Let's Go Fly A Kite!

In an effort to try to get all of us out of the house and into the fresh air, we went to the 7th Annual Richmond Air Force Kite Show this weekend. Eric and Daniel (and Mark and I) had a blast! We went with another family down the street who have kids Woob and Dan's age. The kids got free kites and there were very few mishaps -- crossing strings with a professional is a No-No in the kite flying world, so luckily we only crossed strings with other luckless parents.

Here is Dan in the shirt Uncle Ken bought him... Kenny - we only washed it once andalready it says "I have friends in NDON." Probably a good example of why we kicked their butts in that little skirmish we call the Revolution...

Ummm... apparently Daniel had a dirty diaper when I took this picture.

Here are the boys going to the kite show. The sociologist in me had to note that each of them had an electronic device in their hands. Even DanMan had a "cell phone." What a generational statement!

That's all for now> Ken, I'll post pics of the deck next time.

The Beginning of March Blog!

Has it been a month already? Sheesh, time is flying.

Eric has had a busy busy busy month. As you may or may not remember from grade school February was black history month so most weekends Eric had some project or another to do for school. I had forgotten how fascinating George Washington Carver can be :) ( Remember him? he's the peanut guy. )

He also had his Blue and Gold banquet and Mark was able to go to that with Woob.

Woob has been burning up the neighborhood with his new bike. He and Parker are fast friends and sit and play Yu-gi-oh all day long or get on their dueling DS Lites (if you don't know, don't ask. by the time you have to know it will have changed!)

Daniel gets VERY excited to see Eric. The other day he was so excited to see Woob when they woke up in the morning that he said "Eric" clear as a bell. Here is a video of Dan saying words the way only Dan can say them. (Oatmeal = NumNum; Brontosaurus = BwaBwa ---- always the same words, so we know what he means).

My folks and Ken visited this past month. We got to take DanMan to the Circus. I was suprised at how much he enjoyed it. we stayed through the intermission which for a 16 month old is a long time! We had awesome seats as you can see. Of course, at the end Dan was a little tired and the clown thought he looked pretty sad. If you know me and know how much I HATE clowns, I made a big effort to take a picture with one!

Eric got to see the family too. He even got Uncle Ken to play Clue (over and over and over again!)

Daniel got to enjoy some spring weather earlier this week... we got the bubble machine out. He can say "bubble." He also ate one or two of them by accident.

Dinner at our house is pretty entertaining. Apparently broccoli makes the boys laugh pretty hard... perhaps I'll make it more often.



Here is Grumpy making Daniel work for a living...






Dan also likes to unload the dishwasher (even when there are dirty dishes in it). Apparently he gets in there when I'm not looking -- Mark emptied the dishwasher the other night and fished out a ballpoint pen that "someone" (who shall remain nameless... Wallace???) had stuck in the silverware basket.

Before I log off, I should remind everyone to check out our WalkAmerica Website (www.walkamerica.org/StaceyRae) Dan and I are doing the five mile walk again this year. If you want to contribute to this wonderful cause to help the March of Dimes, you can head to our website and sponor our walk (wish us luck!) Our goal this year is $250 and we can't do it without you!

We are so proud. . .

We have taught Daniel lots of things in his first 16 months of life. Because of us he knows how to walk, say "night-night", sign the words "milk," "eat," and the ever-popular "cookie." He knows that nighttime is for sleeping, daytime is for being awake and that Pooh Bear makes a good pillow. But, our greatest achievement as parents has finally been fulfilled this week. Enjoy.



Eric is pretty proud too this week. He got a brand new bike to keep at his Virginia house. This is Eric with his friend Parker who lives down the street from us.






And finally, a picture that makes you ask: "who are the books supposed to be putting to sleep anyway?"

Dan's First Oreo

Daniel says one word now and pretty consistently. CUKA. Or, in English, Cookie. He signs it at the same time. This is all he says. All the time. 24.7. He said it this morning through sleep bleary eyes as Mark changed his diaper. He said it during oatmeal for breakfast. He said it when I picked him up from school. He rocks from left to right and kicks his legs in the car seat when the "C is for Cookie" song comes on. This child knows no limits to the times of day when cookies are appropriate. I think he gets this from Grumpy! So, The time has come to introduce the CookieMonster to his first Oreo. Not sure what to think at first, Dan approached cautiously by shoving the whole cookie in his mouth and sucking on it for a while. But, after the first bite he was hooked... He gets that from his Daddy (who promptly helped Daniel demolish quite a few of the cookies tonight).

We're Baaaaack.....

Time for my bi-monthly post to the blog. This new year has moved by at the speed of light so far. Dan actually got some HAIR! It's like it was his present from Santa. One day he had none, the next day when we woke up it was there. Amazing. Because hair is a new phenomena for DanMan he has just now discovered hairbrushes. He gets confused though about which brushes are for what. for instance, he went into the bathroom, opened a drawer and pulled out Eric's toothbrush to start brushing his hair with it (Sorry, Woob. We will be replacing that!). When I told him that was not what it was for, he took the brush we use to clean out the showers and used that instead. He'll get the hang of it though I'm sure.

One of Daniel's favorite things to do is to watch Sesame Street. He has a routine. Normally, he runs to the chair when I ask him about Sesame Street, but I think here the camera threw him off and he just couldn't decide (notice his quick grab for the remote):

Today Dan had to stay home sick from school. I think he is having the normal reaction to the new mumps, measles, chicken pox vaccine, but I guess we'll see tomorrow. While I was making his dinner (fish sticks and mac and cheese mmmmm) I noticed he was being a little too quite. I called his name and he turned around with a funny look on his face and blue running down the corners of his mouth. His crayon was the victim. He got a good hunk of it in his mouth so lucky I found him when I did. Ay Yi Yi. Here is Dan with the incriminating evidence. I thought about taking witness statements concerning this incident, but then
I realized that Wallace and Brown Bear weren't going to rat him out...

And so it begins...

Here is Bear's newest hobby:

Frankly, I think it's about time Dan earned his keep. All those diapers cost a lot of money!

Finally, when I went to IKEA last week to help support Ken's economy, I bought a new toy for Dan's room. He loves it and chases the shapes around all over the floor.

That's it for now!