Our Son, Chandler Bing

Seriously, I swear Catch-Up posts 1-47 are coming really soon ... But today, OH! today! The school pictures came! And oh. my. God. Our son is Chandler Bing!!!

Just in case Friends wasn't at the top of your TV-viewing list, there was an episode where Monica and Chandler had an engagement photo session. Chandler had a tough time looking, uh, relaxed:


Now, after Elliott came home from School Picture Day in late-September, I asked him how he smiled. He dutifully recreated his pose, and I thought, Oh no. It's Chandler!

Today, confirmation came in a big envelope:


But wait! It gets BETTER.

There was a class photo, too.

(This has already made me laugh so many times today!! I can hardly keep it together while I type!)

Somewhere between two normal, adorable boys ... is our son ... Chandler Bing ... making a face I've never even seen before. WHAT is this?!?!

Just in case we never want this kid to have a date ... or a friend ..., we have all the ammunition we need.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

I know I've skipped a solid month-and-a-half, but I can't delay a Halloween posting! (I'll fill in the blanks later. Promise!)

This year, Elliott had many, many ideas for his costume. At long last, the local fire department visited his preschool and handed out plastic helmets as part of their educational program. It was set!

The day before trick-or-treating--10/29 for us--I had the brilliant idea to make him a wearable fire truck. My favorite part was the Chinese food container lids that served as wheels. Oh! And can you make out his bucket? It says "Firefighters' Fund--Thanks for your support!" (I'll have you know our careless neighbors didn't donate a CENT.)




I had so many duo costume ideas (Tom and Jerry, salt and pepper shakers, etc.), but with Mr. Safety up there, I didn't have time to fashion a human fire hydrant for his brother. Besides, Earth-conscious Patrick preferred to recycle one of Elliott's old costumes. (I didn't feel guilty since Elliott crawled to a total of TWO houses in this lion number two years ago.) Still pretty dang cute, right?


As soon as we headed out for photos in the fall leaves, our neighbors stepped out, too. How CUTE is this couple???

By the way, those yellow buttons were a last-minute addition. The story goes like this: The boys and I strolled around a craft store, trying to come up with things that might help us create a truck. One of my ideas was button headlights, but I nixed it in the end. After the boys went to bed, I spent 3.5 hours creating a truck from nothing--all while reminiscing about the awesome costumes my dad always made for me as a kid. When Elliott awoke the next day, he inspected the fire truck as critically as only he can. After seeing all sides, he calmly looked up at me and said, "You forgot the headlights."

I weep for when this kid is a teenager and becomes "difficult."

Meanwhile, Patrick and Brooke were delighted they were both kitties.

They humored the annoying one with a camera (me) for only a moment. There was WORK to be done!

Our neighborhood sees some serious foot traffic when free food of any kind's involved. The kids, for the most part, did great. Of course, the older kids were far more serious and speedy than the younger ones, so we had to shout for a number of breaks.

Patrick ended up terribly confused by the whole process. Say "trick-or-treat," get candy, say "thank you," theeennnn EAT IT, right?!? He wanted to stop after every house, inspect his loot and, most importantly, see if he got any suckers that needed immediate attention.

Neither boy lasted as long as I thought they would this year, but Elliott does love to hand out candy. As the kids and families approached our outdoor candy store, Elliott the Enforcer answered each joyful "Trick-or-treat!" with a stern One piece or two?? No one knew what to say.

Sooooooo ... Happy Halloween!

Some Stuff That Happened

Scully Space has been dormant, and I guess some stuff has happened. First and foremost, Elliott started school again. As is now his tradition, he posed for a first-day, tear-jerker shot. (Brace yourself for the Mini Pete here.)


Really, the kid is THRILLED to be back in school. (It's the same classroom and teacher as last year, so it's been a fairly easy transition.) After the first day, Elliott announced he was the biggest kid in his class (may be true) and that he had to go back "to teach the kids the stuff they didn't know." Please pray for me.

