Fav Day- Feb 11

Ah, if only it was always like this- where I feel good about my work week and what I was able to get done, where the kids are so funny and fun to be with, where the house is "semi-clean" (hey, it's the best I can hope for these days!)...if only Brett were home- that would be perfect! But he does get home this evening, so that's cool! I kept both kids home from daycare today to make it a true FavDay and spend it with my favorite little people! It's been a while since we've done this b/c I prefer that Brady have the consistency of a school week. But we've just been having too much family fun- LOVE it!

Playtime this morning- most of it spent in parallel play in their own little worlds...until Sylvie decided she had to have the lego Brady was playing with. Then she'd walk over and swipe it and honestly a few times this was met with a very sweet, "That's okay, Sylvie. You can have that one." which resulted in a smiley Sylvie and her "hee hee" giggle. Other times it was met with a screeching, "NO Sylvie! You're breaking the tower! I need that one!" which resulted in a grumpy- face Sylvie and her "ehh! ehh!" angry vocalization.

Then we ran some errands and I carted them through three different stores. Again, they were both SO good, which made life good. :) We decided to have lunch at Target- so fun, so easy!

He wanted Sylvie to be a "cool dude" too.

After naps, we went outside to play and wait for Daddy to get home. It was warm out, but the giant piles we'd made gave them a final chance to shovel before it all melts away. I should have taken video instead of stills. The sound of Sylvie's giggles as her brother chipped away at the pile and "made it snow" in her hair again was So cute. Her copy-catting was also adorable.

Little bear- so stinkin' cute

Then we got the toy vehicles out. After watching her brother on it, Sylvie tried to get on the big wheel. But wound up just pushing it around.

Speaking of her brother, Brady was funny. While he rode down the sidewalk, I held a baseball bat in his way to play a game we call "toll road." After paying 1 or 2 times (counting his dollars out as he slapped my hand), he came upon my "toll" and was not slowing down, I said, "Hey! You have to slow down to pay the toll." He goes, "No, it pays automatically." and zoomed on by. hahahaha! That kid pays attention. Previously, while we were (really) driving on the (real) toll road, he'd asked me, "Why didn't you stop and pay the toll?" and I'd told him about SmartTag/EZ Pass and how we pay the toll automatically.

Sylvie was interesting with the Cozy Coupe. She pointed and made her, "Deh! Deh!" sound telling me she wanted to get in, but she wouldn't put her legs up for me to push her or move her legs herself to make it go.

Most of the time she wound up like this:

and would squawk for help. I'd pull her out of the car and then she'd "Deh! Deh!" and point to get back in. Silly little nugget!

Loving the Little Luhrings

I have Really been enjoying all of the time with the kids this week. They have been so sweet and actually "easy" even with Daddy out of town. It's awesome to appreciate your kids this way. We truly are blessed! Love love love you little Luhrings!

Sylvie came home with pigtails again today. They're my fav so I had to take pictures of her.

Tonight she was Brady's construction-worker-helper. The foreman was a little bossy, but the crew got the job (which apparently was fixing the ottoman) done. As the apprentice on the job, Sylvie did the heavy lifting.

"Is this the right tool?"


There's a new sheriff fire chief in town!

And b/c I was taking picts of little sis, he insisted, "Take a picture of me and my lotta blocks!"

When the little miss went to bed, we began work on making valentines for Brady's friends and teachers. The project plan for 14 friend valentines and 4 teacher valentines includes a dependency of the 20-minute attention span of a 3-year-old...this is why we began this project four days in advance of the party. :) My intent was for it to be all educational and have him make choices and consider each of his friends. It was mildly successful- we talked about hearts and he followed directions well, but really he just wanted to cut with the "funny grown-up scissors" (the ones I used to use for scrapbooking) and squirt the glue. ha! Another bonus? I got to use some of the scrapbooking supplies I've been storing in the basement for years- for this very purpose! whoohoo!

Face Time

Brett's on work travel in New Orleans this week. But thanks to our iPhones, we still get to see him each night (this is actually handy for when he's home and working late or at happy hour or dinner too!). It's pretty awesome, but I realized that our kids have a totally different concept of the telephone (or cellaphone, as Brady says) than we do. Every time I'm on the phone now, Brady will say, "I wanna see!" :p Here he is seeing and talking to Daddy yesterday before bed.

