Arrrrr ya feelin' like a 4-year-old?

Charlie's 4th b-day...









































Dad made another birthday cake masterpiece--this year a pirate ship. Both of our kiddos continue to be quite the buccaneers, brandishing their foam swords as they run up the stairs to the "crow's nest" a.k.a the top bunk of Charlie's bed. Bob and I were laughing as we picked up a large skull and crossbones balloon, thinking that actual pirates may find it quite ironic that piracy is a common theme for toddler birthdays. "Everybody grab an eye patch and pass the ice cream or you'll end up in Davy Jones' locker!" Ah blimey, just another irony of parenthood...

Grandma and Papa came up for the weekend and we continued last year's birthday tradition of lunch at Dogtown on Monroe (featuring hot dogs of every variety). On Sunday, we picked up one of Charlie's bestest little friends, Kyle, and met up with Charlie's cuz Aaron-- and went to see an Amerks game. I had to laugh as Kyle climbed in the car and handed Charlie a wrapped present saying, "Charlie, you're going to love this!" Of course, the present being a nerf sword-- Charlie did. The boys had a blast, not so much into watching the game but very into brandishing their balloon swords and soaking up the commotion (along with a slightly alarming amount of cotton candy and fruit punch).

Not sure where little boys learn this, but somehow each seems to know that the proper place to store your weapon is ninja-style at your back.















Some pirate phraseology for your enjoyment...[man I'd hate to be keelhauled!]...:
Avast ye - stop and check this out or pay attention

Batten down the hatches - put everything away on the ship and tie everything down because a storm is brewing

Bilge-sucking - insult

Blimey! - exhortation of surprise

Blow me down! - expression of shock of disbelief akin to "Holy Crap!"

Blow the man down - command to kill someone

Booty - treasure

Bucko - a buccaneer

Cat O'Nine Tails - a whip with nine strands

Crow's nest - small platform atop the mast where the lookout stands

Cutlass - short heavy curved bladed sword used by pirates

Davy Jones' Locker - fabled, mythical place at the bottom of the ocean where the evil spirit of Davy Jones brings sailor and pirates to die

Doubloons - other coins or found in pirate hoards and stashes

Feed the fish - will soon die

Hang 'im from the yardarm - punishment of those captured in battle

Heave Ho - give it some muscle and push it

Hempen Halter - a noose for hanging

Hornswaggle - to defraud or cheat out of money or belongings

Jacob's Ladder - the rope ladder one uses to climb aboard a sloop

Keelhaul - punishment in which a person where dragged underneath the pirate ship from side to side and was lacerated by the barnacles on the vessel

Landlubber - big, slow clumsy person who doesn't know how to sail

Mizzen - third mast from the bow of the ship on ships that have three or more masts

Old Salt - an experienced sailor

4th B-day!

What a joy you are to have in our lives, Charlie-boy! We certainly were lucky on that St. Pattie's Day 4 years ago to receive such a fun-loving, sincere, compassionate, curious and imaginative child into our family. So many things have changed as you become more independent, but you still love tractors, tools and basements and you still make us smile every day!

"Come out soon, Baby Tummy"

OK, so I've been decidely bloggone awful at updates lately. I'll go ahead and play the 'nine months pregnant and mother of two toddlers" card unashamedly. The days are moving on way too quickly these days. The kids are changing so fast and the pregnancy has flown by on a whirlwind. Charlie will be four in just a couple of weeks and I had to switch my 2-year-old up to 3T jeans since apparently she is shooting up like a weed these days. The tiredness is setting in for me. The other day, we were playing 'Eskimo' which had me in the role of Mom Eskimo--an awesome role which requires only for me to lay in the 'igloo' on the living room floor while my 'baby Eskimos' bring me fish. Apart from making appropriate gobbling noises when the 'fish' arrive, this part is relatively easy to handle--unlike the role of 'Black Spiderman' which we will save for another blog entry. Anyway, I awoke to find that, somewhere along the way, I'd fallen asleep in the igloo and twenty minutes had passed. These little spontaneous naps seem to be occuring more and more often! Yesterday we got out the bin of infant clothes and the kids oohed and aahed very sweetly at each tiny pair of pants or onesie. Washing up the clothes and sniffing that baby detergent smell certainly helps to make all of this more real. Still hard to believe though that a new little boy Adams is coming in less than 6 weeks. Many sweet and wondrous things to ponder in these final days, such as--how on earth can I handle more laundry....?

Practicing...

Colden is so kind to be our "baby brother" sit-in so that the kids can learn protocol. Let's hope our arrival is as happy a baby as he is!

