Is This A Fire Engine?

This happened a few weeks ago when we were staying the night at Nick & Alia's house for New Year's Eve, but is worth writing down for memory's sake. Enjoy.

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It was quiet in the house because Aiden was down for a nap, and Evan was playing nicely in the living room. I asked Alia to watch Evan so that I could go upstairs and put Aubrie down for a nap. While I was upstairs, I hear Alia come upstairs. They were getting ready for a run (I think, my memory is shot), and I didn't think anything of it and that she would be right back downstairs.

Then I hear Evan start to quietly say, "Is this a fire engine?," at the bottom of the stairs. I couldn't answer because Brie was falling asleep, so he started to yell louder. "Is this a fire engine? Is This a fire engine? IS THIS A FIRE ENGINE?!!!!" Over and over and over again.

I hear Alia say, "Is that Evan?!" And she ran downstairs. Then in the quietest, cutest voice, I hear Evan say, "Is this a fire engine?"Alia starts to laugh and says, "Is that what you were saying?! I thought you said there was a fire in the kitchen!"

I guess he really needed to know if that toy was a fire engine, and we're all very happy that there wasn't a fire in the kitchen!

Funny Conversations

(while picking up food at Jack-In-the-Box to surprise Daddy at work, Evan sees a giant picture of 'Jack.')

Evan: "Look, a snowman, Mama."

Me: "No, Evan, that's Jack."

Evan: "Where's Jill?"

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(When Chris went into Evan's room yesterday to wake him up from his nap)

 (Aubrie is crying in the background. Chris and Evan are both laying on the bed)

Chris: "We need to go get Aubrie, she's awake."

Evan: "No, Daddy. She needs to cry a little bit." 

(spoken like a true baby-wise kid!)

Aubrie's 11th Month

This month, Aubrie can/is:

* wave bye-bye (but says "die-die)...She's been doing this for a while, now, but usually waits until the person is really gone before waving.

* blow kisses
*give kisses (those big-mouthed slobbery kind of kisses: the best, by the way!)
*pointing at everything!
*hug stuffed animals all day long. Well, it doesn't have to be a stuffed animal; anything that is soft is more like it. She hugged her jacket yesterday when I tried to put it on her...
*put on/take off hats and be content for at least 10 minutes. She'll just sit there and put them on, and take them off, over and over again. Then she'll crawl over and we'll play a great game of peek-a-boo with the hat!
*pointing at everything!
*Has 8 teeth total. Although, I think there are at least 3 more trying to come in. She won't let me check, so I'm just guessing.
*still nursing.

What she says:

* Dock. -means dog, which she LOVES. She'll even say this if she hears a dog barking in our neighborhood.

*Dada (1st word)
*Mamamama (Mama), but only usually when she's hungry or upset...

* Mum- more, or yum.

*Signs: more, eat, thank you (on her cheek), and just started signing milk a few days ago. I'm working on please, but no luck so far.

What she doesn't like:
*she doesn't like to have her diaper changed right after waking up. She definitely needs some lovin' before I can put her down, or she'll cry.
*She doesn't like to fall from standing up. She'll cry even if it was the smallest fall, so I'm trying to be better about "babying" her every time if it wasn't that bad.
*she doesn't like to be told "No." She especially like to sit by the electrical outlets, look at me and then point to it, and whine when I say no. But she's pretty good about not touching it after that, so I can't complain!

What she's better at:
*putting herself to sleep. Most of the time I can just go put her in bed and she'll do the rest! It took a lot to get her there, though, and sometimes she backtracks. But I'll take it!
*eating solid foods. She loves cut up bananas, and toast with a little butter, cheerios, rice, and beans. She absolutely loves food, and has so far liked everything but broccoli.
*letting others hold her. She's always been ok with this, but has been in that "Mommy phase." She still cries if she sees me, but it's getting better. (Although, I'm going to be sad when this phase passes...).

Christmas 2010

Ok, yes... I'm just now getting to my Christmas post. But you know how life goes... craziness and chaos that just seems to fly by. I say a quote the other day that I really liked: "Listen for God in the quiet moments while the world is loud." That seems to fit my life perfectly, at least when the quiet moments show up.

Christmas was really fun this year with a 2 year old! Evan is really starting to get into the whole present thing, and knows about Santa this year. In fact, he got so many presents this year that he was asking a week after Christmas was finished when the rest of the presents were going to come... And believe me, we didn't need any more presents by then! It felt like we brought home an entire house worth of stuff between the two kids! Don't get me wrong; we are so appreciative that people wanted to buy presents for our children and that they are loved that much... we just needed to find a place to put it all! 

Let me see if I can remember the gifts that they were given (sorry if I leave any off, this is from memory):

Evan: hot wheels cars, a Lightning McQueen computer (Santa), M&M's (Santa. In fact, that's all he wanted from Santa!), a fire engine that makes sparks and whose ladder raises up (Santa), a tent with matching tunnel, tonka trucks, a large concrete mixer and dump truck, a dinosaur towel, bath toys, all 3 Toy Story movies, a tonka truck daredevil track, lots of train stuff (yeah!), some Cars toys, a nerf gun with ammo, plastic food, a Cars inflatable bed, 

Aubrie: clothes, puzzles, a blow up tent with plastic balls, a cool play table, books, a toy with gears that move, a Clarice doll from Rudolph, a stuffed Tigger, a rocking horse that Evan named Hornky (Santa), 

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Notice how I left blanks after the last comma? That's because I know there was more stuff... my brain just can't think of it all right now. Tomorrow I'm going to go through the toys and right down all of them on this post.

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It was such a great Christmas, and Chris and I were thankful for the chance to relax and recharge together as a family. One good thing that comes from being married for almost 7 years (ok, there are lots of good things, this is just one of them!), is that the holidays are not so crazy. We have learned how to visit everyone and have a good time, yet not go crazy trying to fit it all in. I'm very thankful for that!

We hope that we are teaching our children that there is more to Christmas to presents, and we thank every one of you for helping us raise our children to be children of God, and to grow up as righteous individuals who love and follow Christ. 

Belated Merry Christmas, everyone!