going the first day, being pretty sure he would not like anything about school. So I did what any Mommy would do, I plied him with doughnuts covered with chocolate frosting

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-69635485674735940152010-08-29T20:00:00.003-07:002010-08-29T20:02:30.434-07:00

that I don't even know where to start. I still have pictures from our trip in May to San Diego, and we took another trip in July to Pennsylvania. Oh, and Christopher had a birthday and started school. I think I'll catch up with the recent stuff and then fill in with older pics when I run out of new stuff!

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-50127780738725550042010-06-19T19:08:00.004-07:002010-06-19T19:27:43.443-07:00

The second day we were in San Diego, we went to Sea World. It was quite a day! We were there waiting when they opened at 10AM and we left when they kicked us out at 6PM. Christopher fell asleep on the way to dinner and had to be coaxed with ice cream for dessert to get him to eat anything. While on our tour of the seas, we saw all sorts of creatures:Apparently he didn't trust Mommy and Daddy to

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-79867905173739389182010-06-14T09:41:00.005-07:002010-06-14T19:47:25.192-07:00

The first day of our great San Diego adventure we drove there, getting settled in about 4PM. As soon as we got out of the car, the boys wanted to go to the beach, so we put our things inside and headed out to the water. Luckily it was all of a 50 foot walk to the sand, so we got to walk down there quite a bit.It was too cold to swim, but we got the kite up for a little bit and then headed down

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-12417237572937439412010-06-14T09:32:00.004-07:002010-06-14T09:40:50.202-07:00

So I fell off the blogging wagon again - are any of you really surprised? I decided to sit up here with my photo editor extraordinaire (Christopher), while Patrick has his speech visit and put together a few posts. To tide you over until I get the San Diego pics ready, here is Patrick doing a little reading at the coffee house the other Sunday morning.

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-32178229620751017782010-05-17T19:10:00.003-07:002010-05-17T19:21:59.562-07:00

Since I know several of you out there (Jen, Cindy, and Mom - coincidentally the only ones who read this blog) are planning on making picnic tables, I thought I would post my lessons on this one - things I will do differently on my next project (under-table drawers for the train table if you were interested).1. Let the wood age in the garage for a week or two. I don't know if our little corner of

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-84826940746631233182010-05-16T19:19:00.005-07:002010-05-16T19:36:13.326-07:00

When Grammy came to visit us, she bought me (that's right - MOMMY) a miter saw for my birthday and we put together this super cool picnic table for the boys. It went reasonably well, although I do have some lessons learned that I'll share later. I finally got it painted so I'll give you what you really want - pictures with cute models!Grammy and her best bud doing a bit of light sanding Patrick

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-89200445695924413092010-05-08T19:18:00.004-07:002010-05-08T19:31:36.630-07:00

We took a little trip around the corner yesterday to go treasure hunting (geocaching). We found one of the two we were looking for, and had a nice walk outside, although it got hot pretty quickly.Getting hydrated for our walkMy three favorite menDoing some dead reckoning, or something like that.Just for Grandad - Christopher found a walking stick!Really big - that's about all I have to say about

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-84956397576984942612010-05-02T16:22:00.006-07:002010-05-02T16:41:59.550-07:00

This has been a whirlwind weekend at the Schneider household. We went to Phoenix on Thursday for David and Maryrose's wedding on Friday. A good time was had by all, even if little boys were pretty worn out by the time dinner rolled around at about 8:30 Friday evening. Grandma and Papa took the boys home with them and Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a night to ourselves in a nearby hotel (hooray!). On

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-82017906023261387792010-04-20T19:24:00.004-07:002010-04-20T19:42:30.889-07:00

The Easter Bunny came to see us! Yes, it was over two weeks ago, but who's keeping score, really? We had a visit from the Bunny himself (or so we assume, because if you're looking he won't come, but if you sleep like a big boy there are eggs and treats outside when you wake up)! Then we went to Mass and were even reasonably good. Father Ricky, though he is a wonderful man and a wonderful priest,

