yep, they're still cute!

sorry it's been awhile...

the kids got their swingset and we haven't been out to try it out. it has been sooooo cold lately! can't wait till spring FINALLY rolls around! ryan likes to think ahead to how excited they are going to be when they get to run over to it and play. me, i'm just worried about splinters. (typical mom!).

the past few days the game has been for austin to hold caitlin's hand while caitlin directs the play...she tells him, "come on aussin. find one more clue." soooo, i drew a dozen or so blue's clues paw prints and taped them around the house for them to find. austin was way more excited about this game then caitlin. i thought it would be the opposite...just goes to show that you never know what's going to excite them!

the day before, the excitement was about an "art project". i taped pieces of contact paper to the sliding glass door with the sticky side out. austin and caitlin adhered pieces of yarn and some foam shapes to the contact paper. they both loved this one! it kept them interested for quite awhile and they ran back and forth to it throughout the evening.

we have really been enjoying them the past few days...they can be so loving toward one another and they are usually really well behaved.

austin has been "anti-pants" and when he's cranky he can kick up quite a fuss when you try to put his pants back on (literally). so, a lot of the time i just let him run around in his diaper and shirt. whatever. he also does the funniest, longest fake sneeze in the world. so funny!!! caitlin is back to enjoying baths since we introduced bubbles and "paints" in the tub. she is very dilligent about using a sponge and washing all the bubbles off of her diego bath toy. there is no disturbing her during diego's sponge bath! :) she's a crack up!!!

Lots to Tell...

I found out I'm going to be an aunt! yay!! Courtney and Edward are expecting their first baby (due Sept. 6th). So, I'm excited about that!

Valentine's Day was great around here...romantic and sweet for mom and dad and super fun for the kids. They sure do love chocolate!! They had their very first school Valentine's Day party and it was so cute to see them decorate their little bags and bring home valentines from their school friends. I had a serious "mommy moment" that day! We got them each a book, stickers, balloons and valentine cookies. I think the balloons were the hands-down favorite! Surprisingly, they weren't that interested in the cookies (I don't think they had enough frosting on them!).

Friday night I got to go out with Marcia and we had so much fun! We went out to dinner and then to Archivers to scrapbook. I wasn't very motivated to scrap, but I sure was happy to shop! We will definitely have to make that a regular thing (the girl time...not the shopping!).

Ryan is on his longest trip for February so after Wednesday he'll be around a lot more till March Madness rolls around. The Pacers aren't faring too well this season...it would be great to see some improvements after the all star break (TODAY).

Yesterday, Lynn, John and I took Austin and Caitlin to the children's museum. It was so much fun! They ran all around the Curious George exhibit and especially loved the rocket ship slide. Then they ran all around the robot exhibit (they are talking to the "robot man" about his robot dog in the picture above) and then sat in a real Indy car. We spent a lot of time in Playscape which has a sand table, a big digger, slides, tunnels, toddler rock wall, and a TON of other toys that they explored. We stayed until about 2pm and headed back to Lynn and John's house for awhile. The kids didn't have a proper nap so they REQUESTED to head up to bed at about 6:30 (and, really, who am I to object?!)...so up we went to read 3 stories, brush our teeth, pray, get covered, hit the sack. They chatted with each other for a little bit...actually took turns yelling "DO DAH" for awhile...and then finally drifted off to sleep. I cleaned up and was in bed to finish reading my book by about 9pm!

Thursday the new swingset arrives! The kids will be so excited. I'm hoping the weather warms up quickly so they can try it out! BUT I can see us getting all bundled up to give it a go.

That's about it for now I think! More later......

"Playing a Game Mom"

Last night Austin and Caitlin began an impromptu game of catch with one another in the entryway. They took turns throwing the ball and after each throw Austin would announce, "nice catch." (even though there wasn't a whole bunch of "catching" going on!) It was so cute to watch them play and talk to each other...this is a fun age!

This morning I heard Austin say, "Daddy home!" and Caitlin replied, "No Aussin. Daddy work for Pacers team. Be back two days." Too funny AND accurate!!! :)

It's very rainy here today so we are not doing much of anything. After naps, probably heading to the basement for some fun. I'm sure we will play Elefun for hours on end...they LOVE that game. Thinking we may attempt their Dora Memory Game. Not sure how it will go...

I also think the kids are going through a growth spurt...Austin looks taller to me (could be my imagination) and they are both actually eating what I give them!!! I haven't seen Austin eat so much in a long time. They are loving "pink" grapes, blueberries, strawberries, cucumbers, chicken tenders and noodles with butter and parmesan. I'm happy that meal times are getting somewhat easier. So cute to watch them pray before we eat...both bow their heads, close their eyes, and rest their folded hands on their foreheads. If it's too long of a prayer you will usually see them with one hand on their forehead and the other hand shoveling food into their mouth! :) They have also started to say their own prayers at bedtime...it never fails to bring tears to my eyes. You can just see the innocence and pure joy when they get to talk to Jesus.

Anyway, nap time is almost over...hope you enjoyed today's scoop! I'm unable to upload pix right now...problem with website. Will try again tonight.

YAY GIANTS!

It's been eventful around here...let's see...

Austin is quite the talker these days. He is making us so proud! I think he is really starting to see the power in verbal communication. He loves to talk about trains.

Caitlin is putting together more and more complex sentences and really making connections about the world. She can rattle off our whole routine without batting an eye! AND she has the most amazing memory!

