KerryAndGabe.com

Something that makes me happy: Cullen’s smile. When Cullen is happy, he can make everyone smile.

Something happening around the house: We had a full house last night at games night! Maddie had a lot of fun playing with a few older girls, including a new neighbor kid. She had fun with her new friends! They made quite a mess of Maddie’s room, but they actually cleaned up quite a bit at the end, too. It was a fun day!

Something I’m reading: I’m about halfway through A Feast for Crows.

Something Gabe is reading: He finished The Well of Ascension and started The Hero of Ages (the 3rd book in the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson).

Something I’m watching: I don’t feel like I’m watching anything too closely. I’m always working on photos or something while watching. We are keeping up with Amazing Race, Survivor, Beavis and Butthead, Ringer, Gossip Girl and The X Factor. I’m keeping up with 90210 and Hart of Dixie. Gabe is keeping up with The Walking Dead. We started watching Once Upon a Time, and it’s fine so far. We haven’t cared much about Glee or Grey’s Anatomy.

Something I’m playing: We played Kaleidos and Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It with Gabe’s family before they left. Friday night, we played London. Saturday for our games night, I played Biblios, Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, Telestrations, Apples to Apples, Squint, Die Burgen von Burgund, and Meine Schafe Deine Schafe. Gabe played Biblios, 7 Wonders, King of Tokyo, Cloud 9, Castle Panic, and Die Burgen von Burgund.

Something Maddie is doing (44 months old): Maddie had another ballet class. I went out and got her a full ballet outfit, and that seemed to give her the confidence to participate. She followed instructions for the most part and seemed pretty happy about it. She had had a nap that day, so maybe that was it. Whatever the reason, I was thrilled that she participated and seemed to have a good time. One of her teachers said that he was impressed with Maddie’s penmanship. She really has been doing great with that! The teachers are going to start challenging her with some things in the classroom, so I’ll be excited to hear how that goes! Today, Maddie started writing a book. I stapled some paper together to give her a little project, and she scribbled some things and told her story. I wrote down what she said about each page. She didn’t spend much time on some of the pictures, but I thought that her stories were interesting! It seemed to be a cautionary tale. “This is a very, very fiery place. You should never go there.” and “This is the place with a smiley face and yucky mud. You should never, ever go there.” Hilarious! I can’t wait to see what she does with the rest of the book.

Something Cullen is doing (21 months old): I forgot to mention that he’s started to show signs of giving up naps already. Two or three times now (not including the experience in Atlanta over Labor Day), he has refused to nap. Saturday, I thought he wasn’t going to nap. I did the usual thing at some point where I went back up to tell him to lay down. I took him out of the crib, read him a few stories, and put him back in the crib (with his protest) and told him to lay down. Shockingly, he went to sleep about 5 minutes later. That hasn’t worked a couple other times. When he woke up, Gabe went in to get him and Cullen said, “Mommy said lay down, and I did it.” Too funny! He’s full of words, and we can have conversations now. Earlier this week, Cullen got into the car and said, “Lyla bit me.” I said, “what? Lyla bit you?” He said, “Yeah.” I asked then if a few other people bit him. “Did Kara bite you?” “Yeah.” “Did Maddie bite you?” “Yeah.” Now I was pretty sure that the teachers would have told me if a child bit him (and verified later that it wasn’t true). I said, “I’m pretty sure that Maddie didn’t bite you.” He replied, “Maddie has teeth.” I said, “Maddie uses her teeth to bite food.” He said, “I bite chicken!” Too funny. I just love to see how his little mind works. I can ask him questions now that aren’t just yes/no questions, though he’s not 100% reliable, of course. Oh, and we have a potty for him now (one that is actually appropriate for boys, unlike the one that we had before). He sits on it before bath sometimes, and once he actually peed on it. He looked down at the pee and said, “Oh no! Uh oh! Oh no!” We reassured him by saying, “Yay! you peed in the potty! good job! yay! that’s where peepee belongs!” Oh, the things you get excited about as a parent of a toddler.

Something I am struggling with: Meh.

Something I’m looking forward to: Girls weekend in the mountains! This will be my first time away from the kids overnight, so I’m a little sad about being away from the kiddos. I’m sure it will be a nice, relaxing time!

Something captured: I haven’t had a chance to go through the photos from last weekend, but here’s one cute one of Maddie and I on our way to the Sugar Plum Fairy Tea!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something I’m thinking: I need to see an allergist again. I’m back to being congested every morning, which is how things were before I was pregnant with Maddie. I had this issue at the beginning of the pregnancy with Maddie, but then I was fine for the majority of the rest of it, through both pregnancies and nursing. Now the issues are back. Boo.

