Happy Spring!

Sorry for the delay in getting everyone updated on our happenings. Things have been busy! Kiddos are wonderful. Both of them are growing like weeds.

Here are some pics to tide you over until I can get some time to fully update.

Ian meets Elmo:


Charlotte is getting more teeth:


Both kiddos being silly:


And here's a slideshow of pics from mine & Charlotte's recent visit to Michigan:

TTYS,
Laura

We have issues

I'm having issues getting the videos up for you on Blogger. Instead, here are the links :)

Ian insiting on wearing his sunglasses.

http://s107.photobucket.com/albums/m306/loienelle/Kids/?action=view&current=-2009074.flv

Charlotte insisting that she eat dinner without her shirt.
http://s107.photobucket.com/albums/m306/loienelle/Kids/?action=view&current=-2009076.flv

I love my funny kids. Enjoy!!!

February Update

Greetings! Sorry about the long wait in getting new pics of the kiddos. Busy, busy. So I won't bore you with the ins & outs of everyday life. I'll just deliver the dirt.



IAN: Weighs 34#, meaures 36". Long & lean. Cute as ever. Trash truck adoring little boy. 2-year molars coming in and consistent with 2-year tantrums. ;)



CHARLOTTE: Weighs 22", height unkown. Long & lean with a little baby belly still. ADORABLE. Likes to walk around with her kittie's tail in her mouth. Top front teeth due any day now.



And here are your pictures!

I'll post videos soon for your enjoyment.

Ooh Wow Yites!

"Ooh Wow Yites!" Is what we hear an awful lot of these days when driving around at night. Never mind that we're purposely going the long way home each night so that Bubba can see the "yites." As I type this the current temperature is -3 Fahrenheit with a wind chill of-36. Brr! We only went out once today and that was just to drop the kids off at Nana's house so we could do a little stocking stuffer shopping at Target sans kiddos. Let me tell you how hard it is to find Crayola Spin toothbrushes in green & purple. Anyway, we found them. Apparently we received a phone call at the house from Gram to see if we were foolish enough to brave the cold. At the time, no. Me & the kiddos were snuggled in here at the house for nap time while Robert went out for a haircut & errand running. Charlotte got a lovely and restful 2.5 hour nap while Ian took only 45 minutes. Boy is he a stinker when those days hit.

Ian is absolutely being a toddler. One minute he's happy as a clam and dancing around the house and the next minute he tries to scratch your face. There were two time outs today for scratching. He can't stand time outs because we ignore him during that whole minute (one minute for each year) and surely that one minute where he's not the center of attention is very devastating. We know that he and another little girl at daycare got into a scuffle and ended up scratching each other's faces. Ah, the fun things kids learn. Guess he has to learn how to defend himself somewhere. I just wish he wouldn't use us to practice his skills. Today we caught him pulling Charlotte around by her ear. Oh, don't you worry...she was definitely protesting!

Today was a particularly good picture day for Charlotte. She was just so adorable this morning and very amenable to me having the lens in her face, so this week's installment is very Charlotte-centric. The ones of Ian are funny though. We bought him a new fleece hat because his hats from last year don't even cover his ears and we've already lost the one that did fit him - somewhere. Probably stashed in his cubby at daycare. We knew the temps were going to plummet this weekend though, so we got him a new one Saturday. He's got a big noggin so we had to shop the little boys department rather than the toddlers. This morning, Ian was quite insistent on wearing that hat and it's on his head exactly as he put it there and would not allow any adjustments for the sake of photographer editorial rights or any other reason for that matter! Enjoy the pics.

This one was taken in November. I had the infant seat out because I was cleaning it up for a friend and the kids decided to play in it. They really do love each other even though they don't always show it.

My little hat guy.

He looks like a little beatnik, huh?

Or Dr. Seuss-ish?

Pardon breakfast visible on the front of his shirt.

Not looking very happy, but she looks so much like her Aunt Elaine in this shot.

Snuggle bug.

Laughing and running.

Her back is up against the cold front storm door. Not quite sure why she loved that, but it entertained her for a good 30 minutes.

She's learning the sign for "cold" and she thinks its funny. This is typically her reaction.

Her tongue has always been out. From the very first day.

Sending only good wishes,

Laura & crew

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE!

There was lots to do to prepare for celebrating Charlotte's 1st birthday. As she's been very interested in penguins lately we went for a penguin theme. She about comes unglued when Happy Feet is on the television. The pics to the left are the t-shirts I appliqued for the event. Ian's is a tie and Charlotte's is a 'C' with felt flowers. A kid has to be well dressed for a party!

Friday we took the little miss in for her 12-month well baby visit. She received 3 shots and did pretty darn good considering. She's now 19# 1oz and measures 30" long which puts her in the 25% for weight and the 75% for height. She's long & lean. She's squarely fitting into 12 month clothes and wearing a toddler size 3 shoes. The docs can make predictions about their adult sizes and all we typically hear from Dr. Jen is that she'll be long & lean. Guess Gram's prediction on that was right.

