Cutest little cowgirl

Ashley just LOVES Woody from Toy Story. Yesterday while I was rearranging Aidan's closet for back to school clothes she found his long forgotten costume. She was so tickled, like she had found buried treasure with her name on it. What more could you ask for????

1,000 Questions

1,000 questions.... or more accurately one question asked 1,000 times. Or one question posed 1,000 different ways. This is how the brain of a 2 year old works.

Let me preface this story by explaining that I checked the movie Indiana Jones Raider of the Lost Ark out from the library for Aidan and I to watch. Aidan finished his lunch and started the movie while Ashley and I were finishing ours. Huge fan that I am of Indiana Jones, I soon became engrossed in the movie and Ashley followed. I knew that I would have to explain technical points to Aidan, like who the bad guys and good guys were, what was the Ark of the Covenant, the staff of Ra, the Nazis, etc. No problem, I was prepared for that.

What I wasn't prepared for was Ashley's one simple question. "How did the man burn his hand?" (Meaning the weird man with the hat and glasses who burned his hand trying to grab the gold disk-thing from Marion Ravenwood) It sounds simple, but it's not in the mind of a 2 year old. And she wouldn't let it go.....!!!!

"How did he burn his hand?"
"What was hot?"
"Why was it hot?"
"Why is there fire"?
"Why is fire hot?"
"Why did he burn his hand?"
"Who burned his hand?"
"Why?"
"What is the disk?"
"How did he burn it?"
"What did he burn?"
"What happened?"
"Why?"
"Where is the man who burned his hand?"
"Why did he leave?"
"Why did he burn his hand?"
and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on in a strange pattern of circular logic!

Until finally Aidan was so exasperated that he stopped the movie and tried to explain it himself, which didn't work either. So he just hugged her and said it was time for her nap. Why didn't I think of that? He was right. So off she went to bed with a million questions in her mind. But when I laid her in the bed all she said was "Where is my Momo (Elmo)?". Burned hand man forgotten. Hopefully!

We have a monster......

One night as I was climbing the stairs to go to bed I noticed books on the stairs. I picked them up and wearily headed upward only to find a long piece of toilet paper going down the hall and into the bathroom. This made me groan for what I would find at the end . Well as it turns out it was only more paper strewn everywhere. This is a good thing, if you know what I mean.

So I ventured on down the hall to check on Aidan only to find his bed empty and room nice and neat. I returned the books to the shelf and headed back up the hall to my room. There I found the floor littered with my once-folded laundry. Uuuughhhh! Shannon started to laugh behind me as he came upon the bathroom.

He said "I think we have a monster".

And my reply was "And he is sleeping in our bed".

So there was our sweet angel monster lying sweating among a giant pile of clean blankets that were once folded in the laundry basket under the clothes that were now on the floor. Who wouldn't love a child this funny?!

Meanwhile, at the other end of the hall, little Ashley angel was fast asleep in her crib.....for the moment, at least. "SIGH"

The Children's Museum

Last week we traveled with Momie & Papa to the Museum Centre in Cincinnati, Ohio. What a neat place!! I should start by saying the museums are in the old, restored train station in downtown Cincy. They have done a beautiful job with the art work in the main terminal part. Then off of the main terminal are 3 museums, the Natural History museum, the Children's museum and the History of Cincinnati museum, and an IMAX theatre. They also had "The Body" exhibit which I would love to see, but it wasn't really appropriate for my kids so we skipped it. That is another blog for a later date.

We started first in the Natural history museum and had a blast exploring dark, wet caves, traversing an ice age glacier, viewing dinosaurs, ancient lizards and mammals and much, much more! We had a scavenger hunt to complete to earn points toward stuff in the trading post. Aidan loved that part.....hence the picture with Sherlock Holmes.

After lunch we went to the AWESOME Children's Museum. They have Aidan's favorite section, the Woods. It is a series of tunnels and mazes all connected like a giant forest in Robin Hood. There are all kinds of neat pulleys and levers to raise and lower sections of the floor and change the terrain. There is a Water Works section that Ashley enjoyed and a Little Sprouts section just for toddlers. We finished out the afternoon at this cool ball area that I can't really describe. You funnel the balls up into different tubes and bins and send them to other areas where they can be shot out or dropped. It is hard to imagine but it was a blast. I don't have pictures of the Children's section because I was having too much fun myself to take any. It was a great summer outing!

my sucker thumb

Ashley calls the thumb that she sucks her "sucker thumb". She usually loops it though a hole in her blankie and sucks it while going to sleep. One night I heard her crying on the monitor. Usually, I wait a bit and see if she can resolve whatever it is herself. She usually can. But this time she became more and more distressed. I could hear her saying something about her thumb in between breaths of air. So I had to go check it out. When I got up there and turned on the light she said "my sucker thumb is poopy". And sure enough it was. She had apparently stuck it in her dirty diaper and couldn't possibly go back to sleep with such a quandary. I don't blame her one bit. So, we clean everything up VERY GOOD with wipes, antibacterial soap and lots of water. And with an 'all better' she went right back to sleep. I just had to include this as a precious example of some of the cutest sayings that come out of her mouth. Truly, out of the mouth of babes!

A boy's pocket

I don't usually check Aidan's pockets even though I see him putting 'stuff' in there since most of the time 'everything comes out in the wash', as they say. But after a weekend daytrip with the Quire family and watching Aidan stash items away, I thought I would check it out. That night I found 5 mostly squashed berries, a magnolia bud, 2 leaves, a battery, a crayon, a french fry and a Star Wars action figure. Thanks goodness the 'previously chewed by someone else' piece of gum I warned him against wasn't in there. And the rolly polly I saw him put in there had escaped.

I guess us girls take for granted the storage space of a purse while boys take advantage of their limited storage found in pockets. Aidan's were brimming full that day. The cutest part of the whole thing had to be watching Morgan Quire checking Aidan's pockets every couple of minutes to monitor the collection.

Oh what a time!!!!! Lake Cumberland 2008

I can't imagine a more fun filled, action packed vacation than the one we just had at Lake Cumberland. We had wonderful weather every day except for one, which meant we were out on the lake almost the whole time living life to the fullest! It was so good to see the Tomsic family, Big Jim, Sandy, Morgan and Max, our neighbors from Ohio.

Aidan and Max picked up right where they left off. They had a blast doing everything together from playing ping pong, to endlessly riding the tube. It is so funny to see the transformations of children as they grow up and how even separated by miles these two little guys stays best friends! This year it was especially funny to watch and listen as 'newly cautious' Max would warn 'always reckless' Aidan to be careful and watch out for this or that. These two are still so cute together. I think for the first time ever Aidan actually wore Max out one evening, when I heard Max exclaim "I'm burnt out, Aidan" as he crashed on the bed to go to sleep. Too funny!

Ashley and Morgan became the best of friends almost immediately. Morgan was so patient and sweet with Ashley even through her endless dawdling and then sudden bolt for the door. Ashley finally found her big sister to go everywhere with her. They enjoyed the playground, boat rides, looking for raccoons, shopping in the gift shop, and just plain old 'time together'. It was so precious!

It was like we were still neighbors and talked everyday. We all had the best time!!! You just don't find friends like that everyday.