Blog Look

The background went all crazy on my blogs... so until I figure it out, you get to enjoy this nice, minimalist look.


Later.... we're back being fun! Layout issues resolved.

Words, Noises and Body Parts

Hike

We went on a hike last week in Bull Run Regional Park.


Me and the kids at Bull Run.


The parking lot had this tiny little bridge. Buddy of course loved it because he loves bridges. Baby X was very excited about it and took it all very slowly and carefully. It was cute.

Homeschool

Those are my legs teaching Buddy about beginning sounds, middle sounds and ending sounds in words. Baby X wanted to learn too.

Dress-up

We sent our kids upstairs the other night to brush their teeth and put on pajamas and then to come back downstairs for prayers.

This is how Buddy showed up:


And this is how Princess Sparkley showed up:


Earlier in the day we had Baby X do his Baby Elton John impression.

Blog Update

Princess Sparkley has updated her blog here.


Buddy has updated his blog here.

Their blogs can always be found by clicking on their pictures to the right.



They LOVE comments!

Baby X speech update

I have some videos of Baby X "talking," but they are still on the camera. I wanted to write his words down before I forget to do it. I was looking through an old journal last night where I'd recorded Buddy's words. Baby X is coming up on 20 months. According to what I recorded in my journal, Baby X is now, about where Buddy was at 23 months. And between 23/24 months and 2 1/2 years, is when Buddy took off with his speech. We'll see. Here's what he knows, says, does... I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but it's a start.

Right now, Baby X's sign language signs are:
ball
bird
cat
dog
more
all done
milk
fish
please
Jesus
all gone
hat
toothbrush
bath
book
flag (a sign we made up)
baby
airplane (a sign we made up, accompanied by an excellent airplane noise)
moon
light


Baby X's words are:
ball (ball)
balloon (Bu-oon)
bubble (bubbulll)
bus ("bu bu bu bu bu")
[Buddy]
[Princess Sparkley]
Mama
Dada
cracker
duck
a sound that either means truck or that
awa (or something like that) is his word for flag
boo
uh oh
uh unh (no)
whoa
moon

He knows all his body parts
{he has for awhile, so we're adding stuff like cheeks and chin to his routine.}
eyes (closes them)
ears
lips
tongue (lalala)
teeth
hair
nose
chin
bum
toes
feet
arms
fingers
legs


Noises:
doggy: pants with his tongue out
cow: mooooo
horse: blows raspberries like a horse nickering
firetruck: nnn nnn nnn
train: woo woo
airplane: kchkchkch
race car/car: rrmmmrmmrmm

Two Loose Teeth

PS lost two teeth last September when she was just starting first grade. I noticed her adult teeth were growing in behind her baby teeth in bottom, on front. We went to the dentist and they said not to worry, they'd come out, and if they didn't, then they could pull them. But they got wiggly and fell out. So far, they are the only teeth she's lost. I think she's inherited my teeth. My roots were so long that most of my baby teeth had to be pulled. I guess we already knew she inherited my teeth. She's missing two incisors (?) on top. I'm only missing one. But I have great aunts and other relatives that are the same. It's sort of fun because Buddy isn't missing those teeth, and thus, has more teeth than his big sister.

In our first week of Kindergarten for Buddy I noticed that one of his adult teeth is growing in behind a baby tooth. His baby tooth is fairly wiggly. I've been keeping an eye on it and the other adult tooth broke through the gum as well. So Buddy has two loose teeth. Here's hoping he didn't inherit my teeth. Having your teeth pulled is no fun.

Line-ups

The "first day of school." Baby X obviously wasn't supposed to be in the picture but lined himself up at the door with the big kids.



B was taking this picture of just Buddy to show off his redneck outfit. PS stood next to him. So Baby X lined up with them. (Really, he isn't so unclothed this often.)

Maps

Daddy loves maps. So Buddy loves maps. And now Baby X loves maps. Here they are studying a map of BYU.





Here's a picture of Buddy at about the same age studying a map with Daddy.



Buddy at 19 months studying the Thomas the Tank Engine brochure.

Civil War Battlefields

Last Saturday we decided to visit one of the Civil War Battlefields that is kind of close to our home. Here we experienced a new aspect of living in the South. A little girl near us asked her dad who won the war. He said that "we won this battle. But we lost the war." We?? This was a concept B and I (being mainly from the west coast) were unfamiliar with. I always just think that the South lost (and rightfully so). Which I guess means I side with the North, thinking we won. But I think of it as ALL of America winning. I guess not down here. Not to mention most of the memorials at this battlefield are for Confederate soldiers, generals, etc.

Kansas friends visit from Texas

Now that we live somewhere "cool," or so I'm led to believe because no one ever wanted to visit us in Kansas, we have had a lot of friends tell us they'll come visit. Tiffany and her family were the first to follow through with that promise. She's originally from Philadelphia and came up for her brother's wedding in the DC Temple. They came to our home and visited with us for a few hours on Friday and then we met them at the temple Saturday morning to watch their three boys for them. It was fun to visit and see how much her boys have grown.


Two months apart (Baby X is younger)




PS is 6 months older than their oldest. And I think Buddy is about a year older than their middlest.



Beautiful temple picture with the clouds (note the wedding couple -- NOT Tiffany's brother).


In case you couldn't see them, here's a close up. Interesting.

PS in the Kitchen

I have a bunch of kid cookbooks from when I was little, so Princess Sparkley went through them the other day and picked out some recipes she wanted to make. She decided that Buddy would love this (and he did) because it involved fruit (especially cantaloupe) and a race car. It turned out okay.






This, however did not turn out so great (although PS LOVED it), and it was mainly my fault.





The problem is I only like Marie Callendar's Corn Bread Mix. And, so far, I can't find it here. I'd heard before that if you mix a corn bread mix with yellow cake mix, you can recreate Marie Callendar's Corn Bread. What we ended up with was hot dogs in a yellow cake. Bleh. PS thinks it was wonderful and wants us to submit the recipe to a kids cooking magazine of some sort. Anyone want to send some Marie Callendar's Corn Bread Mix my way?? (Although, there's still one grocery chain in town I haven't checked yet. Cross your fingers for me.)

Babymouse

With some of her birthday money, Princess Sparkley bought this Babymouse t-shirt and the new Babymouse book (which we bought at Borders the day it was released... exciting, exciting). For those of you who don't know, Babymouse is a graphic novel that PS LOVES. This particular book is Babymouse: Dragonslayer... hence the viking hat and sword.