We were at Sam's club last week and when I saw a huge bin of sheepskin rugs I thought that Matthew might like to hold on to one while we shopped around the store. He loves anything soft. We always had them around when I was a kid, and even slept on them as babies. Well, Ellie and Matthew were in the side by side seat at Sam's, so I plopped one in when them and they both immediately latched on, and put their heads down on it, Matthew with the thumb in. I really had had no intention of buying one, and had just thought it would be a good diversion while we were shopping. Well, then end of the trip came along and had to pry it out of thier fingers to put it back. The whole way home Ellie kept asking what that "big, white, fluffy thing" was, and when we could get another one. It was nap time at home, but as we thought about how much they loved it, we couldn't resist going out and getting them each one. I went out while they were asleep and we had them laying out on the couch when they got up from their naps. These are pictures of pure childhood bliss. And as I write this they are each asleep in their beds on a cloud of "big, white, fluffy thing".

Attack of the green icing

We went to one of Ellie's friend's birthday party last week at a bounce house. The kids had a great time! There was even a zip line that Ellie held her own on. Matthew was a little wary of the big blown up contraptions that you have to climb into to bounce, but by then end of the party he was happily jumping away. Well, it was really more like, stand up, one step fall, stand up, one step, fall. He got his reward at the end though, for sticking with it. Green icing!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Surrounded by toys at Toys R Us yesterday, Ellie is taking it all in. I am expecting, "Mommy can I have..." to come out any second. It does, only it goes like this..."Mommy do you think I could have a present with a big red bow on it?" I could have melted into a puddle right there in the middle of the store. You know I am going out to buy red bows right now.

Christmas pictures

So...Christmas pictures. Always seems like a good idea at the time. Ellie was a doll, except that she was driving the woman crazy saying "cheese" and making an awful picture face. Matthew was a blubbering mess throughout the entire section. Crying, crying, crying. What is it about pictures? I was seriously considering letting them take his picture in our black and blue graffiti print stroller. The head shots of him here were finally taken while I was draped in the entire black velvet background, holding him, leaning back as far I could to get myself out of the picture. Some of the pictures are so miserable they are actually cute.

Ellie's Words

One of the hazards of having a Daddy who is the director of a school, and a stay-at-home Mommy who used to be a first grade teacher, is that the they are just not going to be able to resist teaching you. We have been working with Ellie for several months now, in little bits here and there, and she is just loving it! She comes running in asking to do reading, and is now finding words in her books and on signs when we are in the car. "Mommy, I see a 'the'!!!" is a common exclamation heard from her these days. She also enjoys being the teacher and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't hear, "No, I do it!" Matthew get's his little lessons each day too, but his is focused on calling me Mama instead of "this". Dada rolled off his little tongue months ago, but Mama? No such luck. I just get called "this".

Welcome to blogging!

I am officially switching our web presence from our baby website, to this brand new blog. What brought me to this? Well, our "baby" is fourteen months old, neither one of my kids fit in the clothes in the baby sections in stores anymore, we've all been sleeping through the night for over ten months, and bottles are a long forgotten item in our house. It's time to let go of the baby website and graduate to this much more "modern" form of communication. That, and well...perhaps some day we'll have some news that isn't just child related (hmm, doubtful, but possible). And thank you, Lisa, for getting your blog going. You inspired me to finally make the change. So, while this website is for our whole family, just a warning, be prepared for a slew of cute pictures and funny sayings. Please be patient with me while I figure out how to make this shell of a blog into something as cute as the rest of my friends have. I'm new to this blogging thing, so I have to learn all the tricks!