Beans, beans, beans...

I'm posting this for the folks that read the blog at work (G-ma Sue :)), because by the time I post about Zoe's b-day it will be the weekend. I have lots of pictures to post, but not a whole lot of content. The weather here is still muy mild. 60's & no snow (obviously). So we've spent some time outdoors here and there.

A couple weeks back we went to a store - Outdoor World. It's for the most part an enormous outdoors/sport department store by the Bass Pro Shop people. It's decorated crazy...with a motif like a hunting lodge if the Disney imagineers designed it. The kids got a real kick out of all the mounted animals. Coincidentally Santa was there and the kids got a picture taken (I will scan it in one of these days). Dexter really didn't want any part of the man, but I was able to crouch down, hide, and hold him up for the camera. I asked Zoe what she asked Santa for and she said "I ordered for Dexter and told him to surprise me."

We made it to one of our favorite parks recently. Way off in the distance we saw this "dog" - it was the size of a wolf and we really weren't too sure what it was because there wasn't anyone around it. For some reason we decided to go for a closer look. I mentioned to Kellan it may eat us and he responded "That's OK at least we'll all die together." Ah, how sweet. It turned out to be a huge wood cut-out of a wolf. Hmmm, we have no clue why it's there.

Dexter loves books. Typically he reads in his room or the family room, but this night he decided to get away from it all, enjoy the lights and curl up on Duke's couch with a good book. It took a few days before he stopped noticing the ornaments on the two trees. It was a long two days for Jim chasing him from one tree to the next. I think we only lost one ornament and that was due to the seven year old.

Dexter still loves the beans. If anyone had any question what type was messier, black beans or chili beans?...you can take a gander at the below pictures and make your own decision. Luckily he still loves his bath and now his next favorite thing to do is brush his "teef".

So lots of excitement about turning 5 around here; on that note...another post soon..

Happy Thanksgiving!

Top 3 things Kellan & Zoe are thankful for (in the below order).

Kellan:

1. Baseball

2. Family

3. Food

Zoe:

1. Free things

2. Whole family

3. Stuffed animals

We had a pretty mellow day, Jim cooked, I took the kids to Target; it was closed. Zoe & I went and saw Tangled. She asked to leave through the entire movie. It was a tear jerker (at least I thought so), still a good movie. We are off to Uncle Tom's house today and Sat./Sun. plan to start with the X-mas decorations. I tried to hit one store for Black Friday. I realized I was going to wait in line for 1 plus hours for either 1. A savings of $10 or 2. A bunch of stuff I really didn't need even though it was on sale. How often do I get an hour plus to myself? I figured I'd much rather spend the time with the kids & save the hour for another activity.

A couple weeks back, G-Ma Chloe and Uncle Mike came for a visit. Poor G-Ma was sick most of the trip, but we all still had a great time. Uncle Mike played for hours with the kids. Dexter is really warming up to people and even let Mike hold him...a lot.

Between the warm water and it being nap time, Dexter couldn't fight the urge to sleep.

We can no longer let Dexter out of our sight (Jim probably would have said that weeks ago; I'm not as attentive). The kid gets crazier by the day. He loves to stand up on things; his toy chest, coffee tables, bar stools, toys, his siblings, his dog... He insists on walking down the stairs now, sometimes holding onto the railing, sometimes not. He'll typically put his hand out for assistance from Kellan & Zoe, which isn't always the best assistance. Today he said a new word - "Hot" and will answer questions "Yes" with a nod of the head or "No" with a violent, sideways, shake of the head. Jim and I have been holding him to eat or let him wander around the house with food. That got old and we brought up Zoe's princess booster seat from when she was a toddler. He is very happy to have graduated to the big kid's counter, even if it means not eating anything. He still loves helping himself to food in the pantry. All of our food is going to be only on the top two shelves soon.

At the big kid's counter

Helping himself as usual

I went to parent/teacher conferences for Zoe & Kellan. They remain model citizens and their teachers love them. Kellan has come a long way with his reading and needs to work on fluency & subtraction. He's perfectly average in academics. All the kids love him "especially the girls" to quote his teacher. Zoe is doing great in afternoon pre-school. A little, friend from our block is in her class. She says she's going to marry him one day. Oh No. She's reading a bit and writing really well. The biggest thing she needs to work on his being more assertive??? Other than that, she'e more than ready to move on to kindergarten.

Wearing dad's cap

Zoe doing Wii yoga

Warmer days a few weeks back, only a bit of snow so far.