Charlotte is now completely off formula and drinking whole milk. She get one bottle a day and the rest of the time takes sippy cups. She drowns herself in them for now, but you have to start somewhere. She eats mostly table food and is very much into feeding herself. If we try to feed her she bats our hands out of the way. She's very fast about it too and food ends up on the floor a lot. We now understand the virtues of having a family dog. Not that we're about to go get one but we wonder if the neighbors would mind if we just let their dog in our house after meals. Something to consider.

Of course, no 1st birthday party is complete without a free-for-all on birthday cake. Charlotte did not disappoint us. She got cake up her nose, in her hair, on the floor, and smooshed into the crevices of her neck. Both kids were both pretty oblivious to what was going on and had a good time. It's not like either of them had no one to play with them.

So to update on other stuff - Thursday we spent Thanksgiving at my sister's house. There was a ton of food! I think they'll have leftovers for weeks and their kids will revolt soon. Ian had a good time playing with everyone and as long as Charlotte could walk around with her stuffed penguin and her paci she was perfectly content. Friday, we all went down to Cherry Creek Mall for the Christmas Tree lighting. Ian really enjoyed hearing the Christmas Carols and just about came unglued when some big guy in a red & white fuzzy suit came out with a real live reindeer! I'm pretty sure he was more excited about the reindeer. He says, "Tanta" for Santa. Pretty darn close for a kid that's not even two yet. Charlotte was still oblivious to all of the holiday hub-bub. She does however enjoy the lights. Especially when Ian gets all excited and yells "Yites" as he points to the holiday lights. The yelling is usually so loud that is surprises even us! ;)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now, onto Christmas.

Love,

Laura

Chatterbox and shopping training

Hard to believe that the very same little boy that you'll see chatting away with his daddy below is also the little boy who woke up last night with a rager of a fever and is at home with daddy today with an ear infection this morning.

As you watch the videos below I'd like to point your attention to Charlotte as well. It's hard not to pay attention to Ian, but look at what Charlotte is doing. It's never to early to practice which arm to hold your shopping bag on.

Perhaps we should upgrade her Bed Bath & Beyond bag to something along the lines of Neiman Marcus? A girl can aim high, can't she?

And this is what happens when you let small children feed themselves macaroni & cheese. This misstep by the parents in this house caused all of us to get on our hands and knees and clean floors with vinegar & water just to get the layer of cheese cleaned up. I'm thinking it may not be the last time. Note to self: install cement floors with a drain in the middle in next house. Oh, well. They're still terribly cute!

Halloween revisited

Well, I had a wonderful little post prepared during my lunch hour, but it got blown away somehow. So now to appease, I'm slapping up the photos/videos and letting you guys figure it out. Sorry about that. Rest assured it wasn't too witty. It's Monday after all.

Happy Halloween!

We gussied up the kids today for Halloween. Since they're going to daycare we decided just to send them with t-shirts. They'll put on their real costumes tonight to hand out candy. Ian is going to wear his UGA track suit and Charlotte is going to wear her UGA cheerleader uniform. I'll be sure to post pictures of that, but to tide you over, here are the kiddos from this morning. Aren't they just the bees knees? We think so too. :)

Ian's t-shirt reads, "Just hand over the candy and no one gets hurt."

On Charlotte's shirt, the black dots are actually black kitty faces. She's also wearing a hair clippy I made with a candy corn on it for the day.

October Update

Hi kids! Sorry I've been MIA lately. We've had family in town and been busy with kiddos. We recently celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary and our "family day." Both kids were in exceptionally good moods this past weekend. Ian is finally over his hand/foot/mouth virus and Charlotte is walking more and more.

Our weather has been simply GORGEOUS! We recently took a trip down to Garden of the Gods and the colors were just beautiful. Couldn't have been more lovely. The kids were real troopers that day and both win the "Excellent Kid" award for not going insane for having sat in the car on the way down or on the way home.

For our family day we started with Ian's soccer. It turned out that it was also photo day and that's bound to be hilarious. Someone decided that he couldn't have his picture snapped without his mother, so yeah, I'm in his first soccer photo. Poor kid. His mom is in his very first sporting photo. I do take some comfort in knowing that he wasn't the only one who couldn't do it on his own. I'll post the group photo and you'll see that I'm not the only other mom holding their kid on their lap in the back row while trying to hide. And you thought soccer with a bunch of 18-24 month olds was funny! You should see them try to get a group photo taken!

After soccer we headed to Gunther Toody's for some breakfast. Both of the kids got a balloon from the balloon animal guy. How come there are rarely women who do this? Anyway, they both really liked their balloons. Ian got a monkey and Charlotte got a starter balloon. Here's what they each decided to do with their balloons.

Ian hitting daddy on the head with his balloon. Notice after daddy straightens his hair, Ian must do the same. HA!

Charlotte figuring out her starter balloon. Of course it's in her mouth.

Oh, and because it's funny, here's Charlotte snoring in the car.

Later that evening we had dinner with Nana at Lil Ricci's and everyone had pasta. The next day we had leftovers. It's always better the next day anyway. The kiddos had a blast making a mess of their spaghetti - something we can let them do at home. Of course, it drove daddy insane that a mess was being made, but he survived.

