Whatchu talkin bout Willis Wednesday.

Put down that remote. Wake the neighbors. Call the kids.

It's back.

It's been a long time since I've written. In the professional world, you'd call it a sabbatical. I call it lazy. Either way, here we go again. You'd think I'd come out swinging, guns loaded and ready to entertain. But thats not my style. If you start at the top, there's only one place to go.

-I'm not afraid to say I love Oreos. I do feel guilty when I almost eat half the package in one sitting though. What starts as just one can quickly lead to me having to blame Makenna.

-Speaking of healthy, I had a New Year's resolution to do push ups regularly. Now that it's April, I'm proud to say I still am. Once a month can be defined as "regularly" right?

-I think I heard a guy refer to an ipod as a walkman. Does this guy still have a ghetto blaster at home?

-My tiled master shower project has surpassed the 5 week mark now. My goal of two weekends has turned into maybe being able to count this as a Christmas gift to Allison.

-Makenna loves the show "Super Why" on PBS. She has assigned each of us in the family as a real life representative of a character on the show. Somehow I ended being the black princess.

-I broke down and bought a new dishwasher last week. It works great, but the 12 cubic foot box it came in is clearly the bigger hit around the house.

-It snowed April 19th. Seriously?

-I laughed at this: "President Obama is slated to appear on one of Oprah's last shows. He's hoping it's the one on which she gives away $14 Trillion." - Conan O'Brien

-It's Easter season. I hope each of you reading this remembers how special this weekend is. In the land of bunnies and eggs, hopefully Jesus dying and rising again is not overshadowed.

In Case You Were Wondering

Why do I blog what I blog?

• Because the only people I know who read this blog regularly are my mom and Jared's mom. I know there are others out there that check our blog but I never get requests from them to put up more pictures of the kiddos. So because I like to please my audience, I tend to focus my blog posts on what the kiddos are up to. Plus this keeps the Grandmas happy and that is always a good thing:)
  
• Also, my life/job is all about being a wife, mama, and homemaker. Keeping these three areas of my life under control is time consuming, so I don't have much time for other ventures hence the kid-centered posts.
  
• I am not very articulate in the written form. Therefore, you get very few wordy blog posts and a lot of the picture posts. I think everyone is better off that way. I don't have to regret what I have said and you get to see pictures which are supposed to be worth a thousand words. It is a win-win if you ask me.

All that being said, maybe someday if I get really inspired you will get to read about what is really on my mind. Won't that be lucky for you. I know you all want to know the inner workings of my brain.

Siblings

I love that my kiddos love to...

do this

and this

and this

and this

And sometimes when they...

do this

it makes their cute faces become even cuter...

like this
and this

Oh, how I love turning around to catch my kiddos doing things like these!

10 Minutes

10 minutes can look different depending on the time of day or the situation you are experiencing. For me this is what the last 10 minutes looked like.

Makenna peed her pants.

While I am cleaning up Makenna's mess, Colin manages to stick his hands in the toilet three times (I am counting all three because after each time I washed his hands). Drenching his shirt in the process.

While I am giving Makenna a bath Colin falls in, because he is a freak about the bathtub.

What have I learned from the last 10 minutes?

That laundry and messes are a constant in this stage of my life. And even more importantly, that sometimes life with two small kiddos gets crazy and in those moments I'm glad that I can just laugh and smile because I know that 10 minutes in a few years will look completely different.

How I Survive...

The grocery store.
Look at how happy they are to be at the grocery store. Isn't it precious!?!

And this is where I throw out a big thank you to Fareway for thinking about us mamas with more than one small child.

Colin 10 Months

Colin has accomplished a lot of new things this past month.

Here is a list of most of them.

• He started walking.
• He can sign: more, all done, thank you, puppy, fish and sometimes milk and please.
• He said his first word "ball". He says it all the time now.
  
• He started dancing to music.
• He will bring us books when he wants us to read to him.
• He started drinking out of a sippy cup. Still trying to master this, but he is doing great with help.
• He eats all table food. And eats it very well may I add.
• He can stack blocks.
• He makes a vroooom sound when he plays with his cars.
• He will wave "hi" and "goodbye"
  

It is so amazing to get to experience all the small and big things he is starting to learn. He really is becoming more of a toddler than a baby with every new skill he accomplishes. I am just glad that I am around to watch it all happen.

Oh, and by the way his hair is still CRAZY. And we love it!

Makenna 2 and a half : A Closer Look

I cannot believe Makenna is almost 2 and a half. Wow does time fly.

It seems like she is just a sponge when it comes to learning new things. Currently, she has mastered recognizing all the letters in the alphabet (even out of order), counting to eleven, recognizing shapes and colors. I am impressed at how quickly she catches on to anything we try to teach her. She is also very observant. Which can be both a blessing and a curse.

I also try my hardest to teach her basic truths about God and Jesus as much as possible. I think she is doing well for a 2 year old. She knows that God made her and that He loves her and that Jesus wants to be her friend. ( I taught her a song that sings those words and she sings it a lot) That is as simple as I can make it for her. It is also so sweet to hear her sing hymns, bible verses and other worship songs. I catch her singing them along with our CDs or by herself, either way there is something so wonderful to hear a child singing praises to God.

A favorite pastime of Makenna's is to pretend. She pretends to go shopping at Wal-mart, which includes her asking the lady who greets you for a sticker and then saying thank you to the lady, looking at the fish, checking out, and holding Mama's hand so the cars won't get 'You'. She also pretends to play grocery store and library/storytime, this is where she pretends to be the librarian who reads and sings to the kids.
She continues to be a huge helper around the house. She likes to do the dishes, sweep the floor, do the laundry, and help cook. She likes to get diapers for Colin and likes to help feed him his snacks. I hope she continues to have such a happy servant heart as she grows up.

Well, that is all that sticks out about her personality right now. I might add more if anything pops into my head.

Colin Is Walking

Yep that is right, Colin is now officially a toddler. Where did my baby go? I guess he had to grow up sometime. Anyway, I am proud of him and it will make playing outside a ton easier.

Here is a video of his big accomplishment.

I Wear My Sunglasses

Makenna loves to wear her glasses. Most of the time I keep them in the car because as soon as we get in the car she will proclaim, "No sun get you". Meaning, "Mama, please get me my sunglasses because I cannot stand it if the sun gets in my eyes." She will say this even if the sun is not out.

Oh, Makenna this is one thing that I hope I will always remember about you!

Colin Eating

Well, kinda. More like Eating while trying desperately to fall asleep.