WHEW!

sorry it has been sooooo long! it has been crazy around here and when i have had free time, posting on the blog was way down on the priority list. sorry! here is what has been happening in the life and times of the carr family...

school has been such a great experience for the kids. they can recognize most letters and numbers, they can recite the alphabet, count at least to 10 (sometimes higher, especially caitlin), both can recognize their first and last names, caitlin can write her name if you tell her the letters, austin can trace his name and will soon be trying to write it on his own. they love to read and sing and dance around and they love the time with their friends. caitlin was thrilled that a girl joined their thursday class....both kids love going to school on thursday to see cassidy and do show and tell. tuesdays can be a tough sell sometimes but once there they are great. yesterday a dentist visited their class and taught them about brushing their teeth and how sugar gives them cavities. today caitlin informed me that her goldfish crackers had sugar in them! austin's speeech has improved so much!!! you have to be patient when he's speaking to you because he is really making an effort to get those sounds out correctly, so he does a lot of thinking before/while speaking. i'm so thankful we didn't wait to get him into speech therapy. his one-on-one therapy on thursdays has been soooo great! even though it's only once a week, i feel that's where the bulk of his improvement has come from. he also attends speech at the public school 2 days a week but those are with at least 2 other little boys.

ryan's travel will be winding down soon, but it has been completely insane with him being gone more than he is home. we all miss him terribly. and we have all been sick a ton this winter...the kids had their first ever ear infections and their first round of antibiotics in their lives. austin loves amoxicillin! caitlin HATED her medicine. oh my gosh, i DREADED giving them to her. they are healthy now (caitlin just has a little cough) so hopefully the worst is over. on monday the kids got some impromptu aunt bubs time because i had the worst headache in the world...the pain was so intense i puked for about 5 hours straight. so lynn took the kids for awhile so i could rest. she put them to bed and helped clean up caitlin's puke that night also. thank goodness aunt bubs came to the rescue!

austin and caitlin continue to be hilarious....i have kept track of some funny moments to share...

*over the monitor i hear caitlin sing-song, "you have a mohawk austin!"...i knew that was bad news! sure enough, instead of laying in bed and going to sleep, our little stinkers moved their potty seats to the sink in their room and austin was wet styling his hair. he was soaked but the way he was primping in the mirror was so funny i couldn't get too mad...he looked like he was getting ready for a hot date, standing his hair up and pursing his lips as he checked out his 'do.

*austin's new affirmative response? "OK, you bet guys!"

*caitlin takes her bowels very seriously....she likes to say, "i REALLY gotta push this poop out!"

*caitlin told me "you're my best shopper" all because i bought bananas! gotta love that!

*both kids were pretending to take "arfy" (caitlin's stuffed puppy) to the "doggy hotel"

*austin told me, "i'm married to YOU mom!" i'll remind him of that someday, even though i'm sure he'll pick one heck of a wife!

*austin was running around with a quarter and announced, "i'm going to put this in mine mants (pants)" because he was trying to hide it from caitlin (to whom it belonged!).

*caitlin was holding her baby doll ("baby brooke") and told me, "i have a baby growing in my tummy!" yeah, we don't want to hear that one again for a looooooong time!

*both kids are LOVING their new books, "Pinkalicious" and "Bear Snores On"...austin loves to repeat the titles over and over.

*austin is a natural dancer....he has some pretty sweet moves! he also loves to play instruments (guitar and keyboard).

now, don't go thinking every moment is full of sunshine and roses with these two!!! they are pretty much at each others' throats half of the time...they like to choose the one thing that will be sure to tick the other one off and flaunt it (without getting caught, of course...which doesn't happen [much]!). then mommy has to put on her black and white striped shirt & whistle & play referee! time-outs work some, but the serious punishment is to take away a beloved toy! that gets results FAST! tough love, right?

if i could freeze one moment of the day it would be first thing in the morning...austin wakes up first, climbs into bed with me and snuggles cheek-to-cheek. caitlin climbs in shortly after and we have a partial family snuggle until it's time to get moving to school, speech, or whatever we have planned for our one day "off". i treasure that time and will definitely miss it when they are older.

okay, that's enough for now....more soon!!!