Where a kid can be a kid! We took a drive
today to meet Julie and Molly at Chuck E. Cheese. We had a
blast. The kids ran and played, we ate cheap expensive pizza
and I got to chat with another grownup! Yay! :) I also got to
hold Molly, a lot! She likes me (and other random strangers :)
). Lex’s favorite activity was the “pipes in the sky” and Eve
loved the little merry-go-round. Every time she heard the
merry-go-round music play she ran over and wanted to climb on.
As soon as the ride ended she said “more, more!” I loved the
fact that everything cost just one token and neither of my kids
fully understand the “put money in” concept yet :) A good time
was had by all! Both kids fell asleep in the car (Eve before we
even left the parking lot!) and we sat in the garage for half
hour after getting home while they continued to sleep. Then I
moved Eve in to her bed and she slept for another hour! Lex is
already asking to go back :)

Molly
and Eve riding in the fire truck. Lex was there too, until I
put a token in and made the ride go, then he hoped off and ran
away. Eve enjoyed the ride anyway.

Not a
great picture but here is Eve’s favorite ride. She held on with
both hands and grinned :)

Lex,
climbing to the pipes in the sky. He climbed right up there but
it took him a long time to venture into the pipes. At one point
I asked if he knew that he could go in there and he said yes
but the speakers in the pipes are too loud. Eventually he got
brave and had a great time! On the way home he told me they
turned the music down in the speakers so it was ok to go in
then.

Julie
and Molly. Molly took a little while to warm up, but then she
loved me! She is a super cuddly baby :)

My
favorite Calvin face :)

Because I know curious minds want to
know… Have I shared our costume saga yet? Keep in mind that I
don’t really care one way or the other about Halloween, so the
idea of spending $$ on a custom that Lex may or may not wear
didn’t really appeal to me. We’ve been chatting about it, he
and I, for awhile now and initially he didn’t want a Halloween
costume. I was ok with that, but nervous about what to do if he
changed his mind on Halloween day. The he announced one day
that he wanted to be a snowman for Halloween. Ok, we went on a
mission to find a snowman costume, but turned up just two…
neither of which he wanted. I looked in to making a costume,
but it seemed pricey and who knows if he’d wear that either!
Then he wanted to be nothing again. One day I was in the
basement digging through a box of dress-up clothes we have and
I found a dinosaur costume. It’s kind of like PJs really, but
clearly a dinosaur. I brought it up and hung it on the newel
post and a week later he announced he wanted to be a dinosaur!
Just yesterday Alan was able to get him to actually try the
thing on and it fits ok. Score! Eve is going to wear a
hand-me-down flower costume that mostly fits. She didn’t really
have any say in the matter. She’s getting mighty opinionated
lately though, so we’ll see if she’s willing to get dressed up
with the time comes!

C’mon Christmas!
There’s a holiday I can really get excited about :)

We had another appointment with Eve’s
allergist today, just to touch base and make sure we’re doing
ok. Alan got to meet the doctor and practice with an expired
Epi-Pen. We asked the doctor about kiwi and he said the allergy
does exist, but it’s very rare. He recommended we give her a
little bit more and see what happens. I’ll try later this week.
Tomorrow we are going to meet Julie and baby Molly at Chuck E
Cheese, so we wouldn’t want an allergic reaction of any sort to
interfere with that! The appointment was otherwise uneventful.
The doctor wants us to come back in a year for another
appointment to see how things are going then.

Mema and Grandpa Tom sent us a Halloween
care package and one of Eve’s favorite items was her pumpkin
ears (as she calls them). She likes to wear them and she laughs
hysterically when I wear them. When we went out yesterday I
asked her to pick a hat and she choose the pumpkins :)

Funny
girl!

A very
Collier look.

I tried
to open the door and take a picture, but she whipped them off
before I could take the shot. Oh well, this picture is funny
anyway.

We had a busy, but nice weekend. Friday
night I helped my friend and 3rd recruit with her first
Pampered Chef show. She had a huge turnout and did great! I’m
very proud of her :) Saturday my little PC team had a table a
trade show. It was fun and I got two bookings and two orders,
so it was fun and worth it. I also scheduled Lex for his very
first professional haircut. I met some ladies from a new salon
and they were super nice and only charge $6 for a kids cut. I
asked what happened if we got there and he refused to
cooperate, the lady said no charge, of course. She also said
that they have tons of toys and can cut his hair while he plays
with the toys! We’ll see hwo it goes :)

Today we just took it easy. Well, we went out to lunch,
grocery shopping and cleaned the car, but nothing too eventful!
I apparently don’t have much to blog about these days, but here
are a few cute pictures for you all :) Alan took tomorrow off
(since he worked all last weekend and lots of late nights this
past week) and so he’ll be joining us at gymnastics and then
we’re taking the kids to vote! Lex is excited to turn 18 so he
can vote too :) Tonight I was telling him that voting is
important because its how we choose who is going to lead our
country, and state, and towns. He said, “I want to be the
leader!” :) I’d vote for him! Someday.

