Little things to remember

Today was just an ordinary day (outside of Dave having a major arrest going down and work that will probably keep him there all night). But as I've been recounting the day in my mind while doing dishes, I reminded myself that I should occasionally write about the tiny things that I would never in a million years remember. Surely a hundred such events happen everyday but today I'm going to write about just a couple of them.

Tyler.....It has been a least a month, maybe two, since Tyler actually fell asleep at home for a nap (if this happens, it only happens on the couch now). I should note that he has needed a nap every day of that one or two months. If we go out in the car anytime after about 2:30 in the afternoon, he's asleep in about 3 minutes but for some reason, I guess there is too much to do, he doesn't sleep at home. For the last week, he has been especially tired and the rascally, whiney, angry, short tempered boy that he turns into when he is tired have been present far too often. So, I probably shouldn't have been surprised when he sat down to take a rest at 3:00 and fell asleep at about 3:20. Enter motherly conflict.....he's tired and needs a nap, let him sleep......it's 3:20 and if he sleeps now, he won't be able to fall asleep at bedtime. So, I let him sleep for a half hour and then tried to wake him up to go to a park. Here I have to take a short break and make a confession. Lately I've been really tired because I've been staying up late and getting up early. Sometimes when Hailey is napping and Ty and I are playing in the play room I tell him I just need a 2 minute rest and ask him to play by himself for just a couple minutes while I close my eyes. He usually gives me about a minute and a half. I guess he's only 3. Back to the story, when I woke him up and asked him if he wanted to go to the park with Hailey and me he said "yes, but I just need a 2 minute rest first". Of course.

At the park Tyler was trying really hard to play and be friend with two girls (obviously close friend) who must have been 4 or 5. They wanted nothing to do with him but he seemed oblivious to this and continued to play right by them. At one point, while I was a ways a way with Hailey, I hear Tyler saying "Kids, excuse me, excuse me kids, I want to tell you something". I'm pretty sure they continued to ignore him, but he contiued on, "when I grow up, I'm going to work". End of comment. I experience new "mom" moments all the time and though I felt bad that the girls weren't really paying attention or caring about what he said, I felt a sense of pride that he had such good manners and said excuse me when he wanted them to listen......I wish I heard that around the house more often.

Hailey....Hailey discovered Dave's/or my swim goggles and has been wearing them around the house for fairly long periods of time. She looks so funny but goes about her business as if they aren't even there. She has also figured out how the light switches work and would spend a long time flipping them on and off if I had more patience. Her funniest thing right now is that any time you ask her a question she says "Noooooo", in a very funny nice voice. Her no often means yes and she is fully aware of it. The last little tidbit for Hailey is that this morning, I put two of the tiniest little hair clips you've ever seen in her hair. I told her they were so pretty so she wouldn't rip them out. I thought they looked pretty cute though it's obviously a little premature still as hardly any hair was in the clips. Dave burst my bubble when he said it looked like she had staples in her head. I'm still holding out for hair accessories by Christmas.

Tyler - more outdoors

Not too much to say here but I've took a few fun pictures of Tyler over the last few days while playing outside. Here's a couple of him mowing the lawn with Daddy. He also learned to climb one of the little trees in the backyard. He's actually climbing really high now (though I didn't get a picture of the high climb). Now, if only he can figure out how to get down once he gets up there. He probably climbed up 50 times yesterday and had scrapes, scratches and bruises all over to prove it (though the injuries didn't bother him one bit).

Mowing the lawn just like dad

I have climbed a treeVery proud

Help! (sorry for the bad lighting on this one)

Hailey - teeth and shoes

Hailey's teeth are finally starting to come in. It's been interesting because Tyler was late in getting his teeth and they came in in an unusual order. Oddly Hailey's teeth are late as well and she's getting them in the same order as Tyler. She's had her four front teeth for a while. Over the last month her four molars have come in (the bottom ones in just the last couple of weeks). She has another front (on the right next to her front tooth) tooth that is trying it's best to break through and I can see the very beginnings of a couple more. I think over the next few months her mouth is going to fill up with teeth. I remember with Tyler that when they don't have teeth it's so hard to envision of full set teeth when they smile. Then once they come in, it's hard to believe they ever were not there. Her four tooth grin is pretty cute and it will be sad to see it go but between no hair and no teeth, she needs something to show her age :).

Speaking of hair, I had to include this pic to prove that hair is growing....at least about 15 strands that hang nicely over her right ear......

I've taken a few shoe pictures over the last couple of days. Hailey loves to walk around the house in other peoples shoes (of course when it's her own shoes I can't keep them on her). She wears them for a long time. Here is her runway modeling of the Quiggle family shoes (mostly Tyler's).

Ty's new shoes

Ty's car shoes

Daddy's shoesHow she started her morning

I'm sure this is massive photo overload but I love Hailey's expressions in this series.

All wet....and I see sand

Here it is mom

Hmmm...why is it sticking to my fingers

Eeeesh (ie help)

Circus.

