A New List

I am starting a list of things that I will look forward to doing for my grand kids that grandparents are currently doing for my children.

1. Feed a giant piece of chocolate cake right before bed time.

2. Bring out new toys right before nap or bed time.

3. Give them candy or suckers just because they saw a piece.

4. Let them help with dishes and slosh water every where.

5. Read books to them at nap time until they fall asleep or stay in bed with them until they fall asleep.

6. Never so NO.

7. Play with items one doesn't consider a toy at home.

I could go on and on, but I will stop for now. I will have to remember to come and update the list as I am sure it will continue to grow.

Thank you Nana

A big thanks to Nana and Papa George for allowing us to take over the house and invade it with toys and books. We had a great time visiting everyone.
Some memorable pictures that were captured while visiting:

Mesmerized by trains.

Prove they have hard heads.

They grow up so fast.

Exploration Place

We met Grandma Ellen at Exploration Place this morning. The kids had a great time and we were able to see the traveling exhibit on whales. We saw all sorts of cool whale things and Mason watched a short video of a whale diving 4500 feet to eat fish and a giant squid and then resurface to the water. When it came back up to the surface it jumped out of the water and Mason was hooked and watched the video another 3 times to watch it eat the squid and then jump out of the water again. He gave one of his famous "ohh man and whoas". We also saw a life size replica of a blue whales heart. It was almost as tall as me and 4-5 ft wide. It was amazing. They had it where the kids could crawl into it and look around. Very interesting things, we of course didn't get to see it all to the fullest. It is hard to take everything in and read the interesting facts while chasing two toddlers around.
After the whale exhibit we then wondered around and found other fun and interesting toys. I will highlight what seemed to be favorites. Ellery enjoyed sticking her head and hand in and out of these sunflowers. They had a sensor on them and they would giggle and Ellery liked making them giggle at her. Mason was slow to warm up to the toddler roller coaster, but once he tried it he wanted to ride over and over. We had a great time and a big thanks to Grandma Ellen for taking us to Exploration Place.

Happy Birthday To Me

Nana had a cake waiting for me when I got up this morning. It came with smudges and finger prints as well. Mason was having a hard time keeping his hands off and waiting to have a piece. I was sung Happy Birthday first thing and cut the cake shortly after and had it for breakfast. A wonderful birthday morning.

Look Up

Mason makes me smile and laugh everyday. We are still in Kansas visiting Nana and poor Rob is still in Omaha working. We have been talking to daddy a lot on the phone and the phone we have been using doesn't have speaker so Mason is turned lose with the phone to put up to his own ear while no one can hear what the other person is asking or saying to him. He was talking on the phone with Rob and we asked him to ask Rob if it was raining up there. Mason asks the question and looks up at the ceiling to check for himself. Precious. Later that night we were taking a picture and Mason was looking down and I asked him to look up and he literally looked up to the ceiling. I will have to be more clear in my communication and ask him to look at me. He keeps it fresh and gives me a new perspective on how to view and say things.

Ellery Chaplin 14 months

Where does time go, I feel like I just gave last months update and it amazes me how fast a month goes by.

Ellery is now a walking fool. She looks like a little chimpanzee with her arms held up by her head. She will still drop to a crawl in an instant if Mason gets to far from her so she can catch up to him. She is recognizing thing more and more and trying to say them. She can locate a few body parts and always points back to the nose when in doubt. She is also starting to shhhh us. The things she picks up on and learns from Mason amazes me.

Fun with Nana

We went and ran a few errands with Nana and ended up in the mall. The kids loved running around and enjoyed climbing on the germ infested miniature cars and helicopters. I am not sure what the name of these contraptions are. Anyways, you put your money in and they move side to side or up and down, well, my kids don't know they move because I never put money in them. I just let them climb all over them and push the buttons and occasionally it talks to us trying to entice the parents to put money in for their children. I learned that these play machines do make money but not from parents, from grand parents. My mom, Nana, was digging around in her pockets for the .75 cents it cost for a 30 second thrill. Nana decided to deposit her money in the helicopter that went up and down. Ellery really enjoyed it but almost face planted in the helicopter dash and joy stick because she wanted to stand. Mason wanted out and wouldn't get back in until it stopped moving. Nana and I got a good laugh.

