Bad blogger

I am a bad blogger lately. I am posting this with nothing particular to talk about but feeling like I should put something out there so that people don't forget about my blog.
Some kid updates - Alexis is talking more and more each day. "Sure" is her yes - I don't know why. I don't think we say "sure" that much but someone does because she says it all the time.
We have a great new tradition after dinner (and the skunk stories - if you don't know, you haven't eaten with us in a while), the "rraahhh!!" game. It involves both kids standing by the cabinets at the far end of the kitchen then one of them running to Daddy and yelling "Raahhhh!", at which point he acts scared (this can be interchanged with Dad yelling "raahh", etc.). After the yelling they run back to the cabinet (sort of like tag) and the next one runs to Dad for more yelling. It sounds horrible but it actually really cute. It's sort of a lead up to Halloween game (I think). Speaking of that, all of the holidays sure because more "hyped" when you have kids. We've already started dragging poor ol' Santa into our Brooke dealings. She did something the other day (like jumping on the table or something) and I told her to knock it off. She said "Are you going to tell Santa?" Hey, if it works, it works!

Christmas Info for the kids

Chistmas Wish List
Not to be presumptuous but people often ask around this time of year what the kids sizes are so here it is:

Brooke:
Shirts - 4T
Pants - 4T
Shoes - 10

Alexis:
Shirts - 3T
Pants - 3T
Shoes - 8 or 8.5

I am a big fan of plain shirts and pants (strips, dots, etc are fine). Not too sparkley, not too cutesy, NO commercial characters. Just my preference but we'll accept anything with many thanks! Brooke will now wear jeans and corduroys (last year not so much). Alexis is not picky about anything (yet).

They like matching but it's certainly not required. In fact it's easier for me if they aren't matching because their sizes are so close together laundry comes a bit of a pain. But I can handle it for the cute factor.

Other ideas:

• Alexis does NOT like hats. People want babies/toddlers to wear hats but they are a waste for her.
• Alexis LIKES hair clips, barrettes, head bands, where Brooke doesn't.
• Alexis is very interested in taking things apart
• Alexis loves books with a main character she can identify (not just random pages with numbers or whatever).
• Brooke is into the longer books like easy readers (I still read them but she can follow the stories).
• We can always use bath toys because they get yucky pretty easy. Fun things are bath foam, bath paints and any kind of motorized toys for the tub.
• We do not need stuffed animals or dolls.
• They don't need snow pants, jackets or hats. They could use some weather proof gloves and/or mittens.
• We are always in need of arts and crafts supplies - the more interesting the better. Paints (washable please), foam stickers, felt, construction paper, large white or colored paper. Colored glue, sparkles, stamps & stamp pads. Floam. A&C aprons for both of them would be HUGE help.
• Coloring books and activity books (i.e. differences in pictures, mazes, matching, etc.)
• Jigsaw puzzles (not the "on a piece of wood" ones but the real 30 or 50 piece type) of kids characters (for Brooke).
• Both could use slippers.
• Games for the tv are not too popular yet so we can skip that.
• Brooke loves having a disposable camera.
• Board games are just making an appearance. We have candyland, chutes & ladders and Cooties. Any others that are for 3+ are fine.
• We have loads of blocks and legos BUT we don't have (god help me I can't believe I am going to say this) small Legos. Alexis really loves Legos and I think she could handle these now.
• She also loves the Little People. She has the house and the car and the roller coaster.
• Brooke loves Barbies and could use clothes and SHOES. Those shoes get lost all the time - if you could find a set of 100 pairs of shoes she'd love it. She has the town house and an SUV. Otherwise the Barbie world is wide open.
• Finally, Alexis could use a bean bag chair and Brooke could use one of those kiddie chairs (Wow, I went looking for an example and found this pic, is it perfect or what? Yia Yia? You seeing this? Toysrus.com).
  I would like a huge wall mounted shelving system to install in the playroom so that we can store all this stuff. Daddy may be giving Mommy this but doesn't realize it yet.
  One last note - if you are against kids getting a lot of "stuff" for Christmas we have college funds set up for each of the kids to which contributions can be made! Just give us a jingle and we'll give you the info.
  John & I would like a week in Jamaica. Any takers?