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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Fall temperatures!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

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

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

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

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

Something Gabe is reading: Mistborn. Still.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

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

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

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

Something happening around the house: The usual chaos.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey