More words

Audrey didn't want to go to bed tonight - not a huge surprise since she slept so much today, but I know she was tired! I took her up around 7, then brought her back downstairs with me after I got Conner in bed around 8:30. She shared my ice cream (and Conner heard us, too, so I let him come down and have some) then wanted to drink the water I'd gotten. I finally got her to say "more", though it sounded more like "meh". I'll probably regret teaching her that word!

As we were sitting downstairs hanging out, she brought me a couple of books ("gook") to read. One was a book with a different color of fruit and vegetable on each page. We started counting the items... she'd point to a few and go, "two, two, two, yay!" then throw her hands up in the air. Very cute.

Also, Eric told me that Aud finally said "love you" to him last night. She won't say it to me, just purses her lips (and sticks out her tongue) when I tell her. Oh well.

Our new wheels

It seems that everyone except Audrey got some new wheels for Christmas (although she did get a new doll stroller - does that count?!). Conner got a new bike (Daddy was instructed by Santa to get him one) and has been enjoying riding it in this crazy warm weather we've been having.

Yesterday the three of us went for a walk. Conner rode his new bike and Audrey and I walked. The bike is bigger than his old one (of course) and is a little harder to ride up the hills, but he gave it a good effort! Conner told me that it goes super fast because it has wings - the front wheels have things coming out of them which I assume you could stand on while riding. But we won't tell him that! He did fall once - I'm not sure how, because it was a straight stretch of road - but got right back on and made it home with no other problems.

Eric called yesterday afternoon and told me to get the van cleaned out; they'd reached an agreement on the new Ford Flex! It's amazing what kind of stuff was in the van... But I got the kids buckled in and, after a few stops, met Eric at the dealer (which is all the way over by Tri-County Mall - totally not on our side of town!). Around 8:30 we walked out with the new keys! It was a good drive home; the car rides so nice and we had a good time playing with the Sync (a voice-controlled system that you can use for your phone and other of the options on the car). There are also some lights (for ambiance, I suppose) that you can change the colors on - Conner really enjoys that aspect of the new car (along with the cupholders!). He also took his first nap in the car (hopefully first of many!).

I woke up this morning around 9:00 when Conner came in and said "Why are you sleeping so long?" Audrey was still sleeping and didn't wake up until 10:00 when I went up to get her. She obviously wasn't feeling well - I didn't get a smile out of her for at least an hour and she just laid down on the couch where I put her. Little by little she started feeling a little better and started playing but was ready to go take a nap at noon after she ate lunch! It's just about 3:00 now and I'm just starting to hear her stir - hopefully she's feeling better now!

Almost forgot - Conner drew a picture of a hippo on Audrey's new Doodle Pro that he was very proud of (he even put one eye on it and said the other eye was on the other side of its head!).

Our Christmas holiday!

It's hard to believe that Christmas has already come and gone! We've definitely kept ourselves busy.

After school on Friday the 19th, we got in the van to go up to Papa Dave and Weyla Kate's. Aud hadn't had the nicest of diapers for the couple of days before that (to put it nicely) and Angela said that she'd had some nasty ones all day Friday, so we knew she wasn't feeling that good. We stopped in Wilmington (exit 50 off of 71 north) to get some Dairy Queen (Eric's idea, of course), and she refused any ice cream. Just a few minutes later, as we were back on the highway, she threw up. Nasty. We stopped at the Jeffersonville exit to clean up (thank goodness I'd packed extra pj's and extra blankies!), but there was no leaving behind the odor. Yuck. After getting that out of her system, she felt better (thank goodness) and was fine for the rest of the trip.

On Saturday, we went with Weyla to the Aha! Museum in Lancaster. Billed as a museum, it was really an indoor playground. Very fun - the kids had a ball. Their favorite was a water table with several different activities. They also played with the lip sync equipment, dress up clothes, fishing equipment, pizza kitchen, and catacombs... I can definitely see taking the kids back there again!

