Once upon a time two kids, a brother and a sister, happily played together. The brother pretended his orange whistle was a conductor’s whistle with magic sparkle that would take him to the island of Sodor. The sister chewed on whatever she could get in her mouth.

But after a time the sister was no longer content with the objects around her. And she stole the brother’s magic whistle.

The brother was furious and demanded the whislte back. The sister being smaller than the boy had no choice but to let the whistle be gently removed from her hands and mouth. She half listened as the brother told her, “Don’t ever, ever steal my whistle again. Don’t do that. It’s a no, no no!”

After the tirade that seemed as if it would never end, the little sister expressed her sincerest apologies and promised never to steal the coveted whistle again.

This year Brenden wanted to be Thomas the Tank Engine for halloween. I asked him several times and gave him a lot of choices and every time he said Thomas. I also let him pick Emily’s costume with a choice between a fairy or a lady bug. He wanted her to be a lady bug, a choice I’m pretty sure she was not happy with.

We got a very short Halloween story to read this year and Brenden was all ready to say, “Trick-or-Treat. Trick-or-Treat. Give me something good to eat” just like the little girl in the book, only with a please tacked on. He was very excited and couldn’t wait for the day he could be Thomas and Emily could be a lady bug.

This was a very exciting change from the boy who didn’t even want to put his Bob the Builder costume on last year. The boy who didn’t even want to go up to people’s doors.

We had planned on going to a city sponsored event for little kids on Friday to ease into things, but Brenden came down with an ear infection Thursday night so we skipped it.

I guess our neighborhood starts trick-or-treating much later than I would have though because there really weren’t many kids out when we were. But we made our way around the block and stopped at any house that looked inviting. Brenden didn’t manage to say anything to people but he was very brave about going up to the doors and holding out his bag. Maybe next year he’ll speak!

Emily was tired and not at all thrilled about not having her feet free. But she sure looked cute.

Getting excited to get into his costume.

Casper the friendly ghost.

Waiting for it to get dark enough to set out.

Afterwards, watching the greatness that is The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

Brenden Sings

I have lots of things I want to write about and I hope to get that done over the weekend. But for now, here is a cute little clip of Brenden talking and singing.

Uh oh. I said I’d post Emily’s 9 month update and I didn’t. Time to do that now that she’s half way to 10 months.

Stats:
Weight: 18 lbs 11.5 oz
Length: 27 1/8 in

She’s just below average on both. But this little girl is a big explorer. She is cruising everywhere and trying to climb everything. She really wants to be doing whatever it is big brother can do. She’s getting more personality every day and so far, it’s a sunny disposition. She loves to laugh and show off her one dimple.

Banging and chewing on my brush.

Having fun at a mall play area.

Not sure what’s going on with my pictures not linking to the bigger version like they usually do. Maybe sometime when Patrick has some free time he’ll look at it for me.

Brenden has been saying, “Picture puzzle. Picture Puzzle. Picture this.” It’s from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and it’s stuck in my head. Plust I feel like all I post lately is pictures. But Emily will be 9 months tomorrow which means a visit to the doctor on Tuesday so I’m sure I’ll have an update on that.

Here are just a few pictures from the past week.

The smilingest baby girl in the world.

Showing off her teeth.

Giving Daddy some love.

He just looked so cute and sporty I had to take a picture. But he wouldn't stop drinking his milk.

He found Patrick's shoes and wore them all over the house.

Last week I took the kids to the mall in Frisco. The play area was very busy at first. One kid grabbed on to Brenden’s leg and basically shoved him off the top of a rubber waterfall. He was not happy, but quickly got back into playing. Eventually it slowed down enough in there for me to put Emily down and let her have some fun too. She took right to climbing on things and through the tunnels.

Later that day Brenden was eating some yogurt and came up to me looking like this:

“Ho ho ho, I’m Santa Claus,” he said. See all his angry red bug bites?

Emily was so happy here I had to take her picture. And I didn’t want Brenden to feel left out, so his is below.

One night I was cooking dinner and put Emily in her exersaucer. She’s really getting too big for it, but I needed her safe while I cooked. After I was done cooking I got her out and this is where she went:

She’s just such a happy girl! And yes, these pictures were all taken in the same week! Just a smidge of variation in the weather.

One day I was really losing my cool with Brenden and I guess it was showing because he looked up at me as I put his shoes on and said, “be patient Mom.” It was like God himself was speaking to me. I had really needed the reminder to have patience with him at that moment and it gave me goosebumps for him to say it.

Somehow patience evolved. Now I get told to be patient or patience whenever he doesn’t like what I’m saying to him. If I sing it’s, “Mom, be patience. I told you.” If I correct him more of the same. If I ask him a question he doesn’t want to answer or tell him to go potty or to bed more patience are needed. If only he knew how patient I was being with the whole patience thing!

Another day recently he really got me again. We always tell him that if someone asks about his little hand he can tell them he was just born that way. Well, we were playing with his toy kitchen together and he accidentally slammed my finger in the fridge door and it really hurt. He apologized and asked if I was ok and I said yes but that it really hurt. His response? “It’s ok Mom, you were just born that way.” Loved it.

Yesterday I took the kids to Toys R Us. We were searching for a toy to be Emily’s special toy so that she might stop snatching Brenden’s special Mickey Mouse Clubhouse toy and characters. Brenden took a test drive in all the cars and pronounced this one his favorite.

This morning before leaving the house he decided he needed to wear his conductor’s hat.

Patrick got last minute tickets to a pre-season Stars game this week and we decided to go and take the kids. It was the first time we took them to a game and we weren’t sure how they’d do. But since the seats were free and it was still pre-season, we decided it was a good time to try since we could leave early and not feel bad.

