That Same Day… Cuteness Continues

All the pictures from the last entry (“Best 50 Cents…”) were taken on the 17th. That day continues here…

So yup, same cute sweater, same day as the tent pics… See this image larger.

*This is for you!* See this image larger.

*…and this part too.* See this image larger.

Nina seemed to really like our cheap-o vacuum cleaner. It is very weak and very light, but perfect for hardwood floors… and beginner vacuumers. See this image larger.

She did not want to give it up, and I have a video to prove it! (Coming soon!) See this image larger.

The cutest part of her outfit actually can’t be seen in this image… look down! See this image larger.

Our friend Elena handed down these shoes from her daughter, and unfortunately, this is the first and last time Nina could wear them. They were too small. 🙁 So cute though! See this image larger.

Eventually she decided it was my turn, and simply handed the vacuum to me. Such a sweetie! See this image larger.

Meanwhile, Ian built this elaborate set-up of a bunch of his toys… See this image larger.

Nina shows off her kitty jammies. See this image larger.

Sometimes the best pictures are not those with the kids looking at the camera. I love this one. Our two little ones, in their jammies, playing nicely together… at least as for the moment, right? 😉 See this image larger.

10 Awesome Years

Dialogue, September 8th
Ian finds out Daddy likes cottage cheese but never gets to eat it because his kids like it so much: “We should buy some cottage cheeses and write on there ‘for daddy’s only.'”

Ian, during dinner…regarding the food no longer on his plate:“I’m makin art!”

Ian, helping Daddy snip one branch off of a tree: “We’re cutting down trees to make wood!”

Ian and I had fun playing a game with a helicopter, but I had to go outside quickly to take out the trash. I came back in to find the helicopter parked in front of the bathroom sink, where he knew I’d head to wash my hands after the aforementioned chore. (This is one of those things where the meaning chokes you up more than the words I can type here… he left the helicopter there as if to say “I had fun, Daddy. Let’s keep playin’.”)

On September 8th, Melissa and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. Hard to believe that much time has passed. I love you, Sweetie, and I love how you’ve grown our family and surrounded us with your care.

In the interest of getting a couple of updates up here, I’m going to skip videos and come back to them in a little bit. They’ll cover the time period between the 10th and the 19th, and will all appear in one entry, coming up. (It takes a bit more time to edit those.)

We got gifts and cards and flowers, and I thank you all for helping us celebrate. These flowers from Grandma Sue looked so good in the sun room that I had to take a picture, but again, thank you all for everything! See this image larger.

And these are from me to Mommy! See this image larger.

September 11th, the kids go nuts on an inflatable balance beam. (Really this is meant to protect their little noggins on the inside of a tub, but they’re too old for that.) See this image larger.

September 12th, I told Nina I was going to buy her this book while we tooled around Meijer. She casually started reading it. I love Ian peeking through, trapped in his section of the basket. See this image larger.

A real page-turner, that one! See this image larger.

Attention, Grandparents: No. See this image larger.

September 13th. We bought Nina this potty to see what she’d do with it. Mostly, at the time, she seemed intent on using it as a reading chair. See this image larger.

Again? See this image larger.

September 14th, a board game that we purchased for the kids included this piece of foam, and immediately the Chapmanooga Choo Choo was born. See this image larger.

*All aboard!* See this image larger.

Wow, are they getting big. See this image larger.

Me: “That’s Ian’s. Please put it on the table.” And Nina does it. She’s amazing like that. See this image larger.

Reading again! See this image larger.

This is the baby swing that we had when Ian was just born. He loved that little blue bird on the swing, I think there’s a video of him pointing at it on a DVD somewhere. I spent time then considering how to pry it off of there for him. Melissa puts a huge amount of effort into a sale that comes around once a year that gets us a quite a bit of money to get rid of stuff that is taking up a lot of room, like this swing. So here we’re saying good-bye to the little blue bird for the last time. Life’s weird, isn’t it? I was probably the most vocal in saying “let’s get that thing out of here,” but it was me that got a little sentimental as it went away. See this image larger.

