Time for a Real Post

What a week! Nothing really exciting, just kind of an off week. We've all taken turns passing a cold around. For the most part it was fine, except that we each had 1 day where we felt sick- chills, no energy, little fever. On top of that it's been raining like crazy here. I know I've only lived in California 2 years, but I know this is not normal. :) I usually like the rain, but we are just starting to feel a little stir crazy with that and the colds going around. Luckily the sun has peeked through every few days and we've been able to enjoy going out in the backyard or the park.

The other day, Emma woke up and wanted to watch a movie right then. I was surprised and asked if she wanted to eat breakfast first. She replied, "No Mom, you be the eater. I'LL be the watcher". It was pretty funny. Her vocabulary is expanding and she is getting better at making connections but she still says some really funny things. For example, when she gets frustrated she'll say, Ugh Mom (since it's usually me :) ), you're making me SO nervous! But she is definitely getting better at trying to express herself instead of just getting mad and hitting. However, she knows she is bigger than Matthew and she is more rough with him than I like. He can hold his own, but it still drives me crazy. We've been putting her in time out when she hurts him, but as soon as we send her away, Matthew runs crying after her because he wants to play with her. I don't get it...at all. :)

Matthew is a funny little guy too...which is a good thing, because he's been having trouble sleeping lately, and we are worn out. It reminds me all too well of what it's like to have a newborn...except that this "newborn" only takes a 1 hour nap during the day. It's nice, after a frustrating day, to lay in bed and laugh at the funny things the kids did that day. He is talking a lot more and just has a funny sense of humor. He does things that he thinks are funny, just to make us laugh. He is a very sweet little boy.

Here are the few pictures I've taken the last couple of weeks.

One of Emma's recent favorite books is "Go to Bed Monster". Very cute book! It's reminiscent of Harold and the Purple Crayon, but cuter. :) The girl in the book, Lucy, does not want to go to bed so she draws some shapes and they become a monster. To practice cutting shapes, I decided that we would make our own monsters. I thought they turned out so cute. (The picture is right on my computer, so I don't know why it's sideways here).

This was another rainy day activity. These things are AWESOME. They are Crayola "water" paints...except that you don't need any water. Stick the brush in the color and it paints. No mess and it kept both kids entertained for a long time.

On a warmer rainy day, the kids wanted to go splash in the puddles. Emma insisted that she needed to be in a swimsuit.

If there's mud, he WILL find it.

Ever since he sprained both ankles on TWO different slides, he's been a little wary of slides. Sometimes he'll go, but most of the time he chickens out.

A couple weeks ago, we watched our friends kids overnight. The kids all get along really well so it was a really fun little slumber party. And now Emma thinks that EVERY Friday night Andrew gets to come over and eat popcorn and watch a movie and spend the night. :)

Playing in the bath. Emma put these on and said, "Look Mom, I'm Joseph Smith!"

I bought a used jogging stroller for a whopping $25 so we took it out for a test drive on Sunday. The trail was more of a hike than we would have liked, but it was a fun little outing. And I LOVE having a jogging stroller. It is a bzillion times easier to push than our other strollers, so I've actually gone out jogging twice since Friday...and anyone who knows me well knows that I am NOT a runner. But I actually kind of enjoy it with this stroller. And I may even try to walk/jog a 5k. We'll see.

So back to our hike, we ended up stopping at one point to let the kids run around. There was a drainage ditch there and they thought it was hilarious to throw the rocks and watch them break.