Jonathan's Post

Since Jonathan doesn't talk yet, I haven't included him in my blog postings (which are primarily funny things the bigger kids say.) I realize this is not fair to my youngest, so I'd like to rectify that.

Jonathan started taking steps about 10 days ago. He is now venturing around taking half a dozen steps at a time before crawling to complete his journeys. He enjoys pushing large balls up the slide in our living room and when he finally makes it to the top with the ball (he is persitant) he cheers for himself! Then we all clap too and tell him what a big boy he is. He really likes clapping, more so than the other kids did/do.

Jonathan also had his first big boy time at the park. For the first time yesterday, he wanted to climb and slide at the park, just like the big kids. He crawled from play structure to play structure and then went up the stairs to play with the steering wheels, go down slides, hang on the the bars like a monkey in a cage. He really is a lot of fun for everyone.

Pool Party

Our apartment complex had an end of summer pool party, complete with DJ and burritoes. We thorooughly enjoyed swimming with the kids. They really are quite confident in the water now.

At the party, two competitions were held; one was a hula hoop contest and the other was limbo. Jimmy and Amelia eagerly participated in both. Neither kid has used a hula hoop. Jimmy watched the other kids begin to spin the hula hoops around their middles and decided to give it a go. He held on tight to the hula hoop and ran in circles as fast as he could to create the illusion of a spinning hula hoop. Amelia decided that the best way to make the hula hoop go round was to hold on and twist her waist from side to side so that both she and the hula hoop did quarter turns in either direction. While they didn't win (and 9 year old girl one, and paraded around the pool spinning the hoop the rest of the evening, even eatting and drinking while making it go) I gave them points for creativity. Jimmy has done the limbo before and stayed in for the entire song. Amelia cheated and went under ducking forwards everytime. (Although there were times she didn't need to duck to clear the bar)

The Flag

I never realized how many United States flags are flying around town until Amelia became infatuated with them. Every time we pass one (driving, walking, etc) she bursts into song (which she made up herself, mostly) and while it doesn't really have much of a tune, it makes me feel patriotic!

Amelia's Flag Song
RED WHITE AND BLUE!
My country too!
My flag my flag my country's flag
Everytime I see my country's flag
I have to sing a song about my country's flag
RED WHITE AND BLUE!

Jimmy's job

Jimmy wants to be just like his Dad (and who wouldn't?!) and he often tells us of the antics at his work "GSRI." He is not sure what Dad does at his job, so he often includes the names of Daddy's coworkers in his stories and makes up the rest.
Jimmy: I got in trouble at work the other day.
Me: What happened?
Jimmy: Well, I am a lumberjack for GSRI and I chop down trees... well, I accidently chopped down a tomato plant instead of a tree. I didn't know it was a tomato plant instead of a tree. I hope I don't get in trouble at GSRI.

Baseball game

Last week we went to Frederick Maryland to catch and Keys game. The Frederick Keys are a minor league baseball team. As we walked up to the gates, Amelia sang for us:
Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out to the crowd!
(missing a few lines here)
I can't ever relax cause it's
Woot! Woot! Woot! for the home team
If they don't win its a shame,
For it's one, two, three strikes your out at the old ball game!

Road Trip

What summer would not be complete without a road trip? Our family took a road trip across Southern Pennsylvania last month, visiting Valley Forge, Hershey Park and Gettysburg. It was an enjoyable trip with a lot of pretty countryside, mostly farms and rolling hills covered with trees. Pennsylvania also has a nuclear power plant or two. The stacks were visible for part of our drive. As we left the area, Jimmy said in a very disappointed voice:

"Hey I can't see the nuclear power anymore!"

Jimmy's discourse on Kilts

I was folding laundry with the kids earlier this summer when the following conversation took place.
Amelia, teasing "Jimmy, here's your skirt!"
Jimmy frowns
Me "That's silly, boys don't wear skirts!"
Jimmy "Well, boys do wear skirts. They are called kilts and men wear them with big heavy purses. They wear the purses so that when they sit down their private parts don't show. I don't think I want to wear a kilt. I think that the big heavy purse would be too heavy for me."

I have no idea where he learned about the sporan, or even if that is REALLY the reason they wear them.

Third times the charm?

Hi All! I am giving the internet another try. I filled up my first website, can't log on to my second one and am hoping the third time is the charm! With this website, I intend to post the funny or otherwise unusual things that my kiddo diddos say. Uploading photos was a little complex for our computer/internet connection to do reliably, so I'll stick to words this time. I hope it will amuse you and help you get to know them a little bit better!