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-79974223378742789062010-04-11T18:57:00.004-07:002010-04-11T19:13:49.136-07:00

Two weekends ago we took advantage of the free dumpsters the HOA brought in and did a little yard work. We tore out a ratty old fountain and cleaned up the planter area around the side of the house. Then my big helpers and I added lots of good dirt and planted some herbs we'll be able to use in our cooking this summer and fall. Maybe next year too - many herbs seem to be perennial around here.Our

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-36423710649996047352010-04-11T18:48:00.003-07:002010-04-11T18:56:40.249-07:00

A few weeks ago, our local giant Air Force base had their semi yearly airshow. I think it's supposed to be every two years, but they hadn't had one for a while. We went and the boys got to see all sorts of great airplanes flying fast, slow, high, low, upside down, and sideways. All in all, it was super cool!Daddy and his two big boys! Watchin' the action on the flight lineCheck out my cool new

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-51611144872948540302010-04-08T14:10:00.004-07:002010-04-08T14:23:20.286-07:00

Patrick got a big boy bed (well just a mattress really) right around his birthday. I finally got a few pictures of him in it a few weeks ago. Sadly they're mostly blurry. I didn't realize the flash was turned off. It will have to do for now, though. We will eventually buy him a real bed and new dresser, but for now this will work.Action shot of him "sleeping" - he thinks it's funny to lay upside

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-53625904898581696612010-03-27T19:25:00.006-07:002010-03-27T21:28:22.464-07:00

If you have little boys (or even girls) and you live in the greater Phoenix area (or even Tucson), run, don't walk to McCormick Train Park. Only get there early, because it fills up fast. We went about two weeks ago and had a great time. Christopher and Patrick both loved riding on the little train, seeing the model train setups, and playing on the playground. It was all really reasonably priced,

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-73235382785671903202010-03-18T08:49:00.005-07:002010-03-18T09:03:06.498-07:00

I was commissioned last night to build a Dinosaur Train (yes, in caps - the real one, not just any old dinosaur train). It was required to have an engine, tender, coach, observation car, and caboose per Christopher's orders. Here was the result. I think he was impressed. He put his little dinosaurs in it and had to leave it up for today. And say goodnight to all the dinosaurs about 10 times...

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-19343916430564286422010-03-14T18:41:00.005-07:002010-03-14T18:59:16.898-07:00

I have a whole bunch of pictures that don't really go together, but they're cute anyway! Thought you might enjoy them.First, the two princes of my heart at a Valentine's Day party...pay no attention to Christopher's missing pants. Patrick is much more resourceful, shall we say, than Christopher is (even now never mind at just 2). Here he's demonstrating his mad cooking skills. Or at least his mad

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-65914526706508473472010-03-05T18:34:00.004-07:002010-03-05T18:58:14.509-07:00

I don't know how it happened, because last week he looked like this but Patrick has turned two. Yes, it happened last week, but somewhere along the way I have fallen off the blog wagon. He celebrated on Thursday with a super-fabulous breakfast of yogurt, toast and silliness. He also had a trip to the doctor (no shots, yay!) and dinner at McDonalds (because Mommy was away all afternoon). On

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-58833662813374954072010-02-17T14:21:00.004-07:002010-02-17T14:34:21.179-07:00

While the rest of you were drowning in snow last weekend, we trekked up to Mount Lemmon to find some snow of our own to play in. Christopher was not interested in sledding at all until he did it once. Then we couldn't get him to stop. All in all, we were outside for over 2 hours before toes got cold enough to get back in the car and go get lunch. Patrick fell fast asleep in the five minutes it

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-11697336512045596232010-02-05T18:52:00.007-07:002010-02-05T20:44:26.682-07:00

