divided house

the girls had a tea party in the playroom,

while jack taught nate how to have a catch in the living room.

this has been happening much more lately.

girls playing togehter - and boys playing together.

homework

the time of day i dread the most. i hate it.

this was an unusual day last week and i was not complaining!

basketball

jack is playing basketball again this winter and loves it. he practices outside all the time and we often catch him watching basketball games on tv. in the past, he seemed to be into whichever sport he was playing at that moment, but he has been into basketball for awhile. i hope it lasts! he had pnumonia this winter and missed 8 days of school and wasn't allowed to play ball for a month. he is finally able to play in his game this afternoon and he is so excited.

our boy is 9

can it really be 9 years ago that you came into our life, changing us for the better?

you absolutely, no doubt, have been the very best surprise of my life. you have no idea how much you have changed who i am.

i love how caring and considerate you are. i love that you still want me to tuck you in, and love sitting with me to chat about your day. i feel so sad knowing that the time is near when you won't want to do these things at all any more. i am truly heartbroken just thinking of it.

you are my firstborn. you have a place in my heart that no one will ever be able to take. just another reason i am so grateful to you.

being my firstborn, you have taught me to go with my heart, follow my instincts and to pay little attention to those baby books. (and i am so glad that i did)

Although still extremly sensitive, you have the ability to reason, coming up with "cases" supporting your feelings. (daddy jokes that you will become a lawyer) you have gotten so much better with this lately and while we get so consumed with how emotional you are, i often have to bring myself back and remind myself of the other strong characteristics you have. i hope you always have the ability to communicate your emotions. i truly believe that communicating well is one of the strongest assets a person can have and it will take you far.

There are times you make me angry and times you frustrate me, and then i become angry at myself for being frustrated at something that seems so silly. mostly, you make me proud, because quite often, when I least expect it, you do something that surprises me, or fills me with the kind of joy that only a parent can know.

you have such a kind soul and you always want to put others first. i hope this is a quality that you carry with you forever. this too, will get you far in life.

every time i hear you say "thank you", "please", or hold the door open for others as daddy has taught you to do, my heart soars. you are learning what is important, which means you actually DO pay attention to us ... (sometimes) having good manners is SO very important. you are treated so much better in this crazy world we live in, when you have good manners.

i love that you take comfort in us, your family. you still jump at the chance to cuddle with me, watch a movie with us, or sometimes we just lay in my bed talking about the day, or other things that are happening at that time. i love that you still prefer to do this than almost anything else.

our biggest obstacle right now is getting you to understand that being first is not the most important thing in the world. i fear you will always want to hurry through life, missing so many important things just so that you can be first. living, breathing and just BEING in the moment is so much more important than being first. live life. treasure it. who cares if you come in first or last. the important thing is.. that you enjoyed yourself. we will continue teaching you this and can do nothing but hope you will come to the conclusion that we are right :)

i love you so much more than i could ever express and more than you will ever know.

moobs

my boys got man boobs. and i totally dig' him.

miranda and "cousin riley"

miranda loves playing with my cousin melanie's daughter riley. the kids call her "cousin riley". so funny. we had riley over while on christmas break from school. they made tents, played dress up, made cookies, played dress up some more, ordered amelia around, played house and school, and then pretended to be rock stars. we decided to go roller skating the next day and the kids had so much fun!

Bubble gum

"someone" got bubble gum stuck in her hair yesterday. We were going to try peanut butter like we did last time (no- we didn't learn our lesson!) and I just didn't feel like hassling with it so we grabbed the scissors and outside we went! I would say we cut 4 inches off. Of course Miranda loves it and wants it shorter.

amelia 2.5

i would eat her up every day for dinner if i could. or lunch or breakfast or any snack for that matter. she is purely deliciousness. i wish i could put into words, the way i feel when i hear her voice. we all do. she melts everyone she meets.

she is a lover.

her favorite thing to do, hands down.. is to give hugs, and to cuddle.

she has the best crooked smile and little dimple that i kiss 100 times a day.

she LOVES music and loves to dance.

she is a mommys girl and is mildly obsessed with me.

she crawls up on my lap at random times every day, all day and looks into my eyes and says i love you mommy.

and when i start crying because i just love her to pieces she says.. "mommy, do i make you so sad"?

and when i continue to cry and i tell her i'm crying because i love her she says, in that voice that will melt you.. .. "i love to make you so happy!"

sigh...

if todd, or grammy is near.. she crawls on their lap to do the same.

when you ask her to do something she almost always says "sure i can".

every day, more than once a day she will say... "i love you natey". or.. "you're my bess frien natey" or my favorite.. "natey nates, i love that you are my brover!"

she sings and makes up songs all day long.

she will tell todd he is "the best daddy ever"

she will tell you her buddy is "jacky wacks"

but she is lately buddy/buddy with miranda and they play school, dolls, make-overs, house and anything else girly.

she loves dora and pinkalicious

she is FINALLY starting to watch movies and loves hanging with jack and miranda when they are watching tv.

she loves to read and will memorize a book after we have read it to her only one time

her favorite word of the week is "actually"

to be funny, she adds the word "candy" to everything. yes mommy candy. can i watch tv, candy? where are you going daddy candy?

if you talk nicely to her, you can pretty much get whatever you want.

she finally has given up her paci's and if her mommy wasn't such a sucker, i would have had her given them up months ago because it was the easiest thing i've done in a very long time.

she cries every time i leave for work and begs me to stay home

she loves everyone "to the moon and back"

her favorite number is "540" and if you ask her how much she loves you, how long shes been awake, how long the show was, how long she played with nate, or anything else.... the answer is "five forty days"

at night when she goes to bed, wrapping her arms around my neck begging me to lay with her for 540 minutes.

she loves to be outside and always asks if she can "play bikes."

she likes to sing.. "lou lou, skip to my lou, - lou lou, skip to my lou, ha dee dee dee dee darlin'"

like the other kids, she loves when i sing to her and asks for random songs all throughout the day, usually putting her own spin on them with the word "booty" or "candy" thrown in.

christmas cookies

growing up, making cookies around christmas time was a huge deal. i always looked forward to having christmas music on, getting all of the ingredients out, and for mom, nana and i making cookies together. we have made them almost every year since i have had kids but at their house. this year we made them at my house. we had such a nice time and really look forward to doing it next year again.