Summer Days

We are in full summer mode!!
Kids are up at 7am (they still don't understand sleeping in!!)
We're pretty much in the pool swimming everyday (it's too hot to not be in the water!!)
We do a weekly library run; but honestly we get more movies than books (still learning!)
We watch movies and play video games, read our books, and play lots of imagination games!

In two days we leave for vacation and I'm totally excited about it!!
On Sunday we're taking the kids on a treasure hunt on this pirate ship in St. Augustine! The kids don't know about it yet, and I can't wait to see their faces!!
The rest of the week we'll be hanging out at New Smyrna Beach - with one extra trip to St. Augustine to see the fort and visit with TJ's dad... the kids already know that we'll be bowling, seeing a movie, and having lots of fun!! We're all super excited!!

At the end of summer we'll celebrate Tre turning SEVEN!! It's hard to believe!! He wants a Star Wars/Pool Party so I'm working on finding a friend who can teach a Jedi Academy (complete with light saber training); and the pool will be "recess/free time" - we'll see how that goes, but I'm really looking forward it if I put it all together!!

gotta go pull kids out of the pool; they're pruney!!
Jo

Questions

My kids like to play the "Questions Game" - basically I ask them questions while they are in the bathtub. Anything from "what's your favorite color" to "would you rather drive a garbage truck or a tractor"... Here are some of their answers (Tre's answer to one question in particular reveals his character!):

Colin:
would you rather drive a garbage truck or tractor: Garbage Truck
Would you rather climb a tree or dig a hole: Climb a tree
Would you rather talk like a monkey or roar like a lion: talk like a monkey
Would you rather walk like a penguin or fly like a bird: walk like a penguin

Emma:
would you rather sing or dance: sing
what's your favorite princess: belle (though this changes almost daily)
what's your favorite game to play with Colin: band

Tre:
would you rather sleep-in in the morning or take a nap in the afternoon: sleep-in
would you rather have a brownie for breakfast or cake for lunch: brownie
**when fighting a battle would you rather have Spiderman or BatMan on your team: who am I fighting?

**Love this!! Love how he thinks through things!

If you have any ideas for more questions let me know! We play this game almost nightly and I'm running out of ideas!! But they love it!!

6 years, 6 months & 21 Days!

According to this, I changed diapers for 6 Years, 6 months, 21 days! Take out maybe a day here or there that I was out of town and someone else did it; or in the hospital popping out another pooping machine! But still... that's a heck of a long time!!

The first date I put into the equation was the day we brought Tre home from the hospital (August 20, 2005)! I don't think I ever changed any of his diapers in the hospital; I was too out of it!

And the last date I put in was last Monday (March 12, 2012) when we started potty training Emma! I kept the diapers a couple of days before I considered her completely trained, but as of today she is officially potty trained!! She's done well all week with #1s, and was just a bit slow with the other end. But today she did great, made it in time and is officially trained to do her business in the bathroom!!!

Six years! Six Months! Twenty-one Days!!!!!!
Done.

I'm OK with my kid hitting...

Yes, I said it. I think I'm OK with my kid hitting...
but here's the story:

Yesterday while I was enjoying my lunch at Tijuana Flats (shout out!) I got a text from TJ saying that Colin had been placed in time-out while he was at school. It was his first trip to time-out while at school... he's usually really quiet (at school) and generally not a problem. My first reaction was shock: my child? at school? Here's the conversation that followed:

Me: Why?
TJ: He hit Mateo (his classmate)
Me: Arg. Did he give a reason? (hoping there was one!)
TJ: He said Mateo was hitting someone else so he hit him.


Oh.... well then. I feel completely different about that...
I'm kind of OK with my kid standing up for someone who was being bullied.

Before we get too far down this road though: Yes, TJ talked to him that it's not OK to hit other people. Yes, he was helping someone, but using words should always be first option. But really, I'm proud of Colin for standing up for someone else. And, no, Colin didn't tell the teacher about the other kid hitting (it really is the second hitter that gets busted) - he just took the punishment like a big boy.

I never thought I would say it; but my kid his a hitter, and I'm OK with that!

Naps...

Oh the joy of naps! How I love taking them!! How I love it when my kids take them!! And how annoying it is when they fight to take them...

What's the deal? Naps are a part of their life from day one. They go from sleeping all the time as newborns, to two good naps during the day, then they move to one nap a day. Just an hour or so in the middle of the day to refresh. They feel so much better afterwards; they behave so much nicer afterwards. Naps are great!

