Spring

Spring done sprung around these parts... at least momentarily. I'm sure we haven't seen our last flakes of frozen white... come to think of it we've scarcely seen our first! Nevertheless, I took the kids to the park to enjoy the spring weather and en route Xiana asked, "is it spring now?"  Touche my darling, touche.  Kolton was pretty ecstatic to be able to navigate around the fun bars and such.  He went down the slide approximately 72 times, and we already know how much little man loves to swing.  Here he is with his eyes shut in pure delight. 

Xiana is extraordinarily proud of herself because she can now climb each and every section of the play structures including the rock wall.  It goes to show you how much more of a helicopter parent I was to her considering she's 4.  Kolton will likely be able to climb all structures by 2.  Brother doesn't have the same hovering mom as big sis. Let me also comment on her oh so adorable outfit that she picked out all by her little lonesome that I tried to argue with and ended up turning out darling.  Sister has style.

And squat, chase, crawl, stand, squat, chase, crawl, stand.......

Just having a little picky nicky.  One of our friends brought fresh oranges and Kolton dropped everything to consume orange goodness.

wheeeeee, again, giggle giggle, try to crawl up the slide....

wheeeeee, again, giggle giggle, try to crawl up the slide...

The life

The rumors are true.... we do have the life.  Sometimes when I spend way too much time thinking the grass is greener in someone else's yard, I simply have to take a step back and look at my life.  I get mad at Xiana if I feel she's being ungrateful, and then I fail to set the example of expressing gratitude whilst I pine for something I don't have.  But seriously, I have the life.  Look at this world... this free, imaginative world where, all in an instant, Xiana can turn into a fairy and Kolton a frog... a running away from the fairy frog. 

Bibbity bobbity boo!!!  Xiana is so imaginative and goes to great lengths to entertain her brother.  He is such a boy that she usual has to resort to physical humor to get him really laughing.  It's not uncommon to find her hitting herself in the head while he laughs deep from his belly.  Last night while I made dinner, the two of them played in Xiana's room for almost two hours.  I never heard a word of complaint or need.  They played and loved and it was marvelous.  There are few things more fulfilling than the sounds of your children loving each other and playing together.

Also, in addition to being loved and spoiled rotten by both our families, we have non blood related family right in our neighborhood.  Helen, Marie, and Al spoil our kids to no end, but more importantly, they love our children.  They look forward to seeing them, and I daresay the kids brighten their days.  I look around sometimes and I'm shocked that there are people, lots of people, that don't have anyone.  Our life is so beautiful that we are surrounded by loved ones.  I got to thinking about this about a month ago when my parents were preparing to go on a couple trips.  That meant that I needed to have 7 full days of babysitters... like 7:30- 3.  I sent out an email to my playgroups and within 24 hours I had every day covered with countless back ups.  There are people who simply can't go to work if they don't have day care.  Here I am the lucky recipient of people who are eager to watch my kids, free of charge, simply to help out.  Yes, I tell you, life is good.  We are blessed. 

This rocket ship and chair are the latest additions to the spoiled rotten kids club.  Xiana takes her chair out of her room every day so she can sit on it in the living room.

And Kolton?  well forget about it.  This is his favorite toy ever.  He turns everything into a car anyway.... here is a toy he can push around that vrooms for him!!! 

Sissy is pretty fond of pushing him around on it too. She picks up quickly on what grown ups do.  She mimics most things.  the other day we stopped at 7-11 and she was taking forever to get out of the car.  I hastily told her to hurry up when noticed she was waving out her window to the truck pulling in behind us.  I'm sure she was invisible to them through the tinted windows and tiny car.  But she adamantly responded, "I'm waving him so he knows he can go!"  She also informed me one morning that "tech-lick-ly kolton didn't eat all his breakfast because he threw some on the floor."

Brother won't let anything escape him.  Xiana was playing Wii fit so he found the controller sleeve and held it up when she held hers up, jumped when she jumped, and danced to the music. 

I'm pretty sure he genuinely thought he was playing.  He laughed and laughed.... and then he spotted the camera and beelined for it.

What a little ham!!  Yes indeed, this is the life!

Brian's phone dump

There are few things cuter than sleeping babies.  I couldn't resist pillaging Brian's phone for some cute little shots that *gasp* I didn't take.  (disclaimer... I also did not put this baby to bed with his bottle... this time :)

Xiana took it upon herself to read Kolton Goodnight moon.  This is one of the numerous reasons she is the greatest big sis every!!! 

My back pack looked like a great place for lunch :)  Enjoy! 

