K, Ya'll Ready?

This sweet phrase was uttered by my adorable sweetheart on the way to church this morning as she asked the children if they were prepared to make a rapid exit from our mini-vanular vehicle when we pulled into the parking lot. It looks like Indiana has wasted no time in re-infecting Megan with her crazy lingo. K, ya'll ready, for the stories from the week?

Alison is really getting into stories. For months she has been working on her magnum opus entitled The Thing That Really Happened--a 4-chapter, 17-page exploration into the events that took place during an actual day hike. It's still not quite ready for publication. It will likely go through several more drafts and revisions before making the final cut. That, and it's in Word and she's much more into PowerPoint these days.

Speaking of PowerPoint, Alison shared the following story (on PowerPoint complete with "Fill Effects" her favorite feature):

Slide 1: "Family" by Ali
Slide 2: I have a family.
Slide 3: The End

That was pretty good. However, I told her that although her story had a good beginning and an ending, that it needed a middle. It needed characters. It needed the introduction of a challenge that the characters faced, struggled with and eventually overcame so that they could live happily ever after.

Later in the day, she told me the following, revised story:

Once upon a time there was a girl named "Once Upon A Time." She had a really big problem, but...she figured it out. She lived happily ever after. The end.

Aah...much better.

Since I didn't have to travel this week, I've had a great time playing with Kaitlyn as well. She loves to play a little game we made up where she lays down on the ground with her arms up and answers questions about letters or numbers. If she gets the question right she gets a pat on the head. If she answers the question wrong she gets tickled. Given the set-up of this game you might suspect that she tries her best not to miss any questions. You'd be surprised at how many softball pitches she tanks just so she can get tickled.

We've also been pretending about the future. At bedtime she walks up to the faucet at her sink and now says, "Water, activate!"

I find this so hilarious I'm posting a video of it:

Max had his cute and adorable friend Gavin (as well as Gavin's mom, Michelle) over from Utah this past week. The boys throughly enjoyed feeding each other blocks and seeing who could spit up on the carpet the most. They also enjoyed pulling each others hair and taking away each other's toys. Well...they took turns enjoying that while the other one took a turn enjoying crying.

Regrettably, Michelle was able to defeat Megan, Megan's parents, and me during a game of Settlers of Catan and now must unfortunately be "heralded as the Lord[ess] of Catan, and [receive] the eternal gratitude and love of the people of Catan forever. Or at least until the next game starts..." (Settler's Almanac). I think we're going to see if Max can ask his friend to come over again soon so the title doesn't have to last so long...

Lastly, I don't have to travel this week I'm looking forward to going out on a date with Megan for the 18th (a little late). K, ya'll ready?

Stairs, Preschool, Green Tongued Climbers: The Usual

(Nathan's Famous Magical Wonderblog)

Over the past 14 months, I think I've used about every excuse in the book for missing a week (or two, or three) of posting. Unfortunately, given the weather, the market, the economy, the election and the lack of new shows, I have nothing to blame it on except myself--but that can't be right.

I can't believe that Max is approaching his first birthday. This has officially been the fastest year on record, coming in only slightly faster than the year Kaitlyn turned one. Max is now standing on his own and going up (and down...mostly) stairs on his own. It's true. Here's proof:

Unfortunately, my attempts at teaching him sign language to express himself have fallen on deaf hands. He continues to just scream to indicate his hunger, tiredness, or general displeasure. And, his screaming seems to come on most when I'm trying to actually pay attention to something--like talks at church or Sunday school.

Kaitlyn has officially started her "school"--which is pre-school for 2 hours, 2 days a week at a local church. But, she loves it. Loves it. She feels so grown up and she loves that we make a big deal out of it. She loves that she's just like Alison.

And, she's unbelievably adorable here on her first day of school:

She didn't even freak out at all on the first day. She just hopped right out of the car. She's so big.

Alison is getting settled into her first grade class. She has "amazing" spelling words that she has to learn. The other day she was asked what she was learning about in school. She answered, "We're learning how to count. I already know how to count!" She's very confident in her school skills.

Yesterday during FHE, Ali did something cute and Megan praised her for it. Ali replied, "I'm a better mom than you are--except I don't know how to cook!" Perhaps our next lesson should be on humility.

Ali has also perfected the ability to turn her tongue green by eating treats and candy, as well as the ability to go through the monkey bars as opposed to just swing from them.


Speaking of monkey bars, Megan, Kaitlyn and Max went to the zoo with Megan's sister and kids a couple of weeks ago. See if you can pick out Kaitlyn from among the wildlife.


Now, in an effort to hide the fact that it's late and I am suddenly unable to produce anymore intelligent content, here's a random assortment of pictures of the children as well as the people who wear all white and reflective vests in the middle of the afternoon.







Finally, a warning and a sad commentary on parenting in our society that I took when Megan and I went out on our date a week or two ago: