Daddy in charge

blowing bubbles at joy school. 

Tucker driving the car they made out of cushions.  Whitney riding in the trailer.

Whitney asked for this picture.  We were all loving the sun.

"fishing"

This weekend I went to a friend's wedding.  Daddy was in charge and boy was it fun!!  The first night I called to talk to them they sounded very excited.  Whitney told me all about the special O's she ate for dinner and Tucker was excited about chocolate rice pudding.  Whitney also commented about how she got to watch "Dora on Papa's ipad" (his kindle that he hasn't really used as much as they have).  When I talked to Jeremy on the phone he said Whitney had thrown up the night before and all day Saturday, she was perfectly content to be still.

I guess Saturday was a beautiful day outside.  It worked out pretty well.  Jeremy said Tucker played outside pretty much from 11 to 5 while Whitney sat in a chair watching Dora.  Jeremy said he rotated her around the driveway to stay in the sun (a desirable thing around here).  It sounded like he was taking care of his little plant.  The next day she was grumpy but back to running around.  Tucker played outside while Jeremy worked on my brakes.  Of course Tucker wanted to help.  And being outside was heavenly for everyone.

On Sunday when I called, it was in the afternoon and there was a lot of whining going on in the background.  I asked if he wanted me to call back a different time and he said no, that it probably wouldn't matter when I called. They were grumpy that day.  I didn't even bother asking what time they went to bed the last two nights.  Or what they had to eat the day before.

 Jeremy was chuckling at Whitney when I was on the phone.  Apparently she made herself a fort to keep Tucker from touching her while he was randomly moving about the room, flinging his arms about.  While she was in her fort, she watched more Dora.  This was about 2 in the afternoon when I was talking to him.  Jeremy insisted, though, just as I got on the phone with him, that all that was happening and she hadn't been watching Dora until just then, that it was the first time she was watching Dora all day.  He seemed pretty proud of that.

Tucker was having fun playing "purse picnic".  They went on picnics around the house, filling up the purse with food.  True.  When we go on picnics, I fill up a reusable bag with food.  It looks like their play purse.

When I got home, my hubby and I were talking about laundry.  It was then I discovered that the kids hadn't bathed all weekend, nor did they create much laundry since he put the same outfit on all weekend.  He said he had to get tricky because if he pulled it out of the dirty clothes where Whitney put it, she would get mad and say they were dirty.  I did ask specifically if he at least changed their underwear.  Everyone knows the answer to that, but in the same sentence he said no, he said Whitney had no accidents all weekend, even though he pretty much fed them two entire large containers of Odwalla juice, one green and one pink, through the weekend.  I have to admit, even though they had a lot of sugar, he did make sure they got their greens.  So, not everything was done exactly the way I would have done it, but they were sure having fun with Dad.  I do remember the same thing growing up.  All new rules when Mom was gone.  I loved having that fun with Dad, but being happy when the normal routine showed up again.  Whatever.  They are alive, happy and no one had bad dreams when I got back, so we're good.  And I had a blast!

Friday also ended up being beautiful for a half day.  We went to the kid's museum in the morning, but stopped at the park on the way home since the clouds had dissapaited.  I wasn't anticipating being outside that Friday, so we went to the park jacketless!  Hence the picture without their jackets.  It was definitely cool, but once you started running around, the temperature was tolerable for an hour.  They had so much fun playing on the playground and walking on the path.  While they were climbing up the corkscrew ladder, Whitney was instructing Tucker to be careful so they didn't step on each other's fingers.  She said "I'm the big sister!" and Tucker said "Yeah!  You are the big sister!" agreeing completely and with such enthusiasm.  I had a good laugh about how he totally agreed and that's why she could make the rules about when to climb up and down so they wouldn't hurt each other.  We collected flowers, threw rocks in the water, Tucker jump in puddles while Whitney went around (Tucker was wearing boots), and went "fishing".  They collected lots of different sticks, dipped them in the water and fed their "fish" to me.

While we were at the kid's museum in the morning, we played climbing in the tree house, looking through the microscope, "loud, loud water", in the water, painting on the glass on the side of the fish tank, trains, building towers with a bridge across to each tower and in the sand box.  Whitney also found the face painting station and immediately requested to go there next.  She got a blueberry on her face.  she left it on all day.  All in all we had a really great time on Friday just playing together!!

It was good to play together because during the week they played pretty nicely together while I did a bunch of stuff.  Joy school was at our house this week, plus I was in charge of the Activity Day girls activity this week.  It meant a lot of time prepping for each thing. One time while I was prepping, Whitney asked me what I was doing.  I told her I was getting ready for Activity Days and she asked, "Where are you taking us?"  For most of the past 6 months, I've had to take them to a friend's house to watch them while I went, due to Jeremy being gone so much.  Whitney was VERY HAPPY to hear that Papa was coming home to be with her so she didn't have to go anywhere and "be scared".  She prefers to be at home during those times.

