Charles-isms

Charles says so many cute things, and I'm terrible at remembering to write them down.  Here are a couple off the top of my head.

Charles' favorite song is "Wheels On the Bus."  He sometimes makes up new verses such as, "The mommy on the bus says, 'Sit on your bottom,'"  or, "The tiger on the bus does jumping jacks," or, "The Charles on the bus says, 'Look, another blue bus!'"  This last one is a reference to the blue U of M buses that we ride to get to campus for U of M museum outings.  Taking the bus there is half the fun.  My favorite verse is "The daddy on the bus says, 'I love you.'"  Other favorite Charles songs include "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain," "Popcorn Popping," "Ring Around the Rosie," and "Follow the Prophet."  He also likes to hear "Hush a bye don't you cry," "Bye Baby Bunting," "Banbury Cross," and "Rock-a-bye Baby," all sung in sequence.  If I don't sing all four in a row he acts cheated, like I cut off a song halfway through.

Charles appreciates positive reinforcement, and fishes for it all the time.  He will often call out in the car, "My not taking my shoes off!" or, "My not picking my nose!"  (Both of these misdeeds are major temptations for him.)  "My not hitting brother!" and "My not biting!" are also popular when we are at home.

Today I took the boys to County Farm Park.  There is a very tall playground there, and two parts of it are connected by an inclined tunnel.  Charles really struggled to climb up it at first.  He kept getting halfway up and then start crying.  But then "Silas to the rescue!" showed up and helped him get through it.  He helped him climb through it several times and then finally Charles could do it himself, and he happily announced, "My did it!"

After seeing a dog at the park Charles told me he wanted a dog.  When I asked him what kind he thoughtfully replied, "A doggy with teeth.  And with feet."

Silas-isms

Silas has arrived at an age where he says things that sound very cute and sometimes disarmingly honest.  Here are some examples.

Yesterday I heard Coen and Silas discussing what they would do with their money.  Silas asserted that he was saving up for a babysitter.  This surprised me, and I asked, "Which babysitter?"  His reply:  "Daddy!"

One evening baby Charles was fussing and crying even when Silas tried to cheer him up.  He concluded sadly, "Baby doesn't love me."  We assured him that Charles did love him, to which he cheerfully proclaimed, "Baby loves me!"

Coen and Silas were playing relatively quietly while I made dinner a few nights ago.  Every once in a while Silas would come running in the kitchen to give me an update, such as, "Brother tickle me!"  or "I not hitting!"  Finally he came in, happily saying, "I bite brother!"  When I sent him to time out he acted surprised and dismayed, saying, "I not eat brother."

Silas is so enthusiastic.  His favorite song is, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," and he truly is a little ray of sunshine around here.  It is so sweet to hear him get excited about things.  I offered to give him a snuggle when I put him down for his nap a few days ago and he started exclaiming, "Oh boy, oh boy!  Snuggle!  Oh boy oh boy!"  Announcing that we are going swimming at the YMCA is enough to set him off again, "Oh boy, I love it!  Hooray!"

Lately Silas also makes little calls on his imaginary cell phone.  This morning he was on the "phone" with Monkey Joe's (a center with those inflatable bounce houses).  We went there with a special coupon a couple weeks ago.  Doubtless he was calling to negotiate a new deal for us.

My Awesome Husband...

...has had his first ever big deal publication!  That's right, his work is published in this fancy journal:

And what, you may ask, did he write?  What was his important medical research about?  Well, the best part is, he submitted a poem.  :)  And they accepted it!  Apparently they publish a couple of poems every issue.  Here it is, for your perusal:

I'm absolutely tickled that his first-ever publication in a medical journal is a poem.  He is my renaissance man, and I love him.

Our West Virginia Vacation

Conrad had a week off in August, and we headed north to Monangahela National Forest in West Virginia.  Not only is it a beautiful locale, but it also makes for a great place to meet up with our dear Massachusetts Mylers!  We stayed the first night in a motel and enjoyed the pool and sandbox.  After church the next morning we hopped in our cars to drive to the Middle Mountain Cabins.  We drove and drove...and drove...and finally after 3 hours (it should've been 1.5) we found the cabins!  We had 3 GPS units and 2 sets of directions among us, or we may be looking for them still.

Naptime and bedtime for kids meant game time for grown ups!  We played lots of Dominion, Set, and Carcassone.

Coen is happily collecting pinecones.  He was very sticky afterwards.

Bug collecting with cousin Hadley and Uncle/Cousin Tristan.  Tristan had some pretty spiffy bug nets and collecting vials that he was willing to share.

This is Silas digging for worms.  Somehow the children always thought it was a great idea to use their spoons to dig for worms right before dinner.

Conrad is guarding the Dutch oven lest any children try to touch it.  The main kitchen cabin had a gas stove with an oven, but the oven part didn't work.  Fortunately our neighbors let us borrow their Dutch oven before we left.  We baked pizza, veggie pot pie, and hot fudge cake in it.  Conrad took charge of burning the wood down into coals every time.  It was a very time-consuming task, but I think he liked it.  And the children found the whole thing very entertaining.

