Live Moore Life...1st Haircut!

At 21 months, Silas finally needed a haircut. (Ok, so maybe he could have used one at 19 months but I just put it off because, well, he's my baby boy!) I took him with me to see the lady who cuts my hair, Jackie, and she trimmed him right up. He sat in my lap and was so still. So good! I am so thankful that both of my boys don't mind getting their hair cut. Silas wasn't super thrilled but he endured it. And of course, he looked so. much. older. when she was done! I don't have any great before and after pictures but here are some "action shots".

Live Moore Life...Grandparents!

The boys and I made a quick trip to Texas to see all the grandparents in November. We had fun meeting Granddad and Momma Jill in Abilene at the Grace Museum and then we headed north to Canyon to see Aunt Sarah and to cheer on Lance and the WTA&M buffaloes. The boys had so much fun! 

Driving the ambulance with Momma Jill 

 Hello, Silas!

 Joel loved the life-sized 0peration game.

 So handsome!

 Granddad and Grandsons

 Papa, the boys and the buffalo

Papa and Silas 

 Joel checking out the buffalo

Live Moore Life...All Aboard, October 2010

For Halloween this year Joel and Silas dressed up as Thomas the Tank Engine and the engineer!  They were too cute, but unwilling to stand still for many pictures. Joel also wore his costume for all of about, oh, 5 minutes total! We went to the Fuller Harvest Festival a couple of days before to ride the ponies, jump in the bounce houses, eat tons of junk food and wear all of us out. The boys had a great time but it's definitely exhausting for David and me. On Halloween night, we went over to the Collins' for their annual Halloween open house. The food, especially Jim's chili, was awesome! The boys watched How to Train Your Dr@gon out in the back yard. Silas watched in awe and didn't move a muscle. Joel went back and forth between being a little scared and uncertain to loving it. In the end, it was a fun night!

Seriously, this is the best picture we could get of the two of them!

Live Moore Life...Camping, August 2010

Last August we went on our first overnight camping trip. Becca and I drove up early Friday afternoon with Joel, Silas and Evie to meet Joey, Katie and Eli, who went up early to get a campsite reserved. On the drive up, we saw some of the damage done by the Station Fire a year ago. Joel was really interested to know what happened to all those trees so we got to talk a little about fire safety! On our first walk down from the car to the camp site, I saw a sign with a huge picture of a rattlesnake, warning campers that they had been sited in the area. Great. My worst fear! David and Andrew arrived a short time after us. The boys got all the tents setup and we started dinner. We had a yummy dinner and then we started trying to get the kids to bed. Evie and Eli were great and went to sleep pretty quickly. Joel and Silas...not so much. We had the portable dvd player so we set that up, hoping they would fall asleep watching the movie. Around midnight we finally loaded them up and took them for a drive through the mountains. That finally did the trick! We got them back in the tent and we slept in a big pile to stay warm through the night. Saturday morning we woke up, cooked a yummy breakfast, washed dishes and headed out on a hike to the falls. The boys LOVED this. What an adventure! It was pretty warm, but definitely the highlight of the trip for me. We loaded up soon after our return to the campsite and headed home. We took a different way back through Wrightwood and saw some different scenery. After stopping at Chick-Fil-A for dinner, we made it home!

The LB verdict: I like camping during the day...it's going into the dirty tent and trying to sleep on the hard ground that I would rather avoid. I would go camping again, especially with these experienced campers, but only because I love my boys. :)

I took a few pictures but somehow I missed getting a picture of our tent and of Joey! Both were definitely there and a big part of our camping experience!

Chopping wood with Andrew....Joel LOVED this!

A yummy breakfast!

Joel and Silas digging the blueberries

  

   At the waterfall with Daddy

Katie with Eli....Andrew and Evie

Silas snacking, as usual

Andrew felt sorry for my aching arms and carried Silas toward the end of the hike back. 

And then, Silas crashed!

Jubilant Joel

Some of the funny things that Joel is saying these days....

Joel, on our way to Chick-Fil-A when we are slowing down due to traffic, "Momma, I tink we stuck in traffic." (Do you think he's a product of the infamous LA traffic?) And a few days later, when hitting some slower traffic he said, "Momma, I tink tis traffic getting gow (slow)."

If Joel disagrees with your decision on something (and it's out of his control, i.e. while I'm driving), he will tell you, "I tink tis not a good idea."

Joel - "Dadda, where are the moon and the stars?"
David - "I don't know, Joel, I can't see them."
Joel - "Don't worry, Dadda. We'll find them."

EVERY time we drive through a tunnel of any length, Joel reminds us, "Turn the lights on!"
and as we leave the tunnel, "Turn the lights off!"

Joel stuck a small screw into the lock of one our doors and was desperate for me to get it out.
LB - "Joel, I don't think I can get it out."
Joel - "Momma, you can do it. I know you can. You almost there. You doing a great job, Momma."
I finally remove the lock cover and finally pull it out.
Joel - "Momma, you did it. Great job, Momma. I knew you could do it."

