Lessons learned during the Christmas break

1. Pjs with characters on them are awesome (so awesome, in fact, they must be kept hidden during the day) 2. Daddy can teach you how to put on lipstick 3. Hold very still during the application of nail polish 4. Being the big cousin has its responsibilities 5. Thomas the train makes an excellent best buddy, especially at church 6. While wearing a purse and a miniskirt, you must give attitude

Apparently...

... it's not nice to bring a camera with you to get these kids from their nap. *** They usually squeal when they wake up from their nap, so I thought I would want a video of that. I did get the video, but then I decided to take some pictures. I think the flash in the dark room blinded them. But the pictures are priceless.

We've arrived!

You remember that one time when you saw some little kid do something totally adorable/hysterical that you said aloud, "I hope my kid does that." Greg and I have always hoped that we would have kids that liked putting stickers on their faces. Greg wished even further that they would put stickers on HIS face. Today, all of our dreams came true. With no prompting from us, I present to you, Sticker Faced Daddy: Where do we go from here?

They smile

Not that these pictures are anything special, I just can't let my blog be a picture of screaming children for too long. It should be documented that some of their life is enjoyable.Bedtime story

Rockin' away on the rocking horse that my grandma made when I was little

Getting creative with household objects

abuse? or adorable?

20

1. They love the moon.
2. They love all things "Mimi Mouse".
3. They think every bearded man is Jesus.
4. Finally say, "Hiyeeeee" and "biyeeeeee" at the right time.
5. They love their uncle "vrine" (we call him Thrine, don't ask why).
6. If Kate finds the camera, she will bring it to me and say, "cheese." The little poser.
7. They love to point out and smell every flower they see (even if it's in a book, they will still smell it).
8. They know Daddy gets home from work right after dinner and if he's late, it's my fault and they are not happy with me.
9. There are lots of things that they like from afar but petrified of up close (dogs, Mickey)
10. Ethan yells in gibberish at people (usually me).
11. They are starting to understand the places we go regularly and call them out when we get close (Nana's, car wash, "pooper's", aka Kooper).
12. They love to color. all. day. long.
13. But what they really love is for you to color with them. They'll bring a crayon over and ask for a flower, dog, Mickey, daddy, etc. It doesn't get annoying at all.
14. They love to run around and chase each other squealing the whole time.
15. They will happily show you their smile, although it's more of a squinted up face than an actual smile.
16. Right before baths every night, we take off their diapers and let them run for a couple of minutes. And run they do. If it weren't so much kiddie nakedness, I would post a video. It's the cutest thing they do, in our opinion.
17. Ethan likes to "help" clean up.
18. They do quite well with paper books, but give Kate a flap, and she will rip it right out.
19. There are only 2 colors in our house: orange (which Kate calls "ownge") and blue (which Ethan calls "booo"). They do actually know which ones are orange and blue (like, "where's the orange cup?"), but then everything else is also that color.
20. Kate has the most hilarious run that uses every single muscle in her entire body.

Disneyland is awesome!

Hiding

Happy Halloween!

Brace yourself for a lot of mediocre photos of some adorable children. I was really hoping for a great photo shoot, like I had last year. We got dressed, set out, the kids were in a GREAT mood, loving their costumes, their ears, and the fact that we were doting on their every move. I told them to hold hands and they were even doing that adorably. However, running in uncomfortable shoes, while holding hands leads to busted lips on poor Mickey, so all I got were these. You'll just have to imagine them being about 10 times cuter. I promise. At Nana's, pre-trick-or-treating (you can zoom in here for a shot of Ethan's lip). First (of 4) houses: I love their faces in the picture. Kate's like, "Ethan, don't look now, but there is a HUGE bowl of awesome candy right there, and I think she's going to let us take some of it!!!!!!!!" Ethan didn't really grasp the take-the-candy-with-you concept. He more got the eat-the-candy-they-just-gave-me-while-we're-still-standing-here concept. Good thing we only made 4 stops. One M&M here, a bite of Milky Way there never hurt anyone. Uncle Thrine (Matt) helping out T-o-t wrap-up:K: That was pretty awesome E: Yeah K: Everyone thinks we're pretty cute E: Yeah K: Do you think we can do this every night? E: I sure hope so **Once again, Nana came through with darling costumes. She made Kate's dress and almost everything else was purchased and since I couldn't take credit for a single thing last year, I will say that I made Ethan's shorts (okay, I took red shorts and sewed the buttons on them), spray painted his shoes, and made the sacrifice of going to Disneyland for the ears. Baby steps.

Disneyland

We finally got our Disney passes and went on Thursday to the happiest place on earth. There were times that weren't so happy (they're afraid of the lines), but mostly, it rang true.

Small World: Teacups: Snacks: We were only there for about 4 hours, but it was a good time. I'm excited to go again. And again and again.

**I do realize that Kate's outfit has been worn a lot lately, especially on picture-taking days. It's not really because it's her cutest (although I think it is), it's because this weather is killing me. She's grown out of all her summer clothes and it's too hot for pants and long-sleeves, so her wardrobe is seriously suffering. The poor thing wears the same thing about every 3 days.

Fun Saturday

The pumpkin patch. It's obligatory. It's adorable. It speaks for itself.

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After naps, we headed to Traveltown, a cute little museum-type park with lots of old trains and a train to ride. It was made for Ethan and Kate. I think this may be our new favorite park.