In the last 2 weeks . . .

I brought out the toddler potty to try and get Ethan interested in it, but all he was interested in was wearing it as a hat. I came into the living room and he had even put the smaller bucket part on Emeree . . . so Ethan put the buckets on both of them himself. And somehow I even got both of them to look at the camera at the same time!!! Notice Emeree's WET shirt? That was her 3rd shirt for the day (and it was only 4pm). She's teething and drooling like crazy!
So how do you make playing with a doll house more "manly"? Well, you drive a car or motorcycle through it. We were babysitting Canden and they were both trying to drive through it. I didn't think it would happen this fast, but Emeree has fallen into the world of kissing. She kept kissing Ethan's Curious George. And through a couple weeks of the kids learning new things . . . I'm sad to report that Michael has digressed in his skills. He has forgotten how to open a can. So sad.
He claims it's the can opener's fault so he had to tear the lid back, but I'm not so sure.

Edgemont Park

We went to Edgemont Park on Memorial Day - it was great weather and at about 5pm, there were no other people at the park. That seemed odd for a holiday with nice weather. After about 20 minutes a couple came with their pit bull - why on earth would someone come to a park where there are children and bring a pit bull? I don't like dogs as it is, but that seemed quite dumb to bring a dangerous breed to a park.

Oh well, here's Emeree licking her zipper . . . Here's another "stink face" shot . . . Ethan didn't really like the park at all. He whined and cried almost the whole time we were there. He loved the park last summer. And now that he's old enough to play on some of the toys without me holding his hand the whole time, he doesn't want to.

We tried the slide. No crying, but he looked concerned the whole time.He sobbed when we tried to put him in the children's bucket swing, so we tried putting him on a regular swing with Michael and he finally smiled for about 30 seconds. Emeree, on the other hand, loved the swing. We thought that if she was happy in it, that would help Ethan to try it . . . nope.

He did a little better when we turned Emeree to face him and pushed them both. No crying, and we got a couple smiles out of him.But, his highlight of the park was when I gave him a stick to let him hit the tree. He's an odd child. Last week, Emeree started lifting her belly off the floor and supported herself on her knees and hands. She's getting a step closer to crawling. She actually moves backwards - kind of a scooting more than anything else, but she's moving.

I gave Ethan a chocolate popsicle. When he was done, it looked like he had a mustache and a goatee . . .

Emeree's Baby Quilt

In case anyone didn't get to see the finished product, here's Emeree's Baby Quilt that Grandma Larsen made. I got it last night!And know what's really cool? About 4 of the pink prints are the same fabric left over from the quilt she made me when I was 10 years old. How cool is that?

And whoever doesn't know, my Grandma hand sews all her quilts - no machine at all! That's dedication and love!

New Skill - Sitting alone

Emeree sat up all by herself today for over a minute without falling over!! And she's a multi-tasker too. She can make her tradmark "stink face" at the same time.
She can also stick out her tounge and play with her feet while sitting alone. . .

She can also bite the ear off a stuffed lamb - not really angel-like traits.

Ethan wanted to sit with her - she gave him a big ole' slobbery kiss.

. . . then they fell over.

Here's a picture of Ethan sitting alone when he was 5 months - he beat Emeree by a month with that skill.

She loves sitting in Ethan's high chair to eat. But she's wondering "What is up with these nasty carrots?" I know she gets her dislike of carrots from me - thanks Dad :)

Stink Face and Beanie Boy

. . . that post title sounds like 2 weird superhero names. :)

Emeree started making a "stink face" this week and she sniffs really loud and fast about 6 times while she makes the face, then she goes back to smiling. Not sure what started this. But it's hard to catch on camera since she does it randomly. I had to just sit there and wait for it. But it's a cute stink face.Ethan found one of my beanies in the laundry basket and said "hat" and wanted me to put it on him. He hated hats as a baby and up until recently. But after I put it on him, he pulled it down and started laughing and then kept it down while he walked around - looking down through the tiny slit below his eyes.

