Friends

Abby is starting to not want to sit in the shopping cart.  (gah!) Instead she wants to walk...with William, who is more than happy to keep an eye on his little sis. 

What's up?

We've been remarkably busy these days. The kids are taking shorter naps, and I've tried (fairly successfully!) to cut out Abby's morning nap as well. I do insist that the afternoon quiet time is at least an hour, though, to allow me some time to regain my sanity. Ahem.  They both usually sleep for that amount of time, or even longer.

The weather has been just gorgeous, so the kids have wanted to play outside a lot. William also wants to do any and all crafts, loves working on his letters, and just about every day asks to do play doh.

William learned about the letter "K". Abby's favorite letter so far has been "J for Jerry Jellyfish" because she loves to shake her body like a slippery jellyfish!

This is a fun mosaic activity, that he can either sort by color or shape, or use one of the many pattern cards to make a picture. He still cannot recognize his colors, but I do know that he can decipher colors, as he was able to sort them just fine.

This activity: Complete Fail.  I took a picture of the box so none of you faithful readers would get it for your child and then be completely frustrated and angered that it didn't work out.  William was really looking forward to making this butterfly, too.  The pieces were simply too small (looked quite large, actually, in the photo on the box) and they didn't adhere well enough.  I even tried glue.  I felt much better after I chucked it into the trash and announced we were going to the park.  Get ready!

So yes, we spent a good amount of time this morning playing at the park, since our planned activity from Michael's (love that store!) was a disaster.  Man, my little 3 year old is quite the monkey!  Compared to last year, where even going up the stairs to the slide was a big deal, this year is going to give me heart attacks.  He climbed up the bars, the chain link whatever-their-calleds, you name it!  I was up on the playground thing making sure he didn't kill himself when Abby called me.  I quickly made my escape down the fire pole.  I helped Abby and turned at the exact moment that William landed on the ground after attempting to also slide down the pole.  A dad who had been watching the whole thing had started to run up, but when he saw that William was none the worse for wear, started laughing and shaking his head, completely amazed at what he saw.  He said that William sat down, reached for the pole, missed with one hand, grabbed back on to the playground floor, and then, well...just let go.  I would like to think that William was a bit shook up...maybe he'll be more cautious next time?  Anyway...it was a fun time!

Gearing up

I started prepping for Valentine's Day a mite early.  As in the second week of January.  I've held off posting these pictures so it wouldn't seem ridiculous, and seeing that I took the "final product" picture just today...

Here is William working on a heart mobile.  He was really excited to do this craft, as was I, but it proved a bit difficult, as the paper hearts kept breaking.  Let's just say his frustration level was high, so I ended up finishing the craft.

A peak

John and I painted Abby's room.  I wasn't in a huge rush to do it simply because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do in it.  But after John gave me the go-ahead, I brainstormed and came up with a great idea.  I am still working on the finishing touches, so when it's all complete I'll post a picture.  Until then, here's a sneak peak of the two colors I've chosen.  The darker blue on the wall is tape - ignore that.

18 months

Abby with her cousin Kellie

Yup, that's right.  My baby girl turned 18 months just a few days ago.  She's doing so much and saying so much that I'm sure I'll miss things, but here goes...


Words she can say...
*hot?  (She copies William on this one, since he always asks if his food is hot.)
*Momma/Mommeey!
*Daddy
*Gau-gee (Doggy, my favorite!  She used to say puppy all the time, but now its gau-ge)
*Ah go?  (Where did it go?  She'll drop food or a toy or something then ask about it.)
*Shoes (Her favorite thing!)
*Socks
*Abby (although when she sees herself in the mirror she usually referees to herself as "Baby!")
*Bu-bye
*EEEEAT!  (She's turning out to be quite picky these days!)
*Mu (Milk)
*Ba (Bottle...do these count as actual words?)
*Towel (When its tubby time she runs to the bathroom and shouts for her towel!)
*All major parts of the body she can say AND identify
*Kitty
*Tweet! (Her way of saying "bird")
*Book
*Pipe
*Nigh nigh
*Bow (Before starting her day she absolutely needs her hair done, preferably with a bow!)
*Aside (Outside)
*Pees (Please - she also signs this one, along with signing "more")
*Seat (referring to her bike seat, or high chair seat)

There are more words, I'm sure, but theses are just a few unique ones that I can think of.  I just booked her 18 month check-up, but that won't happen until February.  Overall I think she's doing great! 

What a little treasure she is!

Prayers

William says prayers at night.  He always starts off with, "Now I lay me down to sleep..." and finishes with his own thoughts.  It's always interesting to hear what he says, what's on his little heart.

However, he never, ever fails to pray for one specific person.
Uncle Reid.

He gets to the end of his prayers and he always says, "God bless Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Reid..." and on he'll go.  Sometimes he just stops after Uncle Reid and says "Amen."  But always, ALWAYS Uncle Reid is included.

Abby?
Not always.

Uncle Reid?
Without fail.

Last night he got to the end of his prayer and before getting to "God bless Mommy..." he paused for quite awhile.  I thought he was finished, so I prompted, "Amen."  Immediately he whips up his bowed head and says, "But I didn't pray for Uncle Reid yet!"

Yeah, yeah...

I'm going a little crazy with my postings.  But I just couldn't resist posting these cute pictures of my almost 18 month old baby girl.  With her bangs cut she just looks so much...older.

She's all girl - loves her bows!

Craftsmen

I will be the first to admit it.  When John announced that he would be the one building our patio cover I had some serious doubts.  He's a computer guy and not a woodworker.  However this week he calmed my fears of a poorly constructed patio cover with the completion of a gorgeous picnic table!  John's folks spent Christmas with us, and I guess John and his Dad wanted something fun to do so...they decided that there was no better way to spend the Christmas holiday than by building a table.  They found plans, bought the wood and supplies and, well, built it. 

William was a part of the process pretty much from start to finish.  I think he was supervising here.

But after all the pieces were cut, he was able to help sand them smooth.

Unfortunately no pictures of the staining were made...I helped stain the pieces!  Yah!

 Checking in on the progress...

Putting the finishing touches on.  By the way, they finally finished the table January 1, around 11:55pm.  Seriously.  Carole and I were chatting away in the living room when suddenly we heard sawing at 11pm!  We rolled our eyes and waited for the announcement that the table was complete.  We were able to toast the New Year with champagne on our beautiful new table!  Thank you SO much Dad, for helping to make the table!  It's just beautiful!

Yes, I know...I look exhausted.  But hey, it was after midnight!

After our snowball fight John and two of the neighbor guys were able to move the table to the back patio, where it currently awaits a patio cover.  I can't wait for spring to come!  And a patio cover!

 

Well I'll be!

It snowed here.  In the desert.  An incredible snow storm blew through here Sunday night and "dumped" (to use the words of the locals) an inch or so of snow.  Obviously Monday was a snow day for the school kids.  I just had to laugh.  I grew up in the snow.  6 months out of the year there was snow on the ground, sometimes drifts many, many feet high.  But an inch...yep.  That will paralyze these desert folks.

Our vehicles are not able to be in the garage.  The reason why is forthcoming in another post.

 William and I immediately got to making a snowman.  The weather was warming up, so the snow was melting, making it the perfect packing snow.  Ignore the lawn mower.  My children obviously aren't around snow enough.  I told them it was a dual use mower - cuts grass AND plows snow!

 The sea gulls were SO confused with all the snow.  (I seriously can't believe I just wrote that.)

 One snowman isn't enough.

Soon the neighbor kids were all having a snowball fight!  Such fun!