Busy Bees

He says his name! We get overly excited when we hear him using words, putting two words together, and communicating with us. He walks around calling for Emma, he leans forward in his carseat trying to see her next to him, calling her name, and when she answers- he has nothing to say- just wanted to know she was there :) In the video, he is posing for a "picture" in the beginning, so he keeps saying "cheese"....

Look at my big girl!!!!!! She is on the lower balance beam in this picture- hard to see- but there she is, all by herself in the pink leotard, inching her way to the end. On the first day of gymnastics, she was absolutely terrified of the balance beam. Grabbing on to the teacher's hand, and eventually a death grip on the poor little girl standing on the beam behind her. But look at her now! By the end of the class, she was a confident little cookie!

 And speaking of confidence- we celebrated big when she buttoned her pj's all by herself :) Little miss independent is getting dressed on her own, often times picking her outfit out by herself. And for some reason, always does a wardrobe change during "quiet time" while she is locked upstairs during Levi's nap. I send her up there wearing her clothes from the morning, and quite often, she comes down in a fancy skirt and shirt, ready for the afternoon's activities.

 Levi has quite an arm. Seriously- the kid can throw. Emma.......still working on it, but little L- he can throw that ball! So we pulled out the hoop when the sun began to peek through and had some fun. It wasn't long before he realized he could toss the ball off the deck & I would have to go get it for him. Mama's gonna put a stop to THAT game!!

 But we are certainly looking forward to Spring! Perhaps we jumped the gun, but we already brought out a lot of our toys in anticipation of the warmer weather. I can't wait- they are at a great age right now, and we are going to have so much fun together!!

 And we make the best of it no matter what :) With our one big snowstorm this winter, I decided to bring the kids sledding. I have never gone sledding myself, so I really had no clue what I was doing but figured I would give it a try. First of all- it is EXHAUSTING dragging them around on the sled! AND even more so running up the hills to try and sled down the hills. After running circles around our backyard a few times, and sledding down the tiny hill off our front steps, we went to the neighbors for an hour and went down the hill back there. They are New England natives, and showed us the real thrill of the snow! We made snow angels, went tubing down the hill....even on our belly! And I learned that I was using the sled backwards.....whoops!!!

 Playtime at the YMCA after Emma's gymnastics class. Levi was hesitant to go down the slide, so Emma ran right over to him, sat at the bottom with open arms and said "Come on Levi, I got ya!".

 The little scoundrel! Stripped down naked all by himself, took off his diaper, walked over to the diaper & wipes stash and wiped his little tushie! Saying "tush, tush, tush" the whole time. I began to have flashbacks of poop covered cribs & walls- and immediately pulled out the footless bodysuit PJ's we zipped up backwards on Emma when she was his age. Ya know.....just incase :)

 My biggest fears, have been put to rest :) I was so worried that my kids wouldn't play together or be close because they were different genders. Well, they have proven me wrong! They feed off each other. Levi mirrors Emma- everything she does. EVERYTHING!

 The kid can really rock the high heels! I need to get him some manly dress up clothes so he can join in on the party.....

 My creative little genius. Her teddy names are (in order) Emma Bunny, teddy, girlie girl, and catty cat. Oh yea, and her blanket- blankie blank.

 Time Out! These chickens can be very mischevious. After clearly telling them BOTH not to crawl up onto the window ledge, they completely ignored me and continued on their journey to the window. I pulled them both down and told them to sit in time out (where Emma is). But- they were a little over excited to be in there together, so I seperated them. And as I sat watching them, it was just too cute not to take a picture!

That being said- I wish I had the words to convey just how much I really do enjoy my little loves. Especially now. Levi is SUCH a sweetheart. SO much more enjoyable than he was for the first year of his life. And I say that with lots of love for my difficult little baby boy! He is awesome. Totally turned a corner, he is happy, loving, and a total clown! He seems to have chilled out A LOT and enjoys playing and snuggling now. Always making me laugh- his facial expressions are hysterical. The looks he gives me with those big brown eyes- I don't know where he gets it from!!!