Question of the Day

Amelia is going through a huge word explosion. She is picking up words by the dozen every day. So very cute. She uses "hot" for anything that is hot or cold. "Milk" is any liquid she would like to drink. "Down" means she wants to be either up or down, depending on which location she is currently in. "Books" are anything with pages. So, so cute. But I know where it is going.

Where it is going is the point William is at. William now has enough words and is able to string them together to form coherent thoughts (okay, sometimes). He has been asking questions for a long time, but has recently reached the point where I just don't know the answer.

Example:

Do kitties use toilet paper? (asked while innocently perched on the toilet following a discussion regarding the importance of it)

Where does God live?

Why do I poop?

What do ghost do? What are the for?


There is always one question a day that seems to just come out of the blue and take me by surprise. I don't know how to even begin answering some of the things he thinks about.

Then there are the more frustrating ones. Developmentally, I'm sure there is a name for this stage and I learned about it in my Child Development classes. But, I can't remember it now. But the scenario goes a lot like this:

William: What is this for?
Mama: What is it? I can't see you in your room from the kitchen. (usually as I am furiously prepping a meal/cleaning up after a meal/trying to eat a cookie without being detected)
W: What is it?
M: I don't know, I can't see it.
W: Yes you can! Silly! What is it?
M: I don't know, I can't see it. What color is it?
W:......red? Blue?........CRASH!

And then an entire box of toys is emptied onto the floor in which I will step on each and every painful piece in my rush to make sure he is okay. And, I'll never know which toy he had in his hand to figure out what he was thinking. At least five times a day he will have a burning question he expects me to answer without seeing or knowing anything about the particular object in his hand.

Upfront

I'm a pretty upfront person most of the time. I'll tell you what I think honestly if you ask for my opinion. And sometimes if you don't. You'll have noticed it has been quiet around here lately and there are reasons. Of course, they aren't reasons I really want to talk about in such a public place, so you'll just have to be satisfied with knowing everything is okay. It has been difficult for me, as writing is one way that I process the events that happen day to day and also how I record the milestones of our children. However, I knew I wasn't going to be able to write about the events of the day without talking honestly about everything else going on. So I didn't write at all. Sorry about that. I think we'll be back up to speed shortly.

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day 2010!!

-Started with sleeping in...a real treat around here!

Followed by a delicious breakfast in bed of donuts, juice and fresh raspberries -YUM!

Trying to keep the kids out of the breakfast can be a little...tricky
Showing Daddy his homemade card - it has a lot of TRUCKS.
Daddy's present: a new toothbrush! How exciting!Fabulous Kid#2

Awesome Kid #1
When we couldn't take it anymore, we all had our breakfast of yummy donuts ("bagels"). For some reason William kept calling them bagels - this is also the only reason William didn't blow my cover. We picked up the donuts at the store while John was out yesterday and hid them. William talked about the yummy bagels for the rest of the day. Whew!

Mmmmmmm....

Amelia's first donut - she is a little more ladylike only due to the fact I cut her pieces up a LOT smaller.
Kids dressed super cute for church! Amelia is craning around my head to get a better view of the TV. Nice, huh?
Daddy and his crabby girl. The girl with a shark tattoo.
The handsome men Only Daddy is strong enough to carry both of themAmelia running away in her pretty dress from Grandma KimAmelia's pretty dressDaddy and his kids!The best one of Daddy
The best one of William

The best one of Amelia

New Car

Just in time for a very BIG birthday present, we brought home our Nissan Versa. While we were shopping for a new car, we were using the following criteria:

In color "Polished Moonbeam Opal" or something like that. Or silver.

1) Had to be able to fit two carseats in the backseat
2) Good highway gas mileage as John drives on the highway a longish distance everyday
3) Air conditioning
4) In a price range that would sink us financially and could be paid off by the end of this year

We had our eye on a few hybrids including the Prius. However, criteria number 4 just didn't allow us to fully pursue this one at this time.

So far we are liking the car. The engine is smaller than the Grand Prix John was driving, so that is something we are still getting used to while driving down the highway. Surprisingly, the interior of the car has more room of it than the Grand Prix, but the overall size is smaller. Strange.

The biggest bummer overall is that I helped John wash the Grand Prix three days before the accident. Big waste of my time!


