Safe Kids

Since a lot of you have kids I wanted to share this blog post about keeping kids safe from the "bad guys".

The Diaper Diaries - Keeping the Kiddos Safe

In the post she mentions another website, The Power of Parents, which has a handbook with age appropriate advice for talking to your kid about safety.

Another important website to bookmark is Family Watchdog. Everyone should check their address and register for updates about who might be moving in down the street.

Not a fun post, but something we all need to know.

Drop the {hot glue} gun and step away from the treats

Gratuitous Audrey & Miles picture.

Here we have naptime, Miles style. In mommy & daddy's bed, with brown bears and his dogs. I actually started out in there too, but didn't last very long. If he weren't asleep, there is no way Chelsea (on the right) would be on that bed. He thinks it's all a big game to chase her around the house and make her jump up from wherever she is. He has lots of fun nick names for her. Some he picked up from us - Chelsea-wellsea, Miss "C" - but he's added several of his own pop culture references too. He calls her The Big Bad Wolf, Swiper the Fox & Bad Dog Chelsea. She has earned her "bad dog" name lately, eating raw "G" cookies off the counter, climbing onto the breakfast nook bench to clean an abandoned plate, even knocking the table over in her quest for crumbs. Sneaky dog.

Take note of Miles's artful arrangement of the Little People Nativity on our headboard. And the USA map behind my nightstand? That was removed from his wall because he "doesn't like California." Not sure where that one came from!

I actually finished my crafty project from last week! Well, almost, I need to come up with a jazzy Dec 25th marker, but I have a month to do that. It's a cookie sheet with magnets to mark the days until Christmas. I had never done any paper scrapping before, so I had lots of fun with the paper & stickers, using the hot glue gun and my new fave, Mod Podge!! Miles saw me working on this and is all set for playing with the pieces once we decorate.

the Turkey

Here's Miles's Turkey... a countdown to Thanksgiving. We're writing something he's thankful for on each feather until Thanksgiving Day. So far we have some gems like chapstick, owls, ice cream and Christmas that he's thankful for. With a few leading questions, we've also got several family members, friends and pets. At least this year he's planning on celebrating Thanksgiving. Last year he blew straight from Halloween to Christmas!

We started planning what to get for daddy for Christmas. Sorry to spoil anything, Wayne, but the list so far is windows, a cave, a bear and a tuba. He said he would teach daddy how to play.

Speaking of holiday fun, YaYa told us about TCM's family classics series running in December. Not too many that Miles will get into, but maybe the Herbie marathon on Dec. 28 will be fun. If not there's always the classic kids Christmas shows on ABC Family. I'm sure Miles will watch a few of those this year.

Audrey is inching closer to crawling. She'll do a little army crawl and draw herself toward something if it is REALLY exciting. But not much has qualified there. She's also about to cut her two front teeth, so that has made for some cranky bedtimes recently. Hope they cut through soon!

I'm off to enjoy some quiet time since both kids are asleep and Wayne's down the street at the first neighborhood (?) poker game. What shall I do? Clean (no), cook (probably not), TV (eh) read (hmmm) or attempt to be crafty. (Ding ding winner!!) We'll see how my attempt at this turns out....

8 months old

Lest it passes by unmarked, here are some of the exciting things that 8 month old Audrey is doing:

.: Sitting nice and tall. She can get up on her hands and knees and has scooted forward a little, but is not crawling. She still scoots backward and rolls to get around. Loves to stand holding onto her activity table or your fingers. She is brave and will let go with one hand to reach for something.

.: She can wave and clap her hands together. She can swat a ball back and forth with you for a while.

.: She's very vocal, even demanding (the fiery redhead coming through). She says lots of different sounds including yayayayaya, mamamamama, and da! And she responds (turns to you) when you say her name.

.: Although we had a few interrupted nights recently, she's generally sleeping from 6pm to 8am then takes 2 naps that are about an hour long.

.: Eating a LOT! She's likes yogurt, Cheerios, pieces of Raven's pumpkin bread, Puffs and toast. She's also gnawed on a raw carrot, shaving little pieces off with her 2 teeth. I have made most of her baby food, which includes applesauce (from our neighbor's apple tree), pears, bananas, blueberries, avocado, peas, sweet potatoes and butternut squash. It really was much easier than I thought, and my freezer is full of baggies of colorful ice cubes.

.: She loves her doggies and her brother the most! Unless it's feeding time, then she only has eyes for me.

Trick or Treat!

Miles & Audrey had a great Halloween! Miles decided to be a leopard {RAWR!}, vetoing the Handyman and Diego ideas he had. Audrey, who had no voice in her costume, was a cutie-patootie cow. We invited some friends from up and down the street to gather at our house so the kids could trick or treat together. Boy did they have fun!



We set out around 5:30 and with Daylight Savings still in effect it was a bright sunny evening. We tried to do a group shot in the wagons, but with 7 kids that wasn't going to work. Here in the top wagon are Audrey and the 2 lions, Hayes and Fenn. The boys both turn one in December. In the other wagons we had Suzanne, Cade, Miles and Morgan, all around 3 years old. After some pictures, the trail of wagons, strollers and camera wielding parents made the way to find houses ready for us.




The big kids had no trouble with the concept, running across lawns & ringing the doorbell. I think they always said trick or treat and the even remembered their thank yous. Miles would come back to me and say, "Look at all my CANDY!!" Audrey even collected a few pieces, which she nicely shared with mommy and daddy.




I brought Audrey home for bed while Wayne took Miles a little bit further down the street. When he came home he got 3 piece of candy (his age): some Nerd-Warts thing, M&Ms and a Hershey miniature. He ate his m&ms just like I do, sorted by color and quantity! The candy stash is dwindling, mostly due to parental pilfering, but he has enjoyed his one treat a day since. Hope his teeth make it. Now we're gearing up for Thanksgiving, though he has asked about a few Christmas decorations already. Patience!