Labor Day weekend.

College football!!! It started!! We are so happy. By we, I mean me...but whatever. Happy fall!

Here's some recent pics. I will number them in order from one to crazy.

1. This girl is killing me. She climbs on EVERY.THING. She's an expert at the dining room table and bathroom counters now. My house has never had less clutter, because everything that isn't a toy is now in locked drawers. Including the markers she's eating in this picture.


2. Daddy's been working like a fiend lately. Sometimes the only way we see him is to meet for dinner. Here was last week at Apple...the kids obviously needed their climb-all-over-Daddy time.


3. Her hair is getting much longer...and tangled! When I have to brush her fine curls out on a daily basis, eek. I can barely brush my own hair. The prognosis for cute ponytails is fading fast.


4. A rare moment captured on camera: both wild animals relaxing in their natural habitat...together...quietly.


5. Karate Kid is doing great. We have now moved to putting a (very appetizing-looking) mix of Vitamin E oil, Mederma, and SPF70 on his scar daily. It's really helping I think, even if he does look ridiculous. He really doesn't mind or complain though, so that's more than we could really ask for.


6. Back to the climbing thing: the reason I had to move everything within reach was because Caroline stuck her stubby little strong baby fingers all in my (very expensive and very smelly) centerpiece candle- and then rubbed it all over the table, herself, the fridge, the floor...ugh. I mean, at least she smelled good for like a week, but still. She was covered in wax.


7. She waltzed into the kitchen to "help" me cook looking like this. High heels and all. Who does she think she is, Giada DeLaurentiis???


8. She fell down. She does this a lot. Jack was not sympathetic. Apparently I wasn't either, since I took a picture. ;) She's also turned into quite the drama queen, as this picture proves. She will scream bloody murder over anything, especially when she's tired. My even-keel little girl has an evil side.


9. Eating more organic and all-natural snacks.


10. She LOVES to have her toenails painted. I had to buy the super quick dry polish and I have to do it while she's sitting in her high chair, but once it's done, she randomly looks at her feet and giggles all the time. ❤


11. Disdainfully disapproving of our Labor Day weekend trip to IKEA. Yea, it actually was a bad idea. She was right.


12. Tonight walking back from my run, I noticed that the sunset was glowing pink off the mountains you can see from our road. It made me stop and stare. It was beautiful.


13. Last Wednesday, Justin's group at work had a summer outing. They took a catamaran out on San Francisco Bay for the afternoon. Free food and drinks flowed. He said it was awesome. Apparently, it was, because his coworker Bob covertly texted me these pictures from the bus ride home ;) Oh yes...that's my little narcoleptic honey!!!




Oh, okay fine. Here are some pictures of him actually having fun:

I love this shot. Justin looks great, of course, but also the two (obviously Apple employees)
behind him are not enjoying the view, but answering emails on their phones. 

That's better :) And that's some classic SF weather right there!

14. Finally, a quick snapshot of my best buddy. She's awesome. 💅👍👶 I love this kid!


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Bouncing

If you're sitting on the couch relaxing, you're a sitting duck. Caroline has started climbing onto your lap and bouncing- HARD!!!- on your legs. She does it ALL the time and none of us are safe! She really puts all of her weight into it...thoroughly enjoying herself. What, do we all look like horses?!

Here's my birds-eye view of it this morning.

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a late summer update

I'm at that point in life when I feel like I'm always SO SO SO busy - running here or there, doing this or that - but then at the end of the day I have trouble detailing what it was that took up all my time. I'm pretty sure it's due to the fact that I spend all day, every day with 2 crazy kiddos who definitely keep me on my toes. There's no rest for the weary here, that's for sure! But I say that with the greatest amount of joy and love.

So what takes up our days? (And nights...)

Jack:

• This kid is a deadpan comedian. He spouts off the most random, ridiculously funny things without even meaning to be funny. And his delivery is flawless. For example:

  

  Me: "Jack, why did you put a sticker on my house?"
  Jack: "This isn't your house. It's Daddy's house. You just live here."

