Mmmmmm.... Dirt

What do you do with a mud lollipop??

He really did lick it.
On purpose.

Zoom in on the third one... ewwwww.

Posted by Bree

Random Scenes

Our driveway:
Evan's latest drawing of his dad
(and himself, standing on his head).


Next door:
the portal of darkness.
(this photo does not do it justice...)


Out the kitchen window:
Cousin Eddie has parked for the holidays.

Posted by Bree

I Forget

Sometimes I forget...

she is just a little girl.... she is only three... she is trying to figure out her place in the world... her emotions are real, no matter how dramatic... she needs to know she is loved even when she is terrible...


Sometimes I forget...

she is watching me every second of the day.... she wants to know how a woman acts, talks, thinks, behaves... she needs to know she is more important than the dishes or the laundry or a phone call...


Sometimes I forget...
she might be hungry... she could be tired... she needs someone to notice when she is sad or scared... she just needs a hug...


Sometimes I forget...
that it truly is worth all the heartache to love someone so much.

Posted by Bree

Muddy Missy

For once,
she
was muddier
than
her brother.

(My flash refuses to work sometimes, sorry for the dark photo.)

Posted by Bree

Nature Study

Watching these two outside is always interesting.

The way they interact, how they study and learn from each other, the sweet (and not so sweet) things they say to each other during playtime.




When we are walking in a group, I've noticed that Chloe always wants to be in front of someone. She can't stand to be in the back or to be last. There are few things she cannot do better than him -- being fast and first are rightfully his, for now -- so she has to be in front of me, and I get to see how long her ponytail is growing!
There are rare occasions where the two of them just wander off together, and I get to observe them in a completely different way. Wondering what in the world they are pretending or what they are discovering... I usually don't take pictures of them at those times because I don't want them to feel intruded upon. It's their time. So for this one, I pretended to be taking pictures of the pretty leaves ;-) Chloe was on to me though.

Back around the house, they noticed there were ladybugs everywhere and set off to collect them all. I think they each had 8 or 9 to play with :-)

They are Chloe's little friends... all bugs are. Catch and release is our policy, except for the occasional casualty of Chloe's over-petting. We give those ones to the ants.



**and I did finally get a video on yesterday's post late last night so if you were waiting for it keep scrolling down**

Posted by Bree

Pumpkin Farm

For this year's pumpkin farm outing, Evan just wanted it to be us and Aunt Bryce "so we can all play together." We needed a day like this too. Just us. Playing.

It started out cold and drizzling, which we dealt with for about an hour and a half. But, then the sun came out and it was perfect, although really windy. We just played all day! I didn't take as many pictures as I could have, but that was kind of the whole point I think. Here are a few highlights:

It took all the strength I could muster up to peddle this load of kids around!
Not surprisingly, we spent the majority of our time on the hay bale maze (where I ran around with Chloe to help her leap and jump like the big kids -- this is why I have no photos of it :-)
Evan talks about the hay bales for an entire year until we go back so he always does it till he drops. This year was no exception. We revisited the hay three separate times... till he dropped each time.

Then... we found a new set-up that occupied the kids for a great deal of time.

The dirt patch. Enough said on that subject.
If anyone knows where to buy these metal excavators and wants to get Evan one for Christmas, he'd be pretty happy with that.

Untitled from Bree Monde on Vimeo.

A quick break for lunch. Smile!!! Yeah, right.


Corn box goofiness:

Chloe just rolled around in the corn talking to herself (she didn't stop talking during the entire day actually...) and building "houses" and beds for me and for herself.

The giant slides were wet most of the day, but once they were dry and the crowds were gone, we spent a long time here. Go down, run back up the huge path, go down again, run back up, slide, run, slide, run, slide, run.....


