Juicy, freezing, slimy hands

Ellie and I were snapping green beans for, geez, I think Thanksgiving dinner.  After a while, she said, "My hands are getting juicy."
Me:  Yeah, I don't like snapping green beans either.
Ellie:  Then why are you doing it?
Me:  Well, because I love Mommy and when you love someone you help them, even if you don't like to.  That's why you're helping me, because you love me . . . and because I made you.
El:  Well . . . Mom really made me because I was in her belly.
Me:  No, because I made you help me.
I was not ready to have any such conversations with her yet.

Our whole family spent the night at Bob and Kay's a while ago.  I was sleeping on the second floor and Anderson was sleeping in the basement.  At about 4 am, he woke up and, convinced I was in the garage, put on his shoes (no coat, ~20 degrees outside) and walked out to find me.  Their garage is detached so he was outside for a little while, knocking on the door, I guess.  Fortunately, Kay got up when she heard the door shut and found him walking back to the house, upset that I didn't come to the garage door.  Needless to say, he got to sleep in my bed with me for the rest of the night.

Anderson, at the breakfast table yesterday:  Dipping toast in water is fun and yummy!

Pretty is for Girls!

Anderson was making something, and I told him it looked pretty.  He looked at me kind of disgusted and said, "Mom, pretty is for girls.  Cool is for boys."

Speaking of pretty, my pretty little Caroline is talking up a storm these days.  She went through a period of about 2 months where she did nothing new, so I guess she's making up for it now.  In the last few days she's said or done the following:
-bath, hi, up, hot, all done, ho-ho-ho, uh-oh (with the oh instead of just the uh)
-shakes her head "no"
-lays down upon request (to get diaper changed)
-points to nose, eyes, belly

Ellie just had the flu, so that was no fun.  I'm really hoping we all aren't sick for Christmas.  Time will tell. . .

What's up with these kids, yo?

Anderson told Caroline not to be a Gigolo.

Ellie just did some five-year-old-white-girl freestyle rapping.  She started with Rock-a-bye Baby, then she flowed it like she knowed it and the people done voted.  Yo.

Caroline woke up at 2:30 this morning and didn't go back to sleep until about 5:00.  She was completely inconsolable.  She squirmed in my arms until I let her down, then she ran out in the kitchen, sat down, laid her head down on the floor, and sobbed.  I offered her goldfish and milk, which she refused.  Then we went and watched Leno, Law and Order SVU, then the Cosby Show.  She liked SVU but cried during the others.  I guess she's down with the murdering but likes neither terribly unfunny nor hilarious entertainers.  I mean, seriously, having other people cut out newspaper clippings and mail them to you so you can sit in a chair and read them does not make you funny.  It makes you lazy.  Anyway, then I offered Caroline oyster crackers, which she devoured.  Then she finally went back to sleep.  Women.

Anderson, after every bath he ever takes, to whomever's drying him:  Can you put my towel in my towel?
That means he wants you to wrap him up with it and tuck it in so it stays on.  He also likes to use the tie on my bathrobe to go fishing in our bathtub.

Carla told the kids to clean or something the other day and Walker said, "Mom, aren't you going to wink me out of it?"  He meant he wanted Carla to wink at him when she told them to clean so he wouldn't have to do it but everyone else would.  Good try, buddy, but mommy can't wink.

File under miscellaneous

Anderson, wanting to see some Christmas lights:  Dad, can we see some sparkly houses on the way to Grandma's?

Anderson put a toy story paint by numbers book in the cart at the store the other day.
Carla:  Anderson, we can't buy that.
Anderson:  Yes we can.
Carla:  No, we can't.  I don't have any money for that.
Anderson:  Yes you do!  We're buying it!  Because it's cool!
She did not buy it.  So far, we've been successful in telling our kids no without having to beat them at Walmart. 

Anderson says Sanks instead of thanks and Wiff instead of with.

Anderson wore his bike helmet and elbow pads all day at the sitter's house today.  Well, she made him take off the helmet for lunch and nap.

Caroline now has 3 teeth and 0 ear infections, finally.  She still says "uh" instead of uh-oh.

