Toddlers make great sitters.

It's true. Toddlers make good babysitters. Check out the sweetness below. After a riveting game of memory, it was time for pajamas and singing to get Andrew ready for bed. Jack and Macy helped with the singing. (By the way, I'm so sorry we judged, Great Uncle Al... Jack is a-maz-ing at memory. None of us had a chance.)

Another idea that seems to be lost on people over the age of 2 is naked eating. Naked eating is amazing. Andrew naked eats in the kitchen, in the living room, and sometimes on the changing table. He has no negative body issues about his baby boobies or his beautiful Buddha belly. He's Buddha-ful. The food goes on forever, and the cheeks, they never end.

I love Fat Baby. He's my favorite.

:)

Anne

PS: After several weeks at day care, the new sitter and I chat quite frequently. Finally feeling comfortable with me, she asked, "Do you always call him Fat Baby?". I laughed and replied, "Of course not, sometimes I call him Stinky Baby."

It's the Great Uncle Al, Charlie Brown

As with his birth many years ago, we enjoyed our traditional Halloween festivities with the lovable, huggable Great Uncle Al. The kids all had a blast playing with The Great Uncle Al. He arrived on a Wednesday and was treated to a rousing night at the bowling alley, which Andrew, Chris and I missed. However, we all had some quality family time on Halloween night and Saturday night.

The Halloween night photos are marinating in Martha's camera, and I will add those to the Chubby Cub 2 someday....

Here are the events from Saturday night's excitement.

Andrew, Macy, and Jack spent some quality one-on-one time with Al and took turns deciding if they trusted Uncle Great Al. I wouldn't say they welcomed immediately, but things began to look up for Al shortly thereafter.

Below: Macy has been caught on camera doing what she does best... looking for food.

Soon, Martha's kids were won over with food.

After the feeding, the love fest began with board games. Poor Great Unlce Al never had a chance. Jack may seem sweet, but he's a Spiderman Memory Shark. In the picture below, he is literally schooling Al in the ways of Spiderman Memory. Al lost 21 to 13 (I think...). Either way, Jack taunted him the rest of the night. There's nothing quite like the sting of losing to a four year old and his 2 year old sidekick.

After games, we all grabbed some of my mom's amazing brisket and settled in to watch football. We were so full throttle that Scott rigged another T.V. in the family. Everyone got to watch the game of their choosing. Although, we didn't all get the outcomes we would have chosen for our teams. Then we headed to the front room, so Great Uncle Al and the three Cheeseballs could have a photo op. Here are the shots worth sharing. Getting everyone to smile at the same time proved to be very tricky. In order to get Andrew to smile, I sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Great success!! Andrew smiled! Look at Macy... She was no match for the intoxicating rythym of The Itsy Bitsy Spider, so her hands had to sing along.

Now, if you didn't already notice, look closely at Great Uncle Al's eye color and Andrew. They are strikingly similar with those baby blues. We had lots of fun with Great Uncle Al, and maybe someday we'll make it up to visit him and Great Aunt Audrey in the frozen tundra.

:)

Anne

Happy Birthday, Aunt Martha!

Yay, birthdays! Martha's birthday was this past weekend, and we partied hard at Grandma Mary's house. We swam and ate and drank and swam. We also had bubbles. Nothing gets toddlers going like bubbles... I dig 'em, too. :)

Andrew spent the majority of the afternoon bouncing next to the pool in the shade. We all took turns dowsing him, fanning him, and keeping him the shaded.

Here we are before hitting the pool. To the right: Andrew's wearing swim trunks for the first time, and they were super cute!

Below: Here's Andrew hanging next to the pool and chewing on stuff and rockin' a mohawk.

Throughout the afternoon, Reginald B. Flops made appearances and sniffed stuff. Here his is desperately trying to avoid Macy.

There are videos from the birthday that will be uploaded later. Happy birthday, Martha!

:)

Anne

July 4th

Andrew had his first 4th of July. We decided that fireworks via the television were as close as he should get this year. Next year, we will get close enough to blow his eardrums and let him play with sparklers. (Toddlers playing with firewoorks...Hmmm, maybe he'll just watch.)

For 2008, we just let him play with his cousins in the pool at Diane's house. Here are some highlights from the party!

The food was fabulous! Hotdogs, potato salad, mac 'n cheese, and melting fudge.

The pool was relaxing.

And staring at (and maybe judging) each other is cool, too.

~Anne