Enlarge this one.... hahahaha.....
She talked to herself the whole way up but couldn't speak on the way down. As soon as she stopped moving she would stand and go back up the hill continuing the monologue right up where she left off... "That was scaaaaarrrrryyyy! I was so frightened, but I'm brave, so I'll go up the huge hill again, I'm not really that afraid. This is a big hill, but I'm a climber....."

She was all about the slides. She tried them all.

We were pretty well exhausted by 5:15pm when we got in the car. I am still amazed that we were there for six and a half hours! Crazy. We stay longer each year, so I think next year we should just shoot for a full day 9am-6pm :-)

************

(I have a couple videos from the farm I will try to post by tonight.)


updated to add: I added one video, I don't know why I thought there were two... there weren't.

Posted by Bree

Finally!

The sun was back out and it wasn't raining yesterday :-)

He was pretty thrilled.

Back to the trucks, dirt, bike riding and ramping as usual...

It's only been 10 days since we've played outside,
but it felt like so much longer.

Posted by Bree

Pretty Chloe

Caterpillar

caterpillar from Bree Monde on Vimeo.

I am on a video kick since we haven't been out to play. It is snowing outside.... in October.

This one is from September when we were at the park.... back when it was nice out.

He

He:

would play Guess Who all day long if he could.

drew this last week (himself, a bassett hound with a wagging tail and a "pod with lots of nostrils and long wiggly eyebrows")

is always finding things on the ground when we take walks. This treasure was discovered on the side of the road after a wind storm.

has figured out how to effectively hide from the camera without having to move.


learned "the choosing game" for dividing up toys in a fair way which has significantly reduced the number of fights between he and Chloe.

hasn't played outside or in the dirt for over a week.... it's been too cold and too rainy (even for us).

Posted by Bree

Every Day Is Different

Sometimes she wakes up smiling, sometimes she wakes up crying.

Sometimes she wants to cuddle in the morning, sometimes she immediately wants breakfast -- always something different.

Sometimes she wants to play alone, sometimes she wants Evan to join her to begin the day of constant bickering.

Sometimes she gets dressed without much fuss, sometimes there is a whole lot of fuss and tears and time-outs.

Sometimes she cooperates for toothbrushing and hair fixing, sometimes there is simply a war.

Sometimes she smiles and says I love you Mama, sometimes she is scowling at me and demanding that I do her bidding.

Sometimes she is eager for a nap, sometimes she goes kicking and screaming into her bedroom.

Sometimes she wakes up happy from a nap, almost every day she wakes up super cranky and crying.

Sometimes she wants me to play with her, sometimes (unprovoked) she just pushes at me and yells, "Get away!"

Sometimes I feel like I am doing things right, most days I feel like I am losing an uphill never-ending battle.


I look back over the three years that I have done these crazy days with her, and feel overwhelmed that there are still so many more years to come....


Today she woke up smiling, wanted breakfast right away, then wanted Evan to play with her. And so began the fighting and crying ... lots of it. Next, there was a war over clothing choice, of which she did not want my help (today). She fought over toothbrushing and hair fixing and ended up hysterical and crying. I walked away frustrated. She has scowled at me a lot and demanded me to fetch her blanket, get her a snack, bring her whatever toy she is looking at and cannot reach, because "my legs are too tired" ... um yeah right. And did I mention she was still crying?

I talk peacefully to her, she yells at me, I request kindness and manners, she cries.... there is simply no sense to any of it. So, I laid down on the floor to play with Evan and get away from all the insanity. And what does she do? Surprises me with something I do not expect, of course. She lays down next to me clutching my arm, nuzzling into my hair whispering, "Mama... Mama... I love you Mama.... You're all mine."
Like nothing ever happened....

I am baffled.

We'll see how naptime goes...

Posted by Bree

Big Squeeeeeze

Big squeezes have been nicknamed "boas" here from the kids' love of snakes (as in boa constrictor). They will squeeze Todd's neck until his head "pops off" and then smack it back on. Gotta show the love.

Posted by Bree

Bud

Posted by Bree