Something happening around the house: Gabe’s mom, grandma, sister, and nephew are visiting for a few days. We have a full house!

Something I’m reading: A Feast for Crows. I like the series, but I don’t think I love it as much as the fanatics out there. I think I’ll have to read some quick and easy things in between A Feast For Crows and A Dance with Dragons.

Something Gabe is reading: The Well of Ascension.

Something I’m watching: New episodes of Beavis and Butthead. Ha!

Something I’m playing: We played King of Tokyo, Telestrations, and Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It with Gabe’s family.

Something tasty: Gabe’s family requested rainbow cake. It turned out pretty and tasty! I also made cookies from a new recipe, Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. They were pretty yummy, too. I finally posted Gabe’s Chicken Pot Pie recipe. He made it for his family last night, too.

Something about both kiddos: Despite a cold, rainy Halloween evening, we ventured out to maybe a dozen houses for trick or treating! I hope the weather is better next year as both kids demanded to be carried in the drizzle.

Something Maddie is doing (44 months old): She had the Halloween parade at school, but she looked like she was having a miserable time! She does NOT like it when it’s cold. When we tried to take photos before school, she was a surly little Minnie Mouse! When I asked her if the parade was fun, she said that it was. She sure didn’t act like it! She had her first ballet class in a set of 3 that is being offered at my work. She refused to participate for the majority of the class. She was slightly more interested when the props were introduced. I broke down and finally went out and bought her a leotard, ballet skirt, tights, and shoes to try and entice her to participate. I think I convinced her that the reason she didn’t want to participate is that she didn’t have a ballet outfit. On Halloween, Maddie chose to select 10 pieces of candy to keep for herself and gave the rest to the Halloween witch (who brought small stuffed animals Nala and Minnie Mouse). It was fun to see how she selected the candy. She kept every lollipop that she had. When she came across a new piece of candy that she wanted, it was fun to see how she decided which previously selected piece of candy that she wanted to put in the bucket for the witch. With 10 pieces, she still has enough candy to last a while. It took her 3 days to eat a tootsie pop! She has shown more interest again with Annabelle and Henry and “baby sister.” This causes a lot of grief for her brother.

Something Cullen is doing (21 months old): Cullen is speaking in sentences more and more often. He’s often saying things like, “Daddy has ABCs on his shirt” or “I want a muffin in my bowl.” He has started shaking his head “no” when he wants to say something is not true. Like when Maddie had a snack and Cullen didn’t, he said, “I have a snack” while shaking his head. He had fun trick or treating, though we didn’t let him have much candy at all. He doesn’t really know the difference this year. We were glad he finally agreed to wear his costume since he was so against it for weeks. He was also excited to be Pooh for school that morning! He made an adorable Pooh! The Halloween witch also brought him a Nala and Minnie Mouse. If you ask Cullen what Santa is going to bring him, he says, “my Annabelle.” I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get away with giving his new “Annabelle” a different name, or we’re going to have “Maddie’s Annabelle” and “Cullen’s Annabelle.” He is still very into Annabelle and throws a ton of tantrums when Maddie won’t let him play with her. Christmas can’t get here fast enough! He has started asking for my iPhone more often to play Peek-a-Boo Barn. He’s learning his way around that thing. He’s not getting an iPhone for Christmas!!

Something I’m looking forward to: A shopping trip to the outlet mall, lunch with a friend, Maddie’s ballet sampler class, dinner and games with friends, and games night!

Something captured: The kids checking out their Halloween loot.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something I’m thinking: I’m glad that I do these to keep up with the timeline of what the kids are doing and their developmental milestones. Sometimes, I don’t feel like filling out all of it, but I always want to make sure I record what’s going on with the kiddos.

Something I’m hoping: I hope the weather isn’t too bad for trick or treating.

Something I’m reading: I decided to start reading A Feast For Crows, the 4th book in A Song of Ice and Fire.

Something Gabe is reading: He finally finished Mistborn and started The Well of Ascension, Book 2 in that series.

Something I’m watching: The new episode of Beavis and Butthead! Huh huh.

Something tasty: I used the pumpkin from our Produce Box this week to make both a pie and pumpkin pancakes.

Something about both kiddos: They wore their costumes at the Halloween Festival at work on Friday. They were so cute in their Mickey and Minnie costumes! I hope that we’ll be able to get a decent photo of them on Halloween night (though it looks like it’s supposed to rain, boo!).

