Fully Loaded

Can we say full load? 

I think he might have felt just a little better after that one...don't you?

Mini-He and Mini-She

Our children don't look like us at all, do they?  Not one single bit.  Ahem. 

Me - 3 yrs?

Zoe - 3 yrs

Darin - 2 yrs?



Ethan - 1.5 yrs



Me - 3 yrs?

Zoe - 3 yrs

Nope - Not one single bit.  I don't know why when I showed Zoe both Darin's and my picture and she responded with, "That's Ethan and Zoe!"  And I don't know why Ethan looked at the picture of his daddy and said, "There Etan".  No clue!  :)

Snowpoclypse 2011

Crazy.  That's the understatement of the year!  We just got our third snow event...and by event, I mean anywhere from 3-9 inches.  The first one we had brought us just about 9 inches.  Yes, 9 inches of snow. Deep enough you had to walk like you were wearing scuba shoes.  It left our public school with three snow days to make up.  The second one brought us around 3, and that happened about two or three weeks after the major event.  This last one dumped only about 4 or 5 inches on us, but you'd have thought everyone was preparing for a major shut-in event.  This one had everyone scrambling to get every last pound of ground beef, every last bottle of water, box of poptarts, banana, and loaf of bread.  Literally, those items were gone from the store's shelves.  It had people scrambling because it was a little up in the air as to how much snow we actually got.  Some weathermen predicted only 3 inches while others guesstimated we'd see up to 8-10 inches.  Obviously we didn't get that much, but people wanted to be on the safe side knowing after our first snowstorm that the town would all but shut down.  The rolling hills of Arkadelphia don't make traveling on ice much fun...though they do make good hills for sledding!  After all three events, schools here are now going to June 8th.  Others are going till well after that, closer to the 15th.  They were all supposed to get out at the end of May.  Oops! 

So as for good playing snow.  First storm - ehh...too deep and too soft.  Couldn't even make a snowball.  

Second storm - the one with only three inches - best snow ever!  Allowed us to make this...remember?

Third storm - so so.  Good depth, but not good packing snow.  Too powdery and soft. 

What do they have in common?  All made GREAT snow ice cream!!!!!  We had that more times than I can count.  With the only ingredients being milk, sugar, vanilla, and snow, we always had what we needed. 

Kids aren't too fond of it yet, but they're just not quite sure what to do with it.  They usually just walk around and hit the bushes, watching snow fall off of them.  Zoe likes to drop in it and make snow angels.  And eat it.  And lick it.  And eat more of it.  Did I mention she likes to eat it? 

And this mama never gets tired of taking pictures of rosy, cold cheeks that are on the verge of windburn.  Not in the slightest. 

I think winter is almost gone.  Let me rephrase.  I hope winter is almost gone.  We're looking at almost two straight weeks of 60's and 70's. Frost, our latest snowman (mostly revived from Frosty, our snowman from the second storm) has finally completely melted away.  It took three days of 60 degree temps for him to melt away.  Until next year...hopefully!!!

It's a Par-Tay!

Well, not really.  It's really just a bunch of little kids eating tons of sugar, dumping their bags of valentines all over the table causing all of them to get mixed up together.  But the kids think it's a party.  Zoe's little school had their Valentines party today.  They exchanged Valentines cards with each other and passed them out. 

During our snow days last week, Zoe and I wrote all her cards out.  She wrote the names of each of her classmates and then wrote her name on each card as well.  To our surprise, she read all the names back to us after we finished writing all of them.  Close to reading, maybe?  :)

Anyway, she had fun...and that's all that counts. 

Sibling Rivalry? Hosh posh!

Now don't get me wrong.  My two kids do have their moments of all out toddler battles complete with high pitched shrills and attempts to push and tackle to the ground.  Usually it's because of a toy, and usually that toy gets put in time out.  USUALLY, problem solved.  After the "time out" is done, they've both forgotten about it and mom is once again at peace. 

But 75% of the time, this is what we see from our two kids.  Pure admiration from Ethan and mommy intuition from Zoe.  It just melts my heart...Everytime.  I don't care what it is that one or the other does, but they at 21 months and 3 and a half, my kids are developing a true love/love (only occasionally hate) relationship. 

Don't believe me?  Check this out! 

This, she obviously wasn't too crazy about...