Emily did great and didn’t seem too bothered by the noise. I of course was worried the whole time that she was going to be deaf by the end because it was so loud. Brenden was really excited. He told us right away that he wanted some popcorn so we got that and he sat in his seat and held the box and ate it. He also keep wanting to go down the stairs to the railing so I’d walk him down there and let him look. He was really excited about the big Chili’s chili because for some reason he likes to say, “Welcome to Chili’s.” It was not coming our way, but he kept hoping.

Towards the end of the 1st period he’d decided he need to sit in the empty row behind us by himself. A 4-year-old boy in the row in front of us came back to look at his little hand. He really want to touch Brenden’s little hand and was not backing down even though Brenden was only interested in talking about all the things he could see. The little boy just didn’t understand why he couldn’t touch it.

During the break Brenden told us he was ready to go and we decided that was fair as it was already bedtime. Patrick stood up at the end of the isle holding Emily with Brenden at his side while I was getting all our stuff picked up. I looked down for a split second to grab Brenden’s coat off his seat and when I looked up Brenden was bumping his way down every stair. I sat in shock and watched. A couple had just stepped into the section and the man ran down and got him. I was too shocked to move at first but I was also simultaneously thinking he should not be moving an accident victim and that I was very grateful that he was picking up my now screaming child. I got up and took him and looked him over immediately seeing a big bump on the side of his head. We filed an incident report and had the on site paramedics look him over. They pronounced him fine. Brenden was impatient to get to the car and tell his stuffed Daisy Duck about the dramas and the tragedy and get home. So we figured he really was fine, but man did he give us a scare.

Emily is Star suited up and ready to go!

She loves to eat Brenden's shoe.

Kicking back with his popcorn snack and a little hockey.

He has no idea why he's clapping but everyone else was.

Emily hits 8 months on Saturday. Can not believe how quickly it’s gone. Here are a few pictures in honor.

This is the sight that greets us when we go to Emily's room now.

I’m working on photos and a post for about our cruise, but for now, I leave you Thing 1 and Thing 2. We got these for the kids at the airport because Brenden really likes The Cat in the Hat.

My niece and nephews came for a visit with my parents and came over to our house two different days. We had a great time swimming in the pool all day. And even though Brenden spent most of that time in his sandbox instead of swimming with us, he was so happy to have his cousins here. When they left the second day he was really broken hearted and he wanted to go find them.

Grandpa and the girls.

Not a quality picture, but a cute moment.

Emily is crawling, sort of pulling up, getting her third tooth and just generally keeping busy growing and learning. Brenden is rethinking all his wishes that she would get bigger so she could play with him. He’d like to keep his toys to himself please! They’ve both been a fun handful lately.

Sometime around October of last year we tore up the deck in the backyard. It left no room for dogs and kids to run around and it wasn’t in the best of shape, so up it came. Ever since then we’ve been trying to get it ready to have sod laid. We had these great plans of doing the work ourselves and we’ve been trying to get all the rocks and junk up. We finally decided to call and see how much it would cost to have it done professionally and were pleasantly surprised by the quote, so we hired the guys and out the came yesterday. A pending storm had them scurrying about. They were in and out in about 45 minutes. We are so happy to have grass instead of a big ugly spot.

Before.

Before again.

After.

On Tuesday Emily had her 6 month checkup, even though this Wed. she’ll be 7 months.

Stats:
Weight: 17 lbs 1.8 oz (57%)
Height: 25 3/4 inches (33%)
Head: 16 3/4 inches (39%)

She was miserable the next day dealing after having her shots. Poor thing. But she got in a good cuddle with Grandma who was spending the night.

Starting her off on technology early.

And I can’t forget Brenden.

We’ve had a nice 4 day weekend here while Patrick took Thursday and Friday off of work. Friday we went to Hawaiian Falls in Garland. Brenden really enjoyed himself though he will tell you that he didn’t like the big splash. ( A huge bucket fills up and then dumps all the water on everyone.)

Saturday we went to a Hands Down picnic at the Scottish Rite Hospital. Brenden had a great time chasing after two other boys. The 3 of them ran in a line all across the park for an hour or so in the 100 degree weather.

Today was naked Sunday. Just for Brenden though. After hearing from several people and reading in several place that we should take a weekend and let Brenden be naked in an attempt to potty train him we took today to try it. We were out of the house too much to start it yesterday so we’ll have to continue tomorrow. I really thought this was a crazy plan that would lead to the need for new carpet and a new couch, but I have to say it was very successful. Up until today Brenden had not gone on his potty at all. He’d acted like it was punishment to even have to sit on his potty at all. We had a few accidents here and there today, luckily mostly on tiled floor, but after a few times, he really got the hang of it. And he was so proud of himself. Especially when he pooped for the first time.

Saturday morning train time.

She loves this piano. And anything with buttons.

Trying to get Brenden.

Brenden is shaking a paper plate in her face and she is laughing like crazy.

Taking a break from laughing.

Sshh. Don't tell Brenden she's playing with his toys during his nap.

Sam felt left out. The poor dogs just don't get as much attention as they'd like!

Here are a few pictures I meant to post a couple of weeks ago and over looked.

I should say that our yard is a mess because we tore up the deck that used to take up almost the whole area. We are going to eventually put a fence there to keep it from the pool area and then put down grass. Someday.

Just before Emily's first swim. It was brief though because she got cold right away. Brenden is sharing his treasured Nemo. It used to be on top of a pez dispenser but it broke off and now it has to swim with us every time we go to the pool.