And Katie too...

So Miss Katie has started reading...
She started reciting her books to us in the last 6 months (including her favorite 'Hello Baby'; which is the book we bought to introduce her to the concept of a sibling. She loves it and reads it every night. It has some big words and complicated ideas, but she knows it, almost word for word. We have had to tape it back together 3 times now--it is currently in the need of a fourth taping)

At pre-school they started introducing 'sight words'. Katie has taken off with them, every night when we read to her, she reads the words that she has learned. She currently knows 15 and is working on her next 5 this week.

Happy 18 months...

Sometimes I can't believe how fast times flies, and that my babies are already 18 mths ( and 2 weeks because I am so late posting this).

Addison:
Knows a handful of words.
Usually repeats a word if we tell Marcus to say it and he does, just to show us she knows it too.
Knows all the animal sounds.
Loves to read books--all day long.
Is a little climber-she can climb up on our big dining chair, and on and over the couch.
Can jump higher then Katie--I'm talking kangaroo style.
(Marcus can't even get his feet off the ground).
She likes to jump around the house
Refuses to give us kisses.
Loves to hug and cuddle.
Sits on strangers laps at story time and has them read to her.
She can take down both Marcus and Katie with a hug (more like a tackle).

Marcus:
Is learning words right and left.
He says "sorry" and it is so cute, so we make him say it all the time.
Can repeat a lot of words if you ask him to.
He knows all the animal sounds.
Loves books
Runs with his little arms out behind him so that everyone watching him thinks he is going to fall.
Trips a lot.
Gets scared at the "bad person" in Katie's princess movies--he cries.
Really only likes to watch "Little Einsteins".
Likes to have one of whatever snack he is eating in each hand.
Loves to eat and walk around.
Will give great kisses.
Loves to throw any type of ball, especially a football (like Mark says, first skin he ever touched was a pigskin).

Both kids are holy terrors and give us a run for our money. The other day my friend/neighbor was over with the 4 yr old she babysits. Katie and Laurel where upstairs playing. Addy and Marcus followed them up and Caroline and I sat downstairs talking. I didn't think much of it, our house is childproof and we keep all the doors to the bathrooms shut AND I had told the 3 yr old and 4 yr old to keep an eye on them. About 20 mins later I call Katie into the hallway to ask her what Addy and Marcus are doing, she says; "I don't know". I asked her where they were; "I don't know." I run upstairs and the bathroom door is shut, but I hear noises in there, I open it and find two drenched children--I'm talking it looked like they had been dipped in the pool (except for their heads/hair). The bathroom floor was wet, AND there was NO water in the toilet--NONE! Gross!

I would have grabbed my camera, but we discovered it was Laurel who left the door open (Katie knows the rule--more importantly the consequences for breaking said rules), and Laurel has a habit of not flushing the toilet. Even Grosser! She swears she did, but she is four, do I believe her?

Anyway, needless to say, no picture and straight into the bathtub. Moral of the story, don't ask a 3 yr old and 4 yr old to babysit, and if you do make sure they shut bathroom doors behind themselves, or at least flush a toilet.

Have I told you about my stroller?

Last year when we were packing to move to Charlotte, and we found a house to rent in a neighborhood with a pool, I decided that I needed a triple stroller for walking all the kids to the pool...so, I started looking.

I looked in the stores and online at new ones--the lowest price I found was $400 and at that price the quality might have been questionable. Mark wouldn't let me justify that kind of purchase since I had bought the double stroller I wanted. I looked on ebay and, of course, craigslist and couldn't find anything. I even expanded my search to Philly or Ohio, thinking that if I found a great deal then it would be worth driving for--I found a few but when I combined the $250-$400 used stroller price tag with gas and personal time, it just wasn't worth it.

I checked obsessively (I'm talking every hour or two), and one day I found one in Charlotte for $80 (yep $80)! Because I was checking every hour or so I saw it as soon as it posted I emailed the seller and told her I would send my sister over asap. She said she would hold it until we moved, but I had Sarah go get it that evening--which I think was a smart move because by the time Sarah got there to pick it up she had 3 other people who wanted it!

So, I feel like I scored because I got a great stroller (well, we don't even know what brand it is--but for $80 who cares right?) for even a better price!

We use it all the time, Katie's preschool is about a mile down the street, so we walk to drop her off and pick her up whenever it is warm enough, last summer we took it to the pool and we use it for family (or me and kids) walks regularly.

We haven't used it regularly for a couple months, but now that the weather is warming up we are out and about again in our stroller.

We also bought Katie a bike to enjoy while it isn't too hot, she is a pro, it took her about 10 mins to get the hang of it, and she has even taken it for a ride to the park and back a couple times.


Cousin Talia had a birthday at the end of February, Katie and the twins joined her for lunch and cupcakes. Then Talia and Katie spent the rest of the day at Monkey Joe's and eating Pizza.

Chase...

