Soooo Tired...

I'm not quite sure what's going on with Ashley lately but this has happened 4 times in the past two weeks at lunch time.  When you're tired, I guess you're just reallllly tired.  And just two minutes before I took this picture, she was eating, smiling and 'talking' to us. 

Ashley 13-14 Months

I didn't get a 13 Month post done about Ashley so I'm combinging this in to her 14 Month fun things.

• She's becoming a bit of a drama queen and has big fits when she doesn't get her way.  Plus, she already knows how to get her way and get Bennett in trouble. 
• She's Walking!!!  A couple of weeks ago she started with a few steps from furniture to furniture and by today already she is completely walking from room to room.  It's so fun to watch!  Bennett tells me about once a day "Mama, Ashley's walking!"
• She is finally back to sleeping the full night!  I'm so relieved this phase is over - she had been waking up for the past 6+ months once a night for a bottle. 
• And speaking of bottle, she hasn't had any for over a month already.  It was very easy to get her off the bottles.
• She has learned to go down steps now too.  She gets on her belly and slides down.  So far, no spills.
• She's starting to pick up a few more words:  Mama, Dada, Grandma (Mama), OhOh, Hi, and a version of Sancho (our cat's name).
• Her 11th tooth (top) is just starting to poke through.
• Her favorite food is cookies and pizza.  For the most part she's a pretty good eater.  There are many many meals that she is eating more than Bennett.

Bennett Update

Here are a few of Bennett's latest:

• He is signed up for 3 year old Preschool!  Zion had an open house earlier this week so I took him to meet his teacher and see the school alittle bit.  We've been there a few times before so when we walked in, he immediately went towards my mom's room.  It sure will be different for her next year having her grandson there!  When we got to his classroom he walked right in, started playing, and didn't want to leave when I was ready to go.  He will have a full class of 12 kids which is the limit to the number they will take for that grade.  I think he will do really good next year.  Since he's been home with me for the past two years, this socialization with other kids is going to be great for him!  And we're hoping that this will help him get alittle more structured - sitting still, walking instead of running, listening, picking up toys etc.  It's so hard to imagine how my little boy can be old enough for this already.  3 year old preschool is on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8:30-11:00. 
• Mike has an Ipod and for the past 6+ months, he has let Bennett putz around on it.  This has actually been great for Bennett because of the educational games Mike has on there.  It's helped him learn his alphabet, numbers and colors alittle better.  Right now Mike has him hooked on a matching game which he's pretty good at too.  We've let him play a few kids computer games on the computer too but he's now figured out how to get out of that game and open up other programs which worries me.  It looks like Bennett's turning in to a mini Mike and loving the techi stuff! 
• Bennett and Ashley have a love/hate relationship right now.  Most of the time it's a love but, she gets in his way quite a bit which he is not a fan of.  If Bennett is sitting in a chair, Ashley will try to climb up and sit in that chair.  If Bennett is playing with something, Ashley will also and get in his way or mess it up.  etc.  This has caused lots of pushing, throwing things at her etc.  He's never really hit her which I guess is a plus.  And, she is a bit of a drama queen and will start crying very loudly if she doesn't get her way or if she does get pushed out of the way....which makes Bennett more upset too.  But, they love each other to death and it is great to watch them when they actually are playing together. 
• We were driving in the car and I heard "Momma, are we there yet?"  Not sure where he picked that up
• Somebody must have told him that kisses are yucky cause when I give him a kiss he now says "Ewww" and wipes it off.  My guess is that one of his uncles told him that? (and when I find out which one of you it was...grrrr.)
• The "whys" have started...boy have they ever started.  Here are two recent conversations.

Bennett:  Daddy what are you doing?
Mike:  I'm making eggs.
Bennett:  Why are you making eggs?
Mike:  Because I'm hungry.
Bennett:  Why are you hungry?
Mike:  Because I haven't had breakfast yet.
Bennett:  Why you not have breakfast yet?
Mike:  Bennett why don't you go downstairs and play.
Bennett:  Why should Bennett go downstairs and play?
Mike:  Just go downstairs!!!

