Resting

Tonight we were walking home from the light rail station, and Cory told Molly that it would be bedtime when we got home.

Molly (trying to get out of having to go to bed): Oh, but I just rest as I walk.
Cory: Really? Wow. You should teach Mommy and Daddy how to do that.

Fun times with messes

On Monday, Alex was playing in the kitchen. I found him dumping salt. He had moved a chair from the table over to the island, climbed up on it, and grabbed the salt shaker from the middle of the island. It flows quickly, and he poured it ALL out. Then he grabbed the pepper. Yikes!

Here's a photo of his salty feet. There was a ton on the floor, too.

Right after I got this cleaned up, a friend stopped over. She mentioned that when her son was this age, she let him play with uncooked rolled oats in a little tub with spoons and things. I happened to have an unopened container of cheap oatmeal, so I poured it into an ice cream bucket and gave it to Alex with another large container and a few spoons and measuring cups. He was happily scooping from one container and pouring it into the other. I went to take care of some things and left him playing. Molly came downstairs and apparently got a few more kitchen utensils. Then I do not know who did what, but when I walked back into the kitchen, I saw THIS: (mess below).

Ok, so it's kind of hard to see at this size, but there was oatmeal EVERYWHERE! I do not know how they got it spread all across the kitchen that quickly. Thank goodness it's cheap and easy to sweep up!

Tonight's mischief

Tonight, as Cory and I were putting the finishing touches on the Simpsons version of our family portrait, we heard the back door open and close. We ran to see who escaped. It turns out that Molly decided to change Alex's diaper all by herself!!! She was tossing the wet diaper out on the deck. Alex was just laying happily on the changing pad wearing only a shirt. :) Molly was so proud of herself. What a little "helper"! Sometimes I'm amazed at what he lets her do. I mean, obviously he just laid down on that changing pad and let her take off his shorts and his diaper. Silly kids.

A few minutes later, Molly ran to tell us that Alex had found a little bottle of lotion. He squirted it all over a toy wagon. The photo above shows him proudly showing his art work. :)

Simpsonize Me!

All of you Simpsons fans will love this! You can go to www.simpsonizeme.com, upload a photo, and see what you'd look like as a Simpsons character. In case you can't tell, that's our family above. Isn't that awesome?!?

Back Seat Driver

Molly is SUCH a back seat driver! Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes....well it gets old quickly. :)

Today we were at a red light, and she asked why all the cars (in front of us) had their headlights on.
Me: Headlights are in the front of cars to help them see in the dark or in the rain. The red lights you see in the back of those cars are called brake lights.
Molly: Why are the brake lights on?
Me: Brake lights come on when you push the brake in the car to stop the car. To stay stopped at the red light, the brakes need to stay on, so the brake lights stay on too.
Molly: Oh. They are brake lights. Not headlights...

As we approach the next light,
Molly: Mom! Put your brakes on. It's a red light!
Me: Yes, Molly. I see the light.

When the light turns green:
Molly: The light is green! Turn your brake lights off!

So... not only do I have her telling me what color the lights are, but now she's telling me when to put the brakes on. LOL. She's also a riot when it's raining. "Mom, slow down. Watch out for that puddle!!!"

Children's Museum

We went to the Children's Museum today with friends from church. It was really fun. Molly and Alex (above) loved playing in the pretend stream in one of the rooms.

There was a Curious George exhibit. Curious George is one of Molly's favorite TV shows. She loves the books, too. Here she is in the rocket ship.

Molly, Curious George, Emily, and Alex

More water fun (with friends)!

More Stories

Molly is running around the house wearing only her underwear and a princess crown. She has a princess wand in her hand. Cory asked her if she was a princess, and she said, "No, I am a king!"

Yesterday Alex locked Cory in our bedroom. We have a lever handle with a baby-proofing lock on the outside that we put there when Molly was younger to keep her from going in our room when it was her nap time. Cory was in the bedroom, and Alex slid the lock bar across, locking Cory in the room.
Molly yelled for me, and I went upstairs and unlocked the door. I told Cory that we should probably take that lock off of the door. He said that if the sliding part is all the way to the unlock position, it has to be pushed in to slide it and Alex can't do that. A minute later, Molly and Alex were out in the hall and Cory and I were in our bedroom. Alex loves playing with doors, and he shut ours. Then Cory said, "They locked us in!"
Nice. :) Cory and I had to try to explain to Molly how to unlock the door and let us out. After a few minutes, she got it open. Then she admitted that SHE had locked us in that time. Of course, she promised never to do that ever again. I still think it's time to remove the lock!

On Friday I took the kids to the park where we met a bunch of friends. The kids were all swimming at the park wading pool. I noticed Alex was walking kind of funny in the pool, but I just thought he was being really careful.
When I took him out to change him back into normal clothes, I had trouble pulling off his swim trunks. It turns out that instead of putting a new swim diaper on him right before putting him in the pool, I had grabbed one of Molly's super absorbent nighttime pullups!!! Oops! That thing had swelled up HUGE and HEAVY. No wonder Alex was walking funny! Poor little guy! :)

Fun times (???) on HOT 4th of July

Don't they look miserable? We went to the Eagan 4th of July parade and it was HOT! Molly and Alex cheered up once the parade got to us, and I think they had a fun time.
Cory and I were a bit surprised by the parade. We are used to small town parades that last all of 15 minutes. We were running a bit late, so on the way we decided that we had better park near the end of the route so we wouldn't miss it all.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This parade lasted TWO HOURS. It was quite the event. :)

I want to wear THESE CLOTHES!

Yesterday, Molly came downstairs after waking up in the morning wearing this outfit. She said, "Look, my shirt has a hood!" I told her she did a great job getting dressed all by herself, but we should wear something a little different to the 4th of July parade. She said,"No, I want to wear THESE CLOTHES!" In case it isn't clear in the photo, Molly is wearing red capris and bright pink socks with her aqua shirt.
If you see us sometime and Molly is dressed creatively... just assume it's something she picked out herself. :)

Storybook Land

We went with some extended family to Storybook Land in Aberdeen, SD. It is a GREAT park with FREE admission. There are all kinds of sculptures/houses/slides, etc. that are themed after a well-known children's book or nursery rhyme. Molly and Alex had a blast (and so did we)! If you are ever in the area, check it out!

Storybook Land

Cory and Alex sliding down a LONG slide at Jack and Jill's Hill

Emily and Molly on the Carousel

Molly (on top) and Alex and Cory (bottom) sliding down the slide at the Hickory Dickory Dock Clock

Molly and cousin Casey with the Wizard of Oz cast

Fun times in South Dakota

It's been a while since I've updated. In June we went to South Dakota. Molly and Alex had fun with both sets of Grandparents. Above you can see them having a great time with bubble wrap at Grandpa and Grandma Ehlebracht's house. Alex LOVED running across the bubble wrap and hearing it pop! What a good idea!

Molly and Alex loved the farm animals at Grandpa and Grandma Loeschke's place. Here's Molly with a kitten she named "Susie".