Walker went to bed at 6:45 tonight.  He was up late watching the return of LeBron to the Q last night (embarrassing all the way around - cavs embarrassed themselves, lebron embarrassed himself, game 5 all over again).

Ellie's version of "I'll handle it" - "I got the handle, mom."  She also won a Thanksgiving coloring contest sponsored by Hostess.  She got a bag full of junk food as a prize.

I brought some wheat bread home from the store the other day and showed it to Carla.
Me:  You like this kind of bread, right?
Carla:  That?  That's like the white bread of wheat bread.
I'm not sure but I think that makes her racist . . .

4 kids * 5 per day * 365 days/year * 2 years per kid

Ellie and Anderson had their combined birthday party on Saturday.  Anderson's in to cars and racing and trains and Legos right now so he mainly got Cars Legos and Cars Geotrax and trucks and stuff.  He also got a bike helmet, which he wears constantly, just walking around the house.  It's pretty funny to watch.  Ellie got clothes, which she was thrilled about.  She also got clothes for her American girl doll, which she was also thrilled about.  She's very excited to go see princesses ice skating which is her present from us this year.  Today she asked if there will be bathrooms there.

Ellie and Anderson were supposed to be cleaning the toy room the other day.
Ellie:  I'm the only one cleaning!
Anderson:  Me too!

I asked Carla to marry me 10 years ago today, so that's pretty cool.  Since then we've gotten married (obviously), graduated college, gotten good jobs, bought(en) a house, had 4 kids, changed approximately 14600 diapers, started our masters's, and been to countless soccer and tee-ball games.  Still, it seems like yesterday that I was kneeling and trembling at the park after Thanksgiving dinner.  She cried and said yes and we started the whirlwind of activity that I still don't think has stopped.  It's fun trying to keep up, and it's fun looking back.  And Thanksgiving will always be my favorite holiday.

Gibbling

Anderson was passing a little basketball from hand to hand.
Me: Anderson, are you dribbling?
Anderson. No! I'm . . . Gibbling.

Anderson, while listening to Super-cala-fraga . . . : I really like the 'docious' part.

Anderson, after finding out his train broke: Who did this? I'm serious!

The furnace man came by today b/c the heat pump wasn't working quite right.
Furnace man: Well, everything's working perfectly. But you should replace these 3 parts. Actually, you should just by a whole new heat pump. That'll be $5000.
Me: Get off of my property.
Well, it was something like that anyway.

Gracie's taking 5-6 steps without falling down now. She also has her 3rd bad ear infection in 5 weeks and is therefore on her 3rd different antibiotic in 5 weeks and is therefore destroying her diapers.

Also, why didn't He-man just always stay He-man? Did he get tired of running around in his underwear? Adam really didn't have much going for him and I'm sure Cringer would have been happy just staying Battlecat. He probably just didn't like the name. He-man. What were the other choices on the wall in the writers' room that they didn't pick? Mr. Strong? Magic Muscle Man? Who rides a cat, anyway?

Highlights from a daddy day

Caroline stands up from a crawl without support from anything other than her palms on the ground now. She was doing it all day today but she wouldn't take any steps afterward.

Ellie dressed up like an M&M for preschool. Whenever she has a dress-up day I get nervous. What if we got the date wrong and she's dressed as an M&M and everyone else is dressed like a normal preschooler? It worked out, though. Her only problem was that she couldn't raise her arms for fear of ripping her costume. She just bent at the elbows. Kind of looked like a sea lion. (Cutest sea lion dressed as an m&m ever).

Anderson and I played Wii bowling for a while. Basically, I knelt behind him and swung his arm and tried to keep him from hitting the buttons. We stopped when I got mad at him for ruining a turkey. Lousy kid.

I also got our dishwasher fixed, paid some bills, fixed our wireless adapter, bought, downloaded, and installed Office 2010 (for $10, perfectly legally, too), put up with a very whiny Ellie, and watched Jack and Molly and my 3 for a couple hours. All-in-all, a pretty productive day.

Uncle Kurt: Jack, do you have a stinky diaper?
Jack: OK.

By the power of Grayskull, I HAVE THE POWER!!!