I decided to clean out the closet under the stairs early this week to make a little hidey hole for the boys. I thought the kid cave was a good name for it, but Christopher has dubbed it the little boy fort. Here's how it looked when I started:I cleaned it all out, vacuumed up the dead bugs, cleaned the baseboards, and voila, ready for little boys.I added an old comforter, a bunch of extra pillows

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-66782524697263635292010-02-01T14:21:00.006-07:002010-02-01T14:59:15.783-07:00

OK, so it really was about 2 hours, but that's the great thing about our little zoo. We can see it all in a few hours and then get home for naps. It has elephants, giraffes, and even a polar bear (yes, I would also know what that polar bear did to offend God and end up in Arizona). It was too snowy on Mount Lemmon for us to go Friday, so we decided a trip to the zoo would be good instead. It was

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-71377026830498112372010-01-28T22:24:00.003-07:002010-01-28T22:34:57.993-07:00

I got motivated the other day and decided crafts were in order. Christopher likes doing anything with his tiger scissors, and I figured if we were ever going to see snow, we'd have to take matters into our own hands. The result: lots of snibbles of paper and some pretty snowflakes to hang in the playroom window. Unfortunately two excited little boys and tiger scissors don't leave Mommy time for

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-69406116752271940132010-01-22T18:48:00.003-07:002010-01-22T19:02:00.716-07:00

Daddy had a birthday yesterday. He is now 36. Christopher reminds him frequently that when he has his next birthday he will be furty-seven. Despite many efforts to explain the concept of presents, Christopher told Mike what was in his as soon as he walked in the door. He was very nice and acted surprised anyway! Daddy requested German Chocolate Cake, so here he is with his helpers ready to blow

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-136023673211746352010-01-19T08:57:00.003-07:002010-01-19T09:08:18.158-07:00

We had a laid back weekend after our last few busy ones. Daddy brewed two batches of beer, and mommy got started on a knitting project for her cousin's new baby. Other than that, a whole lot of nothing got done. Yesterday, Christopher requested a firehouse for his big fire truck. It took about all the blocks we had, but we did it! He wanted his picture taken with it - he's turned into such a

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-65268197770139215932010-01-14T19:28:00.002-07:002010-01-14T19:36:32.815-07:00

We haven't done much in the last few days, but I did get some video of Christopher doing his latest new thing, singing "Life is a Highway" at the top of his lungs while driving Mack around, just like in Cars. Yeah, it's pretty funny. You'll want to make sure the volume isn't turned up too high on the computer, though...

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-87594195382980217412010-01-11T22:03:00.004-07:002010-01-11T22:22:13.039-07:00

This past weekend we went on our trip to Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo. It was a blast! The boys had a great time visiting Grandma and Papa's Christmas train (and Grandma and Papa), the zoo, spending time with Uncle Mark, and making a trip to Ikea!!!! Christopher spent most of the visit like this!They had a good thing going. Got to see all the lights without walking!Grandma made pancakes

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-81338446362925414862010-01-08T10:21:00.003-07:002010-01-08T10:25:39.428-07:00

So yesterday Christopher was begging to watch "Hero of the Rails", the epic work of cinematography featuring Thomas the Tank Engine and friends. The boys had been really good during our whole drop-off-the-Christmas-tree odyssey in which we saw every road under construction in all of Tucson, so I told C he could watch it before nap. I turned it on, unloaded the groceries, and made lunch. The

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-21479738329943277632010-01-03T19:44:00.006-07:002010-01-03T20:40:09.904-07:00

So, it's been nearly two months since I updated. Bad Kathryn. In that time we packed the house, moved 5 minutes up the road, unpacked the house (mostly), had Thanksgiving, visitors from the far East, Christmas, New Year's, etc. OK, enough excuses!My New Year's resolution (or one of them) is to blog twice weekly. You can all giggle and talk amongst yourselves as to whether it will take one or two

