The Luhring Life

Twosome

2012-02-12T20:17:00.001-05:00

This was how our twosome was watching golf today- LOVE them!

Valentines 2012

2012-02-12T19:06:00.003-05:00

We finished Brady's Valentine's Day cards and crafts this evening. Brady is getting Really good at writing his name. I started having him write his name on cards about two weeks ago and in just that amount of time, I've seen a real improvement! His last hurdle of making "a good Y" was overcome...they no longer look like an upside down three-pronged Poseidon's trident. :p This year, the Poppies (his preschool class) were tasked with making their own mailbox for their Valentines. Ms. Chadney's instructions were "be creative!" I went through our recycling and pulled out the Goldfish box. Since Brady LOVES dinosaurs this year, we decided to make a triceratops box for his collector. He came out pretty cute!

I took a few picts so I could remember what our 2012 valentines looked like and how great Brady wrote his name! (You can see the in-progress "Y" on Colton's and Hannah's valentines in these picts...so cute!)

Happy 4th Birthday Brenden!

2012-02-12T16:28:00.002-05:00

We celebrated Brady's friend Brenden's birthday today with a fun preschool party. Sylvie dressed herself. She insisted on her "big socks" (which is what she calls legwarmers) over her jeans. Awesome- an 80's lover, just like her mama! :p

Fancy Do

2012-02-10T17:16:00.007-05:00

Sylvie came home from daycare today with a fancy hairdo that resembled a bun. It looked adorable, even though my picts don't do it (or her) justice. I cracked up that she didn't find it the least bit odd when I said, "Turn around and look at the wall for a minute so I can take a picture of the back of your hair." haha- I take so many pictures of them and she's a fairly obedient 2 year old. :)

I took these picture to remind myself of Sylvie's consistent habit of making all the crayons in our house nude. :p For some reason, at first this annoyed me and I'd say, "Sylvie! Please do NOT peel the paper off the crayons!" But then I realized it makes her happy to do this. She told me so when I asked her why she did that- "I LIKE it! I happy!" :) and I figured, really what's the harm?

Superbowl Sunday

2012-02-05T18:49:00.006-05:00

We invited ourselves over to Grandma and Papa's house so we could again watch the Superbowl with them this year. ;p Grandma made us a super yummy dinner that we ate "indoor picnic style." She had a blanket and even pretend bugs for our meal. Brady was Grandma's helper and had the job of placing the bugs all over the picnic blanket. Sylvie identified a need for her own job and promptly followed behind him, flinging all the bugs off the blanket saying, "Buuuug! Go away!" when she'd find one. When Brady caught on to what she was doing, he scolded her, but it didn't deter our little exterminator. I was laughing so hard that it didn't occur to me to film it until they were almost done.

Brady set up his favorite seat in the house for the game...Papa's stepstool.

These pictures are going to seem so odd, but I was really impressed with Sylvie tonight. She put her jeans on all by herself...which is something her big bro just learned not too long ago- lol! She sat down, put one leg in each pant leg, and wiggled those skinny jeans up completely independently...even over her diaper booty!

Yeah girl...hike those skinny jeans up!

Friends at the Firehouse

2012-02-05T11:20:00.002-05:00

We had breakfast with friends today at the firehouse. Art projects, pancakes, firemen, firetruck, and friends- can't think of a better way to start the day!

No More Monkeys Jumping Off the Ottoman!

2012-01-30T19:01:00.004-05:00

Last night was pretty crazy...Brady and his pals were running around (and in to each other) the entire time. (Toward the end, Brett was allowing the little monkeys to jump off the ottoman to him.) This morning Brady was unable to put pressure on his left foot and was hobbling around, then hopping around, then crawling around. Brett had a light day at work and allowed Brady to stay home with him. I was skeptical and told Brett to stop carrying him around b/c he was just loving the attention from his daddy and loved being the "Baby Bear who had to have Daddy Bear carry him." But then I felt a little bad for being skeptical when Brett said, "I don't think he's faking it. He doesn't know what to do with himself. Even when he's unconscious sleeping, I touched his foot and he winced." So Brett took him to the ER...where they visited with Auntie Mon and where Brady happily played on the iPad. They fitted him with a special shoe b/c his foot was swollen and unable to fit in his normal shoes. They took x-rays, but were unsure if there was small fracture of it was just normal growth plate space they were seeing. Brett took a couple picts at the ER for me:

I took a couple more when they got home. The kid is addicted to that iPad...and Sylvie is too, which is why she wanted to be in the picture too (to see what Brady was doing on the iPad).

I'm back-blogging so I can spare you the suspense and tell you that he is 100% fine. The very next morning he comes walking in to our bedroom like normal and says, "Mommy, my foot doesn't hurt anymore! God healed me!" Okay, so it was either divine intervention, expedited healing of growing little people, or just a preschool boy who was loving the extra attention he got from his Daddy. :) Either way, he's okay now...but the drama was kind of fun. ha!

The Return of The BLOB

2012-01-29T19:14:00.002-05:00

It's been way too long since we all (Blairs, Luhrings, O'Shaunesseys, and Burkes- BLOB) got together. So we had a crazy play date and dinner at our house tonight. Yay- family fun for all! As we were standing among 8 crazy kids running around, Jenny, Danisa, and I realized a new appreciation for daycare providers- lol!

The girls. They still look so similar (with that curly crazy hair). They are both Too cute!

After all that hard core play, we put the kids to work and had them make their own (pizza) dinner.

Then the knock-knock jokes started--
Mr. Tim enjoys a good knock-knock joke...or rather, is well-versed in preschool etiquette of laughing at the absurdity to make the joke-teller feel good. :p

Dessert time!

The Blairs had already left and the O'Shags were walking out the door when I realized we didn't get a group shot. Here's the LOB kids. :p

Monster Trucks!

2012-01-28T12:17:00.007-05:00

Tiffany, Cameron's mom, called this morning and asked if the Luhring boys wanted to go with the Davis boys to see some monster trucks this afternoon. Poor Maddie (Cam's sister) is sick with a worse version of the stomach bug that kept Brady home from school yesterday. So they had two extra tickets- and the boys had a boys' day. They had a great time! Thanks Graeme and Cam!!!

Little Monkey

2012-01-25T17:09:00.002-05:00

Sylvie came home from daycare with her back-up clothes on today. Apparently she liked them (and her banana snack) very much b/c she asked for a picture of her "pretty pants with my 'nana!" Alrighty then-

Student Becomes the Teacher

2012-01-23T20:50:00.007-05:00

Tonight Brett and I were getting Brady ready for bed. I picked up one of his dinosaur figurines and I said, "Who is this? Parasaurolophus?" and he responds, "No, he's an allosaurus." Both Brett and I said, "I don't think so" and almost immediately realized we should Not be questioning this little dinosaur savant. (But we really did have our doubts!) Brady goes, "Uh huh. He's an allosaurus. I'll show you. Where's my dinosaur book?"

Brett and I sat there incredulously as we watched our little researcher locate his source from his bookshelf and cite it. He flipped to the correct (allosaurus) page and proceeded to appropriately defend his declaration...and prove us wrong.

To quote one of Brett's Facebook friends, "It is both a happy and a sad day....the day you realize with certainty that your son will grow up to be smarter than you."

Popcorn Piggies

2012-01-23T19:16:00.004-05:00

The kids and Brett were super excited to prepare their favorite snack and eat it together tonight- popcorn! Brett was giddy as the kids snuggled up to him on the couch. He goes, "I LOVE this!" and I have to say I honestly wasn't exactly sure what he meant- the giant bowl of popcorn or his favorite little people snuggling up to him enjoying this favorite treat as much as he does! :)

btw- Sylvie came home with low piggies again today looking adorable...so of course I took a few piggie picts-

iEat

2012-01-22T18:12:00.002-05:00

We went out to eat this evening and this was what the dinner table looked like- both kids hunched over our iPhones. oh well, it kept them occupied (read: quiet so Mommy and Daddy could actually talk). :p

Quiet Time

2012-01-22T16:26:00.005-05:00

As previously mentioned, Brady is transitioning out of his nap. But when we really do want to get him to rest, one of the ways to do it is to have him snuggle on the couch with Daddy and put a football game on. (Doesn't everyone love to sleep to the sound of a football game?! I do!) The boys looked so cute this afternoon that I took their picture.

Speaking of naps, I decided to check on Sylvie through the video monitor. 45 minutes after I laid her down...and she's in her crib ever so quietly playing with her stuffies. I watched tv for an hour and checked the monitor every so often...and she played the entire 2.5 hours of her "nap time." It kind of cracked me up, but made me think I wonder how many times she's done this- just hung out when I thought she was resting (b/c she's so quiet)? I can't complain b/c she's great about playing quietly by herself and doesn't yell to get out or anything. Sweet girl. What an odd day- where little sister was the nap-striker and big bro was the one out cold.

Trash Day 2x/week

2012-01-22T16:16:00.004-05:00

As a true reflection of real life, apparently Trash Day is twice per week inside our house too. While we weren't paying attention to them for 5 minutes, Brady declared it trash day again and the workers began rounding up "garbage." No kidding, it took them under 10 minutes to create this "dump."

Daycare Do

2012-01-20T18:07:00.001-05:00

Sylvie came home with another cute daycare do -double braids and a pony- today. love it!

MLK Day

2012-01-16T13:56:00.006-05:00

Sylvie's daycare is closed today for MLK Day. This morning the kids and I went to the pediatrician for Sylvie's two-year wellness check and for a follow-up on Brady's ear to ensure the infection cleared up. All is well- yay! Except for the four vaccinations Brady got and the two Sylvie got. so sad. Brady started crying when he saw Sylvie's shots being administered. Sylvie stopped crying when it was Brady's turn. But poor sweet Brady was screaming. I felt so helpless holding him that I cried a little too. :( He was just so sad. I gave them each lollipops (Sylvie's first one ever!) before the nurse even entered the room hoping it would help to calm things. After the doctor's appt, we stopped at a nearby construction site and watched the workers clear the area. We all (myself included!) thought it was pretty cool to watch these huge machines pulling giant trees out of the ground like a gardener weeding. Neat! Then I took the two brave, well-behaved kids to Dunkin' Donuts. With the exception of the shots, it was an enjoyable morning.

After that I did some work and the kids played with Grandma and Papa- fun times for all! Of course, the spies made an appearance-

Happy 2nd Birthday Sylvie!

2012-01-15T18:02:00.006-05:00

After my creative spark last night doing Sylvie's birthday treats, I wanted to make their requested Mickey Mouse pancakes a little special this morning. Turns out, neither one of them loved it. haha! Sylvie goes, "I don't like doze!" and pointed to the chocolate chips. (uh, what?!) and Brady goes, "Can I just have regular Mickey Mouse pancakes with no face?" haha! ok, dudes, easy enough!

After breakfast Sylvie requested her favorite snack. I heard crinkling in the dining room and thought she was opening her birthday presents that I had stored in there. I walked in and nope, the little cutie was just enjoying her gummy snacks, but did say, "Dees is fah me?! I see pincess, pincess fah me!" Yes, baby those are your birthday presents.

We spent the morning playing and then took naps. After nap we finally got dressed and began celebrating Sylvie's birthday! She posed for picts with her "I am 2 cute!" cupcake shirt and super cutie tights. Her outfit made us both happy. (she loves cupcakes and loves tights like I do- yay!) :)

Then for afternoon snack, we had Abby Cadabby cake and cupcakes! I really was trying to do better in the birthday treat department and the idea of "Abby Dabby" (as Sylvie says) cupcakes came to me at about 10 PM last night- lol! I think they came out pretty cute for a half-baked idea (fully baked treat)! :p

"awwww" aren't they the cutest?!

Sylvie and I got those re-lighting candles on clearance the other day. I thought they'd be great since they always want to do the candles "Again!" But honestly, I think it confused them and after a while they were both pretty much done. lol!

Then the birthday girl opened her gifts. Brady has been lobbying for the past week to be her assistant. So he kept reminding her, "Sylvie, you need me to help you open your presents. I'm four." haha!

This crying baby doll that Mimi got her was one of her "fway-vwits!" She Loves her and apparently did not trust any one else to take care of her baby (b/c when we asked she said no and did everything herself). She did sit in my lap while baby sat in her lap. sweetie peetie. Grandma told her she needed a different name for this baby {b/c we currently have 4 others similar to her, but with very similar names- Baby, Dollie, Babydollie, and Babydoll. Amazingly she and I (b/c she's corrected me so many times, I've now learned!) keep these names straight and knows the difference in each doll.} So when Grandma asked her what that doll's name was, Sylvie replied, "baby Grandma" and has called her that a few times. haha! I wonder if it will stick.

I mean, really?! I can't handle the cuteness! Look at those little crossed legs as she feeds her baby but looks up at her big bro.

Grandma and Papa gave her this beautiful chest to store her dress-up things in.

Daddy, Brady, and I gave her a few dress-up items to put in her new chest...including these sunglasses. She thought she was pretty cool in them...we did too! :)

While trying to take this pict on the left of cutie-cake in her dress-up clothes, this (on the right) appears in my viewfiner. LOL! click! Funny guy!

omg! Can I just say Grandma and I L-O-V-E having this little girl?!
She kept asking for more "un-nun-nare" (underwear, which is what she was calling all of the tutus and ballet skirts we added to the dress-up box). So we obliged and made her all poofy. :)

Slowly those pudgy cheeks are growing out. That makes me sad...so I kiss them and snuggle them every chance I get! Happy Birthday cutie-cake! We Love You So Much!!!

2 years old

2012-01-15T11:08:00.006-05:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Sylvie! She's the Littlest Luhring...and she's lovable, sweet, sassy, funny, and she's Ours! :) Lucky us!

Like her brother's was, Sylvie's language is pretty advanced for her age. She speaks in 4-5 word sentences. Dr. Kim was pretty impressed with her at her two-year wellness check. She was a little chatterbox. So even if we can't tell what she's saying sometimes, that's perfectly normal for a two-year old. Her fricative sounds have gotten a little better. But "h" is often still substituted for "s" as in "hwing" for "swing." She says "f" now (no more "hwog" boo!). So sometimes she'll substitute "f" for "s" as in "fwoon" for "spoon" or "Fwiderman" for "Spiderman." It makes me laugh Every time I hear it! :p

Some of my favorite things she says-
"Dees is not mines!" (This is not mine!) I need to record this. I think it's the only whine that I will ever love. It's almost always spoken as a whine, but somehow I find it completely adorable.
It's always "mines" which I think would actually make the English language more consistent- hers, his, yours, theirs, ours...why not mines? :p She mixes up pronouns...and b/c she's our littlest Luhring, I still find it cute. She uses the subject pronoun for everything. "She need she jacket!" for example.
"Dis is my fway-vwit!" (This is my favorite!) She has lots of favorites- it's very cute.
"Bwhay-dee! Be nice!" Yup, she "manages up" and keeps big bro in line. :p
"Not today!" Love this b/c it's a repeat of something I say often and it sounds hilarious coming out from her b/c she sings it.
"Daas bahd noooz!" And it really does sound like "that's bad news" but it is adorable the way she says it. It's her parroting me so it's usually said like this- "We don't fa-whoa toys! Daas bahd noooz! Wight Mommy?" (We don't throw toys. That's bad news! Right Mommy?)