So why do they start fighting naps around age three and four? One day Emma won't nap, the next Colin won't nap; I seriously think it's a conspiracy some day. Emma naps more than Colin, she's better at laying down and resting.

Colin naps maybe two times a week. Most days he doesn't really need a nap, just a quiet time can do him wonders. But other days (when he's throwing a tantrum even after I've said "yes" to something) he needs a nap. I need him to take a nap! And most days he does great; today is not one of those days. He fought. So no nap. Hopefully bedtime will come soon enough and we'll both get the rest that we need!!

A Whole Year?!?

It's been over a year that I've blogged! Are you kidding me?? A full year - gone?!
So much has happened there is no way to make up for a year... Kids have gotten a year older, a year smarter, a year better!

We are having so much fun watching them grow!

Tre is starting piano lessons along with his baseball season. We also have a goal that he will learn to ride his bicycle without training wheels by summer time. He is so helpful around the house and his younger siblings love playing with him. He would sometimes rather play video games than play with them... but that's typical 6 year old boy stuff!

Colin got drums for Christmas. "Why?" you ask me? Because the kid is ridiculously talented when it comes to finding a beat. He's a natural and we want to encourage his love for music. He was being loud anyway with his baskets & buckets, he's just louder now!! He enjoys school very much and is quite the artist. He's also incredibly smart and will hopefully be reading before he gets into Kindergarten (a full year and a half away).

Emma has probably grown the most since the last post; which is what happens from a 1 year old to almost 3 year old. And almost three is what she's good at right now - all the tantrums and stubborness included. She can be incredibly sweet saying "Mommy, I love you." a lot! But lately dinner time has not been fun trying to fight her to eat. Eat anything. Like mac 'n' cheese. She won't do it. Lately all she'll eat are cheese sticks. Breakfast & Lunch she's fine; but Dinner is a battle. This too shall pass...

Sorry for being gone a year... Here's to not missing so much of Team Chaos!!

Halloween 2010

We had so much fun this Halloween weekend! It was very busy, sometimes crazy, but lots of fun!

Tre dressed up as Cowboy Woody; Colin was Peter Pan; Emma was Tinkerbell; Jodi was Jessie/Cowgirl; TJ was Captain Hook!

On Saturday we went to downtown Winter Garden for their fall festival... it was a madhouse!! So many people, so many costumes... but oddly, not that much candy! The people we thought would be handing out candy (stores and restaurants) were not... then somebody told us that booths were handing out candy, but out of the five booths we passed, only two gave us candy!! And there were so many people it was just too much craziness for us. It was fun being there and seeing some familiar faces, but I don't know if we'll have a repeat visit next year.

On Sunday we went the traditional route and went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. We invited our friends Dale and Sarah Pittman and their two kids Lily and Gage! Lily was also Tinkerbell so we had the two cutest Tinkerbells in all of Florida! We walked around the neighborhood (Emma and Lily rode in the wagon) and got lots of candy, and Colin was a very good Peter Pan, making sure his two Tinkerbells were also getting candy! The boys were tired by the end of the walk, but still tried to get some candy before bedtime! Pictures are up on facebook if you wanna see!

We're hoping to get a Disney trip in sometime soon... so I'll be sure to add a blog about that whenever we get around to it! Until then...

-Jodi

from one birthday to another

so the last time I blogged was Tre's birthday - and man has a lot gone on since then!! and now it was just Colin's birthday... too much to catch everyone up on; but here's the highlights:

*Tre is now in Kindergarten. A change in our plans for his education! We were going to try to keep him back a year to help him develop socially; but the VPK program wouldn't let him in b/c he was too old. So, into Kindergarten he went with us a little cautious of how he would do. About a month into the school year, his teacher said, "what were y'all thinking? he's doing great!" Another really cool thing about being in Florida is that Tre is going to my mom's school - so he gets to stay after school in her room and she brings him home; it's kind of a big deal to him!!

*Tre has also started TBall! He's only had one scrimmage game and one real game, but so far he loves it! We are totally blessed to be around family because they all pitched in to help sponsor us for the season! My mother-in-law bought his glove, my brother bought his bat, and family friends Scott & Stacey bought him his helmet! He's all set for the season and learning lots!

*Colin is now three years old - and usually acting the part. Which means whining, tantrums, and meltdowns are pretty much a daily occurrence! With Tre now at school, though, he really misses his brother during the day; and he loves going to the ball-field and running the bases after Tre's practices. But what he really loves to do now is play dress-up! A friend of ours gave us a bunch of hand-me-down costumes, and the boys love playing pirates, superheroes, or anything else their imaginations come up with each day!! You can check out pictures on facebook when you get a chance!!