In other news, William suddenly appears to be a whole head taller. Overnight it feels like he is now able to reach things on shelves and counters that were previously "safe zones" (as in, "Where did you get that sucker?"). So, we pulled out the trusty yard stick to get some hard numbers on the situation. In January, he was 39 inches tall. It is hard to see in this picture, but he is now just over 40 inches tall when he is standing up straight (which he is NOT in this picture). I guess all it takes is an extra inch to put you at counter height in our house...

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Daddy! William was so excited for it to be "Daddy's special DAY!" We talked aobut it and talked about it and talked about it ALL DAY LONG. Thank goodness John gets home on the early side. I'm not sure how much longer I could take it!

Daddy and his kiddos - William looking like a model posing

Cute of everyone

Apparently my son has squeezed in some modeling classes recently....

We've been furiously car shopping the last few days. I can only tell you that car shopping with a non stop talking 3 1/2 year old and a very active 15 month old is nothing but joy. It looks like I will be spending my date night budget for the next few months on hiring a sitter so we can car shop. Alone. Together. Without children in tow. It will be worth every penny.

The beautiful birthday cake William helped me to make
Singing happy birthday under the Happy Birthday Banner

Amelia enjoyed the cake very muchVery, very, very much!

William would hand John a present and say: "Here dad! This one is a beautiful NEW shirt! It's BLUE!" We're going to try and work on that before Christmas. I promise.

Here Dad! This one is new grilling tools!


After a yummy dinner of grilled hamburgers, we went out to test drive some new vehicles sans kiddos. So exciting and I'm sure it was just what John wanted!

Daddy's Exciting day

John was in a car accident on his way to work this morning. Our family was so lucky in many ways today, which we are trying to remember as we wade through the insurance red tape. First and foremost, John is 100% okay without any injury or muscle soreness.

In short, John was merging onto a highway from another major highway several miles away from our house (From I70 to I370 for you locals). This interchange is a very busy area, but John was going to work early in the morning (roughly 5:00am) as is his normal routine. John had merged over and was driving when he heard a loud bang in the back end of his car. His car spun around and ran into a concrete divider between the two major interstates. After taking a few moments to recover, he called the police and reports were filed, etc.

After calling the police, John called me. Not the best news I've ever received first thing in the morning. After all the paperwork was cleared up, I roused the kids out of bed and went to pick him up. We spent the day together beginning our journey through the red tape*.


*Update: John's car is totaled due to the extent of the damage and the age of the vehicle. Looks like we'll be spending the next few night car shopping together.....


Front driver side corner of the car, which impacted the concrete wall.

Front passenger side. The bumper was pushed out.



Showing rear passenger wheel. The rear panel was undamaged but the wheel now rubs up against the wheel well. The axle was probably bent. There was some damage on the rear passenger door and on the wheel itself.

14 Months

Amelia was 14 months old on 5/30/10! We were in Des Moines, so I didn't take a special picture of her. I meant to, but it didn't happen. Probably because my children decided to not sleep while we were there.


Amelia has quite the personality lately (or, maybe always?). Whatever mood she is in, she gives 100000% of her energy in displaying it. She is:

Curious and determined! Here she wouldn't leave the flowers alone on Jim and Kendra's porch. We moved them, put them up, I hid them and even just held them on my lap. I finally had to take her inside because she just couldn't leave them alone! She was bound and determined to pull the pretty flowers off the plant and then upend the planter.

Silly. This face here is nothing but trouble. She makes this particular face (enlarge for the full effect) ALL the time. It usually means she isn't happy with the current situation and getting ready to complain. Or retaliate. Either way, get out of her way!
A ham! She recently started saying "CHEESE" when you pull the camera out. Even if you are taking pictures of someone else. Or are trying to get video of her doing something cute. You know, besides saying "CHEESE" at the top of her lungs.
Dramatic! When things aren't going your way, you aren't afraid to let it all hang out. You scream, you wail, you hit/pinch/bite/kick, and you are not easily distracted.


This age is so fun with Amelia. She is so full of curiosity about the world around her and she doesn't ever stop until she is sleeping. This age is also totally exhausting because she doesn't EVER stop. Not for one minute. Not until she wails herself to sleep at night because she IS! NOT! DONE!