Puzzlers

Most of you know the John has a knack for puzzles. We started him out with the big wooden puzzles around 18 months, and it took him a while to catch on but he eventually did, and then around age 2 we introduced him to his first jigsaw puzzle, and after we did it with him a few times he figured it out on his own and there has been no stopping him. he'll sit down with a 60 some piece puzzle and put it together himself. We even just completed a 500 piece Toy Story puzzle as a family, a little to hard for my puzzle genius to do on his own, but we conquered it as a family!
I'm not exactly sure where John's love for puzzles comes from, I remember doing puzzles as a child but I can't say that it was something I could spend hours doing, and I definitely remember getting frustrated and giving up many times.
It must be in the family somewhere, because Audrey is just 16 months old and she is already getting the hang of the big wooden pieces she can tell you where they go, she just cant make them fit. So it looks like I have a couple of puzzle masters on my hand, and that's OK with me:) I would rather sit and watch them master puzzles instead of video games any day:)

Moments like these.

There are a lot of crazy moments at our house, moments where cups of juice are being spilled, the babies screaming, and the dog dumps the garbage can all over the kitchen, yes that all happened with in 5 minutes, talk about a bad start to ones day. Or there are the moments in time I try and make a phone call, and Audrey pulls every DVD off the shelf and there are a ton! And John & Pluto decided to play a game of chase and everything in the way tables, chairs, and Audrey get knocked over. Yes it can be complete chaos here at times. However, the only reason I make it through those chaotic moments are because of moments like these, that make it all worth it.

Yes, I actually found them sitting like that while watching a movie. This is how I like to imagine my family, calm and loving...but these too are only passing moments!

Pumpkin Carving

Sometimes my children surprise me. Last weekend we carved a pumpkin, and I expected Audrey to have little interest and John to love playing with the "pumpkin guts." That's not exactly what happened, John was so excited about the process but when it came to the actually work he decided it was bit to yucky for him, and was more than willing to sit back and watch his baby sister dig out the pumpkin, and she took her job very seriously.

After mom and Audrey cleaned it out, daddy carved a face and John supervised the entire process. He obviously felt it was his job to tell everyone what to do and how to do it, but didn't want to be the one getting his hands dirty...typical man!


Despite the lack of in hands on involvement from John, it was still a fun family activity, and both John & Audrey are so proud of their finished project, and love to show him off to anyone that comes by the house.

Hair Cuts!

Today I took John & Audrey for hair cuts, I knew John's would go well, but this was a first for Audrey and as leery as she is of new experiences I was expecting a battle. As predicted John was a pro, and even made his demands known. He wanted to watch the Disney channel, and wanted a piece of candy, and our sweet friend and hairdresser happily obliged. And as always he looks as handsome as ever, which he was also proud to announce once she was done.
Things didn't go so smoothly during Audrey's cut. First John had been told to stay in the chair, and not touch...well he set my car alarm off not once but twice, and turned the hair dryer attached to the chair on several times. Because I had to hold Audrey because she wasn't about to sit in the chair by herself, I was unable to get the pictures I wanted. We attempted a before shot, but this is the best we got. We also used candy as a form of bribery ( I know I'm such a bad mom) with Audrey. And it worked for the most part, she was so engrossed with the candy that she sat still while Miss Carol cut the back and sides of her hair. The front, however was another story. Every time Carol came near her face with the scissors she would arch her back and yell, so the bangs did not come out anything like I had hoped:(
Overall she didn't do to bad, and her bangs will grow out...I have to keep reminding myself! And hopefully next time things will go even smoother:)

It's been a while

I realize it's been a while so I wrote, and I have to admit although there has been plenty to write about, I just haven't had the motivation to write. Between trying to keep up with my EXTREMELY hyper active 3 year old son, keeping my 16 month old daughter out of things she shouldn't touch but it bound and determined to do so anyway, keeping up with the potty breaks of a 5 month old puppy and 3 year old boy, trying to keep some kind of peace between the 3 no the 4 of us, and then trying to keep up with house work (keeping up I have not been doing); by the time I get a few minutes to sit and write it's honestly one of the last things I want to do. Instead i like to sit and stare off into space and listen and appreciate the silence the stillness, because it doesn't last long. However, I feel guilty about not writing, so I'm going to try this again. Because there are moments amongst all the craziness that I want to remember forever. Moment like last night, when my little boy was so excited to climb into bed with me and snug for a full hour to watch to Handy Manny special on the Disney Channel. Or the random kissing storms that come upon Audrey. She'll kiss you a 100 times and more until you find something else to distract her, and it's not easy. It's moments like these that I never want to forget, so back to blogging I come.