KerryAndGabe.com

It’s time once again for my “best of” list for the previous year (inspired originally by Cindy in 2008).

Best Restaurant: This is a tough category to start with because I don’t feel like we ate too many remarkable places this year. Our anniversary dinner (post coming soon) was great, but it wasn’t as notable as some previous dinners have been. I think my favorite restaurant this year goes to Bosphorus. Thanks to Michelle for introducing me to it!

Best Book: I thought it would be difficult to pick my favorite book from the year, but when I glanced through my list the answer was clear: Water for Elephants. We read some other good ones, but this was a fairly easy choice.

Best Vacation: This category doesn’t seem quite fair when we have one big vacation each year, usually. Obviously, our best trip was our cruise on Allure of the Seas! More stories, reviews, and photos coming soon…

Best Movie: We saw some good movies this year, but I cannot think of a more perfect first theater movie than the new Winnie the Pooh.

Best Album: Well, it wasn’t released this year, but my favorite album that we bought this year was Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons.

Best Board Game: Gabe played Die Burgen von Burgund at this year’s That Board Gaming Thing. He raved about it, so I managed to get a copy for his birthday. I’m glad we bought it when we did, because it has been hard to get since then! We both love it, and it plays well with two players.

Best Lighter Game: King of Tokyo was one of the most played games at That Board Gaming Thing, even with only one copy out of the entire convention. We picked up a copy, and it gets a fair amount of play at our house. It’s (usually) quick and accessible and entertaining.

Best Kids’ Game: The kids started to get into board games in 2011, and Go Away Monster is the best game we have found for little kids that both Cullen and Maddie can play. They love it! Maddie is ready for some more involved games, but she still enjoys playing this one, too.

Best TV Show: Hmm, this is a tough one. We don’t watch much TV these days, but we did enjoy Ringer with Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Best Toy (for Maddie): This is a hard choice, but I think that the Bitty Twins got the most play for the whole year out of Maddie’s toys (from both Maddie and Cullen, for that matter). She didn’t play with them as much for a few months, but her interest was renewed when Cullen started showing interest in them. She’s become more interested in changing their clothes and playing with their accessories lately.

Best Toy (for Cullen): Even though he got his Bitty Twins at the end of the year, I’m going to have to say Annabelle (meaning both Maddie’s Annabelle up until he got his own). He has been crazy about Maddie’s dolls for a while. We could not wait for Santa to bring him what have now become known as his “ladies,” Annabelle and Izzy. The house seems a tiny bit more peaceful now.

Best Children’s Book: I’ll have to pick Mr. Bump from the Mister Men (and Little Miss) series. Both kids have enjoyed the books in that series.

Best Maddie Moment: Maddie had so many great moments this year, and it’s difficult to pick a favorite. One of my favorites is the family birthday party that we had at the American Girl Bistro in Atlanta. That was a very special birthday for a very special 3 year old!

Best Cullen Moment: Cullen has been amazing this year as well, and his vocabulary is extraordinary. One of my favorite moments was on the cruise. His reaction to some of the characters was priceless. The first time that the dragons appeared in the How to Train Your Dragon ice show, he was in awe and gasped, “FWAGONS!”

Something that makes me happy: My sweet TWO year old boy!

Something I’m thinking: Happy birthday to Cullen!

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping that this week passes quickly.

Something I’m reading: I didn’t read too much this week, but I’m still reading The Last Olympian, the final book in the Percy Jackson series.

Something Gabe is reading: He finished The Sea of Monsters (the 2nd book of the Percy Jackson series). He’s now reading The Fall of Hyperion.

Something I’m watching: We recorded Alcatraz, but we haven’t watched it yet. If we don’t watch it soon, we’re going to run the risk of it being too overwhelming once the recordings start piling up.

Something I’m playing: We played a little of the Hinterlands Dominion expansion. I think I might have played a little Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Something I’m creating: Hopefully, I’ll create a few more blog posts this week.

Something tasty: Mmmm, we ate at Brigs for Cullen’s special birthday breakfast this morning, and I had gingerbread pancakes. Yum!

Something Maddie is doing (47 months old): It turns out that Maddie was unable to avoid the stomach bug, though it appears that it didn’t hit her too hard. Thank goodness. The last thing you want is a preschooler with a stomach bug. It sounds like she mostly had a fun day at home with Daddy. She and Daddy baked Cullen’s birthday cake together today. She also mostly iced it herself and did all the sprinkles. She loves helping in the kitchen. She’s been cooking a lot in her play kitchen, too. She’s gotten into building forts out of their Anywhere chairs and blankets. For whatever reason, she calls it the “jail.”

Something Cullen is doing (24 months old): We had a big day for the birthday boy! We started at Brigs where he helped himself to handfuls of my pancake. He just reached over and tore off sections of it over and over. I guess we should have gotten him the gingerbread pancake instead of the plain one! He thoroughly enjoyed his breakfast with scrambled eggs, fruit, pancakes (both plain and my gingerbread), turkey sausage, and milk. We then headed to Target where he was allowed to pick out any toy he wanted (well, we would have steered him away from something expensive!). He did very well with the concept of picking out one thing at a time and then “trading” it for something more desirable. He started out with a cowboy rubber duck and ended up with a Duplo Firehouse set. We were happy with his choice! In between, he held an apple shaped pillow, a Minnie Mouse pillow, a set of toddler cars, a LOUD Lightning McQueen toy that talked and raced when you shook it, and a Mater spy truck that did something but we weren’t able to figure out what. The process was entertaining! We stayed out of the decision making process for the most part and just let him ask for the things he wanted. We also picked up some Space shapes goldfish and had a snack in the car on the way to get his haircut. He sat very still and the stylist was surprised at how good he was during the cut. For dinner tonight, he had some of his favorites: pasta, strawberries, broccoli/cauliflower, and garlic bread. Of course, we had cake. This week, he really has made progress with his one-to-one correlation when counting. He has demonstrated accurately counting objects up to 8 (and I think 10 once). Sometimes when the items are all together (rather than distinctly apart) he does the thing where he just points and counts out numbers, but for the most part he really seems to be getting it. He does especially well with 4 or less items. Earlier this week, one of his teachers told us that he declared that “Aiden can’t eat milk and egg.” I’m surprised he’s picked up on his classmate’s allergy! I guess he’s heard the teachers talk about it enough times. He also used air quotes for the first time. His teacher said that Cullen said his diaper was “messy” (and used air quotes when saying this). Cullen then looked at me and said, “I pooped. It was ‘messy’” and used air quotes appropriately. Ha! I’m so proud.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I booked TWO trips to Disney! Woohoo!

Something I’m looking forward to: Lots of stuff going on this week. I’m mostly looking forward to getting through the week, book club, and games night!

Something random: Well, I thought I had found my Favorite Thing of 2012, but I might have to reconsider. On Saturday, I took a bubble bath with my kindle double bagged in ziploc bags (admittedly, one bag is probably sufficient). It was fabulous! Best use of a ziplog baggie EVER.

Something captured: The birthday boy!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

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: 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: 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

I’ve been meaning to post this video, taken at about 2am during this year’s That Board Gaming Thing in September. I think a karaoke machine is in order next year.

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