She's been going pee on the potty for a couple months now. She's gone poop a couple times too. She doesn't ask to do it. But she'll go at daycare when all the other kids are and she'll go before her bath like her big brother does. I'm definitely one of the very few parents who are not so excited about this. I don't mind diapers (when faced with the alternative of a touchy toddler on a public toilet seat- ewww!) Our pediatrician's instructions were to wait until after they turn 2 and I'm fine with that. No rush, little girl.

Physically she's on target as well. My most favorite sound in the world is the padding of her little feet on the hardwood as she rushes off to wherever she is going. love it! She wears herself out daily- she loves her nap (me too!) and sleeps ~12 hours/night...still going down without a fuss and still waking up so sweetly, amusing herself until I go get her or she calls for me, "Mommy, wheh-ah ahhh you???" :)

Emotionally I'd say she's on target for a two-year-old girl. She gets upset easily (especially with her big brother! "Bwhay-dee!" is often heard in the most shrill voice!) and will just crumble and cry. She will burst in to tears if she is yelled at or spoken sternly to. Sometimes she's able to be distracted and can quickly recover. Other times, the drama takes over and the wails of injustice go on and on.

I'm not sure how Sylvie is growing so well. She has a very limited palate at home. Yogurt, fruit, Goldfish, gummy snacks, Rice Krispies, cheese sticks, oatmeal, pancakes are her staples. The typical toddler plates- mac n' cheese, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, pizza etc. go down without a fight. But if we're having something other than these foods, she rarely eats with us. She flat out refuses and says, "I don't like dat." without even trying it. sigh. Apparently she's a little hoss at daycare though and cleans her plate there. But we all know Ms. Omayma is an awesome cook, so no surprise there! :p

Weight: 29.3 lbs (81th percentile)
Height: 35.5 inches (89th percentile)

Trash Day

2012-01-15T09:43:00.005-05:00

The kids (well, Brady...Sylvie just goes along with whatever he's doing) have this game that they love...and I don't usually love. Brady declares it Trash Day and makes Sylvie and himself trashmen whose job it is to pick up Everything in sight (even things that are put away in their place) and haul it his designated dump site (the location of which varies).

This game is scalable. The smaller version usually just involves all his vehicles- matchbox cars, Chuck and Friends, aircraft, etc. He makes a giant pile of them that resembles a junk yard. It's a sight to see. This morning's game was full-scale and since it's Sylvie's birthday, I let them do whatever made them happy...and you wouldn't believe the happiness brought on by grabbing all kids' objects in sight and piling them in their play kitchen (today's dump).

I tried to make a lesson of it and declared it a recycling center where we would sort all objects and then restore them to their proper place. Uh, no- I was the only one who wanted to be a recycler. Sylvie was ready for nap and Brady just wanted to keep admiring his handiwork. haha!
They did ask if they could nap in the dump...and that last about 1 minute until the quiet, comfort, and order of their bedrooms won out over the "trash heap" that Mommy was left to clean up. :p

and yes, they are still in their jammies...at nap time. We got dressed when they woke up.

As Happy As A Turtle

2012-01-14T18:58:00.006-05:00

Brady's imagination really is awesome (and Sylvie's compliance with her big bro's ideas makes her awesome too!). haha! Brady often plays "turtle" after bath and crawls around with his "towel shell" and hides under/in his towel shell. Tonight he stepped it up a bit with a cardboard box. The two of them have been playing with these boxes for a couple days now. Last night they put blankets and pillows in them and then asked me if they could sleep in them. haha! Tonight Brady kept trying to make himself a turtle shell out of the box, but was getting a little frustrated b/c it kept sliding off his back when he moved. So I cut him a hole for his head and he was as happy as a clam, or a turtle I guess! :p

Making their way over to Daddy Turtle-

Spies Like Us

2012-01-13T19:42:00.003-05:00

Ever since Aiyee gave Brady a "spy kit" for Christmas, it seems we have nightly visits from Spy Guy and Spy Girl. Mimi explained that spies are secretive and "no one can see them" and they watch people for information. So Brady puts on his spy glasses and we pretend not to see him and he takes pictures with his spy camera and notes his observations. He usually outfits his sister, Spy Girl too. Tonight she appears to have dressed her own self-- complete with badges (both hers and Brady's to confuse people as to her true identity), her play disc launcher (note, Not a gun!) :) and upside down sunglasses (which make her truly unrecognizable)! hahaha! Of course, they are on the move very quickly and they are spies after all...so it was hard to get a good picture of this secret shortie!

Oh- here's one from a few days ago of them hiding in the corner plotting (the race car helmet is either another version of spy equipment or Brady's cover story for his spy career- lol!). Sylvie's "purse" doubles as her spy kit and also her builder's toolbox. LOVE these kids' imaginations. They're awesome!

Happy Birthday(care) Sylvie!

2012-01-13T15:13:00.006-05:00

Sylvie celebrated her second birthday with her daycare pals today with cupcakes. As mentioned, Sylvie loves candles and cupcakes...so I just did funfetti cupcakes with pink icing (she loves pink too!) and sprinkles...and I think she was okay with that. Although I felt pinged by a "second child missing out" feeling when Ms. Adela said, "What?! No monkeys like Brady's? Those were So cute!" whoops...I'll do better on your actual birthday this weekend Littlest Luhring! :) She was still pretty darn happy with her cupcake (and was also happy to wear her cupcake outfit she kept saying, "My cupcake shuhht! My cupcake pants! Sybbie happy bir-day!" :)

Love you, my cutie-cake!

Growing In To Hockey

2012-01-11T17:55:00.007-05:00

I think it's a mixture of his best friend Colton's love of hockey and the fact that he's taking ice skating lessons now...but Brady's interest in hockey is growing. Today Veronica brought over a jersey for him to wear (b/c he's been asking for one...again, I think b/c Colton has one and b/c they are hanging all over the Ice House). He'll need to grow in to it, but tonight he had fun running around with the jersey and the "real hockey helmet" Veronica's son Tim is lending to him. Thanks V!!

Rear View

2012-01-10T08:50:00.002-05:00

This was what I saw when I turned around in the car this morning. Such cuteness that I had to take quick picts! Little sister's got one of Brady's hand-me-down hats paired with her Zsa Zsa Gabor coat today- TOO cute. And I think the Batman hat Mimi gave Brady for Christmas is his (and some other preschool pals's) new fav!

Double Bubble

2012-01-08T19:51:00.004-05:00

It's very rare that I allow Sylvie to have a bubble bath. These days it's sometimes even rare that they get a bath together b/c Brady likes to take a shower. But baths together are fun and bubble baths are super fun- this was the first one they've had together (and I think only the second one Sylvie's ever had). They loved it...and I loved their smiles and giggles!

iMoments

2012-01-08T19:26:00.004-05:00

Sometimes the amount of time either requested or spent on the iPad drives me crazy! But other times it makes for cute quiet moments like this one-

Ice Skating Lessons

2012-01-07T10:50:00.005-05:00

Brady has his first "Daddy and Me" skating lesson today. (and imagine how excited we were to learn yesterday that Dan just signed himself and Haylie up for the same class!!! YAY!) Our preschoolers (and daddies) did Great!

Aren't these ice skates the cutest little things?

We hung out for a bit afterward b/c the boys were thinking about going to public skate. In the meantime, we watched a hockey game and played in the arcade.