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-37670829809045541002009-11-07T16:01:00.003-07:002009-11-07T16:08:41.933-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the last week or so. Nothing exciting, but I thought they were cute!Christopher is having a really important conversation with Grammy. Christopher discovered his Thomas coloring book again. Here he is coloring Henry, with the real Henry supervising, just to make sure he gets the colors right. I am not making this up; he was very meticulous.Patrick, on the other hand

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-52863836959873003962009-11-07T15:39:00.005-07:002009-11-07T15:57:38.198-07:00

Late as usual, but here are a few good pictures from Halloween.Helping Daddy clean Patrick's pumpkin - fake shot - he didn't want to touch the gooey insides.Christopher loved popping out the pieces of pumpkin after we cut them free.Patrick was not interested in sitting still next to his pumpkin. Christopher was hamming it up, but had no pants on. Oops.Astronaut Christopher and Robin Hood ready

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-64701791278890766402009-10-22T08:28:00.002-07:002009-10-22T08:36:27.017-07:00

Christopher was regaling me this morning at breakfast with his Itsy Bitsy Spider rendition, so after we finished I got him to do it again. Unfortunately he insisted on sitting right there in front of the window, so the picture is a little dark. I think it's cute anyway, though! Patrick was sitting next to me doing the motions, but I couldn't get him to sit by Christopher and do it on camera.

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-70775631441730135182009-10-17T19:10:00.002-07:002009-10-17T19:19:29.867-07:00

Courtesy of Daddy, because only he would come up with a game as silly as toddler racing. Note the no pants for extra redneck effect. And another one, just in case one isn't enough! Enjoy!

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-35422261220300102362009-10-11T19:33:00.005-07:002009-10-11T19:44:24.733-07:00

I know it's been forever since I posted. We were in PA for two weeks and then we came back and things got really crazy. In the span of four days last week we put our house up for sale, sold our house, found a new (to us) house, and had our offer accepted. Now the craziness of moving is hanging over my head.But enough excuses.Christopher decided on Thursday that his hammer is not a hammer, but is

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-58802529599881496412009-09-07T14:51:00.004-07:002009-09-07T15:06:23.958-07:00

Mike showed me how to make videos again, so maybe I'll remember this time. Here are two of my recent favorites. The first is Patrick one of our last nights on vacation grooving in his high chair at dinner. The second is Christopher the Energizer Bunny at open gym the other week. Enjoy!

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-88172218534510364842009-09-02T21:45:00.006-07:002009-09-02T22:08:13.607-07:00

We did some fun stuff this past weekend, but my favorite picture is pure Christopher silliness. He decided to get up at 6AM Friday morning and wasn't interested in snuggling with us, so he went in to the living room. When we climbed out of bed, we found this - he had lined up all the cars out of the bucket and was addressing them like they were in a parade.On Friday, we went to open gym at the

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-35037680115724469022009-08-27T14:23:00.006-07:002009-08-27T14:52:11.335-07:00

Apparently I'm trying to make these pictures last until I can find something interesting enough to photograph around here. There have been some hilarious potty training moments, but they're all pretty indecent. My favorite is Christopher asking himself, "Peepee, where are you? Are you coming?"I'm going to try to pare down the last few days to finish in this post. We'll see. I just have such cute

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-32392492064182414172009-08-21T17:12:00.005-07:002009-08-21T17:36:55.453-07:00

I'm currently hiding from the boys after a long day of potty training. Mostly "Let's try to pee. NOOOOOOO. Let's at least sit on the potty. NOOOOOOO." You get my drift.Now I have help. Patrick has arrived to make sure I don't get too much done, but I'll try to persevere and get up some more pics of our trip.The second day in Durango, we drove back about 45 minutes to the entrance to Mesa Verde

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-14684062881630213022009-08-16T19:29:00.009-07:002009-08-16T20:35:24.806-07:00