*Emma is learning so many words and talking so much now! Her latest word, though, is "no"! But the way she says it is so hilarious... it's not like a typical kid "no" like she's commanding it. It's more like she thinks about something and then casually says "nooo" like she'd rather not do whatever you're asking her. Like I said... hilarious!!!

The kids do funny things almost daily - I promise I'll try to do better at blogging. You can "good grief" me if the next time I blog is Emma's birthday... that would just be ridiculous!!

Jo

Five Years Old!!!

August 18 - today Tre turns five years old!! He's had an exciting day so far; with more fun stuff to come!

This morning we had pancakes for breakfast! Then we played outside, which lasted only about 20 minutes because it's so blessed hot! So we came inside and Tre and I played some card games. He really likes Go Fish, but today we played Slap Jack and War. After lunch I took Tre out of the house so that Colin could color him a birthday card. I drove Tre to the Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital where he was born. He liked it, but really liked the new Winnie Palmer Hospital next door. I told him that's where Baby Ruhle will be born in December. He was very excited about that! After our drive down memory lane we went to see Oma at her school, then we all three went for a special treat at Cold Stone Creamery!! Tre had chocolate ice cream with gummie bears, Oma and I had strawberry/banana smoothies!

That's been our day so far, but tonight for dinner we're having Tre's favorite, Pizza! After pizza we'll do our family presents: we got him a baseball set (glove, ball, bat), a t-shirt (orange with gray stripes), and a SpiderMan action figure. After presents we'll have cupcakes (chocolate w/ chocolate frosting!). Then we'll finish the evening off with Tre's Meet Your Teacher. He's going to Pre-K up at the La Petite that's at the front of the subdivision. He's VERY excited about school! So it's kind of fitting that meeting his teacher is part of his birthday celebrations!

This Friday we'll have his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese with immediate family. He's very excited about playing all the games there, and spending time with his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents!!

Can't believe my boy is five years old!! Ugh, I wanna be five again!! Bleh... anyway! Love to all!!

-Jo

Summer's Almost Over...

So the summer is almost over, and we've been having a blast! We've been to the beach two or three times, we go swimming at least once a week, bowling, movies, and just recently got back from a lake house in Alabama. Overall, not a bad summer at all!!

Kids are doing great! Tre will turn five in just nine days!! He is very excited, and very much looking forward to his Chuck E. Cheese party! He also starts school the Monday after his birthday; he actually goes to meet his teacher on his birthday. It's a good thing he likes school, he'll think it's just part of his birthday celebration!! Colin is also doing good; he's grown so much since we've moved to Fl. He's such a little boy now. He's talking more and more, and looks to Tre on how to react to most things. Which can be good or bad, depending on how whiny Tre is feeling at the time. Emma is also growing like a weed! But she's also talking more! If she doesn't say the word she can at least grunt the intonation of the word. Like "thank you" or "love you" she sorta grunts. But she can say the words: help, momma, daddy, up... and a few more that I can't think of right now. But she really is learning lots and growing so fast!

Our time in Alabama was fun... if not different! The house we stayed at had little technology. It was kind of like living in the 80's!! The TV was so old; there was no remote, and the dial on the TV was one of those turn dials with like ten stations! And there was no cable, and no rabbit ears. We couldn't get anything on the TV! It was a good thing we knew about it going up there cause I packed a bunch of videos! They had a VCR and we brought our portable DVD player, so we got by when we needed it, but we mostly just had the TV off and actually played. Weird, huh?! Anyway, the house was on a lake so we did that most everyday. The first day was bad just because we didn't try to do anything but swim, and that gets old kinda fast. The second day we took out their boat, but it was low on gas so we didn't go very far (maybe one loop around the lake). But because of the boat ride we found the kids some life vests... and that changed the rest of our lake days! The boys would wear their life vests and jump off the dock. Tre was at the point where he was running and jumping off the dock! Of course he liked to jump about a foot from the edge and scare me every time! But whatevs!! And TJ would pick up the boys by the shoulders of the life vests and toss them off the dock. They loved it! They also had a little paddle boat that we took out a couple of times. I liked it, I don't think the boys did very much!! So all in all we had a good time in Alabama; saw some good friends, relaxed for a bit, I read two books! Not too bad at all!!