We then headed on in the mall and came across the carousel. Mason was looking and pointing and excited. He walked all the way around it and came back to the pig seat he spotted when we approached it. He wanted to touch it and that was all he wanted. Nana had already payed for a ride so we switched Mason for Ellery and she didn't have any problems riding. I think she actually enjoyed it. Even watching Ellery ride Mason still had no intentions on getting on it himself.

Trip to Nana's

I decided we needed a change of scenery and loaded the kids up and headed down to Nana's for a visit. Fun travels for me and the kids. It is only a 5 hour drive and I am blessed with good kids and good traveling kids.

Another Before and After

Nana sent us a box full of bows. They are beautiful. I thought the first batch were wonderful until I got this lot. She has improved and perfected her skills. Ellery is big time now, she has tailored bows to match outfits! Just when I think Nana has peeked on her creativity she gives us a twist and peeks higher than imagined! Thanks for the bows! Anyone needing any custom bow let me know and I will get you in touch with a bow making Nana!Before

After

Happy Birthday Papaw

I tried to buy a birthday card that I could record Mason's voice in but went to two stores and they didn't have them or were out. So the next best thing is putting video out on the blog. Hope you enjoy your day Papaw!

Dentist

I took the kids to their first dentist appointments today. Ellery even got a turn. She has a ridge on her left front tooth and we wanted to get it checked out to make sure everything was fine and no worries. It was also Mason's first encounter with the dentist. He did great with the actual dentist because he had warmed up by the time we saw him. He wasn't very fond of the hygienists at first, but warmed up at the end. Ellery screamed through her exam, I don't think she likes to be held down. She also screams when I have to hold her hand to cut her fingernails. Same exact scream for finger nail cutting and dentist visiting. Hmmmmm. A good report on both sets of teeth. We are doing a fine job at brushing and so it Mason. I have to say, pediatric dentists must do well. They had TVs on the ceiling and head phones for the kids to put on. They also had a huge train track that went around the room. Fancy Smancy! Also, I have to look it up but I guess they have new studies out saying you don't need to supplement fluoride for kids.

Walking

I promise Ellery knows how to walk with clothes on. We just seem to be either dressing or getting ready for bed when we get video of her walking. I now have a goal to get her walking in clothes. She isn't pushing up straight from the floor yet, but she will let go of anything and take off. I am now adjusting to looking up and watching her walk across the kitchen and to other destinations. She still keeps her arms up for balance and looks like she could be related to Frankenstein by her leg movements, but that doesn't stop our boasting pride!

Reduce Reuse Recycle

We sing a song with Mason about recycling and the chorus consists of three words: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Not only do we sing this song with our child, but we bring the concept home. Our neighbors, well not our neighbors but a house we walk by daily had placed patio furniture on the curb. A few hours after our walk we were still thinking about it so we called our friends who live next door to our about to be new friends who are getting rid of patio furniture and got the digits so we could phone them. We have patio furniture on our upper deck, but we thought the throw outs would be good enough to place on the lower brick patio. After a phone call to our new friend we learned the donation truck was picking them up today and we were welcome to take them if we liked. As you can see we liked! Rob had a wonderful quote "One perk about being a nicer neighborhood is nicer trash!" I wish we could have taken video of us hauling it back in multiple trips in the good ol 4-runner. At one point I am in the hatch holding things in while another time Rob is holding a table out the passenger door. It gave us both a good chuckle!