September 2011 Trip to the Cottage, Part III

September 5th, and it was the last day of our Cottage trip…

It was a very interactive morning! See this image larger.

These kids certainly know how to use apple products, anyway. Here Nina’s on the iPhone 3GS. See this image larger.

*Brother, I see you’re on an iPad with a much larger screen… Gimme.* See this image larger.

*What is this? An iPad 0.0?* Thanks for reading Gramma! See this image larger.

*Look! The page animation works so smoothly on this thing! I can almost feel the… word… ink… holder… Huh? Paper! (Yes, thank you Grampa…) the PAPER!* And thanks for reading, Grampa! See this image larger.

*Look! When you’re done coloring you just hang it on the wall, you don’t have to print it out or anything!* And thanks for coloring, Mommy! See this image larger.

We did get a little exercise in, which was a great idea given that the car-ride home would be a long one. See this image larger.

There are times when I can’t help myself and I have to stop everything and give that little girl a hug. See this image larger.

Awesome pigtails! So cute! See this image larger.

Exhausted, Nina settled in for a little nap. See this image larger.

Ian waited until we got into the car, but not long after. Here we’re in line for the ferry to head home. See this image larger.

Thank you Gramma Marcia, Grampa Dave and Great Grandma Betty for a fun trip, we had a blast and look forward to next summer!

September 2011 Trip to the Cottage, Part II

The princess surveys her subjects. See this image larger.

Yay, morning boat-ride! All these pictures were taken on September 4th. See this image larger.

*Say, Nina, is that a park?* See this image larger.

Ian, Nina and Grampa Dave all enjoy a quick ride on the teeter-totter. See this image larger.

Ian senses danger but can’t quite tell what’s up. See this image larger.

He looks cute here, but there’s a small white dot heading in his direction, over his shoulder, to our left. It is a small dog, it closed in fast, and it scared the bejeezus out of him. See this image larger.

Facebook profile image… go! See this image larger.

Ian looks perhaps a little too happy… maybe just thrilled to get some water between himself and the canine missile. See this image larger.

Looking cute! See this image larger.

Chilling out on the awesome deck! There’s Great Grandma Betty, Gramma Marcia, and Donna! See this image larger.

Nina liked the bigger chairs, lots of room to maneuver. See this image larger.

Grampa Dave helped Ian write his name with some leaves! See this image larger.

Don’t get TOO comfortable sitting in Uncle Chris’s chair, Ian! See this image larger.

He started looking a little warm and a little tired. See this image larger.

When he started to pretend he was sleeping, I made loud snoring noises and Ian giggled in waves. See this image larger.

But soon the giggling stopped… See this image larger.

and sweet slumber set in. See this image larger.

Nina watches Grampa Dave playing with some hoops. See this image larger.

Such a nice little smile, I love the sun on her face! See this image larger.

These two heard somebody spell boatride, I guess! See this image larger.

Ian watches the ripples disappear behind the boat. See this image larger.

He really likes sitting right in that spot. See this image larger.

The ladies are all in the front, with big smiles! See this image larger.

Nina enjoyed the ride as well! See this image larger.

Beautiful sky that night! See this image larger.

A few birds did a flyover and coasted off on the winds, just as the sun set. See this image larger.

The West-Side Chapmans… What a perfect picture, thank you Gramma Marcia! See this image larger.

A quick kiss! (Did you guys read the story about how a future version of photoshop will fix this kind of motion blur! It examines the pixels, figures out the path of the wiggle, and reconstructs it, clear as a bell! Awesome!) See this image larger.

Have you met the ship’s crew? See this image larger.

Marcia sneaks in a quick smooch… See this image larger.

… and a giggle! What a great smile! It is neat to see Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia makin’ a little time to be Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia! See this image larger.

Over at Pat and Eric’s… Ian wins the goofiest face award! See this image larger.

September 2011 Trip to the Cottage, Part I

September 3rd, as we approached the cottage, Dairy Queen ran out into the street and forced us to stop. See this image larger.

I’ll have to double-check… I don’t think this is her first ice cream. It probably IS her first Dairy Queen, though. And also possibly her first actual cone. See this image larger.

They enjoyed it and said they’d consider going again. 😉 See this image larger.

