Bedtime Hysteria

Last night they kids were a little exhausted so we put them to bed a few minutes earlier than normal. When tucking Johnny in he started saying "ging gone, ging gone" over and over. Trying to avoid a tantrum I tried really hard to figure out what he was saying and when he said "Mommy ging gone me" I realized he wanted me to sing him a song. So we worked for awhile on making the "S" sound which he has down because he calls Alex "Sissy" all the time. So I'd have him say sing, "sing" then song, "s-gong". We'll have to work on that one some more. So I started singing him a song and apparently it was the wrong one, so he cut me off and requested "goodnight sweetheart". He had been smiling and laughing up until now and as soon as I started singing good night sweetheart his mouth turned upsidedown and he starts to sniffle as he builds up a cry. I stopped right away and asked "you don't like my singing?" and he started laughing. He does this every time I start singing to him at night, I thought it was because I usually only sing him a good night song when he's having a hard time and he's been crying anyway. So I started again, "goodnight sweet" and his mouth turned upside down and he started sniffling again (his eyes are tearing up). We both started cracking up laughing, I had tears coming down my cheeks as I worked out the last of the song through my hysteria so I could kiss him goodnight and get out of there. I wonder to myself every day what he is going to be like in a couple of years because he is the most animated little guy I've ever met. He loves to laugh and to make people laugh. I'm sure that will never change.

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

Oh and this morning Alex was frustrated because she "knows Brayden and Logan and Rogan and Hunter" but she can't remember her two girl cousin's names.

You mean Lizzy who we just spent the weekend with?

No, I know Lizzy. I mean the big one and the little one.

You only have two girl cousins, Sarah who is older and lives in Arizona and then Lizzy. I know there really is someone who you're thinking of but I also know that they're not your cousins. Where did we last see them?

When we went to their house. One is 5 like me, one is little like Johnny.

Do you mean Grace and Ruby?

Yeah!

We miss you Sarah! And Grace! And Ruby! We kind of even miss you too Jake. :o)

Flying through the ZOO

Well a couple of weeks ago we had planned on going to the zoo for preschool and with the crazy weather we've been having it kept getting canceled. That doesn't mean my kids were going to forget about it, so last Friday we took a trip to the zoo by ourselves. They both felt inspired to wear flying attire so Johnny dawned his Superman cape and Alex a pair of pretty pink butterfly wings with matching antennae. I don't know if it was the costumes but we really did "fly" through the zoo, I don't think we spent a whole minute on any one animal. I don't know that it was the zoo that had them so excited or just the fact that they were out running around, can't wait for some consistently warm weather to come our way. I have to say, they did manage to stand out in the crowd though; every head turned as they walked by. One little girl was sad that the butterfly exhibit was closed and so the Dad pointed to Alex and said "there's your butterfly" and the girl's face lit up in a smile. Most of the girls asked their Mom's if they could be a butterfly and the boys were calling Johnny "Super Boy". I knew I had to capture it on film and my battery was dying quickly so when we came to the bridge and no one was on the other side I asked the kids to hold hands and walk slowly over the bridge. Luckily for me they are well trained and knew that if they didn't, they would have to try again until Mom got the shot she wanted. So it only took one shot and when my battery died I was almost relieved that I could put the camera away and just walk around the zoo without trying to capture it all on film and knowing that I already had the shot I had pictured in my head when they decided to wear their costumes to the zoo. I love my picture editing program!

Photogenic

Love my photogenic kids!

Check them out on my web album

Around the House

We have our old TV sitting in the office and Brad hooked up a little plug and play game to it. Usually Alex just plays it but Johnny decided he'd give it a try. He was quite frustrated right away because all the buttons were too hard to understand and so he asked Alex for help. This is her helping him. Some how it works. Johnny feels like he's being involved and Alex gets to play the game. At least they're working it out.

Playing around with my new flash diffuser.
LOVE it!

I just got these lap trays for when we go on trips this summer. They have pockets on either side to store things and the kids have been using them for coloring on. Tonight we decided to see how they'd work for our picnic dinner in the living room. Worked great!

And this is what I get now when I ask Johnny to smile for me. Brad thinks it's hilarious but I just roll my eyes at all the failed photo shoots I see in my future. I am working around the sourpuss smile with lots of questions so he doesn't think about smiling. I had to post one like this though for the records. And that about sums it up!

The Hotel Cafe Tour

The Hotel Cafe Tour has come and gone to Boise, Idaho. 19 artists and a band got together to tour the US and the ones that performed while in Boise were Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, Meiko, Jesca Hoop, William Fitzsimmons and Jim Bianco. I forgot to bring my ID which I didn't think mattered since I wasn't planning on ordering any drinks at the bar but then found out that because of my forgetfullness I got to have the back of each hand marked with a big fat permanent "X". I woke up this morning with a copy of one of those X's on my cheek. If anything else I able to pretend I was 10 years younger. I couldn't bring my camera in the club so I took a few pictures with my camera phone. Here's what I got...

Ingrid Michaelson:
fun to watch, amazing voice, likes to talk to the crowd.

Cary Brothers:
Not as "swoony" as some may have thought him to be.

And one of Wendy, Me and Kris...very flattering.

The performance went on until late into the night and we didn't get home until midnight because we had to stick around to hear Ingrid sing "The Way I Am" at the very end, right before their final song where every artist there got on stage to sing "Rainbow Connection". At one point Ingrid was trying to remember the words to the "Save By The Bell" theme song (I kid you not). They often came out in twos and threes and sang their songs together. At one point a few of the singers and the band came into the crowd and sang an acoustic version of "Sing" with the audience. There were a few on the tour that I would've loved to hear perform but it was a fun night indeed.