Something Maddie is doing (44 months old): She was sick with a mystery fever and out of school on Monday and Tuesday. We took her to the doctor on Tuesday, but they didn’t find anything. She didn’t have good reports from school on Wednesday. It looks like her stubbornness is striking again. She straightened up after we had a few talks with her. It helps her behavior when she knows that the teachers are going to be talking to us. It seems that both kids act up at school just before and just after illnesses. While Maddie was sick, she played a new (to us) iPhone game called Monkey Lunchbox. She does really well at it. I think Santa may be bringing her a Leapfrog tablet for Christmas. Maddie attended her first play, stage adaptations of Runaway Bunny and Goodnight Moon by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia. It was a very neat show with special puppets and black lights and glowing props. Maddie seemed to enjoy it quite a bit! She got a little restless during the second half (along with the majority of the audience), but she did very well. I am hopeful that the kids can watch a few short shows on the cruise. I forgot to mention that last week, she had a flu shot. She was all excited about her shot and visit to the doctor’s office. When the nurse administered the shot, Maddie went from being excited about getting the shot to giving her a dirty look that said, “what the heck?!?” She didn’t cry at all, though!

Something Cullen is doing (21 months old): I was walking Cullen into his classroom one day this week, and he saw a set of twins in front of him. He saw the kids, and he said, “Two Ninas!” Apparently, he has gotten to know just one of the kids (even though they are both in the classroom next to his). This cracked me up! Plus, I’m impressed that he has picked up the concept of “two.” He has been doing this a lot. It’s hard to say if he really knows the concept of two or if he refers to any number of items greater than one as “two.” Either way, he is getting it right quite a bit. Cullen also likes to play on the iPhone, though we limit the time that the kids are allowed to touch our phones. Cullen likes to play Peek-a-boo Barn.

Something I am struggling with: Eh, not everything went as planned this week. It’s OK.

Something I’m looking forward to: Maddie’s Halloween parade, dinner with friends, a ballet class at school for Maddie, a visit from Gabe’s family, and a Sugar Plum Fairy Tea. Fall is a busy, busy time!

Something captured: Our little tech junkies playing on our iPhones (and can you tell they are siblings?!).

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Fall temperatures!

Something I’m thinking: It’s our 5th anniversary today!

Something I’m hoping: To celebrate many more anniversaries together.

Something happening around the house: I’m loving the organization system that Gabe has installed in our utility room, especially now that the weather is getting cooler.

Something I’m reading: I finished with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children for this month’s book club. It’s one of my favorites from our recent selections. It’s a perfect selection for October! I started to read the 3rd book in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy, but I can’t decide if I want to finish that series or pick back up on the Song of Fire and Ice series.

Something Gabe is reading: Same thing…Mistborn. I think he’s actually made some progress this week.

Something I’m watching: We have decided to drop a few of the shows (some new that we haven’t started watching, some oldies). I should make a TV post as I used to do in the fall. Gabe and I went to see Moneyball at the theater this afternoon. I must really love my husband to suggest that we see a baseball movie on our anniversary. I enjoyed it, though!

Something I’m playing: We had the opportunity to play The Castles of Burgundy, once with a friend and a couple of times by ourselves. I really like that one!

Something tasty: Maple cotton candy from the fair! YUMMY! I then went on a fun downtown food tour with girl friends on Saturday. We sampled some tasty things. Gabe and I had a very nice dinner tonight for our anniversary as well. It was a good week for food! Thank goodness the stomach bug was restricted to just Cullen (as far as we know…).

Something Maddie is doing (44 months old): Maddie attended the state fair for the second time. We went with another family, and we had a great time! Maddie enjoyed riding the rides, especially the carousel and roller coaster. I’m glad she enjoyed the roller coaster because most of the rides went in circles or spun around in some fashion, and I did not enjoy those! I can’t wait to take her on the real roller coasters, but that was a good start! We did a lot of different things this year. We rode a lot more rides since we bought the ride booklets in advance (and we got some leftover tickets from our friends). Maddie has a mystery fever, and I wonder if she picked up some random illness from the fair (despite our hand-washing and sanitizing wipes). Of course, it could have always come from preschool. She has had a fever but not many other symptoms. I’m pretty sure it’s not the same thing that Cullen has had this week.

Something Cullen is doing (21 months old): Cullen had an awful stomach bug this week involving lots of vomit and other unpleasantness. We had two crib clean ups on different days, one from each end. Yes, that is as gross as it sounds. We had to throw sheets, blankets, clothing, and buddies into the wash. Poor little guy. Now he has the worst diaper rash that we have seen. It looks absolutely painful. I stayed home with him on the first day of his illness (which involved more vomiting, ugh!). He was very cuddly. We watched a lot of movies. He wanted to watch Lion King, Shrek, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I didn’t feel too bad about the excessive amount of television since he felt so bad (and it kept him happy). I enjoyed the extra snuggles, too!