They
entertained themselves very well while I cleaned the car. They
helped me get all the stuff out of the car, then while I
vacuumed they read books in each others car seats, and then
they helped me wash the doors and plastic parts with wet wipes.
Very eager and helpful kids!

Playing
with the camera again. I don’t generally like pictures of
myself, but Eve always makes them better :)

A random
shot of Lex. We brought the easel into the dining room again
and they both love to color on it. I should scan some of their
artwork some day. He’s getting very
creative.

I found
them in the living room like this one morning. I was in the
kitchen, but came looking for them because they got very quiet.
Aren’t they adorable!

I’m not lost or MIA, just busy and sick :(
I have a head cold and I’m trying to get ready for my Pampered
Chef expo this weekend. Eve is just getting over a cold and Lex
is just getting a cold. We’re doing not much these days, just
trying to make it through the day. I have a fun picture that
Eve drew that I’ll try to scan and post. They do a lot of
coloring now on the easel. I’ll post more later. If you’re in
town this weekend, come visit me and my team at the Upper
Valley Women’s Expo. It will be fun.

We went in for Eve’s 18 month check up
today (quick, before she turns 19 months!). All is well, of
course. When the doctor came in Eve promptly brought her a book
and crawled up in her lap. So the appointment started with the
pedi reading stories to Eve. The doctor did a lot of pointing
and “what’s this” and Eve knew all the answers. When they were
done reading the doctor smiled and said, “well, she passes the
verbal test just fine!” Eve showed off her jumping and kicking
skills, and her coloring skills (including on her hand and bare
belly). The doc said she’s doing great. She weighed in at 24lbs
and 31″ – about 50th percentile for weight, 75th percentile for
height, and 90th percentile for head circumference! Eve got
more immunizations and all three of us ended up with a flu
shot. Lex was very put out about that, mostly because it was
supposed to be Eve’s appointment and I had told him that the
doctor wouldn’t do anything to him. My bad.

This isn’t a great picture, but it makes
me laugh every time I look at it. So I figured I’d share
:)

We did our first charity fund raiser walk
today. The Pampered Chef had a team at Vermont’s first (I
think) American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast
Cancer walk. That’s a mouthful! It was held about 1.5hrs from
our house and coincidentally about 10 minutes from the colo
facility Alan had to do some work at today. So we all drove up
together and Alan (poor Alan) went to work while the kids and I
did our first walk. It was fun, mostly. We were supposed to
walk with a big Pampered Chef team, but only a few people
showed up and none that I knew :( But we always have fun
anyway. Lex was tired and rode in the stroller for the whole 5
miles, but Eve was ambitious and wanted to walk, walk, walk! I
let her out for awhile, but if we did the whole walk at her
pace we’d still be there now!! So I had to corral her back into
the stroller after awhile. She got lots of oohhs and ahhs and
“how cuuutteee…” from all the people passing us.

Pre-walk. Don’t they look bundled
:)

Eve,
walking the walk.

After the walk we hung out at the field for a little
while. They had lots of free food (so much for the 5 mile
calorie burn!) and a bouncy house for the kids and
entertainment. There were some girls dancing to oldies music (a
dance team, I suppose) and each time the music ended Eve
clapped and said “more, more”. She also does this in the car
between each song on the CD. Silly girl.

Eve was
tired, tired, tired by the end of the event. She ended up
walking around, plug in mouth, dragging doggie by the ear.
People still oohed and aahhed about how adorable she was
(though most people called her a boy by that point because of
the blue jacket.)

Lex was
tired, tired, tired too! He hasn’t napped in the car in a long
time.

They both
took naps in the car on the way home and early bedtimes
tonight!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKNX3V3zUn0]

(for my records)

At
dinner tonight Eve got another facial rash, similar to the
peanut rash she got before only a bit smaller. She ate a
blueberry bagel with cream cheese (a favorite and frequent
meal), warm chocolate milk (warm milk with a little bit of
Hershey’s syrup) and a half a kiwi. She’s never had the
chocolate syrup before, but she’s had plenty of other chocolate
things. I’m almost positive I’ve given her kiwi before, but I
think that’s the more likely culprit here. I didn’t give her
any more (despite her requesting it) and the rash cleared up
within the hour, much like the peanut rash. I did a quick
search tonight and kiwi seems to be a common allergen. Sooo…
I guess we’re done with kiwi for awhile. At least until our
appointment with the allergist at the end of the month.

Sometimes I wonder if I did something wrong
with her early feedings. Alan did such a good job of
documenting and tracking Lex’s food intake and following the
Super Baby Food “food introduction” schedule, but I was so much
more lax with Eve. I started her on solids a bit earlier, gave
her banana first instead of cereal, etc. Nothing that should
have caused any problems, but sometimes I wonder… On the
other hand, now Lex will only eat a few select things and Eve
eats anything and everything! :)

Anyway,
we shall see what the allergist has to say.