Week in Review

The weather has been unseasonably warm lately so we have been spending as much time as possible outdoors. Our days this week have been filled with picnic lunches, bike riding, and trips to the local playgrounds. 

Seeing Ezra in a hat inspired Asher to keep his hat on for a second longer than usual before he discarded it on the floor.

At our favorite old cemetery, taking a break from riding. 

Cooperatively writing a play about Goo-goo Baby. They asked if they could turn the house into a theater the next day but then forgot about the idea. I will probably pull their play back out when the weather gets colder and they need a little inspiration for play.

I can't be the only mom that neglected to take photos before darkness fell on Halloween. Sadly, there isn't a mama-made costume in the bunch this year, but I have made my peace. We have a lot going in this season of our lives. Every time we seem to have a good rhythm going I decide it is a sign that I should add another child to the mix to shake things up a bit :) So here I am enjoying the knew crazy and learning how to keep all my plates spinning again. 

And Teige... he seems to be reading all. the. time. We had been reading Life if Fred a couple of chapters here and there, whenever we were in the mood. The other day he decided to finish Butterflies, read all of Honey, and start in on Cats. I was enjoying reading the stories with him so I was feeling a little left out but we started reading The Cobble Street Cousins Series together tonight and that was a nice change. I think I will devote a later post to what we have been reading lately. We go through so many books every week and I have not been doing a good job of documenting their titles. 

I'll end this post with a couple more shots of our costume photoshoot. I was delighted with Teige's web shooting and Ezra's muscle shot. If I had asked them to pose in character I would have gotten groans so I almost died when they started posing for me.

Long Overdue Return to Blogger

I had an awesome night with the boys tonight and, as is my default, I thought to share a post on Instagram or Facebook. The thing is, I don't necessarily want to share these memories with my feeds.  I just want somewhere to record and archive my memories. Facebook and Instagram are not great platforms for memory keeping but their ease of use has had me documenting on them for far too long. I've been telling myself I would return to Blogger for the last couple years. Hopefully this post will be the first of many new posts on the blog.

So, tonight... Karl has returned to a M-F schedule for the month of November. Because this was his first week back to a "normal" schedule, it was a long week. He worked his usual 12-hour shift on Saturday and then had Sunday off before returning to a M-F schedule. Karl and I knew we would all be tired tonight so we planned a family pizza and movie night.

We rented Short Circuit, at Ezra's request. The boys giggled their way through the whole movie. It was such a joy to be cuddled up, on the chaise, between these two. They thought the movie was hilarious and I loved watching their response to number 5's antics. After the movie was over, which was past the boys' bedtime, they asked to stay up "just  a couple minutes" so they could have a robot dance party in the moonlight. They were so silly. It was a bit if a challenge getting them to settle down for bed after that but it was so worth it. My heart is so full. I am ready hop into bed myself now.  I just need to find a spot to squeeze in next to the king of the bed a.k.a. Asher. 

16 Months-Old

You turned 16 months-old today. You just keep getting bigger and more amazing everyday. Your growth has finally slowed down a bit so you have been wearing the same sizes for a couple of months. You have begun to say some new words, car being your favorite. I must hear that word at least fifty times a day.

Your most amazing achievement is that on April 5th you began reading about 16 words. That's right you can now read words that you can't even say yet. I know you're wondering if you're not talking how do I know that your reading. Well, about four months ago I made some flash cards for you and we started watching a video that shows common words and their corresponding pictures. You love your videos and often point for me to get your flashcards when we are sitting at the table. I try to update the cards with words or things you are currently interested in. About a week or so ago I added car to those words because of your fascination with saying it. I think that one word made everything click for you.

On April 5th you pointed for your cards while Daddy was feeding you a snack. He pulled out the card that said car and asked you what it said and lo and behold you said car! Initially, we thought it was a fluke until he held up the next card. The card said nose. When Daddy pointed to the card and asked, " Do you know where this is?" you pointed to your nose. Amazing! Some of the cards you didn't know but you got a whopping 16 of them. Even more crazy was that when you recognized the word you immediately pointed to the body part or did the sign (we use some sign language) or acted out the card without any prompting. When the card said "arms up" you immediately put your arms up in the air. When the card said "Elmo" you pointed to Elmo. When the card said "goodbye" you waved. Actually that was funny because you didn't get the word wave. I was also surprised that you didn't get the word clap because it is one of your favorites but, to my astonishment, you did the sign for all done when we showed you that card. Your not reading books or anything crazy like that but you have learned 16 sight words. An awe inspiring feat at 16 months old. Another milestone you achieved this month is sleeping without your binky. You are still getting used to the idea. We have had a couple of rough nights but everyday is a little better.

You have also started to eat with a fork with help and you enjoy many finger foods. We rarely feed you anymore unless we are having soup or cereal.

Unfortunately I didn't post for your birthday last month. We were settling into our new place and you got a nasty cold right before the big day. I have posted some pictures from the last two months to catch us up.



Yup, you're still a ham.This monkey is one of your new best friends. While visiting with Ava you wore one of her backpacks the whole time you guys were playing together. I just knew we had to get you one of your own.
You are still a daredevil. In this picture you are standing on top of your old bassinet. It was filled with toys and stuffed animals so it must have taken some muscle for you to turn it over.

You love playing in our new yard. It has lots of space for you to run and drive your cars.

Again daredevil. Especially because you are messing with Mommy's coffee. Is nothing sacred in this house? ;)
I had to move all your window gels up after this fiasco. One thing I have learned is that a quiet house is a scary one. If you are content and quiet I better run to see what you are up to. The only exception to this is when you are looking at your books. You will sit quietly and flip through them for awhile. In general you are either running or sleeping. There is no middle ground.

Here is a perfect example of you chillin' with some books. This pile is from the library. I think we've taken out just about every board book they have.

Happy birthday little boy. And never forget, We love you through and through.

Happy Valentine's Day.

We had a very special Valentine's.
We got you two balloons and a book, I Love You Through and Through. Daddy got Mommy a popcorn Maker. (we will get a lot of use out of it). You and I got Daddy a Lego Star Wars game for the wii.

You had your first ever piece of chocolate. You weren't terribly impressed.

We had blueberry waffles and eggs for breakfast.

We had Asparagus soup and jalapeno and corn muffins for lunch. You weren't as excited about the asparagus soup as you were the last time you had it so we also gave you some leftover pizza.

We also went clothes shopping for you. All of your pants were too short. Some of the outfits you got for Christmas and your birthday are already too small. We bought you clothes in size 2T. I can't believe the pants fit you. You pretty much skipped right over the 18 months clothes. They only fit you for about 2 months. Slow down boy, you have plenty of time to grow!

To end the night we went out for Mexican.

You loved it!

And you were very well-behaved.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Dreaming of Spring Cont...

Since it hasn't been nice enough to go out again I will post the rest of the pics from our "nice day". After playing the morning away you were ready for a nap.You are usually very happy when you wake up from your naps.

And very cute.

You were wondering why I was laying on the floor snapping pictures of you. I do all kinds of crazy things to get the best angles.

You helped me get a snack ready for us.

Then we went on the porch to enjoy our snack in the sunshine.
Your favorite. Popcorn!

Then you tried to help cleanup all the popcorn we dropped on the floor.

We had fun!

I can't wait for our next nice day.