What we do now

For Ella and Noah, most of the day is spent doing one of three activities: eating, sleeping or playing. Sleeping does not make for great pictures. Eating generally consists of very messy faces that are wanting (guess what?) more Cheerios. I think that we go through a box a week, though not all of them make it into the tummies of my children. Noah has started holding a fistful of them over the side of his chair, opening his fist, and then looking down at them. They both enjoy watching Moses doing his janitorial duties. As for playtime, they are very busy little people.

Empty diaper box turned car... First it was a drum, then it was a prop for standing and then it found its most popular use.

This tunnel and tent is a HIT! Sometimes they just sit in the tent section, flap their arms, and laugh at each other. I've noticed that they completely crawl over each other while passing in the tunnel. They don't seem to even notice that they are crawling over another person, or being crawled on.

Both E&N have taken to flipping through books and looking at the pictures. I've noticed that Ella especially likes faces of other little kids. She always reaches over with her pointer finger and 'feels' the face in the book.

Up the mountain

Another post about our trip south...for more pics, you can hop over to Ginny's blog. The posts are here, and here, and here.

In front of Carter Hall

Chatting with the Wycoffs in front of the chapel

We stopped in on Pish's soccer coach, Brian Crossman. He immediately took Noah out of my hands and started entertaining.

Chatty Revisited

These are three of my (Pish's) favorite pictures from our trip to Chattanooga. I just love the kids' faces in these pics. For some reason, they were absolutely excited to see the camera...

Ella Bean:
Noah:
The Twins:

From a friendly bumble bee and fierce dragon

Happy Halloween!

With Nana P. and cousin Annika, a delightful ballerina.

Ella did not mind her costume, though I did notice that other kids were quite taken with her wings.

The tail that gave us endless laughs.

Chatty

So this is the beginning of a few posts on our trip to Chattanooga. As I menitioned before, we headed south for Covenant's homecoming and for time with friends. It was truly a wonderful two weeks. I don't know exactly what I was expecting (some sort of napping and fussing disaster), but the kids did awesome with the car rides, sleeping in pack and plays, and the transitions.

Ella immediately took to driving.

Pish was a little peeved that the kids ate his candy bar without asking.
Just kidding.

We (that is, the Schmidts and the Potoshnicks) found a rental house in North Chattanooga, about a 10 minute walk from the river. The house was phenomenal for a rental which was a welcome little bonus. Ginny and I had planned to quickly clean it before letting the kids begin crawling around but it was in great shape. Below is a pic of one of our morning meals. On the right is little Evan.

After breakfast, Noah decided to do a little housework on his own.

On to play time. Ella and Noah were trying to explain the intricacies of their toys to Evan and he aptly responded with a fish face. My thoughts exactly, Evan.

Carefully concentrating.

Here are the dads playing with all the kids. Pish is on the left and Andy is on the right --during college people used to get them confused because they tend to look very similar.

Ella's face and Noah's tush.

The boys were up a Covenant for the first couple of nights being productive alumni. Ginny and I, on the other had, utilized the babysitting services of aunt Liz and her friend, and headed out for dinner once the kids were in bed. As the hostess told us, it was kind of a big deal.

More to come.

Laughs at Coolidge Park

Here is a sneak peek of pictures to come, hopefully in the next week or so. We recently returned home from our first road trip. We headed south to Chattanooga for Covenant's Homecoming, time with the Schmidts and Leas, and were able to catch up with a number of people from our college days. I'm still feeling the effects of babies being off their sleep routines while attempting to climb out from the mounds of clean laundry that is filling our family room. That considered, the trip was great and totally worth it.

Apple Picking in Waterman

I feel like I can mark time by going to the apple orchard. Ever since we were newlyweds, Pish and I have traveled out to Honey Hill Orchards in Waterman to pick apples. It feels so fall-ish, so Midwestern. I love it. Honey Hill has pumpkins, apples and raspberries for picking and then they have a little store where you can buy the most delicious and sugary apple cider donuts along with a little cup of hot cider. The first few years, we came home with pounds of apples and scads of raspberries. Last year we were joined by Andy and Ginny. Both Ginny and I were pregnant so our kind husbands picked berries with us so that we could collect as many as possible before out backs started hurting.
This past Saturday, we loaded the munchkins in the car and headed out for picking. It was a gorgeous fall day and we found a good number of yummy Jonathan apples. E&N seemed to be taken with the surroundings, Ella especially liked picking leaves off the trees.

