Houses Come in Pairs

We are SO excited; Erik and Cheriss have found their dream house and their dream property. They move in just a few weeks and we can't wait to be there to celebrate with them. The photo above is us touring their full five acres. They have TWO ponds, a hot tub, a sauna and a beautiful idyllic property very close to Grandma and Grandpa Faiola's dream house property. They deserve the amazing space to raise their perfect toddler girl, Alise =)  Congratulations to amazing Uncle Erik and Aunty Cheriss.

Lily loves her Grandpa Faiola and his endless patience for reading. Grandpa and Jamisen are also starting to get their science on and do experiments together. It makes me happy to see this relationship building with both kiddos. Grandma Faiola's waffle tradition is what the kids most closely identify their Grandma with right now.

  Isn't Jamisen the epitome of 'cool' in this photo? =) Lily has started growing attached to 'things' now. It's really surprising since Jamisen didn't find a baby blanket he loved but Lily has two very specific blankets she adores. They are from our good friend Monique and she originally sent a pink one when Lily was born. But, when the house blew up, we thought her pink blanket was a goner so Monique sent the kids brand new blankets. It turns out Lily's blanket could be saved (albeit, not quite as fuzzy as before). Lily's new blanket is gray and she loves both of the colors equally. She insists of having them when she sleeps and will cry and ask for them until she gets them. I'm not sure how I feel about this but for now, we've got the blankets and they're a 'thing' in her life. 

Nanny McKenna is still the main nanny for our household. She has turned into a house manager in her almost five years with our family. We are so thankful that she has stayed with us as the kids have grown up and has continued to take more of a leadership role with keeping the household running smoothly. She is excited about adding piano lessons to Jamisen's life as he gets older because she is a concert-level piano player and loves to teach classes. We are all excited about that!

Jason rarely gets pictures on the family blog and he is an important part of our lives. He takes care of the kids on Wednesdays and Thursdays. He's a circus performer, has his Masters Degree in Family Systems Therapy and also taught preschool for five years. He has a lot of creative ideas that he loves to do with the kids from art to dress-up to hide and go seek and more. The kids love him and are always thrilled when they know his days are coming.

Our friend Esther visited and brought the kids candy (yay for Minions banana gross sugary things) and books. She loves reading to them and is so thoughtful in how she interacts with them. We're lucky to have a huge group of friends in our lives that care about our kiddos.

We have a great Children's Museum in town and the kids spent over 3 hours there last weekend. Jamisen loved the dress up corner and transformed himself into a Wizard.

The other day, Chris came home with a quickly passing idea of buying a home he saw for a rental home. As we were discussing it, Jamisen, who was reading quietly close by, piped up, "That is a good idea. That way, if our house explodes again, we can move into that other house!" My heart alternatively broke and leapt at the same time; broke because 4 year olds shouldn't have to think of that kind of thing but leapt because he is such a logical, smart little thinker that is planning for the future.  We'll see how this home explosion affects him in a couple decades; will he always believe that houses need to come in pairs?

We STILL have the kiddo's Gingerbread Houses, taking up space in our pantry. Lily actually  managed to bite a piece off of her wall the other day but it was so hard that I was worried she would crack a tooth. Tooth is intact; hypoglycemic index spiked. That's what we call a success.

Chris got the kids Valentine's Day cards. They were SO excited. They jumped up and down and squeaked as they opened their cards. It was adorable.  Jamisen is starting to recognize letters (and draw them) and asked what each word said with a magnitude of joie de vivre that belied how much he was actually trying to read.

Lily is our happy little monkey-see, monkey-do. She saw her Daddy stretching his quads and glutes and wanted in on the action. She is the most sweet, cute and happy second child we could have ever hoped to have. She makes us laugh daily with her antics and her sass.

Jamisen really got into this art project; we made dyed shaving cream and let the kids paint the shower and tub. The water was black when the kiddos got out of the tub and they both needed a serious rinsing but it was a hit for an art project and great for a variety of lessons (color blending, fine motor skills, counting).

Rotten Eggs in my Face

We are so happy that spring and the sun is coming! Kiddos are happy and are playing in the yard more. Of course, there are giant piles of deer poop all around but we'll work that out eventually =)

We even have been eating some outside. Above, Lily has spilled her giant Blueberry Kefir on the table and is contemplating licking it up from the table. She actually tried and got the kefir all over her adorable Patagonia jacket (sob). Thank goodness those jackets are washable! =)

 

Chris is busy training for his next marathon and is logging the miles. He is consistent and steady in his training. 

The piranha deer are BACK in the yard (as evidenced by the deer poop). We have such a beautiful yard so it's tough to see them using it as a salad bar. I also don't love that they are VERY big and powerful animals around my very small, tiny, adorable children. So, I have spent MANY hours spraying all of the plants with a mixture of rotten eggs and cayenne. It is horrid smelling and gets all over me when I'm spraying it. I also put out electronic shockers in areas the deer walk through and tried some subsonic sound things. Those got wet and fell over so they're drying out right now. Maybe I need a mini umbrella for them ...? The shock and awe campaign has helped and the deer trespass but are munching less. Let's hope it stays that way.

The kids took a four week Superhero class at the Y and LOVED it. I saw huge improvements in Jamisen's interaction with the other kids and teachers from the last class a year ago where he mostly hugged the wall. Lily just jumped in, literally, head first and had an amazing time. Both kids were better behaved than almost all the other kids there - and that is with Lily being the youngest by 8 months.

 

Sister in Law Cheriss and I have been meeting at the gym on the weekends ... and by 'have been meeting', I mean, 'have done it twice; yay us!'. While we're there, the cousins play in the children's area (a bargain at $5 for 2 hours). Lily really likes having Alise there to help take care of and feel useful. It's adorable. 

The funniest thing happened a few days ago. Lily got a heart straw for Valentine's Day from her school. Jamisen did not get any presents from his school. Do the math; two kids, one straw. Of course, there was drama around sharing. No straw was as good as the heart straw. Sharing was fraught with tears, crying and screaming. Lily did not want to share. She lorded the straw over Jamisen at points and generally, pushed her brother's buttons. Jamisen reacted poorly. Finally, Chris had enough of the whining and screaming and put Jamisen over his shoulder to carry him upstairs for some calm down time. And what does our little Lily do? She LEAPS off the bench, screaming, "DON'T TAKE MY BROTHER!!!!!!!!!" and tears off at a full sprint after Chris and Jamisen. By the time I caught up with her, I found her determinedly plodding up the stairs, with tears streaming down her cheeks, stating, "Don't take Jamisen. Don't take Jamisen. Don't take Jamisen." It was sweet ... and clearly at the age of 2, she sees no irony in her behavior, before or after the time out.

Three Questions ... with Lily

Lily is 2 1/2 years old and just a little happy spitfire. She has SO much personality and is quick to laugh, quick to cry, and quick to forgive. She is fiercely protective of her brother, literally jumping on us when we try to brush Jamisen's teeth or put him in time out.

She is also quite devilish when it comes to torturing her big brother. Right now, the most common way to do it is by stealing whatever he is playing with and running someplace else very quickly. Right now, her brother mostly just sits there and yells and waits for a parent to step in but Lily, you just wait ... when he figures out he can run faster than you, you're in for some trouble. =)

The three questions with Lily:

What is your favorite color: Silver

What do you want to be when you grow up: Fireman 

What is the meaning of life? "Open the door."

Tonight, she got a candy for Valentine's from her school. Now, the rule is, you can have the candy after you eat something of nutritional value. She insisted on holding her sucker. I told her that was fine as long as she ate her food and didn't lick the sucker. So, she didn't lick the sucker. She swiped the dry sucker over her lips in a line, stuck out her tongue, licked her lips, and did it again. And thus she figured out how to technically not BREAK the letter of the law but clearly not comply with the spirit of the law.

We love our adventuresome, fierce, funny, kind, and feisty little girl.

The Kids are Stars!

Our kids are the cutest, most smart, adorable little children in the world. Really, there could not be a set of more angelic little kiddos in the entire planet (except, of course cousin Alise who absolutely competes in a big way).

The little ones got all dressed up to do a really fun photo shoot with a local magazine. The local magazine did a story about the amazing collection of Bernestein Bears books that my Mom saved for her future grandchildren (awwwww). As you know from the previous blog post, the kids wore their PJs and performed admirably for the photographer. This is one of the photographer proofs.

Chris went to Amsterdam on a super quick sales call and so we kept busy every night with play dates! Jamisen and his friend Chance are super good friends from school. His Mom Jessie owns a cowboy line-dancing bar so it's fun to talk business with her. They're the ones that introduced us to our beloved Home Depot workshops.

As soon as Chris came home, the kids could NOT get enough of their Daddy. They clambered all over him and insisted he read many books to them. Our kiddos are readers (!).

Jamisen's solo-play attention span is getting really impressive. He will play for long, uninterrupted stretches of time with blocks, his books, and his sister's Callalou house. He still loves to set up stores to sell products from.

We continue to hunt down Jamisen's eye ... thing. In the last month, he's had three different doctors appointments (eye muscle specialist, neurologist, pediatric ophthalmologist). The eye muscle specialist found an interesting allergic reaction on Jamisen's under eyelids (not the top ones). So, we're trying steroid drops to reduce the reaction and then will move him onto histamines. Multiple pediatric ophthalmologists did not catch this allergy so we're all a little puzzled and confused. But, we're chasing that down before we try the next step, a 3 hour EEG. Jamisen has been very clear and has asked for a thirty day break between doctor's appointments. I get it kid, I get it...

Lily continues to make us proud. We went to Fairhaven Toy Garden and were there for over an hour, playing. On the way out, the store employees complimented me on how well behaved she was and what a great communication relationship she and I had. I was thrilled to hear this since she's two years old and sometimes acts like it at home =)

Notice Jamisen is sporting a shiner in the above photo? When I was in Mexico, he was injured at school and this is what I woke up to when I got home: his precious little face, bruised and cut. Chris showed me the incident report from the school and in part, it read, "Jamisen was hit in the face with a swinging rake." Um ... that seems a little incomplete right? Anyone else think that seems incomplete? I asked Jamisen about it and he said, "Bryce hit me in the face with a rake and Liam hit me in the back with a broom." Wait, what?! Our little boy was gang jumped on the kindergarten playground?! What the what?! I reached out to Bryce's parents to suggest a play date, saying nothing about the playground attack and ... crickets. Nada. Liam's parents were horrified and wanted to know if we wanted to cancel our upcoming play date. Heck no! Boys are savages. They need to learn repair work emotionally when they work out their issues with rakes and brooms rather than good communication skills. Jamisen took the entire thing well and has no long lasting scars on his face or, on his heart.

Lily is learning her sharing skills. She struggles every so often but it's not nearly as much as it used to be and Jamisen does a great job reinforcing her. If he and she are really getting along well, he will praise her by saying things like, "Lily, you are so thoughtful by sharing like that."  Hmmmm... wonder where he's hearing that? =) Our kids are amazing mimics. We love our kiddos, love our family and are so blessed every day to have our health, our laughter and each other.