Toy Kid Box

2012-01-07T08:02:00.004-05:00

We just got these toy boxes to try to contain the kids' ~~mess~~ fun toys. :) Note where all of the toys are...and where the kids are. Our idea for cleaning this place up is just another toy to them...ha!

Dancing with the Stuffies

2012-01-01T11:54:00.001-05:00

Syl Stills- love them!

I was watching Sylvie be Sylvie today and finally decided to video some of it. She's so fun and happy. She kept turning the snow-girlies on and dancing with Pig. I love how she dances with her partners- be it an inflatable T-rex or a stuffie, she holds their hands and jumps around. It's so darn cute!

NYE

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

The Ehlerts hosted us for NYE this year. It was a great way to end 2011 and ring in 2012 with friends! Sylvie was Loving all of Haylie's fun"girl toys."

Guess who the photographer was here?

Jenny had planned to have a kids' toast @ 10 PM, but amazingly they made it all the way to midnight!! At first we counted down @ 11 b/c poor Sylvie had been saying, "My tired. My go home?" (she says "my" for "I") since about 10. So we counted down and toasted the new year. But then our extended goodbye (which happens with all good friends) had us not actually leaving until after midnight...so we all really did ring in 2012 together! Awesome! Way to go, party animals!!

We took a fam foto before we left for the party. Yes, Sylvie's wearing the same cute fuzzy shirt she did last year! :)

Kid Cave Castle Construction

2011-12-31T15:54:00.003-05:00

Brett has decided to relinquish some of his man-cave space to the kids. The back-room is officially theirs now. This week the Luhrings boys (Brady, Daddy, and Papa) built a two-story castle fort thing that the kids are Loving!

Safety first! Our pajama-clad helper (I told you they didn't get out of their jammies this week) dons his safety goggles from the builder set Maya got for him while supervising Daddy's jigsaw work on the castle battlement.

The prince and princess are quite pleased with their new digs!

iFound Wheezy Picts

2011-12-30T13:24:00.003-05:00

I found these picts on my phone and realized I forgot to post them. The kids have each been on and off sick the past week or so. (It's typical...we're always in the dr office for their "wellness checks" for their birthdays and they're usually sniffling or coughing.) At Brady's appointment last week, Dr. Kim noticed he was developing an ear infection. So when Sylvie woke up this morning and told me her ear was "bwoke," I took her in. I didn't really think she had an ear infection (she's never had one and she really didn't seem in pain, plus no fever). But she's never said anything like that to me before and she consistently pointed to her right ear when asked. So we saw Dr. Hong today. Turns out her ears were just fine, but the doc detected some slight wheezing in her breathing. She indicated that there was a virus circulating this year that caused kids to wheeze. So she gave her a breathing treatment in the office and we wrote a script for albuterol. I think I would have been horrified about the breathing treatment if I hadn't heard about it from other friends. Sylvie was fine for the first 30 seconds...even laughing over the mask. Then she started crying and freaking out (which I had previously read was fine b/c they just inhaled more medicine). So she looks sad and then super sad in these picts, but really she was just fine...just a little drama. :)

Grandma and Sylvie

2011-12-29T19:17:00.002-05:00

Brady was on my lap so I couldn't take this picture, but the view from where I was sitting was nothing short of precious and I wanted it documented! Sylvie crawled on Grandma's lap and asked for "peecool monkey yunchbok" (Preschool Monkey Lunchbox, the toddler app on our iPhones). Grandma had no clue what she was talking about (crazy toddler dialect aside!) :p They wound up watching the Jack and the Beanstalk book. Sylvie was just pushing her finger anywhere she could on the screen. It was so darn cute to watch the two of them together-

Transitioning

2011-12-29T16:25:00.000-05:00

At four years old, Brady is (sort of) transitioning out of his nap. He still takes one at school from about 1-3 but I think that's b/c it's scheduled and everyone's doing it. Of course, due to that nap on weekdays he's up until at least 9:30 PM (and then sleeps until after 8 AM). When he's home with us, he hasn't been taking a nap...especially when he can play ball with Daddy rather than rest! Subsequently, he is wiped out by 8 PM and is totally ready for bed. So either way, it's not a bad deal, I guess. Still, there other days, he just passes out wherever he is. That's still amusing to us b/c he used to not sleep anywhere but his bed. Today he crashed (I mean literally- like legs half off and all...out cold!) on the ottoman for a little over an hour.

Golf Pro

2011-12-26T14:41:00.007-05:00

It's another beautiful day near 60 degrees and we went outside so Brady could practice golfing with his new clubs. They are the cutest, btw. Look at the mini golfer all ready to go-

I wish I had brought the camera outside with me so I could have recorded all of this. But I did get the tail end of Brady's advice to me on video. I grabbed one of the clubs (that honestly I thought was a putter...that's what mini-golf putters look like!) and said, "Just putt b/c we're near the house, ok?" He looks at me with this wiser-than-his-years look on his face and says, "Mommy. That is Not a putter," and pulls another club out of his bag, "This is a putter. Mommy, if you're nice, then I could teach you." I'm laughing at this point, and I say, "what?" He continues, "I could teach you to play golf. Then you practice and when you grow up, you can play real with me, and Daddy, and Papa." That's when I ran in the house to get the camera and tried to get him to tell me that again-

It's Getting Late

2011-12-26T12:23:00.004-05:00

Brady: (as we're playing "spy guys" his latest game inspired by a Christmas gift from Aiyee) "Hey, Spy Girl, we gotta go. It's getting late."
Me: "What time is it?"
Brady: "It's 30 0'clock!"
Me: "Oh my! That is late!" :p

At another point, I asked Brett what time it was and Brady answered, "I'll tell you what o'clock it is." lol!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T19:20:00.002-05:00

Santa arrived just after midnight-

Waking up on Christmas morning-

The first present we let them "open" (or that we revealed to them) was their new play kitchen from the grandparents (which Papa and Daddy assembled last night).

I didn't request a fam foto this year- b/c most of this crew stayed in jammies all day today! (and I can tell you b/c I'm back-blogging- that that's how we spent most of the week...in jammies! See below- 4:46 and still in jammies- playing with the new Little People nativity set. Apparently the sheep, a wise man, and a few camels took their cue from the angel perched atop the manger- and hopped on top of the trees and tents. Indeed it's a wild birthday party! :p

Later this evening, the grandmas continued the tradition of assembling a gingerbread house. This year's was a train.

The walrus and his mouth-full-cheese-stick sidekick approve of the final product! :p

We added candles to our coconut cream pie (and lemon cream pie for Grandma) and sang "Happy Birthday to baby Jesus."

Sylvie made sure JC was represented at his birthday party by bringing her baby Jesus from the Little People nativity set to the table. (Although truth be told, again since I'm back-blogging...she's taken baby Jesus Everywhere- in her crib for naps and sleep, at the table for meals, in her purse or shopping cart when she's playing. It's so cute to hear her say, "Where da baby Jesus?"

Merry Christmas to all!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

2011-12-24T20:35:00.004-05:00

We continued our tradition of opening one gift (new jammies) on Christmas Eve. They were both SO excited about this- Awesome!

Okay, I probably shouldn't have smeared Aquaphor on their faces before taking a picture- lol! It was after bath, and I was prepping them for bed and combating dry skin. :p

They also got to open a gift from Grandma and Papa. We all get ornaments every year- Love it! This year Brady got a race car, Sylvie got Dora, and our family got a sweet personalized one with dolphins on it...so we would remember that this was the year we saw Winter. LOVE!

They put cookies and milk out for Santa...and pretzel sticks for his reindeer. :)

'Twas the Day Before Christmas

2011-12-24T10:41:00.001-05:00

Yes, she's rockin' her big bro's hand-me-down.

They wanted ornaments if they were going to stand next to the tree. Sylvie wanted "eye-cweam" and proceeded to eat it. haha! Brady chose the bi-plane and in the process of playing with it, broke it. hahahaha!

Expanding the LAN

2011-12-24T09:55:00.007-05:00

Our LAN (Luhrings Adorable Network) has been expanded. Brett was on his laptop this morning and Brady wanted to "type the letters too." So I gave him my work laptop. But then Sylvie wanted to work too and her play computer just wasn't cutting it. Thank goodness for GFE (government furnished equipment). lol! I am sure this is a minor violation of the security rules I agreed to when I accepted my new laptop from the firm and from the government agency. But they were so happy about this set-up and SO cute!

At one point Sylvie got up from her workstation, went over to look at Brady's computer and says, "Lemme see Bawhaydee. oooo! I like it!" Yes, nothing like your colleague's approval of your work. :p

Zoo Lights

2011-12-23T19:16:00.002-05:00

Today after naps, we went to the National Zoo. We had about an hour left of daylight so we looked at a few animals first-

Then we looked at the Zoo Lights- which is what we really came to see. They were pretty Awesome!

Going to see the Zoo Lights was Brady's teacher, Ms. Chadney's recommendation, as were the Holiday Specs-- these cool glasses that made the light into fluttering angels, Santa faces, and holiday treats. VERY cool (even if we do look like retro 3-D movie watchers!). :p

Sylvie kept calling this "Brady's dinosaur." "Want go see Bah-way-dee's di-yo-saur!" (Apparently all dinos are Brady's...lol!)

4 Years Old

2011-12-20T23:08:00.004-05:00

Happy 4th birthday Brady! I cannot believe we have a four-year-old preschooler! Where has the time gone?! He's growing up for sure. :( Brady's favorite things right now: sports, dinosaurs, the iPad (which makes it Not my favorite!), and his best preschool buddies- Colton and Cameron.

Brady is our little all-star. He loves tossing the football; playing baseball (he does Really well throwing left-handed and can bat on his own too); hitting around a hockey puck, playing golf (either putting inside or using Papa's clubs outside); hitting tennis balls- pretty much any physical activity/sport makes him happy. Daddy is his Favorite teammate, but his other fav teammates are Colton and Cameron (of course! They are his Best friends!). They are always playing tackle (even without a football!) together at school and they also like to play "Catch-Ball-Kick." (I just love the name of their made-up game and it's funny to hear them say it.)

Brady's still a great big brother to Sylvie. They drive each other CrAzy sometimes, but for the most part they get along. They love each other- for sure! Speaking of love- Brady's primary "love language" is, for sure, still physical touch. He always wants to snuggle (and asks in the sweeeeetest voice, "Mommy, can you snuggle me?" or "Sylvie, want to snuggle with me?" or "Daddy, can we snuggle?"). He gives hugs and often kisses too when he wants to love you, but also says, "Mommy (or Daddy), I Love You." in the most sincere way. It's amazing.

He's a pretty good eater (and grew 3" this year! Dr. Kim said 2" is typical, so that's cool!). His favorite breakfast is eggs, which he likes to made with Daddy. He can be picky at dinner sometimes. But his favorite is "twisty noodles" (egg noodles) "with the brown sauce" (he likes pot roast, beef stroganoff, noodle soup, etc.).

Weight: 39.9 lbs (81th percentile)
Height: 42 inches (85th percentile)

Happy Birthday Brady!

2011-12-20T08:08:00.019-05:00

Brady celebrated his actual birthday by going to school today. It's a Tuesday, and playing with his pals is one of his favorite things to do- so why not go to school? We brought in dinosaur cookies for snack and dinosaur eggs for birthday toys and everyone sang to him at snack time- yay, fun!

We let Brady choose what he wanted for dinner and he said, "IHOP!" :) We took this picture after dinner and left Sylvie's blueberry face b/c it was cute.

Birthday Boy requested to be photographer again, and that's how we got these (some of which are pretty good...but I did delete about 20 blurry/close-up/finger/repeat-of-Papa-taking-a-picture/indiscernible shots)-

He even set the timer for this one-

Then we went home for cake (another football cake- whoohoo!) and candles. These pictures made me laugh b/c it's pretty typical of these two- lol!

Blowing out the candles is Very exciting stuff for these two...and they don't even know about making a wish yet! :p So we do the candles and song a few times. :)

Happy Birthday Brady!
We Love You!

The Morning After

2011-12-19T08:10:00.003-05:00

We all slept in a little this morning- must be a birthday party hangover. The kids were pretty excited to play with Brady's new toys though. Brady wore the stegosaurus shirt Colton got him. He knew his best friend would approve of this one! (Every school day for the past couple weeks as he's getting dressed Brady will say, "But will Colton like this?" I about died laughing when I found out the same thing goes on at Colton's house in the morning when he asks his parents if Brady will like his outfit. Then, it is the funniest thing to see them greet each other in the morning b/c it's like they're on a first date. They immediately take off their jackets for the big outfit reveal and then start in with the compliments. "I like your shirt Colton!" "That's a cool shirt Brady!" It's hilarious!) He asked to play with the knee hockey set Haylie got him this morning- the stick's in his hand. Sylvie likes the battery-powered fire truck-train from Wyatt and has that thing motoring all over the house.

But still her greatest love is Mr. T. Rex. I swear, she's been kissing this guy all morning. It's So funny! "Luub you tee-wex!"

Brady's Dino-mite Birthday Party

2011-12-18T20:22:00.003-05:00

This was the first year we had an actual "friend" birthday party- meaning the guest list was composed of friends chosen by Brady (instead of family or family friends chosen by us). Lucky for us, all of the friends Brady chose have parents (and siblings) that we would have chose too! :) So it was a good time for us all! Awesome! His friends- Allie (and Kristin), Brenden (and Ryen), Cameron (and Maddie), Colton, Evan (and Colin), Haylie, Kellan (and Henry), Wesley (and Austin + Sammy), Wyatt (and Wesley) came to celebrate. Maya (and Kiks) also came- a day early :) so we got to hang out with them yesterday- fun! We had a dino-themed birthday this year since that's what this typical four-year-old is in to. I think it's due to watching Dino Dan and Dinosaur Train, but he Loves dinosaurs and can recognize and name many of them! So this was right up his alley.

I had a bunch of games planned b/c when I was planning for this party I was reading all these things that talked about 4-year-old birthday parties and having planned activities. I should have known better- these kids only need to be with each other to have a good time! I love that! So the "planned activities" were scrapped and we just let them loose in the dino cave. :)

The dino feet project that we saved ~30 cereal boxes for, spray-painted green, and put triangle claws on made for a good time!

Dig it and Dec it-

The junior paleontologists dug in packing peanuts and found dinosaurs (sugar cookies) to decorate.

Apparently dino fossils were not the only thing they could've found! :p

The kids' dinner menu included dino-shaped chicken nuggets, mac 'n cheese, and cream cheese + jelly sandwiches in dino shapes (for our herbivores). :p Thanks to Grandma and Papa for playing chefs in addition to coat-checkers, greeters, entertainers, and photographers. :)

Little sis snacking on a pterandon nest (pretzels and grapes) and yes, I found another use for her bone hair clip I made for her Pebbles Halloween costume. bonus!