Stuff my kids have never seen:
A Walkman
A VCR
An A drive (seriously, why are A and B still reserved for floppy disks?)
An episode of He-Man, unless they stay up late and watch Qubo. Saw it on the other night. Pretty awesome.
Super Nintendo
L.A. Gears
A Skipit
A typewriter

Stuff their kids will never see:
Cassettes/CDs/DVDs/blu ray disks
A diskman
An episode of Power Rangers (God willing)
A post-season pitcher as dominant as Cliff Lee
What else?

Ellie just built a lego boat that could carry 2 people, a "spyolator" and a "fastolator". They help you spy and go fast.

Walker and I had a 45 minute discussion on Heaven and Hell the other night, including such topics as the holy spirit and prevenient grace. It was right before bed time and the talk was mostly about Satan and Hell so I thought he'd be getting pretty scared but he just kept asking question after question.
"Does Hell have walls? Does it have doors? How do people go there after they die? Does Satan grab you and drag you down through the dirt?" Yeah, it started creeping me out a little so I finally shut him down. The next night, he wanted to talk about it again.

Also, I saw that there's a new show called Raising Hope. Just when I thought the verb/name titles were going away . . . Crossing Jordan, Judging Amy, saving grace, raising hellen, finding nemo, saving private ryan. Also, why is it that all the just-go-by-the-first-name shows star incredibly annoying women?

Fall Fun

Peek-a-boo! I see you! Walker, Ellie, and Anderson had a blast making it "rain" leaves and diving into the huge pile that Kurt made for them!

In other fall-related news, Anderson cried when he reached in the pumpkin to pull out some seeds. I laughed really hard, and he got mad and left.

Quick Update

Anderson asked me if we could listen to a CDD the other day while driving in the van. I love that kid :)

Gracie's blows kisses now and says "hi" with a huge smile when she sees you walk into the room!

Walker is a puzzling mix of a terrible listener and a very happy 6 year old.

Ellie just loves to color and shop, color and shop, color and shop. She is a very good helper when she's not in a "mood." Tonight at dinner, she said, "Mom, I don't think I can eat. My stomach hurts when I breathe out, right on my pancreases."

Sunday Mornin'

I just want to record the events of Sunday morning, so we don't forget how crazy things are at our house . . .
Anderson's sleeping naked on the couch because he peed the bed.

Kurt woke up first and made coffee and waffles (not typical) while I snuggled with Gracie on the couch.

Walker is eating breakfast and talking about sports with Kurt. They are both cracking up, and if you just listened to the conversation without realizing Walker was a six-year-old, you'd think it was 2 buddies giving each other a hard time about who's a better batter, pitcher, etc.

Ellie is sound asleep because she's our sleeper-inner. She will definitely wake up whiny and crabby b/c she stayed up too late.

Kurt just yelled at me for blogging, and said that if we're late for church he's blaming me. He always blames me anyway.

Gracie's also eating waffles, and will probably stay in her high chair until we're about 5 minutes away from leaving b/c she's the good one who never fusses.

As soon as Ellie wakes up, she'll eat breakfast, and get yelled at 500 times for eating too slow.

Anderson's pretty pleasant this morning. When he wakes up, it usually 50/50. This morning we were blessed with a happy demeanor.

It's now time to leave, and I was too busy getting everyone ready to put make-up on, so now I will make Kurt mad by telling him I need 5 more minutes :)

P.S. We left at 8:40, which is great for us!!!

LET'S GO LEOPARDS!
Here's Caroline modeling her new hair bow made by Dana R. from Louisville (she owns her own bow business called Kensington's
kloset - super cute stuff). Ellie has a matching one, too!

Caroline's latest tricks include taking a few steps and saying "hello" while talking on her pretend phone!

Caroline Stats

age: 1 year & 1 day
weight: 20 lbs. 2 oz. (25%)
length: 28" (25%)
cute factor: through the roof!!!

