Pumpkins & Twins

We had the pleasure of babysitting two of the cutest twin girls around this weekend. We watched them all day Friday, overnight and all day Saturday for a friend. This is the 2nd time we have done this and no we are not crazy. These girls are the sweetest and easiest babies around. They are 17 months so about 7 months younger than Asher but the two of them combined are far less work than Asher alone! Seriously.

Asher wasn't too keen on sharing mommy or his toys with them, but eventually he decided that he liked having them around and as you can see in the photos, wanted to do everything they were doing.

The big adventure was taking everyone to a Pumpkin Patch to pick our halloween pumpkin. While the escapade ending with all three kids eventually eating the dirt in the field, I think the overall experience was good. We did get a lot of looks from people (probably thinking they were all our kids) and several people asked if they could take photos of the kids because they just looked so cute wandering around in the pumpkin patch.

We tried to get a few "staged" photos, but if you think getting 1 kid to look at the camera is hard, try 3! Then try to get them all to smile at the same time - or at least not cry - and I will be impressed. I think Paul did get a few passable photos though, enjoy!

Happy Birthday to Asher

Well, our little baby turned 2 today. Kind of sad that he really is no longer a baby, but he's so much fun lately that we are enjoying our little toddler. We had a pool party for him yesterday with all his friends at the Golden Rec. Center. They have the warmest kiddie pool in town. We started out in the party room with some food. The theme of the party was Finding Nemo so all the food was "fish" themed - Tuna & chicken salad sandwiches (some even cut out in the shape of fish), a cheese tray artfully laid out as Nemo himself (with black olives outlining his stripes), the cake (which I had a blast decorating) and a punch bowl of "Ocean Water" - apparently it's the recipe that Sonic Drive-In uses, basically sprite and coconut extract - of course with gummy fish & sharks swimming inside.

Asher still remembers the first birthday party he went to, his friend Katherine, and somehow thinks that birthdays only happen to her. This past week whenever we would say that his burthday was coming up, he would reply "No, Katherine birthday". That is, until this party. After he went to bed last night, he was talking to his stuffed animals (we were listening on the monitor) and he said "Friends....Happy Birthday Asher!.....Cut the cake....Mommy did it." It was just too cute!

So getting back to the party, after we sang Happy Birthday and everyone got blue mouths from the frosting, we headed for the pool. Asher LOVES the pool so it seemed natural to have the party there. Did I mention how warm the water is at this particular pool? It feels like bathwater so you never want to get out. We brought a bucket of rubber squirt fish that I think the adults enjoyed just as much as the kids. Unfortunately the fun had to end because everyone needed to get home for naptime. We were happy that so many of Asher's friends were able to come celebrate his birthday!

You can see all the photos from the party below (double click to make it larger).

Pooping at the Happiest Place on Earth

I don't normally like to share "poop" stories, but this one is just too funny. So Asher & I went to Disney World one last time before he turned 2 in early October. He had been doing great with the potty training the entire trip. As we were heading back to the car, going from one park to another, he says "Mommy, poo-poo". The two words I have become super sensative to every since we started the potty training. Usually the drill is to pick him up and make a b-line to the closest restroom - sometimes making it, sometimes not. However, we were in the middle of a large parking lot with no restrooms in sight.

Being a girl scout early in my life, I spotted a patch of trees and dirt, scooped Asher out of the stroller and yelled to my sister to follow with the tissues. This patch of trees and dirt just happened to be next to the main entry where all the happy visitors came to start their magical day at Disney World. Luckily for them it was the middle of the day so there was not much traffic. In addition there was a Disney Park employee directing traffic about 20 feet away from us. Luckily for us she didn't radio the Disney Police that some n'er-do-wells were popping a squat in Mickey's backyard.

I was so excited that Asher had actually waited until we got into position to start peeing and pooping that I really didn't care about the traffic or the fact that my sister is actually a Disney employee and this probably wouldn't reflect well on her. So, he finished, we wiped up and my sister had found an empty plastic bag to dispose of the mess. We were ready to head back to the stroller when Asher said "poo-poo more". I thought, ok, sometimes he does this at home too, so down came the pants and sure enough, out came more poop. This time I asked if he was all done before pulling up the pants and he said yes. However, once again we found ourselves ready to head to the stroller and he insisted there was more. I think we went through this game about 2-3 more times before he truely was finished. This was more poop than I had seen from him in days! I think it was a combination of the enourmous breakfast he had eaten and the fact that it was cool to poop in the grass that made him keep wanting more. In any case, it was definitely a first for me at Disney World and I'm sure a first for the employee who was watching the whole thing! However, I do have to wonder since, as we were walking away, she thanked us for picking up the poop....would someone really leave a pile of poop at the main entrance to Disney World?

You can see more photos of our trip (except this experience) below (Double-click to make it larger).