Sunday night we went to the Circus with some friends. We weren't sure how it would go, figuring the kids would either love it or hate it. Fortunately, they loved it. It was over 2 hours long and both kids sat happily in our laps totally captivated most of the time. What a success! It was by far the longest Hailey has ever sat still and by the end she was dancing to the music on Dave's lap, loving it all. Tyler was most impressed by the motorcycles that rode around inside a sphere, the motorcycle that rode up the tight rope and the huge motorcycle that drove around on the ground. But really he was liked it all. He spent the ride home and some of today, reliving the experience. He's had lots of questions about the clown and why he wasn't following the rules. Both he and Hailey have been watching the 2 minute video of the circus on the circus' website over and over today. Turns out it is hard to get pictures at the circus with our little camera....most came out too dark. We'll have to take the big camera next time.

Family pic at the circus

Opening Act

The BIG motorcycle

Motorcycle on tight rope

Preschool BBQ

Friday night Tyler's preschool had a BBQ/Hoedown for all the kids and families. They had made cowboy hats in school on Friday to wear to the BBQ. Surprising, Tyler was not only excited to where his "hat" but wore it the whole time we were there. It was fun to eat hot dogs and hamburgers (and cookies!) and then play. They did some dancing in the gym. There were lots of people there so it was a little hard to figure out who exactly was in our class but it was still a fun event and Tyler had a great time (though he did say the loud music was hurting his brain). Dave even took a little break from work to come with us which was a huge help.

Cowboy Tyler

Eating with messy Hailey

Dance Break

Every last bit of summer

Our nice weather has been back the last couple of days and we've been making the most of every minute. After the last couple weeks of colder fall like weather we are trying to soak up every last ray of sunshine to help get us through the winter. Today was definitely an outdoor day. This morning Dave took the kids down to the park at the bottom of our hill and they played for quite a while. We've gone to this park a lot this summer. It has been an especially good outing right after dinner when the kids seem to suddenly have all this energy to burn off. But truth be told we visit it in the mornings and afternoons sometimes too. It has a cement basketball court that is perfect for Tyler to ride his bike and Hailey to kick around the socker ball. There is some playground equipment and Hailey really like going down the slide. Then there is a really big grass field with a hill at the far end. The kids love to run down the field and then up to the top of the hill. Tyler runs up and down the hill endlessly. These couple of pictures are actually from earlier in the summer but the park hasn't changed much :).

Request for a family slide

The field of endless possibilities (and the hill)

While Hailey napped this afternoon, Tyler and I played out in the backyard. One of his favorite things to do is to play with water from the hose, and more specifically try out all the different spray options on the sprayer. This usually begins as a watering of the garden and then just turns into pure fun as he writes water letters (mostly T) on the fence, makes water ruts in the bark and see's how far in the air he can make the water go. While playing in the water today we decided to get some bowls and cups out and do some measuring. Toward the end he decided it would be fun to pour the water down his front. Not a big deal but Tyler isn't a huge fan of wet clothes so in short order he was back to playing with the water in only his underwear and boots. Not too long after that he figured out he could fill up the entire inside of his boots and have minipools for his feet (which had socks on them). He was so funny. It's fun to see him come out of his shell every once in a while for moments like this.

Ready for waterCautious beginnings
Letting loose

You had to know this was coming

Discovery - Boots hold water

Look Mom!! Squishy feet

When Hailey woke up we went to a park in Mill Creek that we hadn't been to before. The kids had a blast. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera but I'm sure we will go back. We played for an hour and a half. The park had a great toy fire engine the kids could get in and drive. It also had a play structure that worked great for both Tyler and Hailey. It seems like a lot of parks right now are great for Tyler but on the dangerous side for Hailey or great for Hailey and boring for Tyler. So this park was a great find. Even after being there so long I had to carry Hailey to the car kicking and screaming because she wanted to stay.

The end of a fun day....couldn't get them to look at the camera because they were too enthralled with Barney (the babysitter while I get both kids bathed on Dave's work nights).

Hailey loves her books

Hard to believe they spend all day fighting

First day of preschool 2008

It was Tyler's first day of school today and he did great. I was expecting lots of crying and clinging this morning (as we experienced last year for the 1st half of the year) but he went right in. My fingers are crossed for Friday. I didn't get too much out of him as far as his day other than he played trains (what a shock) and had Ritz crackers for snack. The 5-10 minute commute was great. He is in what they call the "train room" class which has a train theme. We've heard that his teachers are great so we are looking forward to the coming year. They have a family BBQ on Friday evening to meet other families (not sure how you know which families belong to your class but anyway). Meanwhile, it was fun to have some alone time with Hailey. It's been a while since I've had a chunk of time with just her. I was surprised at how busy she kept herself and how involved she became in her toys when Tyler wasn't around to rip things out of her hand or distract her. I'm hoping we have a great year a head of us.

Ready to go to school

Class room and teachers
Drop off - they read books while waiting for all the kids to arriveInside the classroom
Circle time mat

Meanwhile at home, Hailey the hornet, being her crazy self.

Bagel snack with attitude - oh and no eating in the living roomthese are her "gasses"