Castle Chronicles

we just returned from the hobbit: an unexpected journey.  not recommended for those who have trouble sitting still.  thus we left c with friends and enjoyed an evening out. we've been busy preparing for c's much anticipated trip to see gramma & grampa & gramma & grampa & ka-ta & greta & doggie too. we've taken a few breaks to play in the snow, play with Christmas lights, and play in the big box see you soon

it's official.  j's not allowed to travel during the school year ever again unless m can get some help from our dear loved ones that live too far away in non-mountainous states. our week of chaos: sunday night: opened c's gifts from us monday morning: j left for cleveland.  c ran around the house looking for papa the rest of the day.  we skyped with papa in the evening.  c says "papa get out, hold baby" tuesday: c celebrated b-day at the new sitter's baking cookies tuesday evening: c fell apart, threw a temper tantrum, locked m in the movie room closet, thankfully also released m from said closet after a few minutes of panicked coaxing, ate dinner while watching snow white, decided magic mirror was too scary and too loud, opened more lovely presents, went to bed saying belly button hurt c did eventually realize the tutu was not part of the wrapping paper and tried to wear it to bed over her jammies:) "mommy, what's that?"..."...

we survived and greatly enjoyed another thanksgiving.  we celebrated c's b-day a little early with grandpa and grandma phillips.  c was very sad to see them go and still tries to sneak upstairs to, as she puts it, "baby find grandpa and grandma."  we distract her with her new alphabet magnets, which cause her to say "wow" every time she sees them.  we've also spent a lot of time reading "Gulliver Snip" over and over again (it's about a boy who pretends the bathtub is an adventuring clipper ship).  "boy bathtub book again please." c has adapted to her new babysitter extremely well.  m is happy with her choice, even if it did take a long time to find that special place for c to play while we work.  c really likes ms. cory and her kids (and a new house to explore). our schedule doesn't seem too overwhelming yet, but we haven't technically started december.  there's always plenty to do... and of course, chocolate ca...

this was a sad week for us.  we said good-bye to a very good babysitter and playmate.  they're off to alaska soon, and we're stuck learning to trust someone new to take care of c.  m hasn't officially decided yet (j said she has to decide by friday, so she's going to push it until the last minute).  one more interview to go. until then, there's laundry and dishes to do (assuming c actually goes to sleep -- she's in there singing to herself right now). i guess that means she's feeling better.  her very good "friends"  that she played with last saturday came down with the croup on sunday.  we got a little nervous when she became wheezy and hoarse on wednesday.  thankfully for us, she seemed content to proceed with 4 hour naps and 13 hour nighttime sleeps for two days.  she's still hoarse, but her singing antics are telling m that she's "all done sick." figures--- she would nap 4 hours for j and the sitter, but not for...

the snow is gone.  the weather's been lovely, almost too warm for halloween. we carved our 1st pumpkin with c. we survived c's 1st trick or treat night.  she still wants to "baby wear owl coat, baby get bucket, candy."  she had fun.  m & j had fun dropping our giant spider on older trick-or-treaters.  we think we had over 20 this year --- that may be a record for us! we also survived our 8th annual scary movie party.  j & some other crazies watched "let me in" and "the omen."  m and many others "watched" bedknobs and broomsticks while 14 children ran around the house (in and out).  we even only had to chase an escaped dog down twice.  some of the kiddos simply couldn't understand our dog knows how to open the back door if not locked:) according to tradition, m made 3 different chilis for the fiesta.  the best of the 3 this year was the paleo version of chili colorado.  it was a huge pain to make (it i...

"i do it." snow

another busy weekend down.  j played games with college boys from church 'til 2am friday night/ saturday morning.  m & c had a girl's night: we watched peter pan, cut our nails, and cut c's bangs. before on saturday, we attended a 3 year old friend's princess/mermaid ariel themed birthday party.  there were 10 girls and one boy all under the age of 5 at this "party."  we survived, went home for tylenol and a quick nap before dressing up to go to the zoo.  starring luna lovegood, hedwig potter, and professor severus snape.  the weather was so warm that we didn't make c wear her owl coat and hat for too long, but she sported her gryffindor shirt most of the night.  both outfits were a hit.  c enjoyed getting candy in her bucket and running around the zoo.  she did not enjoy the company of some of the costumed people.  the subway sandwich guy, the cartoonish armadillo man, and the skunk dude were all very frightening....

