Our Aweful Beautiful Life

In fact, she's closer to two at this point than she is to one. Yikes. Where did the time go? I swear that June of 2010 was just yesterday and that the last 21 months have just flown. She's progressing nicely, growing and learning each day. It seemed to us that Colton was a true chatter box, talking up a storm by this age, but as the days go by, I'm learning that Em isn't as much behind as I like to think she is. She's in that stage where she is picking up words left and right and I'm fearful for what will come next. How will we ever survive TWO talkers? Pray for us, would ya? It's fun to hear her mimick us and her brother. Some of her new words/phrases include: "Ober" -- as she points to the TV when a show is over. Announcing this is her way of saying -- Turn it on again, Mom!! "Dowwwww" -- when she wants down. "Nooooose" - when she points to her nose, and "Eck" when she points to her neck! She can quickly and ...

We should have seen this coming. We've always said that dear Colton has been far too easy for a little boy. He's fairly well behaved. He's 4 and just NOW starting to be defiant (yay for those fun times) and all in all he's a wonderful big brother to Emmalyn. We've even had friends and neighbors comment on how good to each other they are. Heart warming, isn't it? He hasn't made any big messes or done anything that just made us want to cringe.......UNTIL last weekend. Jason was working all weekend and at the same time, gearing up to go on a 6 day snowmobiling trip. I suppose maybe THAT is what had Colton out of sorts. Or perhaps I could blame preschool...after all, it's teaching him confidence he didn't realize he had. As well as teaching him to use scissors. (Although, I still prefer to blame my cousin Erin for that trick, who let him randomly play with scissors as if he was 8 when my grandma passed away two years ago. Do the math. He was barely 2. ...

"Mom, that shirt is pretty on you" - Colton told me this just this morning. Talk about turning a bummer of a morning (basically because who wants to go to work all day on a Saturday, let alone DRESSING UP to do so...). It was just complete random and when I asked what made him say that -- he simply replied, "because, that's a new shirt". I swear to you -- this kid pays more attention to clothes than any child I've EVER met. "Down. DOOOWWWWNNN" -- Emmalyn will say this, obviously, when she wants down. It's pretty funny. All of the words she's learning right now -- seem to be more like a command. Others include - hot, let's go, stop, don't, bow, up, and drink! She's making progress!!! (FINALLY! I know I'll cuss myself for wishing she'd hurry up and talk, but it'd make meeting her needs so much easier!) "Happy Valentine's day. I put the laundry away for you" -- I bet you'll never guess who left me...

Emmalyn can say cheese now. In case you couldn't tell. (It must take a LOT of energy to squeak out that "CHEESE!" Oh yeah, and Happy Valentines Day! :)

We have officially reached a peak in our preschool year. Many times, on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night in our home, you can hear... Half Circle. Circle. Line. Line with a cross. Circle. Line with a hump.   Better known as: C-O-L-T-O-N It's probably a good thing that I didn't ever pass that Praxis test to become a teacher. Now, when I ask Colton how to spell his name....he tells me -- half cirlce. circle. line. ... Sorry Miss Christy & Miss Kelly. I was only trying to help... :)

If you've heard of Pinterest, you know that it can be addicting. My favorite pin so far is the one that says, I wish I had the time and energy to actually do all of the things I pin. (If you haven't checked it out, and you have time to read this blog...then you should check it out. There really are some cool craft ideas/recipes/design styles, etc on there...) ANYWAY....it consistently inspires me to do something crafty. Tonight was a crafty fail. I had the bright idea (at 7pm on my way home from getting groceries, last minute Valentine's day goodies), to have the kids use finger paint to make Jason a homemade valentine. Good idea, right? WRONG. Actually, half wrong. I suppose with a 4 year old and a 1 1/2 year old...my odds will always be 50/50 for something being successful. And honestly, they were doing so great with this craft. They really were. Anyway...I left the room for literally 10 seconds....TEN SECONDS and this is what I returned to find. And now, perhaps,...

Hmm, a phone call from Trent: "Hello" "Since when did I have to start paying for my own damn thank you cards? "Huh? What....oh wait." "Yeah, I got a note in my mailbox saying that I owe $.45 cents and that I've got a piece of mail addressed to "Uncle Trent Hall, Wolcott, Indiana 47995." "Well, the good news is that I can send you unaddressed letters with no postage and rest assured that they will find their way to you, right? PS. I can explain" You see, Colton was blessed this past birthday, so we had a handful of birthday thank you cards to write. I got them all finished up and Colton took his time to carefully (and not so neatly) sign his name to each one. I addressed them, and set them on the dining room table. At 5am when I was getting around to be to work early and prepping myself for an event (as well as trying to leave things in order for a quick and easy "out the door" for Jason), I separated the thank ...

Some day, I'll look back on this time in our life and wish I could remember what their little voices sounded like. What letters they couldn't quite say. What words they tried to say, but no matter how hard they tried, they just plain couldn't. Luckily, thanks to modern technology, and a working video component to my camera -- I can capture those moments. Today's stage was a bubble bath. Who knows what tomorrow stage will be. I'm just glad I've got a couple of preformers on my hands....Enjoy.