Out of the mouths of babes...

Today, as I was cleaning out some drawers, Mason asked me if all of my nail polish was from the "toenail store" (as he calls my nail salon).  I told him that it was from Target and he said, "Oh.  I like Target better than the Space Center."  Atta boy!  (We just went to the Space Center on Saturday).



For the past few days we have been on the hunt for the RED version of a toy that Mason has in blue.  The kids and I, and sometimes Daddy, went in several stores with no luck.  I FINALLY located the red one while the kids were at school the other day and I presented it to Owen as soon as I picked him up.  He was SO excited!  He asked me several enthusiastic questions about how/where I found it and then said, "we've been lookin' and lookin' and lookin'!" 

The kids begged me to get some "red soup" (tomato soup) for lunch yesterday so we stopped at Panera Bread.  They also informed me they wanted the go-gurt (yogurt in a tube) to go with it.  We picked out a table that was right near a couple of 60ish year old grandma-looking women.  I was filling my drink and the ladies started talking to Owen and Mason.  One asked what they were eating. 
"It's SOUP!" 
Then Mason said, "and this is yogurt.  It keeps my poo-poo soft."  The ladies cracked up and had to agree with him.


For the fall/winter I decided to get them some Land's End down vests.  The kids spent a lot of time looking at the computer to decide which color they wanted and then we waited patiently for them in the mail.  They finally arrived and the kids were very excited and proud to put them on.  (They had previously been strutting around in some vests from last year that are too small).  The very first thing they said/did (which they did not do in the old vests) was
"Now we're garbage mans!" 
"Yeah, let's go drive our truck!" 
And off they went to the foot of my bed to pretend to drive around, and then get down off the bed to collect "trash" from around the house. 


Let's face it, there's no logistical way around peeing in front of your kids while smooshed together in a public restroom stall.  Of course I have them stand back, etc, etc to gain as much privacy as two curious three year olds will give, but it never fails, as I'm squatting there (no I don't sit!) :
"Mommy, why are you going tee-tee out of your bottom???" 
"Because, honey, mommies don't have ding-dings." 
"WHY?"..............

Hawaii Vacation, Part 1

I can't believe its taken so long to get to any Hawaii blogging! Between 3 cameras we had over 3000 pictures to go through. We have finally whittled them down to our favorite ones. All 650 of them! You ready?

Just kidding!

Here are some of the highlights:

We had a super long travel day from Houston to Honolulu. Our day started at 6 AM and we weren't settled in our room until 11 PM (Texas time). Owen and Mason did GREAT during the long layover and long flight! It was definitely a preview of what was to come with them - just go with the flow.

Here are Granddaddy and Owen burning some energy in the Phoenix airport.

Excited boys taking their first steps in Hawaiian sand on the way to dinner. (O, M)

My super tired kiddos on their first night in the "Hawaii Hotel" as it was called the entire trip. (O, M)

The first full day we were there was Aaron's 30th birthday.  Not a bad way to ring in the new decade, especially when its started off with some Malasadas from Leonard's!

Owen and Mason were so excited to be in Hawaii that they wore their life jackets before we ever left the hotel.

They also gave us a lesson on snorkeling first thing in the morning.

We then headed to East Oahu for some of our favorite things.  Our first dip in the ocean was at Kailua Beach which has super soft sand and sparkling blue water.  Then we got some lunch at Maui Taco, did a little shopping, and headed back to the "secret" hotel pool where the kids enjoyed pool-side smoothies while looking out over Waikiki Beach.  Not a bad set up!

(Mason, Owen)

This video is a perfect caption of the fun we were having that day!  The kids were in great moods and the whole family (including Granna, Granddaddy, and Aunt Lindsay) were having a fun time playing in the water!

 (Owen, Mason)

 (Mason, Owen)

 

After our quick swim, we all got cleaned up for a wonderful fireworks show over Waikiki Beach with a perfect view right from the balcony!  Then we headed to the Outrigger for Daddy's birthday dinner at Duke's Canoe Club.

And no birthday is complete without a duet performance of Happy Birthday from the sweetest voices around!

Owen's in blue and Mason's in red.  I know, opposite "favorite color" jammies.  They were trying to trick us!

Here are the links to the rest of the pictures from the first couple of days:

8-26-10 Travel Day

8-27-10 East Oahu

A funny story about Owen

Because this needs to be documented...

Owen doesn't have a lot of experiences with automatic faucets in restrooms so today during a trip to the potty with Daddy he noticed the faucet didn't have handles (which to him means he can't control the temperature). Just before he stuck his hands under he said "cold please."

I guess now he thinks he has some magical powers at controlling water temperature since obviously cold water came out of the faucet! I love it!!

Preschool and Potty Training

The kids have had an important past few days - learning to use the potty and starting preschool. The official first day of school was 2 weeks ago but we were out of town and then, despite my hopes of starting last Wednesday (the day after we got back from Hawaii), they were simply too jet lagged to start. We didn't get back on a good schedule until Sunday. We used the weekend to really get good at going potty, making them go naked practically the whole time. They did pretty good, not too many "leaks" as they say, and Owen even took himself to the potty to do his business (for a lollipop). Mason is notorious for having a harder time in that area and it wasn't until Sunday that he got his lollipop! And when it was time he ran to the potty on his own. He was pretty bummed out on Saturday that it hadn't happened for him yet, even saying "Owen is doing good" after Owen got 3 lollipops to Mason's none. After spending most of the weekend with a naked bottom, they were finally doing well enough for a little Risky Business action.  Here's Owen:

Monday morning was their first day of school. We have been so busy lately that it snuck up on us (even though we were two weeks late in starting). I didn't really talk a lot about it prior to them starting and we missed meet the teacher, so I was fully expecting a rough morning. Before we left the house, it was looking grim as far as Mason making it to school. He had a meltdown over his shoes and then wouldn't sit on the potty. I don't have enough trust yet that they can make a 20 minute car ride so it was very important for him to take his morning pee! It was quite a battle and Owen and I had to pretend we were leaving for school several times before he realized he didn't want to be left behind.

 Luckily Mason let me get the obligatory picture on the front porch.

And for posterity, here is one from last year.

He finally peed and got his clothes on. And we did make it all the way to school clean and dry. Happily, Owen and Mason went right in and got to work and when I hugged them good-bye there were no tears. I sent a bunch of extra clothes because I wasn't confident that they would tell the teacher that they had to go potty. At home they pretty much just take themselves to the potty. They aren't very experienced on what to do when they don't know where the potty is. But, when I picked them up they were both still in the same shorts they arrived in! YAY!! No accidents!

Photoverload!

We're finally back from Hawaii and we had a WONDERFUL time! It's hard to come back to reality after 12 days in paradise! The trip was just all around fantastic and the kids did amazing hiking, snorkeling, not napping, and being run ragged every day! I can't wait to blog all about it and post pictures but between our camera, my parent's camera, and my sister's camera we took over 3000 pictures and 365 videos! We are still sifting through them all and trying to get them into some sort of chronological order. You'd think we would have learned from last time to all sync our date/time stamps on our cameras - but amid all the excitement upon arrival, the cameras just started clicking and we never thought once about it! So, after all of that is done (I think we've almost got it!) we will post some awesome pics!