I had wanted to play Dinosaur Train and Dino Dan episodes in the theater room, but found out the day of the party that we didn't have the audio hook-up to connect the iPad to the projector in the media room. :( We showed the holiday Nick Jr. DVD we had and Toy Story-- no complaints from the theater crowd though. :)

Dino-face painting (stamps)

We were able to round up most of the kids for a picture...no bad at all for a bunch of pre-schoolers!

The "everybody make a silly face" picture-

"Happy Birthday dear Brady..."

Today was Brady's birthday bud Evan's Real birthday. So we sang to the other birthday boy too! Happy Birthday Evan!

Apparently I tortured Sylvie for a good minute or two. Brett and Tiffany D. were cracking up, and Brett took pictures of it. I was in the middle of getting Sylvie a cupcake and Melissa, Danisa, and I started talking. Evidently I was holding the little girl's cupcake juuuuust out of her reach. Yes, I suppose that was torturous to our little cake and icing lover! Sorry sweetie peetie!

Don't worry, she's no worse for the wear...

Indeed preschool parties look like frat parties in many ways-

Complete with a Congo-line...

Everybody get Footloose! Sylvie is simply adorable in this video dancing with the inflatable T-Rex (Thank you Grandma for drawing Daddy's attention to little sister and ensuring this cuteness was documented on video!)

Some scenes from the party highlight reel :p

I totally forgot about the dino tail game we'd made until just Colton, Cameron, and Maddie were left- so they built a tower and then wore dino tail and swung it to knock down the tower.

This was adorable- Brady took Cameron and Colton to his and Sylvie's "secret" hiding spot under the end table in the living room and they opened presents together. I think they thought they were being naughty- haha! We came upstairs to hear muffled giggles and tearing of paper, but had no sight of the boys. It was very cute though b/c the boys only had the presents that they each gave to Brady. All three of them were excited to open them! Gotta love 4-year-old BFFs!!!

Brady opened all his presents later on. Papa snapped this adorable picture of sweet Sylvie waiting for "my tuuuhhhn" to play with Brady's remote-controlled dinosaur from Cameron. Her last-second glance at Papa as he was taking the picture made it more precious.

OA Holiday Program

2011-12-16T17:35:00.003-05:00

We all went to watch Brady in OA's Christmas program this year. All those pre-schoolers dressed up and singing is about all the cuteness the chapel can hold! It was adorable again this year. Speaking of adorable- the little miss would have loved the 80's just like her mama. :) She often insists on legwarmers ("tights, beeeg sock!") and that's what she got today. And I'm still getting as much use as possible out of those little Uggs- Love!

She's saying, "Where da baby Jesus?" here. it was so cute!

Yes, those are the three amigos- all standing together.
Brady, Colton, and Cameron

His shepherd costume requested by the school was a men's dark-colored t-shirt, a dish towel, and something to keep both things on/belted. His "belt" is a curtain tie-back that we weren't using in the house. The tassel made for a good toy the entire time he wore the costume. :p

Love you, little shep!

Her Little Pony

2011-12-13T08:18:00.001-05:00

I'm certainly no Ms. Adela and cannot style Sylvie's hair at all. But we did have another pony tail attempt this morning...again, it lasted about 15 minutes this morning- for as long as she was distracted flipping through a magazine. :p

Cuteness

2011-12-12T17:43:00.001-05:00

Sylvie came home with another cute 'do (french piggies) today- this one courtesy of Ms. Adela. When she saw Daddy in his Hokie fleece, she asked for a Hokie shirt too. Then when they left to go get Brady from school, Brett put Brady's jacket on her. I just had to photograph all this cuteness (hairdo + mini Hokie + big bro's clothes). :p

Here's a good shot of her hairdo...and it's just cute how she's holding her daddy's face.

Zsa Zsa, Aiyee, and Cue

2011-12-11T11:09:00.004-05:00

Aiyee and Cue are in town for Cue's office Christmas party so we drove downtown to meet them for lunch today. Sylvie wore her "jacket Grandma brought it" (is how she describes this one). I call it her Zsa Zsa Gabor jacket. I took her picture in it before we left-

Timer shot at the hotel-

Christmas Candyland

2011-12-10T20:05:00.015-05:00

Today we day-tripped to Hershey Park for Christmas Candylane. I've never been to an amusement park in the winter. It was fun- as long as we kept warm (I had the kids in their snowsuits- lol!).

Crazy sun shot and I couldn't see what I was taking, but wanted a shot of the little chocolatier measuring up. I think we determined he was a smidge above a Kiss, a borderline Reese's?

Doesn't she look like the cutest little snow bunny with her shades on top of her head and her snowsuit on?

This was their first ride and they LOVED it. I loved their faces and their happy squeals. Amusement park in the winter = unique fun!

This rocket ride was funny. Brett was taking pictures and goes, "Why's Sylvie buried on this ride?" I said, "b/c we showed her where the buzzer was and she's leaning in to press it." lol- she stayed like this for the duration of the ride.

Syl-syl mid "cheeeese!" face here on one of the train rides-

This was the last picture we took when I realized we didn't have one of the two of them in their snowsuits together next to the Christmas lights. They were tired and pretty much done at this point. lol! What a fun day!

Video

2011-12-09T20:16:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted much video b/c now with the SLR taking HD video it takes forEver to prep the videos for upload and forEver to upload. But Sylvie's laugh and the kids singing are worth the effort. So cute!
Sylvie laughing-

Little Ditties- (haha- Brady sings about the "broken sleigh" in Jingle Bells)

Here Comes Santa Claus

2011-12-09T17:02:00.000-05:00

We went to see Santa at our neighborhood Nature Center again this year. I was most pleasantly surprised with how it went this year. I was by myself with the two little peeps, but they were great! Great with the lines, great with the treats (and the limits I was placing on them), and great with the big guy! I thought Sylvie would cry...I mean, first off, Brady did at her age; second, she was nervous with the Easter Bunny and even with the Sesame Street characters earlier this year. But nope, she was Awesome! I kept talking Santa up and I think she does get that he "brings presents" (even if she doesn't quite realize what that means.
btw, cute story- so the kids and I are driving around the other night looking at Christmas lights and they both say they want to see Santa (I think they meant a Santa decoration.) But I said, "Brady, when you see real Santa, what will you tell him you would like?" (as I try to gauge ideas for Christmas presents) and before Brady can answer, Sylvie yells without hesitation, "Pahwesents!!!" LOL!
Before we left, I took a few pictures at home-

Love the crazy eyes- lol! It was at this point that I realized I might be pushing it and should probably quit taking so many pictures. :p

Anyway, so Sylvie was quite adorable tonight. She kept saying, "Want to see Santa." We had to wait our turn, but we did keep taking peeks at him. When we were second in line, and she had a direct sight line of him, she starts waving and yelling, "Hi Santa! Santa! Hi!!!"

Love this one of Brady, too bad Sylvie's mesmerized by Santa and not looking at the camera. :p

They invited me to hop in the picture too. Sure, why not?

Here are the ones taken by the association-

Sylvie was adorable afterward. She continued to wave (while holding the coloring book Santa gave her) and kept saying "Bye Santa! I lubb you!" This video makes me LOL b/c she's so cute and b/c her almost 4-year-old brother schools her saying, "Don't do it so many times." and shaking his head. LOL! Love them!

Sweet Sibs

2011-12-08T19:15:00.001-05:00

There was such unrequested sweetness between these two this evening that I had to take their picture. I was cleaning up in the kitchen and I hear the sweet exchange-
"Hey Sylvie, let's snuggle! Mommy let me bring Elephant downstairs. You can even have Winter."
"Okay."
"Here- I'll share my blanket with you. Snuggle time!"
oh.my.heart. tooooooooo sweet! loooooooove them!

