Big Boy Bed

Well, the crib tent kept Thatcher confined to his crib for about 6 months after he decided to jump (fall) out of his crib.  At almost 20 months old, which is exactly the point at which we transitioned Samantha to a toddler bed, Thatcher figured out a way to bypass the crib tent.  Since the tent doesn't exactly fit the model of crib we have, he was able to figure out that he can squeeze his way up the back, reach his arm around the front, and unzip it.  You can imagine my surprise when last week I heard the jumbling around of the door knob in his room with him trying to open his door (he can escape out of a crib tent AND crib but can't open a door yet....).  This initiated an hour long fiasco of me returning him back and forth to his crib until finally I had HAD IT and I put him in Samantha's twin bed (Samantha sleeps in our room during nap time since her naps are twice as long as Thatcher's and I don't want him to wake her up).

To my surprise, he stayed in her bed and napped for two hours! And each afternoon since then, he has happily gotten up in Samantha's bed for nap and says to me, "Night, night Mommy.  I wuv you."  When he is done napping he either calls me to come get him or I can hear him trying to open the door.  How can it be this easy??

I had to sneak a quick picture without opening the door all the way since it squeaks.

Thank you Deakyne family for lending us your crib tent.  While I wish we were able to use it just a little bit longer, (like until he is THREE!), I am going to return it to you in case any of your little ones decide to crib jump ;)

Biscuit

We've been dog sitting for a friend this past week.

 This is Biscuit. 

He is a Jack Russel/Miniature Dachshund Mix....a Jack Weiner? a Weinerdach? a Jackhund? Whatever.....He is super cute.

Biscuit was rescued from a kill shelter before he was about to be put down.  He is an older guy, super sweet and loves attention.  His only vice is he panics when left alone which is most likely due to whatever life he had pre-shelter.  And by panic, I mean he ate our blinds....

Lollipop wasted no time and moved right in to Biscuit's bed.

Lollipop loved playing chase with Biscuit

They played hard and napped harder.

And Biscuit did a lot of staring out the window waiting for his Mom to come get him. 

We are excited that Lollipop has a new friend and we hope Biscuit relaxes a bit to feel more comfortable with us. 

Lane Farms Pumpkin Patch 2011

Happy Birthday Lollipop!

On October 21st our baby turned 5! Hard to believe it has been five years.

Family Date Night

  While most nights we stay home and eat in, the weekends are usually reserved for take-out, eating out or whatever you can figure out, which usually equals a bowl of cereal...

Last weekend we got adventurous and decided to take the kids somewhere a little fancier than the usual family friendly restaurants we rotate through (which means a place where we can corner Thatcher in a booth because he won't sit in a high chair, a place that offers crayons and coloring pages, a place that is loud and a major bonus is a place that has a video game area). 

So, we walked down to Opal, and lucky for us, Opal is sort of like a retirement home before 6 PM.   The people already seated in the restaurant thought our kids were adorable and kept telling us that they reminded them of their grand children. Score!!!

Thatcher chose to stand on his chair the ENTIRE dinner. I let it slide since it was better than running around the restaurant.

I wonder if the table next to us thought he was being as cute as the kids???

Now you see where Thatcher gets it from...

 

Not only did Thatcher stand the entire time, he ate with his hands and made a complete mess.  I let that slide too because I was enjoying my martini too much...

While the kids dined on pasta, we had some of our Opal favorites like the phyllo wrapped tiger prawns with coconut curry sauce and the smoked chicken pizza.

Neither kid would let Todd or I have a chance at the tiramisu or gelato.

 Thank you Thatcher for being so good!

Thank you Sammie for being so sweet!

And then, the restaurant began to get packed with the usual Opal crowd, and as you can see, it was time to go...

After dinner we took a walk down to La Arcada Plaza to check out the new restaurant Todd is doing work in (Cielito should be open soon).

And then one final stop before the walk home, a Shirley Temple at The Chase. 

I'd say this was MUCH better than a bowl of cereal ;)

Cute Videos of Thatchie

Thatchie loves to gallop.  And when he is asked to gallop, he thinks it is A BIG DEAL.  I know this because he will do it over and over and over and over....

Thatchie says all sorts of words and I love the way he says them. 

Some of my favorites are:

"O-tay" (Okay)

"Too-tie" (Cookie)

"St-NAT" (Snack)

"Tank-too" (Thank you)

"Pees" (Please)

"A-doing?" (What are you doing)

"Bless Shoes" (Bless You)

"Yo-Yo" (Yogurt)

Thatchie is starting to put together his thoughts to have "conversations" with me.  Here he is telling me that Grandma (we are still working on getting him to stop calling her Pa Pa) went home but before she left she gave him this card and took him out for hot dogs.   Didn't you get all that from the video???

 Before Thatcher gets to go greet Daddy (although at first he was hoping it was Papa, which really means Grandma) he has to use his manners and of course he has to tell me he loves me!

The Elf on the Shelf

My mom gave Samantha and Thatcher The Elf on the Shelf a few months ago.  Samantha has been asking and asking EVERY DAY for me to read her the story and bring out the Elf. 

You can read the Elf on the Shelf tradition here, but the gist of the story is that the Elf joins your family as Christmas nears and keeps close watch over the kids. Each night he travels to the North Pole to report to Santa on how their behavior was that day.  Each morning he returns, to a new spot,

 to do it all over again until Christmas Eve.

The kids named their Elf, Frisbee.

The first thing they do when they wake up each morning is search the house for Frisbee.  One morning Frisbee was no where to be found.  Samantha was so upset thinking he couldn't find his way back to our home.  Thankfully he was waiting for the kids on the dashboard of our car on the ride to school.  This morning there were tears when Samantha discovered Frisbee in the refrigerator.  She quickly calmed down when I reminded her that the North Pole is much colder than our fridge and that he manages just fine in there.

Todd and I think Frisbee is MAGIC!  Samantha's behavior has been pretty much perfect lately and during those times we can tell she is heading down the wrong path, we just say, "Frisbee is listening," and suddenly she shapes up. 

As if these two could be anything but angels?!

Thank you Frisbee for joining our family. I really don't want to put you away when Christmas comes.  We just might make Frisbee a year-round Elf!