Joy school was especially fun this past week.  The lessons were full of types of activities I've been wanted to do with them.  I like doing science-like activities and the lesson had lots of ideas.  We blew bubbles using a straw in a cup full of soapy water.  That turned out really fun.  One of the kids made this huge mountain of bubbles out of the cup.  Tucker prefered to stir and stir with his bubbles, making lots of froth.  Whitney stirred a little, then painted her bubbles on her paper.  We added a little food coloring and that was even more fun.

I also made the cornstarch/water oobleck stuff.  No one was really interested in it except for Tucker.  He absolutely loved it.  He played with it for a good half an hour instead of playing with his buddies during free time.  He also played with it off and on during the day while I cooked, cleaned and prepped for some more joy school.

I read this kid book called Flap Your Wings by the Go Dog Go author.  The first time I read it I could hardly stop laughing.  Tucker and Whitney chuckled a little bit at first, but then they were not amused and stared at me like I really had lost it.  Then they got annoyed that I wasn't turning the pages fast enough.  But what got me laughing so much was how it was such an epitomy of me/Jim child raising.  Jim is just so happy to be with Tucker and Whitney, but I get all upset when things don't go how I envisioned them in their perfection, whatever that might be.  See if any of you see that in that book.

We had a magic show this week.  Their favorite and most fascinating trick was me "taming" an egg.  They tried standing the egg up on one end, but not having success, while I could do it the first time!!  The dissappearing pencil was also the object of conversation the rest of that day with Whitney.

Whitney continues to be a good little big sister.  Every time her tummy fills up, but there is still food on her plate, she says to me "Mom.  It's ok for you to eat it.  Baby Brother is still hungry".  One time this week someone asked her what the new baby's name is.  She looked at them very seriously and said "baby brother".  It might be his name for quite some time yet.  All I've established is I don't like boy names much.

Here are some cute things they are doing.  But out of all of them, Tucker tucking me in like a burrito and scrubbing my head like I "scrub" his head to make him go to sleep just melted my heart!

I caught Tucker reading the Economist on the bathroom floor.  He was turning the pages and saying the words to the book If you Give A Cat a Cupcake book.

Tucker likes helping me clean all the toothbrush drawings he puts on the mirrors.  He really likes squirting the windex.  He got in a cleaning mood and we washed all the windows and mirrors in the house.  Kind of nice because they really needed them.  But he also loves scrubbing the toilet.  Good, but stresses me out because I REALLY DON'T WANT THAT BRUSH OUTSIDE THE TOILET, if you know what I mean.

Above there is a picture of them in their pillow car.  They like to go to all sorts of places, mostly the bank and to swim lessons.  When they get in the "car" they give each other sunglasses.  One time when they went in their "car" they went to the store and Whitney got out with her list.  I asked Whitney what was on her list.  "..... spinach, mild, purple juice, mushrooms and toys..." Not too bad!

We had a great time playing pony this week.  We played in the doll house with them a bunch, plus floating in their boat in the ocean or swimming in the ocean, just like swim lessons.  They have a lot of ponies, but there are only about 3 they like to play with specifically.  Tucker has a Tucker Baby Pony who is different than Tucker Big Kid Pony.  Whitney has a Whitney pony and a Whitney Baby Pony.  I have a specific Mommy pony.  I'm not allowed to change, I've noticed.  And it is a pony that is orange, not pink, with straight, not curly, hair.

This week I've been trying to sit down and just play with each one of them each week.  Now that they play together so nicely most of the time, I started noticing I could go an entire day next to them, but not interacting.  It has made my week much more satisfactory.  Now.  If only I was able to stay focused on that all the time.  We have had lots of make believe play together as a result.  Whitney was my Whitney Yellow Big Kid Birdie one day, using the outdoor small cushion as a bottle to feed me or a worm to feed her.    We also just played with toys randomly.  One time, after Activity day night where they were with Dad, they got out the trays from the tool bench toy.  They turned the trays over and were pretending they were Ipads/kindles.  Tucker studied the sticker on the tray carefully at one point.  He pushed the drawing of the top of the screw and said "history!" then pretended to watch "Happy Train" ( a video about the alphabet with a train).  The top of the screw picture does kind of look like his history button on the ipad.

Jim also told me he gave Tucker and Whitney a sip of his Sobe.  Tucker got really excited.  He ran and got his cup and requested "lots of sips" from Papa's drink.

