life as usual

 I know, I know, my blogging skillz have been seriously lacking - turns out full time job and two small kids doesn't leave a lot of blogging time (coupling that with blogspot's clunky, slow software just adds to the chore!).  But here are some pics from the past month - starting off with a special dinner in front of the TV - brought to you by superbowl Sunday.

Eyes glued to the football game - stuffing their faces with tot-chos...
that's some solid parenting happening right there

 Elliot has had an inordinate amount of paci time lately - we usually only allow it at nap and bedtime, but it turns out cutting 5 teeth (bottom incisor and all 4 canines) necessitates extra paci time to keep everyone sane.

a chair for two

something, something dark side, something, something jedi snack time

I love it when they hold hands!

race time!

yup, sometimes I sneak in and take pictures of them while they're sleeping.
They just look so peaceful!

there are no words...

Aviator, pup-pup, lion, lion.

our 55F day this weekend = glorious outdoor play time!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy 4th B-day to Owen!

You get them all on one post, because that's as often as I can get around to making blog posts these days.
We didn't travel over the holidays (and likely won't again - it's just too hard and stressful) and nobody came here either - it was actually quite a relaxing Christmas to New Year's holiday.  Owen this year was finally fully in the throws of "getting" Christmas.  And was helpful in decorating the house/tree - and of course impatient about the presents under the tree!  Everyday (at least once a day) in the lead up to Christmas he would ask if it was time yet to open presents.  Elliot of course had no idea what was going on, and surprising left all those brightly coloured packages under the tree alone...instead he chose to un-decorate the tree to play with the ornaments - come Christmas most of the lowest branches were fairly bare...except for the truly unbreakable paper ornaments.

New Year's was celebrated London time (so 6pm for us), and included a fun skype call with our good friends Lars, Elissa, Ben, and Julia in Oxford - they actually managed to stay up past midnight!

We had a nice 2 weeks of vacation time as a family over the holidays and did lots of fun stuff - museums, hikes, some baking, the arboretum, sledding - it was really great having some family time that wasn't just the weekend!  Elliot is definitely the more adventuresome of the two of them.  He was happy to sled from the top of the hill, and wanted to be walking himself when we hiked - Owen's more of a mid-slope kind of sledder and more than happy to be pushed along in the stroller!

And this past Saturday, Owen celebrated his 4th birthday!  We rented out the party room and gym space at the local YMCA (which is so perfect for the winter birthday!) and all of his daycare friends came for the party.  In addition, Grandma and Grandpa made the trip down from Calgary to help us celebrate - and of course spend time playing and reading with the boys.  Elliot grew quite attached to Grandpa and would bring books over and climb up onto his lap to have a nice snuggle and read.  Owen insisted Grandma had to read him stories and put him to bed every night they were here!

Christmas tree hunting family selfie

Elliot had to give the polar bear kisses at the holidazzle market

   

maybe 10 of these gifts are actually from Dave and I (and mostly just books buried at the bottom of this pile) - the extended family (Aunts/Uncles/cousins/grandparents) are very, very generous to the boys!

maybe making moon sand for the boys to play with wasn't such a good idea...but how else were they going to dig in the sand with their new trucks?

We took a little trip to the Swedish Institute.  They alwyas have a nice Christmas display and a kids playroom on the top floor.

Two of a kind!

"I love log"

beautiful day for a walk!

Birthday morning present opening!

at some point El got tired of birthday gym time and took Grandma and Grandpa for a walk

parachute - fun for children and adults alike

deep conversations with Grandma

best buddies

Happy Halloween and beyond!

buddies!

 It's been a while...here's what's been goin' on!

Grandma and Grandpa came for Halloween...which allowed Dave and I to both go to GSA in Baltimore this year!  I got up bright and early (4am) Nov 1 to catch my flight, after a fabulous evening of trick or treating with Grandma and the kids while Grandpa handed out candy.

despite what it looks like, that "fling" of pumpkin guts actually landed in the bowl

El had to get in on the action too.

"This smells bad"

Trick or treating with the Burnetts is always a good time!  Although El started out not so sure...

after the first couple houses he realized how fun it was to run down the sidewalk...giggling the whole way and occasionally stopping to hug a tree...I kid you not.

what a jaunty chapeau!  Owen went as Rubble from his current favorite kids show "Paw Patrol"

 November was very pleasant around here (we only got our first snowfall of the season yesterday!).  It gave us plenty of time to get the gardens all cleaned up, and we had two little helpers just itching to use their shovels (or trucks) to dig in the dirt.

