School Days

Friday, we had a chance to see Joe's new classroom.  This year, he's doing something quite different as he is working in the special ed. department with a young boy with cerebral palsy, so he spends a good part of his day in the kindergarten classroom.   It's been a great experience so far, and it's fun to see his face light up when he talks about it.  

The Classroom

"Daddy Duty"

The biggest bean bag chair I've ever seen.

This is my favorite picture. 

If you look closely, the students have listed things they like.  Most of them said things like sunshine, kittens, trucks...you get the idea.  But there was one little boy, the second one listed, that said, "I like attention."  Now there's honesty for ya. 

Oh, and on a sidenote, I just want to brag about my husband...when I first drove up to the school, he was outside with the kids as they prepared to go home, and I wish you all could have heard the chorus of students yelling, "Bye Mr. Puplis".  They adore him!  And truthfully, I love how he cares for them as well.

Fall Photos

This morning I took the kids to Robinettes to get some fall pictures. I am certainly no professional photographer, and my kids are not always crazy about the camera, so in tackling something like this I always try to go into it with the expectation that the only pictures I'll end up with are of Claire running away, Henry spitting up, or better yet, me chasing Claire with Henry's spit up running down my back. Having said that...our photo shoot went as well as I could have hoped for, and I think I captured some cute moments. In fact, I had a hard time picking my favorites, so you might want to get comfortable...

While Henry slept, I started by snapping some pictures of Claire.

 

Pumpkins!

"Heavy!"

A petite pumpkin for my pint sized Claire.

Needless to say, this pumpkin "followed"

us the duration of the photo shoot.

...and as you could have guessed by the way she's

clutching the pumpkin to her chest -- it followed us home, too.

And look who decided to join us!

A couple pictures of the kids together. 

I had wanted to get more pictures of them together, but it was getting close to lunchtime, and sometimes you just have to know when to quit.  I'm finding with situations like this, it's important to end on a good note! 

Well, thanks for taking the time to look at our pictures.  We hope you, too, are enjoying these beautiful fall days! 

Second Child Syndrome {& more}

He's come so close, but this morning he finally did it...he rolled over...twice!  And of course...I missed it both times.  I was washing dishes when I heard his muffled cry from the living room.  I rushed in to see what had happened and sure enough, he was face down on the floor!  So I gave him a congratulatory hug, turned him back over and returned to the kitchen to finish the dishes.  A few minutes later, I heard the same muffled cry and returned to the living room to see he had once again rolled over.  I am determined not to miss it for the third time! 

On a side note, our camera is in the repair shop, so I apologize for the lack of recent pictures.  Hopefully our camera will return to us quickly and our blogging will resume :)  In the meantime, here's some random pictures from the end of summer that never made it to the blog...

Claire discovered the diaper cream...and I assume, was immitateing

Daddy with his shaving cream.

Daddy's helper!

Henry turned 4 months old!  Or as Grandpa called it "1/3 of a year old".

Popsicles with the cousins

Aunt Kelsey with Henry before leaving for Taylor.  Go Trojans!

I will say this...this is not the first time these two have inadvertantly dressed alike.  In fact, it seems to happen more often than one would consider "normal". 

Love you guys!

Father & Son

Like father...

                                         [Joe at 3 months old]

 

...Like son

                                    [Henry at 3 months old]

                                                           [big yawn]

                [...and of course, who could forget our daughter]

Picture Perfect

 

Today

Henry is happy...

       after a suture was removed when it came up through his incision

rather than dissolve as expected.

---- & ----

Claire is in love...  

with "Play Dough" Ice Cream from Jersey Junction.

Keeping up with Claire

Since I took the time to remark on Henry's monthly milestones, I thought I would also write a bit about Claire as she is officially 2 1/2 this month.  Big Stuff!

:: Claire, you weigh close to 28 pounds - a lightweight for your age, but somehow, you remain fearless.  

:: You sleep around 12 hours at night and still take a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  This is great, however, you could improve in the area of eating.  The challenge is getting you to sit long enough to eat a meal, but some of your favorite foods include tacos, pasta, rice, dried fruit, breakfast foods, and pretty much anything that would be considered "junk food", which I'm afraid you get from my side of the family.

                                                Likes                                    Dislikes

                                                Henry                                  sharing your blankets with Henry 

                                                playing outside                 having to come inside

                                                singing & dancing           carrots & green beans

                                                brushing your teeth       washing your hair           

                                                princesses                          dull colored clothing     



Your favorite songs: The ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Baa Baa Black Sheep (Notice the pattern?)

 From your mouth to our ears:

:: "Mommy, I wanna snack."  We hear this one a lot.

:: "Daddy, wanna read a book?"  This is a close second.

:: "Mommy, where'd toothbrush go?"  I had to hide it, since you'd brush your teeth ten times a day if we let you. 

:: "Daddy, where are you?  Daddy at work.  Home soon."  You say this almost every morning, right before you ask for Henry.

:: "Mommy, where'd the sun go?"  A good question for a cloudy day. 

                                                          Foods you've tried to feed Henry:
                                                                    popcorn
                                                                    craisins
                                                                    peanut butter crackers
                                                                    your baby's bottle, at least a dozen times

:: Claire, you are a wonderful blend of fun-loving free spirit and sweet cuddly kiddo.  You're an incredible big sister, always so affectionate with your "Buddy".  It's true, being a big sister has made you grow so quickly.  What will you do, what will you say tomorrow that will surprise me?  There's always something!   And I can't wait to see what it is!