After making it back to the house and grabbing some lunch, Conner and Eric went with Uncle Andy (in from California), Papa, and Weyla to pick out a Christmas tree. They actually go cut one down every year and waited until Conner could go with them. He was a big helper - he pulled the tree back in the wagon after Papa cut it down. Sounds like he had fun! Then we helped with the ornaments on it after Papa put the lights on. The kids were very excited to open presents from Uncle Andy that evening - Conner got a tent (yay!) and a nerf gun (which was taken away shortly after we arrived home and he shot at Aud); Audrey got a horse ("orsie"!) and something else that I can't remember right now.

We went to church on Sunday morning, stopped at Frisch's for lunch, then watched the Bengals/Browns game at Papa and Weyla's before heading home. It was a busy weekend!

Eric was supposed to work on Monday and Tuesday, but they cancelled because of the coldness Monday (digging the road up and working with water isn't great when it freezes so quickly!). So he stayed home with me and the kids for the week. We went to the Christmas Eve service at our church with Papa Doug and Weyla Marge then ate at Olive Garden before heading home to wait for Santa.

We were actually able to put Conner off on Christmas morning until 8:00 (quite a miracle, especially since I told him he wasn't allowed to go downstairs without us!). He was very excited to see that Santa had brought him a garbage truck (which luckily Mommy found at Toys R Us on Monday!) and a promise for a new bike. Audrey's favorite was the play kitchen (and lots of food and dishes from the grandparents!). Papa Dave, Weyla Kate, and Weyla Ruth all came down around lunchtime, then Papa Doug and Weyla Marge came over later in the afternoon. We had a nice big family dinner around the dining room table!

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Papa Dave and Weyla Kate (and Weyla Ruth) stayed until Saturday evening - Eric and I spent our afternoons on Friday and Saturday at a couple of car dealerships trying out some new cars (it appears now that the Ford Flex is going to be our choice; we just need to get a deal worked out). Today after church we went to a couple more dealerships (thanks to Uncle Greg for offering to let Aud take a nap at the condo while we went!) - Conner went with us and had a good time running around inside, looking at and climbing in all the cars, and meeting a new little friend. I'm sure it wasn't the most fun for him, but he really did a great job and was a good boy. He was disappointed when we left without a new car, but he got over it (and I had warned him in advance that it might not happen today!). We've become a little obsessive about it in the past few days; even now Eric is sitting with some printouts re-studying the numbers.

Gymnastics

Conner went to his first gymnastics class last night (actually, we all went - Eric got home early enough to go with us to the 5:10 start). He looooved it. He was running and hopping and just having a grand time. It was him and four little girls in the class with an instructor (who Conner told me later was "cute"). They started by running on a long trampoline (to get warmed up, I guess) - he would run/hop down, then sprint back to the start to wait for his next turn. After several turns of that, the kids climbed up and across a cargo net, then did some jumping and climbing and somersaults on some big different-shaped mats. For their last activity, they walked down a balance beam (we had trouble getting him to walk forward instead of sideways - yes, we interfered, I hate to admit), then went to some rings to first hold themselves up and later do a flip, jumped on a hotchscotch mat, then did a sideways "walk" on some balance beams (feet on one, hands on the other). Needless to say, he was one tired little boy last night!

Yay Mr. Salt Man!

I stayed home today with an upset stomach (and one of Angela's daughters has been throwing up for a while) - we were supposed to get 1 - 3" of snow but hadn't seen anything until about 11:00. Of course, Conner was supposed to be on the bus for school at 12:25, so it was perfect timing (not)! To get to Angela's/the bus stop, you come out of our neighborhood, turn right, and wind around some hills until you finally hit a straight stretch of road. I'd gotten near the bottom of the first little hill when someone coming the opposite way rolled down their window to tell me that the road was closed because someone was stuck. I got turned around in a driveway, then Eric called on my cell phone to tell me that Conner's school had just called him and said that preschool was cancelled for today (wish they'd called the house before we left!). In trying to get back up the hill to our neighborhood is where we ran into problems. For as many times as I tried, I could not get up that hill! I kept getting stopped and sliding around and just wasn't able to make it all the way up. A nice man (who was driving a Cincinnati Bell van) even got in the van and tried to get it up the hill, but he wasn't able to either. So we backed into a driveway and just waited. (Luckily Audrey had a blankie and paci, because it was nap time! She eventually fell asleep.) After about 45 minutes of sitting and watching other people go past (some got stuck, others made it up), a salt truck drove by us. As soon as he went through, we were able to make it up the hill!

