Is there anything more beautiful...

Ahhhhhhhhhh

Remember the ELMO!

OH the things a little guy has to do to protect his basic Sesame street rights. This week we have had Logan here to visit for a few days. Logan just turned one and is very into electronics...especially the TV. Eli is almost two and has such a passionate love affair with the TV, that we are starting to worry. It doesn't matter what is on, Eli loves the TV. (I actually caught him hugging the TV a few days ago, but I just couldn't bear to take a picture.) Anyway, Logan very much enjoys pushing the buttons, and Eli just can not allow this. When Logan even gets near the TV we hear, "No Yogan! My TV!" The two circle each other in Wyatt Earp fashion before Eli "herds" Logan back away from the precious television. Eric says it is a bit like having a sheep dog. A few times Eli has had to "take Logan down". This never seems to bother Logan, who is convinced that at some point, he will elude Eli and capture the TV.

PLEASE SEND KLEENEX!

Sorry we have been absent the last few days. We have all been down with one of these nasty British colds! If I had posted, it would have gone something like, "I blew Eli's nose, then Ava's. We all had some Gatorade, and then blew our noses again...and so on." Not very interesting. Yesterday, because Ava was feeling better, we took her to gymtots. She jumped on the trampoline for awhile and then informed me that her rib was tired so she was all done. Eli kept it interesting yesterday by spiking a high fever and sleeping a lot. I can tell he is still not feeling well today because he is currently "torturing" his shoes because he can't get them on his feet. I am tuning out the wailing and gnashing of teeth.Here is a picture of one of our lovely autumn spiders- I think they are actually called Harvest Spiders. My children and Eric are fascinated by them- I am scared to kill them, so I mostly just threaten and coerce them to live in someone else's yard. (The spiders, not my husband and children.)
Because it is rainy and cold, and the snot is flowing freely in our house, puzzles have been a good diversion. Here are two of my "children" with their completed puzzles. Don't be fooled because Ava's is bigger...I'm sure that Eric's was really challenging too! Good job hon.

Welcome to my life...

I know that I have done a "my life in pictures" entry before, but today I actually carried my camera everywhere I went....sooo (probably more for my amusement than yours!) here is a typical Conderman day...
Oh my gosh! It's cloudy, drizzly, and dreary. Oh yeah, I forgot, the Saxons angered Ra back in the stone ages and now the sun doesn't shine here. (Eric is so gonna rip my pathetic grasp of history to shreds for that statement!) Anyway, at least it is not foggy, flooding, or mud sliding...so all in all, a good day! Here we are off to Mildenhall to play at the indoor play park.
Because my children are boycotting sleep and waking up at around 5am these days...Eli did not quite make it through the 25 minute drive. I got to listen to "I need a nap" and "Go, go, go, go for G" the whole way there per Ava's request. Fortunately he woke up shortly after arriving, unfortunately, (and anyone who has kids will know this) sleeping for 20 minutes counts as THE nap. (so no afternoon quiet time for mommy:( Oh well.
Watching my kids race each other down the slide, chase each other all over the jungle gym, and seeing Ava push Eli's little bottom up the last platform to the top of the play area reminds me why my life is so great. It helped keep the atomic meltdown, over who got the most french fries at lunch, in perspective. For the record, it was Ava. She got 15 and I only got 12. Not Fair!
After lunch we went to the BX and the kids made a new friend. If anyone with $279.00 is still looking for a gift for our kids....
We dropped a tired Ava off at school, and I brought an even more tired Eli home, hoping that the nap miracle would take place. It didn't. So, he helped me clean bathrooms and then make lasagna. If anyone visits a year from now and still finds mozzarella in odd places in our kitchen, well....
After Eli and I walked the 2.2 mile round trip to get Ava (Eli slept), Kate came over with Logan for Survivor night. My children are a bit out of control by this point. We call it "sundowning in the Conderman house".
During Survivor, when I obviously was not paying enough attention, Ava snapped about 30 pictures with our camera. Here is one of the "floor and furniture" series.
If only the gate would a really keep them in!
Eric tells Ava and Eli a bedtime story. In my wild imagination, I envisioned that this would put them to sleep. It is now 845 and I just heard a crash that shook our light in the kitchen, followed by wild laughter. But I'm going to pretend I didn't.

The "lavander loo's" newest patron

The last few days (and weeks) have really flown by! Eli continues to wow us with his extending vocabulary and his "shrinking" clothes. Daily I watch my "baby" recede to make way for a little boy that is growing up much too fast! He is as polite as ever and tries (usually successfully) to do everything Ava does. His newest passion is the toilet. I certainly don't relish potty training and the memories of "Potty training boot camp" with Ava do nothing to encourage me. Eli is adamant to the point of temper tantrums that he wants to "Pee-pee ah potty yike Ah-va". So, on Oct 23, 2007 it is "P-day" in the Conderman household. For three days Eli will go pantsless and I will thank my lucky stars for hardwood floors and organic cinnamon smelling disinfectant (thank you LL). Pray for us...and our children.

Unfortunately, kids just don't understand photo ops.

Ava is ever my amazing, brilliant, funny, fashion conscious little girl. She has to be bribed to wear anything but a dress. She loves making up jokes and getting Eli to laugh. It sounds sappy, but she reminds us daily just why we had children. Eli (at nearly 2) challenges us daily on that very decision, but we remain confident that he will continue to remain brilliant and funny, and his constant rebellion at EVERY DECISION WE MAKE will slowly (or quickly:) fade away.
*As a little bonus Ava story: Today Eric and the kids dropped me off at work for a quick meeting. Ava asked if I was going to "eat another dead horse". "Beat a dead horse", Eric corrected and no she only has to meet with her commander. Ava thought about that and then asked, "Does he eat dead horses?" Boy, I hope not!