Wednesday, April 22, 2009

the question box

Mr. Cooper enjoying some Veggie Chili and his canned-goods race car track. He had cans swirled all over the table and was driving cars on top of them because I asked him not to scrape the cars along the table.

This boy is made of chili lately. He asks for it all the time, but I draw the line at chili and chips for breakfast. That is just wrong. So I was not surprised when he came to me at 11 AM holding a can of Trader Joe's Vegetarian Chili and asked if he could eat his "mechanical chili" now. I had a good giggle about the word he substituted for vegetarian. Although there is definitely something mechanical about chili. For the record, it's pretty good as canned chili goes.
While driving home in the Jeep with the boys and Syd, Logan asks from the back seat, "Dad, where does Chinese food come from?"

Dad: China.

Logan: No, what animal does it come from?

Dad: Oh, chicken and pigs and cows and ducks....

Logan: And Pandas?

Dad: No, people aren't supposed to eat Panda's, buddy.

Logan: Then how come there was a picture of a Panda on that sign?

Then I realized we just passed Panda Express where we have gone for Chinese food before. Smart kid. ;)

Monday, April 20, 2009

Dad's the MAN!

Sydney loves saying Da-Da! When I ask her where Daddy is she repeats his name and points to the door. I love seeing the big smile on Daddy's face when he gets home and Syd says, "DA-DA!" as loud as she can. I imagine she is saying "thanks for putting in another long days work for us. I'm glad you're home to play with me." Then she toddles over as fast as she can, hugs his legs, and reaches up for him to give her a real hug. I know it helps Dave work so hard for our family when the kids show how much they love him, even our sweet toddler. Maybe I should switch Dave for a week or two so Syd will say Ma-Ma, a word that is sadly absent from her limited vocabulary at this point. I ask her to say MaMa and she gets a wicked grin on her face and whispers...........Da-Da. Little stinker.

We missed our Daddy last weekend because he was at a seminar for continuing-ed credits. It's fun to see Dave come home from a seminar reenergized and excited about what he does. Logan still asks him every morning if he has to go to work and when Dave answered "Yes" on Saturday morning there was quite a revolt. We made the best of the day by playing and avoiding chores all morning. ;) We got the basic chores done in the afternoon which consist of garbage/recycling (Toby), dishes (Mom & Logan) and sweep/mop (Jessie), clean the bathroom (Jessie), laundry (everyone) and vacuum (everyone). I'm tired just thinking about all that.

(It doesn't help that it went from 65 to 92 degrees here in a matter of 2 days, and the heat sucked all my energy today.) I'm currently sweating in front of the fan and wondering how hot it's going to get this summer.

I'm still keeping up with Project 365. I have missed taking pictures a few days in which case I just cheat and take a picture of something that represents what I want to say for that day. Considering the constant craziness I'm okay with that. I love knowing that those little things about my life/family that will be forgotten soon are now being recorded because I am in the habit of writing them down. I am really trying to see this through for the entire year and look forward to thumbing through the pages of our 2009 album often.
I was so lucky to catch this picture. Jessie is not asleep, but she would have been if I had left them alone. Dave is home late on Wednesday's, usually 7:30-8 PM. Syd was overtired and crying and I honestly don't remeber what I was doing, but I couldn't get away to put Syd to bed just yet. I asked Jess if she could help her sister be happy until I could get to her and this is how I found them. J was pretty pleased with herself.I got a little sentimental as I was loading the dishwasher tonight (Sunday) after the kids were in bed. Those little stacking cups in the middle of the rack were given to us at a baby shower before Jessie was born. They have been a staple in the bath for all the kids all these 8 years. I remember each baby trying to drink out of them and play with them in all the different bathtubs we've lived in. They have been used as a princess tower, to hold snacks at the table, and always find their way back together after one or two get lost. They are just a little reminder of how fast time goes by when you don't think about it and how much our family has changed in all these years.