Memorial Day = Pool Water!

I love a long holiday weekend--I especially love having extra days to spend with Addison and Jackson. We had a lot of fun this Memorial Day weekend--we went to Yards Park to splash in the fountains on Saturday and Monday, and on Sunday we went to my co-worker Lisa's house to take care of her kitty Lizzie and swim in her pool. The kids (especially Addison) really liked the cat (although the cat was somewhat wary of them, and probably rightly so)--but they are at such an independent stage, they were kind of over the pool (probably because they have to stick with a parent in the pool and can't do their own thing like they can at the fountains).

Further, all we heard all weekend from Addison was "pool water, pool water" which is her way of differentiating between going swimming and "drink water," which is having a drink of water. First thing in the morning, she asked, "pool water?"

Anyway, here are some pictures of Addison and Jackson splashing and running around Yards Park and having an absolute ball in the pool water!

Language Explosion!

Over the weekend, the chicklets experienced a significant language explosion. We're hearing words strung together in short sentences. Addison asked me to "tuck a leggie" (tuck her legs in) at night in her crib. Jackson looks up from lunch and says, "all done" (while signing that he's all done)--then says, "snap" because he wants to sit in his highchair and work on the snap in his seat.

We walked down the stairs and Addison said: what is that?

I said: a shoe rack.

She said: shoe rack.

GOOD GRIEF, we are talking!!

Froggy Potty

Lately little Miss Addison has been very interested in the potty--so a froggy potty has been acquired.

I think we're still a little ways off from the potty training--but it can't hurt to get acquainted with the potty (especially when it's a froggy, right?!)!

Happy Mother's Day

How lucky I am to celebrate Mother's Day today with my two sweet little kids and my husband. Daniel came with us to church today, which was so nice--and he and the babies surprised me with some lovely bath stuff (how did the babies know I was out?!), AND Daniel made dinner. All in all, it was a great day.

I love being a mom--I really feel like it was what I was meant to do. Thank you Addison and Jackson, for blessing my life everyday. Thank you for your cuddles, your smiles, your giggles, your tickles, your hugs, your kisses--you two are so much fun, and I love you more than you can ever imagine.

20 Months, Oh Please.

Oh please--how can my babies be 20 months old (and that was last week, geez)?! That means we're getting precariously close to 24 months, at which point we stop counting in months. And I'm not sure I can handle that. They are getting so big, and changing so much--it's fantastic, but it's kind of hard on their mama. I'm glad that even though they both have strong independent streaks, they still love to snuggle and cuddle, and even occasionally let me rock them like little babies (though they are far from that).

The babies' vocabulary has absolutely gone through the roof. We have all kinds of words at our disposal: milk, dark, light, play, splash, bath, ellie (elephant), puppy, bear, froggy, owl, color, yellow, blue, green, red, pink, purple, noodle, apples, bread, choo-choo (train), balloon, walk(a), outside, ball, base ball, hockey, goal, hop, muddy, night night (good night), bye, I love you (which is the absolute sweetest), nana (both banana and Nana Candy), banca/grandpa/grandma, Spud, mommy, daddy, me, you, bubba (Addison's word for brother), Addie (Jackson to his sister), book, car, wagon, airplane, teeth, nose, eyes, mouth, hair, armies, leggies, cereal, Cheerios, krispies, pancakes, eggies, cheese, soup, sip, zip, snap, water (wa-wa for Jackson, wa-da for Addison), pee-pee, potty, Elmo, Ernie, Burt, Big Bird, Abby, Audrey, baby, and amen.

Also, Addison has started declaring her food, "Mmmmmmmm...NUMMY!" It's good to know she likes it!

Addison and Jackson are doing a lot of growing, and both are getting bigger and taller. They are well into their 18-24 month clothes. They are thisclose to being too big for their car seats--it's a near struggle to get them snapped in at this point.

Both of them are very fast and are very much on the move. It's gotten to the point that when they take off, you almost have to run to keep up with or catch them. They love to dance and hop and jump--they especially love using the couch and their cribs like trampolines (we repeat the following mantras: please don't fall off of the couch, please don't fall off of the couch...please don't climb out of your cribs, please don't climb out of your cribs). They love to play outside--Jackson is REALLY good at throwing and kicking balls around. He's got a really impressive drop kick. He also LOVES to play hockey--he hates to come inside and put the hockey sticks away when it's time for dinner. Addison is also pretty good at kicking and throwing the ball around--she loves to play hide and seek on the front yard. The people who live a few doors down from us have put out a little ceramic frog in their bushes and a couple of chubby little owls near their front door--Addison and Jackson just love to run to that house and say hi to the froggy and the owls.

Jackson would sit in his highchair for hours, working on buckling the straps, if you'd let him. He's such a little problem solver and a thinker. Addison is increasingly interested in dressing herself, and she'll happily put on multiple pairs of her own shorts, or her brothers pants, or grandpa's jeans (depending on what clothes happen to be around). She also loves to put on Daniel or my shoes and try to walk around the house in them.

In the past month, we've dropped our morning bottles. Addison was fine switching to a sippy cup for her morning milk--Jackson was a bit more resistant, but after a couple of days, the switch was completely made. We're also really outgrown the sink for our baths--so we've started having our nightly baths in the big tub upstairs. It's been an adventure, but the kids are loving the new freedom and increased splash potential.

We're starting to see glimpses of what having 2 year olds will look like--little emotional breakdowns, overreactions, minor meltdowns, wanting things just so. It makes me a little bit nervous...but oh, you two at 20 months: so much fun (and so exhausting) (but really, so much fun), and we love you so much!

Red Wagon!

We got the babies a wagon for Christmas, thinking it would be fun for summer...and just hadn't gotten around to putting it together. Well, Nana got the wagon up and running while she was here, and we've taken it out every day since. Addison and Jackson LOVE taking walks in their wagon!

A Weekend with Nana

Daniel went on a surprise birthday trip to Vegas this past weekend with his dad for a Dodger baseball camp reunion--and while he was gone, Nana Candy came to stay. We ventured to Clemyjontri Park on Saturday, which is where the pictures are from--it turned out to be a very hot morning (the adults in our party were extensively sweaty), but we had a lot of fun playing on all of the toys and exploring the playground, riding the carousel twice, then finding a sprinkler and cooling off. And of course Jackson had to spend some time in the swing. The rest of the weekend, we played, worked on our letters, played, got fun new outfits, went on lots of walks, went to the park, and played--overall, we had a very busy, fun weekend. Thanks for coming to visit and help out, Nana!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

And will you share your ice cream cake with us, PLEASE?!

In preparation for dad's birthday, we've been working on saying "Happy Birthday" and singing the Happy Birthday song--and you can be sure that the kids' new favorite word is cake.