Wrapping up 2011 (a really long post)

Catching up on the events of our Fall.

Oran and Lucy on their first day of preschool.  Lucy is so excited to finally get to go.   I love watching them make friends and love hearing them talk about their days.

Lucy loves to dance!  We are hoping to find a ballet class for her soon.

Just being silly. 

Exploring at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.  Enjoying the warm fall day.

Eating Apple Fritters at the pumpkin patch.

Oran found his pumpkin.

Lucy is a little stressed out over the slim pickings.  This is what happens when we wait until the weekend before Halloween to visit the pumpkin patch.

She found one.  Not a pumpkin but it is cute, little and bumpy!

This is where the pictures end.  November and December were busy months for us and not just in the holiday kind of way.

Dan is starting 2012 50 pounds lighter!  This past year he started running.  He ran his first 5K in the end of October and his second in November.  He has plans of running a mini marathon this Spring.

In December, Dan and I went to Texas where Dan became a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.  What this means is no more studying and no more exams. Hooray!!!  It is a pretty big deal to us!

Maybe because Dan had a little more time or maybe because a warmer climate sounded nice; we accepted a new job in South Carolina.  So, the holidays this year were a bit of a whirlwind between getting the house ready and on the market and wanting to spend as much time with family before we moved farther away.

Right now we have been in South Carolina for three weeks.  The weather has been beautiful.  We are hoping our home sells quickly so we can find a more permanent place.  (Having all of our own belongings would be nice too.) We are happy.  We are excited for all the new adventures of 2012!

Sprinklers, Popsicles, Pools...Summer

I am still in denial that Summer is over.  I love Fall but this year I have been sad to see Summer go.  We had such a fun summer.  We were able to spend a lot of time with family and friends.
Our Summer in pictures:

 This was a day when Lucy was pretending to be Oran. 

Lucy with Trev one of our favorite friends.  We were sad his family moved away  this summer.

Water was a great entertainer this summer.  We also made several trips to the zoo.

 Lucy with her biggest Rooooaar!

 Wrestling the Crocodile

 Riding the train

 The Giraffes are a favorite.  The kids love feeding them crackers.

Lucy coloring my flowers.  She said they needed to be rainbow.

Oran and Lucy love to paint, color, cut, glue and play with play dough.

 A lot of summer afternoons I would find Lucy taking a little nap.  I should also note that this is Lucy's favorite shirt.  I really don't know why.

Plumbing 101

Yesterday, while making dinner my kitchen sink stopped draining. I turned on the garbage disposal thinking that might do the trick. It did a great job of moving the water to the other sink. When Dan came home he helped me plunge the sinks but there was no change.
Dan had to leave and I should have put the kids to bed but I just couldn't leave the sink alone. For some reason it was driving me crazy.
I was talking to one of my younger sisters who seemed to know quite a bit about plumbing. I took her advice and drained the sink by loosening the trap. I took the whole trap off and didn't see any kind of clog. I did realize how dirty the inside of the pipe looked. I couldn't help but clean it all out. Unsure of what to try next I took all of the pipes out from under the sink and cleaned them. I put them all back together and tried the water. It still wasn't moving the water through. I consulted my dad and a friend who suggested using something to stick back in the pipe behind the wall. I once again drained out all the water and took out the pipes. I used a long plastic, spiky stick that I use to clean out the other drains and then put the pipes all back. Still clogged. I drained the water and again took all the pipes out and this time used a metal coat hanger with a hook on the end to reach back inside the wall. I still didn't find anything but put the pipes back hoping it would work. No luck.
I head upstairs to check on the kids. I hear water and a little girl laughing. I peek my head around the corner as she dumps another cup of water in the hallway floor. She says, "It's a pool, I'm pretending." Nice. I get her in bed, and sop up the water.
Today, I called a plumber!

