Pretty

Ellie has been really into dresses and skirts lately. Unfortunately, this has come during the winter, when we only have 2 pairs of warm tights - and this mom thinks skirts and dresses are just kinda silly when the weather is below freezing. Also, Ellie isn't one to sit nicely in a dress - or be concerned about panties showing and/or tearing her tights. So, I tend to purchase jeans and pants for her.

Anyways, when she can, she either wears a dress or changes into a dress when she plays around the house. One day recently, I had told her she needed to take off the dress she was wearing (it was a spring, sleeveless type) so that we could go somewhere. She started crying and said, "Mom, you are taking off my pretty! Please, don't take off my pretty."

How do you spend an evening?

Watching TV? Playing board games? Doing a puzzle?
At our house, we dance in the living room - kids in their underwear. Or sometimes the cushions come off the couch, and Billy wrestles with Jack and Ellie. Amelia & I usually try to steer clear of that one - as that gets pretty rowdy. But the kids LOVE to turn on the radio - we listen to The Bus - and dance our little hearts out! I don't think you'll find any of us on the next season of Dancing with the Stars - but it's a good way to burn some energy.

Lazy Dog

It looks as if we rescued a very lazy dog! It works well, since we have a small house, and we couldn't really handle a high-energy, spaz dog. She pretty much lays around all day -- she enjoys her walks, and does play with the kids here and there. But for the most part, she finds joy being in her kennel or checked out on the couch.

Pizza Face

Luckily this is actually pizza on her face - and not early puberty on my 10-month old! Look, she's even got it in her hair behind her ear. Least to say, she had a bath after lunch.

"You're a Nark"

The other day, Ellie and Jack were racing across the living room. If you've been in my living room, then you know that this was a short race!

Ellie would say, "On your mark, Get set, GO!" And then Jack starting chiming in, but his sounded like this: "You're a nark, get set, GO!"

Mr. Funny

Jack has been quite the character lately - I wish I could remember everything he says these days. Today he was quoting Snow Dogs - a family movie - "You've got something wrong with your head, no, you've got something wrong with your head!" And he has been saying, "No way!" quite a bit. Mom: Jack, you need to pick up your tools. Jack: No way! Ellie: Bubba, let's go play downstairs. Jack: No way!

The other day when Ellie got home from school, he asked, "How was school today, Ellie?"
And he's also becoming a bit of a copy cat - saying and wanting everything his big sister does. So if she wants ketchup, he wants ketchup. If she wants to watch Clifford, he wants to too. She said, "Mom, why does he do everything that I do?!" I told her it was because she is cool and he wants to be cool too. She still thinks it's annoying.

She's a Movin'

under the coffee table standing at the tv

under the piano bench trying to get downstairs

Now that Little Miss is moving - she's everywhere! Pulling herself up on things, trying to get downstairs, there is nothing she won't explore. Here are some fun pictures.

New Animal - Round 2 - Nala!

Well, the cat didn't last that we got last fall - I think we had him 2 months before we realized that he was possessed, or something to that matter. We shipped him north to a Minnesota farm. Fortunately, the kids weren't attached, and were also glad to get rid of the little critter.

Last week, while searching online, a cute little face at the Boone Area Humane Society found it's way into my heart. We brought home "Cinnamon" - who has been renamed "Nala" this morning. She's a 7-month old lab-vizla mix; which is close to my heart because I grew up with a lab/vizla mix and she recently went to doggie heaven.

Nala has already taken to the kids and I think she'll fit in great! She was spayed yesterday, so she's still not feeling great. We are excited for the weather to be warm this weekend for us to go outside with her!

Cute

Darn it - she's just too cute. Had to share! And a photo of her standing on her own - she's getting stronger, and she can stand there for quite a few seconds.

Doctor Visit

I took the all three kids to the doctor yesterday. Amelia's 9-month well-check, Jack's 3-year well-check, and then Ellie had her hearing screened again.