In the non-school hours, we've been living in the animated world of Cars!!! Elliott can recite a healthy (unhealthy? maybe unhealthy) chunk of the script. We read Cars books (and I do awesome voices, thankyouverymuch). We play with Lightning McQueen toy cars and convert our backyard running races into pretend scenes from the movie. By some stroke of magical luck, my dad and step mom got the boys matching cars jackets for their birthdays. They try to keep their cool, but, well, you know ... When you look THIS cool, it's hard to contain.




The girls have been trying to keep things exciting, too. Tragus (the black-and-white one) ate an entire corn cob off the counter, and lived to tell the tale. Actually, neither of them spoke up, so I got to monitor their behavior and stare at them while they pooped to figure out the culprit. (It didn't take long.) It doesn't help that both dogs look guilty as sin all the time.



UPDATE: I couldn't tell you this until I know she wouldn't die, but Tragus also consumed a peach pit yesterday. Is it just me, or are those things really poisonous?!?! Anyway, this dog has 174 lives or something. She threw it up whole this morning.

I think the girls got excited when I was actually trying to take their pictures! Look at them workin' the camera like those 1970s (or were they '80s??) portraits with two head shots in one. Remember those??

The Great Outdoors

When the weather gives us warm afternoons and cool evenings, it's easy to just plain rot in the backyard. Whenever possible, we've been playing outside. I guess the boys like it okay.



Here's a game where I'm on ground with the camera, and Elliott runs in big circles and jumps over me, trying to be quicker than the camera. It really wasn't easy to capture him, but here's my best shot:




Meanwhile, Patrick wants to play tag. Forever. Always. And then again. The funniest part is that he cannot run without laughing.



Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted... A couple (or more) weeks ago, we set up the sprinkler with our neighbors. Elliott and neighbor Payton LOVED it. (The younger kids weren't as sure.) It cracked me up that Elliott would always put his arms out to, I suppose, keep himself dry as he ran through.

Patrick was good with the sprinkler as long as it kept its distance.

Ever try to get photos of sprinkler action from different angles? It is tricky!

The water party didn't end there. Our neighbors also have a hot tub. And flowery, purple floatation devices. Still, Elliott was pretty darn sure he looked like a stud.

At two, Patrick's at that age where I think they talk about "parallel play." He's often totally content in his own world.

But, oh, the mowing! Patrick is still enamoured with the task of cutting the grass. Moments earlier, this shot had both boys following Pete (yes, we have two toy mowers for just this reason), but Elliott quit, and I missed the whole opp. Still, pretty cute:

Now when can we actually give them the real lawn mower??? Is it next year?

Funny Face

Elliott LOVES making goofy faces, and Patrick really thinks he knows what's going on and that he can do whatever his big brother does.



See? Patrick's all over this goofy face-making thing.




Totally nuts. This is his best stuff.



Then he just cracks himself up, declares victory and breaks into a smile.

Now, this series--they're hiding in their new favorite backyard spot, under the deck stairs. What??--is maybe my favorite face series. Get ready! Elliott had just shown his brother the agreed upon (a.k.a. Elliott-decided) goofy face. Then, they turn to the camera and make the same face...

...I start laughing, so Elliott turns to check his brother. Pat-trick! What are you doing??

Patrick, suddenly delighted that he must've made the funniest goofy face, starts giggling with all of his fingers in his mouth.

I'm pretty sure they're supergeniuses.

Momarazzo

It goes without saying, but I'll go ahead: I like taking photos of my kids. They, on the other hand, don't always like being the subjects of my photos. If Patrick's not in the mood, he'll whine and cry and push the camera away. These photos are not very funny. They really make it look like I torture Patrick. Quite a bit.

Then there's Elliott. When he wants to play or eat his popsicle in peace or whatever else he's firmly decided has nothing to do with cameras, he makes thee best faces. Behold a few examples:

No! No cameras! I want to play tag!!!



Mom! I am trying to concentrate here!



Seriously. Get it out of my face.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

So, this is an experiment. I decided I was reducing my photo sizes too much, so click on any one of these and tell me if you notice much of a difference. Better? Did it take longer to load the blog? Thanks in advance for your input!

Okay, so I snapped a few photos of the boys in recent days that I felt compelled to share. ...The photos and the stories...


I call this one "Joy on a Swing." Elliott was hanging by his tummy on the swing, and my job was to grab his hands, pull and then let go. (All this AND take photos! Amazing!)