They helped me make perogies the other night.  Worked out pretty well.  They played with their play dough while I made the dough.  Whitney stuck with it for a really long time and mimicked all the stuff I put in, too.

last week of swim lessons

Whitney with the necklace she made with all the beads.  She was pretty impressed with herself that she made that with all the beads and got it to hold.  The beads are from three different sets, so the holes aren't exactly the right size for all of them.  It is rather hard to get the ring to hold.  She liked how big of a necklace it was, too.

Tucker feeding Meow Meow a treat at his table

Tucker playing splash and eating a fake tomato at the same time

Whitney playing splash

This week was a quieter week.  I decided my goal was to work on inside stuff and take frequent play breaks with Tucker and Whitney during my indoor projects.  It has actually been very rewarding and made the days very fun.

I worked on our 72 hour kits, rotating food and clothes and making sure it has stuff for wet and cold weather.  Not together yet, but closer to what we would most likely need in this climate.  I also started moving stuff around in our closets to prep for room switch ups.  I'm hoping to convince Jim that the downstairs should be his man cave/office area and his office should be Whitney's room.  I think he's convinced, but there's a bunch of organizing to do to move storage and stuff so he feels like he's got his own space.  It was a fairly productive week and fun, too.  Tucker and Whitney have been playing really well lately and I had a blast laughing at the games they came up with.  Here are several.  Read on only if you are grandma....

This week was the last week of swim lessons.  I think Whitney is glad, just so she doesn't have to take a shower.  That is her biggest beef of going to swim lessons.  She gets wet, freezes on the walk out and then freezes in the pool.  Then she gets out of the pool and freezes all the way back to a lukewarm shower because everyone is in there rinsing off.  I have to admit.  That is the part I hate about swim lessons the most.  Getting them all showered and such.  Not to mention they still aren't particularly fond of getting their face all splashed on in a shower.  But because of swim lessons, they've invented a few games.

They invented "splash" a whole bunch, multiple areas of the house.  I think their favorite part of swim lessons is getting in the pool by jumping in.  They call this jumping in " splash".  They do this off their bed, off the couch, off the jumping bed, and my favorite, into a box filled with mostly deflated balloons from their birthday.  When they did the one in the box, they would wait for the other to help them out of the pool (box).

I've also heard them singing Insy Winsy Spider at the top of their lungs.  This is what their swim teacher does when she wants them to scoot along the wall of the pool.  They also tell each other to "blow their bubbles", something else their instructor says a lot.  Whitney likes being a yellow fish in her yellow ocean.  She practices "floating on her back" or "swimming on her stomach" on her bed, which has yellow sheets.

In one of the video posts, there is a video of them reading the Diego book.  This is one of Tucker's favorites.  Today I was eating lunch and taking even longer than Whitney to eat.  Tucker finished eating a long time before and wanted me to read his Diego book to him so he could push the numbers on his phone.  Whitney Mommy was super cute and told Tucker she would read to him.  He totally accepted it.  He gave her the book and they went in the other room while Whitney said the parts of book and then he would push the numbers.

On the day I made bread, Whitney helped me mix and stir.  I use really hot water in my bread to keep the dough warm enough by the time I add everything else.  Whitney is very well aware of this.  As she was mixing the flour and water together, Tucker got wind of it and wanted to skip to the eating a small portion of the dough right then.  Whitney said to him: "Don't eat it Tucker.  It's too hot.  I'll stir it fast so it cools down for you" and proceeded to mix it up rather rapidly. 

She also often checks for any scratches on me or Tucker, notes them, and gives them kisses.

Another Whitney mommy thing that happens often is this:  when Whitney's tummy is full and she still has food on her plate, she hands the plate to me and tells me that Baby Brother's tummy is still hungry and he can have her food.  If she doesn't have any food on her plate, she clears the table of her dishes and puts them on the counter.

She also tells Tucker what he's supposed to eat.  Today in the car on the way home from church they were making their food requests for lunch.  Tucker kept asking to eat fish crackers for lunch.  I was kind of ignoring all the requests until Whitney said to Tucker "No Tucker.  Mommy said no fish crackers for lunch today"  I said no such thing, but she knows that I generally try to get them to eat real food or something other than their snack food requests.  Today Tucker won. 

After church I'm rarely in the mood to be picky about what they eat.  I'm hungry, they've been contained and usually well behaved for three hours and I'm totally fine with whatever they want.  Whitney picked up on that and asked for grilled cheese sandwich.  Hey Mom.  Where do you think she got that trait?  Me or Jeremy?  Just kidding.

Whitney is also continues to be very consistent in asking Jeremy to wash his hands as soon as he walks in the door, so he doesn't get sick.  Jeremy is still humoring her.  I think it's working.  He hasn't been sick for the entire five weeks she's been doing it.  Hah!  Go Whitney mommy!!

As my stomach rapidly enlarges, Whitney has taken up snuggling with me sideways and rubbing my belly with her hand.  Tucker likes to point at it and say "Look!  There he is!  Baby Brother!"

