A little bit of Nora

Nora just wrapped up her swimming lessons and waited 6 long weeks to do this at the end:

She likes to layer clothing lately... mainly socks and underwear. This day she had about 20 socks on each foot (nothing else was on her feet!) and was "ice skating" around the house. I was laughing so hard at the size of her feet:

How we love this cute girl and her big imagination!

Snow Fun!

We've gotten a lot of snow here in the last few weeks - Sophie's had two days off of school because of it! Yesterday was one of the snow days and by afternoon we all had a bit of cabin fever and the kids were fighting and grumpy, so we bundled up and headed in the backyard. We made this double entrance fort - that has a tunnel connecting the entrances. It ended up looking much like a nose but the kids have had a great time playing in it. The neighbors joined us soon after it was done and they all loved playing family in it. Then they decorated it with squirt bottles of water and food coloring. Miles was outside for a long time helping as well, but he didn't get in the picture because he was out with me when I didn't have my camera. It was a fun afternoon! And even though I'm dreaming of Spring I am trying to enjoy the last of winter!
{oh please, please be the last! please?}

In trying to enjoy the last of winter I've come up with a few things I love about it:

* NO nasty sippy cups lurking underneath the car seats. If they are there, they're frozen. Yay!
* Along those same lines - crayons left in the car don't melt on the seat/floor and make a mess.
* I can go grocery shopping and make other stops if I need to and not worry about the cold stuff staying cold!

* My kids in snuggly, fuzzy pajamas.
* Hot cocoa with Reddi-whip for me and marshmallows for the kids. Yum.
* Warm comfort food. Double Yum.
* Getting exercise while playing outside with the kids! My arms were seriously sore the next day after building that fort!

Parent Training

Miles has successfully trained Brian and I to let him come into our bed every morning at 5am for a sippy cup of chocolate milk. And he stays there for the rest of the morning tossing and turning until 7:00 when Brian and I have to get up. Then he goes back to sleeping so peacefully until 8:00. There are some downfalls to having all 3 kids share a room! We have been so worried about letting him cry and wake up the girls that he knows he gets to come in with us every time he cries. He just might be moving back down to the office for a while until we can get him back to sleeping well. He sure does look sweet when he's asleep, though!

Miles' birthday

Here's some pics of Miles' birthday:

The cake
Shoveling snow with dad - he loves this and doing it with dad made it even better!
Blowing out the candles
Opening presents!

We had all the neighbors over for pizza, cake and ice cream. Miles got a racetrack and a farm from Brian and I. Sophie gave him his favorite book and Nora gave him a Doc car, from Cars. He was spoiled by our neighbors and grandparents as well. Thank you everyone! He didn't want to go to sleep last night and kept crying out, "nightning.... farm....toys... birday!" Today in a magazine we saw a large Thomas the Tank engine that had a little boy sitting on it (like THIS one) and Miles pointed to it and said, "Me! Birday!" He definitely liked getting gifts!

He's Two!

Happy Birthday little man!

my best attempt at getting a picture of the birthday boy this morning

Some things we love about Miles:

* When any of us starts singing he immediately says, "SHHH!!!"
* He asks for a bubble bath about 3-4 times a day. He says, "Bath... Dreen Bubbles? Pwease?!" He loves to sit in the tub with his trains and cars and wash them all under the faucet.
* When he laughs his face completely lights up and he gets the biggest smile. I love his laughter.
* He's still a picky eater, but getting a little better. Some of his favorite things to eat are yogurt, juice, carrots with ranch, bananas and chocolate milk.
* He loves to play hide-n-seek. He says, "Hide. Heek. 'mon!" (hide, seek, come on!)
* When he gets mad or doesn't get something he wants he has to destroy anything in his way.
* He always calls for me at night. He is still quite a daddy's boy, but it's me he wants at night - and I love it! Although sometimes he'll call me and when I come in to pick him up he says - "Daddy!" I think he knows I'm the one who will definitely hear him! :)
* Every time I change his diaper he tries really hard to toot or go potty while I'm doing it - and laughs hysterically - such a boy!
* He still loves his cars,trains,balls,etc...
* He is talking so much and the girls love to tell him what to say and hear him copy them.
* Lately he wants to say every prayer (with our help). Of course we let him because is there anything cuter than a two year old saying a prayer? I think not.
* We are transitioning him out of naps. If he naps he's up until about 10pm, if not he's usually asleep by 8:15. So he is only napping every 3-4 days when he needs to catch up a bit.
* He loves books!
* Anytime we are in the car he points out every semi, truck, tractor, or any red cars that resemble Lightning McQueen.

We feel so lucky to have this wonderful little boy as part of our family.
We love you Miles!

My funny valentines

We had a fun Valentine's day here today. The girls insisted I receive flowers (I did not put them up to it - promise!) We had heart shaped pancakes for breakfast and the kids got a little box of chocolates and a book from Brian and I. We went to church where Sophie ended up losing the treat her primary teacher gave her and went into complete hysterics over it and wrote the following note to Brian and I once we got home:

Funny, funny Sophie. She snapped out of it after Brian read her a few books on the couch. In fact she came down a few minutes ago and saw the picture of her note and said, "I don't feel that way anymore. I wrote that at the worst part of my day."
Oh, the drama.

Here's the kids by my flowers and chocolates. I'm a lucky, lucky mama. Brian gave me a Valentine's gift yesterday - he cleaned the house pretty much the entire day!! It meant so much because he usually studies for 1/2 of Saturdays so it was a big sacrifice of his time to help me. It was awesome and the best present I could have received... all in all we had a fun day with our sweet kids, I'm so thankful for my family and that we love to be together!

Oh, and Sophie found the card that Brian gave me today. It had a picture of Cupid on the front with a little "pfft" near his rear end, and on the inside it said, "Love is in the air". Sophie was cracking up over it for at least 2 hours. She couldn't believe Brian really chose it for me and is excited to tell her teacher about it at school on Wednesday. It was a pretty funny card!

Buddies

It has been so fun to watch Miles and Nora's relationship develop. I wasn't sure how well they would play together and get along as they got older. Lately they are two peas in a pod! Miles is always making sure "No-wa" is close by and doing whatever he is doing. He'll say things like "Watch.... Cars... No-wa... Me" or "Dreen (green)... Bubbles... Bath... No-wa" It's so cute to see them get along, and Nora is fully enjoying being the center of his day. She always gets morning hugs from him and when either of them ask me for a snack they always get one for each other. A few of their favorite things are playing horsey, looking at books together on the top bunk and playing "car house" (playing with the cars in the dollhouse).
So sweet!