Adventures of a Family

Michael and Hallie, I have to share a conversation that Jonah and I had yesterday. Jonah asked me again how I got my "OWIE" so I explained how I fell off the roof. Jonah said "That was a really bad idea Grandpa" followed by "I'll bet when you fell you said "OH SH!T!!" Every time I think of this conversation it puts a smile on my face. Dad/Grandpa

It's freedom, my friends. Freedom from changing Jonah's diapers, anymore, ever. You guessed it, Jonah is potty trained. We still have the occasional accident, but he's got it down. Now we only have to change one kid's poopy diapers. Just for posterity, I took a photo of his very last pile of diapers. What a big, proud boy he is.

Hide your toilet paper. Put your trash can at least 5 feet off the ground. Leave no towels on the racks. Little Mae, aka " Moo" ( more on that later) has become our little bathroom demon. Turn your back for one moment and she will decimate the place. We have included several pieces of photo evidence for your perusal . Oh, about the nick name "Moo". That would be a combination of "Mae" and "Poo" that was uttered by Michael as he entered the bathroom on night as Mae and Jonah were taking a bath. I will let you fill in the details. (ICK!)

We love you and we can't believe it's been a whole year. You have brought us so much happiness with your happy, smiley, delicate and loving ways.

The Sprouts Co-op Preschool had a wonderful Halloween party hosted by Jon, Kate and Isabel. All the kids dressed up. Thanks to Sandra's sewing skills (Stu's mom) Jonah had a punk rock outfit that matched his buddy Stu's. He was so thrilled that in most pictures his feet weren't even touching the ground (and that was before candy). Mae was a sweet little lion and enjoyed the comfy warm costume. Hallie was a faerie and I couldn't wear my costume as it was just too scary for the kids. I went as a zombie (though some of the students at Athey Creek thought I was a hobo). The only problem I see with Halloween is that now Jonah thinks that when we go on walks around the neighborhood he can just knock on a door, say trick or treat and receive candy. If only life worked that way.

Jonah has made some wonderful observations and posed some intriguing questions recently. While talking about leaves falling from trees Jonah said, "Do leaves have parachutes?" While playing down in the basement Jonah found the wireless doorbell button in his horde of toys and said, "the ding dong." Hallie teased Jonah, "You are a ding dong." Jonah replied, "I'm not a ding dong mommy I'm a little boy." Jonah is kind of becoming obsessed with a couple animated movies at the moment. Though he typically only gets to watch about 20 to 30 minutes of tv a day he still chooses to watch the same video each time... Monsters Incorporated. In a quest to end his obsession (because I really can't bare to hear Billy Crystal as the voice of a one eyed little blobby monster anymore) I showed him the movie Cars. Now all he wants to know about is "What is Lighting Mcgween doing right now?" While in the stroller Jonah asked, "Do cars h...

I started to realize the other day that although Michael and I do a lot of work keeping these two little ones alive and happy, it is all the amazing helpers in our lives that keep the two of us alive and happy. And so we are able to keep it together (for the most part!), get on with the task of being parents, and have enough energy to love our babies just a little more. We keep thanking our lucky stars that we have such giving and amazing people in our lives. So thanks grandma and grandpa diltz, grandma and grandpa clark, kealie and chris, heidi and joe, sandra and sean, gabrielle and ellie, shannon and mike, lori and ryan, terri and ro, erin and craig, jess and dylan, matt and alexis, elke and byron, miq and thui. You are all family to us and we couldn't pull this off without you. Here's to a wonderful community of friends and family that has enriched our lives so tremedously.