Amelia - growing fine, doing well. 17lbs, 27 inches. Almost exactly the same size Jack was at this age. Found that she had her first ear infection, she is on antibiotics right now. She hasn't run a fever or been real fussy, so I was a little surprised. But we are all sick here - so I suppose I shouldn't be.

Ellie - she's been seeing someone to help her with her speech - and they wanted to have her hearing screened again. She can hear fine - so obviously, it's a focusing issue. Hmmmm?? Surprised, anyone?

Jack - to no surprise, he is in the 5th percentile in height and weight. He's proportionate, but is needing to put on some pounds. (He'll be 3 next month, and is just fitting into 2T clothing). So we need to push the protein and try to get this little guy to eat more. I wanted to share what he said during his vision screen.

For 3-year olds, since they don't know letters yet, they use a series of pictures. The 3 pictures of different sizes were an umbrella, a house, and an apple. The first picture, when asked what it was, Jack said, "A rain thing." And the 2nd picture he said, "Where a dog lives." I thought those were both very good descriptions of the items pictured. And he said it in his cute little voice. I wish I could have had it on video.

Overall, healthy kids. We are blessed!

Jane Fonda Workout?

Here are a series of shots of Amelia doing some great aerobic or yoga moves!

Crawling

Well, I think the day after I posted that she was almost crawling, she actually made the real moves to be crawling. She still is not a big fan yet - I'm not sure if it's really hard work, she's lazy, she wants to walk instead, or she just wants to be held. On occasion, she'll cruise around the house from here to there, but as you can tell, she's not real fast, and so it takes her awhile. But mostly, we get what you see in the video - crawling with whining.

An Evening Hanging Out

So the other night Billy had a meeting, and I had the kiddos for about an hour on my own. Usually, by this time of the day (7pm), I'm wore out and have lost most of my motivation to do anything too exciting with the kids, as I've been doing thing with them on and off throughout the day. Billy is really good about taking over when he gets home and coming up with something active for them to do.

Anyways, we went into Amelia's room to read books and hang out - as you can tell, they were each kind of doing their own thing at this point. This video ended up being kind of funny and I thought I'd share.

Almost Crawling

Amelia is getting so close to crawling. She also started clapping this week, which is really fun. You'll see that at the first part of the video quick, and then into trying to get moving.

Daddy-Daughter Photo

I think she has his eyes.

Snow Fall

As many of you in Iowa know - about 1/2 of Iowa got dumped on on Tuesday/Wednesday of this week. Ellie didn't have preschool either day, and this would mark the 4th day of no school in 2008. We did do some scooping (or shoveling, depending on how you say it), but a nice neighbor came by and ran the snowblower too. We aren't sure which one, as there are 3 around us that have them. We try to pay back with lawn mowing in the summer. I believe Des Moines got 8" - and the most I've heard is over a foot in more SE Iowa.

Blinking Amelia

Amelia has started a new thing - blinking on purpose. Sometimes she just does it just on her own, but other times you can get her to do it back and forth with you. Here is an example, while she's enjoying a snack of Cherrios. She just figured out this week how to get them in her mouth herself. Yeah! Now she can have snacks while I'm getting food prepared and I'm not having to put one in her mouth for her. This is much help for the busy mom!

One Small Boy

Here is what one small boy can do in a matter of minutes. Why are boys so destructive? And not even 3 years old yet, he knows how to place the blame on his sister.

The video is of the mess - the still photo is what it's suppose to look like - which took me about an hour to do. It was one of my afternoon projects while the little ones were napping.

Midnight in highchair

Hey - you got any of those eats for me?!

Alright then, I'll just wait patiently until you change your mind.

Other good kid photos

Jack, being a boy and hitting stuff.

Ellie's hair is getting long - and hard to keep tidy.

I know - you can say it - awe!

Here are some other good photos taken of the kids this month. I likey my new camera!
Click the pic to enlarge it.