He pretty much kept it on all day - here he is eating cheerios and watching t.v. with it covering one eye.
And here he is the next day - eating a pop tart with the kitchen tongs. He wouldn't pick it up with his hands since the fudge filling got on his fingers. And he wouldn't use a fork, so I tried the tongs. Worked great. And he cried when I tried to take it off so we could go to the dentist. So on it stayed - most of that day too. He hasn't found it yet today.

How are you today sir?

. . . very well I thank you . . .

"sir" is short for "serena" in case you didn't know :)

Well, my morning sucked - Ethan bit Emeree's hand, leaving deep teeth marks. She was in her walker next to me while I loaded the dishwasher and I didn't see him do it, but after she erupted in tears, I checked her to see what was wrong and I saw the teeth marks. He didn't mean to hurt her; he stood worried next to her while I checked her to see what was wrong. So hopefully since he was worried about her, this teaches him that biting hurts.

He's only bit once before - he bit my butt. That "hurt like a mother" like Michael would say. He just ran up to me and hugged the back of my legs (or so I thought he was) and then he bit - hard. I didn't cry, so I don't think he understood that biting hurts at that incident.

Needless to say, there was a 2 minute timeout this morning (since he's 2 years old - a minute for each year) followed by a cute "sorry" spoken by Ethan and a kiss to Emeree's hand where he bit.

So I wasn't too optimistic about the rest of my day, but they both took a 3 hour nap AT THE SAME TIME today. That's never happened before. Emeree usually just naps for maybe an hour. So I enjoyed some quiet time today! And now I'm ready to endure the next hour before Michael gets home and I have an assistant (who cooks the dinner too)

This week we . . .

found our feet . . .learned to paint like mommy (but without paint) . . .

started saying individual letters and numbers (knows "O" "G" and "I" when mommy holds up the foam letter and can say most of the rest by repeating) . . .

also . . .

Ethan - learned how to kick in the tub which soaked mommy - making it more fun to do again.

Emeree - started baby food and decided she doesn't like sweet potatoes. Interestingly, that was Ethan's favorite one as a baby.

a few pics

Happy in her walker Blowing on dandelions

Ethan reading with Emeree

Ethan didn't really enjoy his first haircut :)

These are my favorite pj's for Emeree . . . love the butt flap :)

She kept reaching for my spoon, so I let her play with it for a while

I have the BEST husband!

He came home with a present for me yesterday! NEW MOON!!

Money has been tight with all the house repairs, so I was just waiting for my turn for this movie at the library. I never even saw it in the theaters, so that shows my dedication to not spending money on unnecessary things. Checking it out from the library is free . . . but I was #278 in line on the "hold" list.

Michael knew I wanted it but wouldn't buy it myself. I LOVE my husband.

And yes, I'm a Twilight Fan. But I didn't jump on the "bandwagon" late in the game like a lot of people. I found the book at the Deseret Book Store and loved it when the 1st one was out new and the rest weren't even written/finished yet. So I think it's okay to be a fan when I've been one from the release of Book #1. And I don't like to read, so the fact that I read these books in a span of a couple days says a lot for me. And I've liked Vampire books since highschool - I don't remember the series, but it was a female vampire and one of the books was purple :)

I stayed up past 1 am to watch it cause Emeree wouldn't go to sleep. And it was by far her worst night since she was born - but totally worth no sleep to be able to finally watch the movie I've been dying to see since November.

Cute Girl and Skinny Boy

Here's Emeree on Sunday . . . She was smiling really cute for Michael, but when I grabbed the camera, she just slightly smiled. He started sticking his tongue out at her last week and she copies him now and smiles really big for him too. But it's a different story when she sees me. :(And I think Ethan is either losing weight or just growing taller and slimming down more because this is what his pants are doing today . . .

They keep sagging down below his bottom - they're 18 month size and he's been wearing this pair of pants for at least 6 months now and they never fell off him like this before.
He keeps hiding between our new bathroom cabinets (that are on our ever growing list of things to fix/finish in this house).