Bubba

At almost 10 months we have a walker!  It started with just 5-8 steps between mom and dad and quickly evolved to walking around the house most places.  Today at church he showed off and walked in front of the rows of chairs... I do believe he was showing off as he is much more of a ham than I previously thought. 

He waves, dances (which is especially funny when a rap song or something of that nature comes on...he puts his hands in the air and has a natural swagger), jumps, and squeals with delight.  The other day we went to the park and there was another little baby there.  Kolton crawled up to him as fast as he could squealing with excitement the entire time.  He waved to him, stood up next to him and proceeded to play chase and catch with him until they both lost their attention span, you know, roughly 7 minutes.  It was very cute.  Because he is often in the shadows of his boisterous, outgoing big sister, I failed to realize just how social he is.  He waves hello to everyone he sees at the grocery start and squeals at them if they fail to notice him. He is such a happy baby.  He babbles all day long.  He is so giggly.  Sometimes without any provocation he just laughs and laughs and laughs.  He's a little too tough for his own good and finds hitting and pinching to be greatly amusing... even if he is the one getting hit and pinched.  He shakes his head and yells until he's dizzy and then does it all over again. Here he is standing while dragging a magnadoodle with him.

When Xiana was trying to watch a show the other day, he would not be appeased by her not paying attention to him.  He climbed on her lap with his face in hers until she was in tears.  This did not thwart his efforts and he continued to climb aboard until she abandoned hope of watching her show and they proceeded to giggle uncontrollably to each other for a while.  It was one of those tender moments I am grateful to be privy to.

He loves his rocket ship, and, like all objects, drives it around making car noises.  Sometimes he pushes on his knees, others on his feet.  Either way, this boy is in perpetual motion.

He is a monkey and climbs all things.  His new thing is diving off the couch after he's climbed it.  We are less than thrilled with this recent attraction, but he will not be stopped.

He is persistent.  It doesn't hurt his feelings if he's told no or something is taken away from him.  His motto is: if at first you don't succeed, try try again.  So he does.  again, and again, and again.

When daddy plays music, he sings.  Also, during church he sings.  He has a cute little voice, and he keeps us laughing constantly always asking the other, "did you see that?"  Because there is typically something to see when he's around! We call him Bubba or Brother or Kolty.  The other day at the museum a lady told us that, in the South, if you call your son Bubba more than twice, it's his name.  I'm sorry dear Kolton.... Bubba is your name. :)

Sick

These are the many faces of Xiana on vaccination day...

She and Kolton both had to get four shots.  The whole way there she made me promise that Kolton would go first.  I tried to explain that might not be the best idea, but she would not be persuaded otherwise so I went with it.  When we arrived, she told the receptionist, the nurse, and the doctor that Kolton was going first.  They obliged.  At 9 months Kolton is 17 lbs 29 inches.  He surpassed most milestone questions and cried quieter, and shorter than his big sister when they injected him.  Xiana, at 4 and a few months is 28 lbs. 36 inches.  She also greatly surpassed the checklist of well-check-world.  She screamed like the dramatic little being that she is.  I'm pretty sure people in the next building could hear her.  She left with a new resolve:  next time she would go first so she didn't have to hear brother cry first.They both got suckers and stickers and were relatively fine within a few hours.  Kolton rebounded pretty quickly from his shots.  Xiana struggled a bit for the next few days.  The following day she had two birthday parties to attend.  She pushed through, but it was visible the toll the shots had taken on her little body.  She played, but with bags under her eyes and limping between jumping like a crazy person in the bounce houses.  She's learning young the notion of priorities... typically speaking, fun beats all! 

Hailee's birthday

We hadn't been to Battle Mountain since Christmas, so we decided to take advantage of the three day weekend and head out.  Fortunately, it was Hailee's birthday party.  Unfortunately, she had hives and her party was cancelled.  Fortunately, we were there so she still got to have a family party.  The kids enjoyed themselves immensely.  As we were driving there I couldn't help but think how strange it is that I only went there twice last year.  I can only imagine how strange it is for Brian after going there every other weekend for so many years... close to a decade.  It's nice to have family so close.  We need to take advantage of that more often.

Kolton absolutely loved the wrapping paper!

"You got me what?"

Harlee was a bit tired.  This was her stance the entire party. 

Fortunately Hailee got two new dress up outfits so Xiana wasn't left in her jeans... heaven forbid!

Cupcakes...

Make a wish...

It was pretty cold there, but the boys have these new and expensive remote control cars.. boys will be boys and all... so we braved the frigid temps and enjoyed some outdoor, old fashioned, car racing.