Finally...

Layton and Chloe will pose for pictures together! I am so happy, actually ecstatic! However, as you may have noted by the pictures posted... they seem to be willing to pose together when they are messy, dressed crazy, or just in plain old silly moods! Not the kind of pictures you would want to use for the annual Christmas card. *sigh* The best example is "The Beautiful Life" picture, Chloe had just gotten caught "using" my mascara! Yes, that is mascara all over her face, not bruises from sibling altercations! (on a side comment, I was actually impressed that she was able to get mascara on her eyelashes correctly! The girl pays attention!)

They are really playing together well now and it is fun to see them in action. It seems that my house will truly NEVER be orderly again, though. At least once a day, they use all the couch cushions to build the best secret fort, ever!

I love the picture of them standing together. It makes me so joyful to seem them developing such a unique and sweet (at times) relationship. On a funny note, look at layton. He is wearing headphones that you can plug into the cordless phone so you can talk handsfree. He wore them for two whole days. He even wore them the entire time we went bowling, to Chickfila, and running errands. He claimed that he couldn't hear or breathe without it on. And would go through the theatrics of wheezing if I made him take it off. I am planning to post pics and comments on the bowling excursion the next time I blog.

I talked to a dear friend of mine tonight, Kristen. I am so very blessed to have wonderful friends, true friends. It blesses me to know that neither time, nor distance changes the real connections that God places in our lives. She is doing so well and working hard in nursing school. Please add her to your prayers because she has chosen a vocation that takes a special kind of person. A person like her!!!

Well, I guess that's all I am doing tonight. Suddenly it is after midnight and I spent way too much time browsing my pictures trying to choose which ones to post... so bowling will definitely wait till next time.

Chloe's babies

Chloe just loves playing "mommy" and she is rarely seen these days without a doll in her arms or just dragging one around by her hair. The other day she piled them all into her grocery buggy and literally demanded that I take a picture of her "shillen" (aka children). Nancy, her most beloved baby, was a gift from Mama Claire. I cannot get over how much Nancy looks like Chloe! You can really see it in one of the pictures.

The funny things kids say...

I have been thinking about some of the funny things that Layton and Chloe say or how they completely annihilate words. Chloe cannot say band-aid correctly, and everytime she asks for one in public, I cringe. "Mommy, me need hello kitty dam-baids!!!! Those DAM-BAIDS!!!", she was screaming in Walmart the other day. And yes, it garnered a few of "those" looks. Do I really need to explain to complete strangers that she isn't cursing?

She also says "gaboon" for balloon. We were riding in the car and I could hear her talking to Nancy, her favorite doll. "Nancy, yook (look) a boo gaboon. Anover (another) boo gaboon. Yots (lots) of boo gaboons." It wasn't until the next day, that I realized she was pointing out all the blue balloons at a car dealership.

Tonight we were at a friends house and Chloe kept getting juice boxes without asking. I kept telling her that she needed to ask for permission. Finally I asked, "Did you ask for that (5th) juice box?" She replied, "yep, me ask for it." I then asked, "Who did you ask?" After a couple of seconds, she pointed to herself and responded, "ME!!"

On the other hand, Layton has started writing a letter "L" on the palm of his hand. He has done this for 3 days now and if it get washed off, he rewrites it. Leigh asked him why he was doing this and Layton replied that if he gets lost then people can read his name and address and send him home.

He doesn't really mess up pronouncing words so much anymore, however utilizing words in context can be challenging for him sometimes. We were playing Hi Ho Cheerio and he suddenly proclaims with much authority, "We're having such a popular time." Where did he even hear such a word- popular. I wonder what he thought it meant. I would have asked but Chloe pulled one of her typical stunts- grabbing some cherries, taunting us with "can't cat me" and running for her life.

Why oh why does Layton insist that he is going to be Spiderman when he grows up or at least when he is a teenager? At least five times a day, I receive an urgent beacon for help and have to retrieve him from the top of the door frame. It seems it is his mission in life to learn how to really crawl up the walls, which is evident by the fingerprints and shoe scuffs four feet up on my walls. Will he outgrow this or am I set for a life of swinging from trees, jumping from furniture and who know what else? He is such a precocious and creative child!

This stage in life- having a two year old and four year old- is incredibly fun (and funny), tiring, sweet, cranky, messy, busy, sticky, huggy, and most of all full of love and wonderment that God creates us so beautifully and completely. I feel blessed to have this opportunity to experience the fullness of family life with these two kiddos. God is so good.