Vrooom Vrooooooom

Who needs a play group, I should start a Toddler Hog Ride. We used to just ride in the drive way, but I decided to change things up and go across the street into the neighbors drive and the kids love it. They giggle when they run into each other and Mason insists he wears his helmet when riding his bike. Actually, he goes and finds his helmet anytime we are playing out front and likes to wear it. Since Ellery hated wearing her helmet on our bike ride we thought we would put it on her for bike rides and get her a bit more used to it! I personally think the BMX parks should add a toddler race track, how fun would that be.

Before and After

Before
After

I have no idea what was so fascinating about the cabinet nobs, but her exploration lasted a good 5 minutes.

A Morning Funny

I wake up this morning and find Mason naked in his room. He informs me he is ready to wear a different pair of pj's due to the design they have to offer him. I persuade him to just get dressed for the day and I notice he has pushed something onto his skin and has made a mark around his upper left breast area. He notices me looking at it and tells me "that's my tattoo, just like Nana's". This may be a little too much information, but my mom is a breast cancer survivor and lady warrior at that. She decided with her friends that she would permanently ink herself with a pink ribbon. It proves she is a true survivor and can conquer anything just like a warrior. Mason has discovered her art and I learned things leave a lasting impression on his exploring mind.

Tax Day

A huge thanks to Rob for doing our taxes. It is hard to picture that this is what he used to do in his previous career. He told me he really enjoys doing our taxes, lucky me! He enjoys it so much he told me he wouldn't mind doing taxes for others. I asked him to define "others" and learned he would take on 2-3 other cases. I guess if anyone gets in a bind next year you know you can always count on Rob.

Steal of a Deal

I was so proud of my bargain shopping. (key word "was") Who cares if the pajamas I bought were Christmas print. The point is that I paid $2.10 for two pairs of pajamas in the correct size for my child. I just didn't notice the small bow stitched below the neck hole. I was so excited to pay $1.05 for a set of PJ's rather than $10 that I didn't notice they were intended for little girls rather than little boys. In my defense they were hanging with all the other boy clearance clothes. Another bonus is that it isn't a complete waste. I can tuck them away until Ellery is old enough to wear them and Mason didn't have a clue. He was just thrilled he had presents and mice to show off for the night.

Worn Out

Mason informed me he was too tired to eat lunch today. I told him he could go to bed, but I was going to feed Ellery. I thought he would go to his room and go to bed, but I guess he was too tired to climb the stairs. I found him in the living room passed out on the floor. I have a suspicion he finally came down from his sugar high.
He did wake up this morning and he was excited to come down and hunt for eggs and was slightly disappointed to learn that the Easter Bunny only comes once a year, but it wasn't anything that an Elmo video couldn't fix in a flash.

Easter Baskets

The Easter bunny left baskets on the table for the first year. Mason was excited to find his goodies along with opening his Easter Eggs. I hid number magnets inside a lot of them and the others had one jelly bean. He ate the jelly beans when he found them and then when he opened the egg with a number he would call out "I found an eight" and then run to his magnet wall to stick it on.

Happy Easter

HAPPY EASTER

I believe this is Rob's first Easter weekend off in the last 6 years. It seems every year during residency and fellowship he was either on call, on service, or post call sleeping all day. We have enjoyed getting some quality family time in this weekend. We were able to hit a few Easter Egg Hunts, watch some golf, eat an Easter Brunch, attend Easter Sunday Service, and we are gathering with some friends this evening for Easter dinner. We are very blessed and hope that everyone else is as blessed as we are. I realized we live with the true spirit of Easter within our home and our circle of friends and family but we need to outreach and extend that more within our community.

Easter Egg Hunt

If you ever want to witness somewhat organized chaos then you need to attend an egg hunt with lots of toddlers. Mason was excited to hunt the eggs and was tickled when he realized the eggs were filled with candy. Ellery just liked being included and allowed to hold an empty egg. Thank goodness second babies are so good and content with the simplest things! I promise I had a bow on her, but she wasn't interested in keeping it on today.

