Happy holidays!

I think it was Lyric, in the family room, with the wooden knife...

I just swam ten laps around the tub. How about you?

Happy birthday, Lyric (one of three cakes mama made)!

What a whoosh the holidays were. Everyone got sick with a stomach bug and the kids got bronchitis! Mommy and daddy didn't get much from Ms. Chanumas, but Logan made out for the whole family, plus some extra. A Lightning McQueen puzzle, more puzzles, some puzzles, did I mention puzzles?, oodles of Hot Wheels cars, a remote control car, and a new bike (Cars, of course) Uncle Adam and Aunt Jody gave him. Training wheels and all. He can barely reach the pedals. We'll save it for the spring.

Logan is now learning to write. He can draw the letters H, L, A, and M on a regular basis. He made an F and an E tonight. He traces everything in his little workbooks given to him by his babysitter. He wrote his name once, too. And Lyric took up a marker and drew her first picture tonight too!

Our camera busted, so until we get a new one (hopefully soon), we'll only post pictures.

Lyric is a-walkin'

November 12, 2009

Logan and Lyric go for a scooter ride at playgroup!

QTPi

We're back!

While it may seem our kids have fallen off the face of the earth because it's been an ice age since I posted last, in fact, Logan and Lyric are doing pretty well, if you discount the fact that Logan still thinks his sister is a toy, ignore the whirlwind tantrums and Hot Wheels car-throwing, tune out the screeching of Lyric at 4am for no apparent reason, and forget the unceremonious dumping of Cheerios from their box onto the carpet (got that one on camera!)...I mean, they're both pretty darn cute, so in the end, that just wins out.

Lyric is desperately trying to walk these days. She cruises so fast that she sometimes just glides into a wobbly walk--then, plop, on the floor. She stands up to try again, and maybe she'll eek out a few funny unbalanced steps--then, plop, once more. Logan could take it or leave it, the fact that she's trying to walk. He's more interested in making sure she has her scratchy blanket for bed, checking she hasn't swiped one of his cars, or letting us know she needs some "moo-me" when she cries. She talks a bunch, too, now--and she's as good an eater as Logan. She had artichokes the other day--loved'm. She'll eat just about anything you put in front of her--or anything that's on the floor, like leaves and week-old Cheerios and dog food (yes, we're constantly ushering her away from danger!). We haven't tried sardines, yet, but we will :)

Logan is really a little man now. I know that because he can point down at himself and say with utter confidence, "testicles." That's a sure sign of growth. He also can identify his numbers and letters. He recognizes cool shapes like "octagon" and "hexagon." What's neat is that he points out these things even out of context--he'll point to some shape on the side of the road or on the cover of a book and tell us what it is. He also likes making letters with blocks and cars and trains. The other night we made a bendy line of Lego choo-choos. "What's that," I said. "J," he said. And it was true, the bent line of trains had formed a kind of long J. What he really excels at though is counting. He counts everything--he can get up to twenty (skipping fifteen for some reason).

Here's some pics and stuff. Cheers...

9/10/09

9/10/09

9/13/09

9/18/09

10/11/09


10/17/09

10/29/09

10/31/09

10/31/09

11/01/09

August 25, 2009 A Day at the Fair

The family had a day off during the week (thank you, Norton (Doug's boss, who also gave him a pass to park on his street so we didn't have to pay for parking at the fairgrounds)), so we went to the fair down in Dutchess.We'd never been--rides galore, animals (too many cows in Rach's opinion), and lots of expensive salty food. We had a good time. Logan and I went on the bumper cars--Logan liked it, but he chickened out on the bungee jumping and the pony ride (at least they gave us our money back). Here are some pics. We forgot the camera, so these were all taken with our phones.

August 21, 2009 Lyric goofin' by the bed

August 19, 2009 Lyric pullin'

Lyric as discovered the fine art of pulling the nip...

Lyric eyes the camera

Lyric is very mobile now--you put her down and look away for a few seconds, and she's off under the choo-choo table, or in the corner trying to chew on a ball or something. She's very happy now that she can move around on her own. Logan is cool with it, until she raids his car stash...which is actually good, since she shouldn't be teething on hot wheels anyway.

Logan and Daddy shave their heads

Well, I decided to shave my head--the mop was getting to ratty. Logan also decided he wanted to look like daddy, and willingly let Rach shave his head. He looks a whole lot like his cousin now! Plus, with all the tics around here, and me already having Lyme, we thought it was a good idea. He likes it--he also had fun trying to throw the old hair around the play room :) We took video of the whole thing, but it's too big to post.

A Trip to Montauk

Hi--couple weeks back in early July we headed to Montauk for vacation. Adam and Jody rented a house and invited us to come out. Jody's sister Melissa and her husband Todd and kids also came--we had a house with five kids all under the age of 3 (not counting me). Pretty darn crazy! Here are some pictures. We didn't get a whole lot of video, as we were all busy chasing Logan around the pool half the time, but we might have more pictures after everyone else downloads theirs.

June 25, 2009 Ba Ba...that's all!

Logan loves to show off his singing "skills."

June 18, 2009

OK, Lyric is REALLY trying to crawl here...and doing a pretty cute job of it, too!

June 17, 2009 A Toast to Math

Logan uses toast as a medium through which to practice his math skills...

June 7, 2009 Sunday with some Famola

Uncle Adam, Aunt Jody, Baby Kyle came to visit the Sunday before. Uncle Peter came as well! Pics and vids below.

Lyric is sooo jealous of Kyle's Def Leppard shirt. Who wouldn't be?

Logan looks like a big boy here...

Lyric is really a pretty good toy when it comes down to it.

Kyle is either having some gender identity issues--or he REALLY loves Def Lep.

This is from a few days before (6/2/09).

A rare moment of sibling intimacy...

Logan and Uncle Adam get down with some soccer.

Lyric and her Uncle Adam.

Lyric looking to crawl?

Lyric in a rolling mood

One moment Lyric's lounging on her pillow looking at herself in the mirror; I turn to play choo-choos with Logan, and the next thing I hear is a loud grunt from her direction. I glance over--and she's sideways off her pillow. I figured she had just attempted her first roll. So quickly I grabbed the camera--and the battery was dead! Luckily, she was in a rolling mood. A five minute charge was all it took. I recorded a few of her first attempts. Logan was into it, too (well, he did have a brownie in his mouth, so he might have been into anything at that point). She does a pretty good job! I was proud.

Helping with the Lawn

Logan on Saturday figured he'd help out a little with the lawn. I think his lawn mower works better than mine. I'll have him doing it all himself by the end of the summer so I can sit on my butt like a real dad. Muhahahaha!

Spotted together

Logan and Lyric were spotted at home in the same vicinity. No word yet as to what caused this unnatural phenomenon, as typically the two siblings are at odds with one another, vying for mama and dada's attention. "She wanted to eat his nose," an eye-witness said, "and he let her." Mama and Daddy are still recovering at the local psych ward. "And I was just getting used to him throwing trucks at her," the dad said groggily as the nurse injected him with thorazine.

Tuxedo Kyle

Logan and Lyric's cousin, Kyle, was spotted in the wild wearing Logan's old tuxedo that Nana bought for him at the flea market a while back for my sister Kate's wedding. I say he looks pretty handsome! EDIT: Ok, I messed up here--as more than one family member alerted me to. This was not the same tuxedo Nana gave Logan. It came from... I forget!