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We’re getting close to booking our Disney trip for next year. We’re doing a lot of research and trying to decide where we want to stay and exactly when we might be going. I’m excited! I’m also exhausted thinking about how I’m going to handle a week of amusement parks when one day at the fair about did me in.

Something I learned: I don’t like spinny rides. I think I liked them as a kid, but I’m not a fan now!!!

Something I’m looking forward to: Lots of plans this week: dinners with friends, book club, play dates, a birthday party, pumpkin carving, and a Halloween festival at work. Whew!

Something random: It’s good that I write these each week for many reasons, but the one I’m thankful right now is a reminder of the plans that we have for the week.

Something captured: I tried to get the kids to post for a photo together in their cutie patootie matching skeleton jammies. These jammies also glow in the dark (which the kids think is exciting).

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about when we will have our next games night. I love that we’ve been able to have one almost once a month. We should be able to fit in one more before our New Year’s Eve party.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that I’ll be happy with the image quality of the new point and shoot camera that I ordered. My goal is to leave the SLR at home for our cruise as it would be a pain to lug around. It would likely be left in the cabin the majority of the time that we’re on the ship, too.

Something happening around the house: Gabe has been busy! Last week, he nearly finished the deck, and this week he painted the utility room (with awesome colors from the bonus room) and installed an organization system for the alcove. It’s the best thing ever! We’ve been wanting to do that for a while, but we hadn’t gotten a chance. We have two shelves at the top for items we barely use, a place to hang coats on hangers, and two drawers for hats, gloves, and scarves. We also have a place to hang our keys and two sets of hooks on the opposite wall – one set for our every day jackets and the other for the kids’ every day jackets. The kids were excited to hang their own jackets on their level. I love it!

Something I’m reading: I finished Rebel Angels, and I started on both Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and The Sweet Far Thing (the last book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy). Miss Peregrine is quite interesting and different so far. I look forward to the book club discussion in a couple weeks. I better get moving on it, if I’m going to finish in time.

Something Gabe is reading: Mistborn. Still.

Something I’m watching: We’re getting ready to watch Amazing Race in a few minutes.

Something I’m playing: King of Tokyo (several times), Die Burgen von Burgund, Quarriors, Palazzo Paletti (first time in a long time!), Die Mauer, Trivial Pursuit 6, and Medici.

Something tasty: Homemade banana bread! Gabe has been buying more bananas than he thought we would need the past several times he’s been to the store. He has been secretly hoping that we wouldn’t be able to eat them fast enough, and that I would make banana bread. It worked out for him this time!

Something both kiddos are doing: Both kids are helping me in the kitchen quite a bit these days! They love sitting on the counter, pouring in ingredients, and stirring.

Something Maddie is doing (43 months old): Maddie had a dental appointment and did great! She’s a wonderful little dental patient. She’s so wiggly. The child cannot sit still! She falls out of her chair at dinner at least once a week. We have started to make her stand when she can’t sit properly in her chair. That seems to help a little. She’s excited about going to the fair. Maddie gobbled up pureed butternut squash like it was pudding tonight. She also loved the butternut squash muffins that Cullen, Maddie, and I made together. When she helps me in the kitchen, she says, “we have our own bakery, right?”

Something Cullen is doing (20 months old): Cullen is more attached to Annabelle than ever. Twice this week, he cried all the way to school because he couldn’t hold Annabelle. Maddie lets him play with her a lot, but it’s her doll. We don’t force her to share the doll. The last four nights in a row, he has insisted on having Annabelle in the crib with him. He’s very sweet with the doll. I think Santa is going to have to bring him his own Bitty Twin. He tattled on Maddie twice this week. Both times it involved Maddie hitting him, once in the car with a stuffed animal and once at home with a broomstick. Both times were accidental. Cullen exclaimed, “Mommy! Maddie hit me!” His ability to communicate is incredible. He’s using more adjectives, prepositions, and articles. He often says things like, “close the door” instead of “close door.”

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I signed up our Team for 2012′s Walk MS event. I guess that’s step one when it comes to the fundraising.

Something I learned: I installed the OS upgrades for both my MacBook Pro and the iPhone. I’m still getting used to the new gestures on the MacBook. I also learned that when you put “7pm Event Name” on my Google calendar, it picks up the time (I already knew if you put @ place name, it would update that part). I’m not sure how I missed this previously, since it gives an example of it under the prompt. I have been finding it annoying that I would have to edit the whole calendar entry in order to enter a time, so this will save me a lot of hassle.

Something I’m looking forward to: I’m looking forward to getting my new camera, hopefully in time for the fair with Maddie, a food tour in downtown Raleigh with my girlfriends, and our anniversary dinner!

Something random: Is there a fruit or a vegetable that cannot be made into a tasty baked good?

Something captured: The kiddos in their coordinating Halloween jammies (they also glow in the dark!). Cute!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Family fun and traditions. We went to the zoo and the pumpkin patch this weekend.

Something that makes me tired: Family fun and traditions. Whew.

Something I’m thinking: How are we ever going to make it through a week of Disney? I’m exhausted after two days of zoo/pumpkin patch, and I would think that Disney is way more exhausting.

Something happening around the house: The usual chaos.

Something I’m reading: Rebel Angels. I should finish in the next day or so, and then I’ll probably need to start Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children for this month’s book club (before reading the last book of the Gemma Doyle trilogy).

Something Gabe is reading: Mistborn. He doesn’t feel like he’s making much progress here.

Something I’m watching: We are recording on the DVR these shows this season (though I can’t say we’re exactly watching all of them): Glee (haven’t watched any this season), Gossip Girl, 90210, Grey’s Anatomy, Alphas (I think this one finished), Falling Skies (more Gabe than me), Ringer, Survivor: South Pacific, The Secret Circle (only watched 1 so far), The X Factor (watched 1 or 2 so far, though Thursday doesn’t record due to conflicts), The Amazing Race, Supernatural (haven’t watched any), Terra Nova (haven’t watched any), and Hart of Dixie. I think that’s all of them. Most of these, I end up watching while working on photos on the laptop or writing blog posts (except I haven’t been writing too many blog posts lately!).

Something I’m playing: Ooh, Gabe’s birthday was this week, so I gave him Die Burgen Von Burgund. We played the 2-player version, and I like it! It plays well with two, so that’s a big plus for us. Hopefully, we will get another chance to play it this week. We also played King of Tokyo with Melissa and Jason on Gabe’s birthday.

Something tasty: I made a pretty (and fairly tasty) rainbow cake for Gabe’s birthday. I’ll need to post photos of that soon.

Something about both kiddos: The kids enjoyed their first visit to the zoo! This was their second trip to the pumpkin patch. We visited the same one that we went to last year. Kristin joined us this time, and we had fun visiting the attractions, eating funnel cake, and picking out our pumpkins! The kids were a bit cranky this evening. I think we were all a wee bit tired after our weekend adventures! I love the fun family memories.

Something Maddie is doing (43 months old): She had her 2nd bike day at school. We don’t get too much notice for these, so I’m glad that Gabe and I were both able to arrange to see it. She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to do her tricycle, scooter, or balance bike. She decided on her tricycle, which is probably best since that’s the one that she is able to ride the best. Her teacher sent us some photos of her in the classroom. It’s neat to see her with the “work” that they talk about doing. She has finished the first basket of letters for the phonics section, and she’s been doing a lot of number and counting work. Her teachers were impressed with her number roll work which has numbers 1-9 on a large mat. She has to count out the appropriate number of stones for each one. I know she can do this sort of thing, but I’m happy that she is able to demonstrate it in the classroom! She does a lot of coloring when they do the “special” closet work.

Something Cullen is doing (20 months old): His constant repeating of what we say (especially what Maddie says) can be hilarious. He has started enjoying the knob puzzles and has gotten very good at the ones with the same picture on the puzzle piece and underneath it. We have an animal one, and he loves to name the animals and tell us what sounds they make. Of course, most of the animals say, “roar” as that is their default sound (complete with pawing motion). “Cullen, what does a pig say?” “Roar!” When he puts in all of the pieces, he stands up and pumps both of his fists and says, “I DID IT!!!!” He’s very big on doing things himself. He has been buckling his high chair buckles (when not in the high chair) for at least a month or so. He has a jacket with that style of buckles and loves to buckle them over and over. At the pumpkin patch, he was hesitant about getting into the corn box, but he loved it once he was in it with Aunt Kristin. He kept saying, “corn! corn!” In the hay jump, he kept saying, “Hay!” On the hay ride, he said, “hay ride, hay ride.” When it stopped, he tried to push himself through people and said, “I get off. Excuse me. Excuse me.” Earlier today, he tooted and said, “Excuse me, Mommy.” At lunch today, I gave him a french fry, and unprompted, he said, “Thank you, Mommy.” He’s my sweet boy. Cullen’s class had an ice cream social, and it was nice to get a chance to chat with other parents. Cullen enjoyed his first ice cream!

Something I am struggling with: Too much sun! I had a little sunburn on Friday from bike day. I used sunscreen on myself and the kids at the zoo and at the pumpkin patch, yet I still got too much sun each day. What can I say? I’m very sensitive to the sun.

Something I learned: Ice cream comes in little prepackaged scoops.

Something I’m looking forward to: Lunch and dinners with friends and games night.

Something captured: So many photos this weekend! Here’s one from today of Cullen and Maddie at the pumpkin patch.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: The timing of the refinance and the final payment of our cruise was excellent. We both closed on the refinance and put the final cruise payment on our credit card on Wednesday.

Something I’m reading: I got notification that my first library kindle book was available for download. I started and finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. I look forward to discussing it at our November book club meeting. I’m also reading Rebel Angels. We discussed the first book of that series at book club this week, and the club’s opinions were mixed. I like the series just well enough to keep reading it, but I don’t think I’d highly recommend it.

Something Gabe is reading: He’s still reading Mistborn.

Something I’m watching: Too many shows! Not enough time!

Something I’m playing: My development team played a game of 7 Wonders during lunch on Friday.

Something tasty: I finally got my very own stand mixer, and I made Triple Chip Cookies. Yum!

Something about both kiddos: Catherine came to take photos of us! I can’t wait to see them.

Something Maddie is doing (43 months old): She continues to add new lessons at school. Today, she did some sort of “number roll” which involved the numbers 1-9 and counting out stones for each number. I’m not surprised that she did well on this one, but she apparently impressed her teachers!

Something Cullen is doing (20 months old): Every week, it’s the same update, but I continue to be impressed with his vocabulary. It’s impossible to catalog everything new that he is saying each week. He adds words and sentence structure. This week, he saw a school bus pass us and said, “I saw a school bus!” We walked past two double strollers of babies at daycare, and he said, “lots of babies!” and just after that we passed a bunch of rocks and he said, “lots of rocks!” He continues to be my sweet little boy. He has started to get really good at bedtime stalling techniques, mostly in the form of asking for lots of hugs and kisses from anyone around. And I think I’ll fall for it every time because it’s so ridiculously sweet.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We paid for the cruise on Allure of the Seas, so we’re that much closer to fulfilling our mega-ship goal!

Something I learned: I learned how to get a kindle book from the library (and how to return it when finished). Aside from the potentially long waiting list, it was a very easy process!

Something I’m looking forward to: Gabe’s birthday, dinner/games with friends, the zoo, and the pumpkin patch. Big week! Our plans for the mountains this weekend fell through, but I think we’ll be spending time with the same friends at the zoo instead. The weather should be perfect!

Something captured: My newest little kitchen helper. My sweet boy!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Gabe went to watch football at a friend’s house today, and I took the kids to the mall to visit the Disney store and the Sanrio store (aka “The Hello Kitty Store”). The kids had so much fun with all the stuffed animals, and I let them each pick something small from each store. Deciding what they wanted was the tricky thing. Cullen changed his mind every minute, but he was pretty firm when he made up his mind. He picked a small beanie baby bear from Sanrio. Maddie chose a small Hello Kitty with a purple dress. I wanted Cullen to get his initial pick which was Badz Maru, but he lost interest in it after a few minutes and then refused to have anything to do with him. He liked a lot of the girly choices, but he ended up with a manly bear that says, “Roar!!!” At the Disney store, both kids wanted Simba. I was glad to get them the same thing to eliminate any fights later!

Something I’m thinking: I wish Maddie still took naps.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to write some posts about TBGT this week as well as maybe some other photos that I haven’t had a chance to post. I’m a little behind.

Something happening around the house: Hopefully, Gabe will get a chance to finish the deck soon. It’s been raining a lot, so he hasn’t been able to finish the stain. It’s going to look great when it’s done!

Something I’m reading: I read a little more of Rebel Angels, the second book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy.

Something Gabe is reading: He’s still reading first book of the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

Something I’m watching: Fall television has started up, but we’re not really watching anything terribly interesting just yet. I am excited for the new season of Amazing Race, as always.

Something I’m playing: I played the Winnie the Pooh board game with both kids as well as Animal Upon Animal. We are getting more into board games, and I’m sure we’ll have many on their wishlist for Christmas.

Something tasty: Gabe made the chicken pot pie again. YUM!

Something Maddie is doing (43 months old): Maddie got a cute haircut today, in preparation for our photos with Catherine coming up. We went to a bounce house party, and wow. That was crazy chaos. Maddie had a blast for about 20 minutes or so, and then she was tired and overwhelmed. She was a bit sensitive after that.

Something Cullen is doing (20 months old): Cullen loves Annabelle and Minnie these days. He’s so attached to them! We’re going to have to make a trip to the American Girl store for him. Ha! He’s been into playing with the Winnie the Pooh figures. He stands them up, puts them in and out of the box, and makes them talk to each other. It’s pretty cute! He got another haircut today, and I think they cut too much and didn’t cut it very straight. I guess we’ll see.

Something I learned: We can now get kindle books at our local library. Woohoo!

Something I’m looking forward to: Dinner with friends, book club, hair appointment for me, Catherine coming to take photos, and another birthday party for one of Maddie’s friends. I’m also finally getting my permanent crown finished, and we’re closing on our refinance. Busy week!

Something captured: I snapped this one on my iPhone and sent it to Gabe. No, we didn’t go home with all of those buddies. I made them each choose only one (but Santa may have snagged a few more when they weren’t looking).

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Four days of games. Just finished up this year’s That Board Gaming Thing (TBGT) last night, and I was too exhausted to come up with a post.

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about all the various ways that I can get in more sleep and more games next year. I only had about 3 hours of sleep each night, and that’s really not enough for me to function reasonably. I enjoy the late night crowd…but the kids still wake me up at 7am. We might have to do something differently next year.

Something happening around the house: I don’t really get how the house can be such a disaster when we haven’t even been here for 4 days. Oh. Right. I guess it’s probably because it was a disaster when we left.

Something I’m reading: I finished A Great and Terrible Beauty (this month’s book club selection) and sorta started on Rebel Angels. I just didn’t have time for reading this week between preparing for TBGT and attending it.

Something Gabe is reading: He finished Dooms Day Book and started on Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

Something I’m watching: Not much, but we’re about to start watching a bunch of stuff. I did catch a few episodes of Jake and the Neverland Pirates with the kids. Yo Ho!

Something I’m playing: Le Havre, Forbidden Island (twice), The Adventurers, King of Tokyo (3 times), Thunderstone, Catch Charades, Quarriors (3 times), Cornucopia, Attika, Jaipur, Witch’s Brew, For Sale, Fortune Cookie Charades, Time’s Up (twice), Galaxy Trucker (twice), Rallyman, Tobago, Jamaica, Songburst, 7 Wonders w/ Leaders Expansion, Fits, and London. Gabe played Le Havre, Quarriors, Cornucopia, Attika, Witch’s Brew, For Sale, King of Tokyo, Kingsburg, Cargo Noir, and Die Burgen von Burgund.

Something tasty: Gabe bought me Whimsical Cookies for my birthday. Yum!

Something about both kiddos: We stayed in the hotel for TBGT for 3 nights, and we tried to put the kids in the same room. One night, they finally went to sleep almost two hours later. My sister came to the hotel one night so that Gabe and I could both play some games. Maddie kept getting out of her bed to get something out of her backpack. Kristin was watching them on the video monitor and returning to tell Maddie to get back in her bed. She did this several times and then removed her backpack. She then heard Maddie say to Cullen, “Cullen, we can’t let her come back in and see us!” She was the instigator this time, keeping Cullen up. “Baby, don’t go to sleep, baby. Baby, wake up!” By Sunday midday, the kids were a bit cranky from several days of missed sleep. I think for the cruise, we’re going to have to separate them. I’m a little worried that we’ve ruined them after sharing a room on two trips. Maddie’s going to be disappointed not to have Cullen in the same room next time!

Something Maddie is doing (42 months old): She’s learning how to spell certain words (obviously it’s memorization at this point, but it’s still exciting!). She has been able to spell her first name for a while, and now she can spell “mom” and “dad.” She’s able to spell it out loud as well as write it. I noticed that she started writing “MOM” on some of her papers (in addition to “MADDIE”). She’s also getting much better with her coloring. At dinner the other day, she colored a sheet from the restaurant and mostly stayed in the lines. I was impressed! I think that her Crayola video game has been helping with that. She does quite a bit of coloring on there.

Something Cullen is doing (19 months old): Little boy can throw a tantrum! This isn’t exactly new, but he really is good at the whole “I’m unhappy and now I’m going to throw myself on the floor and scream about it” thing. I’m sure that his increasing ability to communicate should help. He now says things like “Maddie right there” (for identifying where people and things are), “Goldfish in here” (when referring to his goldfish in his snack cup), “I don’t like it” (he says this in a variety of situations), “Get Maddie” (when he gets into the car and we head over to pick up Maddie), and “Get me book” (or whatever else he has dropped that is out of reach).

Something I am struggling with: I thought I was experiencing allergies on Sunday night and Monday morning, but by Monday afternoon, I knew I was sick. Ugh! Bad timing! I didn’t feel well on my birthday on Tuesday, but I took a vacation anyway and got my license renewed and went shopping at the outlet mall. And then we had one of Maddie and Cullen’s teachers babysit on Tuesday evening, and I backed out of the driveway and sideswiped her car. I felt awful about that! I don’t have a good track record when it comes to backing up. Can we just invent a car that rotates around for me?

