Sunday, January 24, 2010

Updates

It's been too long since I've shared some new happenings with the kids.

Let's start with Kaylee. She reminds us that "Daddy calls me 'bug' and Mommy calls me 'sweetheart'". She can be both, believe me!!

She has just started into the "Why" phase. Some days it gets to be annoying. I took up some advice from a friend of ours. Whenever I get annoyed and want the questions to end, I simply say "Because elephants have flat feet". You know what? It works! Only now when I say it Kaylee has to add in "And they're too big!" I can't remember why she started saying that, but you know what? It stops her "why" questions real fast!

Kaylee still loves to travel. It's gotten to the point now that we don't tell her we're going on a trip until we're about to leave. She is always ready at a moment's notice to go to the ends of the earth and it's pure torture to know a trip is coming up but that we can't leave yet...even if it's the next day or after nap time!

Kaylee is thinking about growing up. She talks about how she will be getting bigger but other times she wants to stay little. She likes to pretend to be my baby. But she also likes to be my "mommy" and tuck me in for naps (my favorite game!!).

Kaylee is quick to hug and give kisses. She often says "Oh, I love you so much!" or "Mom, you're the best!" One day after telling me she loved me, she got a real sad look on her face and said, "But, I love Daddy best" It was so cute. I know she was meaning to say that she missed daddy because he was at work, but she didn't quite know how to say it.

Hudson... oh Hudson! What a character! He loves to dance and jump. He loves to sit and cuddle with me. He loves to try on everyone's shoes and walk around the house. He can climb up on chairs and tables now (yikes). When he walks he sometimes squats like he's going to pounce. That kid has some serious thigh muscles, let me tell you!

But the most amazing thing about Hudson right now is that his brain is just a sponge. At 14 months old he started pointing to letters and saying them correctly. He knows all his ABC's - capital and mostly lower case as well. Although for M he says "emma" and with W he says "double". He's got most of his numbers 1-10 down as well. It's funny the difference with kids. I remember being concerned at Kaylee's 18 month appointment because she only had a few words at the time. Hudson not only has tons of words, but he already knows his ABC's. I guess it helps having an older sibling. It also helps that his favorite book is an ABC book.

One more thing on Hudson so I don't forget. He says banana as "obama". Kinda cute. I wonder if he things President Obama's name is really President Banana. :-)

Monday, January 11, 2010

Christmassy Fun

This year I finally had the energy and lack of sanity to do some fun Christmas "crafts" with Kaylee. Hudson helped pick up any strays that made their way off the table.
We made some sugar cookies to go with our tea.
I also glued together some graham crackers as a lazy way to make gingerbread houses. How lazy was I? I used store bought canned frosting too! I figured the kids wouldn't know any different. This was a project we did on a day that Kaylee's friend Emily was over to play. I've never had these kids occupied and happy for so long!
Here's Kaylee's house:
And here's Emily's house:
The Sunday before Christmas was Kaylee's very first Christmas play performance. She's always been so shy. I've often wondered just what she'd do if she was put in front of a crowd like that. But she did great. She was well behaved and often tried to sing along - with very exaggerated mouth movements (very funny), but of course was easily distracted by the other little ones around her.
The teachers told us they thought she would probrably be the dress lifter this year (there always seems to be one every year, right?) So we joked about drawing something on her belly, like "Amen" or "Hi Mom". Turned out she was able to refrain this time. Oh well...
For those of you who get our yearly video, you'll get to see it next year!

And of course, no Christmas program would be complete with out a bag of treats!!

Sno Fun

Our one and only snowfall of the winter (so far) brought this little bit of happiness to our day.


My Birthday

This was my birthday present - a waffle maker! I always wanted one. It came with a recipe for "overnight waffles" that is amazing! They are light and crispy and unbelievably good.

Good call, Jeff!

Waffles are becomming a new Sunday morning tradition!