Thomas pictures

Thomas comes around the bend.


Rylan, dad, and the star of the show, Thomas the tank engine. Rylan was too fascinated with the Thomas tattoo on his hand to look at the camera.


The conductor was nice enough to take a family picture for us.


Looking out the windows at some of the old trains on display at the museum.


Rylan meets the conductor of our train ride.


The conductor punches our ticket, just like in the movie, The Polar Express.


The guys meet Sir Topham Hatt.


Rylan at the old manual train switchboard. This is also the best shot I got of his cute train sweater, another great garage sale find.


Waiting in line to go inside the engine and ring the bell.


No, Charlton is not trying to throw Rylan out the window, and no, Rylan does not have rabies, although both seemed a possiblity in the midst of our toddler meltdown.

Day out with Thomas

On Saturday we drove up to the railroad museum in Golden, CO for a "Day out with Thomas". We bought our tickets months ago and had been looking forward to this special day ever since. Every time we would see commercials for it on PBS, Rylan would shout, "That's what we are going to see!" Unfortunately we all got colds this week and Charlton and I were feeling the worst by the end of the week. Also, the weather was not great with temps in the 50's and drizzling off and on. Not a great combination, but we had been waiting too long to miss this big day. Rylan had a few temper tantrums about having to sit while we were taking our train ride; and by the time the ride was over, he was in full blown tears. We tried distracting him with looking at the model train display outside, but he cried more because he couldn't actually play with the display trains. We even bought him a plastic Thomas whistle, which also created more tears because "the wheels don't work," and he couldn't figure out how to make the whistle blow. (Never fear, he finally learned how to blow the whistle and demonstrated this new skill constantly for the last 20 minutes of the ride home. I think we won the medal for "dumb parents" today!) I was definitely feeling that parental frustration of planning a fun outing for your child, spending a good chunk of change, getting up early to spend an hour on the road, just to be rewarded with tears and bad attitudes! I was really afraid the whole day was going to be one big disappointment for everyone.
Finally, we were able to push the reset button on Rylan's mood with a snack, some juice, and a rest on the bench. We met Sir Topham Hatt, toured the museum, and managed to get a quick picture with Thomas, before calling it a day. The best part for me was that the kids stayed awake the whole ride home (thanks to Rylan's ear-splitting whistle blowing) so we could all take naps. Oh, and on the way back to our car, Rylan said, "That was fun, getting to see Thomas."
I am actually at work right now, so I will have to wait until later to post pictures...

Caroline's fall pumpkin shirt

I have been wanting to get a cute fall/Halloween shirt for Caroline and after doing a little shopping around, figured out a design I could make on my own with felt appliques. For a few hours of work and only about $6.00, I think it turned out really cute. I would have let my sweet girl model, but she is fighting off a cold and was not in the mood for photos. Also, the mixture of tears, snot, and drool on her face and drying in her hair did not make for the most attractive look. Plus I think I am going to make a matching hair bow, too, so I promise to get a picture when the outfit is complete. What fun to have a little girl! I had such fun making this t-shirt that I am already planning a more boyish design for brother and another for Caroline's 1st birthday.

The front view.

Close-up of the pumpkin. This was the first time I had tried to make "corker" ribbon. You have to wrap the ribbon around a dowel and bake it in the oven so it reforms in the curled shape. I may use some orange corker ribbon for her hair bow.

I decided to try a little detail on the back with an acorn and oak leaf. The leaf didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted, but overall I was happy.


Close-up of the back.

Labor Day Balloon Classic

The hot air balloon classic is a Labor Day tradition in Colorado Springs. The balloons launch in the mornings, weather permitting, and "glow" in the evenings all weekend. We had a wonderful time at the glow last year, so I was looking forward to going back this year. A year made a big difference for Rylan. He was shouting and jumping up and down to see the balloons inflated and was awed to see the propane burners fire up into the balloons. Caroline was a little startled each time the burners would fire, and kept burrowing her head into my shirt. She just seemed annnoyed that we were keeping her up past her bedtime and then allowing bright, hot lights to shine into her eyes. I guess I don't blame her!


