dinner

Playplace

Our new neck-o-the-woods has several perks. For one, it's closer to stores, work, and childcare. But probably one for the best parts is that we live a mile or so from a McDonald's with a playplace. Gavin and Vivian LOVE this perk of our new neighborhood.

This girl...

... must ask to color (with crayons, chalk, or markers)

at least 492,751 times a day.

She's Sweet

Vivian is sweet. Yesterday (and today so far), Gavin has been sick; puking-his-guts-out sick. It's pitiful. 

At one point yesterday, Gavin was laying on his belly, on a towel, only in his diaper, in the middle of the living room floor. I was sitting on the floor next to him rubbing his back.

Then, I had to go upstairs to get something. When I came back down, Viv was sitting in my spot on the floor, rubbing Gavin's back. It was unbelievably precious.

Hugs

cubes

We recently got the kiddos a cube shelf for the playroom/family room. The room is definitely a work-in-progress (it'll probably take us a few months to finish it off), but we're moving it along. Slowly but surely.

new project

During one of my recent 6-hour-long-Etsy-session (oh how I adore Etsy), I found these adorable state word collages. I fell in love. So, I bought one for the state where Wes and I met (Maryland), one for the first state where we lived together (Alabama), one for the state where we bought our first house and had our twins (Indiana), and one for where we live now (Virginia). The words within each state are the names of cities in that respective state. I think they're so cool.

 

In the Maryland frame, you can see Wheaton (where Wes is from), Adelphi (where I'm from), and Greenbelt (where we were married).

 Alabama has Auburn,

 Indiana has Lafayette,

 and Virginia has Bridgewater (where we lived last year) and Harrisonburg (where we live now).

I just can't get enough!

Miss Viv Viv

Diarrhea of the Mouth

Gavin has been talking A LOT lately. It ridiculous. He can't stop. He names everything he sees. And if he doesn't know the word, he asks, "What dis, Mommy?" He also repeats the last 2 words of every sentence you say. And sometimes, he'll even repeat the whole sentence (slurring the words together, of course). He's crazy. Here are a few phrases/sentences he like to say 852 times a day.

"No yes, Mommy."

This is usually how this conversation goes: I will tell Gavin that he has to do something, he will tell me "No," and then I will say, "Yes, Gavin, you have to do it." Then, instead of just telling me that he doesn't want to do it by saying "No" again, Gavin will say, "No yes, Mommy! No yes!"

"Oh my goodness."

A few days ago, Gavin dropped his cereal on the floor and said, "Oh my goodness." The best part is that we have no idea where he got this from. Now, he says it several times a day.

"I fine Daddy/Mommy/it" (Translation: "I will go and find Daddy/Mommy/it.")

Gavin loves to look for things. Anything. And he likes to tell us about it.

"Where is the ball, Gavin?" G: "I dunno... here is!"

Since he likes to go and look for people and things, it probably comes to no surprise that he also like to point things out around us. He especially likes to be "tested" when we're reading a book. When we're reading, I'll ask G & V to identify different things on the pages and they'll point them out. Gavin likes to pretend he doesn't see it when he clearly does. He'll say, "I dunno," while holding his hands up in a "Where is it?" manner. Then, he'll point to the item in question and yell very loudly, "Here is!"

These are only a few things that he likes to say. It seems like he's just talking and talking and talking.

holding hands

She's Dramatic

As we all know, Vivi is a little obsessed with shoes. Okay, she ridiculously obsessed. She usually asks for her shoes within the first 10 minutes of waking up in the morning, she is the only child at her school who refuses to take off her shoes at nap time, and she falls asleep in them at night. She has a problem.

The other day, I picked Vivi and Gavin up from school and Vivi had on a pair of shoes that I didn't recognize. 

I said to the director, "Those aren't Vivi's shoes." Since there are only 2 other girls in Vivi's class, I said, "Well, they're probably Olivia's. I'll Facebook her mom tonight." 

Then, one of the teacher's came over and said, "Those are Emme's." (Emme is in the 1-year-old class) And while pointing at Emme's feet, she said, "Are these Vivian's shoes?"

"Yes! Those are Viv's," I said.

Then, her teacher said, "Vivian was eye-balling Emme's shoes all day. She must have took them during nap. Vivian usually doesn't take her own shoes off, but I guess she was willing since Emme's were available."

Well, it's official. She has a serious shoe addiction. But knowing that she stole the shoes of another child wasn't even the worst part. No no. The worst part was when I tried to take the stolen shoes off her feet.

O.M.G.

Miss Vivian had THE WORST tantrum she has had in... well maybe ever. It was unbelievable. So dramatic. But I still heart the hell out of her. My little shoe diva.

A few more from last weekend

 She wore these shoes all day and all night, all weekend.

He's Repetitive

Gavin likes to repeat himself over and over and over. Whenever he wants to tell you something, he's responding to something you have said, or he's just talking to himself, he repeats himself. For instance, Gavin likes to tell us that he's "nice" or "careful" after being reprimanded for doing something. This is how the conversation goes:

"Gavin, don't hit your sister/break that/climb there/open the door/throw that."

"Okay, Mommy. Okay, Mommy. Okay, Mommy. I nice. I nice. I nice."

And he does this ALL of the time. About anything and everything. Hilarious.

Boke Mote Troll

Gavin is hilarious. And smart. Wicked smart.

After breakfast this morning, Gavin said to me:

"Mote troll peas, Mommy." (translation: "Give me the remote control please, Mommy")

I gave him a remote control without any batteries inside. He went into the living room and then came back to me after a minute or so and said:

"Dis boke, Mommy. New one peas." (translation: "This remote control is not working. Please give me one that does work."

I just can't get enough of this kid.

A Day of Play

Here are a few videos from our weekend.

(Gavin is saying "Two five, two five, two five"
in his video. This is how he counts by himself.)

(Yes, Vivi's hat says "orgasm donor." Don't judge.)

a few of my favs

Over the last 2 weeks, I've been trying to get the new house unpacked and decorated. And I've been successful in a few places. For instance, the kids' room is basically done, the kitchen has been completely unpacked and mostly decorated, and the living is mostly done, too. As some of the finishing touches are made, I thought I'd share a few pics of my favorite places so far.

This is the fireplace in our living room. I love our living room. And I especially love this spot in our living room.

Here's a pic of the inside of our front door. Our fridge is stainless steel (and thus, it's not magnetic), so we can't put the magnets there. But the inside of our front door works out great. And the kiddos love it.

Another place that I love in our new place is our dining room (which is still a work-in-progress). I've always loved our huge buffet (that we bought in Indiana at a furniture auction), but I think I might love it even more here. The dining room is a red-ish/purple-ish color and our furniture is a dark wood. When I first saw the room, I knew that it was going to be an eclectic mix. After perusing the Internet for ideas, I decided on a plate collage on the wall above the buffet. It's not completely done yet (I plan to continue the plates up and over to the right onto the next wall in an interesting pattern... or something), but it's getting there.

 The owl plate is my favorite:

I just love all of these spots in our new house. More to come...