Update

 

First of all, I wanted to post a picture of these cute little ornaments my kids painted.  I found these cute plain white ornaments when I was in line at the fabric store after being there for roughly THREE HOURS (the only good thing about that was at least I didn’t have any children with me, but I still wanted to gouge my eyes out).  Anyway, these were like $.30 and I love how they turned out.  They used markers and paint and they’re now my favorite ornaments.  We’ll definitely be doing that each year.

Ben’s, Nate’s, Abby’s, and Anna’s

I love all my children so very, very much at every age, but an 18 month old is my favorite creature EVER.  Joshua is off the charts adorable.  Sure, he has his moments of crankiness, but for the most part he’s just pure payoff.  He’s finally starting to talk a bit, and because he’s been in no hurry to speak, we’ve taught him a few signs.  I’m pretty sure there’s nothing cuter than a baby signing.  He signs and says, “milk”.  He also signs “more” and “shoes”.  Shoes are his favorite thing in his life, he wants them on at all times, and if he can’t have them on because he has footed jammies on and they won’t fit, he either just carries his shoes around or puts a pair of Nate’s or Ben’s on.  Whenever anyone walks in he says, “Hhhhhhiiiiii!”  He also says, “Nigh, nigh!” and sometimes “than koo”.   When we ask him what a cow says, he scrunches up his face, wrinkling his nose and says, “Moooo”.  For Christmas he got one of those darling real looking shopping carts, we have been cracking up watching him get a wet wipe and wipe down the front of the cart like he’s seen me do at the store every time we go.  In case you can’t tell, we love Joshua.

 

Benjamin is a busy guy.  Our neighbors got a Wii and he’s pretty much moved in.  Fortunately, the neighbor kids have preschool every morning, so I still have him around every morning.  He’s so great about playing with his motorcycle guys and blocks for hours.  I tell him a lot how great he’s playing.  Every now and then if I haven’t mentioned it, he’ll say, “Mom, how am I playing?”  It cracks me up.   The other night Joshy was crying and clinging to my leg while I was trying to make dinner.  Ben looked down at him and said, “He is just a mess.”   We love Ben.

Nate is very much a 7 year old boy.  I drove Nate and his friend somewhere the other day and had the privilege of listening to them take turns saying things like:  “You and your girlfriend sat and ate peanut butter together and then burped!” followed by bursts of hysterical laughter, then the other would say something equally “hilarious”.    We love Nathan.

Abby and her friend, Paige, are quite a team.  The other day they played at Paige’s house and made a time capsule.  I asked her if they wanted to do it here, but they told me that they already had a specific spot of ground in mind at Paige’s.   Abby’s school teacher is probably late 40’s early 50’s and is really pretty and stylish.  I bought Abby some long brown boots and some new pants.  She put them all on and was feeling great.  She pranced around for a second and then said, “I’m like a mini Mrs. Potter”.  We love Abigail.

Anna is as busy as ever.  She’s been playing on an indoor soccer team.  Her team has some really good players, but they’re playing teams who have played indoor for years and on comp teams so basically our team is getting pulverized week after week.  It’s been kind of great to watch them though, they’ve made huge progress and are determined to give it everything they have.   She’s also been working really hard on her’s and Chloe’s production of “Annie” and the performances are this weekend!  We love Anna.

Brennan’s two least favorite things in the world are – camping and cold.  He got to combine them and participate in the Klondike campout with his young men this weekend.  Plus, he was in charge.  He’s been losing sleep over this for weeks now so needless to say we’re all very happy that’s over.  He actually had fun too, so that was a bonus.  I’m very proud of him.  We love Brennan.