HMMM...

Brian and I decided to go to the YMCA and take advantage of the babysitting. I'm not a big fan of the gym, as is pretty well known, but I've put off exercising for long enough. I don't have any excuses left. So, off we went. We dropped Titus and Isabele off in the "kids center" and then we went to the cardio room. The machines all have TV's which is pretty neat, especially since they have a channel that shows the "kids center". Titus spent most of the 15 minutes wandering around watching the other kids. Isabele apparently never stopped crying from when I handed her to the lady who held her the whole time. So, 15 minutes in, I get paged overhead "Lydia Hoover please come to the Kids Center". As soon as I picked Isabele up, she stopped crying. Titus said, "Go see Daddy". He actually wasn't all that interested in leaving. I think he found the place interesting. Isabele wasn't going to have anything to do with being left again, so off we went.
We stopped in the cardio room so Titus could say bye to Daddy. On the way outside, Titus walked smack into the door to the cardio room = tears and crying. As I'm leading crying Titus out to the bike to ride home, I bonk Isabele's head on the exterior door = more tears. I think most of her crying was that Titus was crying and not that she was actually hurt. By the time I got them loaded into the bike, it started sprinkling. Titus was now crying just because he could. He stopped about a minute later when it really started to rain. By the time we got home, everyone had wet hair and faces. No one melted, as we are not made of sugar :-).
I made mini ice cream cones for Titus and Isabele and we sat on the porch, eating cones while it rained.
Hopefully the next attempt at dropping the kids off so I can exercise for 30 minutes will be a bit more sucessful. Maybe I'll come armed with Isabele's blanket and some toys and set her up in a little spot where she can see Titus.

I'm as tough as he is.

Titus is 21 months old in this picture. He started doing pull-ups on the pegs at my parents house long before this picture was taken. I think a picture exists somewhere on one of my brothers' IPhones, but I can't find it on my computer.

At this point he could do 95% of the pull-up by himself - his dad was only touching him in case he slipped.

Miss Isabele at 9 1/2 months old.

I think Titus must have been about the same age when one his uncles decided he should start doing pull-ups. She's got a ways to go, but she did hold on.

Some sweet pictures

I know I'm cute. Isabele at 9 1/2 months old.

Titus and Isabele in the tub. I'm sure one day they will not like that this picture exists, but I like it, so they loose.

Sweet boy. Titus at 2 1/2 years old.

Gotta love garage sales

Titus posing in this strange get-up in front of his "new" train table. We went to a couple garage sales Friday and found a whole box of "Crash Test Dummies" cars and trucks. These things are every little boys dream. They are made to explode apart when they crash into things. Not something I could ever be talked into for full price at the store, but a whole box at a garage sale, okay. I also found some bright, primary colored, wooden beads to string on shoelaces. These were mostly for Isabele when she's a bit older, but she likes them as things to look at a chew on right now - the stringing will come later.
At this point, since Isabele was asleep in her car seat, we decided to head over to a sale in Mentone that had a "train table" listed in the ad. Titus had seen a train table with trains at the toy store the other day and we had to pull him away from it, so we were casually looking for some Brio type trains. Well, it was worth the drive. What a deal! The table and a gently used starter set of trains and track plus an add-on set of cars were still there. The price was good and it was 95% Brio. Wow!!

I'm not sure why he needed one of his blankets wraped around his waist and his hat on - kids.

Lillian Olivia

My little sister had her first baby last night. Lillian Olivia Hoover. She weighed 9 pounds, 6 ounces and is 21 3/4 inches long. Hannah had her at home and all is going well. Titus keeps asking when he can go see Cousin Lillian. He told me, after looking at pictures Hannah sent, "Lillian is all done nursing and now she is taking a nap. When she wakes up go see her in Las Vegas on airplane."
I haven't gotten him convinced that we can't go see her right now.
I think I'm going to have to print pictures and put them on the fridge for him.

Clapping

Isabele can clap. I know, not that exciting, but ... She will clap if I say, "Isabele, can you clap?" Of course Titus can clap "loud" as he likes to tell me. He certainly doesn't want Isabele getting all the attention. She crawled over to me this afternoon and clapped - just looking for praise, I'm sure.

I made these 4 Rose of Sharon dolls on a whim this morning. Used toothpicks to hold them together and a funky grass that survived last winter in a pot for arms. Isabele will have fun with these next year.

Here's the white one up close.

Purple princess up close.

Another picture of the dolls.