Just for Fun

I saw this on one of my friend's blog and I thought it sounded like a fun idea. If you would like to play along send me a comment.
Rules:

1. I will make a little something for the first 3 people that comment on this post. It will be a surprise and may arrive at any time in the next 365 days (yes, a year).

2. To sign up to receive a gift from me you must play along too. Share the giving love on your blog by promising to send a handmade goodie to the first three people that comment on your blog post.

3. You must have a blog.

4. After commenting on my post, you have to post this (or similar) on your blog to spread the love.

5.Leave me your email address (if I don't already have it) and I will contact you.

"Mom, you forgot Cubby!"

Pretending, imaginary friends, alternate identities, we have it all. Oran and Lucy love to pretend they are Jake and Izzy (two characters from the Disney show Jake and the Never Land Pirates). On the show, Jake and Izzy have another friend named Cubby. When Oran and Lucy are playing as Jake and Izzy they will only respond to these names and will often use phrase like: "Off to Never Land" "Oh, Coconuts!" "Twist and Wiggle" "It's Captain Hook" "Yo ho, let's go!"

Cubby will also play with them. They talk to Cubby and treat him like he is actually playing with them. I on the other hand forget about Cubby. I forget to give him food at lunch, I forget to buckle him in his car seat and forget to get him out of the car quite a lot. Oran and Lucy or is it Jake and Izzy will excitedly yell, "Mom, you forgot Cubby!" as we are walking into stores, the library, or preschool. I hear, "Mom, you forgot Cubby!" when I give them their plates at lunch.

I love listening to their little adventures. I hope Cubby stays around for awhile. I don't know that I will ever be able to forget Cubby.

Other Alternate Identities
Diego and Dora
Woody and Jesse

Other Imaginary Friends
Carrot the Snowman
Bullseye the Horse
Swiper the Fox

Day at the Museum

On Good Friday, the kids and I met my parents and two of my brothers at the Children's Museum. It was so busy. I was thankful we had 2.5 adults per child. Oran and Lucy loved the dinosaur exhibit. I even let them wear the dinosaur costumes. I try and avoid such things because who knows when and if they ever get washed and what kind of germs the kids could be exposed to. I just tried really hard not think about it and focus on how much fun Oran and Lucy were having. They loved playing in the dinosaur nests and sitting on the eggs.
Oran and Lucy both rode the carousel for the first time. I love how such a simple ride captures my kids personalities so perfectly. While waiting in line the kids were watching the carousel going around. Lucy tells me she wants the biggest horse, one that goes up and down. Oran says he isn't sure which one he wants to ride. When we get on for our turn Lucy heads straight for a big, jumping horse that has stopped in the highest position. Oran walks straight for the bench and says, "This is a great spot." While riding her jumping horse Lucy keeps repeating, "I am winning. The little girl is winning the race." When we get off the ride, I ask if they want to ride again. Oran says, "Nope, I am good." Lucy says, "Yes!"

Girl Drama...Already

I hear Lucy screaming in the basement. Oran is yelling that Lucy painted her toes. Picturing nail polish everywhere, already planning the best way to clean it up, I run down stairs. Lucy is crying and trying to talk but I can't understand anything. Looking around I see a row of nail polish bottles, closed, in a line on my desk. I look at Lucy. I look at her painted toes; while not perfect the only nail polish I see is on her toes. I can't figure out why she is so upset. Maybe she doesn't like that she got some polish off her nail and on her skin. I use remover and start trying to clean them up a bit. I start on the left side taking some of the green off. Lucy starts calming down. I think I have it figured out. I move on to taking some of the pink polish off her skin and she starts getting more upset again and starts yelling "green, green". I move back to her pinkie toe and remove all the green polish. Instantly all the screaming and crying stops. Lucy looks at me and says, "Thanks, Mom. I don't like the green polish."
I don't know what surprises me more: The fact that my 2 1/2 year old painted her toes with multiple colors of polish without getting polish anywhere but on her toes OR That she screamed for 20 minutes because she painted two of her toes green and decided she didn't like green polish.