Yes, J is the one who purchased this shirt

And a few more shots of RUS wearing it, just because.

More iPhone Self-Portraits

iPhone Self-portraits

One feature of my new phone that both children find incredibly entertaining is the ability to take self-portraits.

Cutest Picture EVER of My Two Kids

Typical

This is typical RUS after dinner. He just loves to put food in his hair. I can't tell you how often we send him to day care with crunchy hair because he has smeared oatmeal in it or used his hair like regular people use napkins.

But oh man, look at that smile!!! It's all R's doing, too--she's the best at getting him to laugh.

My Latest Favorite Picture of R

Princess Pictures for Grandma!

Lately R runs away from the camera if we try to take pictures. She makes a huge frown and yells, "NO PICTURES!!" and turns her head to avoid being in the picture. But today she looked so cute, and I even did her hair in two french braids, and I really really really wanted to take pictures. So I told her Grandma really wanted us to send her some pictures of her in her princess dress (really, her Christmas dress, but who cares, we'll get as much use out of it as we can!) and could we get some pictures for Grandma??

She finally agreed, especially when I suggested taking the pictures outside. The weather has been warming up and it's been so so so pleasant. It was a little chilly (the kids probably should've had jackets on in these pics, but it wasn't so cold that I felt really bad about it or anything, plus we were only outside for maybe 5-10 minutes before we had to go inside and put coats on and get ready to go to day care).

Two Kids on a Wagon

I love this wagon. It is a 30-year-old Radio Flyer that Grammie and Grampie bought for $7 at our neighbor's garage sale--it was his wagon when he was a child. It was all bumpy and rusty so Grampie took it home, sanded it down and repainted it and added the kids' names. It looks fantastic, and it's super-sturdy and rolls great. I'm so excited to have it to use with the kids--and ecstatic at the deal. I looked online and this wagon retails new for around $90, depending on where you look.

Best Friends

Tonight, totally out of the blue, R told J that he is her best friend.

I'm A Castle!

When we were visiting Grammie and Grampie earlier this summer, Grampie couldn't resist picking up this adorable Melissa & Doug pot & pan set for R, and giving it to her for her birthday. She's cooked just about every possible item of food in it (although almost everything turns into "birthday cake" in the end). She also uses these pots and pans for all kinds of other purposes.

A few weeks ago, she discovered the fun of standing on one of the pots and doing exercises. Seriously, one of the cutest things I have ever seen. And, of course, the first thing she said when she stood on it was, "I'm a castle!"

A sing-songy day

R is singing in her crib right now. It might be Frere Jacques or it could be wheels on the bus. Hard to tell. She sang ABC's to Grandma and Grandpa on the phone tonight. On the way up to her bath, she wanted to climb the stairs herself, saying, "I hold handle," and reaching for the rail. This inevitably led to her saying, "Here's my spout," and continuing on with "I'm a little teapot." In the bath we sang "Old McDonald had a farm" and I let her supply the animals and sounds. After making the cow say "Oink" and a good number of ducks quacking, she decided that on his farm, he had water. After which we were singing "Old McDonald had a bath," and in his bath he had milk. It kind of petered out from there, but we had fun while it lasted.

Here's a video of her singing the ABCs all the way up to P and then demanding that we sing with her.


On the topic of cute things R says:

I had to get a video of R saying "A little bit." I love it. When she's asking for something and not being a terrible two, she has a tendency to make her request more reasonable by adding "Just a little bit." She pulled it out when there were cookies out tonight and I had to get it on video.


And why were there cookies out, you ask? A few shots of R's afternoon activity with Mommy should answer that question:



Yeah, it was a good day.

Pigtails

Here's a new game to play. . .

Try and guess when the bang is going to come!

Summer Fun part 2

After getting good and dirty, Grammie and I decided R should wash her feet in a bucket of warm water before heading inside to get cleaned up. R decided the bucket would be a good place to relax and do some more playing before getting inside.





The dialogue goes something like this:
R: splash daddy?
Grammy: go ahead
R: splashes a little bit
Grammy: you didn't get daddy. You only got R.
R: looks down into her bucket of water
R: I need cups!