We came home and got Aud in bed, then Conner and I went outside and threw some snowballs at each other. Not great packing snow, but we had a good time!

Two new videos

Conner enjoys singing - especially Christmas carols. (Though he's not too sure about the words yet.)

We were just starting to watch "The Lion King" - I've never seen Audrey so excited about something on TV! I can't wait to take her to the zoo next time.

Our Sunday

Eric left this morning to go the Bengals' game (an exercise in futility, I think... the last one he went to was the TIE with the Eagles!). The kids and I skipped church and just stayed home to hang out. I was writing something on my computer when Aud came over and wanted to write, too.

She was very upset after drawing for a while when we took the pen away so I could trace their hands... which means it's nap time! I think Conner and I may take the opportunity to make some cinnamon ornaments - but I should probably look up some directions first.

It's been a while. . .

So I realized that I haven't updated this blog for a while... in our world, a week is a while! :) Let me see if I can think of some highlights.

1. Yesterday after school I had an online meeting from 4:30 - 6:30 for a program that I'm doing this year. It's actually quite a cool arrangement - it's a service called Elluminate where you can sit and talk and listen to other people all around the world at this same meeting. Anyway, as soon as we got home (around 4:15) I turned on The Grinch (Jim Carrey version) for Conner and told him that I needed to go sit and listen to people on my computer. Both he and Audrey did a pretty good job staying quiet for me, but we were just a few minutes in and I heard a bunch of rustling noise from the kitchen. Eventually I went in there and found Audrey like this:

Cereal's been a big snack for the kids lately, and I guess she was hungry! Goofy girl.

2. I took some pictures of the kids in front of the tree on Saturday that turned out really cute. I'd bought them both Santa hats at Hobby Lobby and got them both to wear them (Audrey for not so long a time).

3. Audrey is coming up with all kinds of new words!
"bubba bop" = muffin top (the toaster kind)
"ereal" = cereal
"bup" = cup
"gog gog" = hot dog (this one's old, but I don't know if I listed it last time)
"at" = hat
"ninny" = Sydney
"Dallie" = Callie
"hot hot" = hot (when she's by the fire or stove or thinks she has some hot food - which she'll now blow on!)
"pashi" = paci
"guck" = truck
"orsie" = horsie
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4. Aud's been really good with the Christmas tree - hasn't bothered it a bit. The dogs, on the other hand, can't seem to get enough of those yummy bulb ornaments. Every day when we come home from school there's another one broken on the floor.
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Only 6 more days of school until Christmas break! Yay! Then my student teacher starts when we get back, so hopefully it will be an easy 2nd semester. I can't imagine not being involved at all during the day, but I can definitely take a big step back.

A conversation about Santa

Conner asked me last night if I knew Santa's phone number. I told him I didn't, and asked if he knew it. He said no, but "Miss O does!" (His preschool teacher.) I asked Conner to ask her at school today for the phone number so we could call Santa.

So today, on the way home from school/Angela's (who Aud now calls "la la" - must be those "la"s at the end!), I asked Conner if he'd gotten Santa's phone number. Here's the conversation:

Me: Did you ask Miss O for Santa's phone number?

Conner: She said it's a secret!

Me: How are we going to tell him what we want for Christmas?

Conner: I already did! (We went to the zoo last Friday with Mom & Dad and saw Santa there)

Me: But I didn't get to! You and Audrey sat on his lap and didn't give me a turn.

Conner: What do you want for Christmas?

