Blakey Blake

Blake loves baths. He will usually come running when I announce that it is bath time. The other day I was not fast enough and he pulled a Cami, climbed in fully dressed. Blake is a big helper. The other day I asked him to carry the laundry detergent down the stairs for me. He picked up the bottle and paused at the top of the stairs to plan his strategy. As he scooted down the stairs on his bum, he discovered that he could drop the container a few stairs down, scoot down to it, then do it again. He was so proud of himself when he was all done.
He loves, loves, loves the broom. He pulls it out of the pantry probably at least twice a day so that he can sweep the kitchen floor. Blake's current favorite book is Where the Wild Things Are. He absolutely loves for Bryan to read it to him before bed.

His favorite place to be is on top of anything . . . the kitchen table, the end tables, the desk, the kitchen counter, the bathroom sink, and did I mention the kitchen table!Blake loves toilets. Now that he has learned that it is naughty to play in the toilet with his hands he likes to get out the toilet brush and play with it in the toilet.

He loves Pablo and Elmo, although he does not have the attention span to watch more than the opening songs.

Mister Mister loves music. Whenever he hears music, even a cell phone ringer, he starts to dance. He has so much fun dancing with Miss Sara.

He is also a big time Daddy's Boy! When Bryan goes out the door without Blake, he stands at the door bawling and saying "Daddy, Daddy!" Pretty much as soon as Bryan is home for the day Blake becomes his little shadow.

Blakey has learned to throw a fit from one of the best, his big sister. When he gets upset he will do his fake cry and run away (either down the hall or to a corner). When you do not follow him, he comes back out to the living room and dramatically throws himself on the couch. Sometimes he will even hit it a few times. When his steam runs out he gets on with life as normal and usually comes to give me loves.

Blake is such a sweetie. He loves to give hugs and kisses. Anytime I'm sitting on the floor he will come up and wrap his arms around my neck. He is my little monkey.

Lately whenever I take him to the sink to wash after a meal he wants to drink out of the faucet. I'm not really sure where this came from, but it is so funny. In our storage room is our baby swing and infant seat. Blake has discovered them and loves to crawl in and out while I am doing laundry.

Unlike Sara, Blake loves loud noises. When I vacuum he stands directly in front of me. Even if I threaten to run over his toes he just laughs in response. Usually he ends up helping me, which I find hillarious. Sara was so frightened of the vacuum and would run and hide in her room. He also loves the mini-ex. He sat in it for 2 hours with Bryan the other day and was as happy as could be.

Whenever he hears a loud truck he runs to the window and calls out, "Daddy." He loves to watch the cars drive up and down the street.

Punkins!

Can you spot Sara the ghost?

The Witch Bestible

Today we went to the Witch Festival. Next year I really want us to both dress up as witches for Halloween. Since she always wants to be a princess, I have really been talking it up. I thought that the Witch Festival might help my cause. I told Miss Sara about it at the beginning of the week and she was so excited to go. She wore the Halloween outfit that Kari got her for her birthday and we made this hat. We all put on our orange and black outfits and set out to meet Aunt Jen, Aunt Ang, and the kids. I think that this will be a fun tradition each year for Halloween. However, this weekend is UEA so it was pretty packed. Next year I'll go on some random Tuesday morning earlier in the month. I may even dress up.

There were witches with amazing costumes who perform at a dinner theater. Sara loved them. Blake was a little more leary. I usually don't dress up (I know, I'm a party pooper) but I was inspired to create an amazing witch costume. It may not be ready this year, but definitely next year.

There was a scavenger hunt to find certain witches. This was the one who loves chocolate.

Once Blake got out of the stroller he just wanted to run. Katie helped take care of him when it was time for pictures. I absolutely love this picture of Blake, Katelyn, and Kyle!

The sign on the outhouse door reads "Witchy Poo." I wonder why?

Sara was tired and grumpy toward the end. I had to give her some lip gloss to put on so that she would last just a little longer. This is her signiture 'I don't want to mess up my lipstick' smile.Sara, Lexie, Kennadi, Blake, Katie, Kyle, and Austin

Thanks Katie, for taking care of my Escape Artist!

We have such fun cousins!

Happy Bir-day to Me!

The day began as Bryan, Blake, and I took Sara's present (the scooter) into her room and woke her up by singing "Happy Birthday." She sang the song the rest of the day. Sometimes it was "Happy Bir-day to Sara." Others it was "Happy Bir-day to me." And once it was "Happy Bir-day to Charlotte and Me."

Sara loved the scooter and rode it in the house a bit due to the wet and wormy conditions outside.

After dinner we got dressed for her party. I thought that she would want to wear her 'sparkly' skirt, but she would have none of it.

She had so much fun opening presents! My Sara was very spoiled by her friends and family. She got a Princess cash register, Princess figurines, a jumper, a Halloween outfit, 2 guns, 4 dress-up costumes including jewelry, 2 paint and color books, a Strawberry Shortcake doll, and a bath time Little Mermaid.Blake enjoyed helping her open presents and playing with them once she moved on to the next one.

Sara got lots of dress-ups. She had to put on the crown, earrings, ring and necklace immediately.
This was her Strawberry Shortcake cake. The figurines were top heavy and would not stand on the cake. Oops!
She even sang to herself along with everyone else. Then she blew out the candles one at a time.
This is one of the dress-up outfits that she got, along with the gun and holster from the Pectols.
There is a story about the guns. As Bryan was preparing for the hunt Sara told me that she was going huntin' too. She was going to go on a PINK hunt. She needed her shootin' thing. Then she asked, "Can I shoot a deer puh-lease?" It was very cute, wanting to be just like her Daddy. Needless to say she got two pink cap guns for her birthday, a rifle and a shotgun. Daddy and the uncles had lots of fun with them.
Another beautiful dress, and of course orange Tic-Tacs. She had so much fun and so much sugar that I wondered if she would ever go to sleep. I read her one book at bedtime. Daddy came in and asked her if she had a good birthday. She replied, "Yes. Can I have another bir-day?" Daddy told her that she will have lots of birthdays, but she will have to wait for her next one until she turns 4. She fell asleep 5 minutes later.

Let the Celebrations Begin!

Sara's greatly anticipated birthday is almost here. We planned a few special Mommy/Daddy activities for her. On Thursday Sara and I went shopping for a special dress for her Birthday Date with Daddy. We had lots of fun. I think the highlights of the trip were the Hello Kitty store and Jamba Juice.

Sara was sold the minute she saw this sparkly skirt. You should see her prance around in it.

Daddy came to the door to pick her up for the special night.

He even ordered a corsage from Aunt Ang. What a lucky little girl to have such a thoughtful daddy!
They went to China Lily for dinner then to see the Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie.