Today...

The big kids started school last week.

More on that later.

For now...

Today.

Attew, Yane, and Seewah...

The vocabulary of our two year old sounds sometihing like this...

Me: "C'mon ladies" as we're heading out of a store

Sara: "No, me Seewah!"

Me: "C'mon love" as we were heading out of another store

Sara: "No, me Seewah!"

She spends her days being brave and tossing around new words.  I spend my days reveling in this stage of her life.  It is truly one I'd like to keep for just a bit longer. 

And during the times I can't quite interpret?  Why, I call on big sister of course.  She comes running with such pride and tends to her younger sibling with a huge smile on her face knowing she holds the only key to unlocking the mystery of a new word.  That too, is also a stage I'd like to keep just a bit longer.

Attew (Matthew), Yane (Jane) Seewah (Sara)

How I love the look and sound of these three names!

A visit from the fairy...

Last night marked a first in the Gunn household!  Matthew lost his first tooth. 

It's a big deal because we have realized that many of his other friends have lost teeth and he's been wondering when he would lose teeth too.  "Soon, I guess" was always my reply.  I'd never thought much about it until the dentist mentioned it last spring at his check-up.  She was surprised he hadn't lost any yet, but each in their own time I guess.  What caught me more off guard was that he was due to get his 6yr. molars.  What?  What the heck are 6yr. molars?  Never heard of such a thing.  Do you remember reading this little fact in the scads of books you read about babies when your first child was born?  Me neither. 

Apparantly, they are the molars that are permanent and sure enough, when I went home to look for myself, I saw a few of them peeking through.  As if he were a small child getting teeth for the first time I jumped up and down and squeeled like a brand new mom.  "You're getting your big teeth Matthew!"

I'm pretty sure at that point he reminded me he was in the first grade, but oh well.

Either way it was a thrill to be there for this new milestone.  He'd been wiggling it all evening while we were at the park and then with great gusto exclaimed that it was bleeding as we were heading home.  I wondered if I had change on hand.  I guess from now on I better just keep a little jar of it for such occasions.

It came out shortly after we got home and with great pride he pranced around the house showing everyone. 

And thus, my friends, began the visits from the toothfairy.  He was pleased as punch to see four quarters and a little note under his pillow this morning.

And today, I find myself still getting used to the view.

She's such a love...

The U.H.O. and S.P.Y. Labs...

Our kids have been into pretend spying for quite some time now but it wasn't until just recently that they stepped up their game.

You can take the fort away from the kids but you can't take the kids away from the fort...or something like that. 

You may remember my mention of our little family making our basement a temporary home this summer.  The kids love sleeping down there and it's anything but just a kid in a bed.  At the very least, it's a kid in a sleeping bag, in a bed.  But usually, it's a kid in some elaborate fort, in a sleeping bag, in a bed.

So, in preporation for the upcoming school year, we spent last Saturday cleaning up and picking up.  It took awhile as the kids had hauled down quite a bit of stuff over the course of the last few months.  We had declared the basement clean and ready to be played in...not slept in.

I've enjoyed having my family back upstairs with me at night (you might remember that I'm not so much a basement gal), but over the course of this week, guess what the basement has turned into?

S.P.Y. Labs (superplanningyouthlabs) formerly known as The U.H.O. (undergroundhideout)

Matthew being the super spy that he is comes up with these acronymns and we just go with it.  So, at this very moment, the kids are all upstairs in their beds (although Sara is in the top bunk with Matthew...we'll see how that goes) but the basement?  Well, it's anything but the neat and organized effort from last Saturday! 

It's now the home of S.P.Y. Labs; where the kids have rigged up blankets, pillows, mattresses and more to create something super secret for themselves.  They've even reached a pinnacle moment in the course of every childhood. 

The secret language. 

Oh gosh, I had a good laugh when I heard this bit going on.  Didn't you ever have one of these as a kid?  Or at the very least a secret code or something that you wrote in?  My sister and I had a secret code that we wrote in but it took forever to use it so it didn't last long.

These two big kids are at such a funny stage together right now.  Their playfullness is bringing back some fond memories of our time in Maryland.  Back then, they were great friends.  In the past 2 1/2yrs. I haven't seen much of that friendship per se...

I'm glad I've been seeing it pop in the last few days...

Mini Masterpieces...

Can you guess what we did today?

Yep.  Pretty much.