• Other times, he's super sweet and does stuff like this:

No lie, his exact words:
"I wish, I wish, with all my might...
for another baby sister!" 

• He's really into writing letters now. He makes me write out huge, long words just so that he can try to copy them. For example...

• He's fiercely protective of his little sister, and he's really getting good at playing with her. Their favorite game is tag (which she has just now gotten the hang of.) They "tag" each other and run screaming and laughing hysterically all through the house. I love watching it, because Jack slows down so that she can catch him. He's also quick to tell off other kids that are messing with her at the park. "Hey! That's my sister! You stop it right now!"

• He loves school (as usual) and thankfully we never have to fight him to go anymore. His favorite things are sharing time, music time, and Tuff Tumblers. 
• He's been taking karate for about 4 months now, and he loves it even more now that he's earned his first belt. 
• His questions have gotten increasingly harder to answer. Yesterday we were driving on the interstate, and along the side they have one of those huge acoustic walls to keep noise out of the neighborhood on the other side. He said, "hey Mommy, what would happen if that wall caught on fire?" I explained that the wall was made of concrete and probably wouldn't burn, but the trees and shrubs around it would. He said, "well what happens when glass catches on fire?" I said, "it melts." He said, "what's glass made of?" And I said, "well, it's actually sand that has been heated up, melted, cooled, and then buffed." Jack: "Well what temperature has it been heated up to when it melts?" Me: "Ummmmm.... google? Help!" 
• He's very stubborn. We still have problems with tantrums and meltdowns when he doesn't get his way...but they are getting to be few and further between. Actually, most of our tantrums now come from a very hard-headed little girl...

Caroline:

• Don't let her sweet name fool you. This girl is tough and she can hold her own with much bigger kids- especially when she has her big brother around. She's a climbing fool (recently: on the toilet onto the bathroom counter, to play in the faucet. OMG.) 
• She has a SERIOUS shoe obsession. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Her new light-up Little Mermaid shoes. She's so crazy about them.

  
  
  
  
  

  

  This was right after dinner (sorry for her mess!)
  She prances around the house in her play high heels
  almost better than I walk in my real ones. 

• She loves Jack, and she calls him by name now. It sounds more like "YACK!" but she's always so excited to see him. 
• What can she say? That we can understand: thank you, yes, no, mama, dada, YACK!, bottle, cheese!, hi, bye, yea, yup, yay, baby, car...and probably a lot more that I can't remember. She mimes or signs a lot of words, like night-night (rubbing her eyes, laying down her head), water (bringing me her bottle), cookie (means any snack, by going to the cabinet and pointing), all done (by throwing her food on the floor, ha). She babbles a LOT. Like, she is never ever quiet. I figured I'd get a break with this one since Jack talks so much, but nope. Once she starts using sentences, we are all in trouble. The two of them together will run out their vocal cords just talking to each other! 
• If you take something away from her, she throws herself down on the ground in the most ridiculously dramatic way possible, screams, bangs her fists, flails her body all around, and is generally grumpy... EVEN IF YOU GIVE THE THING BACK. This scares me. Girl drama is real, y'all!
• She loves the fish in Jack's room and at the library. She screams in excitement every time she seems them.
• I've been trying to take her binky away during the day and only use it in the car, and at nap and bedtime. So when we stop the car to get her out, she takes her binky and literally throws it (usually as hard as humanly possible) out of her mouth because she's so excited.  It's hilarious. 
• She's gone from being anti-cuddle to wanting to climb all over you if you're sitting on the couch. I don't know why. I can't figure it out. It's alternately annoying and cute. She also tries to shove random things into your mouth, which is not cute. 
• She learns something new every day. She can watch you do something once, and then she wants to do it too. She's a little sponge of information and she picks up on everything. I love every second of watching her mind grow and absorb things. It's awesome :) 

I'm sure there are a million things I'm missing. They are so funny, on their own and together. I really do love every second - even the crazy bad ones - of being with them. They keep me entertained and I am honestly so excited about the upcoming holidays and watching them go through them together: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Caroline will understand a lot more, and Jack will love sharing and showing her what to do for each one. And I won't mind the cooler weather coming, either! :) :) :)

Until next time...

Crosby family fun time

These pictures are from a few weekends ago (before Jack's accident), but I just got them off our camera. Jack got some finger paints for his birthday (whoever gave him those...thank you. Thank you very much. Ha.) The kids were anxious to try them out, so I set them up outside...

Of course, the first thing she did was eat the paint. Thankfully it was non-toxic. I checked. Twice.

Oh, YUM.

She really thought it was the most fun thing in the entire world.

Cheeseball.

 Today, we hit the pool. Jack had to wear a heavy waterproof bandage on his face, but he enjoyed himself nonetheless. It was the first time he went off the diving board on his own, without either of us in the water to catch him. It's a good thing too, because now when I take the kids during the week he can go all by himself!

Swimming to the edge, in the deep end, all by himself!

Jack's two admirers hanging out in the hot tub.

Caroline loves playtime with her Daddy.

And finally...last week Jack got his white belt in karate!

He is SO proud of himself. And we are too!

He had to do four things - a one-two punch, a ready position, one kick, and know a few certain Japanese terms. He's learning really fast and really loves his karate classes. As he would say, "Mom! Is it time to go to our dojo?"

Dancing Queen

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so what else is going on??

Aside from Jack's epic injury, we've had a lot of other things going on too.

What have we been up to? Well...

After the kids got their shots a few weeks ago, I took them
to the toy store and let them each pick out one toy. No lie, Caroline
picked out a 4-pack of Princess dress up high heels. 

She puts two on her feet and two on her hands, and
walks around the house all the time. It's adorable!

Two Saturdays ago, I started (well, continued) my training for the half marathon in
November. I ran about 6 miles on the Los Gatos Creek Trail (I snapped a shot without
people, but it was packed! It's a really beautiful run.)

We went shopping for a new refrigerator at Home Depot (FINALLY!)

Poor Jack rested a lot with his hurt face.

We had our normal afternoon playtime at the park...

I was drying my hair, and Caroline walked into the bathroom like this.
She put her own shoes on, and looked up at me and (I swear) said, "GO?"

More park playtime waiting to meet Daddy for dinner...

Someone learned how to climb onto the bench at our table...
and try Mommy's wine (look at her shirt!)

Saturday we went hiking again for the first time in a long time. 

Cause when you're already hurt, you should probably climb trees.

Caroline did a GREAT job! She walked about 2 miles. 

They were so cute together.

Relaxing after a long day in her new favorite toy, the Cozy Coupe.

Thanks, Gigi, for the awesome bench! We have been hanging out in the front yard a lot.

Jack drew a picture of me ("with your really, really big head, Mommy!") 

No real reason to include this...I just thought it was a neat fact :) 

Justin and I had a date night out! We had Caitlyn, the kids favorite babysitter,
come so that we could try this place. It was awesome. The food, and some time hanging
out together. Turns out I DO still like him :)

Sauteed spinach with marscapone ... and mushrooms with garlic and truffles. OMG.

Justin made so much fun of me for taking pictures of my food. Oh well. It was worth it!

Sunday morning playday at the crazy park. (Yes, that's what I call it, because that's what it makes me.)

2.5 seconds before her faceplant in the lake.

Jack had his first day of summer day camp today. Caroline and I
hung out by the pool :) 

We went to Molly's 4th birthday party on Sunday afternoon at this really
cool park in San Mateo. It had a huge playground and you could watch the airplanes
take off and land at SFO. 

Silly kids.

Justin supervising the craziest of the two... Caroline and Penny!

We've been busy, but it's been fun! Jack is looking forward to his time at camp this week (he had such a good day today that he's still napping!) And next weekend I have a 10K trail run race in Felton. Should be fun!!