We've been back for over a week, yes, but I'm just getting to uploading pictures from our adventure in late July / early August. We took a 6 day road trip through the Four Corners area to Durango, Colorado and back. Overall we drove nearly 1400 miles and saw all sorts of neat things!Here is Christopher the night before we left with his new suitcase packed and ready to go with the important things

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-45487141230778486862009-07-24T19:45:00.003-07:002009-07-24T21:40:02.235-07:00

We've done nothing with a capital N this week, since we're going away next week and (of course) Christopher has come down with another cough. So, here are a few pictures of the usual - playing on the trampoline at open gym and giving checkups.Now take a deep breath...Jumping like a bunnyNot sure who knocked who overLook Mom, I found this cool ball. How 'bout I chuck it at you?Yeah, I'm pretty

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-42328723543097670172009-07-20T19:19:00.002-07:002009-07-20T19:30:32.400-07:00

Patrick got his first haircut yesterday! I think it was more traumatic for Mommy than it was for Patrick. He just sat around looking bewildered but not fussing or squirming too much.Christopher is old hat at the haircut thing, but makes sure we remember ice cream afterwards.From Friday, we moved the trucks into Christopher's room so the piano tuner could come, then found him on his bed playing

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-14729234383161813092009-07-16T14:58:00.005-07:002009-07-16T15:08:51.492-07:00

Grandad and Grammy's package for Christopher's birthday came yesterday and since then, Christopher has been tooling around the house with his stethoscope around his neck saying, "I'm Dr. Christopher. I listen to you." Patrick, in particular, is totally confused by this. Daddy snapped a picture of him last night, so I thought I'd show you the family's next friendly health professional. Look out

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-80804042397857503782009-07-12T12:19:00.005-07:002009-07-12T12:37:50.160-07:00

We celebrated Christopher's birthday on Saturday a few days early. He had a great time playing with his friends and got some really neat presents. Here are a few pictures from his big day.A neat Cars book from Grandma & PapaCranky! Frank the ill-tempered combine from CarsLightning McQueen cake (he actually knew who it was, so I consider it a success!)After a few tries, Daddy helped blow out his

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-23546806167048583222009-07-07T14:26:00.004-07:002009-07-07T14:34:43.227-07:00

I thought I'd put in a few pics of our Fourth of July fun. We went to the park in the morning before it got too hot and went to see fireworks that night. The boys both enjoyed the fireworks, although Patrick decided it was too late (they started at 9PM) and fell asleep about 10 minutes into the show. Christopher kept asking where the fireworkers were. There are fireworks, so somewhere there must

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-76772577550473560282009-06-30T13:00:00.003-07:002009-06-30T13:19:06.662-07:00

So my FlyLady task for the day was to give the living room a good hit with the vacuum. Since it needed it and I have two boys who love to vacuum we tackled it first thing this morning. After moving the green sofa and coffee table, it occurred to me that it might be fun to just leave the couch cushions in the middle of the room for the monkeys to climb on. Sort of like those "realistic" zoo

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-31275697640056802652009-06-27T16:02:00.006-07:002009-06-27T16:23:59.063-07:00

Not much doing here, so I thought I'd treat you to some random photos of us doing our thing. Christopher thought his trains needed a home, so we built them a shed complete with ramp up and down. It was good for hours of fun!Patrick enjoys eating, as you may have guessed! Here he is enjoying his favorite lunch, yogurt and buttered noodles!Finally, here is a video (just for Paul) of the boys

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-87179899787800470952009-06-22T16:37:00.002-07:002009-06-22T16:43:54.883-07:00

We went to open gym for the third time this morning and for the third time I forgot my camera, so here are a few pics from the last week. First are my two big helpers sweeping the kitchen floor for me. I swear this was not staged. Christopher had been helping me sweep when Patrick saw some recently unearthed Cheerios and tried to dive in. I moved him away and he bee-bopped off and came back with

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-5016985809084935582009-06-16T21:29:00.003-07:002009-06-16T21:44:21.445-07:00

At a loss for what to do yesterday when both boys were up before 3PM and Mike wasn't coming home until 6PM, I took matters into my own hands. I took our big galvanized tub (the one we used to use for drinks back when we had parties) and filled it with water, put in a few bath toys, and voila a makeshift swimming pool. We had a kiddie pool last year and Christopher wanted nothing to do with it, so

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-56009546116005290792009-06-12T16:23:00.004-07:002009-06-12T16:27:18.823-07:00

So I saw this idea in a magazine the other week and thought it would be a cute, cheap thing to put on the boy's walls. Since Michaels had picture frames on sale last week, I decided to give it a try. Here are the results: I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out which is which :-). Sorry Patrick's picture is so wonky. I was taking it while holding a grumpy Patrick.

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-22763319031842272932009-06-12T16:17:00.005-07:002009-06-12T16:22:41.838-07:00

It has actually been unseasonably cool here the last few days, so we've been able to get outside to play a bit more. Christopher has rediscovered the coolness that is the sandbox and now will happily climb in and drive his trucks around it for REALLY LONG periods of time. Here are a few pics of them playing. Christopher took a little convincing, but he went from squatting next to the sandbox to

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-4213069965408141252009-06-06T09:19:00.004-07:002009-06-06T09:38:57.729-07:00

Patrick has really perfected the walking in the last few weeks, and was showing it off at the park on Thursday. Here's a little snippet. We had a great time at the splash pad, although as expected Christopher was not too interested in actually getting wet. He spent a lot of time doing this - standing near the wall watching. Later, he did actually play in the water a little, but I forgot the

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-88805153347588208072009-06-04T08:34:00.004-07:002009-06-04T08:46:54.828-07:00

As I'm sure most of you know by now, the boys have both been to the doctor in the past few weeks and weigh within a pound of each other - Christopher is 30.5 and Patrick is 29.5. The only problem is that Christopher is a full head taller than Patrick. So, below we have two different ways to be 30 lbs. They'll totally hate me for it later, but they were so cute waiting to get in the tub the other

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-86390997639049445882009-05-30T10:28:00.004-07:002009-05-30T10:34:05.338-07:00

Here is Christopher's new skill. He learned this song about a week ago when it was actually raining and sings it at least 5 times a day even though it is 100 and way too sunny now. What we edited out was the 3 minutes of negotiation that preceded him actually sitting down and singing! Enjoy!

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-14274433362960436812009-05-20T13:39:00.003-07:002009-05-20T13:48:08.510-07:00

I still hadn't put these up, and since we've been doing nothing with a captial N for the last two weeks (Patrick was sick and now Christopher has it), here are some pictures of the two boys and Daddy's trip to the children's museum right before Mother's Day. Fun for them, peace and quiet for Mommy - what could be better!Christopher driving the fire truck Enough legos to both play without fighting

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-71636560723733047782009-05-16T18:55:00.005-07:002009-05-16T19:07:02.010-07:00

Here are the rest of my fabulous vacation pictures. Hmm, now I guess we'll have to do something exciting to take pictures of and blog about.Grammy and two of her boys. Poor Aunt Jenny being subjected to Paul's icy water torture. Christopher stomping in puddles and LIKING IT!!! How did he get this big? Mr. Personality getting ready to woo the ladies with his beach bod.Running away from the

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-89629038606908605352009-05-16T18:48:00.003-07:002009-05-16T18:55:36.661-07:00

So, it's time to spill the beans. About 6 weeks ago I joined a fruit/veggie co-op. Let the hippie jokes begin. For $16.50 I get pretty much all the fruits/veggies we will eat for 2 weeks. This morning was a serious bonanza. As you can see below, I got pears/apples/oranges to fill a giant bowl, a honeydew, a big bunch of bananas, 6 or so small mangoes, 6 or 8 red potatoes, a spaghetti squash, and

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-3155350144389967702009-05-14T18:58:00.001-07:002009-05-14T18:59:43.413-07:00

Mommmmeeeeee, Patrick is touching Chris-to-fooAnd so it begins...