Now that school is starting soon we're trying to get back into somewhat of a routine. Hopefully jobs are around the corner and that'll help. But overall things are going pretty well here for the Davis family! I'll try to keep everyone updated with everything, even if you might already know it!!

- Jo

Little Monsters!

This morning our little monsters were really "Little Monsters"!

Colin is usually our only monster. He goes around the house "rawring" at people. Today he had an accomplice! Emma!! She mimicked her brother, and with arms up would "rawr" at us! It was very cute. And she was quite proud of herself!

When they do it again I'll try to get pictures! But if you see us remind me - you may get to see a live version!

- Jo

Three Months... Lots of Changes

It's been almost three months since I've last updated the blog... but as many of you know, we've had lot going on! Due to circumstances the Davis family is back in Florida. It's been good, it's been tough at times, but overall our family is transitioning pretty well.

Being back in Florida brings many positives... like seeing our friends & family more often! So far we've seen siblings and parents every week! We're swimming, going to the beach, and even a half-day trip to DisneyWorld! The kids have taken it all in stride. The boys may occasionally mention Alabama or the yellow house; but we just acknowledge that we miss our home, talk about all the good things in Florida, and then move on to the next subject. So far... so good!

I'll continue to update about the kids and all their craziness! But since we are in Florida I'll warn you now - you may get a shout-out (seeing as how it's mostly family that reads the blog anyway!).

- Jo

Waving

Emma now waves!! It's pretty cute actually... you wave hello or goodbye to her and she sort of moves her arm/hand back and forth. It's the best wave she can do so far, but it's enough!

She's also walking more. I know I told everyone she's walking pretty well, and then the weekend that grandparents were here, she didn't walk at all. Go figure! But, seriously, she's walking! She basically walks from one toy to another, or from our little red table to a couch. So it's only a few steps at a time that she'll take, but she does walk.

Speaking of grandparents, we celebrated Emma's birthday last weekend with our parents. We had such a good time, and the kids loved seeing them! Emma did alright with her cake, in that she didn't completely wig out with her smash cake, but she didn't exactly eat it either. She just kind of made a mess then looked at me like "now what"? She got lots of clothes (which she really needed!) and bouncy ball toy that the boys play with more than her! But she's officially a one year old, all grown up!!

Tre is on spring break next week so here's hoping for no more rainy days so I can kick them outside as much as possible! Spring is so lovely! That's all for now! Blog soon!
- Jo

March 1

March 1 is a pretty big day around the yellow house. Today is our anniversary (seven years!) and Emma's 1st birthday! We had a pretty good day, but let's talk about our weekend first!

This past weekend TJ was gone from Thursday afternoon until Sunday afternoon to our church's Disciple Now Weekend. So it was me against the kids for three days straight... we barely survived! Thursday was pretty good, but I had to fight the kids to get to bed so I didn't get to work on Emma's birthday project like I wanted. Friday wasn't too bad. Saturday was the hardest. I decided to clean the house and I guess the boys thought that since I was busy they could get away with stuff. While they were outside in the backyard they decided they wanted to go play hide and seek in the front yard. They managed to get toys by the gate and climbed up to unlock the gate and gain their freedom... luckily I was out in the driveway putting stuff in the car and totally caught them! Freedom they did not get!! When TJ got home Sunday I was so relieved, and I think the kids were too!!

But that was then, and today was great!!! I had breakfast with a friend and had a couple of hours on my own while TJ watched Colin and the birthday girl. After a pretty normal day we celebrated Emma's birthday with presents, pizza, and cupcakes! She wasn't too sure of everything, but the boys loved the celebration! And afterward we watched our wedding video, a tradition we've done every year!

This week we have family coming up and we'll celebrate Emma's birthday with a party on Saturday! I think we'll also have a yard sale on Saturday so we have lots to look forward to this week! Just another week in the yellow house!
-Jo

Silly Boys

Here are pictures from our lunch yesterday. We got a new camera a couple of weeks ago, so we're trying to be better about taking pictures! Anyway, as you can see, our boys were being silly so we decided to capture the moment!


This is Colin's "mad" face. If you tell him no or he doesn't like something he'll give you this face. It comes from our Llama Llama books, this is the face mama gives little llama when she's mad! Colin does a very good impression!

This was TJ's hat when he was little, the boys like wearing it now! Tre looks just like his daddy!

Cell phones

My kids know about cell phones. They know about texting and twitter.

Example: Colin had my phone and was playing with the buttons. I asked him what he was doing; he said, "texting Mamaw." Yeah... my kids know about cell phones!

