take my picture...

"Take my picture, Mama"....This is another thing that I am hearing often these days! Tyler is becoming picture obsessed like his Mama! In this photo he was standing on a stool and doing a happy dance, but it could be ANYTHING or anytime when he all of a sudden wants his photo taken! We had an unplanned stop at McDonalds for lunch yesterday, and he was a bit sad because I didn't bring my camera. The last couple times he has requested that I take his picture on the play structure, but I haven't had my camera...I did promise him that I would bring it next time, but once again I disappointed because I didn't know we were going there!

Although he asks for a picture, that doesn't mean he will look or smile...he definitely likes action shots, and then he wants to see the pic on the camera screen. The other morning when I was taking pictures (and a lot happened to be of Kelsi), he started pretending to cook in the kitchen. I wasn't paying much attention and then he actually said, "I didn't hear the click, Mama." I was laughing but I of course clicked a pic!

love, love, love....

Tyler has been CRACKING us up lately...His new thing is to say, "I love, LOVE, LOOVE it!" Each LOVE he says gets louder and more drawn out, and he makes this adorable face while tilting his head to the side. He can LOVE, LOVE, LOVE just about anything. It can be a the toy he is playing with, something he sees on TV, or it can be something that we are talking about that he likes. Many times it comes out when we are eating and he takes his first bite. Although he says it, he doesn't always mean it when it comes to his food. I think it is just his way of trying to compliment you on your cooking and be excited to eat, but the LOVE often dwindles after a couple of bites! In these photos, he is LOVE, LOVE, LOVING my new office and my drawer of punches. He likes to get out a sheet of paper, open the drawer himself, and then use the punches one by one.

The good thing is that he puts them back after he uses each one...He is a better "picker-upper" than me!

i love you...

"I love you, you love me, we're a happy family. With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me too. I love you, you love me, we're best friends like friends should be. With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me too." This is the Barney song that has somehow stuck with Kelsi. I sing it to her everyday before nap and before bed. I honestly can't remember how it even started...we don't even watch Barney! I never sang it with Tyler either...he has been more of the Twinkle, Twinkle, You are My Sunshine, ABC's & Rock-a-Bye-Baby. Kelsi does get a mix of these too, but Barney's song is the daily guarentee!

grammy & pop's house...

Last weekend we went to Bedford to visit Pop and Grammy. Tyler was excited to visit and he was excited to take Dada's truck...We were a heavy load on the way up delivering them a ton of pellets! When we got there the kids played and drank some juice, we even ordered House of Beef for lunch and had a living room picnic. Jessica and Mason stopped by, and of course there was some "fighting" over the dinosaurs that Tyler had brought...Tyler and Mason love dinosaurs and are both apparently big fans of T-Rex...After much coaxing, Tyler FINALLY shared...It all worked out in the end!

princess play...

Last week we visited my friend Erin...We have been getting together since we both resigned from our teaching jobs (that is how we met)...We have both been blessed with a boy and a girl, but they have just come in a different order...Tyler and Erin's oldest play extremely well together...she has excellent verbal skills and has been talking to Tyler for quite some time (before he could even talk!)....My favorite part of the playdate (and the best photos) came when the kids started dressing as princesses...Tyler was SO funny...he was a total BOY princess! He looked the part, but was using his princess wand to "swack" (as Tyler would say), the other princesses! He was turning his friend into a witch, and she was screaming, "I am NOT a witch!"...it was totally adorable!! Kelsi was torn between caring about her princess dress and nurturing the baby doll!

me, me, me...

"Me, Me, Me" is a common thing that you may hear in our house these days. Kelsi has recently learned the word, and understands what it means. When I walk into her room in the morning I will say, "Who is in here?" and she will say "Me". We can say, "Who has pretty hair?" and she will say, "Me", and we can ask "Who wants a snack?" and it becomes a shouting match between the two of them shouting, "Me, Me, Me!" and pointing at their chests...I am still working with her to say her own name though!

ash wednesday...

I awoke on Wednesday with plans to do errands. We were eating breakfast and out of nowhere I had a "vision" of Nono & Noni's grave and it was like a voice in my head said, "go visit". I KNOW this sounds a bit crazy! I still don't know exactly why or where it came from, but a hint of me is thinking it was my grandmother talking to me! I realized then that I hadn't been there since the funeral, so we changed our day, and I decided to go pick up some flowers at the craft store and then head over to Mansfield. As I was getting something out of the closet, the calendar caught my eye and I noticed it was Ash Wednesday...We all know that I am not a practicing Catholic, but Noni was....just a little more ironic!! Anyways, we chose the frog for Tyler and the ladybug for Kelsi. A little silly because the ground was frozen so we couldn't get them in. Tyler still doesn't understand that they are gone. He kept saying that he was bringing this to Noni...It was hard to explain that it was going to be a headstone. I did tell him that it is where people come before they go to heaven and on the way out he said, "All of those stones are people who came here". I think he is one step closer to understanding....