Thinking of Sunnier Days...

I was looking through some old pictures this morning, and besides noticing how fabulously warm and sunny these days look, I was also thinking, "Could these two get any cuter?" Maybe I should say these three, since there is a picture of Chris in there looking pretty cute as well. Anyway, they made me smile, so I just thought I would share.

In fact, they were looking so cute in these older photos, that I had to look at a few more recent photos to remind myself that they are still cute on warm days

.....and even on rainy days when I have to dress them in full raingear to go anywhere ......and even on days when I have to let them run outside between the pouring rain to jump in puddles so they don't drive me crazy ......and even when they beg me all day to go out in the rain and play, but I am way too much of a party pooper, so they have to wait for Dad to get home and take them outside for "toothpick races." (Isn't he a good Dad?)......and even when they want to come tromping back in the house freezing, wet, and probably a little muddy, so I have to take their shoes, coats, and pants off outside to bring them in and wrap them in warm blankets to get cozy, right in the middle of trying to make dinner.

And it is a good thing that we have another baby on the way, because I don't even have to feel sad about these cuties not being babies anymore, but I can just enjoy them for the fun kids they are today. And to end with, a cute hugging picture. Aren't they really just too cute? Alright, I may be a little biased, but that's okay.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Elise has had this obsession with rainboots for a month or so. It started when she saw a pair of Hello Kitty rainboots at Target and thought she had to have them. Since it rarely rains here, I told her no and left them on the shelf. Well, everytime we go to Target she begs. Then yesterday when it started raining, she looked at me and said with her hands on her hips, "Mom, it is raining. I NEED Hello Kitty boots! How can I even go outside without them?" It is supposed to rain a lot all week, and she had a little bit of money from Christmas ($5.00 to be exact), so I told her if she wanted to use her Christmas money I would chip in the rest. So, we went to Target to get the boots. But of course, she saw several kids coming in and out in raincoats. So, then she had the idea in her head that she also needed a raincoat. She tried one on, and she just looked so cute in it that I couldn't resist. Steven has a thing for shoes and of course kept grabbing some boots off the shelf for himself. So, when all was said and done , and a trip to both Target and Old Navy later, both kids had a new pair of rainboots and a new raincoat. I'm still thinking it was a little bit of a silly purchase given the amount it actually rains here, but they do look darn cute in them, and they love them.

This morning at breakfast, Elise ran and got her boots and was playing dress up with them while we were eating. Before I knew it, both kids had their full rain gear on and we're having a great time wearing it. Steven LOVES that his raincoat has cool buckles on it that he can buckle himself, and will sit and buckle it over and over. Once they are buckled he says, "All done Mom," and then waits for me to unbuckle it so he can start over with the buckling. And Elise just cracks me up when I get the camera out. She is such a natural at "striking a pose" for the camera. The minute the camera comes out, she becomes a total ham.

Busy Days, and a new haircut...

A lot of my family came to visit the week after Christmas, so we have been quite busy and I have had no time to blog. It was fun to see everyone. We went to the Rose Parade, visited with family, had my nephew Blake's first birthday party, and made a visit to Travel Town. Of course, I somehow found myself without my camera everywhere we went, so the only pictures I have are a couple from Travel Town. And even then, on the one day I remembered my camera, the

battery died after about two pictures. Oh well. The pictures are not super exciting, but I decided to post them anyway because you can see Elise's new haircut. My sister Kathryn cut five inches off of Elise's hair while she was here. I think it turned out pretty cute, and Elise loves it. I also had an ultrasound while my family was in town, so I now know the sex of the baby. However, Chris says he doesn't want to know what the baby is, so the deal we came to is that I could find out, but I can't tell anyone because Chris doesn't know what we're having. Less than a week has gone by and I am having a VERY difficult time keeping it to myself. I haven't decided if Chris actually doesn't want to know or if he is just doing it to bug me because he knows I can't stand to have a secret I can't tell, and he thinks it is funny. Oh well. I hope everyone else had a great holiday!