Kids these days

Juliet turned 2 at the end of November. She continues to be a joy of a child. She even stopped sucking her thumb, all by herself. The picture below of the kids on the lawn with pumpkins is the last one I have of the thumb in her mouth. It used to be a near constant thing. I think she had a little sore on her lip that made it uncomfortable, but I didn't really notice right away.
She is becoming more opinionated and with that brings out some terrible two moments. Her favorite word is no. Luckily her tantrums are still infrequent that it isn't too bad.
She is becoming very girly. She loves her dresses and church shoes and would wear them everyday if I let her. She got a princess shirt for Christmas (she didn't know what princesses were before) and now every time she see's anything princess when were out she has to point it out.
Juliet is also a very sympathetic person. If Jack’s laughing, she’ll laugh, if Jake’s crying she’ll cry, if Jack coughs, she’ll cough. She learns a lot from Jack, most recently it is how to tell jokes, but she doesn't quite get it. Here is the constant conversation the two are having:

Juliet: Why did the (insert random object) cross the rooooaaaad?

Jack: Why?

Juliet: Cause.

Jack: Because why?

Juliet: Cause. It's a joke. (hysterical laughter)

Jack is as imaginative as ever. He is able to occupy himself so well, and can play for hours with his cars, “super hands” (just waving his hands around making exploding noises), or monopoly pieces. Even though he will be going to kindergarten next year, he isn't in any preschool. They are too expensive for our budget and not enough kids are around his age to do a little co-op like we did last year. So we've been doing 'home school' preschool and it's working out fine. I'm also enjoying his company so much now that I don't really want to send him away.

The two kids are really good friends. They are always making each other laugh. Jack is usually looking out for Juliet, making sure she gets what she wants and helping her if he can.
Jack got a haircut recently, and because I'm lazy I let it grow out and then cut it short. This means there is a big difference in his appearance, so much so that he was afraid/embarrassed of his looks. He didn't even want anyone to see his haircut at church and so he wore his hood the entire time. After a few days he was used to it, but I didn't know a four year old could get embarrassed.

And now some more catch-up pictures. 

Goodbye thumb. And our pumpkins! We left our pumpkins outside and the kids liked to roll them around and sit on them. When we brought them inside to carve we noticed a lot of fruit flies. Upon closer inspection we found a little hole in the bigger pumpkin. When we took the top off (while outside), a huge swarm of flies flew out and the inside was completely rotten. We didn't carve it. Jack was disappointed because that was his pumpkin and he wanted a 'fireface'.

 Free Halloween pancake at ihop.

 Out of all the things to collect on our walk in the woods this day, he chose mushrooms.

 Every time we went to Costco the kids would stop at look at the Cars track.

Excited by fancy juice at a restaurant with Grandma and Grandpa. This place did not cater to little kids.

 We celebrated Juliet's birthday the day after thanksgiving. Her cake included as many of her favorite things as possible: purple, chocolate, Mater (from Cars), robots, butterflies, stars, and flowers.

Sight Seeing

In September we had the wonderful chance to go up to Boston for my cousins wedding. It was also nice to see some sights with my parents along the way.

 At Waldon pond. It's a pretty large pond with a large beach, and so lots of people. Not quite the serene little pond I was picturing.

 Saw some things in historic Boston.

 At the Vanderbilt mansion in Rhode Island.

The mint in Philadelphia

More locally, I like see the sights around here now it's the off season. Chris and I were able to escape downtown on my birthday.

 Kids playing at the American Art Museum.

 At the Library of Congress. A very ornate building.

 Around thanksgiving Chris's parents came into town and we went up to Fort McHenry in Baltimore.

 We also found where Edgar Alan Poe was buried.

  And a trip to the zoo. 

Other happenings

Here is a collection of random happenings since September.

 A free water play place (except for parking), very rare around here. Near the Navy yards.

 Juliet's getting brave on the playground.

 We saw a battle of 1812 reenactment. The weather added very nice ambiance.

 Jack's finally pulling his weight around here.

 Went swimming in the local pool after school started so there were no crowds.

 Jack still likes to bury his sister with toys, and she still tolerates it.

At our city's annual labor day festival, Jack was pretty excited to actually ride a ride this year.

 Awesome slide at Penny's house

 Weekly ikea trips, with Penny

 Why should I push a double stroller when they only want one seat?

Every time I go to the grocery store they have to see the lobsters.

 Jack really embraced his service opportunity to help remove weeds from a school.