To date, Caroline is . . .
-completely off the bottle and on a sippy cup
-drinking whole milk and eating 3 meals a day plus 1 or 2 snacks
-in need of more teeth (she only has 2)
-cruising around furniture
-saying 4 words: hi, mama, dada, uh-oh
-the best baby in the whole wide world :)

Excited to be up past bed time and preparing to toddle

I took Anderson to his first high school football game on Friday. He had fun cheering but his timing and content were a little off.
Anderson, during the silent time between an extra point and a kick off: Dad, can we scream?
Me: In a little bit, buddy, I'll tell you when.
Me, after the kickoff: OK Anderson, go ahead and cheer now.
Anderson, at the top of his lungs: IT'S . . . NIGHTTIME!!!!!!
Me: OK, not bad. Now how about yelling 'Go, Defense'?
Ander: GO DEFENSE! What's defense?

Gracie turns 1 tomorrow. She can hold up 1 finger. She took 1 step today. She can say 1 sentence (Hi, Dada).

Birthing hips: Advantage, Caroline

A lot of Caroline's shorts/pants are really tight on her 'till you get them up over her hips. I guess she's still got a little chub on her. It's a lot like putting a pillow case on a new pillow. Except you don't have to tuck her under your chin first.

I had Caroline and Anderson in a big cart at the store today, one in which they could ride side-by-side. Anderson kept his arm around Caroline the whole time and was cracking her up by pretending to eat her face. I think they'll be buddies once she can fend for herself a little more. Anderson got 2 Oreos on the way home for being so good at the store. I guess I was roughly 3 times as good.

Anderson: Dad, why can't I see my eyes?

In protest today over what was for lunch, he poured his milk onto his plate of chicken and noodles. I dumped the milk, warmed up the food, and gave it back. He ate a little but then settled on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, on which he really, really wanted salt and pepper. I declined, he screamed, then ate it and said he was ready for bed. Slept for almost 3 hours. Sweet.

They're random thoughts, dot dot dot

Anderson said "yellow eggs" today instead of "lellow keggs" - finally. Though it is kind of a bummer that he's dropping a lot of the cute baby talk now. He does still say, "Who are these's?" instead of "Whose are these?", though.

Ellie's been saying "kind of like" a lot lately. "I kind of like am hungry, so . . ." "I kind of like don't really have any clean shorts, so . . . " Maybe we should kind of like start feeding and clothing our children.

Walker multiplied 7x7 in his head today, then he sat down and started doing his 3+5 homework and missed one. I think he likes the challenging stuff but doesn't pay any attention to the mundane. We have on our list to ask his teacher if he's listening during our conference next week. Ten bucks says I'll ask, she'll answer, and I'll immediately forget what she said.

Did you know you can get internet in your home now? IN YOUR HOME?!

That's right, we are now proud members of the 20th century. Now that we can blog from home, you can expect at least 3 more posts per year, guaranteed.

Let's see, what's been happening lately . . .
Walker's been playing soccer and flag football, just started choir, and is enjoying 1st grade. He fell and hit his head on a rock last weekend and it bled a lot (the head, not the rock) but he's fine. Dr. Miller was there with us when it happened so he kept him laying down for a while till the bleeding kind of stopped. While he was laying there, Walker said, "I guess I could play for Northwest or Canton South." Andy and I looked at each other seriously for a minute, both thinking 'concussion' but then Walker said, "You know, 'cause they're red." He was just referring to all the blood on his head and arm. We knew he was OK then, and tougher than I thought (and I already knew he was pretty tough).

Ellie's playing soccer, singing in the choir, and having fun in preschool. I know we've mentioned this before but she's super artsy. Loves coloring and drawing. She can draw me under the table anytime. Sometimes she also draws me sitting in a chair or standing in the yard. She told me last night that she wants to be an artist or a "house drawer" (architect) when she grows up. Then she paused and said, "Dad, do we get to choose?" I told her of course and that she gets to be anything she wants to be and then she just smiled her big smile and hugged me. Very precious moment.

Anderson: Dad, how does God make banana pancakes?
Me, when Carla walked in a couple minutes later: Anderson, tell mom what you asked me about God.
Anderson: I don't WANT to talk about God!

Anderson, later that weekend: I don't want to go to church.
Me: Well we have to buddy.
Anderson: Why?
Me: Because we love Jesus.
Anderson: I don't WANT to love Jesus!

