on the way home

I love car rides home. All I ask is "what'd you do at school today?" I love that the boys go on and on and on and on about their day. They share so many details. Especially Carter. Here's a bit of what he shared a day this week:

C: Guess what Mom!
M: What?
C: Aiden got me into a club.
M: Really?
C: Guess what for?
M: What kind of club?
C: Chasing girls.
M: (trying not to laugh too hard...) What?
C: Yep. Trying to get girlfriends.
M: (still laughing. not able to hold it back.)
C: Yeah, I was thinking. Since you got Daddy, you know how to get boyfriends and could teach us how to get girlfriends. You know? How you got Daddy and married him? Happy endings every time!

I am laughing hysterically right now remembering and typing this! Where does he get this stuff?

ava nine months

Ava is nine months old! Can you believe it? Today we took her for her check up and got to brag about how wonderfully smart and active she is! She is 28 inches long now and weighs 21 pounds and 9 ounces. You should see this girl's thighs! She's been crawling for a long time now and is incredibly fast. She not only pulls herself to stand, but cruises along the furniture, stands at the refrigerator to play with all the magnets, reaches from the couch stepping to get to the toy baskets and barely holds on when she's holding our fingers to walk. She's still got a great appetite and is loving all the table foods we're giving her and is totally ready for me to stop buying baby food. Done! The girl devours a banana and will eat anything if she gets to feed it to herself! It's incredible all the sounds she makes - tons of consonants and it seems that ma-ma and da-da are totally with purpose at times. I love how she mimics anything the boys say to her and will even stick out her tongue to copy your silly face. I swear she says hi, she waves, claps, raises her arms for a touchdown, goal or just to show how big she is, and is absolutely the most happy baby anyone could ask for all hours of the day. She loves her baths and can't get enough of the splashes she creates when she kicks her feed. She goes to bed happy and wakes up happy. She's adorable playing tea party with Logan and laughs so hard when Daddy pretends she's kung-fu fighting Logan as he does his stuntman falls. Carter cheers on anything she tries to do and achieves and gets such big laughs out of her so easily. The past nine months have gone incredibly quick, but at the same time is crazy to beleive we were a party of four just a year ago. She continues to bring so many smiles and so much sunshine to our lives! Happy nine months, Ava Paige!

goodbye 2009!

HaPpY nEw YeAr! So many wonderful memories were made this past year. Lots were posted, a couple never were. We've welcomed Ava into the world and have been amazed by how much she's grown already. We watched Carter graduate from preschool, lose teeth, tie his shoes, ride a bike and sent him off to Kindergarten. Logan survived a broken collar bone, started preschool and ventured off to speech classes outside our home. We had to move on when we drove in our last John Deere Elburn Days Parade, and sadly said goodbye to my Grandmother, one of the most amazing people I've ever known. Here's a review of the year - so hard to pick one photo to represent something from each month!

january - loved us some hockey at the wolves games

february - loved eachother lots, but didn't see a single picture to show it...

march - visited the children's museum, some carter-logan-mommy time before the new baby cameapril - met our beautiful ava

may - proudly watched carter walk to pomp and circumstance

june - dug a big big hole in the front yard and bought a tree, finally starting our landscaping

july - watched carter "the ringer" south play many t-ball games in the hot evening sunaugust - saw the new gridley water tower (we like the old one better!)
september - sent carter off to kindergarten and logan off to his first year of preschool

october - the boys earned their first of many pins on their aprons at "hom-a-depot's" kid's workshop

november - took our first train ride downtown and visited navy pier's children's museum

december - spent an afternoon at lego land and had dinner at rainforest cafe

It is hard to believe 2010 is here! Ten years ago I was going to NCC, living at home, dating Charlie for five years, stealing clothes from my sisters' closets, and planning where to park my car on the driveway among the five others that would come and go every day. It's amazing how much we've accomplished during this decade. 2000 seems so far back but at the same time it's kinda amazing how fast the past five years have gone by. We've got so much to look forward to this year - a new cousin is on his way (Colin, we cannot wait to meet you!), Ava's first birthday, and many more adventures with Carter and Logan! Charlie and I wish everyone we love a happy and healthy 2010.