And of course we had to do some leaf cleanup as well.  Which meant Dave went and bought 2 kid sized rakes, so that all 4 of us had an appropriately sized rake...but Elliot of course insisted on using an adult rake and then screamed in frustration when he couldn't actually drag it across the grass because it was too heavy...pretty funny.

Owen was very helpful with his kids rake

mostly El just sat in the piles of leaves anyway

or had great fun running down the sidewalk

my sweet little guys!

 At some point Owen got ahold of my camera, and took a bunch of pictures of random things (people walking down our street carrying groceries, random cars, blurry pictures of us, some pictures of his shadow...but only the leg portion - there are about 7 of these), but there was this one gem in the bunch...nicely lit, nicely composed...it's great!

O's photographic masterpiece "leaves in bags"

haircuts and walking!

A lot has happened in the last month!  Elliot got a big boy haircut, had his 15 month doctor's visit (stats to follow) and started walking!!!  Owen had his second dentist appointment, so now his pearly whites are even pearlier!
The fall is going well here, we are still enjoying a lot of outside time as the weather is still warm, have done some apple picking, and are gearing up for Halloween!

Elliot's 15 month stats:
height  - a whopping 33.5 inches!!!  98%
weight - 25 lbs 6oz - only 5 lbs less than O weighs...which explains my beefy left arm ;)  - 82%
head circ.- 19inches - 85% - yup, El, you got your dad's big head...Owen got my little pinhead.
length to weight ratio - just under 50%, so for height he's middle of the pack!  He just seem so giant to us because O was always so tiny!
Plus El is wearing 2T clothes...as in clothes I removed from the Owen rotation about 3 months ago...and they fit him.  He's totally going to be the big Little Brother.

Elliot's latest obsession is large kitchen utensils...they serve dual purpose of eating and playing...sometimes at the same time!

surprisingly, he did manage to get this bite to his mouth

warm fall day at the park!

 We got both boys into the bike trailer for the Nicollet Open Streets fest - Nicollet Ave (a main thoroughfare with lots of restaurants/shops/etc.) was closed off for about a 20 block stretch to all motor vehicle traffic for a Saturday afternoon for a street fest.  We rode over with the boys to take in some sidewalk beers (some of Dave's favourite!) and the petting zoo at the local hardware store.

Owen and his friend Walter enjoying a dumdum after having a pony ride

who needs to ride a pony when there are chairs to climb?

 We also took in a "touch a truck" on a Saturday morning.  This is the greatest thing ever!  A bunch of trucks of all varieties (rescue vehicles, snowplows, semi trailers, cement trucks, you name it!) are organized to just be parked in a parking lot (in this case at a podunk mall in a suburb) for like 6 hours where the kids can come and climb on them/in them/pretend to drive them/honk the horns (to the chagrin of all the parents...and most of the very small kids - those horns are loud!).

I think he would have stood here pretending to be a garbage man all morning if we hadn't prodded him on to the next truck

 And of course, our requisite fall activity....drum roll please...apple picking!!!

in the wagon, headed out to the orchard!

the haircut is pending...

O insisted on having his picture taken with the turtle statue  "Mom, look!  It's Mzee!!" (from his book, "A Mama for Owen").   In the book, Mzee is the new surrogate mama for Owen (Owen is a hippo...but close enough!)

haircut!  now he can see again!

 El started walking about a month ago now...although it's still not that graceful, but you know, it's almost Halloween, so zombies are in season!  And note his shoes - I know you can't see from the pic, but they are a) too big and he insists (and boy can this kid be insistent!) on wearing them anyway and b) made to look like cats.  They are called the "Chairman Meows"  hah!!  slays me every time!  How could I not get him those shoes!!  so awesome...I love a good pun.

watch out!  has a sprinkler head and is mobile!!

"hmmm...I think Goldbug's hiding over here"

yup, photo at the dentist's office, complete with oversized teeth and toothbrush props
kids sized sunglasses for him to wear to not get water spray in his eyes during the cleaning were also a nice touch...plus they were spiderman glasses...he was disappointed when harsh reality hit that he would only be bringing his new (regular sized) toothbrush home