Apples, Walk, Nama, Grandpa, B, Sa-rah, Mommy, Daddy, Ba-Ba

That is Maggie speak for what happened today.  I have caught her several times now in the car, on our way home from something, talking about her day.  She knows a good amount of words now, and the part that is "new" I think is the recall, and thinking about what happened in the past.  I try to encourage this by talking about things with them in the car.  Like last week, when we were at my Grandma's the day they brought the family home for Extreme Makeover her analysis on the way home was "Nama, Granpa, Ba-Ba, people, Mommy, Buh, Key, fowers. . ." you get the point.  It's adorable. 

In other amazing baby news, Ben has started reading.  Well, he has started a pre-reading skill that I didn't know happened until preschool.  In a couple of our favorite books, he knows where to insert a couple of words that he knows.  So, for example, in The Terrible Plop, on the page that goes "Suddenly comes a terrible PLOP!" I can pause after terrible and he will say with a grin on his face "Pop!"  He also can put the words No, No into Moo Baa, La La La.  This reminds me of something really funny.  I've gotten really into checking my Blogger stats.  The other day someone googled "moo ba la la la bad romance" I am assuming looking for the lyrics for Lady Gaga's song.  Now, if it was me (and tonight it was) I would have just googled "bad romance lyrics" cause I'm a straightforward kind of googler.  In case you were wondering, the official lyrics based on my 5 minutes of research tell me the real lyrics are:

Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah-ah!

Roma-roma-mamaa!
Ga-ga-ooh-la-la!
Want your bad romance

But forever to me, it's going to roll more like the version that brought someone to my blog.  Moo ba, la la la, moo baa la la la, moo baa, la la la, want your bad romance. . . 

In other news, I had quite a busy week on the "job" front.  I had two substitute orientations and my first job for the year.  It was strange.  First of all, it was an incredible sense of deja-vu, and also an incredible sense of being the person in the room who knew too much.  See I've subbed before.  I know the drill, I know how it goes, I even nicely gave some advice out when asked.  And I felt like a big faker.  Clearly I don't know much about how to be a sub, let alone one who gets hired into their district of choice.  Thursday I was the only one in the room with my Masters, and the only one with my old lady type certification.  Whoo to the hoo. 

But I did feel a little better about subbing on Friday.  I had a room full of very squirrelly 1st graders who were excited to see me.  I kept them mostly under control.  I did not believe the kid who tried to convince me that they were allowed outside whenever they wanted.  Pro sub here.  Professional even.  The only problem is going to be with my schedule.  See, I can't take those desperate morning phone calls unless I have a good hour or so to get a babysitter here.  I'm not feeling nearly as useful as I was when I subbed back in the day.  We'll see how this goes.  I can't deny that it was nice to walk out the door at 3:45 behind the buses.  And to be greeted warmly by the principal and other teachers.  I just hope I can keep from sounding like a Bitter Betty when I talk to people in the schools.  I should probably just lie and talk about how I wanted to be more flexible and spend more time with my kids. 

I'm breaking out of my photo a day tradition because the kids were darn photogenic this week.  If I do say so myself.  You'll deal somehow :-)

October 4 - We decided to wear our Halloween shirts for storytime today.  Maggie kept holding up her shirt and saying "Meow".  She has stopped saying "kitty" and just meows when she sees the cats.  Pretty cute. 

October 5 - Move that bus!  Extreme Makeover wrapped up the house across the street from my grandmother, and this is the views from her yard on Tuesday.  Crazy! 

October 6 - After attempting unsuccessfully to get a picture of Maggie and Ben together this night, I settled instead for a picture of their faithful companions.  They are much more biddable. 

October 7 - We had the first nice day in quite a while, so we went outside to play.  They were so excited!  The only problem we've hit is now they (especially Ben) want to go outside all the time.  Ben uses a word that sounds kinda like "Dide" with a really sad and whiny voice while jumping up and down and pointing towards the door.  I love the look on Maggie's face in this one.  Plus, look at those curls!

October 8 - Fun Friday night at our house.  Yes, that is a pirate hat.  Yes, if you look carefully, Maggie is sitting on the potty.  Wearing the pirate hat.  There's me, reading a very strategically placed copy of Goodnight Moon to both of the babies.  Who are naked.  Because it was after bath, duh.  When I really needed my camera?  When naked Ben was riding the dog.  Naked.  Wearing the hat.  No, I'm not kidding. 

October 9 - We went to our friend's annual Cider Making party on this day.  It was so much fun!  The weather was beautiful, there were tons of kids running around, and it was a great big old yard to play in.  The property had a pond, a swingset, bordered fields and of course the apple cider press.  That I didn't get a picture of.  Because I was too busy taking these shots of my adorable children. 

October 10 - And today.  Apple orchard day!  And also, Maggie and Ben's 18 month birthday.  I can't believe they are 18 months.  I can't believe they are so big and so small, and that they know so much already.  They are so much fun.  I had really wanted to get pro pictures done for 18 months, but it wasn't in the budget.  I think Mommy did okay, but of course, not quite the same as it could have been. 

I'll leave you in the orchard, with the promise of more photos this week!  I have an idea for wordless Wednesday. . .we'll see if I can get it together in time.  I hope that no one interprets the extra Maggie photos as us loving her more or anything, she just was way happier on today's trip than Ben was!  He spent most of his time on Daddy's shoulders or running away.  And please be sure to check out the first photo I have gotten in weeks of both of them looking at the camera.  And then notice their expressions.  Not exactly wallpaper worthy or anything.  I think I've seen albums of rockstars that look like that when they are trying to look like they are in deep emotional pain.