Me: A new camera (which I've already ordered - woo hoo!)

Conner: So tonight I'll tell God to tell Santa that you want a new camera.

As my friend Shannon said tonight, at least he's listening to us! (and to his Sunday school teachers!)

Here are pictures from our trip to to the zoo Friday. We had fun and got to see all of the pretty lights. Not too many animals out because of the cold, but the kids enjoyed seeing Santa, his reindeer, and the manatees.

Audrey has the exact same expression on her face as she did last year. She wasn't scared to go up to Santa and sit on his lap, but then she showed no emotion once she got there. Conner told him that he wanted a garbage truck for Christmas. . . that's my boy!

My date with Conner

Conner and I went on a date Tuesday night. A local movie theater in Bethel (just east of us on 125) just re-opened and was hosting a movie night for Conner's school. It's an old theater - just one screen, and reminds me of the theater that we go to while at the cottage. It's cheap, too (relatively speaking) - $4 a ticket, and candy is only $2 for a good-size package. I think we'll be going to more movies there in the future!

Anyway, Conner and I went to see the new movie Bolt. It was cute, and he did a great job of watching it while we were there (only asked once when we were going to go home, and it was close to the end anyway!). He told me on the way home that he'd really liked the movie... then he fell asleep. I don't know that we'd go on a school night, but because we got to stay home yesterday, it was the perfect opportunity!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just saw this on a friend's blog (thanks, Sheila!) and thought it was cute.

On the First Day..... We give thanks for the fresh turkey feast and its hot trimmings.
On the Second Day..... We bless the cold turkey sandwiches, sloshy cranberry sauce, and hard rolls.
On the Third Day..... We praise the turkey pie and vintage mixed veggies.
On the Fourth Day..... We thank the pilgrims for not serving bison that first time, or we'd be celebrating Thanksgiving until April.
On the Fifth Day..... We gobble up cubed bird casserole and pray for a glimpse of a naked turkey carcass.
On the Sixth Day..... We show gratitude (sort of) to the creative cook who slings cashews at the turkey and calls it Oriental.
On the Seventh Day..... We forgive our forefathers and pass the turkey-nugget pizza.
On the Eighth Day..... The word ''vegetarian'' keeps popping into our heads.
On the Ninth Day..... We check our hair to make sure we're not beginning to sprout feathers.
On the Tenth Day..... We hope that the wing meat kabobs catch fire under the broiler.
On the Eleventh Day..... We smile over the creamed gizzard because the thigh bones are in sight.
On the Twelfth Day..... We apologize for running out of turkey leftovers. And everybody says, "Amen!"

We have the Macy's parade on (well, the pre-parade festivities, anyway) and are ready to go eat some turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another Audrey first

We had our Thanksgiving feast at church last night with our large small group (who have since split into three different small groups). After getting home around 9:00 I got the kids in bed, then Eric and I were putting our pj's on (so we could go downstairs and watch Survivor!) when I heard a big thump and cry from Audrey's room. I ran in there, and she was sitting on the floor with her blankie crying. I guess she made it out of her crib! Time to lower it again!

Conner never tried climbing out (or never accomplished it, I guess!). Yet another sign that this is going to be a difficult child. I shouldn't say difficult... how about spirited?

My goofy children

Conner had to go outside yesterday to shovel the massive amount of snow that was falling on the back deck. He had a ball!

I have no idea where she gets her goofiness from. (Someone said around Halloween that Audrey has jack-o-lantern teeth!)

Our weekend in review

Friday night I took the kids with some friends from church (Shannon & Chase, Cheryl & Noah & Danielle) to LaRosa's for dinner then to see Madagascar 2. I was worried about how Audrey would do in the movie, but she was ok. She had her blankie and paci (although we lost one - thank goodness I had a backup!) and ate a lot of popcorn. She wouldn't sit with me until the very end of the movie, when she finally relaxed on my lap. Conner did great; he told me on the way home that he'd slept for a little bit during the movie. I was just glad that he hadn't slept through the whole thing! Eric left around 4:00 that afternoon to go to Louisville with some of the guys from our group to see the UC/Louisville football game. The funny thing was that I didn't realize they were going to Louisville - I thought the game was in Cincy! (Didn't realize it until I saw it on TV that night.) I guess they didn't get home until after 2, but I was dead asleep at that point!