Cookie dough bandits

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you got to enjoy something sweet!

Good Tidings!

On Christmas morning, we started with an extra special present. The kids were a little annoyed to be interrupted during the opening of their stockings being that they were completely enamored with their 99-cent retractable tape measures...but they reluctantly gathered to open "the envelope." I'm now almost 7 months along in my pregnancy and, back in October when we had our ultrasound, the tech wrote down the gender so that we could save our big reveal and share it with the fam on Christmas. Amelia long ago nicknamed our little one, "Baby Tummy" and the envelope was labeled as such and stuck on the tree. We had Charlie open the little slip of paper and asked him what it said. He looked at us blankly. Is there a "B" on it I asked him? Yes, he said.

It's a Boy!

Getting a shot...

(a good shot)

with everyone happy...

(even Mom)...

and with no one deliberately covering up the number on their shirt...

and no one making farting noises on their arm...

everyone looking at the camera...

and no one tickling or being tickled...

was very nearly impossible. This was the best we could do!

Merry Christmas one and all!

leaving cookies and milk for Santa...

Caught in the act!

Charles in charge

Woe is me. Bob is in Vegas for 7 days. I must clarify that this is for work, but I am no less feeling abandoned and a bit jealous. He's staying in the Trump tower in a gorgeous room and gets to be wined and dined by pharmacy equipment sales reps. Well, he does also have to sit through boring lectures such as: Metformin use in renal dysfunction or Withdrawal symptoms after dicontinuation of transdermal scopolamine therapy. But, he probably gets to listen in while consuming unlimited amounts of good coffee and probably mini muffins. Anyway, we're here on our own for the week and Bob made the 'mistake' of telling Charlie that he was "in charge" while he was gone. This morning as we left for church and I gave my usual, "You need to listen to Mommy and be quiet" speech, Charlie informed me, "But Mom, you need to listen to me because remember Daddy said that I'm in charge?" On a sweeter note, Charlie gave Bob his stuffed penguin ornament "Pengly" to take with him and "keep him company." So, Bob has been sending shots of Pengly in Vegas to humor us all while he's away.

As if I'm not forlorn enough, Amelia has officially grown out of the cutest boots ever (a gift from Aunty Beth). Boo hoo below:

But, as usual, there are too many cheery things in the world to stay gloomy for long...


Charlie came home from pre-school the other day "hee-hawing" and told me that he is going to be a donkey in the school Christmas play. It is embarrassing to admit how excited I was and am--to see my little boy in a play.


A Christmas house is so heart-warming. We have this little mantle advent calendar of sorts where a ceramic snowman slides along the dates. Somehow, the snowman keeps ending up on Christmas (hmmm, Charlie)? Here he is, once again, sliding Frosty back to his rightful spot on the calendar.

“Sweet is the breath of vernal shower,
The bee's collected treasures sweet,
Sweet music's melting fall,
but sweeter yet
The still small voice of gratitude.” –Thomas Gray

Fall is such a wonderful time of year. It's also my favorite time to cook and bake because there are such wholesome and yummy foods to pick up at the market. I've gotten into butternut squash this year, pumpkin, apples of course, and leeks. Mmmm, I would love to make a different soup every day. Just the other day I saw a recipe for Pumpkin Shallot Soup that you actually bake in the pumpkin--probably not going to make in to our table, but how cool! There is also that subtle air of expectancy because Thanksgiving and Christmas are just a smidge away and there are projects to be dreamed up, started (and maybe finished); parties to plan; lists to make and revise; halls to deck; Christmas movies to watch; food food food; and visits to Wegmans galore--all of which are my favs. Of course none of this is related to the pics I posted below. I'm catching up to make sure that I've shared some Halloween photos and the shots of Charlie at his preschool "farm party"--love those! Heard on Halloween:

• Aaron: "Charlie, you picked fruit snacks? That's not even candy!"
• Charlie the Turtle when asked what (ninja) turtle he was: "I'm not any kind of turtle. (pause) Oh, I'm a snapping turtle!"
• Amelia: Silent because she was too busy eating through the packaging of each candy she received. See last pic below of what we found in her bag, already sampled.
  

Feeling Thankful

...for my husband this morning. Maybe since he ran to Wegmans after work late last night to get me the ricotta I needed, then also picked up some muffins and left them out on the counter to greet the kiddos and me when we got up in the morning. Oh and also because he and another brave dad are watching a gaggle of kids (8 total!) today so that us gals can go out and spend the day with our pal who is up from S.C. The great thing is, these little greatnesses happen often and sure do a lot to make life grand. I'm a lucky gal...oh, and the kids like him quite a bit too.