January 20-26

 Luca called me over during lunch and held up her hand, "look Mom, three moons". I stared at her hand uncomprehendingly so she patiently pointed out that the banana makes one, the space in relief between her fingers and the banana makes two and her forefinger and thumb make three. I grabbed the camera exclaiming over how observant she was. She asked to see the picture I took and after looking at it for a moment she said "actually Mom, there's four moons in this picture because my smile is a moon shape too". Astounded.

There's something comforting to me in a soup and cornbread combo on a cold night and this week it was better than ever because I found a recipe for the Best Cornbread Ever. If you like a sweet cornbread try this recipe! 

Peek-a-boo Court!

We have a travel sized Connect Four game that has until recently been used as play food with the kitchen set or more often been the jumping off point for an epic round of tug of war. However, this time, probably because Daddy helped set the tone, they really played! Court of course doesn't grasp the "four in a row" concept but he did great taking turns and sorting the chips after each round. Luca may have one every single match but they both had a great time.

Court is beginning to exert his "boy-ness" or perhaps his "Court-ness" and I'm finding the results around the house. Exhibit A: markers on the wall, I know that almost every kid does this but he seems to have a special penchant for coloring on everything but the paper. Exhibit B: cereal down the vents. I thought he had eaten two bowls of cereal. Exhibit C: chapstick smeared on my white knit cushion cover. He's discovered the joy of lip balm and knows where Luca keeps her strawberry smackers. This may be my fault, I did choose the white. Sigh.

 Luca and Fast Runner "sleeping" on their "bunk beds".

What? Why did I post this picture? You mean you don't see anything? Exactly. I was wandering around the backyard yesterday (plotting spring, has anyone else been happily inundated with seed catalogs?) when I made this sad discovery. What you should see in his picture is a 3ft by 4ft holly bush. It was a new addition this fall that I found on clearance and was quite excited about. Surrounding this decimated shrub were the small round calling cards of rabbits. This may explain why Luca, while cuddling the bunny that Daddy let her hold on their mini date to Petco said to the employee "We shouldn't take a bunny like this home because my Mommy would probably shoot it".

A Post for Aunt Whitney

 This wooden rainbow was a gift to Luca from her Aunt Whitney who designed it and had a local artisan make it. It is far and above one of our favorite toys. I am a big believer in toys that are high in "play value", toys that are meant to be manipulated and can become more than one thing. This rainbow and all it's colored bands have, in the hands of my kids, become train tunnels, boats, rocking chairs, shoes, building blocks, the letter "C", holding pens and fences for various animals and I'm sure many other things that my stilted adult imagination cannot see. 

Most recently we used them for an art project, Luca set them up in different arrangements and learned about perspective and angles as she tried to draw the various conglomerations.

I love this thing. Thank you Whitney!

January 12-19

 This is Luca's bunny Aurora. And this is how Luca carries her lately. In her own words, "Aurora just likes to crawl up in my shirt and ride here, it keeps her warm". When Luca got this little rabbit, she asked us to read what it said on the manufacturer tag, it says "Aurora Classic" and so, her name could be nothing but Aurora. It's a funny business, naming animals. Luca's animals include another rabbit, named Thumper, (from Bambi, of course) a horse called Fast Runner, a little dog named Femma and an elephant that is just called Elephant. 

 Forgive the unfocused picture but he wouldn't make this face twice in a row. Court loves Q-tips. He knows where they're kept and frequently wanders around the house looking like a little alien. At least his ears are clean!

Dollhouse decorating...not the decorating I envisioned but it's being played with nonetheless. We have yet to finish the roof, and add the shutters and window boxes so it's looking a little sparse out front. But she and I have grand plans, hers are mostly pink and purple plans. 

 

Joe calls me when he leaves work everyday to give me an ETA for supper and also to see if I'd like him to make any emergency milk (or more often tylenol) stops on his way home. Increasingly however, my phone call is being hijacked by the small people in the house. They both love to talk on the phone (how are they MY children?)- Luca gives lengthy explanations and detailed stories that more often than not center around tattling on both Court and me. Court's phone calls consist of mostly "Dah" (yes/yeah) and "Caca" (He wants a cracker/cookie).

We have a couple of preschool workbooks from my Barnes & Noble days that I had brought home purely to steal the stickers in the back but Luca found them and has been enthralled. Now at least once a day she asks if I will help her "do some school".

Do you know of any funnier game than opening all of the kitchen drawers and leaving them that way? Court doesn't.

 

For our Art Day with Noah this week we did "Still Life". I love the sock picture because after completing the sock, she just had to add "a dog sniffing it".

