field of dandelions

I tried to get them walking holding hands, but that didn't work seeing as Alannah was not thrilled about it. So, we did the random walking look :-) And yes, I do kinda wish I had put the boys in better shirts, but oh well, it was spur of the moment.

Alannah doesn't smile well on demand, but she sure has a cute smile when you can catch it.

Obviously my request for a smile here isn't working.

My 3 year old loves to bring me flowers!

18 months

Alannah is 18 months old today!

Her latest achievements this last month are in the talking department.

She talks so much!

It's amazing how much she mimics a word we say. She is putting thoughts together quite well.

A couple weeks ago she started saying "see ya" - we had just left somewhere and had said "See ya" as we were leaving and as we were driving away I realized she was in her seat saying "see ya, see ya" over and over again. Then she said, "see ya, bye-bye" - she put the 2 thoughts together and made a "complete" thought.

I was talking with her this morning. She asked "Da?" and I told her he was at work. And she said "See ya, bye-bye" - I told her "that's right, da's at work in his truck". She said "truck, beep beep". It was too cute.

She is quite proficient with the word "No" as well :-) She usually answers any question with a yes or no and definitely has her opinions. We have been working on not telling mama "no" when she is told to do something! It's amazing what she understands. Sometimes when she says "no" to me, I will tell her "don't tell mama no"- she'll stop, nod yes and then obey.

She also has gotten her bottom 2 molars in this month. Making for a total of 12 teeth in there.

We love you little girl!

Sneak Peek

Would you like a sneak peek at the little fella?

My midwife's office does a 3D ultrasound around 30 weeks, just for fun.

We got a couple cute pictures, though he wasn't overly cooperative.

We found him in, according to the ultrasound lady,

"in the worst position possible to see anything"!

He was lying completely transverse, head to my left side,

feet to the right and face totally down and to my back.

We tried getting him to move around quite a bit, but he wasn't real interested.

The first couple peeks we got of his face, he had his hand up in front of it!

We did finally get a couple side profile shots and called it good.

There's a cute one of his feet too.

And yes, it is still a boy!

And for those of you inexperienced in looking at these fine ultrasound pictures :-)

Here's the same two pictures as above - labeled with what you are looking at!

weekend highlight!

We went to the grand opening of the new fire station in Falcon on Saturday. The boys had a blast. One of the biggest highlights, besides getting to sit in the trucks, sit on the police motorcycle and walk all over the station- even seeing the sleeping areas and bathrooms, was getting to see the Flight for Life helicopter. We see the helicopter parked at the hospital often when we drive into town and they boys are always looking for it and have asked several times about seeing inside it. The helicopter wasn't there when we got there, so I was kinda disappointed when I didn't see it, but didn't tell them. About a half hour later, someone said, "here comes the helicopter" - we headed outside and the boys got to watch it land. Until it got so windy we had to turn toward the building to avoid getting hay and dust blown into our eyes! They were thrilled to see it, sit inside it and I think they were in awe at how big it was. We all had fun, I'm glad we went. The boys have been coloring pictures and wearing their little plastic fire helmets since we got home.

Caeden in the fire truck - he wouldn't look at me, he was so busy looking all around him and at the gadgets and buttons!

Colm was just thrilled!

Here comes the helicopter!

the boys loved watching it land

this is how close we really were when it landed...... next time we go a little bit further away :-)

The boys sitting in the helicopter- it holds a pilot, a medic, a nurse and a patient.

the boys standing on the other side, just to get a feeling of the size of it

This picture seriously needs a caption...........

Both boys got to sit on it and they were again, just as proud as could be looking around!

And yes, in case you wondered...... Alannah was there as well. But I had her in the carry pouch on my (ever-shrinking) hip and I didn't let her out. I know, she would have had fun wandering around and sitting there too, but I was by myself and I only have 2 hands that were holding onto boys, so she was stuck in there ;-) And it's almost impossible to get a picture of her while holding her, so she'll just have to take my word for it that she did visit the fire station as well!

just an update......

This year in school we've been going through the alphabet- doing a letter a week, roughly. We got a little behind and we were on T this week. I know, that leaves me still 6 letters to go. (I think I am going to double up though and try and finish it out this month. ) But each week we do a Bible verse that starts with the letter we are doing and read a story from the Bible about a Bible character with that name. And then we have a handful of color pages - the letter, a picture from the Bible person, some animals or other such thing. I have found a number of website that are helpful and I can quickly print some pages that feature our letter and are things the boys are interested in. Caeden has improved alot this year in his coloring skills. He is now picking appropriate colors for the picture and staying in the lines quite well. He has also found he loves to draw his own picture, color it and then cut it out. Colm is still in the scribble stage. Most of his pictures end up 1 color and he still looses interest pretty quickly. He can though tell you the sounds that all the letters make and what letter he is looking at. Through the week we often work on our memory verse and talk about or re-read the Bible story.

Caeden can read any short word that is phonetically correct. He is getting good at sounding words out and we have some small books that we are reading through at his pace. I think he is getting close to have it really click for him and I think we'll see huge growth in this area soon.

I try and sit down and actually "do school" with them, 2-3 times a week, depending on our week. But they sit and color every day, often multiple times. They also enjoy doing other play activities. They often get their tools out and "go to work", they often go "hunting" with their guns and "shoot a bear for dinner" or other game. Sometimes they just keep the bad guys away from their princess too. They love playing fireman. It's interesting to watch all these activities blend together as they play. They have quite the imaginations!

Alannah usually just follows along and plays with what she can- or they'll let her! She makes the cutest little car and truck noises with the little cars. She loves to sit and read books- she will sit and page through it babbling along and looking at the pictures. Often pointing out things with her finger. If I am on the couch reading, she will often get a book and come sit next to me and read as well. She has discovered she loves being outside. No more of her playing inside while the boys are out! She loves to wander around, picking up sticks and rocks and walking around. She's getting pretty quick too. The other day she found a mud puddle before I realized how far she was and she found though the boys seemed to have fun stomping in the mud, it wasn't as fun as it looked and she just stood there and cried till I got to her.

Alannah has pretty much dropped her morning nap. She was borderline for awhile and she still crabby moments through the morning when I wonder if she wouldn't be ready for a nap. But I am letting her sleep or lay in her crib a bit longer in the mornings and then she naps a good 2 1/2- 3 hours in the afternoon with the boys.

Well, this turned into a wordy update post, so I will end it now. It wasn't where I started out going with this when I began, but that's okay! Here's your update and I will try and get some new pictures up soon too.

Happy Mother's Day!

and for your enjoyment......!

Digital greeting generated with Smilebox

Might have actually turned out cute if they hadn't been so sidetracked by the tractor!

I attempted to get one of all 3 in this spot - thought it looked so nice and spring-like...... they were too busy playing and smelling the flowers for me to catch them all together.

This is a typically view of Alannah outside - always walking all over! She loves being outside and is usually my hardest to convince it is time to come in.

I will get a more newsy update posted later!