Daddy, when are you going to check on us?

(Post from Tim)
Putting the kids to bed at night can frequently be a hassle.  I may post a message at some point describing some of the challenges of trying to get Zack and Penny to put on their jammies, brush their teeth, get into bed and fall asleep in a reasonable amount of time.  Right now, however, I want to talk about one thing I really enjoy about the nighttime routine...

Part of the nighttime routine with Penny is when she asks "Daddy, when are you going to come upstairs and check on us?"  This part of the routine evolved over a period of time from me saying things like "I'm going to come and check on you guys in a few minutes and if you are not asleep I'm going to close your doors."  The thought of sleeping with their doors closed is usually threatening enough to have the kids stay somewhat quiet as they wind down to fall asleep.

Lately Zack has been going to sleep pretty easily.  Penny, on the other hand will frequently not go to sleep until I come up to check on her.  Thus, on a nightly basis she has been calling out to us with her "Daddy, when are you going to come upstairs to check on us?" question.  I usually reply "I'm coming up right now to check."  When I then walk into her room she usually has her blanket pulled up to her chin, her eyes tightly shut and a slight smile on her face.  I then get close to her ear and whisper "are you asleep?"  Penny keeps her eyes tightly shut and whispers back "yes".  I'll then say "good, see you tomorrow" and I'll leave the room.  She keeps her eyes shut the whole time and then usually falls asleep without issue shortly after the visit.  I truly enjoy this part of the nighttime routine.

Another thing I enjoy is walking in and sometimes seeing the kids asleep in random positions.  Here is one recent photo we took where Penny was sound asleep, on the ground, kind of kneeling/leaning against her bed...

Good question from Zack

Zack and I spent a day together over the holidays running errands and hanging out at various places (Dry Cleaners, Target, Lowe's, Starbucks).  During one of the drives between places, Zack was quiet in the back seat so I asked him what he was thinking about.  His response:  "Daddy, um, how did they get the whales into the aquarium?"  (We had visited the aquarium a few months back.)  I thought about it for a few seconds and replied, "That's a great question Zack, I have no idea how they got the whales into the aquarium."  Zack then said, "I don't think anyone in the world knows the answer to that question."

(From Tim)

she's four!

penny turned four on november 14.  we celebrated with hello kitty cake (her favorite) and a glow-in-the-dark bowling party.  penny was so excited for this party!

she also had her 4 year appointment the other day.  penny is a whopping 30.25 lbs. and 36.5 inches (12th and 2nd percentile, respectively).

celebrating again at school on her actual birthday (mom volunteered too).

unicorn and sully

zack and penny loved trick or treating this year -- it was the first year that mom didn't "plant" candy at the neighbors house (because of the allergy situation, not because i'm crazy).  they went door to door at 10 houses and when they returned home, we dutifully checked their bags for any stray peanut or treenut laced bars and found that, surprisingly, all their candy was "safe".  phew!  

they also went to a neighborhood party a few nights before and had a blast because it was "kids only"!  growing up....

zoo time

awesome day at the zoo yesterday.  highs near 80 degrees, not too shabby for october!

brave gymnast

5 year stats

zack had an awesome 5-year well visit!  out little guy is getting super big.  :-)

height:  40.25 inches

weight:  35 lbs.

turning 5

turning 5 means a bunch of doctors appointments.  yesterday's annual "well-visit" went great.  (more to come on that) and today brought zack's fifth round of allergy back prick testing.  it's so much tougher now, since he knew what to anticipate and was telling me the whole way there that he didn't want to do the test.  he was an absolute trooper, though and didn't make a peep once we were at the hospital.  sadly, the test did itch/burn a whole lot and he cried because of that.  after 10-15 min. it was over and he was back to his old self.  allergy update is:

still allergic to ALL nuts (peanuts and all tree nuts).  that's the two rows of three on the right you can see.  very allergic.

we got him tested for apples because he sometimes coughs when eating them (and mom is allergic to apples) and chicken because he has complained that his "neck hurt" when eating chicken nuggets before.  zack knows himself best because sure enough, he is allergic to chicken!  luckily, he can still have apples (many times he eats the apples in a happy meal, with the chicken nuggets -- so that might explain the coughing).

still allergic to egg and peas.

 later that day.... a pic zack took of us.  sweet guy...!

that's the update on zack's allergies till next fall!

storyland!

while this post is late, it's not nearly as late as it could be, given all the chaos in our house due to "hardwood floor saga 2012" (another post to come).  a couple of weekends ago we took the kids to storyland.  we had to do it.  after all, we had a behavior chart for most of the summer and they worked hard to earn the trip.  it was a fantastic time -- one of the best parts was having a water park in our hotel (handy when you arrive at the park on friday afternoon to find that after labor day it's closed during the weekdays...whoops!  definitely a clark griswold moment there...).  we also were lucky enough to hang out with our pals alex and marissa at their condo, where characters from storyland come visit each night and we got to make smores over a campfire.  cinderella was even sweet enough to sing happy birthday to zack -- since we were there on the 7th!  anyhow, these pics need little explanation.

twirling turtles -- our favorite (NOT tim's!)

below:  a real phone booth!  certainly a photo op...

waterslide fiesta

we celebrated sweet zack's soon-to-be fifth birthday this past weekend with some pals (and family! -- even abba dabba came from chicago!)  the giant waterslide was a hit and our little guy had the best time.