Great, Ian’s all pumped full of sugar, let’s go wait in line for the ferry! See this image larger.

The West-Side Chapmans are at the Island for a visit! Hurray! We were so thrilled to be there! Look at that happy crew! (Thank you Grandma Marcia for pulling off the perfect arrival shot!!) See this image larger.

Nina adopted this pose all on her own… looks a little like the Captain Morgan’s pose. See this image larger.

It took Ian 25 seconds to find this candy, without even trying. It took me 3 seconds to say “No you just had ice cream.” See this image larger.

*Um, Ian… there’s a pool. Mommy, here’s your shoes.* See this image larger.

And who gets out there first? Ian. CAREFUL, YOU’RE IN THE DEEP END!!! See this image larger.

*Wait, what deep end?* See this image larger.

*YOU THERE. YOU BEGAN WITHOUT ME, EXPECT SWIFT RETRIBUTION!* See this image larger.

*Come on, Gramma, let’s go straighten those boys out.* See this image larger.

And then a lot of fun was had! See this image larger.

I’ve got a lot of these, so I’ll caption the ones that stick out… See this image larger.

Cute! See this image larger.

A little bit of splashing going on! See this image larger.

Grandma Marcia plays lifeguard! See this image larger.

Look at how big these kids are getting! See this image larger.

Hey there, Peanut! See this image larger.

Such a winning smile! See this image larger.

Just chillin’! See this image larger.

Is he splashing again?! See this image larger.

Ooop, somebody had to sit in time-out for splashing too much! See this image larger.

And he’s not happy about it. He’s looking over to make sure that we all know he’s not happy about it. See this image larger.

And then back to sulking. See this image larger.

So Nina fought her way out of the swimming pool, and ran over to Ian and gave him a big hug!!! She decided to do this all on her own! See this image larger.

Back in the pool! See this image larger.

*Warm spot in the pool, you say, Grampa Dave? Why whatever are you implying!?!* See this image larger.

Nina dribbled this ball down the walk better than Daddy could, I bet! See this image larger.

And then came the rain!! It was a good thing we got in the pool so quick! See this image larger.

It was raining in my eyes, I had to close them. Otherwise brilliant pic, thanks Grampa Dave! See this image larger.

Ian enjoys a quick sit. See this image larger.

And then let’s all go in and get out of the rain and play whatever the heck this is! See this image larger.

Later, Nina insisted on an evening boat cruise! Here she inspects her zooey. The cottage always makes me smile, love seeing it in the background there. 🙂 See this image larger.

Wow, some photographer, huh? See this image larger.

BLAB BOOOOOO!!!! (That’s “Land hoooooo” if you have a zooey in your mouth.) See this image larger.

Grampa Dave steering and taking a picture at the same time! Thank you! See this image larger.

Ian smiles big! See this image larger.

A boat trip is a great way to round out the evening, right guys? See this image larger.

More soon!

Some Missing Bits…

Dialogue, September 1-3rd
Ian to Mommy: “You have a cool belly button.”

Nina: “Babysitter.” (Nina said this while pointing at the Elmo book where he has his first babysitter.)

Nina with stroller: “Beep beep!”

Ian to Daddy: “Mommy’s car has a p button. Where’s your car’s p button, Daddy?.” (P is for “Park.”)

Ian: “They’re like leprechaun bananas!” (Green.)

Ian: “I could have a banana while I’m waiting.”

Ian to Daddy on the way up to the cottage: “3 hours? 1 2 3 are we there?”

Ian: “When’s it going to be October?”
Mommy: “What’s in October?” (waiting for halloween)
Ian: “Elmo video game!”

August 25th, sometimes I pass by a real good shot accidentally. This is one. See this image larger.

August 31st, this shot is missing from the “trash” sequence… she threw it out, she now looks at her hands to see if they are dirty, and then back to the other shot of her clapping the dust off of her hands. (You’ll need to look at an earlier entry to see that.) See this image larger.

So Long, August

Video, August 21st
Click here to check out a video of Nina seeing the Sesame Street website for the first time! There’s one point where you’re going to see me tear up a bit — Nina’s mouth drops open in amazement and she looks at me like “This is great, isn’t it awesome, Daddy?” You can’t really see the look from the camera’s angle, but the look is there, and I’ll take that with me everywhere. 🙂 I should note that she said “Big Bird” before the camera went on, but listen for a lot of other character names too. This is a pretty big video. 11MB.

Dialogue, August 23rd-28th
Ian: “I’m really hungry. You should cook really fast or cook slow and give me a Popsicle.”

Nina: “Mommy, me and Ian” (Nina said this while looking at a photo of Melissa, Nina and Ian. Hasn’t happened again since, sadly.)

Ian: “When mommy had a bad throat she would take a treat, but it wasn’t really a treat it was medicine. Can you remember that, for all the days?”

EDIT – Just found some more stuff that belongs right here on August 29th. Nina correctly identified blue and yellow. Nina got the shapes right that were on the fridge. and finally, this bit of dialogue from Ian and I:

Dialogue, August 29th
Ian watching videos on TV: “Can I watch another one of these?”
Daddy: “Are you learning things by watching it?”
Ian looks over at Daddy.
Daddy: “Just say yes.”
Ian smiles: “Yes.”
Daddy: “Go ahead, then.”

August 28th, could she get any cuter? See this image larger.

Oh. Why, yes! Yes she can! Is she praying? *Dear God, please bring poor Ian and I more toys. We don’t nearly have enough, and truly could use something to play with. Amen.* See this image larger.

*I kid! I’m kidding you!* See this image larger.

So cute! See this image larger.

So proper! See this image larger.

*Would you care for some tea?* See this image larger.

Don’t bite the dog that feeds you. See this image larger.

August 29th, and I took the kids to the park near Ian’s school. See this image larger.

Don’t take this picture too seriously, Nina looks like she’s having a great time, but it only lasts for about four pushes before she’ll say “up! up!” See this image larger.

Hard to get a shot like this. Wanted to get everything in the picture, didn’t want to get too far away from Nina. See this image larger.

Ian with bows in his hair. When I see this kind of thing, I take a picture and try not to laugh, to be honest – lol. See this image larger.

I gave them each a bowl of Cheerios by the kitchen “gate” and went to refill a water jug. When I came back, there was a secret picnic being had under the table! I can’t imagine what these two are going to get into later on in life. See this image larger.

*Please, sir… another bowl?* See this image larger.

“Thank you!” See this image larger.

Whenever I turn around he’s a little taller and a lot older looking. :-\ See this image larger.

August 31st, Nina compares her wispy do to Mommy’s new haircut! See this image larger.

I know Daddy approves. See this image larger.

My oh my how Daddy approves. 🙂 My beautiful wife of 10 years… can you believe it? See this image larger.

Nina throws something away again… she’s been doing this for months and I think she’s only twice thrown out something that wasn’t trash! See this image larger.

A bad picture but an important detail… she claps the dust/dirt off of her hands when she’s done! See this image larger.

NEWSFLASH: BOY ATTACKED BY TICKLE-MONSTER, BARELY SURVIVES! See this image larger.

August Continues!

Video, August 21st
Click here to check out a video of Nina feeding Ian a couple of cheerios. (I know this is how we all get colds, I’m sort of over it.) Ian’s quote at the beginning of the video is also priceless. Nina’s “no” still sometimes means yes. We’re working on that.

Video, August 21st
Click here to check out a video of Nina using the iPad and talking. Audio is off slightly sorry.

Video, August 21st
Click here to check out a video of Nina using navigation on the iPad.

Video, August 21st
Click here to check out a video of Nina waking up her brother. I love the way she stops at every opportunity to wait for further instruction. Turn up the volume so you can hear me giving her the “ok” to continue through each step. This is a long video!

Dialogue, August 18th-20th
Ian: “I want to go completely underwater.” (I mention this for bravery. It still hasn’t happened without the velocity of a jump, but just the fact that he said it made us proud.)

Ian: “When’s it going to be October so I can play that Elmo video game?”
Mommy: “You are SO your father’s son.”

