CALM

Abigail makes a slithering friend.
The fish are very interested in Carter.

Who cares about all the reptiles? Not Abbie and Carter. They would much rather chase eachother around on the step. Poor snakes!

Abbie meets Bart and Millhouse the pygmy goats.

Carter gives the goats a once over and then is off to explore.

Carter finds a circle of logs and spends most of the time climbing around and around them.

Abigail feeds the goats and the sheep.

Carter decides that this might be cool after all. I think he was just looking for dropped pellets to snack on!

Again losing interest in the animals, he finds a pile of leaves inside a bunny cage and methodically picks them out of the cage, playing with muddy leaves. He later tries to feed the leaves to the goats.

DJ and Abbie try to coax the two donkeys over to no avail.

I attempt to get a rare photo of Carter with me. You can see why they are rare. He hates it and DJ is diligent in doing his best to make Carter look at the camera and smile, which usually results in a photo like this one.

Abbie meets "Bambi."

A Special Performance

No recital is complete without a little brother crashing it.
Abbie loves to put on one of her dressup outfits, whatever tights she can get her hands on and her pink sparkly shoes, and then play music and dance for me. She does little ballerina moves that are a crack up. She loves to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for me.

Baby Abigail

Abigail loves to pretend to be a baby and likes me to swaddle her in my big soft blanket.

So Silly

Abigail found the same glasses Carter had and just had to try them on.

Making Cards

My Grandma has been in the hospital this past week, so I had the kids make her get well cards. As you can see, Carter was much more interested in coloring the floor (and the table, chairs, and himself) than the card. In case anyone was wondering, not all Crayola markers are washable...

After almost a full year of searching everywhere for a program I could enroll both kids in to get a few hours of relief during the week, I finally found one! Today was their first day at Mommy Time at First Presbyterian Church which Abbie refers to as "pink church." It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. The same artist that decorates the Rainforest Cafes has painted every area of the whole area and they have so many great things for the kids to play with. Hooray for me!

Fav New Toy

Abigail has been talking about Brenna's jack in the box toy since we went over there for a Christmas party so I finally bought her one yesterday. She insisted on taking it to bed, which is the first toy she has ever wanted to do that with. I came in five minutes after putting her in there and this is what I found...

Two Little Monkeys...

The kids love to jump together in their cribs after bathtime, especially if I will oblige them and sing the monkeys jumping in the bed song they learned at Nana and Papa's. They are wearing their matching Christmas pjs because Abbie insists they were them whenever she comes across them.

Big Boy

Since Carter will no longer sit in his highchair (why sit when you can stand and laugh when mom tells you to sit down?) and it is only a matter of time before he makes the jump, he is not in a booster at the table. He hasn't figured out how to stand up in this one yet!

Professor Carter

New Tricks

Pulling out a dining room chair, dumping out sister's breakfast and all her coloring pictures, and then of course, climbing up on top.
And as he is one not to give up, climbing up on his changing table. He knocks over his diaper pail, stands on it, does a chin up, kicks his legs behind him, and shimmies up the side of his crib until he can push himself across the table. Yes, I just had to watch him do it because I could not imagine how he did it. As for Miss Abigail, she is wearing her crib sheet and has a princess hat sticker stuck in her hair.

Playing Dress Up

Abigail has been very interested in playing dress up lately, which means Carter is very interested as well. For being as much of a boy as he can be in every other way, the child sure loves a tutu, a princess wand, and a purse!

I Don't Need a Nap

A few days out of the week, Carter decides that he does not need his usual 1 1/2 nap in the morning. This means that by noon, he is so miserable that he tries to take all of us down with him. On this day, I noticed that he had been sitting still in the same spot for more than 5 minutes so I walked over to check on him (the child does not sit still for that long unless he is watching Dora or is up to no good) and found him sitting straight up, fast asleep. I said his name and he grumbled at me and flopped straight over onto his pillow and just kept on sleeping.

My New Blackmail Photo

Carter climbed up into the bathroom sink again, this time dumping out my bag of makeup and playing in it. He wore some, he ate some. What fun! I take these pictures with full intent to get good use out of them in the future for all the grief this child creates for me.

Dance Party

One of Abbie's new games is to run in her room, get her tutu, raid my closet for her favorite shoes, and grab a dance partner when I have the satellite radio on. This time her victim was Daddy who was a good enough sport to indulge her even after working all night long.

New Friends

Abigail and Jabbers have taken over our new oversized chair. If anyone wants to sit on it, you have to go through them first. Jabbers has figured out that Abbie is the only one who will put up with his snuggle attempts and will give him a few nice strokes on the head.

Mr. Mischief

If anyone comes over and wonders why are barstools are missing, this is why. In this picture, he managed to climb up the stool, stand up and eat his sister's lunch- making a huge frozen blueberry mess. He can also climb up onto the countertop and get whatever his little heart desires so no more barstools for now!

My Little Chef

Abigail has a renewed interest in her kitchen now that she has her own little apron, hat, and potholders. Unfortunately, it does not keep my little helper out of my kitchen but she has a great time playing in hers sometimes now too.

Bounce House

Carter's favorite part of the bounce house!

Abbie loves jumping up and down.

The kids are officially spoiled rotten. Thanks Auntie Cool Beans! This was the first big toy that Abigail insisted to open and play with the day after Christmas.

Abbie's New Fav Outfit

Abigail received a Dance with Dora gift from our dear friends the Congdons which came with this Dora outfit that she adores and tries to wear everywhere. On this day she refused to take it off, even for her nap. She is so excited that she has backpack on!

Popcorn Party

The day after Christmas, I turned on Dora, popped popcorn and tucked the kids in blankets so they can wind down after bedtime. We had so much excitement in the days leading up to Christmas that the kids were so off schedule, cranky,and confused. They did enjoy it even though the picture doesn't show it- I was blocking their view of the TV to take the pic!