One of the girls that babysits Tucker and Whitney a lot asked them what their new sibling's name is.  Whitney looked at her very seriously and said "Baby Brother".  She's right.  It's the only name we call him.  Let's just hope the ultrasound technician was right because switching over to baby sister would be a bit of a shock, but a fast adjustment for Whitney, I'm sure.

They are both getting pretty good at praying on their own.  The thing that melts my heart about Tucker is how he thinks of all these things he is grateful for, different every time, and he is very sincere about it.  The other day he said thank you for his bowl and spoon, along with Mommy and Whitney.  I have to agree.  I've never really thought about bowl and spoon, but I'm sure grateful for those things when it comes to eating cereal or soup.

I really tried to focus on taking play breaks with them while they were still playing nicely this week.  I think Whitney picked up on it.  By the end of the week Whitney started asking specifically how she wanted to play with me.  Her favorite request?  "Mommy, will you play pony with me?"  Tucker likes it too and usually joins in at some point, but we act out all sorts of live situations with ponies.  We played in the "pool" with ponies, making them splash to get in or taking a shower in the dollhouse in preparation for swim lessons.  Tucker usually joins in with the play and ends up hitting another pony, Mommy or Whitney.  This leads him to playing time out with the pony and putting pony in time out.  He also likes to use tank to "clean up" any "messes" his pony makes.  Whitney just makes them talk and talk and talk.

Tucker figured out how to put some necklaces inside the beads to make a shaker.  He likes to pretend he is giving us our vitamins, something he really does every morning for Whitney and I.  He also likes to pretend that it's salt and he, Whitney, or I am a cucumber to eat. 

Tucker loves to be a gentleman.  Whenever we go places that require opening a door, he runs ahead to open it for us.  He then proceeds to say that he is a gentleman and Whitney and I are ladies.  Sometimes he specifies that Mommy is a lady and Whitney is a dentist.  This frustrates Whitney a bit and she corrects him, but he is kind of right.  See another video post about that.

Another thing that Tucker is really good at is taking out the trash.  He can now do all sized trash cans and full ones, too.  Not heavy full ones, but full ones none the less.  He accomplished this task on Monday.  When he did it, he said to me "I'm strong enough, Mom!"  He also continues to be able to take the paper up to the neighbor's no problem.

Tucker figured out how to snap and zip up his pants this week.  It is a skill that he still needs practice with, along with buttoning, but he is getting it.  And I love it!! 

This week I had one of those moments all parents have about how our children mirror us.  We were walking up toward our house when Whitney started telling me about our apple tree.  It is surrounded in a fence so that it lives to adulthood due to the tame deer we have around here.  Whitney was describing our tree and said that it has a fence so that "the stupid deer don't eat our tree".  The exact way I often describe the deer and crows around here.  She used the word stupid as if it was such a normal word, so I had to explain to her it wasn't a kind word and that if she heard me saying it to say Mommy, no, no.  I fully expect to be corrected soon.

Wednesday was a rather pleasant day.  I don't know how warm it was, but it wasn't frigid out and it was misting only off and on.  Time to go to the playground.  I was only planning on stopping there for about 45 minutes or so after joy school to get some energy out, but they ended up playing almost two hours.  I was amazed.  Whitney hasn't wanted to be outside for such a long in a long time. 

They played make soup, make salt, look at mommy through "glasses",  and spider on the ropes.  They were also really cute in that that lifted each other up to reach the bar to hang on to.  Whitney found a few flowers in the grass and picked them, saying we needed to take them home and put them in water because looking at the flowers made her feel happy.  Stuff I often say about flowers.

We had a lot of fun together this week.

Diego book

This book has a phone with number on it.  In the book are numbers throughout the text.  One is calling out the number and the other is pushing the button and playing that part of the story in the book.

playing garbage truck

The day after the trash man came, Tucker came up with this game.  You know.  The REAL way to play with dollhouse furniture.  He is the garbage truck

Tucker takes out the trash

The garbage can is full.  He does this on his own.  I've never told him which way to put it in the street.  He picked that up by observation

hand tracing

I love it when I can get on video them helping each other.  They really like to help each other often.  This is the fun part of this age.  Whitney traced Tucker's hand and Tucker wrote his name on his paper

making aunt b proud

They are surprisingly expert looking in how they paint toe nails.  I don't feel like we've practiced too much, but I guess it's been enough.

Whitney with her practice heels on

When they first started wearing "ring shoes", it was hard for them to walk, but she moves easily with those on now.

doesn't this look like the life?

Relaxing, with legs up, popping bubble wrap, with her favorite shoes on.  Can't get any better!

Whitney dentist

One of the awesome things about the dentist is the chocolate toothpaste....