We went up to Columbus yesterday for Levi's 2nd birthday party (I can't believe he's going to be 2 and Audrey is soon to follow!). We spent a couple of hours at a house that Erica and Andy are thinking about making an offer on. It's a neat house and could be really cool but has a lot of work that needs to be done. It'll be interesting to see what they decide! Anyway, we went back to their house afterwards for pizza and cake. It was really cute to see Audrey and Levi playing together (or next to each other, anyway) and chase each other around the vacant house. For as little as she seems to me, Audrey is actually taller than Levi!

We had a nice afternoon/evening with everyone - Doug & Marge, Erica's parents Jane & Bill, and her sisters Ann & Christy were all there. We left a little before 8 after getting the kids into their pjs - both fell asleep pretty quickly and stayed asleep the rest of the way home!

Audrey wasn't happy that we were making her sit there by the boys. She wanted to go play!

It snowed a little bit this morning - I think the first thing that Conner did was find the snow shovel that Eric bought him last year. I can't believe he rememberd it! (I didn't!) Conner went out on the back deck and pushed around the little teeny tiny bit that actually stuck. He was disappointed on the way home from church to see that all the snow was gone. Eric went to the Bengals game with a buddy today, so the three of us came home from church and grabbed some lunch (leftover LaRosa's), then Aud went up for a nap and Conner's been in and out with Dash.

And last but not least, Audrey had a cute outfit on for church today that really shows off her chubby legs!

The reason

Audrey had another bad night last night. Every time I tried to put her in bed, she screamed. Wanted no part of it. She stayed up with me and Eric until about 11 (we were arranging the new furniture in the living room!). Around 2:00 she woke up crying, so we spent the rest of the night/morning in the spare bed.

I took her to the doctor after school, though Angela said she acted fine all day. The diagnosis? An ear infection. Now we have a reason for the goofy behavior and some medicine to fix it! Yay! She's actually in bed right now and hasn't screamed once. In fact, I think she's sleeping.

We had Conner's teacher conference tonight (it was a family affair!). It sounds like he's doing great, though he couldn't identify A, D, or V, and didn't know what a rectangle looked like (that really stumped us!). Miss O. is very happy with where he's at and said he should be able to identify some short words by the end of the year. Conner already knows "Stop" (although the red octagon might have something to do with it!), but it was nice to hear that he's doing well.

Our new carpet!

We got the new carpet on Friday. Eric was home with the kids, and Doug and Marge came over to help, too. It looks great! The carpet in the family room and steps/hall upstairs reminds me a lot of what we had at our old house. The carpet in the living room and dining room is basically the same but has some extra color mixed in. I'm not sure how much you can tell from these pictures, but I'll give it a shot!
Of course, there's some extra work that's popped up, too. The paint in the family room didn't go well, so Eric repainted it last night - it's more of a caramel color now. We bought new paint today after church for the living room (that sky blue color looks horrible!). Eric's at Sam's Club right now buying some new furniture for the living room. Hopefully in the next few days (if not today!) it will all come together.

We also need to get a hearth rug for the fireplace (the one that's in the picture is the rug from the front door - we were just testing for size and Callie decided it was comfy) and new curtains for both the family room and living room. It's amazing how one project (carpet) turns into many!

We took the kids Friday night to get their flu shots. Audrey went first and did great (just gave the nurse a look like, "What are you doing?") while Conner did a little whining and then proceeded to show everyone else that evening his bandaid. Yesterday, however, Audrey was super grumpy (very unusual) and I don't think felt very good. She fell asleep on me on the couch around 8:00 and I got her in bed. Around 10 she woke up ("Mommy!") so I brought her down, got her some juice and cheerios, then she was ready to go back up around 11. We repeated that around midnight. Thankfully, she stayed asleep in bed until 6 - she woke up again, crying, so I brought her in with us until 8. It was just very weird behavior for her (Aud even cried during her bath!) and we think maybe it was a reaction to her flu shot. I'll need to remember that for next year.

