"Halle-isms"

It seems like we laugh at Halle all the time (great parents, huh?) She just says the funniest things! A conversation we had yesterday went like this:

H- "Why do you have those?" (sunglasses)

Me- "So I can see in the sun."

-long pause-

H- "Mommy, I CAN see in the sun. Just not in the dark."

Halle works hard to pronounce "l" sounds, most of the time. In certain instances she reverts back to "w-" instead. Like when singing 'Skip to my Lou'- it's, "Lou, Lou, skip to my Woo."

So lately she has been into this 2-minute cartoon called "Lou and Lou, Safety Patrol." Or as she calls it, "Woo and Woo." I guess it's on the Disney Channel, but she saw it once at the end of one of her videos and now she's hooked.

Here she is, watching her mini-cartoon on the computer:

I guess she has a new found fear of oversleeping (or maybe just speed-sleeping) because before naps and bedtime for the past several days she has said, "Mommy, will you wake me up if I sleep too fast??" And you better believe she is dead serious. I do not crack a smile when I answer affirmatively.

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Today she kept referring to herself as 'Grandma.' As in, "Caty-Cate, come over here! Grandma has a surprise for you! It's a book!" And, "No, Mommy. I'm GRANDMA." (Imagine that in a sing-song two-year-old voice. Hilarious.)

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PS- Thanks for letting me borrow the bread machine, Mom! Here is a sample of what we've been eating for the past couple of weeks:Awesome sandwiches, amazing grilled cheese, and KILLER French Toast!

Parking It

What a GORGEOUS day! The high was in the lower 70's- I don't know what we actually hit, but it was mid- to upper-60's at least. I think we were ALL glad to get out of the house and away from the inside toys for the afternoon!

Halle had this little climber down pat at the end of the summer, but she acted a little afraid of it today. That is, until a little boy (smaller than her) started climbing it with ease- she then attacked that thing and didn't look back! I think maybe she has a little bit of me in her, after all!:And Cate finally got to do some fun stuff at the park!! She LOVED the swings:This sand table disgusts me. Who knows how many cats roam around just looking for the perfect place to... well, you get it. Halle loves it, though. I keep a huge box of baby wipes and purell in the car for just such situations! (Okay, maybe not the cat thing, but they work for that too!)Yet another illustration of how much changes in a year-

Today:Feb. 08:We left the park and just couldn't bring ourselves to go inside. So I opened the garage, blocked the road and let Halle have a super-sized bike area. Did she use it? Nope. She thought it would be fun to be a train and she went back and forth on that line for about half an hour. Nice.

**About the tutu- I couldn't get it off of her when it came time to go outside. It wasn't worth the fight.

Table Time and Crazy Cate

We've started doing "table time" most mornings while Cate takes her first nap. Halle is excited about it for now. We'll see how long it lasts! :) Last week we did the letter 'F'. I have no idea why we started with such a random letter! Here are her 'projeks'- can you tell what they all are?:She LOVES stamps:This morning I said, "Halle, what letter should we do this week??"

Without hesitation she shouted, "O!!!! O, O, O!!!"

So we're doing 'O'. Anyone with ideas for the letter O, please share them! Cate woke up early from her nap this morning, so she joined us at the table:And here she is, our sweetie-girl:Here is her routine before naps: EVERYTHING gets dumped out of the crib, and then she'll cry until they're put back in. We've figured out if you let her cry for about 3 minutes and then put the stuff back in she'll curl up with it and go to sleep. Crazy Cate.

In Case Anyone Wonders...

Halle's current hairdo (small ponytail on top and to the side) is her favorite (for the moment.) When I ask how she wants her hair in the mornings she's been saying "The one-piggy-on-top!" So. In an effort to foster independence, she gets the-one-piggy-on-top.

Just Playing Around

Homemade puzzles are the greatest:
Forget the basket full of baby toys. Cate goes straight for the good stuff!Playing "Doctor"
Halle is listening to Cate's "heart-beep":Immunizations?Bandaging (about this time Cate was NOT into playing doctor anymore.)Yep. I wouldn't let Halle take the syringe toy (lovely, eh?) from Cate. Hence, the crying:Uh. You hear with your EARS, Cate:And Halle's favorite game of all:
CHASE WITH DADDY!!!

February Nineteenth

One year ago today. Okay. You're right. The ultrasound was last January. But you get it, right? A LOT changes in a year...

Senior Night

What a happy/sad night tonight was! We beat CBC by 16, after losing to them in Conway. (This is the team JD's good friend coaches- in fact before the last game his wife asked him if he and his 'boyfriend' were going to break up before and make up after the game! Ha!) The crowd was rocking and it was one of the most fun games I've been to in a L O N G time. So now we're at 20-8!

The sad part is that it was the last time that Oscar, Jarome and Beau will play at home. They are three that have been here since the beginning and it is really really hard to imagine what next year will be like without them. (Ahh- the life of a coach.)

Cate checking the roster before the tip:A little strategy session:Yes. I see you:

JD gave the seniors a binder filled with every article written about the team in the last three years along with all of the stats. He also had me put together these:

"Cate looks like a..."

"...MAN!" -Halle, tonight.

Our little... man?!

Say WHAT?!

What a silly-sally: (Halle always corrects me when I say that, "Silly-HALLE, Mommy!")

This morning when I set the plate of pancakes on the table, Halle said, "Wow! Look at that teeny-weenie-cutie one!" And as I was laughing she continued, "AND look at that hugest, biggest one!"

She says the funniest things. Two year olds are quite the roller coaster!

Strip Tease

Imagine it's dark: Yep. Not napping.

9 months, Wii

Sadly, I didn't get a good picture of Cate on her 9 month birthday on Friday. First of all, I forgot, and second, she hasn't been feeling very well. She did manage to climb onto the piano by herself for the first time:She can crawl like lightning, and has taken a step once. We are NOT encouraging her to walk yet! :) She says Dada and Mama plainly and knows where to look when we say "Halle." She and Halle are having more and more fun together. I can't wait for the day when she takes toys back from Halle (Okay. Maybe I can- but I think this one will be able to give as well as she gets!)

Here she is, eating whatever Halle has "cooked": My parents were in town this weekend, and we played quite a bit of Wii. Since we only have 2 controllers Halle had to pretend with the stereo remote- happily, she didn't seem to mind!:
Here is Cate helping Papa beat the computer: Or maybe she helped him lose. I didn't ask. :)

Sweet Little Sickie Girl

Everyday Stuff

More videos.

18-7 (Lyon College!)

Lyon Progression-

Water boy:Player/Student:Opposing Coach:Yay! We won against Lyon last night!! The final score was 76-68. JD's comment afterwards was,"Well, it didn't feel quite as good as I thought it would." Ha!

We play again Saturday against St. Louis Christian.

"Keep rollin' Royals!!"

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Here is Halle's new thing at ball games- "dress ups":Check out these "earrings":Cate's idea of dress ups:Just chillin' after the game: Luke (a treacherous Mizzou fan) and his daughter Makenzi came over Monday night to watch the (stupid) game. Halle and Makenzi are big buddies:
They watched a movie in the office (aka-read books, played with toys, etc. while a movie was playing in the office for them). You would not believe how long it takes a 2 and a 3 year old to agree on the same movie. Unreal. The garage FINALLY got cleaned out again- the Christmas stuff made its way back to the attic, and the other *junk* that somehow accumulates was cleared out- and now we have our play area back!!It's a lot harder to keep Cate entertained out there than it was before Christmas. She wants to crawl where she doesn't need to go (such as right in the middle of Halle's bike track.) Here they are washing some... onions?:Joyride: