KerryAndGabe.com

Something that makes me happy: I have a lot of great friends.

Something I’m thinking: It’s a new year! I don’t make resolutions, but I still can’t help but to reflect on things at the beginning of a new year.

Something I’m creating: I just finished making our photo calendars (a little late this year). I am working on narrowing down photos from the trip and writing up trip reports (and catching up on other photo posts).

Something happening around the house: Despite having almost 40 people in the house for games night, it surprisingly doesn’t look like a disaster zone this afternoon.

Something I’m reading: I finished The Titan’s Curse and started The Battle of the Labyrinth.

Something Gabe is reading: He’s been making some progress on Hyperion.

Something I’m watching: We’re thinking about having a movie day tomorrow since Gabe has a holiday (and I have more vacation days than he does). We’re not quite sure what we’re going to see, but we’re hoping to catch two movies.

Something I’m playing: Kids of Carcassonne, Go Away Monster, Hisss, and Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed with the kids. I played Chinatown, Tobago, and No Rules Pictionary last night. I watched kiddos a lot of the time. Gabe played King of Tokyo, Galaxy Trucker, Tobago, and No Rules Pictionary. We also played Lancaster.

Something tasty: I made my Grandma’s Chicken Divan tonight. Yummy!

Something about both kiddos: The kids are getting into playing games, which makes me very happy! They are both doing very well at following rules and taking turns in Go Away Monster. Maddie is grasping most of the games that we have tried, but Go Away Monster is the only one that Cullen has been able to play so far.

Something Maddie is doing (46 months old): Maddie finally has the attention span and desire to play board games. She has been doing well with Kids of Carcassonne (though doesn’t grasp all the strategy of it yet), Five Little Monkeys (which has no strategy, just spinning and moving and following the rules), and Hisss (mostly). I was most excited about Kids of Carcassonne which is a great introduction to Euro games and is a neat little kid adaptation of Carcassonne. Maddie’s favorite show is Jake and the Neverland Pirates at the moment. She still hasn’t been exposed to much variety in terms of different shows. She’s enjoying her LeapPad. We haven’t used any of our app credits yet. She hasn’t had much interest in taking photos or videos with it. I really thought that she would like that feature, but I think maybe she doesn’t quite get it yet. She has a train game that she likes. She also has been playing Smart Girls on the DS and Siege Hero and Monkey Lunchbox on the iPhone. I’m proud of her board gaming and video gaming foundations. We’re reading her the first books in the Magic Treehouse series.

Something Cullen is doing (23 months old): Cullen has started using his imagination. I’m not sure if he did it this week or just prior, but he has taken pieces of food and said, “a dog!” or “a boat!” I am impressed that he is able to play a game of Go Away Monster. It’s a very simple game, but it has the basics of taking turns which is an essential foundation for board gaming. He can easily pattern match the shapes. Players take turns drawing tiles out of the bag and either vanquishing monsters or putting furniture in their rooms (the pattern matching). We have tried a few other games, but he’s just not ready for any of them yet! He can play Monkey Lunchbox on the iPhone without help from us, including the puzzle minigames where he has to drag puzzle pieces to create pieces of fruit. It’s amazing to me how early kids can grasp the iPhone. Some of the minigames involve him just touching the screen at random, but it’s a start. He had a few cranky days this week. I discovered that he’s FINALLY cutting the eyeteeth. It seems like it has been a really long time since his last teeth came through. At least two of them have broken through the gums. All of them are coming soon. Cullen is sweet with his new dolls. Sometimes he just gets up into the big blue chair and rocks with them. He also likes to roll around on the floor and hug them.

Something I am struggling with: We have so many options for schools now, and I’m trying to sort through some of the mess since it won’t be that long before we’ll have to decide where Maddie goes to school. Crazy!

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I keep dreaming about a Disney cruise, one of the goals I have listed. I find myself searching itineraries every few days or so. It might just have to be our next cruise vacation. Disney is this year!

Something I’m looking forward to: It’s nice when we get to January and don’t have too many plans. I try to make a point of not scheduling much past the end of the year when it’s October/November/December. I am thinking we need another games night soon, though. While we had a great time with friends on NYE, neither of us played as many games as we had hoped!

Something captured: Cullen and his “ladies”

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Christmas. Santa! Presents! Family! Friends! Food!

Something I’m thinking: Sometimes my kids are crazy nuts.

Something happening around the house: Chaos as we try to figure out where new toys should go. Some toy shuffling has been happening.

Something I’m reading: Still reading the third book of the Percy Jackson series. I’m not making fast progress. I did learn that my library books have not been deleted from the kindle since I haven’t been connected to the wifi. So, I can finish reading my books without having to worry about waiting lists and such.

Something Gabe is reading: Hyperion.

Something I’m watching: Santa brought the kids the new Winnie the Pooh movie, and we’ve already watched it a couple of times.

Something I’m playing: I played Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers and part of a game of Forbidden Island tonight.

Something tasty: Tons of chex mix, christmas cookies, and country ham.

Something about both kiddos: The kids play together fairly well these days. They also fight over little things often. Yesterday, I overheard Maddie say to Cullen, “Cullen, Let’s play a game where I run and you try to catch me. I’ll keep running and you try to catch me.” Cullen replied, “Ready. Set. Go.” They spent maybe 20 minutes running around and chasing each other. Maddie also said, “Try to catch me! That’s the name of the game!” Cullen and Maddie both decorated gingerbread houses. I got some adorable photos, but I had forgotten that I took the memory card out of the camera. Oops. Fortunately, they each decorated 2 tiny houses, so I had a second chance. They decorated sugar cookies, too. Pretty much this resulted in a bunch of iced cookies totally covered in sprinkles. Both kids got a ton of great stuff from Santa, family and friends.

Something Maddie is doing (46 months old): Maddie received a bunch of big gifts for Christmas this year. Nana and Papa got her a dollhouse, Santa brought her a LeapPad (an iPad type tablet for kids), and Kristin and Chad gave both kids an awesome kitchen. She says that her favorite gift was the firetruck, but that seems like an odd answer because it’s definitely not the gift that she’s played with the most. It’s hard to say which gift she’s played with the most, but most of her new toys have already seen a lot of play. While we’ve been home on our holiday break (all week), we have had her choose all of her clothes. It’s fun to see what she chooses each day. Usually, she picks some sort of a dress. Sometimes she puts together interesting combinations that generally work. She choose a “Peace, Love, and Rock & Roll” shirt on Saturday, and said, “look! it has a heart and a pretzel!” Ha! On Christmas, we let the kids have whatever candy or treats they wanted (within reason). Maddie figured that out after a little bit. She said to Daddy, “Daddy! Daddy! Mommy let me have a lollipop!” Daddy replied that “Wow, it is a special day!” and she said, “Yeah! You can have candy whenever you want!” Smart girl. We never even let the kids know they could have whatever they want. I guess we’re a tad limiting on a normal day! When the kids came downstairs to see what Santa brought them, Maddie was so cute, “Cullen! Cullen! Santa brought you your dolls! And a stroller!” She barely even noticed her own pile, she was so concerned about telling Cullen about his. She did the same thing last year. Sweet girl (when she wants to be). Also, when she was opening her stocking, she discovered a doll outfit and said, “Cullen should have this because his dolls don’t have many clothes.” On Christmas Eve, Maddie saw a personalized video from Santa and was in awe. She was very eager to get to bed that night as she didn’t want Santa to skip our house!

Something Cullen is doing (23 months old): Cullen finally has his own Annabelle (he calls her “My Annabelle”) and a girl doll version of Henry (the light haired girl bitty twin). He rejected almost every name that I tried to give the new doll. He tried calling her Henry. I had no interest in calling her Henrietta. I suggested at least half a dozen names, and each time he said, “I don’t like that name.” At some point, he tried calling her “Boy” and I said, “no, she’s not a boy!” He then answered, “Is not a boy” when I asked her name. I said, “you want to call the doll ‘isnottaboy?’” “Yes” (the first time he said yes). I said, “Can we call her Izzy for short?” “yeah” “So we can call her Izzy?” “Yeah, Izzy.” So, there you have it. The doll is now known as Izzy. Even better, Cullen now refers to the bitty twins as his ladies which is just about the cutest thing ever. “Where’s my ladies?” “I need to get my ladies!” Thanks to Daddy, who was holding Cullen with a doll in each arm. Daddy commented, “look at Cullen, he’s a ladies man!” LOL! That was Cullen’s big gift from Santa along with a double stroller. He also shares the kitchen with Maddie and got a strider bike from Nana and Papa. Cullen has been singing more and more words to songs. Lately, he’s been singing several Christmas songs, the dreidel song, and a few standards like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. He has been doing more counting and is starting to get one-to-one correspondence. He’s been doing great with his big boy bed transition. His bed is full of stuffed animals. We take many of them out of the bed before bedtime, but he’ll often crawl out of bed and retrieve them. He has been staying in the bed for the most part, and he’s been sleeping about the same as he was before the transition. He has fallen out of the bed a few times, but he’s pretty low to the ground. He still has his pacis when sleeping in his bed.

Something I am struggling with: Pictures! I now have close to 5,000 photos from the cruise (collected from ourselves and others). It is going to take me a while to get it down to a manageable number. It would be great to get that number down to about 10%, but I think that 20% is more realistic, at least to start.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We’re creating memories and holiday traditions with our kids.

Something I learned: Santa probably needs to do more set up before he leaves his gifts. The LeapPad was a bit of a pain to set up on Christmas morning with an eager almost 4 year old.

Something I’m looking forward to: A few more days away from work, not that they will be relaxing days with the kiddos.

Something captured: Merry Christmas!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Giant cruise ships!

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about when we might be able to cruise again. I love being on the ship! I’m not sure if we will want to take another vacation in December, though. We got back with only a week until Christmas, so December rushed by a bit quickly. Now we’re scrambling to get ready for the holiday.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping that we can salvage a few good photos in the over 4000 photos that we have collected so far (with our photos and Melissa and Jason’s). So far, it doesn’t look that promising, but I’m sure I’ll feel better once I weed out the really bad ones. It’s going to take several passes to get down to a reasonable bunch of photos! I liked not lugging around the SLR, but I’m not sure I’m happy with the results.

Something happening around the house: My sister came over the other day to put together the huge kitchen that the kids are getting for Christmas from Aunt Kristin and Uncle Chad. The kids are going to love it! So far, the kids haven’t noticed it. It’s in the library (next to the Christmas tree, in the corner) hidden under a big sheet.

Something I’m reading: I’m not doing much reading, but I’m still on the 3rd book of the Percy Jackson series. I got it from the library before our trip, and it is about to expire. I wonder if it will be removed from my kindle if I’m not connected to wifi? I will find out soon! Fortunately, the Percy Jackson series is “always available” on the kindle at the library, so I won’t have to get back on a waiting list to check it out again.

Something Gabe is reading: He started reading Hyperion on the cruise. He finished The Hero of Ages.

Something I’m watching: We’re watching the last episodes of Survivor that aired while we were on the cruise, including the finale.

Something I’m playing: We played a lot of the trivia sessions on the cruise, including the progressive trivia. We were close to winning many sessions, but we did win the progressive trivia (the one with the best prizes!).

Something tasty: We had so many tasty things on the cruise!!! My favorite is probably the gruyere onion tart. We had lots of tasty desserts, too. It was a great week for food, at least when we were on the ship. Our food off the ship (in Fort Lauderdale and St. Maarten) was sub par. Fortunately, we ate almost all of the meals on the ship!

Something about both kiddos: The kids had a blast on the cruise. Their favorite thing was the carousel, but they also enjoyed meeting the DreamWorks characters. Some of the shows held their attention. They loved the beach, for the first time, so I think we may actually have some beach trips in our future. They loved the character meals and the parade. We enjoyed their reactions! Both kids are enjoying the Mr. Men and Little Misses books.

Something Maddie is doing (45 months old): Maddie has picked up on a couple of bad habits lately. She talks like her brother, even when she’s not repeating his speech. I have to constantly remind her not to talk like a baby/toddler. Her other habit comes out at random. She doesn’t do it all the time, but it’s a little annoying when she does it. She says “ya” for “you” over and over. I’m not sure where she picked up on this one! Maddie had so much fun on the cruise (her 3rd). Her favorite parts were the swimming pool and the carousel. Depending on her mood, she will tell you one or the other if you ask her about her favorite part. She had a lot of fun on the beach, which is a complete 180 from our other beach experiences. She usually hates it. She built sandcastles and mostly stayed in the sand, but she didn’t mind putting her feet in the water. She did not like the seaweed in the water on St. Maarten, but then again, neither did I. She continues to be a Daddy’s girl and still wants to be carried from time to time. She is asking Santa for mickey mouse, a truck, and an airplane set. She was concerned this morning that Santa wouldn’t know what to bring Cullen because we haven’t made a list for him yet. We made him a list tonight. Maddie did crafts on the plane and made everyone something special for their cabin doors. On the way back, she informed Daddy that this plane had “the tiny movies” (each seat back had a tv screen). Maddie had her very first sip of carbonated beverage, and she did not like it. She danced with Fiona and King Julian. Maddie was all about sitting next to Grandma at meals.

Something Cullen is doing (22 months old): Cullen had his very first plane ride (roundtrip, of course) and cruise. The plane ride on the way to Florida was not bad at all. Cullen remained fairly happy through the majority of it. He was entertained by reading the safety documentation, watching the tv screens, and reading the Mr. Men books. He got upset towards the end. I think his ears were hurting. The plane ride back wasn’t nearly as smooth. He was not happy to be on the plane, and he screamed a lot. His first real beach experience was good! He was fascinated with the water and loved playing in the sand. He was a good eater on the ship. His favorites were the fruit soups, broccoli, and savory bites (one of the bread options). He also took a liking to lettuce on the trip. Cullen is a Mommy’s boy. He insisted on sitting next to me for most meals. He was a sweet boy, but the 2 hour meals were a tad long for him at times. I don’t blame him. They are a tad long for all of us. He wasn’t sure about a few of the characters, especially King Julian and Shrek. He said, “I don’t like Shrek” and refused to meet him. He was entranced by Fiona. When Fiona visited him at our table, he looked after her longingly and said, “Come back, Fiona!” He is starting to be trained for photos and would repeatedly walk up to random spots on the ship, turn around, and look at me sweetly so that I would take his photo. He loved the carousel. He had fun exploring the ship, and he didn’t always want to hold someone’s hand. He started insisting that he hold his own hand. “Cullen, I need you to hold my hand.” “No, I hold my own hand.” Very clever. He was fascinated by the dragons, and when he says “dragon” it sounds like “fwagon.” One of my favorite moments on the trip was when we saw the How to Train Your Dragon ice show (yes, there was an ice skating rink on the cruise ship) and the dragons appeared for the first time. He gasped and said, “Dragon!” So cute. Last night was his first night in the “big boy bed,” his crib converted to a toddler bed. Fortunately, he’s not very far from the ground, and we put pillows next to his bed. He fell out of bed twice in the first couple hours last night, but he slept fine the rest of the time. He seems to be snoring up a storm at the moment in the big boy bed, so the transition is going well so far.

Something I am struggling with: I couldn’t get much done this week. I was exhausted from the cruise. We packed so much into last week, and we didn’t get as much sleep as we might like. I also had the sensation that I was still on the boat for almost 3 days. I didn’t like that at all. As a result, I didn’t get much that I wanted to get done for the holidays with my remaining shopping. I didn’t do any baking. I promised the teachers that I would do some baking after the new year.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We have now officially cruised on a megaship!

Something I’m looking forward to: Christmas!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: The annual Christmas date with Audrey makes me very happy! This year, we went to brunch at the Umstead hotel and then to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I had seen them perform years ago. What an amazing show! I hope to do a write up about it soon.

Something I’m thinking: The blog has been neglected lately. We’ve been extremely busy with getting ready for the holidays and our cruise.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping that my family stays well between now and the end of the cruise. I’m paranoid about someone getting sick and missing the cruise.

Something happening around the house: Our annual poker tournament was on Saturday. Good times! The bonus room is still set up like a poker room with the chips as we left them late on Saturday.

Something I’m reading: I barely read this week, but I’m reading the 3rd book of the Percy Jackson series (on the kindle from the library!).

Something Gabe is reading: He’s almost finished with The Hero of Ages.

Something I’m watching: I went to see The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 with girlfriends. Yes, the movies aren’t great, but they are fun. We did see the trailer for The Hunger Games. I cannot wait for that one!!! It better be good!

Something I’m playing: We introduced Die Burgen von Burgund to Melissa and Jason.

Something tasty: The brunch at Heron’s was YUMMY!

Something about both kiddos: The kids are very excited about Christmas lights on our way home from work each day. I am looking forward to showing them the crazy decorated house near us, closer to Christmas. I think they are going to love the decorations on the ship as well! Cullen is already saying, “I like Christmas lights on cruise ship.” He started saying that at random once I told him that we would find lights and decorations on the ship.

Something Maddie is doing (45 months old): Most people don’t see the side of Maddie where she talks NONSTOP, but wow. That girl talks continuously when she’s at home or in the car or anywhere when it’s just our family. I swear, she doesn’t stop unless she’s in the presence of others. We don’t get a lot of silence in this household. I can’t remember the last time that she took a nap at home. Every once in a while, she will fall asleep in the car on a long trip. She does pretty well with “quiet time,” which is more of a break for us than it is for her! The down time benefits everyone!

Something Cullen is doing (22 months old): We taught him our “other” names this week, and he answers that Mommy is “Kerry” and that Daddy is “Gabe.” I tried to teach him his last name, but instead of saying his real last name, he insists that his last name is “Brudder.” Ha! I tell him, no, that’s not right and tell him his real last name, and he says, “No! Brudder! Stop saying that!” We’ve been having lots of conversations lately. It should be interesting to spend a week with him on vacation and then another week for the holiday. I always notice big developmental changes when he spends extended time with us.

Something I am struggling with: I did something to my shoulder, and it hurts like crazy. I hope it is better soon.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: Somehow, I managed to get tickets to Les Miserables AND Wicked this week for dates next year. Woohoo! I’ve wanted to see both of those shows for a while. We’re also working on the arrangements for next year’s Disney trip!!! And…we’re getting ready to go on the cruise on the megaship.

Something I’m looking forward to: ALLURE OF THE SEAS!!!

Something captured: Lasers! Fire! Headbanging violinists!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: The GIANT Christmas tree that we have in our library right now. It has lights, and we’ll have to do the ornaments soon.

Something I’m thinking: The holiday season is going to be so rushed this year with our cruise coming up really soon now!

Something I’m hoping: I hope that we can get all the things that we need to get done before vacation and Christmas.

Something happening around the house: We’re getting the house decorated after a few days visiting my parents.

Something I’m reading: I finished The Peach Keeper today, thankfully. I wanted to make sure I finished before it was due back at the library on the kindle. The waiting list is huge! Fortunately, it’s a quick read. I enjoy Sarah Addison Allen’s novels!

Something Gabe is reading: Hero of Ages. I don’t think he read any of it this week.

Something I’m watching: Getting ready to watch tonight’s Amazing Race.

Something I’m playing: We played a lot of Words with Friends on our iPhones this week. We played Wits and Wagers twice with my parents and Kristin and Chad and then Ticket to Ride twice with my parents. We had so much fun with my family!

Something tasty: Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house, though my favorite part was probably the turkey and country ham casserole the next day. Yum!

Something about both kiddos: We visited Santa on Saturday, and this year’s Santa was much better than previous ones. He attempted to make Cullen feel more comfortable, since he was not at all interested in sitting on his lap. And the photographer was amazing! I could not believe that we actually got a photo of both kids smiling. I was not even aware that Cullen smiled at all until I reviewed the photos. He was crying and trying to get away for the most part. I couldn’t hear what Maddie told Santa at first. Santa tried to ask Cullen what he wanted. Cullen was not talking to Santa, and he asked, “would you like a truck?” I told Santa, “actually, he wants a doll.” Maddie then said, “Hey, I want a truck!” So my son wants a doll, and my daughter wants a truck. After the Santa photos, we went to have lunch with my parents. I then had a spur of the moment idea to get haircuts for the kids (too bad we didn’t do that *before* Santa photos), and amazingly a kids’ salon was literally 30 feet away. Saturday went extremely well, and we were so happy to have haircuts and Santa photos out of the way. We had dinner at my parents’ house and headed home. We had a smooth ride home with no traffic jams. It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful visit. While we visited my parents, we took them to a children’s museum that opened last year. The kids had a blast, and the adults were completely worn out by the end of the morning. Whew!

Something Maddie is doing (45 months old): She has a new habit this week of saying “ya” instead of “you.” I’m going to have to try and break her of that habit. It’s cute at times, but it’s annoying at other times! I have noticed recently that her vocabulary is getting more and more sophisticated. Lately, she hasn’t allowed me to do anything with her hair, so it’s good that we trimmed up her bob again. It’s an adorable look on her! She looks so cute with pigtails, ponytails, bows, and braids, when she allows it!

Something Cullen is doing (22 months old): When you ask Cullen a question that doesn’t require a yes/no answer, Cullen starts his answer by saying, “um….um…..um…..um….” He also has a habit of saying “Awwww, man!” whenever he doesn’t like something or drops something or anything negative. Both habits are hilarious, and he says them at extremely appropriate times. He should be entertaining on the cruise. When we were having lunch with Nana and Papa, he had a taste of something he didn’t like. The next thing we knew, he had leaned over and spit it out on Maddie’s plate. Hilarious!!! He didn’t want to have anything to do with that piece of food! No way he was going to spit it onto his own plate. Too funny. We don’t get a high chair for him most of the time in restaurants, though he still uses his high chair at home. He’s so proud of himself, and I don’t think it will be long before we ditch all high chairs. We are probably going to transition him to a big boy bed after the cruise. He’s still resisting naps on the weekends, but most of the time he still takes one each day.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: Getting ready to go on the cruise on Allure….so soon now! Even Gabe is starting to get excited.

Something I’m looking forward to: I’m going to see Breaking Dawn with girl friends (rescheduled from last week), book club, early Christmas with friends, a birthday party, our annual poker tournament, and my annual Christmas date with a friend. Whew. Busy, fun week.

Something captured: This year’s Santa photo!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: I enjoyed visiting with family this weekend, especially my great aunts and great uncle.

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about what a wonderful person that my grandpa was, and I’m missing him already.

Something happening around the house: We were in Atlanta for the funeral, so it’s a mess (especially since the cleaners were supposed to come while we were gone, but we cancelled).

Something I’m reading: This week, I received notification that both The Peach Keeper and A Feast for Crows kindle versions were available for me to borrow from the library. I’m reading The Peach Keeper since I don’t have a print copy (and the waiting list is REALLY long). I haven’t had much chance to read the past couple of days.

Something Gabe is reading: The Hero of Ages.

Something tasty: We had a very tasty brunswick stew this weekend. I need to get that recipe.

Something about both kiddos: The kids were pretty good during our trip to Atlanta (with the exception of an hour or so in the car and bedtime the first night). Gabe said they were perfect angels during the visitation and funeral, as evidenced by FOUR new “buddies” from the Disney store. Gabe couldn’t resist getting Goofy, Daisy, Donald, and Pluto to complete our cast of characters from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Something Maddie is doing (45 months old): We told Maddie that we could no longer see and visit with Great Grandpa because he died. She asked some questions but seemed to understand that we weren’t going to be able to see him anymore. She did think that we would get “another Great Grandpa,” and we explained it didn’t work that way. She told several people that we didn’t have a Great Grandpa anymore. The night before we went to Atlanta, she said to me, “Great people live in Atlanta, right?” So sweet. She missed her last ballet class, unfortunately. She talks about ballet constantly. She worked on her book a little bit more. I can’t wait to post about that one. It’s entertaining. Santa is glad that he already has Maddie’s LeapFrog LeapPad Tablet (unbeknownst to her), as it seems to be very difficult to get at the moment! Maddie slept on a sleeper sofa for the first time. It worked out pretty well!

Something Cullen is doing (21 months old): Cullen’s crib days are nearing an end. He was trying to climb out of the pack and play several times. Since we have the cruise so soon, we’re not sure we want to make this transition quite yet! We were depending on having him in the pack and play at least through the end of the year. We had already decided to turn him forward facing before we found out about my grandpa. He seems pretty excited to be facing forward and has been chatty on our drives about what he can see now.

Something I am struggling with: Aside from the obvious, writing this blog post.

Something I learned: I learned that many people loved my grandpa, and it was wonderful to meet some of the people that have been so important to him and my grandma.

Something I’m looking forward to: Breaking Dawn and visiting with my family for Thanksgiving.

Something random: I received the following hilarious spam comment this week: I like seeing web sites that postulate the abetment of supplying a nature tip useful useful resource in that unshackle. profuse thanks since this glorious rudiment of knowledge about info.

Something captured: It was difficult to choose one this week, but I thought that this was a cute one of Cullen and me.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

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