Me: “Remember when you were a baby?”
Ian: “Yeah and you would rock me and sing me songs like: (Singing) Twinkle twinkle little star… baby fall right out the door.”

Me: “Nina, you are breaking your daddy’s heart, here…”
Ian: “OK! She breaked it.”

August 21st, I almost can’t use my iPad anymore, honestly. We’ve raised some kids that love interactivity, I guess. See this image larger.

She’s very good at it too. See this image larger.

August 24th, love my kids! See this image larger.

If I look exhausted it is because I am. See this image larger.

August 25th, there she goes again! See this image larger.

Nina nibbles on corn-on-the-cob! (I think this might be her first on the cob.) See this image larger.

More good eats! See this image larger.

You Wear It Well

Video, August 15th
Click here to check out a video of Nina being her usual awesome. Note that at the beginning I tell her to “turn that around” and she immediately spins in a circle, as if I am the caller at a square dance or something. She even folds her hand behind her back, how proper! Note the fantastic camera work there at the end; that ain’t easy.

Dialogue, August 15th

Ian: “Compaaaaare for blast off. ”
Me: “You mean ‘prepare.’ Compare is to observe something’s similarities or differences. Prepare is like getting ready to do something.”
Ian: “I meant ‘get ready for blast off…’ I knew what to say but I didn’t say it when i said that.” (Waits a beat… then completely ignores what both of us have said.) “Compaaaaare for blast off!”

Me: “alright hot shot!” (to the racy vehicle in front of my car that was choosing to ignore a green light.)
Ian attempting to mimic me in the backseat: “alright hopscotch!”

Ian, after falling in the toy store parking lot, where we purchased a toy boat:“I’m excited for my new toy i’m not excited for my knee.”

Ian, providing voices for his characters: “Get on the boat get on the boat!!”
Me: “Uh huh.”
Ian: “I’m just talking for these guys dad I’m not talking to you.”

Me: “Where’d you put that extra pair of underwear?”
Ian: “I threw them. I threw them at the fire thing but I didn’t throw them in there. You picked them up after that unfortunately.” (He meant fireplace.)

Ian, singing a song fully written by himself: “Lifeguard savers on the boat” (repeat x45)

August 18th, I was doing dishes while Nina finished up eating. Went over to see how she was doing. And this is what greeted me. See this image larger.

She looks like she lost a food fight. See this image larger.

August 20th, and I can honestly say I’ve never seen somebody look so cute while thinly covered in spaghetti sauce. See this image larger.

The same day, Ian looks cute and not too messy, but I’m guessing he now has some spaghetti sauce in his ears. See this image larger.

Apparently I make some pretty mean faces at Ian sometimes. He returns the favor now-a-days and tells me it is because I do so. It makes me feel bad, but honestly the length of the list of “you can’ts” as a father is daunting. See this image larger.

Ian, Up Close and Personal

August 12th, and there’s still some pig-tail action happening here! She’s trying on some shoes we got at a garage sale next door. Melissa and I spent a fortune over there and got a lot of clothes for Nina. They have excellent taste! See this image larger.

“Hep! Hep! Hep!” (Help!) See this image larger.

August 14th, these shots look cute, but nothing compared to her in this coat in person! See this image larger.

I can’t remember if she’s a bear or kitty with this coat on, but she wears it well. See this image larger.

She likes to tip her medical cart toy on its side and hop in it like she’s driving a car. Or maybe flying an X-Wing from Star Wars. Probably not the latter, but you know if you kinda squint… See this image larger.

We had a marathon of trying out different spaceship designs, and this is Ian posing proudly with them all! See this image larger.

And now you see why this post is titled as such. Here’s Ian as the philosopher. See this image larger.

The diver. See this image larger.

The politician. See this image larger.

The thinker. See this image larger.

The recluse. See this image larger.

The ham. See this image larger.

The pufferfish. See this image larger.

*I like these blocks Mommy, and I’m glad we could take this one picture without interruption from…* See this image larger.

*… Ian.* See this image larger.

I put this pillow down so that Nina could sort of fall into it at one point… and she did. And then it looked for all the world like she was considering staying here for awhile. See this image larger.

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