Updates galore!

Well, it has been a while, hasn't it. No one has died or anything. I've just been spending a lot of time being political lately, which has been very time consuming. And I have not been taking pictures like I should! My brother Mark took these super cute ones at a fall outing...several months ago now.

Kate turned 5 in December and has grown up a lot in these past few months, which has been fun and hard. She has been much more challenging!

She has a loose tooth, and by loose I mean it is hanging on for dear life. But she will NOT let us pull it, and honestly I don't think I could do it anyway! So we're just going to wait for it to fall out on its own. I've tried giving her carrots and apples, but she's smart enough to just take a bite from the side of her mouth.

Andrew has been giving Kate chess lessons every Sunday afternoon, and she knows all the names and movements of the pieces. Andrew gives her little puzzles to solve, to get his king to check mate with just a couple of pieces in a certain number of moves, and she can do it! I am so impressed.

She has also taught herself to READ. I had given her just a few reading lessons, but I was not terribly consistent giving the lessons every day like I should. She would always be asking questions when we were out about what this word or that word was. And she had "sight" words in preschool that she memorized. The one day she picked up Green Eggs and Ham and read pretty much the entire thing to me. I was in shock! Of course she knew the book very well, but I could tell she was reading -- stopping at each word to figure out what it was. Now she can read a LOT. After I tuck her in, she will stay in her bed and read and read until I shut off the light.

Yesterday we were at Walmart, and she started reading the signs that said, "Every day low price." She was playing a little game, and while I was shopping I heard her say, "Oh no! We're surrounded by every day low prices!" The low prices were out to get her apparently.

She is really the epitome of sweet with Christian -- most of the time. He does still love to get on her nerves, but usually they are just so cute together. He hugs and kisses her more than anyone else, he sits on her lap (sometimes unexpectedly and knocks her over), he tackles her, and they cuddle in her bed every night and read stories.

She is much more defiant than she used to be, saying things like, "I'll never do anything you tell me to do!" It's truly like having a 13 yr old in the house already. I feel panicked just thinking about it.

She's growing taller and skinnier every day -- she weighs less now than she did last year! It's crazy, but she does seem to be eating better than she used to. She is just so tall.

She says hilarious things all the time, but I have not been good about writing them down lately. She is very dramatic. One of her favorite things to do is scare me. She likes to hide and jump out. Generally, I know right where she is, but there have been a few times where she really has gotten me.

She LOVES preschool, and she LOVES church. She has a very inquisitive mind and is always asking, asking, asking. When I don't know the answer, she tells me to look it up on the computer. Smart girl. :) We've recently started being more consistent having FHE, and she LOVES that as well. She always asks if it's Monday yet. We don't even do anything fun, we just have a lesson and sing a hymn -- no treats or activities. We're just trying to get the basics done, but she can't get enough. She loves to read scriptures and learn about the gospel.

So much to say about her, but it's kind of hard to jump back into this after so many months! Just wanted to get a few things written down, and maybe I can start writing on here again.


Christian! Christian is 20 months old now, and that means he is in nursery! It has been so wonderful to be able to go to class and actually hear everything being said. And he loves it, too. Just like Kate -- he went right in, started playing with toys, and didn't so much as look up when I tried to say goodbye. I'm not sure what it means when all the other kids are crying to see their parents leave them, but last week Christian just pointed at the door. I can take a hint! The nursery leaders all say that he is the greatest kid -- so "quiet" and "good." I was shocked the first time they told me that, but there it is. He gets excited every Sunday just when I put on his little white shirt -- he knows nursery is close.

At home, on the other hand, Christian loves to climb, jump, move chairs around so that he can reach things like knives, potted flowers, and oven tops. The other day I was chatting with my mom on the phone, and I was scolding Christian about something. My mom asked if he was playing with knives again. I said, "No. He has his hand in a blender." I had just unloaded the dishwasher and the blender was sitting on the table. He does get a lot of bumps and bruises, but luckily nothing serious yet.

He still usually wakes up once in the night and is inconsolable -- not sure if he is having nightmares or what. But it makes for a tired mommy most days.

He is pretty tall, above average, but nothing like Kate was/is. His head size, though, is setting all kinds of records. It's above the 100th percentile. The doctor is always amazed at how big it is.

He is still not saying much, but he understands most things. So far he can say "uh oh, ow, dada, boddo (bottle), what's this, all done" and he just started saying "poo poo" this week when he taps his bum. And, of course, he can make realistic car noises already. :) Loves cars, blocks, and balls. Very stereotypical! :)

He shakes his head for both yes and no, which can be very confusing. He's very good at dragging us around the house and showing us what he wants without verbalizing it.

He can be very cuddly and loves to read books. And he LOVES to color. He's very serious about his coloring, as you can see from pics below. He spreads himself out in front of the coloring book and gets very intent. One of the kids' favorite things to do it sit on the heater when it turns on. It's one of my favorite things, too, actually.

Watch out -- he's got a marker...

It's my dad's birthday today, so I wanted to get some cute pictures of the kids for him. Nothing really worked out, but here they are anyway! Happy birthday!

He's saying "poo poo" in the picture cause I told him to...thought it would get them to smile...

Christian's grumpy face...

You can see the size of his head here.

Kids reading on the heater.