Piggy Do

2011-12-07T18:50:00.002-05:00

Ms. Flori was again responsible for making Sylvie squeezably cute today. I tried to get some pictures of her piggy do b/c I love it so much-

Rude Awakening

2011-12-07T09:28:00.001-05:00

Our whole family is in for a rude awakening (literally!) when the kids begin going to a school with a set start time (like elementary school). I just have to comment on our morning routines b/c they will change one day and I'll forget about these glory days. So for a while I was waiting on Daylight Standard Time to begin b/c the kids were actually sleeping in too much- like past 8:30 every day! Usually I do not set an alarm- the kids are my wake-up call. It's been this way for almost 4 years now (since I telework). There are a few days when I have to go to client site in West Va and on those days I get up with my alarm clock. But mostly it's them- either sleepy shuffling Brady armed with no fewer than 3 stuffies (Elephant, Winter, and Downey-- but also whoever else he can grab) or the cutest sweetie peatie voice calling, "Mommy, wey-ah ah you???" that I wake up to. They typically sleep until at least 7:30. Sometimes Sylvie does wake up earlier, but if she calls and I'm not ready, I just don't go to her room. Eventually she stops calling and either plays quietly in her crib (with her stuffies or with the zipper on her jammies- ha!) or she falls back asleep. We've been doing that (ignoring the too-early-wake-up call) since she was about 4 months old. lol! What a good girl she is!

So we're finally all moving and get downstairs by 8. These days, I usually let them watch Dinosaur Train while they eat breakfast. Then just before 9, we load up, go to Ms. Omayma's to drop Sylvie off first and then off to OA to drop Brady off. We're pretty spoiled having an almost 2 and almost 4 year old- yet still sleeping in until about 8 daily. :)

The Dinosaur Invasion is Coming

2011-12-04T16:31:00.005-05:00

While Daddy's in NC watching the Hokies play in the ACC championship game, we are doing some prep for Brady's dinosaur birthday party this weekend. We painted cereal boxes and glued on claws this afternoon to make dinosaur feet. Here's a preview of the future birthday boy trying out the feet and channeling his inner 2 fingered T-Rex for one of these picts-

The kids were AMAZING this weekend- so sweet to each other, playing So nicely together. I took video of it b/c it was so sweet. I'm not sure it's worth my effort of converting the HD video and uploading to YouTube (b/c the process takes forEver for HD videos), but they were wonderful! It was a fabulous weekend. However, this afternoon it seemed that I really did have a crazy T-Rex in the house with me as Brady protested his nap and "quiet time." Finally I told him I was not going to talk to him b/c he was being too crazy. It was very quiet in the family room and I found him (and Romey) like this 5 minutes later. This Never happens...he usually doesn't ever fall asleep anywhere but in his bed, and certainly not during the day time.

Elf on a Shelf

2011-12-01T00:05:00.012-05:00

A new tradition began in our house this first day of December. We got our Elf on a Shelf. I had not heard of this 30 year old Christmas tradition until Danisa told me about it last year. It's a cute book that comes with a little elf. The story goes that he is Santa's helper and it's his task to watch the kids in the house daily. Each night, he magically goes back to the North Pole to report what he's observed to Santa. Each morning, the kids have to find his new perch where he's returned to watch again.

I had the book wrapped to make it more special. It's after baths so they are in their jammies...it looked like a preview of Christmas morning. The kids are cute- they love presents and they love books. So it was fun to start with!

The book indicates that the first "task" is to name the elf. After some silly nonsense names, Brady called him Gingerbread and Sylvie repeated, "Gingerbear." LOL! I love it!

Oddly enough, Sylvie seems to get it more so than Brady and is more excited about our new little resident. We told the kids the first time Gingerbear was going to play hide and seek with them. They counted and then went searching for him. Brady asked for a hint and when Daddy said, "He's near something you can see your reflection in," it was SYLVIE who went straight to the mirror and said, "mee-ah! Gingerbear up dare!!" :p

Yes, the 22-month old gets it. She's awesome!

I'm back-blogging and can say that it's been 2 weeks since our resident elf arrived. He makes for a fun time each morning when the kids try to find where he is on his new perch (also makes for a fun time for me when I bolt up realizing, "I didn't move Gingerbear!" as I try to distract Brady and keep him upstairs while I stumble around without my contacts in and find the little guy a new space for the day. Brady seems to be tossing the idea of "elf magic" around in his head. One morning he said to me, "Where did you put him?" I replied, "I didn't put him anywhere! He's wherever he wanted to be when he returned from the North Pole early this morning." He goes, "How could he even do that? He's a stuffie. His legs don't really work." I was stunned, I said, "uh, magic!" But then just a few days ago, when Gingerbear fell from his perch on the window cornice when I closed the back door, I had to pick him back up. Brady goes, "Don't touch him! He'll lose his magic!" (b/c the book outlines this "rule") So who knows what's going on in his brain? But it's fun to hear about it!

"Freak Out!"

2011-11-26T11:12:00.002-05:00

Brady, Sylvie, and I are in the car this morning and Sylvie is laughing when the sun got in her face and she's sort of playing peek-a-boo. I said, "You got sun on your face and it makes you laugh Sybbie!" and Brady goes, "Yeah, well when I get sun on my face, I..." and I'm waiting to hear what he's going to say. I thought I would die laughing when he finished the sentence exactly like I would have and goes, "I FREAK OUT!" (He was just freaking out the other day when the sun got in his face as we drove to Grandma and Papa's house.) It can be very funny to hear yourself in your kids. :p

Silly Sylvie

2011-11-25T20:04:00.001-05:00

Tonight while we were hanging out before bed, Papa caught the tail end of Sylvie's hysterical laughter on video. She's so ticklish under her chin and was cracking up! I'm glad Papa got it on video!

Happy Thanksgiving, part 2!

2011-11-25T11:21:00.002-05:00

What a great day of visiting with family, relaxing, eating, and playing- doesn't get much better than this!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

2011-11-24T20:35:00.000-05:00

We went to Grandma and Papa's for a delicious ham dinner today. Yup, we're having ham b/c we're doing a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at our house tomorrow when cousin Kipp and Sonya are able to make it. (Sonya has to work today. But as Grandma said, "Thanksgiving is about families getting together so we do that when we can.") And if you can get together on Thanksgiving and the day after, that's awesome!

T-day timer shot before we left

Fun outside shots. Isn't he cute with his stego sweater?

More T-day timer shots @ Grandma's

Thanksgiving and football just go together. But really, EVERY day and football go together for Brady!

The little turkeys with their g-parents.

Snuggling and cheesing after bath time on Grandma's couch-

Chuck E. Cheese's

2011-11-23T18:38:00.016-05:00

Can you believe our almost 2 and almost 4 year-olds have never been to Chuck E. Cheese's? I myself had never been to one until I was an adult (during a rainy Voth family reunion in 2005...see Chuck's rendition of a younger Mommy and Daddy below). So maybe it's not that hard to believe.

Anyway, so we went for dinner and fun tonight. It was a good time and with a toddler and pre-schooler who think everything new is awesome, it was actually pretty affordable too! Here's Chuck's rendition of the little Luhrings-

The camera in Chuck's car is not as good as his drawing skills. :p

We didn't even put a token in this ride. She just thought it was cool to sit on the horse. :p

We did put a token in this one and they thought it was pretty awesome.

If it was up to Sylvie, we would have spent the entire night on the super mini carousel. There were three horses on it- so she hitched a free ride whenever she could when there was an empty horse. :)

With no concept of the rules, Syl-syl gave herself a little advantage in skee ball. ha!