Sunday we took Ian for a play date with his bio sister "M" and her family. Charlotte stayed back with Nana and they got some play time in at home without fear of her being trampled by the walking (more like running) kiddos.

Here's Ian & daddy going down the slide together. It ends abruptly because Ian needed a hug to celebrate his amazing sliding abilities.

We had a wonderful weekend! Looking forward to having family again the 2nd week of November and that will be fun. We're also working on Charlotte's birthday party for the 30th. We can hardly believe our little pipsqueak is almost a year old!!!

Sending only good wishes,

Laura

We subscribe to a newsletter by the New Demographic called "Non Racist Parenting" to help us address racial issues as a family. Given our family's racial makeup we wanted to be sure that we got this one right.

Recently, the New Demographic issued the following article and it resonated with us. We thought we'd share it here for your consideration.

An open letter to white voters, or what McCain really thinks of you
by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Dear white voter,

Sorry, was that too direct? Sarah Palin loves calling you "Joe Six Pack" and "hockey mom." Perhaps I too, should use one of 68 possible euphemisms to refer to you instead.

I want to ask you a simple question: Which candidate -- McCain or Obama -- do you think has a higher opinion of your character?

John McCain has spent the last couple of weeks asking ominously: "Who is the real Barack Obama?"

Sarah Palin hasn't hesitated to supply an answer to this question. She declared at a Florida rally on Monday that Barack Obama "is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America. I'm afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country."

And as CNN's Campbell Brown pointed out in her commentary Wednesday night, McCain surrogates have made a point of calling the Democratic candidate "Barack Hussein Obama" at least twice this week.

The McCain campaign is doing its best to paint Obama as a shadowy Manchurian candidate who is un-American, unpatriotic, dangerous, sympathetic to terrorists, and possibly even a secret Muslim (needless to say, that's a bad thing in their eyes).

That much is obvious.

But what does their strategy say about what they think of you, the white voter?
Judging from their messaging, they seem to be stereotyping white voters as closed-minded, paranoid, naive, xenophobic, and just a tad bit racist.

And they are certainly connecting successfully with people who match this profile.
At a New Mexico rally on Monday, McCain asked the crowd, "Who is the real Barack Obama?" A voice in the crowd yelled out, "A terrorist!"

When Palin delivered her stump speech berating Obama at the Florida rally on the same day, an audience member yelled, "Kill him!" Audience members then began shouting angrily at the reporters covering the event, one of them yelling racial slurs at an African-American camera man and telling him to "Sit down, boy."

Do you bear any resemblance to these agitators? Probably not.

Do you fit the profile of the racist and xenophobic white voter? Probably not.

Then do you really want to support a candidate who thinks so little of you that his only strategy right now is to appeal to your basest human instincts of fear and hatred?

Contrast McCain's view of you to that of Obama's.

Despite the harsh realities of racism in America -- his being placed under Secret Service protection earlier than any other presidential candidate in history, for example -- Obama has never expressed anything but unfailing faith in you.

His February 2007 appearance on 60 Minutes was just one of countless interviews in which he made that clear:

KROFT: You think the country's ready for a black President?
OBAMA: Yes.
KROFT: You don't think it's going to hold you back?
OBAMA: No. I think if I don't win this race, it will be because of other factors. It's going to be because I have not shown to the American people a vision for where the country needs to go that they can embrace.

In his speech on race this spring, Obama declared: "I would not be running for president if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country."

Dear white voter, it's time for a decision.

This November, will you support the candidate who assumes the worst about your character and motivations?

Or will you vote for the candidate who has never stopped believing in and championing your capacity for greatness?

Our blossoming Picasso

Ian's class is studying colors, shapes, veggies and turtles this week. Yesterday they covered veggies and this is his beautiful coloring of Cookie Monster eating a salad. It's difficult to see, but he even colored the salad with a green crayon. Looks like he also tried coloring Cookie Monster with blue crayon but missed the mark just a wee bit. Way to go little guy!

Isn't it beautiful?

Saturday was beautiful for the park

There's nothing quite like our fall weather here in Colorado. It's just right. Not too hot, not too cold. We took advantage of the beautiful weather on Saturday and loaded the kids up in their wagon for playtime at the park. We do this about every other night, weather permitting. The kids love the wagon because they can see each other and I think they just like the movement. They can't touch so Ian's not pulling out Charlotte's pacifier and Charlotte's not pinching Ian. You get the picture.

Here are more pictures from one of our many visits to the park. We think this next one is telling of days to come. Ian figured out that he could pull his sister around in the wagon. He was thrilled. She was wondering what in the heck was going on with the four-wheeling wagon!

Miss Charlotte just loves to swing.

Ian wanted up on everything. Daddy was more than obliging. And here's one to just wrap up our weekend. This is not an uncommon view at our house. The person who said that children should not watch TV doesn't have two under two to wrangle while getting dinner cooked and diapers changed with bedtime fast approaching. Thank heaven's for PBS Sprout!