The burner fires and lights up the balloon.



This balloon was right in front of us. We could feel the heat from the burner on our faces.

A group of balloons "glowing."

A perfect hat for my energetic boy. He really does "keep going." There was an enormous pink Energizer bunny balloon, but we couldn't get a good picture of it all lit up.

Caroline gets a hug from Rylan.

Caroline and mom.

Caroline says she is done with all the pictures and wearing these stupid bunny ears.

Pig-tails

I came home from work on Saturday morning and Charlton had the kids already dressed and was valiantly attempting to tame Caroline's hair. "I don't want to be one of those dads who can't fix their daughter's hair," he declared. How sweet is that! I had been awake for over 24 hours and could barely state my name, but doggone-it, if my husband was that motivated, I was going to teach him how to put pig-tails in Caroline's hair. It comes so naturally to me, that I didn't realize how difficult it would be to explain to a newbie how to create a pony-tail. And we started with the advanced placement course, tackling a wiggling 9-month old with barely long enough hair and an almost microscopic rubber-band. Caroline wasn't exactly patient with her rookie hair-stylist and after she literally flipped out(of her bumbo seat) three times, I finished her up and let Charlton practice on my hair. To his credit, he got the hang of it and I think he will do a great job with her hair when it is a little longer and she isn't a constantly moving target.

Charlton took these pictures while I was sleeping. I think this daddy is falling more in love with his baby girl each day.


Charlton really captured a great shot here! Notice also the adorable new balance shoes, her first pair of tennis shoes, courtesy of a great deal on Ebay.

We liked the pig-tails so much that we had round-two on Sunday morning for church.

Seriously, couldn't you just eat her up with a spoon?

Big mess!

I mentioned last week that Rylan has figured out how to get out of bed, turn on his light and play in his room when he wakes up in the morning. He has been really good about staying in his room with the door closed until mommy and daddy come get him. But that is where the "good" part ended on Friday morning. Here is what I saw when I opened his bedroom door...

Here Rylan looks on innocently while Caroline revels in the tangle of cassette tape. I have had those tapes for over ten years; I bought them when I was teaching the toddler Sunday school class at my church in college and had hopes of saving them for my babies. Haha, I just never imagined how they would be used. Oh well, I don't even have a cassette tape player any more, so bye-bye old relics...


P.S. Gotta love Caroline's mop first thing in the morning!

9 month check-up

At her check-up this morning, Caroline weighed 21 lbs.,12 oz, and was 27 1/2 inches long. That is 90th percentile on weight and 50th on height. She was 20 lbs at six momths, so it seems like she is starting to slow down a little on her weight gain, just like Rylan did at her age. I had just been thinking about how much I liked our pediatrician's office, especially our wonderful nurse practitioner that has seen both kids for this past year. She has a very gentle manner with the kids and I always felt she was incredibly thorough and knowledgeable. So, you can imagine my shock and disappointment when I saw her name had been removed from the sign outside when we walked up to the office. And the one day that I had to take both kids with me to the office, we had to wait 45 minutes to see the doctor. Caroline was exhausted and Rylan was no longer amused with the toys and books by the time the doctor arrived. I had wanted to officially meet her and I liked her, but was still so bummed that our Rhonda was no longer working there. I did ask her about Caroline's still spitting up and she didn't seem to think it was a problem. It could be related to my diet, i.e. dairy or caffeine, but her symptoms aren't severe enough to be really concerned. Hopefully she will just outgrow it in time, and I will keep the Resolve handy for my carpet in the mean time.
By the way, Rylan was tiptoeing out of his room last night. I crept up the stairs quietly, caught him in the act, surprised him, and replaced him in his bed. He stayed put after that! I was so proud of him this morning when we woke up and he was already awake, but playing quietly in his room with the door closed. He is also doing really well on his second (and hopefully last) attempt at potty-training. He didn't have a single accident this morning, doctor's office visit, included. It seems like he is catching on to the idea.