Also he wants a bike and an orange gun for his birthday. Yikes. He's cute, though.

Caroline can stand up for a few seconds now if you give her something to hold in her hands to distract her. We think she might be able to say Mama and Dada but we're not sure because it's pretty inconsistent. The only thing she says with any consistency is "uh" when she drops something. It means 'uh-oh' but she doesn't say the whole thing yet. Lazy.

Speaking of Caroline, she's upstairs crying right now so I better go get her out of the crib.

And yes, I do know it's the 21st century.

Miss Caroline Grace . . .

otherwise known as the forgotten one.

She's as pleasant as ever.

My favorite physical feature: her adorable dimples :)

Her favorite games to play: peek-a-boo, patty-cake, bonk (she taps her forehead on mine, I say "bonk", she laughs), and beep (she touches my nose, I say "beep", she laughs) *I think she's got me trained well :)

Mode of transportation: crawling

Other highlights:
-She eats mostly table food. She loves meatballs, fruit, and carbs. She's not a fan of veggies, but we sneak 'em in.
-She pulls herself up everywhere and on everything, but has no desire to walk, which is fine with me because she gets into enough mischief as it is.
-She sleeps like a champ: 2 naps of 1-2 hours each, in bed around 7:30, awake b/t 5:30-6:30, which fits with our schedule perfectly (except for Saturdays)
-LOVES being entertained by Walker, Ellie, and Anderson
-happiest. baby. ever.

We love you, Gracie!

Ander-pander

Andersonisms:

smarshlellows (like)
bamatoes (dislike)
bessert (really like)

He's so grown up now, he doesn't say too many words incorrectly anymore, so I want to remember these last few. He also makes us laugh constantly, even when we should be mad at him.

This morning he was arguing with me about washing his hands and having a snack.
Ander: I want a snack.
Carla: You need to wash your hands if you want a snack.
Ander: I'M NOT WASHING MY HANDS!
Carla: Then you're not having a snack.
Ander (on the way to the bathroom to wash his hands) : YOU'RE A SNACK!

As I am typing this, Walker, Kurt, Anderson, Lisa, Andrea, and Bobby are all watching Star Wars. They just watched a battle seen, and Anderson piped up and said, "Walker, is anybody gonna be die?" Ahhhhhh! What do you say to that? (besides, "Kurt, he shouldn't be watching this.")

Update

This week . . .

Anderson is doing very well with potty training. I'm hoping by the end of next week he'll be ready to say good-bye to diapers forever (except for nighttime,I'm sure)! He likes going to "bible church" to play with his friend Chloe while W. & E. are at VBS. He also referred to Kurt as his "grill daddy" as opposed to just his regular "daddy." Not really sure where that came from. Today, while I was laying beside him in bed he got up nose-to-nose with me and said, "Is that you, Aunt Andrea?" Then he started giggling. He' such a little ham sometimes. On a final Anderson note, the highlight of his week so far was spending the night all by himself at gma. Kandel's house. He even thanked Jesus for it in his nighttime prayers!

Ellie has been the master of fit throwing. She had crying, screaming, blubbering, slobbering, all-out melt down for about an hour this morning b/c she didn't like the brown in her shorts that I laid out for her. She wouldn't settle down until I threatened to pick out all of her clothes for an entire week. That seemed to do the trick. She also has a new obsession with "silly bandz." What 4-10 year old doesn't? She thoroughly enjoyed shopping for herself at the mall when we went to get Lisa's b-day present. Her favorite thing to do is try on shoes :) Her all-time high this week was going to Red Lobster with mom, dad, and Aunt Andrea. Her daddy let her get crab legs because he absolutely cannot say no to her when it comes to delicious food. The last time he took her out, she got to order a steak. She's gonna be one expensive date someday.

Walker is a sports statistic genius. He can remember stats, plays, dates, etc. from just about any sport that he loves, which is pretty much all of them. He talks endlessly about cool plays that I don't really care about, but I listen anyway b/c I love that kid! I literally had to hold his mouth shut yesterday just so I could tell him to do something. He's a living, breathing, eating sport-a-holic. If you can't find him looking for some kind of game on TV, then he'll be in his room trying to find one on the radio, or reenacting some type of sports replay outside. He actually chose to skip out on our Red Lobster trip just to stay at gma's and watch sports. This could turn into an unhealthy habit!