I took some pictures last weekend of the kids playing outside (with Dash, of course!).

A neato thing happened today. . .

I know the focus of this blog is the kids (hence the name of it!) but a cool thing happened at school today. I'm part of a program called PLP (which stands for Powerful Learning Practices) that is focused on integrating Web 2.0 tools (like blogs, wikis, etc) into the school environment. There's a website that we're expected to post and read on a regular basis. A current conversation is called "Are You Googled Well?" and is asking about the results when you google yourself (search for results on the web under your name). So I googled myself.

There were a bunch of results ranging from my summer softball schedule (as the coach I was listed) to my school webpage for the kids to check notes and such. There was also an entry that started like this:
"To speak some more about wikis, I found that Kristen Fouss produced a nice mathematical wiki. The introductory page specifies that this wiki, a collection ... "

I was like, what? So I clicked on the link. It took me to a blog (here) that was describing the wiki that I had my classes make last year! It's so amazing to me that not only are people visiting that wiki, but they actually think it's something to reference! That just made my day. :)

Conner's night-time habits

Conner's been doing a great job of going to bed lately. He's finally become accustomed to being at school 5 days a week and not taking a nap. Last night was a bit iffy, but I think that was because of the time change - he got up around the same time yesterday morning but was up an hour later. For the past two or three weeks he's even been wearing underwear to bed (as opposed to a pull-up) and we've only had one mini-accident (the wetness didn't make it through his pj's). It's very exciting, and nice not to have to buy pull-ups!

We still have one sleeping issue, though - Conner still has the side guards up on the side of his bed so he doesn't fall out. He's quite the active sleeper; I never know how he'll be lying when I go to check on him! Last week one night he actually fell out of bed despite the guards - there's only a foot or so at each end, so I'm not sure how he managed it, but I heard him crying around 3:00 one morning and went in to find him sitting up on the floor. I'm hoping that he'll be better by the time Audrey gets a bed next summer (assuming she's ready, which I think she will be)! I'd hate to have to buy more guards because my (then) 5.5 year old still needs them!

I forgot to write in my Halloween post about Audrey's "thank yous" (which were more like "dank oo") when she got the candy. She did a great job of saying it! (And now says thank you every time we give her something.) People really got a kick out of it. Angela said that today she started saying "love you", but I can't get her to do it. She's also learned to say "bless you" (or her version of it) when you sneeze.

More Halloween pictures

Trick or Treat!

We just got home from trick or treating. If you've been to our house, you know we're not in an area very conducive to walking house to house, so we went out with some friends from our small group. There were 4 little boys (ages 2.5 to 4.5 (Conner) ) and 2 little girls (Peyton is 7 months and Aud is 21 months now). We had a good time and got tons of candy!

Audrey started with a red mouth, but it didn't last long!

From left to right: Noah, Peyton, Conner, and Landen

Audrey and Nonna

Audrey finally started trying to say Conner this week. On Monday she started referring to him as "Nonna". I think he's just happy that she's saying his name now!

If you're around Cincinnati, you probably know what a beautiful week it was - blue skies, comfortable temperatures. Until Friday, the day of Conner's field trip to Shaw Farm. It was pouring rain on the way to his school (when I realized that I'd forgotten my jacket and had to call Eric to bring it to me!). It never stopped raining while we were there, but it did slow down a bit - enough that we could go on a hay ride. Conner was very excited about that; I'd promised him when we were there as a family that they'd go on one during the field trip. Thank goodness! The kids seemed to have fun while we were there - I was happy to be able to go, but was happy to get on the bus to go back to his school, too.