Happy cousins!

Everyone should make falafel while camping.  Delicious!

Mmmm, Dutch oven hot fudge cake.  We celebrated Eli's birthday with it.

More happy cousins, and Auntie Heather too.  In the background you can see one of the little sleeping cabins.

Coen and Conrad pumping water to use in the sink.

Story time with Uncle Josh.

Silas is happy so long as there's a stick to hold.

There was no running water and no electricity.  We couldn't check our emails or answer our phones.  Conrad was there to help me put our boys down for naps and bedtime every day.  I kept telling him what a lovely relaxing vacation it was.

Where Did Summer Go?

It seems like summer just flew by.  Here are some of our doings from the hottest months of the year.

Pregnant lady as of the 4th of July.  It is hard for me to look at this and acknowledge that I now am much bigger.  I'll put up a more recent pregnant picture soon.

In July we went to Michigan to visit Grandma and Grandpa McKnight.  They took us to the MSU Children's Garden and we ran into Conrad's Grandpa Schafer!  He was helping with the mini train set there, which the boys loved.

Here are the boys playing on the play train at the Children's Garden...

...and here they are riding a REAL steam engine at Greenfield Village a few days later.  You should have seen their faces while we rode.  It was a little boy dream come true.

Here's the engine that we rode.  It even stopped for coal and water and let off steam partway through.  I asked Coen if he would like the job of the engineer, but he said it would be too loud for his ears.

Greenfield Village also had an adorable playground, including our favorite steam shovel (minus Mike Mulligan).

Coen had me take this picture of his dragon arm painting.  Bobo the clown did it for him at the library's end of summer reading party.  Coen wore his cape and helmet to dress up for the party...when you're 4, party clothes mean superhero garb for sure.

Here are my boys enjoying snow cones at the Tomato Art Festival in August.  They also got to help decorate and eat the world's largest ice cream sundae at the event.  There were bounce houses and balloons too.  (Thankfully one of the bounce houses was inside an air conditioned gym or I don't think I would've made it--it was HOT that day!)  On the way home Coen was already talking about going again next year.

These are my two handsome boys, all dressed and ready for church.

The weather cooled off enough for us to enjoy a walk/bike ride around Radnor Lake.  Coen is known to yell, "Guten Morgen!" and, "I'm as fast as a cheetah!" to people we pass by.

This is Silas' face after eating a crepe with Nutella rolled inside of it.  It really wasn't even that much Nutella.  He just has a special talent for getting food all over his face.  In other ways he can be very neat and tidy.  For example, he always insists on putting the milk cap back on the jug immediately after I pour it.  But he loves to mix and mash and dump his food.  Side note:  We ate a lot of crepes in August because I volunteered to make them for a Relief Society activity and had never made them before...so I practiced lots and they turned out great!  And nobody around here complained about having to eat all the practice crepes.

Coen insisted that I tie this empty box lid to his back so he could be a dump truck.  :)  We bought a bushel of apples less than 3 weeks ago and they're mostly gone.   

You know your child has listened to too much "Little House on the Prairie" when...

You hear him explain to his father that old-fashioned things don't waste electricity because they didn't have electricity back then.

He starts exclaiming things like, "I declare!" and "I'm hungry enough to eat a raw bear without salt!"

You overhear him telling his father how to build a cabin door.

He designs covered wagons with built-in threshing machines.  Just in case you drive over any wheat.

Your toddler develops a special affinity for cows.

Wandern-Lust

Seems like we've been doing a lot of hiking lately.

On a little hike at Edwin Warner Park in Nashville.

Conrad is very into hammocks lately.  This is his big double one that can hold the whole family (if we squish).  He also has an ultralight one that he sewed himself.

 Conrad and his brothers hiked Zion National Park for their first-ever Myler Mountain Man backpacking excursion.

In their wetsuits to hike/swim the subway.

At the top of Angel's Landing.

Chasing after waterfalls.

A couple weeks ago we took a vacation on Cumberland Island.  It is a national seashore only accessible by ferry.  We camped there for two nights.  Our second day we hiked 3.5 miles back to our next campsite.  Coen did it like a pro!  We even got him a special pack and he carried his own clothes, snacks, and water.

I got to carry Silas, who will hereafter be known as THE CHUNK.  He is getting way too heavy for me to carry.

Coen liked to climb this crazy sideways tree in our campsite.  Silas wanted to climb it too.

Wow!  Look at the size of those packs!

And then of course, we also got to play on the beach!

Silas was an absolute nut in the water.  He kept wading in and then sitting down in it.  His goal seemed to be to sit in the water exactly neck-deep.  And then he would roll around and splash and walk on his hands with his legs floating behind him.  He also liked to examine the bugs on the sand.  He does that at home too; he is always finding some little ant in the garden and pointing it out to me.

Coen was a good treasure finder.  He found some very nice shells that we packed out with us.

Cumberland Island also happens to have beautiful wild horses!  And terribly ferocious squirrels.  They ate right through our food bag.  

This is us exploring the ruins of the old Dungeness Mansion on the island.  I like the second picture because Silas looks like a potted plant.