Poor, Viv

Poor Vivi has inherited my tendency towards AND aversion to water-logged skin. As long as I can remember, I have always HATED being in water for an extended period of time. Not because I hate water (I actually love swimming and such), but because I get water-logged VERY quickly and my skin then begins to actually hurt. 

Well, Vivi has started to show signs of this genetic misfortune. If she goes in the baby pool (which we have done a lot of this summer) for too long, she will cry and cry and cry while holding her feet up or hands towards me in agony over her water-logged appendages. Poor, poor Vivi.

FYI

FYI: We're going on vacation today (like right now; we just left). I have a few posts "scheduled" to come out over the next few days. But after that, I can't make any promises. Hopefully I can at least get some photos up here and there. But unfortunately, we might be MIA in the blogosphere for a few days. Sorry. 

We'll be back FOR SURE on the 6th.

It's Here!!

One of my summer projects has been to finish our second blog book (the 2010-2011 book). Well, I finished it last week and it arrived yesterday!

We absolutely love it! And now, we have TWO books from the rosier rundown, totaling 880 pages (440 pages each)!

Love.

She's a Coloring Addict

Vivi is OBSESSED with coloring. She must ask us to color at least 10 times a day. And, every single time I ask her what she did at school, she always yells, "COLOR!" Here, she had to get a coloring session in before breakfast. At 5:45 in the morning.

#96: make a gift

My office mate here at JMU (i.e. Alison) recently had a birthday and I wanted to make her something special (you know, for putting up with my bullshit day-in and day-out).

So, I grabbed one of my extra chairs int he basement for a little refurbishing. Sorry, but I forgot (again!) to take a before shot. But for a reference, it looked just like the before shot of the purple chair I re-did a couple of weeks ago; same color wood and same seat fabric.

A few coats of dark brown leather paint and a fun orange and brown cover and it was good as new! Here's the finished product:

 Happy Birthday, Alison!!

Family

Lately, Vivi and Gavin have really liked naming members of our family. The other day, I asked them if they wanted to do an interview about their family, to which they both responded "YES!" 

Favorite Phrases

Since G & V turned two, it's like a light switch has been turned on in their little heads. In the last 2 or 3 months, Gavin and Vivian have gone from only have a vocabulary of about 30 single words to talking in phrases and even complete sentences at times. And, they're picking up new words every single day. It's really quite amazing.

Some of our favorite phrases as of late include...

Gavin

"I do it" (I do it.)

"I'ant dat in dis" (I want that [cereal] in this [cup].)

"Keen nup!" (Clean up!)

"Kiat, sissy!" ([Be] quiet, sister!)

"Yesh" (Yes.-- we just love how Gavin has a lisp when he says yes.)

Vivian

"Cry baby boy sad" ([Gavin is a] cry baby boy [who is] sad.)

"Aaaw, brudder!" (Aaaw, brother [is doing something bad].)

"I colur" (I [want to] color.)
"I'ant nack!" (I want a snack.)
"Emo/Gaga/Puppy/Pil bed" ([My] Elmo/Gaga/Puppy/Pillow [is in my] bed [and I would like you to go get him/her/it.)

Sprinkler

 Thanks, GG!!

She Gets Him

Over the last week, Mr. Gavin has been rather cranky, whiney, and demanding. A couple of days ago, Gavin was carrying on for what seemed like forever about a "chew bar" (granola bar). He had already had one and I didn't want him to have another. But he kept wailing and crying and stomping about it. Meanwhile, Vivi was playing by herself in the other room. About 30 minutes into this tantrum, I called out to Viv, "Vivi, what is wrong with your brother?"

And then in a completely ridiculous tone that implied my infinite stupidity, Vivi said, "Uh... BAR!"

She was right.

~~~~~

A few days after that, Gavin was carrying on again. But this time, I really had no idea why. He was even rolling around on the floor. So again, I asked Viv, "Vivi, what is wrong with your brother?"

She replied rather seriously, "Cry baby boy sad."

She was right, again. He is a cry baby boy. And, he was sad.

#71: go to a festival

Last weekend, the Bridgewater Fire Department had a "Lawn Party" for the whole week. There were rides, a tractor show, a car show, a few parades, and a ton of food. My mom was in town, so we all went on Friday night. 

It was definitely a fun time, but the best part was that the MAIN STREET through town (where the parade was to take place) was lined with empty lawn chairs at 7:30 IN THE MORNING (I know this because I went to 7-11 at 7:30 that morning). Now this may not be shocking for those of you who are originally from small towns, but for me and Wes, this is a bit insane. This is crazy to us for two main reasons.

 

First, people were SO EXCITED to watch the Fireman's Parade that they left their chairs to "hold their place" on the parade route TWELVE HOURS before the parade was going to start. Don't get me wrong, parades are great, but there are only 5,000 people in this town and it's a really short parade (like 20 minutes).

Second, who the fuck leaves their lawn chair outside, without supervising it, ALL DAY LONG? Where I'm from, NO ONE would EVER consider doing this, even for 10 minutes. It was just shocking to us that people thought that their chairs would be safe. Go figure.

Here are some pics from the rest of the festival.

(Vivi eating her first funnel cake)

Match!

Another Project

Unfortunately, I don't have any before shots for this project (I know, what was I thinking?). You'll just have to believe me when I say that this dresser was a hot mess when I snatched it up from our local Goodwill. It was a dark brown, unevenly stained wood with wooden knobs and several nicks, dents, and snags all over it. With A LOT of sanding, 7 or 8 coats of a creamy, ivory paint, and new knobs, it was transformed.

 

I heart the hell out of this thing!

Inez

Sometimes Gavin and Vivian remind us of a few of our family members. When this happens, we call Gavin or Vivian by the name of that family member. For several months now, Vivian has been called "Inez" on a very regular basis. Inez was the name of my maternal grandmother. If you ever met her, and especially if you ever shared a meal with her, this reference will make sense to you.

You see, my Nana liked to eat for hours. It's not that she would over eat or eat too much. Instead, she would eat veeerrrry sllloooowwllly. She would eat, chat, eat, chat, eat, pay attention to something else, eat, get distracted, eat, etc. This is exactly what Vivi does.

Every single time we eat, Viv is the LAST person to finish. We are constantly saying, "Get it together, Inez and take a bite." 

Just the other morning, Gavin and Vivian were eating breakfast at their little blue table (as usual). Gavin finished his oatmeal and brought me his empty bowl to put in the sink. Then, he began playing while his sister finished up. I looked at Viv and said, "C'mon, Inez! Finish eating!"

She smiled and took a bite. I turned around for 5 seconds, looked back at her and she was up out of her chair playing with Gavin.

"Inez! Get back in your seat and eat."

She sat down, smiled, and took another bite. Again, I looked away for a few seconds and she starts singing and laughing and singing and laughing, while dancing in her seat and paying absolutely no attention to her breakfast.

"Are you done?"

"NO!" she screamed.

"Then EAT YOUR FOOD, INEZ!"

An interaction like this happens AT LEAST seven times a week. Oh, Inez.

McD's

Interestingly, Gavin and Vivian don't really like to eat much from Mc Donald's. They both adore French Fries and fruit smoothies, but the rest of it is hit or miss. Here's Gavin loving Wes' strawberry fruit smoothie and Vivian loving Wes' chicken sandwich. Poor Wes never gets to eat all of his food.

Look at those lashes!