Tonight, we called Daddy thinking he might not know who he was talking to b/c our superhero was wearing his disguise. But his sidekicks- elephant and the downward-facing dog, jammie-clad little sister- gave his secret identity away. :p Sylvie was a riot with the video chat, btw. She totally recognized her Daddy, squealed and giggled, and kept grabbing for the phone. It was very cute.

We can even text a photo now b/c the iPhone makes it so easy. We sent this to Daddy after a short Skype session:

Superbowl Sunday

We aren't dedicated fans of the Packers or the Steelers, so we all just wore "numbered shirts" (as Brady calls them) today. If it were up to Brady, this would be the daily standard uniform. Jerseys are his Favorite attire. EVERY day he asks, "Can I wear a numbered shirt today?"

Sylvie's got her game face on!

Sylvie's wearing one of Brady's hand-me-downs and the "big brother look" is so darn cute on her that, of course, I took a whole bunch of pictures. I loved how her girlie jeans (and crazy hair) looked with her brother's shirt. :)

Let's poll Us Weekly style:
Who wore it BEST?
1 year old Brady was bouncing around as Tigger #68 in 2008.
The adorable look bounced back in 2011 when 1 year old Sylvie
donned #68 for Superbowl Sunday.

"Sylvie, look at mama!"

Daddy's test shots for timer set-up:

We went to Grandma and Papa's house for the game. I didn't take too many pictures while we were there...only these few of the little miss wanting to be like her big bro.

Literal LOLs

Overheard while Brett and Brady were watching a pre-game show:
Daddy: "That team is the Steelers."
Brady: "Are they bad?"
Daddy: "Well, I don't think so. They are in the Super Bowl." (totally different direction than Brady meant)
Brady: "Are they bad b/c they steal things?"
hahahaha!

This reminds me of another conversation I overheard a few weeks ago. Brett was watching NatGeo and it was some science show about the human body.
Brady: "What's that?"
Daddy: "That's a skeleton, Brady."
Brady: "Oh. Does he say boo?"
hahahaha!

Cheers to Sean

It seems these days we only get together with friends for little people birthdays. We used to always get together for our (adult) birthdays. Yay Sean for turning 40 and yay Jenny for throwing him a fab forty surprise party @ Dogfish Alehouse! SO fun! Even though Tim and Brett mocked me for drinking the light beer, I thought it was really good. They said, "This would be good to have after mowing the lawn on a warm day." 4 beers later (which is A LOT for me! good times!) when we got the check, it was revealed that the name of the beer I'd been enjoying was...the Lawnmower- ha! I neglected to take any pictures while we were there (uh, I had 4 beers!) but Papa took one before we left. :) Happy Birthday Sean- thanks for giving us a great reason to go out and celebrate!

"Let's Go To The Mall!"

In need of a 40th birthday present for Mr. Sean's birthday party tonight, we headed to the mall this morning. As she ran around and tried to take it all in, I realized this was Sylvie's first time in the mall as a cognizant little person. (I don't go to the mall much and I don't think I've taken her since she was an infant- when she slept the entire time.) It was fun to watch her experience it all...she pressed her nose against the glass on the second level to people-watch those on the first level; she power-walked (she's fast!) freely; she window-shopped and looked at all the pretty things. Welcome to the mall little girl!

This sweet older lady thought Sylvie was just adorable and wanted to take a family picture for us. After 5 attempts, here's what we have. She was super sweet though (and I think the iPhone camera was confusing to her...and the kids too- who didn't know to look at "the lady with the 'camera' "). :)

The jewelery caught her eye- go figure!

They were thrilled with the all-access pass I gave them to play with the dishwasher at Sears. (I am always saying, "Please stop climbing on the dishwasher; please stop taking the utensils out; no, that basket is not for carrying around- go find a real toy to play with." at home.) We had to pass the time waiting for the train to circle back around somehow! :)

Both kids Loved the mall train. Sylvie watched out the window and made her happy sounds. It was so darn cute!

While Sylvie and I went to the infamous women's lounge in Nordstrom for a diaper change, the boys hung out. I had no idea that Brady could ride the escalator by himself (or that Brett let him!) until I saw this video. Cool dude!

I also didn't notice this until I watched the video, but Mr. Sean (the birthday man!), Miss Jenny, Wyatt, and Wesley were at the mall (going on the train) too and are in this video. Brady runs right around them! SO funny! (When we went to Sean's party later this evening, they told us they were also attempting to burn some toddler energy this morning...and apparently we have documentation of that! LOL!)