Big Steps

We've had a couple of big steps today in the yellow house! Figuratively & Literally!

Literally: Emma walked! She took her first couple of steps tonight! She's been standing independently for awhile, so I knew she was close. And tonight she got those first couple of steps under her belt! It was quite a night!

For our "figurative" big steps: Tre told a little girl that he loved her! It was cutest thing ever! Over the weekend he made a little note for this girl, Annabelle, in his class. And at church he made a Valentine's heart. So this morning he was nervous about going to school and even tried to get out of going. But I talked to him and told him that he had to go to school, and that Daddy would help him get his presents to Annabelle. So once at school TJ talked to Tre's teacher, Mrs. Holston, and she called Annabelle over. Tre handed her the note that said "I love you, Annabelle" and the heart. She gave him a big hug! TJ said it was pretty cute. Now Tre wants to write another note to Karolina, another little girl in his class. Yep, that's our son!!

As you may have heard it snowed last week in Alabama! But since our kids were sick we didn't partake in the adventures of playing in the snow.... so, no stories there! Fortunately everyone is feeling better, and hopefully the weather will get warm soon so we can go outside and play!

I'll blog soon about Emma almost being one and all the fun things she's doing now! Love to all!
Jo

January/February

I can't believe it's been a month since I've blogged last! So much has happened, it may be impossible to recap everything... so I'll try my best!

The weather got warmer which meant the boys spent more afternoons outside! Even little Miss Em got to go outside some! She sat in the swing for the first time ever, and loved it! She kept kicking her legs! She also tried the slide, but didn't like that as much. We went on wagon rides with all the kids... and then it got cold again. Oh well. It should get warm again soon, then more wagon rides will be in our future!

Tre and I had a Mommy Day a couple of weeks ago. We had lunch together, went to the bookstore to get him more chapter books, and then shopping. He really wanted to go to the museum, but I didn't want him to think that every Mommy/Daddy day was about going to the museum. It's about spending time with us, no matter what we're doing. So I didn't take him to the museum, but I did let him pick out anything he wanted when we went shopping. Which he chose a Toy Story video game! So I joked that I won the "mom of the year" award for talking my child out of going to the museum by buying him a video game!! HaHa!! But at least we had fun together!

TJ and I were both super busy during January; TJ was out for a weekend and then I was out for a weekend two weeks later. But the kids did pretty well during all the changes... when TJ got home Colin kept saying "Mommy do it", which kinda drove TJ crazy. But Colin eventually got over it! Then when I was out TJ said the kids did great. But now he has a newer appreciation for when he's gone!!

Here are some of the newest things that the kids are doing: Colin is talking so much more, and is so sweet! He says "miss you" if you've been gone for awhile. Tre is learning lots at school, and is really looking forward to his class Valentine's Day party next week! And Emma is cruising! Which means she can walk along the furniture, and has just mastered walking behind a toy baby stroller! She should be walking independently within the month, just in time for her birthday!

Speaking of birthdays, mine was yesterday! So we took the family bowling, which the boys kicked our butts!! But they had bumpers, so next time we go TJ and I are going to even the playing field and get bumpers too!! Then TJ and Tre made my birthday cake (chocolate & chocolate!) and we had our monthly movie night to end out the festivities! It was a great day, and my boys made my day super special!

Next month Emma will turn one, but hopefully it won't be a month before I blog again!
- Jo

Happy New Year

Happy 2010!!! We had an awesome holiday season in the yellow house and in Florida. So much happened so I know I'll miss a couple of highlights, but here's what I can recollect!

Christmas Eve and Morning were spent here in Alabama. We went to Christmas Eve service at church where the kids did pretty well... Tre liked the songs and Colin was busy flirting with the little 2 year old two rows in front of us! Afterwards at home we had dinner, put reindeer food out on the lawn and left out milk and cookies for Santa. The kids went to bed pretty easily, but when I went to go check on them I found Colin sleeping in Tre's bed! Tre was obviously asleep when he had climbed in so Colin just got comfy and fell asleep next to his big brother! We decided to leave him there to see how long it would last... which was about 1AM! Tre came into our room and so we had to move Colin back to his own bed! The rest of the night there were no creatures stirring!!

Christmas morning Colin was in our room climbing into our bed at around 7AM, which is routine. Tre went out to the TV room when he got up about 20 minutes later. I was expecting him to come running back to tell us that Santa has been here, but he didn't. So then Colin went out a few minutes later and I heard him "ooh" about some presents, but he too didn't come running back. So we got out of bed not sure what we would find in the TV room... only to find them both sitting on the couch watching TV quietly! And they were perfectly fine with waiting for Emma to get up before opening presents! They are such good boys!!

Present time was awesome! Colin was ecstatic about his Buzz Lightyear action figure (we thought he was going to explode with excitement!), and Tre loved his Toy Story toys too (Woody & Slinky), and Emma loved the boxes! It was a nice morning before our trip to Florida! We decided to drive in the afternoon because our ride home from Thanksgiving was a little too... loud. Colin screamed from Lake City to past Tallahassee, and almost didn't survive the trip! So we decided to mix it up a little bit and drive after lunch so that he could sleep in the car for naptime, stop for dinner, then sleep more before getting to our destination. It worked great!! Both there and back the kids did great, and I think we've found a new travel arrangement, at least for the time being! The highlights about the traveling were Emma riding with her feet propped up on her car-seat visor, me searching high and low in the dark to find lost pacifiers, and both boys snoring!

Our Florida Christmas was filled with family: Celebrations at both families meant we had three Christmases in three days - awesome! And my uncle and his family were down from New York so we got to spend about a day with them and the Steele side of the family! We haven't seen Kent or the girls in about two years, so it was great to catch up! Savannah and Lilly did great playing with the kids, I told them it was pay back for the times I entertained them!! We also had lots of new toys to play with like bubble-guns (which was a hit with everybody!), 3D chalk, and more Toy Story toys!! The last day we were there TJ and I surprised Tre with a trip to the movies... we took him to see the Alvin & Chipmunk movie, and we were surprised by TJ's sister Corin and her daughter Lauren! Tre loves all his cousins, so to have her along for the movie was really special, and a nice surprise for all of us!

Other random highlights:
At TJ's mom's Christmas dinner Tre was asked to tell all his cousins to wash their hands and get ready for dinner. And Tre did his job well! He walked to the door of the room they were playing in and said loudly, "Cousins! It is time for dinner! Please go wash your hands and get to the table!" (hand gestures included!) - it was soooo funny!!!

Four out of five of us got new shoes!! TJ got new athletic shoes and I got new brown shoes - which we both desperately needed! Colin got new shoes, his first ever non-handmedowns! And Emma got her first ever, ever shoes - cause she's [ ] this close to walking!!! Tre didn't get new shoes... but he didn't need any!

New Years Eve day we went bowling with Oma and the Beavin family! My kids have never been bowling before and had a great time! Colin would high-five everyone after every bowl... no matter how well or badly he did! TJ said, "I'm not sure what his standard is, he high-fives everything!" I think he was just excited about the game!! They both did great!

Again, I'm sure I missed something... but that's all my tired mind can remember for now! Tre starts back to school tomorrow, and we're back to the daily grind! We're super excited about all the new things to come in 2010... like Emma walking, potty training Colin, and (dun dun dun) Tre turning 5!!!! Happy New Year everyone!

- Jo

Among the Chaos

I love Christmastime! And I am aware how crazy Christmastime can be... we had three parties in four days just last week! But even among the chaos of the season our family tends to still be "normal crazy" - still all of our normal stuff going on in and throughout all the other chaos. It's kinda fun! So here's what's new at the yellow house:

Emma is officially crawling! On her hands and knees she's crawling around and trying her best to keep up with Tre and Colin! But if they're moving too fast for her, she'll resort back to army crawling. She can also get herself up on her knees like she's trying to pull herself up. It's as if she crossed crawling off her list and wanted to move right away to pulling up and walking! We'll see how that goes!!

Colin says "OK" now. I know that doesn't sound like much. But it's hysterical! You tell him "go do this" or "give me that" and he says "OK." It's so cute! He seems to be talking more and more, and throwing tantrums more and more. But that is the life of a two year old!!

Tre had a great Christmas party last week at school. He was so excited all week about his class party and getting his stocking full of presents from his classmates. He got lots of candy, an ornament from his teacher, and they got to play a funny marshmallow game. The marshmallows were hanging from the ceiling on a string and the kids had to get it in their mouths without using their hands. Since Tre is the smallest boy in the class he had a hard time, so I gave him a boost to help the kid out! So funny!

Santa Claus comes tonight and the kids are excited! We're planning on putting reindeer food out in the yard for their snack, and of course milk and cookies for Santa Claus! We can't wait!! Merry Christmas everyone!!

- Jo