Caroline is just as cute as can be. She went for her 9 month check-up today and weighed in at 19# 6 oz. (50th percentile). She's 27" long (25 percentile). She can pull herself up to her knees. She can hold herself standing against something, like the couch, if we put her there. She sits herself up easily from laying and gets into a crawling stance, but has yet to actually crawl. She's starting to eat a little bit of solid food like graham crackers, ritz crackers, & cut up bananas. She' s really getting the hang of the sippy, and her smile can melt your heart in a second!

Mommy and Daddy are doing fine, too, so we won't bore you with the grown-up details. Afterall, this is just mainly stuff the kids say!

My First Blog by Walker

I have a loose tooth. My baseball team is called The Thunder. I play first base. My frend Caleb just got back from vacashon. I want to go see Toy Story 3 with him. Today I'm swiming at my grandmas.

The Doctors

Ellie Kandel, M.D.

Ander (at breakfast): Ohhhhhh, I have a scav on my toe.

Dr. Ellie: That's okay. Scabs are good.

Ander: Nooooo. Scavs are really bad. They hurt you.

Dr. Ellie: No, Anderson. Scabs are good. They give you nice new, new, new skin, so you won't have to have a scab for your whole life! They won't even hurt you. So scabs are good. Boo-boos are bad, but scabs are good.

Ander: I DON'T WANT SCAVS!

Dr. Ellie: Sometimes you just have scabs. That's just the way it is.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anderson Kandel, M.D.

On the way to the store Ellie and I were talking about bracelets when Anderson piped up that he wanted a bracelet, too. He and Ellie argued a bit about boys not being allowed to wear bracelets. Of course Ellie was adamant that boys wearing bracelets was not even possible. Anderson was exasperated, so he came up with his own solution as follows.

Dr. Anderson: Ellie, when boys change into girls then they can wear bracelets.

Ellie and I giggled the whole way home! Needless to say, I think I will choose Ellie as my doctor for now.

Georgie

Walker and Anderson were watching Curious George the other day when Walker proceeded to tell us what he would do to help George solve the problem if he was there. After a long explanation of his plan, Anderson looked over and said, "Walker, how will you get in the TV?"
I love that kid!

75% of our kids are sick

Well, actually Walker's pretty much better now. He went to school but felt lousy in the afternoon so we had to go pick him up. He got a nap in and now he's fine. However, Anderson has whatever Walker had now. It's a high fever and pretty much nothing else. Also, Caroline threw up, which she thought was hilarious.

Let's see, what else? Walker's still doing good in school. He loves math and hates art just like his dad. He's also reading very well (he's on a K out of, umm, Z, I guess, which I think is good for his grade level). Ellie's enjoying pre-school. Her teachers say she's a natural leader, which tells us she's very bossy. She and Anderson really play well together. They both have great imaginations. Her latest thing is singing and dancing along with the girl chipmunks from the squeaquel movie. Oh, and she loves art and hates math. Anderson likes dancing with Ellie, too, and calls it Alvin and the Chcken-munks. He also goes outside sometimes without telling anyone. He also pokes Caroline in the eyes for no apparent reason and still pulls everyone's hair. But he can still be one of the most lovable kids out there. Hopefully it's just a stage he's going through (the ornery part, not the lovable part). At least he still has really good hair. Caroline is finally rolling over (her doctor said sometimes that's a little hard for the "chubbier ones") and she'll stay sitting up for a long time but has no interest in the actual act of sitting up. Basically, if we sit her up, she's just too lazy to fall over. She smiles all the time, almost never cries, puts herself to sleep, and laughs at everything that moves, especially ceiling fans. Best baby ever.

Go Cavs.

Caroline's Bathtism

Ellie, yesterday morning: Is Caroline getting bathtized today?
Me: No, that's tomorrow, and you mean baptized, not "bathtized".
Ellie: Well, they use water.
Me: Well, yeah, that's true, they do . . .
Ellie, rolling her eyes like I'm an idiot: Baptized.