The lever on this game was broken, so all the basketballs just kept coming back out even though we didn't put any tokens in and the game wasn't on. This was Perfect for Brady- who shot hoops for at least a 1/2 hour.

They were following the path of an ice block here. Sylvie totally didn't get it. She just liked being snuggled and jiggled by Daddy.

She kept saying, "heh-wo?! Mouse? Heh-wo? Chuck E Cheeeeeese!" Again, no token used- just a play phone. awesome.

While the boys were off playing a video game, Sylvie noticed that Chuck E. Cheese was moving and singing. She wanted to see what that was all about. There was a birthday party going on and some ticket booth thing so she was distracted, but I love her toddler jump-dancing. :p

Brady On Ice!

2011-11-22T11:11:00.000-05:00

whoops- found these picts that Brett had emailed to me from his phone. I forgot to post them! Brett took Brady to public skate at the Ice House a couple times this week. (Thanksgiving is making for a lighter work schedule for Brett this week.)

Daddy reports that Brady did awesome! (He's pretty athletic, like his Daddy.)

Thanksgiving Placemats

2011-11-20T16:39:00.006-05:00

We're hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year. But I'm super lucky b/c Grandma is bringing all the food- so literally all we're doing is hosting. (I know, Grandma spoils us All!) Anyway, so we made Thanksgiving placemats today. It was fun (if you average the "Lots" of fun for them and the "sort of" fun for me- haha!). I was reminded again why I love that they go to daycare and do all those fun projects at school. Although it was washable paint, it was pretty crazy and getting Everywhere. We had two placemats that Brady's made the past two years at Open Arms. We made a few more with hand print turkey families on them (with a Daddy Turkey, Mommy Turkey, Brady Turkey and Sylvie Turkey) so that everyone at the table had one. Then I just let them go to town with the finger paint-

Happy 4th Birthday Kellan!

2011-11-20T12:20:00.002-05:00

Today we celebrated KP's birthday playing soccer at the Dulles Sportsplex. It's a shame the Brady's clingy non-participatory attitude was present b/c usually all he Ever wants to do is play sports! :p

Sylvie played for a short bit and then kept asking Ms. Danisa about "peeeta?! cake?!" Yes, the month of October schooled her in the birthday routine and she knew what awaited the birthday boy and his pals! :)

Happy Birthday Kellan!

A Real Pony

2011-11-16T08:15:00.002-05:00

We marvel at the Littlest Luhring's hair. Brett once said, "Don't you think it's weird that although she's always had hair and it appears to grow...it doesn't seem to get any longer, especially lately?" haha! It's kind of true. Part of it is the wonder of curly hair. She's like me- when it's wet, her hair is past her shoulders, but when it's dry and all boing!-ed up, it does look like it's been the same length for the past few months. lol!

Anyway, it's finally gotten to the point that we can put it in a real pony tail. She looks so.stinkin'.cute!!! It's too bad she doesn't like it and always says, "No want it." and pulls the hairband out. I took a picture while she was engrossed in the Dinosaur Train cartoon this morning eating breakfast, but the 'do was done by the time the show was. sigh.

Syl Stills

2011-11-14T08:28:00.001-05:00

Today Sylvie was wearing an outfit Mimi got her and she looked adorable. I told her I wanted to take her picture and she said, "Hippo too?" Sure, she matches your outfit, why not? :) This is one of the reasons I'm glad I blog (even though I'm just catching up after being 2 months behind!)...b/c #1, I have a place for the random pictures I take on an otherwise uneventful Monday and #2, it makes me actually take a picture when there's some little thing that I want to remember. Although I have a feeling Sylvie's cuteness is not something I'll forget any time soon!

Helping His Sis Out

2011-11-13T10:58:00.015-05:00

This morning the kids asked if we could play outside. I said, "Sure, just give me a second." From the office, I could hear the nice sweet sounds of "Baydee, need hat too!" (Apparently Brady put a hat on and Sylvie wanted one too...just like big bro.) He responds, "Okay, let me help you." I snuck out of the office with the camera to try and capture the moment. So sweet, and so cute b/c she picked one of her hats that looked just like his. :)

"Cheeeeeese!"

Then Brady said, "I'm gonna do funny face!" and Sylvie said "Fun fay!" (I swear, she drops syllables and sounds all the time. It's amusing if you understand her.) So here they are- monkey see, monkey do. I do love how she's looking at him in these pictures.

This picture makes me laugh b/c I can hear it in my head. Brady's raking up the leaves to make a pile like Daddy did for them last time and Sylvie's already on the starting blocks yelling, "Mark! GuhSet! GOOOOO!!!" You can see it on her face. So cute.

Glee- that's how I'd describe what I see on Sylvie's face here.
Love it!

Now the little monsters are coming after me, the innocent bystander! That's about the cutest war face I ever did see though!

A pile of leaves and little limbs

Veteran's Day with the G-parents

2011-11-11T16:53:00.003-05:00

Sylvie's daycare was again closed today. I asked Brady if he wanted to go to school or go with Sylvie to Grandma and Papa's house. Even though he Loves going to school so he can play with his pals, he Loves Grandma and Papa even more. So off they both went to their grandparents' house. A few Papa picts here-

Pretty

2011-11-08T08:39:00.000-05:00

I thought Sylvie looked adorable this morning with her boat neck top with the little bow and the skirt/pants. I told her I wanted to take her picture and she said, "Necklace!" and first accessorized and then started posing. lol!

What's up with the wall-sit?

Lately when I try to take her picture, she wants to take mine at the same time. So she grabs her Elmo camera that Great Aunt Mar gave her. (That's why you see it in so many pictures.)

Her other favorite prop these days is "My Wintah!" That's what we've named her plush Winter dolphin that we received with our donation to CMA b/c that's what she emphatically calls it. Hers is funny and different from Brady's tailless one b/c her "My Wintah!" stuffie has the prosthetic tail. It's funny.

Rae Day

2011-11-07T10:34:00.000-05:00

Ms. Omayma was closed for a floating holiday today so Sylvie got to spend the day at Grandma and Papa's. She got them All to herself- what a treat! Grandma and Papa tell me she amused them all day long...and by the way she keeps asking for Grandma, I'd say she had a pretty good time with them as well! :) Here's a few picts from Papa's camera.

Earning

2011-11-06T20:07:00.004-05:00

While shopping the other day, we picked up a much-needed left-handed baseball glove for Brady. Brett's determined to get this kid pitching. He's Really good and Brett says throwing left-handed is a bonus.

Anyway, Brett came up with an awesome idea of not just giving Brady this "present." We're not holding it until Christmas or his birthday. The boys are outside having a catch almost daily...he needs that glove Now! So we made a list of things he could do to earn his prize. He totally understands what the prize is too. He goes, "Oh cool! That's the right-hand glove so I can throw and catch too." and by "right-hand" he doesn't mean his directional right he means right as in correct. :)

So we made a list of 5 things he had to do three times each. Brett wanted to include at least one softball (can you tell Brett's a change/transition management consultant? lol! he's awesome!). So the list included-
Bed without whining
Bath without whining
Eat dinner without arguing (no "aww! that's not my favorite!")
Be kind to Sylvie
Clean-up toys without being told

I forgot to take an intentional picture of it. But the other day the two kids were reviewing the list and they looked so cute in their footie jammies that I took their pict.

Fall Fun

2011-11-05T10:31:00.003-04:00

A fall chore made for some fall fun today- leaf blowing, leaf raking,
and leaf pile jumping!

Poor girl didn't see it coming...but Loved it! :p

Look out boys, she's coming for you! Nah, she's a good girl and was putting her piles in the lawn refuse bag.

Speaking of lawn refuse...take it away Daddy!