Mini Me

Resemblance? What do you think?

Matt - Dec. 1982

 Luke- Nov 2010

Friends have often commented on how much they think Luke looks like Matt. Even total strangers have made mention of it. Now we have the pictures to prove it. There's no denying that Luke is a chip off the old block. It's a good thing Matt is such a good looking guy!

Kids' Quotes

Kids say the darndest things and mine are no exception. Luke is in a particularly fun stage for saying things that make us chuckle. Elin is in the stage where she is learning new words all the time. Needless to say, this is a fun (and noisy) time of life we're currently in. I wanted to make sure and write down some of these kidisms to cherish for years to come.

Luke: "Can I have some money to put in my bank?"
Me: "You can do an extra chore and earn some money to put in your bank"
Luke: "But Mom! I don't want to earn the money. I just want you to give it to me."
 He proceeds to get my wallet from my purse and show me that, indeed, I do have money in there I can just give him. He ended up sweeping up under the table to earn a quarter. I win.

Luke: "If I eat all my _(insert any food here)__, then I will be big like Daddy. Daddy is big but not mommy."
Me: "You don't think mommy is big?"
Luke: "no"
Me: "Why not?"
Luke: "You can't reach stuff. Daddy can."

We had our small group at our house, which included a couple with the last name Vandertuig. After Matt told Luke who was coming over, he comes running to me - "Mommy! Vander Tiger Woods is coming to our house!"

Elin: "Dadda DaDa Dadda"
Me: "Do you love Daddy?"
Elin (big smile): "Dadda Dadda!"
Me: "Do you love Mommy?"
Elin (shakes her head, no) "Dadda!"

Elin also says "Momma, Hi, More, Puppy, Uh Oh, Whoa, Night Night, Bye Bye, Baby, Ball, No and Owl".  She'll mimic the sounds of other words but these words she's mastered.

There are plenty of other things our kids say/do on a daily basis that make us laugh but I can't remember them at the moment. I'll have to do a better job of jotting them down!

Oh, how we love these two! 

Dancing in the Rain

I haven't been able to get a video to upload on our blog for a long time (honestly, I just gave up trying after awhile.) I've been encouraged to try again but upload to youtube first... here goes!

Rain

Every time we go back to Illinois during the summer I have the same wish... for at least one good thunderstorm. Unfortunately, my wishes rarely come true. However, last week we had not one, but two thunderstorms in Redlands! Two days in a row we experienced freak thunderstorms in the afternoon. The mornings would be pretty normal - really hot, blue skies, few clouds- normal CA weather for early September. Then at some point mid-afternoon the wind would pick up, skies turned grey, rain poured down and thunder boomed.  It was nuts! It was awesome, especially for this midwestern, thunderstorm-loving girl, but it was nuts! 

Proof of the down pour

The kids weren't entirely sure what to make of the thunderstorm at first. Soon enough they caught on to the fact that mommy was super excited and therefore, accepted the fact that thunderstorms aren't so scary after all but can actually be extremely fun! 

They ran and danced in the rain for the whole 10-15 minutes it rained down. 

 I'm not sure who was more disappointed when the storm dissipated and blue skies reappeared, them or me.

Summer Fun

Sigh. Summer is officially over. Don't get me wrong, I love fall! Or I did when I lived in the midwest. Fall in Southern California looks and feels much different. There is no crispness in the air. It can be (and has been lately) over 100 degrees in September and even into October. Most of the leaves don't change color. Pumpkin spice lattes don't quite taste the same over ice. Thus, I don't enjoy the fall as much as I used to.  So, since I can't bring myself to celebrate fall, (at least not yet) I am going to cling to summer. (it is still 100 degrees out after all!)  I did a lousy job keeping up with blogging about all the day-to-day fun we had this past summer so now I'm making up for it.  So what all did we do?... 

We had fun outside: 

We painted... mostly they painted themselves but there are a few new masterpieces gracing our fridge. :) 

 (no, this isn't an extra from Last of the Mohicans. Its a creative Dutch boy. Don't let the warpaint 

confuse you.) 

Once the paint dried on their bodies and became stiff it wasn't as much fun anymore. huh. 

Sprinkler to the rescue! 

These kids LOVE playing in the water! We'd go from running through the sprinkler to playing in the kiddie pool to splashing in a storage bin (we're white trash like that). Hey, it's fun! 

They even love to help wash dishes because water is involved. The dishes get washed, kids get a bath - two birds, one stone. :) 

Our kids needed lots of baths this summer thanks to the landscape projects we  had  have going on. They certainly had fun playing in the dirt though! 

We had fun inside: 

We baked and decorated cupcakes (when we could tolerate turning on the oven, that is) 

True to form, Elin didn't just eat her's. She wore it. 

Matt bought Luke his first set of baseball cards.

 The two of them spent hours upon hours pouring over those cards. 

We played dress up. 

We had fun away from home: 

We went to the "lake" at the regional park in Yucaipa. 

We went to the beach (not often, but we did go! It is amazing how much gear you need to haul with you when taking kids to the beach!)

Of course, we ate more than our fair share of ice cream. Mmmm. 

And we wore ourselves out! 

Definitely a memorable summer. Our kids are at super fun ages which made summer that much more fun! It makes me so excited for all the fun we'll have in summers to come.