"Siz-a-Whars"

Well, my new favorite word in Zacharese is "siz-a-Whars" or as most Americans say, scissors. I absolutely LOVE how Zachary says scissors. So, in order to savor the exact way he pronounces it right now, I had to get him a pair and teach him how to use them! He did really well. And the highlight of the whole experience (for me), of course, was hearing him repeat over & over, "siz-a-Whars."

And we used the cut pieces as decor for a box (or as he called it, "a present") that he now uses to store random items.

And just to keep daddy sane, I made sure that there were many sports stickers and other masculine-themed elements to balance out the ric-rac, tassels, and fringe.

Just Playin'

Allie is such a big girl now! I can't believe how much she's grown. I've recently had to clean out her drawers & closet to rid them of all things too small! (While I'm usually very compulsive about condensing "stuff," I tend to procrastinate storing away the clothes they've outgrown. It makes me feel kinda sad!)
Anyway, she's been enjoying this saucer-thing (or whatever it's called!).

All her pants are too short. She is a long little girl!

Yes, she is chewing on the tongue of the lizard puppet (below)!

How do YOU eat a raspberry?

Zachary's current favorite fruit is "waas-perries." And this is how he eats them:

SO FUN!

Lucky Aunt Jen!!

We received this week's Sports Illustrated on Wednesday. Zachary grabbed it and said, "Mommy, wook, it's Unkie Dan!!!!"

Gotcha

In our kitchen, we have three strategically-placed child-proof locks on a few of our cabinets. They are supposed to look like this when properly assembled:

But when your two-year old has intense determination, a freakishly long attention span, as well as some...uh..."tendencies," you might walk into your kitchen and feel mildly disturbed at this:

Silent Mockery. It's more disturbing than you'd think!

At her leisure

Yes, Allie is a laid-back baby girl. We thought Zachary was easy, but it seems Allie is even more easy-going than he was. At times, this laid-back-ness makes mommy & daddy (well, really just mommy) a little C-R-A-Z-Y.
For example, in the morning, when it's time to eat, Allie may decide she's not quite ready to eat. (Even though it is 8:30 am, and the last time she ate was 8:30 pm...wouldn't you think she'd be hungry?) And maybe Allie just wants to hang out for a little bit and THEN have her bottle. Or maybe Allie will just drink 1 oz and relax for a few minutes. Or maybe Allie just wants to chew on the bottle for a little while before drinking. Or maybe Allie just wants to have her fruit & oatmeal before the bottle. But then maybe she changed her mind and needs to rest again. Or maybe Allie wants to blow bubbles with her baby food and relax a little. Or maybe Allie needs a little sip of her bottle in the middle of the cereal time. Or maybe she needs to fill her diaper (because, this calorie-burning morning has just been so exhausting!). But maybe now she's ready for the bottle (since it's been out for almost 2 hours & has expired)...

Just another day

Dear Friends,
Today I had a pretty good day.
I started a bucket collection of "all things boy,"

including a live frog, dead wasp, and a not-ripe green tomato (Mom said I wasn't supposed to pick it just yet, but it seemed ready to me!).

Mom also told me I couldn't fill the bucket with water because the frog might not like water (Why wouldn't a frog like water?), so I decided I'd just use the hose to cool off a little.

My favorite part of today was this super cool bug house that my new friend Mr. OrkinMan laid out for me. After he explained to mom that it was "chemical free" and "non-toxic" (whatever that means), she agreed to let him place one in our garage. He said something about it being coated with something sticky. I thought it sounded really interesting. I know this is especially for me because my bugs LOVE to hang out in it.

In fact, they never even try to run away from me when I open the top to check on them! They must really like it!

And because I love my mommy so much, I even picked some pretty purple blooms for her and lined them up on the driveway. What a fun day it was!

Well, I have to go to bed now. I'll write more later.
Love,
Zachary

Olympic Swimming...

...through the eyes of a 2-year old:
(The following are exact quotes. In Zacharese, of course!)

"She's blowin' bubbles!":
"Ders Unkie Dan!":

"Weady, set GO!":

"Ders Mommy!":

"Dey are so happy!":

"The gurls won the prize!":

"He's not wearing his gwasses!":

"Wook at that fwag on his hat!":

"Look, dey are yelling!"

We've been watching a lot of Olympic coverage, because of TIVO. This has been so great! For the past two days, Zachary says, "Mommy, watch the pool?" and I keep replaying the same swimming races over the past week. He LOVES it. (Side note...Sports Illustrated gets full credit for all the pictures.)

Pretty Girl

Allie is a week shy of being 6 MONTHS OLD! Can you believe it? I surely can't! The other day, I was holding her hands while she stood up on my legs. Zachary stopped, looked at her, and said, "Mommy, Baby Allie is much bigger!" He is so astute! She IS much bigger!

Look at her darling eyelashes!:

Semper Fidelis

In honor of "Unkie" Eric (he's actually my first cousin), who is being commissioned as an officer in the United States Marines this weekend, Zachary is now sporting a military "buzz" haircut. We are so proud of Eric's successful completion of OCS!!
Congratulations!

Apple Pickin'

We took Mimi to this gorgeous farm to pick apples. It was so beautiful and the apple-picking was fun for Zachary. And of course, a gallon of green apples makes for some good educational kitchen time as well as a bunch of yummy pies & cobblers!
The farm also had rows of grape vines, pecan trees, melons, berries & veggies. We traipsed all the way to the back of the property to get to the apple trees.

Mimi was a pro with the top-of-the-tree apple-picker-thing!

It's Official

I do not like potty-training. Seriously. When will this be over?!

Eaker Weekend

We had another fun family weekend at our house! Uncle Jas, Aunt Meredith, Mimi & Grandad came for a visit. The guys played some intense golf, we played in the pool & visited an apple orchard (pictures later this week), the ladies dominated a game of Cranium (of course!), and we had some good laughs...mostly at Grandad's expense (ha!).

'Newly-hitched-and-still-smiling' Uncle Jas & Aunt Meredith:

Fun at the pool:

Zachary splashing Mimi:

Allie & Mimi:

Aunt Meredith (in Zacharese, "Mer-dif") & Zachary:

Allie spoiling the grandparents(!!):