This refers of course to the cups she always plays with in the bath. Once armed with the cups she proceeded to bail herself out a few tablespoons at a time.

Nephews

All of our nephews--along with my parents, three of my brothers, and two of my sisters-in-law--got together in San Diego this past week. Here are some pictures of the cuteness. When J and I looked at them this morning we really really wished we could have been there, too.

This is G (almost 2.5) meeting Li'l Tyke (9 months) for the first time.

Is this not the cutest ringbearer (and family) ever? A&M travelled out to San Diego for a wedding, and G was the ringbearer. I can't get over how adorable he is in his tux!

In this picture of Li'l Tyke (who is getting so big!), J and I think he really looks a lot like Cali's dad.

Love this huge smile!!

Here's 4-month-old Trucker chatting it up with Li'l Tyke.

Trucker always has the cutest little baby expressions. I just love this photo!

M's face in this picture is classic.

Looks like the water was cold!

I love my sisters-in-law!!

And, not to be outdone, here's one of my brothers--Geg, Surf, and A:

What Does the Dragon Say?

(J is reading R a book about dragons while talking on the webcam with Grandma and Grandpa.)

J: (turns page) Oh, what color is this one?
R: Yellow!
J: Yeah, it's got some yellow on it, up here. But thiiis part's orange.
R: Ohnge!
Grandpa: (over webcam) What's the dragon say?
R: Bye-o

A New Song

In the bath today R was in a downright chipper mood. When she gets older, she'll be a great shower-singer, we can already tell. She stood up in her bath and started singing all these random syllables. After awhile it kind of sounded like she was saying "tur-tul hav, tur-tul hav, tur-tul hav" over and over again in a loud sing-songy way.

J: what does a turtle have?
R: (singing) Tur-Tul haaaaave CAAAAANDEEEEEEEEEE!
J: (singing along) turtles have caaaandy, ba da ba da dum
R: Tur-Tul Have Caannndeeee

Pretty soon the turtle not only had candy, but a heart, as well. J provided bunches of acoustic sound effects that R loved imitating. She kept saying, "Daddy turn," meaning, Daddy sing now, and less frequently, "Mommy turn." When she wanted to sing, she'd say, "R turn" and then belt something out.

Yummy Yummy Tummy

Today one of R's classmates had a birthday, so the girl's grandma brought in cupcakes for the entire class. J and I went together to pick R up and we arrived just as all the kids were waking up from their nap and getting ready for snack, so we hung around to let R join in on the party.

Everyone sang happy birthday and then dove in to their snacks. R, like a good girl, started with her pretzel, while just about everyone else went for the cupcake first. We actually had to ask her if she wanted to try it.

Once she tried it, she kept saying, "Yummy, yummy, tummy, Yummy, yummy, tummy" with a HUGE grin on her face.

Then, a little later, she started singing. "Happy Birthday, R! Happy Birthday, R!"

We got her to say "Happy Birthday, Chloe" once or twice but she kept reverting to "Happy Birthday, R!" and then laughing and grinning. She was so delighted, it was really really cute.

Are You?

R's new thing:

aaaare yoooou?

She says it all the time, walking around the house.

PopPop, aaaare yoooou?

Gammie Gampie, aaaare yoooou?

The other day after peeing in the potty, J told her she could just use the washcloth once she got back in the tub. Instead of walking back over to me so she could get back in the tub, she started walking around the bathroom searching...

Washcloth, aaaaare yoooou?

She says it when she's staring straight at us, when we're doing something else (looking at a piece of paper, talking to the other parent, eating food).

Mommy, aaaare yooooou?

Daddy, aaaare yoooou?

We tried to get her to say WHERE are you, but that only happened a couple of times.

We hear "aaaaare yooooou" attached to just about every person or thing imaginable, twenty to thirty times a day.

I started saying to her this morning,

R, aaaaare yoooou?

and she said

Mommy, aaaaare yooooou?

Daffodils

In Texas, everyone takes pictures of their kids in the middle of fields of bluebonnets. Bluebonnets are few and far between here in Delaware, so we took pictures of R in the middle of a patch of daffodils, which are blooming everywhere.