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I took Gabe bowling for his first time ever!!! Yes, that was on my “life goals” list. I think he’ll actually go again sometime.

Something I learned: Tons of new games!

Something I’m looking forward to: Not too many plans this week, thankfully. I do have a wedding to attend next Saturday, and one of Maddie’s best buddies is having a birthday party.

Something captured: My family at TBGT!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Gathering to play board games with friends.

Something I’m thinking: I did think about what I was doing and how I felt 10 years ago (Facebook and the media do not want you to forget it, not that I would anyway).

Something happening around the house: We had a pre-TBGT games night on Saturday. Fun times! I think the kiddos had a good time, too, as evidenced by almost every toy in the house getting some play time.

Something I’m reading: I decided to stop reading Four Corners of the Sky. It was ok, but it wasn’t riveting. I decided to move onto A Great and Terrible Beauty, which is this month’s book club selection. Unfortunately, it seems that several club members have read it and did not care for it. I don’t mind it so far, but I haven’t gotten too far.

Something Gabe is reading: Dooms Day Book by Connie Willis.

Something I’m watching: Football, football, and football…not exactly by choice.

Something I’m playing: Saturday, I had the chance to play 7 Wonders, Macao, and Notre Dame.

Something Maddie is doing (42 months old): We are working on her not being so upset about things that people say to her. Lately, her brother has been taunting and teasing her about things. She wants to be first every time we do anything, like get seated at the dinner table. She has to get into her seat before Cullen gets into his high chair. We usually let her because Cullen just doesn’t care that much at the moment. But then Cullen will say, “I first” and look at her like he’s waiting to see her reaction. She gets very upset and whines, “CULLEN SAYS HE WAS FIRST BUT I WAS FIRST!!!” We’re having a hard time getting through to her that it doesn’t matter what Cullen says. She had a similar issue with a classmate who told her that she can’t count this week. She decided that since repeatedly telling her friend that she CAN count was ineffective, that biting might be a better approach. This is the 2nd time that we have had a biting incident (same victim). We had a big talk about all the things that we can do other than biting to solve her issues. Hopefully, it won’t happen again. Maddie was working on her penmanship this afternoon. She did a pretty good job of writing all of our names (she had to ask us how “Kerry,” “Gabe,” and “Cullen” were spelled, but she did great!). I’m so proud of her!

Something Cullen is doing (19 months old): As I mentioned in Maddie’s summary, he has started intentionally taunting Maddie. It’s amazing how early that this sort of thing starts. Oh my goodness. His favorite taunt right now is to say that he was first at the table (when he was not), just to watch and see how Maddie reacts. He’ll look at her and say, “I first!” and gets this little grin as he waits for her reaction. Today, Maddie hadn’t had a snack yet and Cullen had a snack cup with goldfish. She said, “I want a snack!” and Cullen imitated her (“I want a snack”) and waved his snack cup near her. I think he’s been doing forms of this for weeks, but I’m just now realizing he’s doing a lot of this stuff on purpose. He’s also picked up on the taunt, “Ha ha a boo-boo” from Maddie, and I have seen him with a toy that she wants saying “ha ha a boo-boo” while he carries it around the living room. This reminds me of when my sister used to tease me and say that she was older than me since her birthday was in February and mine was in September. When we were really little, somehow this really got to me. I wonder when Cullen is going to figure out that one (since his birthday is in January and Maddie’s is in February). I predict that it will drive Maddie crazy when he does. Cullen is a sweet boy, and he’s very into his Mommy right now. He doesn’t like to be separated from me. It’s sweet, but it breaks my heart when I have to leave him at daycare or like tonight when I went to dinner with a girlfriend.

Something I am struggling with: I want to buy a new purse, and I’m trying to decide which one (and how much I want to spend). I know. My life is rough. Happy birthday to me!

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I’m making Gabe go bowling for the first time ever. Can you believe he’s never been bowling? That’s what I asked of him for my birthday. He was tricked! He couldn’t say no!

Something I learned: I reacquainted myself with the fact that I do not like Moon Dough nor will I be buying any for the kids ever again. We bought a small pack of it for Maddie at some point. It does work really well in the special molds, but it’s awful, awful stuff. It crumbles like crazy and gets EVERYWHERE. We’ll stick to Play Doh, thanks!

Something I’m looking forward to: My birthday, making Gabe go bowling, and That Board Gaming Thing! I am so excited about 4 days of board gaming! Woohoo!!! Gabe and I are taking off work on Thursday and Friday so that we can both play while the kids are in daycare. It’s going to be great. We’re taking turns the rest of the time (and my sister is even going to babysit for us one night).

Something captured: We took Maddie to lunch at the cafe on Friday, and she was very excited!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey