Monster Truck Madness

Several weeks ago, the Monster Truck Nationals were at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus. Eli and Dennis along with good friends, Luke and Matt, and some neighbor kids and grandpa attended the loud festivities. I say loud because I could hear them at our house. Granted we are only a block away, but seriously I could hear them in our house. That is why Eli got to wear the really beautiful ear plugs:Normally, Dennis isn't into monster trucks or cars in general, afterall he thinks my Honda Civic is a good ride, but when you have a two year old who thinks monster trucks are the cats meow, you cough up the $5 and go! And Eli had about the best time a two year old could possibly have. Grandpa bought Eli (and Sadie) five new monster trucks and that's about all he plays with. He rolls them over the cars so it looks a lot like this:

He likes to watch monster truck videos on youtube and now his favorite song is Bad to the Bone followed closely by Welcome to the Jungle. We had to download them from itunes for him! Seriously.

Pictures of Sadie from April

April, a neighbor girl, captured these pictures of Sadie. I think she did a really good job. Better job than I ususally do taking pictures and she's only 11! I love them because they show Sadie's skeptical side:
My favorite picture of Sadie of all time because it shows her foot-loose-and-fancy-free side:
This is usually the side I see of Sadie:

The Choke Hold

Whenever I tell Eli and Sadie to smile for a picture, Eli puts his arm around Sadie's neck and pulls her in really tight. It usually looks like he's choking her rather than hugging her, but I guess there is a fine-line between choking and hugging when you're 2.5! (Yes, this is a really great meal of chicken strips, french fries and corn. My attempts at getting the kids to eat really great nutritious meals all-the time has been replaced by "there's sort of a vegetable on their plate--not that they'll eat it" and "Didn't Regan say that Ketchup was a vegetable?".)The best thing about this picture is that the floor is actually picked up. And look at that book shelf. The books are actually neat and orderly. Eli picked out that outfit too-- all blue! He's really into stripes now, like his mother. The only underwear he'll wear that doesn't have Diego or a car on them has stripes. You should see his new Monster Truck underwear that grandma and grandpa Z. gave him. Have I told you about his new monster truck obsession. I didn't? I'll post about that next! He's officially been white-trashified!!
Did I post this one last week? I can't remember. Well, if I did, here it is again.

We All Fall Down...

A little grandma and grandpa time!

Spring Has Sprung

Here it is April 6 and we're just having our first nice day of the year. It was seventy and sunny and really just a perfect day. Even though Eli thought we should go to church, we sided with the devil and went for a hike instead.
You've gotta love self timers on cameras:


There once was a time that Dennis and I would go for hike for the day and plan on being gone for several hours and we could go a good 8-10 miles with no problem. And if I was carrying 30+ pounds on my back it was because we were going to be going somewhere fun for a few days. Well, we made it 2.5 miles today and I carried Sadie instead of a tent and a sleeping bag (not that Sadie or my sleeping bag weigh 30 pounds). Hiking with the kids is a whole different story, and(almost as) fun. I'm contantly amazed at what the kids can discover and what can keep them interested for hours. Here Sadie sat in the meadow to look at sticks (see photo above). I'm trying really really hard to be patient.

We found some acorns starting to sprout, puffed spores from mushrooms, found baby mushrooms growing from a log, and discovered this very cool blue beetle. An action shot of Eli running. It looks like he's running bases. And it turns out that the kids love picnics just like me. It's going to be a very good summer!

A Trip To See the Butterflies

Grandma and Grandpa Z. are in town visiting and we've been too busy to download pictures. Here's some from March from our trip to Franklin Park Conservatory to see the butterflies.

Finally a butterfly at Eli's level:

Taking a rest from all the butterfly action:

(Almost) Naked Egg Dying

Saturday was egg dying day at the Sperle household. Dennis was working and it was a dreary rainy day so egg dying added a bit of sunshine to our otherwise cloudy day.
I only hard-boiled a dozen eggs and that just wasn't enough for Sadie. I ran to get the camera and when I came back, she already had most of them put into bowls.
Eli kept putting them into different colors and when he thought they were just the right color, he'd say, "This one is perfect." and then put it back into the egg carton to dry.
Sadie just wanted all of hers green.
A dozen "perfectly" dyed eggs.

By the way, the last post was our 200th post!! Aren't you sick of us yet?

Happy Easter 2008!

The Sperles dressed in their finery. I'll post some (almost) naked egg dying pictures later this week.

Best Friends

We rounded a new corner and it's a corner that moms the world over wait for. It's the "kids entertaining themselves in their room" corner and it's a whole new world for me. They have spent up to thirty minutes entertaining each other in their room without a mishap. It's a fabulous, fabulous place. Granted the first time they were up there by themselves I kept the baby monitor on because I was totally freaking out and thought that chaos was sure to follow, but they totally proved me wrong. Now, I can actually prepare a meal, sweep the floors, clean the bathroom and check my email all while the kids do their thing. Pure mommy bliss.

Lipstick and High Heels

You've gotta love Lip Smackers and Sadie is no exception:
Eli found these pain inducers in my closet:

Snow Update

When the winter storm was all said and done it left 20.4" of the white stuff on the ground setting a new record for the Columbus area. It's already almost gone as yesterday was 50 degrees. The snow was perfect for making forts and snowmen and snow animals and Sadie and Eli didn't even have to wear their mittens!

Lots and Lots of Snow!

Columbus is busy digging out of it's first major snowstorm since we've lived here. It started snowing yesterday morning and continued snowing and snowing and snowing. It finally let up around 6pm tonight. We are surrounded by white and had to go and see just how much there really was. Not quite sure the exact amount, but let's just say that there's a lot of it.
Eli is trying to build a snow house. I think this might be the entry way?
Sadie visiting the snow house, which ended up only having two rooms because Dad got a huge pile of snow on Eli's face while Eli was being covered by his snow-blanket while lying on his snowball pillow in his snow bedroom.

Leotards

I've mentioned before how much Eli and Sadie love gymnastics. Well, if you're going to go to gymnastics, you better look the part. I found a couple of really cute leotards at Once Upon A Child for a steal so I bought them so Sadie could wear them to class. Here she is saying "ta-da".

The only problem with Sadie's new leotards is that Eli likes them A LOT. He wanted to wear them all the time. He'd put one on, run around and say, "let's wrestle". He couldn't figure out why Sadie could wear one to gymnastics, but he couldn't. (This decision came after a long discussion between mom and dad one evening about a child being two and doing what he wants to do versus social norms. It was hard because we've never told him before that something is considered "boy" or "girl" before. But, now he knows and he says it often that "Leotards are for girls".). So, after much search on e-bay for a reasonably priced unitard that was not pink, black velvet, or sparkly in any way, shape or form, we came up with this (this is Eli in his "wrestling stance"):

It's a little big, but it's not pink, velvety, or sparkly, it was cheap and as an added bonus it's Buckeye colors. Perfect! He wore it to gymnastics today and I think it made him jump higher.

Did You See the Latest Blog Feature?

There is a new feature on the blog. "Kids Say the Darndest Things" is down the right hand column under the links to Eli's and Sadie's favorite places. I'm not sure how often I'll update it. I guess it depends on what they say!!

Always Wear Your Rubbers...

...when you're splashing in puddles.

Sadie in action...

...and a smile.
Eli in action...
...and a smile.It was a very good day!

What To Do On A Snow Day??

Dance in the kitchen, of course. Enjoy!

I'm Not Trying to Slack...

...but can you believe that I did not take ONE picture last week? How can that be?? Maybe next week.

Outside Time and Art

When it's nice enough we go outside:

And when it's cold we create masterpieces!