cousins

not the greatest picture, but the best one we got! Can you tell which two are the hams??

You'll see the first two again on our Christmas card...

and these two are just for fun!

while waiting at Walgreens for Hazel's decongestant today...

I had a lady strike up the following conversation about Hazel with me:

Lady: Oh, she's so beautiful! How old is she?
Me: Almost 17 months.
Lady: I have a 2 year old and a 4 month old. My 2 year old is potty training and my 4 month old is learning to sleep through the night. I *really* have my hands full!
Me: (chuckles quietly to myself)

activities with Dad

such focused children!

In case anyone's wondering, Jono was "fixing" the basketball net. And Hazel is working buckles on their buckle toy that I made. I think Charlie's activities are self explanatory.

a preview!

Mary Margaret was in town for our Christmas card photo shoot. This was my favorite of the pictures she took. We don't have any back from the photographer yet, but I'm excited to see them!

a funny little ritual

Every night, Jono gets out of the bath and comes to me for lotion and pjs while the babies play in the tub a little longer. We have a funny little ritual that I thought I'd share. I rock him in the rocking chair while he's cuddled in his towel and sing "Rock-a-bye Baby" (cliche, I know). At some point I sang the last line as "...and down will come Jono, cradle and all" so he decided that this song must be somewhat akin to Old MacDonald and started making requests about who would come down, cradle and all, at the end of the verse. The request the last few nights has been the same, and given his interests, is not surprising. It does make me sound rather foolish, however. The verse has been:

Rock-a-bye baby, in the tree top
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
And down comes the baby elephant, cradle and all.

an observation from watching elephant baths

Mary Margaret and I took the kids to the zoo on Wednesday. We spent our longest chunk of time, as usual, watching the elephant baths. Jonathan can stand there for.ev.er and watch the keepers hose down and scrub the elephants.

At one point, there was a good crowd around the window including a couple of other toddlers with their moms and a group of field trippers who were 3rd-ish grade. The elephant pooped.

The reactions from the crowd were so funny to me. Giggling, pointing, elbowing one another, and a lot "ewwww! gross!" from the field trippers. The toddlers on the other hand, looked at the poo-poo in awe and approval, while their mommies all started making comments in unison (me included) like, "Look! The elephant made poo-poo!" "The elephant has BIG poo-poo!" "They're cleaning up the elephant's poo-poo just like you get your diaper changed/flush it away in the potty!"

The contrast was very entertaining. I wonder when the transition from awed interest to absolute disgust at the sight of elephant poop happens?

Halloween at the Children's Museum

We took the kids to the museum on Saturday morning. We were pleasantly surprised by the smallish crowds and had a wonderful time!

Our best attempt at a picture of all three of them.

Two little fishies swimming over the bridge.

We also let them play downstairs in the store for a few minutes before we went upstairs to Tot Spot (for 3 and under). They liked it, but weren't entirely sure what all they were supposed to do.