Alan getting ready for a Cub Scout meeting
Dray after his second formula spill in a week. He dumped it over his head. Yeeesh, you'de think I'd learn to hide the can a little better.
After dancing in the formula.
Ellie as a dalmation
After Ellie's "101 Dalmations" performance
Into the Woods cast photo
In my hot-n-itchy Granny costume in a scene with Little Red.
Dray playing with cute and fun cousins, Caleb and Quinton
School starts back up in just over two weeks, and I find myself wondering how our summer break flew by so quickly. We've had a very low key summer. Ellie took a week long dance class and a two-week long "101 Dalmatians" drama camp, which she loved. She performed as a very cute Spanish singing chihuahua and a dalmatian. Alan insisted that he didn't want to do anything but relax and enjoy his summer break. Josh stayed for a few weeks and they spent hours building cities in "Minecraft." In June we went to the Crandall reunion in Safford (which was great!) Next week, Ken and I are are going to Las Vegas. It's our first vacation without the kids since we had Alan (almost ten years ago!) I'm excited for this long overdue get-away. He's attending a convention, and I'm tagging along. We'll be staying at the Paris hotel and going to see the Cirque Du Soleil Beatles show. I grew up listening to Beatles tunes and am super duper excited to hear the music and see the choreography! I've heard great things about it.
Dray is a wonderful handful. At just over 20-months-old, he keeps us constantly entertained. He doesn't speak many words, but says lots and lots of Onomatopoeias. When he's hungry, he makes a loud chewing noise and pretends he's putting food in his mouth. When he sees a clock he makes a ticking sound. When he's tired, he makes a snoring noise. We always know what he wants because he seems to have an accurate noise for everything. He told me he wanted to watch a Humpty Dumpty cartoon he's seen before by falling off the couch, screaming, and making a cracking sound. He then pointed to the computer screen. It took me a minute to figure it out and when I did, I had to laugh. He's a proficient little imitator. He seems to have a noise for nearly everything in the house and every animal he sees. I'm not sure when the actual words will cone, but for now the Onomatopoeias, combined with a shaking or nodding of the head, seems to work pretty well.
Dray's favorite activity lately is washing his hands. He points to the bathroom, makes a "shhhhhh" faucet noise and starts rubbing his hands together. If we let him, he'd stand at the sink all day scrubbing his little digits.
Ellie and Alan have started to enjoy playing "Hink Pink" (a rhyming game) and "Would you Rather." They have come up with some questions that require deep thought (and are usually followed by my stifled laughter.) I can't help it, they are just too cute.
Here's one of my favorites from Ellie: "Would you rather do chores all day Friday or have nightmares all Saturday night?"
They both chose the nightmares. Can you tell how they feel about chores?
Favorite from Alan:
"Would you rather have the Swine Flu for a week or sleep in a pig pen with actual swines for a week?"
They chose sleeping in the pig pen. The game has been very good for their deductive thinking skills and imagination, and it's been good for giving me a good laugh. I could listen to them come up with questions for hours.