Labor Day

I know, I am writing a Labor Day post on Halloween, a bit behind here, but for a reason. We went to the Rockies game on Labor Day. During the 6.5 inning they played a little disco music and filmed the crowd for the Jumbo Tron. Kellan and Dexter were dancing away and ended up on the big screen. Jim wrote the Rockies and requested the video. They sent it to us and then I in turn left it on the plane when we went to WA, so we just got it back this past week. When we got the video we realized I was on it and a little glimpse of Zoe, which we didn't know because at that point we didn't know we were being filmed. Jim's been to tons of games all over the country and has never made it up on the Jumbo Tron and here's Dexter, two games in, and makes it. There was some definite jealousy. See link for posting on You Tube - we make our debut at the 1:04ish minute mark. I didn't take the time to edit it since it's for all of about 5 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meN0N4rlvMk

We've spent the last few weeks watching MLB playoffs and now the World Series. Kellan has been really into it - lots of questions and talks excessively. I put Zoe & Dexter down early one night, Jim was at softball and he must have talked for two hours straight - from questions about the game, the plays, the players, the commercials, etc. It was really nice. But I have to ask why, why do they have to play Cialis commercials that are about 3 minutes long during baseball? I get it's the perfect audience and all, but luckily it's one thing we'll find Kellan watching and then we're able to distract him from long enough til the next commercial. None of us are ready for that conversation and honestly if it came up there would be a lot of lying.

Dexter gets into the games too. Jim has a couple of prized baseballs up on our mantle. Dexter senses this since there are tons all around the house. Whenever a game comes on, he points to the balls and says "me, me" - we end up giving him one, he beams it at us a few times and is over it.

Dexter has been really sick these past 5 days/nights - lots of vomiting and diarrhea. He's literally been sleeping on top of me at night and won't let us put him down during the day. He's absolutely pathetic. So we've gone from an ear infection number one in WA, followed by a round of antibiotics while in FL, to come home to another ear infection, followed by more antibiotics, one night he slept through the night, followed by this. We're exhausted and have been taking turns napping on the weekends. We'll be glad, mostly for his sake, when this is over. Since Jim took him in for the flu (glad all kids got flu shots and 2 out of 3 of them got the flu) Dexter also had his 15 month check-up. I don't remember Kellan or Zoe having 15 mo check-ups; is this some conspiracy? Anyhow, he's doing great, minus the flu. Still tall 80% and skinny 12% - no exact stats since I can't find the paper at the moment.

Good news for Zoe (and Jim). Zoe got into afternoon pre-school. No more having to wake her up and fight her to get to school on time. She doesn't have to be there til noon and she has friends from the block and last year in the class so she's very excited. She gets to play on the big playground and gets out the same time as Kellan. Jim just may get a few hours to himself as long as Dexter continues to nap in the afternoon.

Go Texas.

Ralph Wiggum

If Dexter were a Simpson's character...

Jim has a new nickname for Dexter - "Wiggum." If you've seen The Simpsons, you have at one point seen Ralph Wiggum. Dexter's first phrase will most likely be "I'm Idaho" since Jim loves to say that to Dexter.

Dexter's first "words" are below. We can no longer say "bath" - we all, including Zoe, now spell it. Kellan, Zoe and I had to give Dexter a bath Saturday morning because I said the word, he ran to his room, got his towel and headed up to the tub. The boy loves his bath. We also blew it by letting him walk around the house eating. His new favorite thing to do is give himself a bite and give Duke the rest.

Baf = Bath

Duh = Duke

Mommie = Mommie

Da = Dad

Me, Me = He wants something

The kids are back to school Monday. They've been out for three weeks now. I thought winter was for sure here, but we got lucky and have seen some fall weather, even a day or two in the 80's. They've been playing outside every night and are typically the last two to come home.

Last Kid's Quote

After Kellan watched the "Stand-Up to Cancer" marketing campaign commercial on TV.

"How is standing-up going to help cure cancer?"

Fall Vacation Trip #1: WA

We made a quick trip to Tacoma a couple weeks back. Jim, Zoe, & Dexter went out on a Wednesday then Kellan and I took off Thursday after work/school. Kellan had Friday off school which was the deciding factor in the trip. It was a whirlwind, as usual and I didn't get many pictures taken of anyone other than (Dexter as usual). Not even one of gramps this trip.

Coincidentally it was my 20 yr high school reunion. It was great to see old friends, which I infrequently get to do on trips back to WA. Thanks to Debi, Tim, & G-ma for watching the little hellions all day/night since Jim flew out Sat. night to be back in time to coach baseball on Sunday; which left me with the three to travel with on Sunday. It was an adventure; all in all they were pretty good. People say kids get easier as they get older for certain reasons - I've got to say Dexter continues to be the easiest of the three, especially with traveling. Go figure none of them slept, which OK, maybe was tough with Dexter since he was confined to my lap, between Kellan & Zoe. Unfortunately, like previous flights Dexter is now 3 for 5 with ear infections on our return. We missed seeing Uncle Mike & Aunt Jessie.

At one of our favorite places to visit - Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium

Last Kid's Quote

Because there can never be enough bathroom quotes...

Zoe running toward the bathroom. Kellan coming out of the bathroom (after a long time).

Kellan: "Where's Zoe going?"

Me: "To the bathroom."

Kellan: "She's going to feel my pain."