Sunday, March 28, 2010

Independence . . .

We have been experiencing the "terrible twos". Or to put it in a more kind light, Jack's attempt to exert his independence. As all parents know, this process is nothing short of exasperating. Temper tantrums or battles over every little thing; begging, cajoling, or bribing on the part of the parent to convince your child to please do ___ (whatever it might be); and in our case, being late to virtually everything because we inevitably have a battle on the way out the door about shoes, jacket, toys we're bringing or not bringing, etc, etc, ad nauseum.
But, he's so cute, what can you do? Except try to compromise and let him have his way whenever you can (without spoiling him!).
One of the things that has been great to allow him to exercise some choice in has been his clothes. Especially his pajamas (who cares what he looks like!). This is a particularly entertaining example of his jammies choice a few nights ago. He specifically asked to wear all of these things (hence the layering). Hooray for independence!
On a side note, I am desperately seeking spring (today it's in the 30s and freezing with wind chills in the teens and 20s). Hence the new blog background. Please let me know if you hate it, I'm looking at it now and thinking I might have to change it soon because it makes a small part of me want to puke. Hope it's more springlike where you are!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Picnic at Cass Park

It has been forever since I have last blogged. So here goes. . .
We grabbed dinner at Ithaca Bakery tongiht and picnic'd at Cass Park which is on the lakefront. The pictures are from my Blackberry so this is an experiment to see how well it takes pictures.
It was fun watching the Cornell crew teams practice.
There is a huge garden turtle. Which is fun because a turtle is Jackson's favorite animal.
Becky and the boys in the foreground, the boatyard just behind, with Cornell up on the hill.

Say Cheese!!
Climbing on top of the turlte reminded me of the scene in the Neverending Story.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Family Night . . .

Is it just us or are kids naturally more hyper on Monday night just when you sit down to have Family Night? The only way we had a lesson last night was to make the kids sit on our laps. Then, during closing song time they let loose:
We always let the kids pick the songs, and James chose "Called To Serve". Well, then Jackson wanted to sing "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission", and since these missionary songs are all so rousing they had to get up and march. We proceeded to sing every missionary song we could think of. They had a fabulous time. Who knew?!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

PINEWOOD DERBY!

First Pinewood Derby! What an exciting time . . .
We owe HUGE thanks to Grandpa Larry for helping James build his car! By the end of the night they were both covered in sawdust, but James was really excited to see his car take shape!
The car was blue, with a green dragon painted on it (breathing red fire of course!). James named it the Dragon Dragster. Here he is right before the weigh-in.
James and good friend Lukas having a great time watching the races.
Showing off the ribbons. He won first place in his first heat, and 4th place overall. They also named his car the "smoothest". Way to go James!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Lookalikes? You decide . . .











So I just finished getting ready this morning, you know: shower, hair, makeup. Then Jack took a look at me and said,
"Mom, you look like Harry Potter."
Wow. I know I did my hair a little differently today but that seems a little extreme.
But, then in a 2-year-old mind would that be a compliment? Who knows. I don't even know if he is familiar with the look of the movie Harry Potter, maybe just the illustration from the book cover, which I read aloud to James a while back. Either way it was pretty funny coming from him. I tried to duplicate the look for my close-up, so let me know if I am a twin!
Have a magical day!