One morning, the boys were awake and had been talking in their room for a little while. Silas decided he was ready to get up and said, "Momma, Momma..." a couple of times. Joel said, "Guy-was, let's say, 'Momma' real loud. Ready...1...2...3....MOMMA!" For the record, Silas did not join in, but it sure made me laugh.

Their favorite song these days is "Hi-ho" from Snow White. They love it. We sing all the time...they love to sing the dig-dig-dig parts, the in the mine echos, and of course, hi-ho. They sang it all the way through the check-out lane to the car in the grocery store the other day. It was quite humorous....I'm not sure the other patrons appreciated it as much as I did.

Joel, positioning his legs so that they are crossed, as he leans against the door frame, "Momma, look! I standing like you and Dadda!" I didn't know that we stood like that.....

I brought Joel something to eat for breakfast and he said, "Thanks, Mags!" I asked him to clarify and he said it again, "Thanks, Mags!"  I asked where he heard that and as I suspected, it was from a Saturday morning cartoon that my boys love called Turbo Dogs. Cracked both of us up!

Joel doesn't "forget" something; he "two-gets" it.

When you ask Joel a question that he doesn't know the answer to, he'll say, "I can't know."

I was washing Joel's hands the other day and I said, "Joel, your hands are really dirty." With great inflection and conviction, he said, "I know!"

Nothing gets by Joel. If you are talking about something and doesn't know what, he's not afraid to ask. "Whatchew talkin' bout, Momma?"

One day Becca made an apple pie. Joel overheard her say something about it and said, "Apple Pie! Mmm-mmmm-mmmm!" while he rubbed his belly. He went to bed before we cut into it and was none too happy about it. In his bed he told me, "Momma, those people (some of our guests) gonna eat it all gone." Don't worry; we saved him a piece!

SiLLy SiLaS

A few of the funny things that Silas has been saying lately. Some of these you probably can't fully appreciate without the sound effects, but I know that in 10 years, all I'll have to do is hear the story and I'll know in my heart how their sweet voices sounded. I'm working on capturing these on video, but some of these moments are too spur of the moment for that.....

On Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, whenever they need a tool, they call their friend Toodles by saying, "Oh Too-dles." Throughout the day now, you can hear Silas saying, "Oh, Mom-ma" or "Oh, Go-gel". And on a recent trip to the pumpkin patch it became an endearing (and loud!), "Oh, pi-ig!"

99% of the time, when you ask Silas his name, he says, "Momma" and starts laughing. He thinks it's hilarious. I've started singing the song we learned at play school last year that goes, "Tell me what your name is, I wonder if you know. My name is....Silas! Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!" So, when we sing it, Silas will say, "My name is......Guy-kus!" He's so proud! When we finish the song, he insists, with great enunciation, "Again!" so we sing it again!

Me: "Silas, why did you.....fill in the blank with almost anything (take your shoes off, push Joel, take that train away, etc.)?"
Silas: "Cuz....."

Joel likes to play the "what do the animals eat" game where he asks what a specific animal eats and I tell him. Silas joined in the other day with his broken sentences. "What....rOOooo......eat?" He's a little obsessed with kangaroos lately.

Today Silas had a toy stuffed rabbit in his hands and David asked him about his bunny. Silas corrected him, "No. Wabbit."

Silas has definitely reached the "I do it myself" stage. (Isn't he a little young for this stage?) Instead of saying "I do it", he says, "Did it", which means he wants to do it all by himself. And if you do it for him (like buckle his high chair or put on his shoes for him) he starts yelling loudly, "DID IT! DID IT!", which means he wants you to undo your last action and let him, you guessed it, do it himself.

If Silas has a stinky diaper and I ask, "Silas, do you have a stinky diaper?", nine times out of ten he'll answer, "No". If I say, "Who has a stinky diaper?" With a great big grin, he exclaims, "ME!"

Silas has started stringing more words together. As he says two words though, he frequently hesitates between the words to create a slightly awkward pause. For example, "Yellow....Car." "Look......Mommy."

After hearing Joel say, "Apple Pie! Mmmm...mmmmm...mmmm!" (See the Jubilant Joel post), Silas started saying, "Apple!  Mmmmm....mmmmm!" He wanted so much to say it like his big brother.

Forbidden Fruit

A quick tale….

It all started a few weeks ago when one morning, the boys mysteriously disappeared. The house was eerily quiet, which in this house usually equals trouble. Suddenly, I heard the undeniable crinkle of a bag of chips.....under Silas' bed! I went in, lifted the bed skirt, and oh yes, there were the two adorable munchkins chomping down on some off-limits tortilla chips. I could hardly keep from laughing but tried to be as stern as possible. Did I mention it was like 9:00 in the morning?

Since that day, we have found them eating donuts (stolen off the table, Silas chose a cake or old-fashioned and Joel went with the ever popular iced with sprinkles), potato chips, graham crackers, veggie chips, goldfish, strawberries (that were apparently there from before David left for work until after their naps), and grapes.

So the moral of this story is….if you can’t find the Moore boys or you’re missing some food, look under the bed.