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-17277712187075928692009-05-12T13:17:00.009-07:002009-05-12T13:41:43.465-07:00

I finally got the pictures from our Pennsylvania trip downloaded, so I thought I'd put a few up for you to enjoy. Mommy is so wishing we were at the beach today. It's about 95F here and I have a snotty Patrick who fell asleep on the way back from Costco. He woke up as Christopher went to sleep, so they're tag teaming me today. Here are a few of my favorite pics.Oh, you did get us seats? OK.How

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-75258965638553348452009-04-12T21:25:00.005-07:002009-04-12T21:41:00.282-07:00

We had a great Easter here in sunny AZ. The weather was perfect, only about 70 for the high. The boys had a great time seeing what the Easter bunny brought and eating candy galore! Here are a few pics from our big busy day.Christopher checking out the M&M situation.Patrick with his Easter egg and binky - what could be better?After MassChristopher in his carrot car outfit-he only agreed to a

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-32501351302765501862009-04-07T09:47:00.001-07:002009-04-07T10:24:21.964-07:00

Hi! Thought I'd post a few videos today to get you all ready for our upcoming visit! The first is Christopher playing Old McDonald Had a Farm on the piano and singing along. It's super cute when he does it all by himself, but by the time I get the video camera he's on to me and won't do it, so this time Daddy helped. The second is of Patrick in a surprisingly good mood in the bathtub last night.

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-38477859873821251532009-04-03T21:47:00.003-07:002009-04-03T21:54:50.980-07:00

So this afternoon, Patrick thought he'd do something more exciting than nap. He started holding onto my shoulder like normal and then letting go and standing all by himself. He can stand for a good 15-20 seconds until he gets so excited he loses his balance. He got really brave this evening and tried a few times to take a step or two, but that hasn't gone so well. Now if you ask him to show you "

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-60729157540325220082009-03-30T14:20:00.003-07:002009-03-30T14:27:18.590-07:00

We were busy little beavers this weekend, trying to get some outside stuff done before it gets too hot. On Friday, the dump truck came with 2 tons of gravel to recover the front "yard", which was looking pretty sad. Daddy figures the whole reason he had kids was the free labor so he put the boys straight to work.On Saturday, we tore the old plants out of the garden and put in three tomatoes, two

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-14001015154811946322009-03-28T14:21:00.006-07:002009-03-28T14:32:45.068-07:00

Here are a few pics from our trip to Sedona last weekend (Mommy & Daddy's side of the trip). It is beautiful up there and the weather was great. We got to take a nice hike Saturday morning and just all around relaxed.Here is crazy Mike standing on Devil's Arch, the rock bridge we hiked to. I reminded him more than a few times that he's the baby daddy now, but he did it anyway. He swears it was

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-8476789978857308832009-03-24T21:12:00.005-07:002009-03-24T21:43:09.620-07:00

Well, the boys played too. Mommy and Daddy went to Sedona for the weekend (yipee!!!) and the boys stayed with Grandma and Papa (Uncle Mark came down and helped out a lot as well). All three will most certainly be up for sainthood! On Saturday they went to a zoo in the Phoenix area. Apparently you could feed the ducks and giraffes among other things.Christopher feeding the ducks (he didn't learn

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-2149173343601509592009-03-18T13:30:00.002-07:002009-03-18T13:35:09.775-07:00

We had a milestone on the way to the library today. Christopher was sitting looking out the window a few minutes after we left the house and asked, clear as day, "Are we almost there yet, Mommy?" Now if only their little legs would get long enough to kick the seat, things would be fabulous...Just because I can't post without a picture, here's one of the speed demons at Home Depot. Enjoy!