c spent the last week chatting.  she's now easily stringing together 3-5 word phrases to try to get her thoughts across.  "baby sits papa's lap."  "baby sits car.  mama too."  "baby up cheesehouse too."  (yes, she still refers to the tree house as the cheesehouse and herself as baby.  "mommy sleeps too.  papa sleeps too."  "i want...."  "no, i do it!" we had a busy weekend, followed by a busy week.  we spent most of saturday with friends while our car was getting fixed.  we then had friends over saturday evening for a game night (this activity was planned before we knew the car needed fixed).  sunday evening, j decided to cut the tail off a fox and try to preserve it.  j ended up sick sunday night and monday (we don't think it was the fox --- we do think it was the sick friends we hung out with on saturday). m worked late tues, wed, and thurs.  apparently packing a cart full of eric carle painting suppli...

a special thanks goes out to auntie christy for putting up with a 20 minute one-sided conversation with little c.  c has just recently decided to be quite chatty on the phone.  she wanders around the whole house carrying on a very important conversation that no one but she can understand.  the catch: someone actually has to be "talking" to her on the other end.  we find it very humorous, and we hope our families will too 'cause this mode of entertainment is promising to be a bit of an obsession.  (i think we're in trouble or headed for a second phone line when c gets older:) c also recently got very excited about boots.  after a week of convincing c she didn't need to wear winter boots until it snowed, m shelled out $1 at the munchkin market for a pair of new used "fashion" boots.  c was ecstatic!  c has been chillin' in the treehouse (or as she calls it: the cheesehouse).  she loves to climb up the ladder, play in the hammock, open ...

the tree house is all done.  we're very happy with it and hope the hoa will be too.  we're moving on to cleaning up the garage and basement.  not quite as exciting, but necessary:) it's good to know we can have fun indoors too.

always good, all the time. we've been pretty busy around here the last couple of weeks.  school seems to be in fast forward mode for m, and she's slowly remembering how to balance life (art on a cart has proved to be as challenging as expected).  c is always in motion.  she's a budding tattoo artist these days.  c's a budding builder as well. j (and c) have been busy in the tree house.  shingling gets started this week. nursery toys have been cleaned, slumber parties have been survived, dishes and laundry are mostly getting done, lesson plans have been written and posted online for parents to view, 3 new teeth have broken the surface with 1 more on the way, some sleep has happened occasionally. such is our life:)

what's a teacher say after many, many meetings and new rules in hyper overload? one more long week of aarrggh for m, and then it's finally time to actually teach.  c has adapted back to having a sitter twice a week very easily.  she really likes having a playmate. we all had a great time last weekend at our annual church picnic, where c and j had an endless supply of playmates. holding a toddler does not help your chances in a foam sword bout c showed off her big girl cup drinking skills. then life went back to normal.  work, eat, tree-house, sleep, repeat.

"back to school," a phrase parents love.  unless u happen to be a parent who is also a teacher.  m officially started school on friday with the district teacher rah-rah session because everyone knows teachers want to spend their time at pep rallies and meetings instead of actually preparing their classrooms for students (no sarcasm here whatsoever).  thankfully, m no longer works for the traditional school and she should actually get some time to prepare her classroom (although her classroom is being shared this year so finding time might still be tricky). c doesn't think anything's too tricky. while m is busy getting buried in back to school agendas, c is still being c.  she likes to think she's a big girl now.  she wants to drink out of real cups, use real silverware (that barely fits in her mouth) and use real fragile plates.  she wants to use the potty so we keep trying, but we really don't think she has any control yet.  she wants to ...

the last few days have been a little tiring.  last week, c decided she was going to switch to 1 nap a day.  the transition was going okay. then came saturday night.  poor little c woke up around 12:30 am (i guess that makes it technically sunday morning instead of saturday night).  the poor thing was covered neck to toe in seriously smelly poo.  an hour later, a relatively clean c was back in bed.  yuck, that was definitely an experience none of us ever want to repeat again.  we (as in j) finished phase 1 of the treehouse. we went to the zoo. c rode the carousel for the 1st time.  it didn't seem to be quite what she expected. we had church friends over for a bbq. we cleaned up, sat down to finally blog, and then c awakes (again --- this is not a fun trend) and away we go again...