Today we left around 1:00 and went up to Buttelwerth stoves to look for a couple of things. We'd like to get a screen to put in front of our new fireplace so little fingers don't get burned (and it's hot!!), a hearth rug so our new carpet (installed in 2 weeks!) doesn't get burned, and an ash vacuum to help Eric clean up. We didn't find any of the three! Oh well.

After leaving the store, we drove to the Zoo for the last weekend of Hall-zoo-ween. Usually they give the kids 6 tickets apiece for the treat stations, but this year it was free reign. The kids wore their costumes - Conner is the red Power Ranger and Aud's a clown (but I need to get her a wig and some clown makeup!). We got lots of candy, a cookie, ice cream, and chapstick (Eric was disappointed that they were only giving one per person, as opposed to packs of it like in years past!). Basically, lots of sugar. We left the zoo a little after 5 and went to a restaurant called Bela Luna to eat. Very yummy (I stuffed myself with my lasagna and I'm still full 5 hours later!). Eric got Aud to say "thank you" to the waitress - and it came out very clearly! Super cute. She was ready for bed when we got home, and Conner followed pretty soon.

the piggy

I set Audrey on the scale this morning - she weighs 27 lbs. I was thinking that was chubby (she's got quite a belly on her!) so I checked Conner's baby book. At 2 years old, he weighed 26 pounds. With over 3 months to go before she hits that mark, I wonder how much she'll weigh by then?!

Our two eventful days

It's been a couple of crazy days. I'll go chronologically.

1. Yesterday morning Audrey woke up before I was done getting ready, so she was wandering about as I finished up (and Conner'd woken up, too). I was brushing my teeth when I heard her start crying - I turned around and she was standing holding the cord to my (hot) curling iron. Poor thing! I ran her hand under some cold water which seemed to help. Aud wasn't too interested in eating breakfast, but she did take some tylenol. Once we got in the van to go to the sitter's she got upset again (and cried the whole way there), but Angela said she calmed down after a few minutes and was fine the rest of the day. She has a couple of blisters, but isn't favoring it at all and doesn't want any ointment on it (she immediately wipes it off).

2. Another Audrey moment - before her bath last night I sat her on the potty (she's naked and right next to it, so why not!) and she peed! Quite a bit, too. I was very excited. I have no expectation that this will continue, but it was a nice moment!

3. Eric came home yesterday from work talking about a guy who discovered a kitten stuck in the dashboard of his pickup truck. The guy went home last night and had to take the dashboard apart to get the poor kitten out! So guess who has a new kitten?! Eric came walking up the driveway with a box this afternoon and a teeny tiny kitten. Conner was sooo excited! He's been asking for a cat, and Eric's been wanting one to keep outside and take care of some of the mice and other critters that roam around. So poor little "Dash" has a little home in the garage (for now) and is driving the dogs crazy with his mewing. It will be an interesting night!

Conner's in kitty heaven, but Audrey doesn't really care too much.

More words

Audrey's latest word: "nooo" (And she seems to use it appropriately, too!) Tonight she was carrying around Conner's new pencil that he'd gotten at school. I told her to give it to me, and there it was: "nooo".

Her "please" sounds an awful lot like "cheese". So Conner's started her saying "Cheese, please" (which, of course, is just "cheese cheese"). It's pretty funny.

We went to Shaw Farm on Saturday to pick out some pumpkins. The kids had fun running around and checking out all of their neat cut-out things.

Conner was disappointed that we weren't going on a hayride while we were there, but his class is going back next week for a field trip (I'm going to try and arrange the day off so I can go, too) so that seemed to placate him.

Our new toy

I was given a webcam to use for a school project-thing I'm doing. I just installed the software on my computer, so of course Conner and I had to play with it! Here's our first video (Conner's new take on The Pledge of Allegiance):

Oh man!

I bought the kids some Anderson sweatshirts and was trying to get some pictures of them. I couldn't get one of them both sitting (Audrey thought it was a game and kept popping up) but isn't it funny how quickly the mood can change?!