Luke

For a while now I've been trying to take a picture of Mimi with her current hair style that looks a lot like Luke Skywalker's. I think I got it finally.Superman is into really predictable games of hide and seek. In fact, he tells the seeker where to find him, hides in the same spot nearly every time and sometimes tells the hider where to hide.

Tomorrow is Superman's first day of school (sort-of, he missed the real first day due to sickness). I will take a picture and post that soon.

Concord Grapes

Notice how they both use their left hands? Hmmm...


There is a grape vine in our back yard. So for family home evening this week we picked grape for jelly. They really enjoyed helping- one grape at a time...

There is a book called Goodnight Gorilla. It's a picture book consisting mostly of a zoo keeper saying goodnight to his animals and lots of pages with no words at all. On one wordless page, Greg improvises what a character in the book would say (in Spanish, no less) when she sees her bedroom full of zoo animals. "Que Paso!..." and he goes on.

I don't say this, of course, I don't know Spanish, nor what it is that Greg says at that part. But the other night while I was reading this book to Mimi and Superman was in the room, when I came to and passed that page with out saying that phrase in Spanish, Superman said:"It's 'Que Paso' you know!"

Up, Up

Here's some funny kid stories, sorry the pictures are lacking.

Tonight before dinner I motioned to Mimi to fold her arms for the prayer. When she did I gave her a thumbs up to show approval. Just as I looked away, she gave me a thumbs up in return. I laughed so hard we had to postpone the prayer.

The other day at the park, Superman saw a man run laps and then get down on the grass and do some crunches (touching his right elbow to his left knee). After watching him for a couple of minutes, Superman said,"Why can't that guy get up?"

Happy Labor Day

Exams

So Greg is studying every spare minute these days. This past Saturday while Mimi took a nap, Superman and I went to the library to give him some quiet time. When we were on our way, he reminded me that we forgot to bring Mimi and Dad. I explained that Dad was studying and then
Superman said: "What a studying boy!"
I said: "You're adorable."
Superman then said: "I'm pretty smart."

Here he is with his new cape. I know this is a terrible picture, but you can see his expression and arm movements. I'll try to get a better picture, and I'll have plenty of opportunity, he's been wearing it all day. When he first got it he kept turning the cape over and over looking for the big "S" for Superman. I told him I ran out of fabric. Any tips out there on getting a logo onto a cape?

Toys

Some years ago, Mom gave me a box of stuff that is older then me. Little toys, odds and ends, left over game pieces. I remember playing with this stuff for most of my childhood, they played with it for most of Thursday. We sorted things by colors, built little towers and then played marbles. I have no idea how to play marbles, but they didn't seem to mind. (The red on their mouths is from raspberry lemonade, yum.)
Mimi's first day of Nursery was today, she bit two kids and is now called "the biter". I am of course mortified, but why do we label people? So she bit? It's not like she'll be 17 and biting people as she graduates from High School.

Hockey Golf

It must not be that tough to get video on a blog, because I figured it out. (There's no audio.)

Me Ma

"Me Ma" is the phrase that Mimi says a lot. I'm not sure what it means, but if she is yelling it and reaching for something, let's say milk, then I will say "say please" and she will immediately quiet down and whisper "Me Ma". She also learned to say "ah man!" and I'm not sure how...
We went miniature golfing this week. I think Superman may like hockey better, or at least he plays golf as if it were hockey. I'll try to figure out how to post videos and you can see for yourself.
My sister came up for the weekend and we had cake for her birthday. That is now one of Mimi's favorite words. In an effort to find something that Mimi will eat (besides cake) Greg gave her raisin bran, she LOVES it. What 18-month-old chooses that over Cheerios?

You may notice that Superman's hair is getting long and is getting in his eyes. At breakfast the other day he said, "I can't see because my hair is hurting my eyes. "

Just a note: Mimi has been asking to sit on the toilet lately. I'll spare you any details, but today, she produced. Wouldn't it be amazing if my two children were potty trained with in a year of each other? I won't get my hopes up.

The house was suddenly quiet and this is what I found. Each of them in their old car seat that they have grown out of and I don't know what to do with.

Sometimes I look at houses to buy on the internet, Superman gets pretty upset, he told me today that we are "not buying any house, we already have this one".
Our garden is in full production. Lots of tomatoes, many green beans, and a couple cucumbers...Yum...
Mimi is actually smiling in this picture and is showing off her first mani. If Superman had ever shown an interest in getting his nails painted, I may have done it, but he never did. Mimi on the other hand, was really interested and so before church I did paint her nails.

I still have not yet posted the rest of our vacation photos, but I have a good feeling about this week...

Utah Adventures

This is just a couple of the HUNDREDS of pictures that we took over the last week and a half on our trip to Utah. We had a handful of family reunions, we swam in as many different pools, and had a few firsts.
Superman's first fish, thanks Granddad!
My first time allowing a photo to be taken of me in a swim suit in 20 years
Superman's first 2 times to climb very different mountains
Mimi's first corn on the cob

As I get more pictures from other family members, I will put it all in an on-line photo album, and send out the link--let me know if you would like me to send it to you. There are some great pictures of family groups (matching t-shirts and all), other adventures, and some more firsts.

NYC

"Watch out, Cannonball!" --that was Superman's exclamation the minute that we entered the pool area, he had taken off this shirt and sandals in record time, and was jumping in the pool before anyone else was in the water. Greg was able to save him, but not before I cried a little bit.
We started to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, but it was such a beautiful day and most of NY thought the same thing, so we turned back. Later we went to Greg's friend's apartment and found the bridge from another point of view.

Pig Tails

Such cheesy kids.
After church Mimi feel asleep, Greg volunteered to stay with her until she woke up. It was raining pretty hard.
My neighbor has been excited to put pig tails into Mimi's hair for some time now. She babysat Mimi a few days ago and when I came to pick her up I didn't even recognize her.

BOOM!

Our town has fireworks on July 3rd? Weird. We walked up to the pyrotechnics display, got some snow cones (that line was shortest), and sat down just in time for show to begin. Just then Mimi spit up a bunch of milk, and fell right to sleep. Superman was scared for the first time in his life of the fireworks, but since it lasted 35 *long* minutes, he got used to it and had fun after all.
We also had fun at a neighborhood BBQ. See the cute little girl in the left of this picture? I always imagined that my kids would be shaped like this--with cute pudge and round belly--but mine are all muscle. (May they always stay that way.) This little girl also talked to me a lot--also, something I thought my kids would do.
Superman just came to me and said the following:
"I want to tell you about myself. Once when I was eating ice cream, ah, and when I was seeing the fireworks, I was coving my ears, it was so loud, but I saw a big huge one! Did Mimi
"frow" up on you? I was scared, I was on Daddy's lap and what I said was 'Boom shalak lak Boom' "
--that's part of a House of Pain song that Greg likes to sing with Superman, his speech has come a long way this year.