Grandma went shopping

Ok, so far I've gotten Nato this: clothes, the Fisher Price Barnyard Basics Jumpin' Sounds Barnyard, the Fisher Price Little Peoples Build 'n Fun Playground, and the Fisher Price Learning Puppy (the big one).....If he already has any of these things, let me know.

AJ...clothes, the Lego Star Wars Separatist Spider Droid, the Legos Star Wars Rebel Scout Speeder, both the Fur Pet Bird and Puppy, and I have on order one of the voice changing Star Wars helmets.

Austin...clothes, the Star Wars Separatist Spider Droid (same as AJ's), the Lego Star Wars Imperial Drop Ship, the Star Wars Clone War Voice Changer (same principle as AJ's, only a slightly different style)

For both ....The Easy Bake Oven and Snack Bar......couldn't find the superpack yet but did get the Blueberry Muffin top mix, and chocolate Brownie Mix... 2 XBox games..Open Season and Crash Tag Team Racing, and four of the Step Into Reading Books Level 1...WallE Smash Trash and Dancing Dinos Go to School .....Level 2 ..WallE Love At First Beep and Here Comes Silent E.

I also have on order Radio Controlled Hummers for both Austin and AJ

I'm going to wait to see what Les, Dale or Mike might want from the list before I get much more
Dream on about the Wii!
I did get them all a lot of clothes so the others might want to limit the clothing except for t-shirts or something.

That's all for now, but I have plenty of time to get more stuff

Chuck E Cheese Again

Austin's been behaving very well in school, and the reward is a family trip to Chuck E Cheese!! Dave ran around chasing Oz and AJ... and I chased Nate around. Sorry these pix are blurry, the little dude is fast!

Also, I think Nate may be a thrill-seeker. I put him on the carousel (horses)... no response. Then we tried the Teletubbies thing... no response. Then we tried the little streetcar (wus style)- no response... then we tried the muscle monster truck (that dips and bumps around) and Nate had the biggest grin! This was the first time the little guy really seemed to like the 'Chuck E' experience. He also liked the big dancing animatronic animals. Oh, and he LOVES music and dancing... there's a pic here of him doing the Dance Dance Revolution thing. His dancing is hysterical. I'll try to get some on video for posting.

Henry

My dad taught me how to make 'Henry'. Now that A.J. realizes this, the possiblities are endless.

Here are a few pix of what we did today- it's a whole family. The fat white one is made from a king sized goose down comforter!

Christmas Ideas

Well, it's September... so that means it's Christmas shopping time! Here are some ideas for the 2 big boys. I really don't think Nathan gives a shit what he gets.

Ant Habitat
Ladybug Habitat
Microscope (Austin)
Magnifying glass (AJ)
Books- the Step into Reading books are good- level 1 or 2
Fur Real Friends baby bird (duh)
Fur Real Friends puppy (AJ)
Star Wars anything
Batman anything
Legos
Edu Science Mega Cosmos- it’s a planet mobile. Either kid.
Science kits
Easy-Bake Oven and Snack Center with Classic Light Bulb Oven
Easy-Bake 12 Mix Super Pack
Nintendo Wii Super Smash Bundle with 2 Wii Remotes and Nunchuks (we can dream, can't we?)

Santa’s probably buying:
A ripstick skateboard for Austin
A Razor scooter for AJ

Tough Guy

I took this pic of AJ today before Jiu Jitsu (notice his shoes are on the wrong feet). He finally had the shirt to his gi (uniform). The other pic is the cover of "Fight" magazine- a mag specifically for MMA (mixed martial arts), Jiu Jitsu, and UFC. I thought the name was funny. Turns out BJ Penn is some Hawaiian MMA genius that can apparently kick some a$$ in the cage.

Funny kid

Here are a couple AJisms:

• Me: "What stinks in here?"
• AJ: "I bought the cheese, and then I cut it"

• We went to Jiu Jitsu and got there early. The 'older' kids were there- more advanced by a LOT. They were all padded up and sparring- kicking, punching, wrestling. AJ says, "WOW! I wanna be in THIS class! Now THAT'S what I call karate!"

• I asked AJ to go in his room and get dressed. He runs in. In a couple of minutes, he comes running out and slides across the tile floor (a la 'Risky Business') and says, "AT YOUR SERVICE!"

Oh, the sweet irony!

So it occurred to me this morning that we here in Missouri have been more affected by tropical systems this year than have the Tampa crew.

As I write this, the skies have begun to clear here in central Missouri, but as you can see, the St. Louis area is getting pummeled by Ike. In fact, at the onset of rain here, it was still technically a named tropical system.

So I couldn't find the statistics for Tampa, but I know that there are places here in the Springfield area that have gotten 15+ inches of rain in the past 8 or 9 days from Gustav and now Ike. We here at the lake haven't been that fortunate...I think our September total may just now be pushing 10 inches. Mom and dad...I assume that low spot in the yard is pretty much a pond by now.

This is of course much better than the alternative. When you live in Florida, it's not usually the gentle flooding of persistent rain that accompanies a tropical system. While it all got soaked, my lawn furniture was never in danger.

A message for Grandma

Not feeling so well

Nate's a little feverish. Not a big deal, just a bit under the weather.

Home again

We're home. The kids had a blast and everyone is exhausted. Early to bed tonight!

AJ takes a nap

Today

Today Nathan:

* Played in the toilet

*drew on the walls

*screeched at me

*hit me

*threw grapes

*tried to pull his letters and pictures off the wall in his room

*climbed and stood on his nightstand

*sucked on a battery

and...

*threw the remote

and it's only 6:45pm...

Boys and Birds

A.J. just looks so content when he's feeding the Lorikeets...

sigh.

Oh ya, I found foil granola wrapper bits in Nathan's poop today. If you don't get this, scroll down a couple days to the pic of the granola wrapper.