Mom of the Year

That's me! The kids had their picture taken at a Christmas tree farm today, so we brought changes of clothes so they could help pick out a tree without ruining their nice Christmas outfits.

Somehow, though, I managed to forget the baby's pants and socks. Thankfully it was in the mid-60s, so she didn't freeze to death.

It was pretty embarrassing.

Snow Bunnies?

It snowed at Nana and Pop's house over Thanksgiving. The kids got to play in it-- the little guy had a blast, but the baby didn't seem to enjoy herself too much.

These two.

Weird Faces

The kids sometimes make the weirdest faces. Here's the little guy watching tv, all relaxed or whatever. (Seriously, how is this comfortable?)

And here's what the baby's been doing every time we get out the camera.

Goobers.

Woooooo-OOOOOO-ooooo!!

The kids still love playing with our hand-me-down giant, collapsible firetruck. It's, um, really loud when they play with it because they spend most of the time making siren noises.

The baby actually managed to carry the entire thing all the way across the house-- through three rooms and a couple of doorways! It was pretty impressive...

Class in Session?

My brother and his wife bought the baby an amazing shirt for her birthday. Here she is rocking it and teaching us something with chalk!

Watch and learn is right!

Brrrrr!

Sorry for the lack of posting last night. The car Jeep battery died and we had quite the adventure getting home!

Anyway, it's been really cold (for North Carolina) this week, so I snapped this picture of the kiddos all bundled up and ready to go to school. This was the funny face version.

Look at all those layers!

Books, Books, Books!

For their birthdays, one of my uncles sent the kids nearly one thousand books. I think they read every single one with their Nana last weekend.

How sweet!

So Happy Together!

The play table is the best thing we've ever bought. The kids use it all the time, and there's enough room for them to use it without bickering. Hooray!

Miss Independent!

The baby's favorite phrase is "MY do it MYself!" and she says it all the time. She put her own shoes on this afternoon. Can you tell that they are on the wrong feet? She refuses to change them.

What a stinker!

Birthday Girl!

The baby turned two today!

Her Nana and Pops came in to town and brought her a shopping cart full of plastic food. She was thrilled!

The little guy already has a cash register with a scale and play money. The two of them played grocery store until half an hour past their bedtime.

Guitar

My daddy bought me a guitar many years ago so I could learn to play... and I never have. It's nice to have the guitar, though, because he can play it when he visits. He let the kids help him play and sing a few songs the other night!

Cake!

The baby is not-quite-two, and since my parents have been in town we celebrated her birthday tonight! (We'll have another celebration this weekend with Eric's parents.) We got her a stuffed Daniel Tiger, and I have to say we hit it out of the park with this one.

Can you believe that two years ago I looked like this?

And now my baby is moving to the two-year-old room at school!

Marbles!

We went to Marbles Museum this morning with Grandma and Gramps. The kids had a BLAST. The adults did, too! Look Gramps and the kids built out of giant legos!

Playground!

The little guy 'rode' his big-boy bike to the playground today. Then he and his sister had a blast on the slide.

Here he is leaving on his bike. Up ahead you can see the baby zooming along with Gramps. Hooray family!

Bedtime Stories!

Eric does a fabulous job reading the kids' new book Telephone. He does such a good job, in fact, that they've requested he take over bedtime reading (WHAT!??!).

A lot of nights I'll sit and listen to him, too. He does the best voices.

Early mornings and late evenings

As Emily has mentioned before, she's been dragging my sorry behind out of bed to work out with her in the mornings. Our wonderful son usually comes down and joins in on the "fun" by either doing some exercising or critiquing our form. The other day he had the camera out while we were working out and he snapped this awesome picture.

I really am just about as dead as I look. What you don't realize is that we were just doing crunches and we have to be off centered a little because I have stolen half of Em's yoga mat. Add the fact that you have a 5 year old aspiring paparazzo (singular of paparazzi?) flashing photos from very close range and it's a little crowded.

Last night the toddler (she's not a baby anymore, sigh) wanted to listen to some "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift so we played it 5 times for her and the boy. They are so funny when they dance and sing!

That boy is such a goof!

Captain America, Jr.

The little dude put his Captain America mask and shield on the baby tonight.

She was not amused.

Quiet Evening

After a busy few weekends, we stayed in last night and I let the kids watch a little television before an early bedtime. Look at these two!

There's truth to this song after all...

Brrrrrr!

Courtesy of Eric's boss, we got tickets to a Carolina Railhawks soccer game last night. It was FREEZING!! (Ok, it was like 50 degrees, but rainy and windy.) We only stayed for about half the game, but the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.

The baby's face in this picture kills me. She's so funny!

Happy Halloween!

We went to a neighbor's house for dinner, and then trick-or-treated together. Their kids and ours are about the same ages. The little dude was Captain America. He took it very seriously.

The baby refused to wear the top half of her dragon costume. She enjoyed chasing her brother up to all the houses and then showing people the candy she already had!

All in all, it was a fun evening.