We Now Like Ice

Both of our kids have been 100% anti-ice in their water. This was often a problem at restaurants. If their drink had even one tiny ice cube, the kids might over react (imagine that).

Recently, Amy was getting the kids water from our fridge when Caroline said she wanted ice. Amy was surprised by this and asked if she was sure. Caroline said, yes, she now liked ice. She then announced that Caden also now likes ice. Caden went along with her declaration. Caroline really does rule our household.

Hopefully, this newfound appreciation for ice will help when ordering water at restaurants.

Ladybug Catcher

Caroline is the queen at catching ladybugs. She has a knack for it. I just don't know how she does it. Every time we go outside, she seems to catch a ladybug. She just knows how to find them. I know I could not find them as easily as her.

Apparently, this also happens at school. The other day, Caroline was out sick. When Amy took the kids to school the next day, the teacher told Amy that everyone kept asking where the ladybugs were. They couldn't find any. The teacher had to explain to the kids that Caroline was out and she was the one who always found them for the class. Without Caroline, there were no lady bugs.

Bye-Bye, Paci

Caden gave his paci up months ago. Caroline, on the other hand, has been very attached to her pacifier. For many months, she has only been allowed to have her pacifier in bed which we have been regularly snipping shorter and shorter. Caroline would use it during naps and night time, but that was pretty much it.

Well, last Saturday, we lost (yes, actually lost) her pink paci. Amy and I looked everywhere for the paci and Caroline was unwilling to accept any other pacifier. We tried and she would take any other pacifiers we gave her out of her room entirely. This lead to three rough nights where our awesome sleeper struggled to sleep. She took hours to go to sleep and would wake up crying.

After a few nights, things got better. On the most part, she stopped asking for her pacifier and did a decent job sleeping. Amy and I were thankful that we lost the pacifier and we finally got our little girl off it.

Things changed on Thursday night when just before bed, Caroline squealed and exclaimed, "My paci! I found you!" She showed us and said, "My paci found a really good hiding spot." Caroline immediately put the pacifier into her mouth.

Amy and I couldn't believe it. We had hoped that if anyone found it, it would be mommy or daddy so that we could put this paci thing behind us.We tried to convince Caroline she did not need her paci. We said big girls didn't use pacifiers. Caroline responded with, "I'm not a big girl, I'm a little girl!"

While saying goodnight, Amy attempted to bribe Caroline by saying if she gave up her paci, they would go to Build A Bear and put the paci inside a teddy bear. Caroline was not convinced and kept the paci in her mouth. Amy told Caroline good night and left the room.

When Amy and I were in the living room discussing how much we should snip the pacifier over the next few days, we heard Caroline's door open and three seconds later, slam shut. I walked over to see what was going on and I found Caroline's pacifier on the floor outside her room! I was soooooo incredibly proud of our little girl. I called Amy over to see what had happened. When Amy saw the paci on the floor, she teared up.

I went into Caroline's room to tell her how proud we were. I also told her she was going to get to go make a bear with Mommy the next day. Caroline had a big smile on her face.

The next day, Grammy watched Caden while Caroline and Amy went to Build A Bear. Caroline got to pick out a bear and outfit. All on her own, our little princess picked out the girliest bear you've ever seen. Before they sewed the bear up, Caroline's (sterilized) paci went inside. You can actually feel it in the bear's back if you squeeze tightly.

Here is Caroline with her new bear they named "Paci Bear." You can't see the shoes in this picture but they are pink and sparkly.

Caroline loves the bear so much and has told us so numerous times. We are so thankful to finally be a pacifier free house.

At bedtime, Caroline climbed into bed with Paci Bear. She then calmly said, "I think I'll try the green paci now." :) Oh, my, gosh, no! We laughed and told her she was done with pacifiers. Thankfuly, Caroline was okay with that. I think she thought it was worth a try and heck, she might have been able to trade the green paci in for another bear.

Father's Day Cake

For Father's Day, I picked out several desserts and asked Amy to make one of them for me. Amy decided to make an Oreo Cake that I found on Pinterest. (Yes, I'm one of half dozen guys actually on Pinterest and it is awesome. I pin stuff for the garage, desserts, and fun stuff to do with kids.)

The Oreo Cake ended up being quite a bit of work with a cake and multiple types of frosting made from scratch. Of course, Caden and Caroline helped. Caroline was very excited to wear her apron (made by Grandma) and chefs had. By the time this picture was taken, Caden was ready to take off his Home Depot apron.