Meet the Easter Bunny and his stalker

Mason is our Easter bunny stalker, but if Ellery had it her way she would hire an Easter Bunny hit man. We were fortunate enough to have multiple encounters with the bunny this weekend and Mason was thrilled while Ellery acted like she was starring in a horror film. She wasn't a fan of the big bunny and would cling to you and shy away when you got close. Mason on the other hand would just follow the bunny around watching him intently. At our neighborhood egg hunt I lost sight of Mason for a bit but all I had to do was look where the bunny had walked to and Mason was hot on his tail. He liked giving him high fives and had no problem giving him a huge bear hug.

Egg Coloring Fun

We passed on coloring Easter Eggs last year and contemplated on what to do this year. We colored the eggs while Mason watched as patiently a toddler could wait. I wasn't so thrilled about having 5 cups of dye sitting in front of him, but we managed not to spill any but we did dye the tips of our fingers. He was really excited and somehow we ended up with a lot more blue eggs than any other color. We had Ellery sitting in her chair across from Mason having a snack but we had her within arm length of the table cloth and thank goodness she pulled it towards her prior to me placing the dye on the table.

#1 and #2

I thought I would give a reminder, in case anyone was forgetting about our bragging rights to our boxing match. I am thinking I might call my brother today just to make sure it stays fresh in him mind. I even contemplated hacking into his blog and posting this picture on it, but I resisted the urge.
I'm not sure if I gave the list of ranks from our 1st Annual Christmas Boxing Tournament. It was my brothers idea which brings all the more glory that I rank higher than him. We are still contemplating if we should buy a WII, if we don't get one I am going to have to ask my neighbors if I can train on theirs once the holiday season hits.
1. Papaw Jim Balboa
2. Apollo Mandi
3. Debbie Tyson
4. & 5. Tie between Rob Ali and Sugar Todd Robinson
6. Hurricane Jordan
7. Jill Mancini

Funny Faces

Never a dull day of play at the Chaplin house!

Business Cards

Rob came home with new business cards. He is very fancy with lots of credentials behind his name. He has worked hard for those credentials, but I think he is thrilled that he has the position and title of "Medical Director, Neonatal and Pediatric Transport". Transport is a love of his and he is doing a fine job that is making everyone proud. I found it very reassuring that you find the words "We know children" when you flip his business card over. A few words of comfort in case you had any doubts. I wonder if anyone would be impressed if I made myself some fancy stay at home mom business cards. It is tempting just to see one's face on reacting to such a card when I handed it to them. The next question is who would I hand it to and when?

Date Night

I know I said I was going to take Rob to the rock wall on our next date night, but instead I took him to the Funny Bone Comedy Club. One of our neighbors had a coupon that brought a $14 ticket show down to $2 a ticket. What a deal, more like a steal. We had a great time and 10 of our neighbors went as well. It was a hypnotic show. I was skeptical in what he could make them do, but it was very comical. Afterwards we went to a reverse happy hour at a club called Prestige and ate sushi. It was good, but my favorite is eel and they didn't have any on the menu. I sulked away my sorrows on the dance floor making up moves and dancing with friends while making new ones.

Mommy and Me Yoga

Grandma Ellen came in for a quick visit. I have a cold so it was nice having someone else keep a watchful eye on the kids. If I had any sick days to use I would have used one today. On the plus side I do have a hot rasper rocker voice.
Mason and I have been taking a mommy and me yoga class and Grandma Ellen was able to go with us today. Mason can do quite a few yoga poses, I think his favorite is down dog, but he can also do warrior, tree, childs pose, plank, half moon, among others. He is pictured here doing airplane with Grandma Ellen. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Come On Ellery

Ever since Ellery started walking Mason likes to call her and hold his arms out for her to walk into them. He has proven he can multi task and talk on the phone and hold out his arms calling for her sister. He gets really excited and says "Come here Ellery or Come On Ellery". He also has taken up to holding enticing toys for her to come get as well. She is walking more and more each day but still prefers to crawl. I think it is because she can go faster and keep up with Mason.