Last night we had a few friends over for a super bowl fiesta. It was so much fun to just relax and enjoy the game and socialize. The kids lasted until about 6:45 and were able to enjoy some play time with our across the street neighbor's girls and "baby kellen" (we must never just call him Kellen...it's BABY Kellen!).

Ryan got to travel to the great Northwest to see his mom & grandma and reconnect with some old friends. He was really rejuvenated after this trip. Ryan had the honor of speaking during Coach Iverson's retirement party & I can tell how happy he was to have been asked to participate. As long as we've been together I've heard about what a great influence Mr. Iverson had on him...in bball, spirituality, and life in general. So we are looking forward to getting through February when he can be home a little more...this year's travel seems to be going quickly which is great.

I took the kids up to Portage to spend a few days with my family. The first day was really snowy so we stayed in and played. Courtney brought over the wii and we played guitar hero and bowling. That was so much fun...my triceps hurt from the bowling and I stink at guitar hero but it was awesome. Caitlin was pretending to bowl too. So funny! We took the kids for haircuts. Caitlin was excited that she got to sit in the pink car and watch "Cars" while getting her haircut (ahhh, so happy our daughter enjoys pampering even at such an early age...I am envisioning many mommy/daughter spa days!!) Austin pitched a fit...he HATES haircuts. He didn't even want to sit in the airplane (although he'll tell you that's where he sat for the haircut). Actually, he sat on my lap which was an adventure. Both of them look so cute with their new 'dos! Caitlin is going through a possessive stage right now...on the slide at the salon she yelled at a little girl who was trying to climb up the platform "NO BABY! IT'S TATIN'S SLIDE!". Nice! Austin spent the better part of our time in "the region" playing with play doh and coloring. Then gramma bought him a thomas train and he was running around yelling "ALL ABOARD! CHOO CHOO!" constantly! The boy has such a zest for life!

Guess that's about all....hoping to do at least one more post this week. Sorry I've been lax the past week or so...more later (including pix).

We're Back

Too much chaos to blog lately...I apologize! Congratulations are in order -- yes, that's right, all the Christmas decorations are FINALLY put away. HOORAY! I thought they would still be up for Valentine's Day at the rate I was going! ;)

Anyway, I've been jotting down some funny things to share...The pictures above are all the rage around here. It's called "Doin' the Funny Face" and they laugh and laugh when they make this face at one another. :) Here's a sample conversation between Austin and Caitlin: A: "Need go bye bye. Go gas station." C: "Yeah, need gas." Caitlin also shouts "AHBAH" which irritates the living daylights out of Austin. Usually he yells back "NO!" or if he's tired, he'll start crying. Apparently Austin knows what it means even if the rest of us don't.

In another example of sweetness (and how they like to imitate lately)...Austin took Caitlin's doll and attempted to give her a "biebuh dange" (diaper change). He had a diaper, the wipes, and was all set. Then he got distracted. So funny! Caitlin will put her toy stethoscope around her waist and the "listening" part over her heart and tell you, "Listening to heart". Who knew her hips doubled as ears?! :)

Ryan will be home again tomorrow so we are ALL happy for that!!!!!!!! Hoping to post again on Wednesday evening.

Fun Times

They are so happy in this picture because they were sitting in mommy and daddy's chairs for story time. Their new favorite books are "The Snowy Day" and "The Three Bears" (read with different voices, of course!).

Let's see...last night Caitlin puked all over me (and herself) after having a coughing fit. That was fun. Poor girl gets sooooooo upset that she is messy. She's fine today. Even went to school to see how the Thursday class would be. Both kids were awesome...walked right in and were ready to play. It didn't phase them at all when I left, which is a good thing. After watching some of their lesson today, I feel good about the change. It is definitely a higher level group which will prevent boredom and promote growth. It will be interesting to see their progress with this new group. I feel like Austin is way more verbal on the day he goes to school. Maybe it's because Caitlin is "talked out" by the time they get home?! ~lol~ Their teacher (Miss Christine) said Austin was making "snowballs" and throwing them. Too funny b/c I taught him that (all pretend of course) and we do that to entertain ourselves a few times a day...So she said the class had a "snowball fight" for a couple minutes today. The boy is ZESTY!

YAY! Ryan gets home tomorrow! We will all be happy to see him!

Today was Bath Day -- 'Nuff Said...

WOW! Props to "Aunt Bubbles" for helping out with baths today. Caitlin was a handful!!! Poor kid. I sure hope Austin skips this particular "phobia phase". It's not so great. I think all 3 of us are dealing with some sort of sinus issue too, so they were somewhat cranky today. Caitlin told me "Tatin sick. Need to west (rest) on mom." I think she just wanted to cuddle, but maybe she's low on energy too.

Today they enjoyed making "flutes" with their colored pegs and playing with balloons in the basement. Lynn also gave them rides on a blanket around the kitchen and then we swung them back and forth in the blanket. That got some great belly giggles from A & C.

Tomorrow is school so mom gets a break. Yep, that's right...I'm headed to Target and Starbucks. Was supposed to go on a 7 mile hike on Saturday but it's supposed to be 12 degrees for a high or something ridiculous like that. I told Ryan I'd be the dumb hiker who wandered away from the group and ended up with a search party story on the 5 o'clock news. I'll try to do a different hike when it's a bit warmer!

Gonna pack the kids stuff for school and hit the sack...it was a loooooong day! Only one more till my honey comes home!!!