The Kids

JAKE
Brian and I watched "Mama Mia!" over the holidays and Brian thought Jake would really enjoy it. I was doubtful. Guess who was wrong? Yep, Jake's favorite movie is "Mama Mia!". He goes around the house singing "Super Trouper" and, of course, the title track over and over. He may be the only one in the world who thinks that Pierce Brosnan's singing is "Great!".

He had Friday off school so he and I hung out while I "worked". I love having that one-on-one time together. We did a yoga video at lunch- which he really enjoyed-completing several Sun Saluations proudly. He keeps asking me if we can do it again.

He still loves four square- we taped off a court in his bedroom so we can play inside since it continues to be COLD and FOGGY here. He can beat me with one hand tied behind his back.

Although I am not thrilled that he and Tanner woke up at FIVE AM both days this weekend, I am so proud of how they play together in their room in the mornings- Jake reads Tanner books, they draw on the easel, play their computer games, build Lego towers, and just generally crack each other up until it is time to come into our room at 7.

Speaking of reading.... I am amazed by what he can read these days. He and Brian are reading a non-fiction book on "Baseball's Greats". They take turns reading pages. He picked up a "Magic Tree House" the other day and just sat down and started plowing through it. ( In fact he is now reading this over my shoulder as I type...)

TANNER
He loves school now. After sobbing uncontrollably for months on end every time we dropped him at Miss Wendy's, he now goes happily, always picking out a book to share at reading time and asking if today is field trip day (they take a "field trip" once a week to local free places (Burger King, the mall, the park, Cabelas).

He loves that he has 'homework" (This is just letter practice he does with Miss Wendy but he likes to call it HW so he can be like his big brother). He carries it back and forth in a Steelheads folder.

He is proving to be quite a basketball star and "announces" games as he dribbles through our living room and shoots into the laundry basket. He calls himself "Koby Carl"- who is the star player on our local team. While I was in the hottub yesterday he bundled up (it was 25 degrees outside) and shot three-pointers in our backyard. That kid is so persistent. He did not give up until he made that shot. It took a lot of tries.... but he did it.

He also shows a lot of talent for football. He can catch it from across the living room now and can throw fairly accurately. I don't know where these kids got their athletic ability from, but he's got it in spades. We call him our "Retirement Plan"...

He would survive on PBJ if I let him. And cold pizza. That's his favorite breakfast.

Whenever he falls down or hurts himself in some way he says, "OH... THAT'S gotta hurt!".

We are starting a garden and have been composting for a few months. He loves to help Brian in the garden, turning over the soil, picking up leaves to compost, etc... I think he will really get into it when we actually get to plant things and (hopefully) see them grow! Now if we could only get him to EAT vegetables, that would be good....

FAITH
We have reinstituted "Family Game Nights". Faith loves them! It is a challenge finding games that all three of the kids can enjoy together. So far we have two: One of them is a Disney DVD Bingo game and the other is a Disney Pictionary game. I help Tanner, Brian helps Faith, and we play for about half an hour. When it is time to turn it off Faith just falls apart. She sobs inconsolably. The boys love Game Night, too, and would gladly have it every night instead of 2 nts/week.

She loves to be naked. She runs around the house screaming, "I NAKED! I NAKED!" and when we try to put a diaper on her she yells and bucks her body around, making it almost impossible to get her dressed.

She loves to play sports with her brothers. She does this little tippy toe dance with her hands in the air yelling "I READY! I READY!" while she waits for her brothers to throw, pass, punt, kick, hit, bounce, or roll the ball-of-the-moment to her.

She is definitely showing signs of being almost 2. Yikes. She's always had a scowl that could stop you in your tracks but now she combines it with this loud mean grunting sound. Lovely girl. I'm so proud.

She is addicted to Diego. She was home sick one day last week and I had to work so I plugged her into a CD that had 2 hours of Diego on it. She watched it nonstop the protested loudly when I turned it off. I put her down for a nap and the only way I knew she was awake is that I heard her plaintively repeating, "Dieeeeeeego! Dieeeeeego!" in her crib

She loves animals. She has always adored Milo and will lavish him with love (sometimes a little too roughly) but Miss Wendy has a dog, a cat, a bird, and a turtle and she can't get enough of them. She also loves to play with stuffed animals and currently has a cat, a giraffe, a monkey, and whenever she can manage to steal it away from Tanner.... a "penguino" that she calls "Geeno".

She is the best hugger. She gives these bear hugs that I just eat up. She also holds my face in her hands and says, "I love you Mama!" while staring into my eyes. Seriously. It's a heart breaker.

US
Brian turns 40 on the 30th of this month. His mom is coming to visit for a few weeks and she and my mom are going to watch the kids for two nights so we can get some time alone. This will be our first night away since Faith was born. We are heading to beautiful downtown Boise!!! Yep, we are staying in our own town- but with the huge difference of getting to experience it without little ones. We are taking a snowboarding lesson together on Saturday, have dinner reservations at nice places both nights, plan on seeing a matinee on Sunday, and will sleep in or at least stay in bed both mornings until well past 7AM. We can't wait. Also, LOST starts on Wednesday so its a pretty great week ahead all the way around.