Bennett:  Kristen, what are you doing?
Kristen:  Well I'm making a slushie for you.
Bennett: Why are you making a slushie for me?
Kristen:  Because you'll like it.
Bennett:  Why will I like it?
Kristen:  Because it's good.
Bennett: Why is it good? 
Kristen:  Well, I don't know it just is.
Bennett: Why don't you know? 
Kristen:  Bennett, how about you go play with your uncles...

This happens several times a day.  I've always heard of people saying that this is a stage that kids go through but...

•  Bennett's vocabulary has picked up dramatically since summer.  He is saying words and sentences all day long.  Most of it is clear to me (not sure if others could understand it all though).  He still has some gibberish though and even after having him repeat it over and over, I sometimes can't understand him.  He also leaves off the first letter to the word in lots of words - Milk is Ilk, Water is Ater, Yogurt is Ogurt etc.  But like I said, in the past 6 months his vocabulary has improved leaps and bounds!  And, this is part of the reason also that we decided to give preschool a try already next fall instead of just waiting for the 4 year old preschool.  Hopefully being around other kids, it will just kind of rub off. 

Mom's New Floor

My mom has a new kitchen and living room floor!  It looks so nice and she's really happy with it - it really updated her rooms.  She bought the flooring from Home Depot.  David, Josh and Jon ripped up the old kitchen floor and the carpeting.  They installed the kitchen floor and Home Depot installed the carpeting.  Pictures don't quiet do it justice but, here are a couple for those of you who are anxious to see it!

Finally Some Snow

Winter is finally here (except that it's melting outside again today).  This was the first time this year that Bennett really got to go outside and play in the snow.  He's been outside other times this winter but never with snow.  I was going to take the kids outside on Tuesday and of course, when I went to put Bennett's boots from last year on him, they wouldn't fit at all.  So, we went to Target to get them both some new ones.  And, I'm glad I had waited!  Boots were on major clearance and I got both pairs for $10.74 total!  Way better than $20 a pair like they were in November when I almost bought them. 
Anyways, Mike took Bennett outside on Wednesday and then Jon took them out on Thursday while he was watching them. 

Space Bags

A few weeks ago I was complaining to Mike about how our closets are so jam packed full of stuff.  So after some re-arranging of storage bins etc., I was able to clear up alittle bit of room.  But then, while I was at Target one day, I walked by these Space Bags that you always see an infomercial for on TV.  Well, I decided to give them a try.  I have done 2 bags so far and saved TONS of space.  In the first bag I put a huge comforter and a few smaller blankets in the bag which basically cleared a whole shelf.  The second bag I did had a bunch of baby things - swing cover, floor mat, bouncy seat cover, blankets etc.  These items are so puffy that they take up sooo much room.  I decided to give this a try and wow, it worked great!  Here is a picture for reference.  I definitely would recommend these if you have lots of blankets, pillows, or anything puffy that takes up lots of space and that you don't use very often.  The 2 pack box that I bought was $12.

p.s. - You fill the bags with your stuff, it ziplocs shut and then you hook your vacuum cleaner up to it for about 10 seconds and suck out all of the air. 

Birthday Party

Tonight we had a Birthday Party for Bennett and Ashley.  It was a simple party with just my family and Shirley.  We ordered pizza, my mom and Shirley each brought a salad, Kristen made the cakes, and Laura brought the ice cream.  The kids got some great gifts!  Ashley got clothes, books, hair barrettes, and a few other things.  Bennett got a very warm bear hat, a backpack for preschool next year (sniff sniff), a remote control car, some Curious George books, a Veggie Tale Movie, and a few other things.  Great gifts!  Thanks everyone!

Bennett was very excited about his new backpack.  It was a coincidence that he had a Thomas shirt on too tonight.

David was showing Ashley one of her new books.

Thank you to Kristen for baking their cakes.  Ashley had Cherry Chip and Bennett had Chocolate.  She made the letters out of fondant.

Laura set her cake down on the table, turned around to get her pop, turned back around and found a large piece of her cake missing!!! 

Bennett's plate however, somehow got a huge piece of extra frosting!  Bennett had no clue how that got on his plate :-)