Then, at the baptism, we took all the kids up to the front of the church. W and E were standing, Carla had Caroline and I was holding Anderson, who was knuckle deep in his nose. When I attempted to discretely pull his hand down, he protested rather loudly, "I'm trying to get my boogies out!" I had to make a quick decision - release the hand or let him repeat himself even louder. Pick away, son. Pick away.

And this one really worries me: Anderson came out of the bathroom wearing one of Ellie's headbands and said, "Look! I'm wearing Ellie's Bandaid. I'm a princess now!"

Knock Knock

Me: Who's there?
Anderson: Walker who.
Me: Walker who who.
Anderson: Walker who hand.

Anderson: Knock knock.
Me: Who's there?
Anderson: Hoo Hoo.
Me: Hoo Hoo who?
Anderson: Hoo Hoo Hand.

I had Walker and Ellie sorting laundry the other night ('cause I'm super smart like that).
Anderson: I want to play work.
Me: They're not playing work, they're doing work.
Anderson: I want to play doing work.

Our Little Comedian

Anderson continues to provide comic relief for our family every day. Here are the names he has come up with for himself and each of his siblings. I'm not sure how, but he lovingly and comicly refers to everyone by these names often!

"Walker Peanu-Jelly"
"Ellie Boba-Chanie"
"Anderson Bad Boy"
"Caroline Piggy"

When Anderson was helping me put potatoes in a big pot the other day (for mashed potatoes), he turned, looked at me lovingly, and said, "Mommy, you're such a good helper." I love that kid.

Yet another one of our conversations that I don't want to quickly forget:

A - Mommy, what's that? (holding a puzzle peice)
C - It's a tuba.
A - No, it's not a tuba.
C - Yes, Anderson, it is a tuba.
A - No, it's not a tuba.
C - Yes it is. It's a big tuba.
A - No, it is NOT a tuba.
C - OK, it's a horn. (exasperated)
A - OK, mommy, it's a horn . . . (turns around and comes back) NO, I CANT listen to you (pause) because. It's just a thing. You've got to be kidding me. (He walks out, and I'm left cracking up in the kitchen all by myself!)

What's new with the Kandel kids

Ellie: She's a shopping diva! Somehow, she manages to go on a shopping trip every week, whether it's with one of her aunts, mommy, or grandma. She loves coloring and wants to be an artist when she grows up - specifically, a "painting artist." Her favorite food is juicy, pink steak! She certainly makes her daddy proud.

Funny Quote: On a recent shopping adventure with Aunt Lisa and Mommy she was intensely combing the clearance shoes aisles at Sears looking for size 11 shoes for next year. She had a few boxes picked out and was looking for more when she looked up with a serious face and said, "Don't worry, I really know what I'm doing!"

Caroline: She's a chubba-bubba. She now eats rice cereal, laughs out loud, and is the cutest baby ever! She nurses 5-6 times a day, sleeps through the night well (anywhere from 8-12 hours), takes 3 naps a day, has mastered falling alseep on her own without a pacifier, being rocked, etc. She is, by far, our most content baby, and she is a true joy to have! The older kids adore her and make her laugh and smile constantly.

Funny Quote: "Geeeee."

Anderson: Has a great imagination for a 2-year-old. He loves his GeoTrax trains, Thomas trains, Ellie's play kitchen, and his ride-on dump truck. The other day, he packed his McQueen and Mater lunch box and drove to work on his dump truck to fix rocks. Along the way, he got in a crash and had Mater tow him out.

Funny Quote: "I wanna play with my camoose!"

Walker: Nothing new, he's still a sports MANIAC! He is also turning into quite a good little reader! He's currently playing b-ball at the YMCA and is looking forward to baseball. If he's not watching sports, he's playing (or wishing to be playing) Wii. Somehow, he's also become insanely interested in Star Wars.

Funny Quote: "Hey dad, do you have any of that thin gingerale?" (At a wedding a few weeks ago, Kurt got some gingerale, but is was really flat. Walker tried it and really liked it b/c he said it tasted like iced tea!?)