hoofnacks: August 2008

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

superkids

Sam and Isa have been playing really well together. Sam cannot go without including her in everything, especially in making trouble. Isa is understanding more and following Sam's lead and at times being the mastermind. She is big into "I do it". Miss independent. Miss funny. Miss temper tantrum. She throws the biggest tantrums I have ever seen. Jumping up and down, clenching her fists, howling at the top of her lungs, and of course, throwing herself at anything soft (miss smart girl). It's comical and most the time we have to turn around and laugh. We have institituted the 1,2,3...timeout with her and it's been pretty effective. She sits in the time out chair for 30 seconds and even though she doesn't like it, she sure shapes up after. Ahh the terrible 2's. Good thing she's cute...
Here are a few of the funny things she does:
-Whenever she sees herself, either in a picture or in the mirror, she says "you! you! you!" That's because we always say, "that's you in the picture Isa".
-Whenever she's finished doing something she says "all done" in a growling voice like our friends twins.
-Her temper tantrums...for the time being.
-She chases Sam around yelling "I'm gonna get you!"
-She laughs everytime she farts.
-Everytime she plays with her Elmo dishes, she wants bananas to eat off them. (I used to do this when I was a child and I didn't even teach her)
-She will slowly, but surely rearrange random items throughout the house. It's been weeks since we last saw our remote control.
-She loves to color on the walls. (Not very funny at first)
-She'll smell our feet and say while scrunching her nose "ewwww stiiinky!"

Happy Graduation Charlie, Good luck Gladwells!!

On Sunday we attended our friend Charlies graduation. It's hard to believe that we have been here one year. Consequently, Charlie is done with the program and him and his family have left the state. Moving on to the splendid life of the post graduate...sort of. With his graduation comes the realization that we have but only one year left. It's like a breath of fresh air. And with fear of sounding trite, it seems like it was only yesterday that we were settling and getting used to our surroundings. Not knowing what lay ahead of us, what new trial was about to begin. It certainly hasn't been about the destination. Our journey has been filled with happy smiles and tearful eyes. From the empty void of not having our family around, to a filling sense of knowing that we have made great friends for life. To know that the sacrifices that we make today only secure a better life for ourselves and our families tomorrow. To our families, thank you for your continued love and support. We couldn't do it without you. To our friends (far and near), thank you for your support, your words of wisdom and the laughs, and to Charlie and Kay, thank you for showing us the ropes, for being such a good senior buddy to Rueben, for the wonderful cook outs and for including us in your celebration. We will miss our games after dinner, especially Charlie's impersonation of a guy parachuting...that was priceless. We will see you again, soon. Good luck with boards, your new home, and with your beautiful childern. And, although I wont post it, Charlie sang a Josh Groban song, "Thankful" and it was beautiful. We truly are are thankful and next year, we'll be graduated!

Better than Josh G.

Sam was looking really good in his shirt and tie.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Say cheese!

About a week ago we had our friend Kristin take some pictures of us. We were hoping for a sunny day but we got cloudy and somewhat rainy. Nevertheless, the weather was the least of our problems. Getting 2 kids to cooperate and smile simultaneously is like pulling teeth without anesthesia. Thanks Kristin! I know you tried your hardest, but if it's ok, we'll have to do it again.