This is a forbidden name in our house
(unless we are talking about our brother-in-law of course) ...
It is the name of 'the little boy who says he is going to marry Katie' (Mark forbids me to use the word 'boyfriend').

Chase started preschool with Katie in January, and he was introduced to me a couple weeks later as my 'future son-in-law'.
Mark is not impressed, and I am not even allowed to tease Katie about it.
Mark says it is because he doesn't want Katie to be boy-crazy; I think it is because a boy thinks his little girl is pretty.

Here is the picture of the one causing so much trouble
(wearing the heart necklace that Katie made for him).


Harmless right,
that's what I say, but he did give Katie 2 cards in her Valentine's Day bag!!!

Oh kids...

My life just gets crazier with every passing day.

And the kids are getting funnier!

The other day in the car Katie said her first sarcastic comment; Marcus had been playing with some of her new bracelets and when it was time to go somewhere she couldn't find one of them. In the car she said "thanks Marcus, thanks a lot for losing my bracelet!" Marcus was not even with us... I was so proud.

Katie also informed me on that same car ride that I shouldn't turn 30 this year because that is really old; maybe I should just turn 6, yes, 6 it is. (She did change it to 16 the next day when she realized that Gabby will be 6 next year but Heather was 16).

Katie has always showed just a little favoritism towards Marcus, but in the last few months she has started to learn the value of Addy. They like to play with the same things and it helps that Addy worships her and will do what she wants.

They are pretending to sleep--I don't think Addy quite gets how it works.

Addy had started to develop a lot of sass...when she gets mad at us she won't let us anywhere near her i.e. at church on Sunday she got mad at Mark just in time for the prayer and started screaming at the top of her lungs--throughout the whole prayer. Or at the library she got mad at me because I took my purse away and she tried to hit me and then went up to a mom she didn't know and sat on her lap. She also likes to talk back if we tell her to do something she will spout off a whole bunch of gibberish that usually ends with "stop". Mark says at least she fits in with the girls in the house.

I woke up the other morning to some noise in the twins room and this is what I found--three naked babies, I don't know how Katie got their clothes off of them.

We got some snow Valentines weekend but since then the weather has been getting better and better. One afternoon, after picking Katie up from preschool, she decided we should head to the park instead of home--it was too beautiful outside to say no. It was the greatest time we have had at a park since Katie was two. Marcus climbed up to the big slide all by himself, and went down all by himself, soon after Addy followed. It was so nice that I just had to 'play with' and 'keep an eye on'--not 'carry someone up' or 'hold someone'.

Sunday was a beautiful day, so after lunch we invited our neighbors to play with their dogs, in their yard (lol). It was so fun, Marcus kept throwing the ball and would double over laughing as the dog went after it.



Marcus with a mouth full of fruit and fruit dip (with Caroline in the background)

We have been trying to get Marcus to keep his hat on for a few months now. I put it on him today and pulled out the camera, he turned to me with this huge smile and said "cheeeeeeesse".
Marcus' new thing is not listening to us (ok well, that's not new), but when we tell him not to go somewhere or stop, he will turn around and back towards the street or out the door; as if we won't notice that he is still moving if he is facing us.

Love from our house to yours

We celebrated Valentines a little early this year with a play date party;
(Marcus didn't make it bc he was whining too much and Mark happened to be home)

And a box from Grammy and Grandpa.

Dogs in purses and trucks that make noise--life couldn't be better!
Happy Valentines day!
(and don't judge me because it is the middle of the day and the kids are still in pajamas)


We spent Valentines Day with my family at my parents church...we had lots to celebrate; Chloe and Colby were both blessed; Seth and Tony were both baptized (this was Seth's 3rd attempt and he finally took the plunge -- literally) and we have 6 February birthday's!

Oh Katie

Anyone who has met Katie is impressed with her ability to communicate--with anyone. Mark and I just enjoy being her parents and listening to all the funny things she comes up with.

Last week she was riding in the car with Mark on their way to one of his basketball games, it is a 30 minute drive.

Mark: "This game is kinda far away"

Katie: "Yeah, it is as far away as Grandma and Grandpa D's house. It is like Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem"

Mark: "Not quite that far, plus they didn't have a car--why, did they go to Bethlehem?"

Katie:"To have baby Jesus."

Mark:"And why is Jesus important?"

Katie:"To protect you, like when there is a tiger in your house then Jesus will protect you from the tiger."

Or the other day I was doing Addy's hair and Katie started talking about how her hair would turn brown when she gets bigger and doesn't it already look a little bit brown. And then she turns to me and says; "Mom, when Addy gets bigger will she still have 'pop-up hair'?" I was laughing so hard I couldn't respond.

Speaking of hair...

Here is my first attempt at styling Addy's hair--these are Zulu knots and they were so much easier then I thought they would be.

I did the knots on Sat night for church (of course then it was canceled), most of the knots fell out when she slept on them so today before we went to library for story-time I added some little barrettes and ... I think it turned out pretty cute!