 

Caroline decided to try the chocolate frosting they had just finished making and she loved it! Caroline must have stuck her finger into the frosting a half dozen times before we put a stop to it. I couldn't blame her for this, especially since I put my finger in a half dozen times before Amy put a stop to it.

 

 Here is the final product. It was delicious.

On a related sad note, I decided to take the leftover cake (more than half) to work to share with my team. I put it in Amy's cake carrier and went to work. On the walk to my desk, the bottom fell off the cake carrier and I was left holding the top half by the handle designed for carrying while my delicious cake was splattered all over the floor! I considered getting a fork and eating it directly off the floor (remember the Friends episode about the cheesecake)...

...but I decided to clean it up the best I could instead.

Caroline's Lost Sponge Story

This week, Amy took the kids to a place where they decorated cupcakes. In addition to the cupcakes, both kids came home with a souvenir sponge. They loved their sponges and were excited how they were thin when dry and thick when wet. Caroline has carried her sponge around for several days now.

Today, Caroline insisted on taking her sponge to her Sunday School class despite my best efforts to convince her that leaving it in the car was a better idea.When we picked the kids up after church, the teachers were very apologetic saying they did not know what happened to the sponge. Caroline had carried it around the entire time even when playing outside. The teachers said they saw a boy in her class try to take it but they thought Caroline got it back. With the sponge no where to be found, the teachers thought that boy must have walked off with it.

We were surprised Caroline could have lost something. She normally does an excellent job keeping track of her stuff. We didn't let Caroline know that her sponge was lost since we didn't want to make a scene and church. We thought we'd just give her Caden's sponge once we got home.

While we were getting ready to leave church, Caroline, Caden, and I were playing. All of a sudden, the sponge fell out of Caroline's skirt! She had tucked it into her underwear so she wouldn't lose it and the little boy wouldn't take it! I died laughing. I wish we had just asked Caroline where her sponge was.

Kids Called Me at Work

This morning, my cell phone rang while I was at work. It was Amy. When I answered, I heard Caroline say, "Hi, Daddy!" Soon after, Caden said, "Daddy, we're going to school!" Not long after that, they hung up and the conversation was over.

A minute later, I called back to see if Amy had wanted to tell me anything. She was surprised when I told her the kids had called. In preparation to take the kids to Mother's day out, Amy walked into the garage to get a few things from the car. While Amy was outside, the kids found her phone and called me all by themselves.

This was the first time they have called me completely on their own. I didn't know they knew how to do so. Also, they normally clam up and don't say a thing or talk really quietly. It was nice that they were excited to talk to me (briefly).

Feeding Baby Cheerios

Caroline has a toy for her baby that can be a baby swing, car seat, or, as you see below, a high chair. This is a picture from the first time Caroline and Caden saw it as a high chair. They thought it was really cool. They fed baby Cheerios for nearly an hour. They also helped baby eat all the Cheerios off her plate.

Playing Inside Cabinets

Caden comes up with all sorts of silly things to do. Recently, he decided to crawl into one of the cabinets in the play room. Here he is climbing in.
He made it all the way in and wanted the doors shut.
"Where's Caden?!?"
Caroline decided to get in on the action.
They love flinging the doors open.
Caden was very proud of his game.

Making Applesauce

Grammie and Poppa gave the twins multiple toys on the lines of this blender where the blender blows confetti around on the inside as it blends. The twins love these! Caden made applesauce for 45 minutes in this blender.

Here, is a picture of Caden pouring a batch into his and Caroline's bowls.

Cleaning the Potty

The other day, Amy walked into our bathroom and found Caroline thoroughly scrubbing her toilet bowl with Amy's toothbrush!
This is not the first toothbrush of Amy's the kids have ruined. Amy now tries to hide her toothbrushes.

This makes me wonder if incidents like this are like bugs...if you've seen one, numerous others have gone unseen. :)

"I'll Hold You, Caden"

The other day, Caden wasn't feeling all the great and was being very clingy to Amy. Amy told Caden she couldn't hold him so that she could go make lunch. Caroline quickly chimed in with, "I'll hold you Caden." and then she did!!!
How sweet is that!

Caden Liked His Dinner

About 15 minutes after last nights dinner, Caden walked up to Amy and said, "thank you mommy for a delicious dinner." What a sweet little boy!

And yes, I agreed with Caden. Amy made my mom's "crumby chicken" recipe that we all love. It is a staple at our house.

Bedtime Incident -- The First Time This Has Ever Happened Anywhere Ever

It's been awhile since we've posted something. I have a few things I want to write about, but first, I have a quick story.

Tonight, Amy was home alone with the kids while I went to my guys Bible study. Around 8:00pm, which is a little past Caroline's bedtime, Caroline quietly got up, left the living room and headed towards her room. Amy thought she'd soon be back so she didn't follow.

After a few minutes with Caroline not returning, Amy decided to go check on her. Amy went back to Caroline's room and found Caroline in her crib! Seriously. She climbed in all by herself. I bet we are the first parents ever to have a child that climbed into their crib but has never climbed out!

Our little girl sure loves her sleep. We are very thankful for that. Here is a quick pic of our sleeping beauty relaxing in a way only she knows how.
PS: Caroline did go to bed with pajama bottoms on. She just decided to take them off--which she does every once in awhile after I tuck her in and leave her room. Also, when I left the room, all her animals were nicely lined up on the wall at the bottom of the picture.

Traffic Light

The other day, I was driving the car with the entire family. I stopped at a red light and then started to turn right. Caden started saying, "red, stop! red, stop!" over and over. He was very concerned. Amy explained to him how it is sometimes okay to turn right on red. How funny is that.

Show You the Cupcakes

I forgot to post a little story that went with Amy making the cupcakes...

Amy made cupcakes and had them on the counter. Caroline saw them, ran over to Caden who was on the other side of the kitchen, and said:

"Caden"
"Over there"
"Cupcakes"
"Show You"

How cute is that!

Conversation with Caroline After Party

Here is a conversation I had with Caroline when I was putting her to bed the night after her birthday party.

Jason: "Did you have fun today?"
Caroline: "Yes"
Jason: "What was your favorite thing you did today? Was it sliding down the water slide?"
Caroline: [Nothing]
Jason: "Was it opening presents?"
Caroline: [Nothing]
Jason: "Was it eating your birthday cookie?"
Caroline: "Yes. Cookie."
Jason: [Laugh]

Sleeping with Caroline

Caroline has recently started taking a lot, and I do mean A LOT, of stuffed animals to bed with her. As we take her to bed for the night or just for a nap, she first fills her arms when as many as she can carry and then walks around instructing Jason or I on what we need to pick up and bring too. Here is a picture of her bed after a nap last Sunday afternoon. I walked in to find her lining up her animals and dolls. There are 7! Plus three blankets and a pillow. I am surprised she still has enough room to sleep!
It would be nice if we could leave all of the animals and baby's in the bed for the day. Unfortunately, she also insists that they stay in the living room on the couch for the majority of her waking hours. Oh well! Caroline is our excellent sleeper. She has slept about 12 hours a night without fail for more than a year, so, whatever she wants in her bed, we're happy to provide!

Here's our happy girl after a long nap!

Drag Racing

Our kids love riding their cars down the small incline on our driveway. They know how to scoot to the top, turn around, and then roll down the driveway at a surprisingly fast speed. They know how to steer the cars and use their feet as brakes before hitting grass, the curb, or the garage. I keep saying I need to get this on video.
We were outside doing our normal soap box racing. At one point, Caroline was at the starting point ready to go down but she decided to wait for Caden. Caden eventually made it to the top and turned his car around.

Soon after Caden turned around, Caroline looked at him and said, "let's do this!" They both immediately took off down the hill as fast as they could.

Seriously! Those were her exact words. I have no idea where she got that. Has anyone been letting her watch The Fast and the Furious?

First Names

Our kids do something I find funny when they are looking for Amy or I. They will walk around calling, "Mommy...Mommy...Mommy! Amy...Amy...Amy! Mommy...Mommy...Mommy!" Or "Daddy...Daddy...Daddy! Jason...Jason...Jason! Daddy...Daddy...Daddy"

I think it is funny they know our names and use them when they want us specifically. Using our names is even more common when there are other mommies or daddies around like when we were with the cousins.

"Back Hug"

Recently, when I came home from work and bent down to give the kids hugs, Caroline did something funny. Instead of giving me a normal hug, Caroline backed into me and said, "back hug, back hug." I don't know where she came up with that but it made Amy and I laugh.

Every once in a while, Caroline still gives me back hugs.