Diva in training...

I took Xiana to get a manicure...

then jewelry shopping...

then to an origami owl party.... she truly is a diva in training :)

Costumes

Okay, so I am well aware that this here blog has been a-suffering.  Poor little blog.  I've been Ca-razy busy!!  Like think crazy, times it by about ten and you have roughly 50% of my craziness currently.  I know I mentioned that I started selling beautiful, personalized jewelry.  I also am teaching 5 classes this semester and TRYING to be a good mommy to these little ones.  I fell like I'm majorly slacking on the funny developments in their world department so I'll give it a go:

• Kolton is growing... like a weed.... non stop.  His language is absolutely exploding surprising us with dozens of new words every single day.  Yesterday, on our way out of the gym he pointed at the bike rack and said, "bite wack." I made him repeat it three times to be sure.  I have no idea where he came up with it.  
• One of the most delightful developments  in his world was several weeks ago when he discovered his shadow.  He played tag with it, giggling hysterically the entire time.He jumped on it, played chase, tried to trick it and pretty much entertained himself for twenty minutes or so.  I was so glad Brian pointed it out to me.  What a wonderful and endearing thing to get to witness.
• One morning I asked him what he would like for breakfast: waffle or pancake.  He promptly replied, "french toast!"
• When he gets hurt he promptly tells us he is going to, "die die die die."
• Also, whatever he injures himself on is in trouble.  I constantly hear him saying things like, "no no bath!" or "No no vacuum!"
• Brian has taught him when he asks, "what does mommy say?" Kolton replies, "no, no!" "what does daddy say?" "I love you!"  Although, sometimes he interchanges his programmed response.
• He has become the master of prolonging bedtime coming out repeatedly insisting on, "kiss" or "hug"  The other night he was yelling, "wayman, wayman, wayman."  I had no idea what he was talking about until Xiana explained, "he wants to watch everybody loves Raymond!"
• He mimics absolutely everything Xiana does or says.  He has to be right next to her copying her every move.  It makes him really mad when she goes to school. On a nature walk the other day she found some rocks and exclaimed, "crystals" which he repeated clear as day.  
• He is a loving little guy, if not a little ferocious in his approach.  He plays sweetly with sissy when he isn't beating her up.  He continues to run away from us everywhere we go and ultimately being a little Tasmanian devil morning noon and night, but he is so darn sweet about it, it's hard to get mad.  
• He loves to wrestle with his daddy... He loves when daddy gets home.
• He loves going, "bye bye"
• He loves playing, "ashes" and "head toes"
• He loves, like his sister, to sing Taylor Swift songs.  There is a spoof on one of her songs where they insert a goat screaming for the chorus.  He loves it.  He pleads constantly, "goat, goat, goat!"
• He regularly pipes in, "me too" to assure us of his agreeance with anything.
• He dances and sings.  
• He wants to be read to every second of the day.
• He can mimic any animal and seems particularly fond of the owl.
• He's suddenly into spider man and tells me, "myman, myman" sometimes insisting on multiple shirts on at once.
• Every day when I ask what he should wear he says, "umm truck?"
• He's awesome.  

• Little miss has been loving herself some tea parties.  She plans them out days in advance and executes them any chance she gets the okay.
• She is learning to read.  It's so surprising.  She suddenly knows how to sound out words and has memorized so many sight words.
• She gets picked up by friends almost daily and disappears for hours.  I'm grateful she's so good and that people are so kind to have her over to play, but it makes me miss her.  I can't believe we are already at this stage. Kolton misses her when she's gone too.
• Her vocabulary is sometimes astonishing. There is nothing she doesn't know.  She told me the other day, "I asked her if she wanted to come, and her response was that she would think about it." Maybe it's not funny, but I love that she used the term "response."
• She loves to come with me to origami owl parties.  
• She's suddenly exhibiting such grown up mannerisms.   I can see her maturing right before my eyes.  It's remarkable really, that you watch these little people evolve and grow right on your heart.
• She still loves art, singing, playing with friends, writing words... as many as you have the patience to spell for her, reading to her brother, being read to, and skating around the living room.
• She helps out with Kolton tremendously.  I don't know how to take a shower if she's not home.  Plus, she kindly gives him things to calm him down even when she knows it isn't fair.
• I love this girl!

Park!

I've said it once, I'll say it again... We... love... this... park!!!

Anticlimactic

For Christmas, my mom got my dad a helicopter.  Brian said that was because she could still see the child in him, which I thought was sweet.  I only see the child in Brian, which he thinks is sweet... :)
Nic, Karla and the kids visited for a weekend.  We thought that would be a perfect time to try it out.  Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as the directions might suggest.  Also, the batter wasn't charged so... what you see is the extent of lift off for this little helicopter.  I imagine Brian will spend some time tinkering with it in the future. The kids were impressed nevertheless, and the adults had an enjoyable time visiting.

Pogo Nip

We went on a beautiful drive where there was pogo nip all over the sage brush and trees.  We rarely get pogo nip, and I'm not sure I recall a time where we had it long enough to coat everything so beautifully.  It really was a charming sight.  Kolton was less than impressed with our trek out in the cold.  He was pretty miserable which we later discovered was, in part, due to his 2 year molars emerging, a double ear infection, and an eye infection.  I'm hopeful that our next escape in the hills will be more pleasant.  He used to love going out in the mountains.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed! 

Deprived

Seriously... Kolton is so deprived!  By the time Xiana was 19 months, she had gone to every kid zone around.  It helped tremendously that she never tried to escape... unlike Mr. Kolton who ALWAYS runs away, first giggling contagiously, then screaming emphatically when he gets caught.  It can be embarrassing resulting in his deprivation.  Still, I should have thought to bring him to high ballocity long ago.  This place was made for him!  He didn't need any assistance and scooted his way up and down every nook and cranny.  In short, he had the time of his life.  Xiana also loves this jungle gym.  They played for 3 hours before I dragged them both kicking and screaming out of there.  I'll have to remember this on my winter's-got-me-down-bag-of-tricks list. My mom was watching my niece and nephews for the weekend so we convinced her to join us too.  Fun was had by all! 

In other news, my girl desperately wants to go on a mommy daughter date to roller kingdom.  She's practicing like a champ to be moderately steady so as we don't return with broken limbs!  It's very cute to watch her!

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!