Games

We recently went to Baylor homecoming and had a fabulous time. This picture is from the parade on Saturday morning. Cody's favorite were the monster trucks. Claire liked the jungle-themed float and the marching band.

In case you are considering preschool games for gifts at Christmas, we've recently played Uno Moo, Candyland, and Sequence for Kids and would recommend all three. I'm considering Twister, if anyone has played it, I'd love your thoughts.

I'd also like to share about our alphabet hunt. I cut out words from magazines (I focused mostly on capital letters) and glued them to construction paper. I taped each word to the wall, all in one area of the house. I printed the alphabet on a piece of paper, then Cody and a friend found each letter and marked it off on their sheet. It was a huge success. The next time we play, I think I'll have him find his name, then other words.

Oh, the mental image!

Here are some recent pictures of Cody and Claire. They are playing together more lately and it is so fun to watch.

Last night I read Cody the story about Jesus feeding the multitude with five loaves of bread and two fish. At the end he said, "Why? . . . Did they not have any arms?" I tried to explain the other definition of "feed" to him, but he didn't look convinced. It took me several tries to relay the story to Art because I couldn't stop laughing.

Strawberry Bread

Strawberry Bread

3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt (I omit)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 c. sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 c. canola oil
16 oz. frozen sweetened sliced strawberries, thawed OR 1 qt. fresh strawberries sliced & sweetened with sugar (I use Hill Country Fare frozen dessert strawberries in the 24 oz. tub, thawed and undrained - the whole tub)

1. Mix first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Combine remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Add to dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Divide batter between 2 greased & floured loaf pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

The loaves freeze well.
Enjoy!

March update

Ok, ok. 4 months is a long time to go without blogging. So, here's an update on our lives:


Cody cracks me up every day. He has a great sense of humor, just like his dad. He recently turned 3 and seems remarkably older since then. He loves cars, trucks, anything with wheels. And his friend, Josh, got him interested in the Cars movie and all the accessories. He's interested in tornadoes, fire stations and trains. He also likes to wait for his daddy to come home so that he can "do something rough" to him. Yesterday we had a trip to Target and he was out of the cart and obeyed me 100% of the time. But that was on the heels of a trip to HEB that was quite possibly our worst. Ever. Cody and Claire are playing together more these days. When they do play together, it often looks like this.

I always hug and kiss Claire when I get her out of her crib. Yesterday after her nap she hugged me before I could hug her. And she did it two more times during the afternoon. She is a sweetheart. She continues to love watching the Wiggles. We got back out her Bjorn bouncer so that she can sit in it and watch the Wiggles. Otherwise she gravitates to right in front of the tv. Her current favorite word seems to be ball, although her first word was book (another of her loves). She seems to be quite chatty. The words that I can understand include mama, dada, dody (cody), daire (claire), rahrah (sarah), ooper (cooper), norma (the neighbor's cat, quite possibly her favorite thing in the whole world), night night, bye bye, nose, mouth, eye (along with a poke in the eye), head, hair, well you get the idea. She's chatty.

Today we're meeting my sister and her 2 kids at the mall. The cousins are about the same age and it is a delight to watch them together.

vacation

We recently returned from vacatin in Alabama at my parents' home. It was a great vacation filled with feeding the ducks, going to the zoo, bowling (Cody's first time and his first bowl was a strike!), and just playing. I love the exuberance of Cody in the top picture. Below is a picture of my dad feeding Claire breadcrumbs. She was insistent that she wanted to try them. Of course, she loved them.

Claire and I recently had a hat party. It actually consisted of me putting hats on her, taking her picture, then her pulling them off. But it was amusing for both of us. I particularly like this picture. She is such a sweet baby and this picture captures her sweetness.


Below is a sneak peak at Claire's Halloween costume. She's the cutest little butterfly I've ever seen. And she seems to like the wings on her back. They helped her crawl up the stairs pretty fast. Now that Cody is 2.5 he has an opinion about everything, including his Halloween costume. So far he's suggested Fom-ka (the Russian swiping bear from Dora's World Adventure), Ming Ming the WonderPet (because Ming Ming's cape is green), and his Clifford costume from last year (which still mostly fits).

Cody has been helping me cook lately. Below is a picture of him helping me make banana bread (by the way, he no longer says "babanana" and I really miss it). He was mostly interested in just burying the bananas.

It's been over 2 months since the last post. Seriously, where does the time go?

Claire stood alone for the first time today.

A few days ago Cody gave me a sticker and told me that it said, "Dear Mama, I love you." It actually said, "Party Time!"

shirt turned hat

here is a recent picture that documents how big the kiddos are getting. that is a sticker cody is putting on his neck. claire is just thrilled to be so close to cody.

last night as i got cody ready for bed his shirt got stuck on his head and turned into a hat. "don't take my hat off!" he said. "it's from hazie." now, hazie is my dad's mom, his great grandmother. but she died when i was in college. he's seen a picture of her twice and it was at least a month ago. how does he even remember her name? "can i take a picture of you for bubba and honey (my parents)?" i asked. "ok. and for hazie," he replied. seriously, where does he come up with this stuff?!

lost

last night i gave claire a mohawk after her bath. i think it is a good look for her.

cody made my mom out of playdough yesterday. it looks remarkably like her.

on the way home tonight from our "ladies night" my fancy navigator thingy only said, "satellite not working." bummer. especially for me who is so directionally challenged. and my favorite button is "go home." good thing i was paying attention on the way there, so that i remembered how to get home.



which reminded me of the importance of hiding the Word in my heart. so that in times when the Book isn't readily available, the Word is still available.

fix it

cody is 100% convinced that art can fix anything. here's a sampling of things i hear all day, every day:

"ask dada. do you have more sand, daddy?" (sand, chips, cereal, socks, whatever he needs)

"ask dada. can you fix this?" (the indentation in the carpet from claire's bumbo chair as well as other things that aren't actually broken)

"dada fix my thumb." (his nail turned purple and then fell off. art was nowhere near when the nail fell off, but still gets credit for fixing it)

"ask dada. dada fix purple hippo" (yes, art stayed up late into the night sewing the hole in purple hippo. i offered, but cody was adamant that dada fix it, not mama)

which has me thinking about our Father. maybe it is time that i have more faith in His ability to fix things. and also makes me think that some of the things i ask Him to fix, aren't broken at all.

the pictures are unrelated to my post. i just thought they were so cute. the first is claire and cousin cooper. the second is cody and cousin sarah outside at the new sand/water table. fun, fun times. :)

chick and chicken nuggets

one of cody's favorite foods is chicken nuggets. actually, it is one of the few things he'll eat. he's tried mcdonalds nuggets, wendys nuggets, and chick-fil-a nuggets. i think he's getting the hang of the drive through because the other day he walked up to the for sale sign in a neighbor's yard (the kind that has the "information, please take one" box), leaned forward, and proceeded to order: 10 piece chicken nuggets and chocolate milk.

claire doesn't yet have favorite foods, although she does like her pink bumbo chair, her blue stroller toy, her right thumb, her brother, her daddy, and of course her mama.