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-2474483079803899852009-03-17T14:26:00.005-07:002009-03-17T14:34:25.882-07:00

We all scream for ice cream!!! Despite the long line making haircuts impossible on Sunday, Christopher got ice cream (because Mommy and Daddy wanted some too!!) Patrick got his first taste of ice cream too. Here's Christopher digging in.And Patrick - hey wait, that's a camera, not a spoon. Grr...And Christopher sharing some of his shalala (chocolate) ice cream with Patrick.In other news,

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-69426724551491350722009-03-13T18:56:00.005-07:002009-03-13T19:04:29.940-07:00

Patrick has made some big strides in the last few days. No, literally...He has figured out how to walk behind his walker. Putting all that weight to good use, here he is pushing Christopher around.And just so he doesn't feel neglected, here is sous-chef Christopher helping make some fab chicken fried rice the other night. He's taken to covering his face when we ask him to smile for the camera,

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-34457442107224859022009-03-11T14:03:00.005-07:002009-03-11T14:13:23.475-07:00

Since we've done NOTHING exciting today, I thought I'd cheat and post pics from a trip the boys and Daddy took to the Phoenix Zoo a few weeks ago. I was invited to a baby shower up there, so while I was at that, they went to the zoo with the new baby's daddy and big sister. Here are the little men checking out some cows - I think they were mooing or something.P-Jiggley with a goat - I love the

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-66825787745047991182009-03-10T14:14:00.006-07:002009-03-10T14:32:23.230-07:00

I realized I never posted pictures from Patrick's birthday! Here are a few of the big guy at his many parties!Getting ready for cupcakes on his actual birthdayMaking cupcakes with playgroup friends Ready for Mass in his snazzy birthday overallsTucking into his birthday cake Uh oh, the bug guy just showed up and nobody has napped (too much coughing) and the house is a mess. That's all for now.

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-55866327350516444792009-03-09T09:28:00.003-07:002009-03-09T09:34:12.373-07:00

Back to the grind. Um, Mom, do we have any more books? I need something a little more thought provoking than Where is Baby's Belly Button?

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-69227980996689763652009-03-08T19:02:00.002-07:002009-03-08T19:13:25.616-07:00

As Mom just reminded me, a year ago today we were partying like rock stars to celebrate my baby sister's wedding. Well, that's assuming there are any suburban, white, middleAmerica rock stars... Christopher was 19 months old and Patrick was 12 days old.The bride and groom celebrated and then jetted off to Wyoming to ski. Their son just turned three months old, so it must have been some good

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-20557936146100949232009-03-08T17:15:00.005-07:002009-03-08T17:59:51.005-07:00

I thought I'd check out the video capabilities, since they're one of the toughest things to share. Most of them are too big for e-mail and I never seem to remember to bring them with us when we visit. These are off the digital camera, not the video camera, so the sound isn't great - you might have to turn the speakers way up to hear my fab narration :-)This is Christopher a few weeks ago doing

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-89151184791908076492009-03-06T14:28:00.006-07:002009-03-06T14:40:30.026-07:00

It has been ridiculously hot here the last week (like 90F already), so since it's cloudy and only 70F today I thought we'd have a picnic lunch. We went outside and cleaned off the patio table and had lunch out there. Needless to say, Christopher was impressed - he got to eat lunch and tell me about the airplanes and helicopiters (like Uncle Matt builds) and owls (or mourning doves, maybe) he saw

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75272388499994615.post-20207634810944777622009-03-06T14:22:00.003-07:002009-03-06T14:26:29.735-07:00

I've been terrible about keeping up with the boys' baby pages for a while now because I can't figure out how to separate the pictures for each kid, so I thought I'd try this instead. The other benefit is that now you (and by you I probably mean no one but me) can be regaled by the day to day fun that is our life! I'll try for at least a post a week, hopefully more, with relatively new pics of

Kathrynnoreply@blogger.com0