But she made do.



I asked her to help him put his shoes on...she actually did it.  And he actually let her!



Hugs!



More hugs!



Yes, those are stickers being put ALL over our dining room chairs. 

Helping lil' bro with his ABC puzzle.  Teacher genes? 

 See?  Told you!  They really do get along most of the time.  Much more now than even a month ago.  Not sure what has happened, but there has been a drastic shift in they way they behave.  They play together.  They share...sometimes.  :)  They help each other.  They're polite to each other.  It amazes me!  But I'm loving it!!!!

Nearing two

Well, my little man is 21 months old.  Less than a quarter of the year left before he turns 2!!!  We are definitely starting to see some of this "terrible two" behavior.  Not too much, but starting to see some.  

So little guy, at 21 months, you are still only about 22-23 lbs.  You don't eat much, but love hot dogs and yogurt.  You're pretty picky with meat.  You like veggies and love fruits.  Your favorite type of meat is probably fish, ironically....besides hot dogs, that is. 

You wear 18-24 month clothes and a size 6 shoe.

You are talking up a storm.  You use full sentences (5-6 words) and communicate very well. You pick up new words every day thanks to your chatter box sister.  She loves to teach you new words and phrases.

You know your numbers up to about 12, then start skipping around randomly to 20. 

You know circle, square, rectangle, oval, diamond, hexagon, pentagon, trapezoid, semicircle, cube, and cylinder.  We're really not that nerdy...you just love doing your shapes puzzle and reading this one specific shapes book. Though I've seen eyes get kinda big when people hear you call something a trapazoid.  Oh, and we can't forget your favorite show "Team Umizoomi" that is all about shapes.

You know all of your letters in uppercase and can recognize some of the lower case letters. (I promise, we don't just sit down and drill the kid...these are all learned through puzzles, books, and a talking magnet board). 

You love to sing.  You sing the ABC song (well, most of it), Jesus Loves Me, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  You LOVE to dance.  You just beebop to the beat in your head sometimes. 

You have started to have a few successes in the potty. One #1 and several #2's.  You love to sit on the potty, in your words, "just like Zoe." 

Your sister has apparently hung the moon in your eyes.  You want to do everything she does.  You'll tell us very plainly, "I wanna do it just like Zoe."  Particular little thing, you are.

You may hate me one day for saying this, but you love to play in your sister's room with her dollhouse, princesses, and whatever else it is she has played with.  Again, your sister has hung the moon.  BUT, the good thing is you also love balls, cars, and tools.  I guess you are just going to be a well balanced kid.  :) 

You could still sit for hours and read with us.  You love to cuddle and LOVE to wrestle.  You can be dangerous sometimes, actually. 

You are all about going outside.  You love the outdoors!  In fact, you asked to go out yesterday when it was 27 degrees outside. 

You still sleep about 11-12 hours at night and take about a 1.5-2 hour nap during the day.

You have FINALLY STOPPED BUTTING YOUR HEAD!  Oops...I guess I got a little excited.  You do it a little bit sometimes if you have an ear infection or a tooth coming in, but no more to the point of bruises.  Hallelujia!!!  I guess I should find some wood to knock on, huh?

You are just a goofy kid and love to laugh.  You're a fun little guy to be around...most times!  Here's to the next 21 months!

Handome guy in his tux for Paul's wedding. 

Hair Journey Continued...

So I evidently forgot to post this last month.  But I cropped a picture to give you an idea.  Here is the journey thus far.  I'll probably let it grow out past the shoulders to mid back and keep side swept bangs.  That's the plan right now, but things may change.

September

October

November

December

January

February - SUCH a goofy looking picture!!

 

Sleepin' like his daddy

Evidently my kiddo was a bit tired.  He was watching his favorite show, Team Umizoomi, and just zonked out.  He sleeps like his daddy! 

And yes, he that is a pink stroller sitting right by his side.

And yes, he is holding a pink poodle in his lap.

And no, I'm not being horribly mean to him. He doesn't normally take morning snoozes, and when he does, sometimes it ruins any legitimate afternoon nap. I actually tried to wake him up just by the sound of the vaccuum turning on.  No such luck.  Then I tried to vaccuum near him.  No such luck.  That's when I resorted to running into his feet, which barely did the trick.