Noah carefully examined each apple.

Ella and I checked out the corn.

We attempted a family picture --not too bad, save Noah's tentative look.

And Pish and Noah made silly faces.

Twas time well spent --can't wait until next year.

Our newest love

Can I just say that I love Cheerios? They are the solution to many of life's problems when you are 9 months old. Wanting to feed yourself? Have a Cheerio. Feeling bored with the food that mom is giving you? Have a Cheerio. Needing to work on your pincer grasp? Have a Cheerio.

Truly, they are a favorite around here. I put the babies in their chairs and as soon as I bring out the yellow box, the kids start bouncing up and down in their seats. They like them so much that I have to remove the box and all evidence of the round bits of goodness if I am going to start feeding them something else.

As expected, they approach the eating of Cheerios in totally different ways. Ella realized that we put a Cheerio between two fingers and then placed it in her mouth. She figured that she would speed up the process and started pulling our hands towards her mouth with more gusto than you'd expect from a 15 lb munchkin. Now that she has developed more fine motor skills she is quite dainty in her approach. She gets one piece between her index finger and thumb, examines both sides, and then gently places it in her mouth, savoring each bite.

You can't tell from the photo but Noah grabs them by the fist-full and practically puts his whole hand in his mouth to access as many Cheerios as possible at one time. Did I mention the massive amounts of drool that ends up on his hands and face? Once they are gone, he checks the trough of his bib for more, reaches in and eats the ones that fell. Efficient little fellow, that Noah.

For Aunt Liz

Creeping crud

The creeping crud arrived and for the past few weeks our house has been an infirmary caring for four colds, a case of roseola, a sinus infection and a double ear infection. Thankfully, I think that we are finally on the upswing. I took this shot on one of those 'when is Pish getting home?' days when nobody wanted to be put down. It was surprisingly comfortable to wear the backpack and the Baby Bjorn.

Standing and talking

For the record, I know that this is cheesy. However, I cannot help myself from coming up with the conversations that I think that they are having.

Noah: Sometimes when I stand in my crib I like to make silly faces like this.

Noah to Ella: Hey Ella, what do you think about pulling ourselves up and standing in our cribs?

Ella: I find it a bit frightening and I prefer sitting.

Noah: Hmm...this is not good.

Noah to Ella: Don't worry. Everything is going to be okay, sis.

Ella and Noah: Yep, everything is just fine.

Bits from the weekend

In my opinion, Chicago has a bad weather reputation and a some of it is well founded. However, we had amazing weather this past weekend. It was the kind of weather that inspires me to take long runs, sleep under a pile of blankets with the windows open and and be outside all day. In honor of the fall temperatures, we finally planted our garden of perennials that we found at the fall sales.

Ella was pretty sure that she wanted to be held so I opted for wearing her in the backpack while working. She is wearing a smocked bonnet that Nana P made for her. Her favorite part is the ribbon.



Her least favorite part is when the bonnet covers her face.

Below is a picture of the garden behind the house. For those of you that saw it a year ago, you know that this is a huge improvement. Pish is the most productive person I know and he is largely responsible for the improvements around our house. One of the especially good things is that it is fun (not work) for him. For us to have this lovely garden, he dug up 8 20-year-old yews, installed the lattice and formed the bed. Not all the shrubbery is in, but you can get the idea.

He also built these pyramidal trellises with the branches that I pruned out of the dogwood shrubs.

A shot of lumberjack Pish hacking away at the roots
(the multitudes of roots) of a weed tree. Round-up would have been much easier but not organic. Next year it will be filled with vegetables and herbs.

Herbs snipped and ready to be dried.

Noah decided that sitting outside in the pack and play covered with a blanket and wearing only a diaper is his new favorite past time. He talked and played with his toys for hours.

Swimming

Sweet cousin Annika is on the right sporting a very cute swimsuit. Our kiddos are sporting water-logged diapers, as evidenced by Noah's huge tush.

Ella was fascinated with the prospect of climbing out of the pool, head first. It was not because she disliked like the pool, it was just the idea of climbing that was so very enticing.

I was not expecting Noah to enjoy the pool because he does not really like baths, but he surprised us and was an active fellow in the pool. Quite happy actually.

All in all, a fun time was had by all (as long as Noah refrained from using Ella and Annika as props for climbing).