We were playing in the backyard with our neighbor friends a couple of days ago when we heard a plane overhead. We could hear it, but we couldn't see it. Elliott offered this gem: "Maybe it was the sun's tummy grumbling! ...Or..., maybe it was a plane."


Go ahead and try to tell me this photo doesn't make you smile. Just try.

If only he could be more expressive..., ya know?

Yesterday, we were again outside (on the deck this time), when Patrick turned to me and asked, "Where's Elliott?" "He went inside to go potty," I said. I don't know if that answer satisfied him or not, but he ran to the closed French doors and screamed as loud as he could, "YOU OKAY, SWEETIE?"

Dang, these boys are cute.

Sesame Street!

We boarded the dogs, packed up the van, loaded the portable DVD players and made the trek all the way to 123 Sesame Street! When we woke the boys at 5 a.m. to get the nine-hour drive underway, Pete asked Elliott if he was excited for vacation at Sesame Street. He answered, "Yes. But can I just rest a little longer?" :)

Once there, though, the boys were in heaven. Just one concern: Is there anyone home behind the fake door???


Sesame Place--just a 30-minute drive from Gigi's house!--was awesome! We were lucky to have our good friends with us for our two-day adventure!

The cool boys (Patrick as Cookie and Elliott in his board shorts) got around by wagon...

...and the cool girls (Meredith and Natalie) rode by stroller.

It was like a dreamland to step into Sesame Street (see the set facade below?). The daily parade was awesome--even though we blew both days' chances at getting a front-row spot.

Funny how the little things (like tiny flowers and leaves on the sidewalk) can still entertain...

The kids all loved interacting with the Sesame Street set, playing on the fire truck and running through the produce stand.

But who knew Bert was so flippin' tall???

You pay extra for smiles like these. Uh, ... boys?

All the characters roamed the park for the kids to meet and pose with, but they also came with lots of handlers and photographers directing the kids. Natalie and Elliott tried to obey. Meredith was I-don't-know-where. Patrick was too impressed to follow any kind of direction.

Seriously. They did surprisingly well considering these characters are supposed to be little kids on the show. Who knew they were 8' tall in real life?!? Not Patrick!

Elmo's World Live was such a cool real-life re-creation! Here's the Big Red Guy in his crayon-colored world and Mr. Noodle in the window!

I guess the show would've been better if it held the boys' attention..., but what can you do?

Elmo got a lot of the themed rides, but I don't think anyone was complaining.

Still, in the Land of Overstimulation, everyone stayed grounded in their own way.

You can hardly make out the oversized knee Bandaid, but this running shot was just after Patrick and I visited one of the very lovely First Aid stations at Sesame. Our nurse did a great job; Patrick learned no lessons.

I mean, what WASN'T a hit at Sesame??

I guess there's still something magical about a merry-go-round.

It was the Frog Hopper at Waldameer, but at Sesame, it's Elmo blasting you into space!

Rides aside, Sesame Place had an awesome play area. (They can't sweat out ALL their energy, right?) Here are Elliott and Natalie (and an unknown colleague) in the giant bounce house.

This thing should've scared the pants off the kids, but they had no problem climbing up about 30 feet...

...showing off at the top...

...sliding all the way down...

...and then racing to do it all over again!

We were rained out with an incredible downpour on Friday, but we learned a few things I'd like to pass on to any future Sesame Placers:

1. Prepare to spend your annual salary on lunch and snacks. (Here's Pete, proudly displaying his $37 Cookie Monster soft-serve dessert.)

2. Unless you've got an infant, know that no kids will sleep through Sesame. Prepare to entertain and distract anyway you can (was this patty-cake on the table, Trish?)

3. This could be related to lesson #1, but bring your own snacks and ice water! You just can't spend all your time in the water park--which was awesome, but I was unwilling to take my Nikon there!--and the kids will want refreshment.

4. What else? Pack water shoes, towels, sunscreen, etc., etc. Avoid the weekends if at all possible (the population at Sesame Street must have tripled between Friday and Saturday!). But above all, prepare to see children as happy as you'll ever see them--whether it's because of Elmo's antics ... or their own.