 

 A sick baby. On Saturday night (why is it always during the weekend and at midnight when they get really sick?) Court and I (and Daddy) were up from midnight to around five in the morning. Every hour or so we would be saying "if he's not better in ten minutes, we'll go to the ER" and eight minutes later his breathing would be better. Croup, croup, croup. So scary. Court is a lover when he's well and he is especially sweet and snuggly when he doesn't feel good. I had him sleeping against my chest for most the night while I sat up on the couch and periodically, he would lift his head and whisper a questioning "Mom?" laying his hand against my cheek, I'd say it's ok, I'm here and with an "oh" and a sigh, he'd nestle back against me. Heart melter.

Photo Editing...

Want to try something new with your photos? I found picmonkey.com via pinterest (I needed a certain photo edit to do a project) and subsequently spent about 45 minutes playing. Most of their tools are free and quite fun!

I love how this last one's coloring and rounded corners are so quintessentially 80's- it could go right into my childhood scrapbook!

Luca and the Fairy

There are several books in our house that have been read so often that Luca has them memorized. This comes in very handy when I ask her to "read" to Court. I had assumed that her talent was limited to short board books and repetitive stories until I overheard her reciting her new book from Grandma- The Dollhouse Fairy, twenty-eight pages long. I love hearing her say words like "enchanted" and

 "mischievous".

(This video was too large to load on the blog so I opened up the movie maker program on our computer and played around until I figured out how to shrink it. Still too big. So I pushed a few more buttons and managed to split it into two videos, still not working so I split it again. Now it is very ghetto (4 clips?!?!) but at least it will load. And all that really matters is that you can hear Luca's voice, right?)

A New Year

 A few of my blogging friends have inspired me to try and capture the small things in life by posting a picture for every day. I have no great faith in my ability to keep this up but it's time for New Year resolutions, right? And if nothing else, it gives me a new format to try out. So here we go:

 Joe took the kids and I up to Omaha to tour his job site, and of course we had to check out the machinery. Surprisingly, Court was much more excited about them from afar. Luca, as you can see was more than happy to take the controls.

Personality? (and ok, yes, this picture is from November as illustrated by the Thanksgiving Tree behind him, but I forgot to post it earlier and he was just as impish on January 2.)

One of many surprises I found on the camera card. Luca has been photographing again.

Have you ever found pine cones in your refrigerator? Luca explained: "Those are things for us to make a craft with, I just put them in bowls so you would remember". She has been on a craft binge lately but I'm still unsure as to why the supplies needed to be refrigerated.

Saturday night bath time! Court loves him some "bub-boos".

Silly Straw!

 As I sat on the couch Sunday night watching the game with Joe, I slowly became aware that a bug was stalking me, I got that hot feeling in my chest and an ache between my shoulder blades that always signals a fever ahead. By Monday morning, I could barely move. Enter my sweet, wonderful, capable daughter. I managed to haul Court out of his crib and get his diaper replaced and then I turned him over to his sister. She fed him, played with him, periodically checked to see if I needed a drink or more medicine or a book (she knows me) and in general ran our household with aplomb. I kept waiting to hear the argument that would necessitate me leaving the bed but instead I heard fits of giggles and phrases like "you want to play that game now Court? Ok, but first we need to put these toys away, then we can get that game out." and "Court, shhhh...Mommy is sick, we have to be quiet. How about I read you this book?". What a wonderful blessing my Luca Bean is! Influenza laid me low for a full week but thanks to my hubby, my neighbor and my Luca, I was well taken care of. And praise the Lord no one else has gotten it, thanks in part I think to this arsenal.

Snow Happy

I love the camaraderie of our neighborhood, all of us out scooping the sidewalks while the kids build forts and generally knock the snow right back onto the sidewalks. There's always that hint of friendly competition too...who will get theirs cleared first?

 

 

Court's first snow! First snow as an upright walker anyway. He was a little unsure about just what he was supposed to do...it's hard to walk in, it's easy to get stuck, not to mention it's a little hard to see in the glare. Good thing he has Luca to demonstrate, and a Daddy to facilitate (and a Mommy to cheer)!

 Our angel making an angel.

 Little break

 Run!

Christmas!

Okay, so I didn't do so well taking pictures this Christmas but don't let the shortness of the post fool you, there was a lot of merry!

 Luca was on the gingerbread house bandwagon early in December (she remembered from last "Chismas time") and this year Court joined in. A friend suggested a glue gun in place of frosting for sturdier construction and while Luca and Daddy handled icing with finesse the glue saved Court's house from collapse.

 We started a new tradition of camping out in sleeping bags, fireside, Christmas Eve night and then opening stockings first thing Christmas morning.

 Oh yeah. Nothing like a new skid loader!

 Luca's dollhouse. Joe and I were up some late nights and worked through several nap times. At one point during December Luca asked me to wrap one of her presents in pink paper. I informed her that I had already wrapped all of her gifts and she said "No you haven't! What about the surprise one that you and Daddy are making downstairs?". Too smart for her own good.

 This years additions to the Nativity (can you tell we have a boy in the house?) dinosaurs and Secretariat.

Isaiah, Luca and Miya at the Christmas Eve Concert. Growing so fast!