Avery Will be a Good Mommy

This morning, Avery came to wake me up. We had a conversation about Mommy...

A: "Mommy said to come wake you up. Bennett and Mommy had a rough night." (Bennett is sick and having trouble sleeping)
D: "We're so lucky to have such a good Mommy, aren't we?"
A: "Ya, I wanna be just like Mommy when I grow up"
D: "First you have to find a husband..."
A: "Connor"
D: "No, it's against the rules - Connor can't be your husband."
A: (points to Daddy) "You will be my husband"
D: "No, that's against the rules too. You have to find someone else, a boy from school or something."
A: "Maybe Rand, when he's older...or maybe Makoa..."

Funny stuf...

Disneyland III

Went to Disneyland on a spur-of-the-moment trip, met the Scholz family there. It was Baby Bennett's first trip to DL. As usual he was a trooper, just cruised around in either the "bob" stroller, or the baby Bjorn pack the whole time.

Highlights:

• Connor does Splash Mountain, and Thunder Mtn Railroad
  
• Worker dude says to C: "right over there 'pardner'..." Connor: "Why that man wants me to be his partner?"
  
• A & C both have cotton candy for the first time
  
• LONG day - take a break at 330p at the Grand Californian hotel at the Scholz room. Kids were dead tired by the end of the night - left at ~9pm
  

First Day of School

Day ONE of the rest of their lives!! :)

Took them to Smart Start in Cardiff today. Daddy thought it was going to be a big deal first day of school. The kids barely had time to pose for this picture before hurrying into the classroom. After a brief hello to the lead teacher, time to go. Oh, where are the kids? They've already made themselves at home in the classroom, playing games with Makoa. Oh well - "have good day at school guys"...

Beach Day

Went to the beach for the first time this summer with the kids. We've been busy with Baby Bennett lately, and then the rest of the time, going to the pool at Ba-pa MP's house.

Tried to get C & A in the ocean -- no dice. Connor goes in until the water comes up to his ankles, then runs out saying "the water is moving me" (when it rushes by his feet, he feels the sand move a bit and freaks out)

Avery let it touch her, it felt cold, so she bailed. Oh well - someday.

Later, a plane goes by, pulling an advertisement, Avery says:
"Daddy, the words are floating..."

Directions

In the car, heading down to Fashion Valley Mall.

Connor asks, "How do we get there Dad?"

Dad: "5 south, 805 south, 163 south"
Connor: "that's a lot of souths"

Alphabet Words

Excerpts from Arthur's Really Helpful Word Book

When naming the letters and objects around the border of a page in the book...

Avery:
B, Bee house
F, Microphone
H, Boat with a house...that's silly (houseboat)
K, Key locker (key hole)
N, Bow tie (neck tie)

Connor:
P, Money bank pig
X, Middle part of your insides (x-ray)!

Connor's Math Trick

At the "Elie Park" with Connor & Avery.

Daddy has "daddy crackers" (aka Cheezits), and we're getting down to the last handfull. Connor comes over and says, "Oh, 4 more...2 for me and 2 for Avery". Takes his 2 and goes back to playing.

Not more than 2 minutes later, Avery comes over to get some crackers. Connor tails her over to discover that there are 2 left.

Connor: "Oh, Avery, there are 2 crackers left, 1 for you and 1 for me!"

Nice try hot shot...

Told the Kids Today

Well, finally, it was getting to hard to keep the "new baby" secret from the kids. We have been holding off as long as possible, since it would just be very hard to go through the "how many more night-nights until the baby" constantly for 6 mos.

We sat them down on the couch, on either side of J. Asked them - "guys, why do you think mommy's tummy is getting bigger?"

C: "I think she ate too many cupcakes" (today is Daddy's bday, so they made cupcakes)
A: "I dunno..." (smiling as if she knew something, but wouldn't say it)

We finally told them - we're gonna have a baby boy. A little brother for you guys!!
They were happy... and wondered all about how the baby is gonna come out of mom's "nina" ...

Who's Babysitting Us?

Connor was pointing at a picture on the fridge of Jamie and I at Scott Fortune's wedding (this was way back in '98 or so)...when he says:

"Who's babysitting us in this picture?"

J: "Nobody....you weren't around yet"

Avery: "We were in your tummy..."

Who's Having a Baby

Jamie and the kids were at the mall today. Jamie was looking in the window from the outside of a maternity store. The sales lady came out to the door and started talking to the kids about the baby.

"How old are you....and how old are you... and....who's having the baby? "

Well, we haven't told the kids yet -- keeping it quiet until we get closer to the due date. Jamie couldn't signal the sales lady in time to not bring it up.

So Connor's answer: "nobody...."

Daddy's Secret Birthday Present

When putting Avery to bed last night, she was asking about Easter. Then she brought up the fact that Daddy's birthday comes before that.

"Daddy, your birthday comes before easter....but we can't tell you anything about your presents. It's a secret..."

(Jamie has them well trained. Whatever they got for me [apparently the kids *really* wanted to get a particular item], they are dying to tell me, but Jamie keeps reminding them not to say anything about it.)

Loss of Firetruck Privileges

We made a deal with Connor, if he pooped in his diaper or nap pants, he can't play with his beloved fire trucks for that day.

This morning, as usual, A & C woke up and were talking out in the hallway -- before usually going downstairs to grab their juice, turn on the tube (Arthur, JoJo, Wiggles) and do some crafts.

Avery was prompting Connor to go downstairs, and Connor says:

"I can't Avery -- I pooped in my diaper. I should have gone in the potty. Mommy and Daddy always want me to go in the potty. I should have done it Avery..."

10 minutes later I go out to help him - he's sitting indian style, facing the stair railings outside the bathroom, looking head down, totally bummed about what he did.

Oh well - planning on going to Gma/Bapa's in Fallbrook today to swim -- so he won't miss his fire trucks.

Sunday == Donuts

Avery was in the car with Mommy this week, heading down the coast. Based on our semi-usual trip to Tom's donut shop on Sunday's, Avery says:

A: Mommy, what day is today?

M: Wednesday

A: That man is silly...he's going into Tom's donut shop, and it's not Sunday...

The Cost of a Kid

When putting Connor to bed tonight, he asked: "How many monies does it cost for a kid?"

Daddy: "Where did we get a kid from?"

C: "At the store"

D: "Do you think we should have a baby for this family?"

C: "ya, cuz I want to have everyone come over and she can play with our baby toys."

D: "if we have a baby, you have to be very careful with it, cuz the baby can't talk, or sit up, or anything"

C: "ya, I know -- I'm very good with baby Piper [Ferch], ask Mommy 'bout that..."

(p.s. we *are* expecting a baby -- Jamie is about 20 weeks along, but we haven't told the kids yet. We figure it would be too hard for them to understand timing of "9 months away". We have the ultrasound to determine gender next week, so we'll be telling them after that. They're probably wondering why Mommy's tummy is poking out there a little these days...)

Connor Spelling

Connor has been working on his letters and spelling. At the Wild Animal Park the other day, he and Jamie were standing in line in front of the food place.

Connor: "O-P-E-N ... that say HOTDOG! "