Meet Sparkles

Sparkles was the name of Lainey's roly-poly pet. (I say "was" because I don't think that Sparkles is still alive.) Sparkles the roly-poly is not to be confused with Sparkles the ant, who is Lainey's special ant whom only she can identify. Sparkles lives outside in the front yard, near a concrete block thing (I think it covers up some wires or something).

Lainey found Sparkles at the gym (they had been playing outside). Hence the cup. We put some wood chips and parsley (I think) in there to provide her with some comfort.

After a couple of hours in her jail, Sparkles was set free.

Sparkles had a hard time uncurling. Even when Walker "tickled" her with a leaf. :) Lucky Sparkles. We came back outside after about five minutes and the kids were so excited that Sparkles was still in the same spot. I don't think she was long for this world. ;)

***

Update: Sparkles was still in the same spot the next morning. I think she officially expired...so we buried her in the grass next to the driveway. Poor Sparkles...but I can't say that I was all that surprised. ;)

What happens when...

...Walker's trains get invited to a party at the Princess Palace.

Gordon got a bath.

The Troublesome Trucks (or "Cubblesome Cucks" as Walker calls them) took a nap in Baby Ariel and Baby Cinderella's cradle. Not sure what Boxcar is doing up there next to the princess bed...

Thomas kept watch. :) 

A Lemonade Stand...in January

For some reason, Lainey's had it in her head that she wants to have a lemonade stand. Since it was a little cold outside and about to be dark, we had a lemonade (um...Gatorade) stand inside. We pretended to be different people and Lainey's dolls came downstairs to have some lemonade, too. :) It was a fun way to spend a Friday night. :)

If you look closely at somebody's booty, you'll see some Thomas underwear. We're working on potty training the boy. I'm not going to write anything else about it at the moment - just know that we're working on it, he's VERY motivated by candy, and there's been a scary/fascinating/funny "big snake in the potty" incident. Hehe. I'll keep y'all updated!

Thomas and Gordon and Duke got some lemonade, too.

Cheetah Spots

"Look, Mom! I'm a cheetah!" 

I looked over at Lainey and she was furiously dotting herself with a marker. She told me that she was becoming a cheetah. Of course she was. What else would one want to do on a Monday evening other than become a cheetah?

And it snowed again, and our trampoline enclosure ripped. I think Lainey's feet landed on it after she attempted a handstand. Oops. The company is sending us a new one, though. I'm happy about that! :)

And this girl is just silly. She is constantly moving and constantly talking all day long. :) I repeat: All. Day. Long.

My Exercise Partner

Who doesn't appreciate a little motivational support with one's barre workout? :) Both of my kids are pretty respectful and understanding when it comes to my need to exercise. I either take them to the gym, run while pushing them in the stroller (ok I don't do that very often because 70+ pounds of kid in a stroller is heavy) or I workout at home while they play around me. Usually - and of course they aren't perfect - they are pretty good at giving me time to get a workout in somehow or another. Today, Walker was watching me do a barre workout and told me that "big boys can do that" and so he showed me some of his moves. Nice pointed toe, don't you think? He's working on toning that cute little booty. :) Just kidding. He kept taking little breaks from playing to ask if I was finished so we could play "choo-choo trains after [I was] done exercising." And we did when I finally finished my workout! 

Ballet Bar

We went to get Lainey's little mole on her left hip removed on Tuesday. Thankfully, a friend's dad did it for us, so that part wasn't scary. It was that numbing shot that sent Lainey through the roof! All in all, a removed mole (nothing major, just irregular) and some stitches and the instructions to "not get it wet" for awhile. Hm. I think that will be the challenge!!  And this is all after our visit to the ENT doctor who said that Lainey has granulation tissue growing over her tube. I asked her if I could look at it and she agreed, and it's yuck! Red and yucky. We're using steroid drops for that. Thankfully, the staph infection (in her ear) that she was diagnosed with just after Christmas is now gone. So we're making progress! All in all, Lainey's a good sport about everything. She's taken a few punches to the immune system recently, but she's handled it well. Not saying that another child in our family wouldn't have handled it well (hehe)...I'm just saying that she has done pretty well with her recent ailments. She even insisted on dancing on Tuesday - stitches and all - and just told me that she "wouldn't do the splits." Ok, fair enough! :)

Whenever these kids get in an elevator, they immediately rush over to the "ballet bar." Walker, too. 

Pretty sure she was showing off her moves to a random man in the elevator. Thank you, random man, for your patience and understanding when it comes to kids. ;)

A Beautiful Flower

This beautiful flower resides on my makeshift bedside table. It's made out of magnet sticks. Lainey made it for me. Whenever I see it, I'm supposed to make a sad face because I am supposed to miss her. Not gonna lie, Lainey, when it's ten o'clock at night, I'm missing you, but I'm not making a sad face at the flower. I am grateful for nighttime sleep. :)

New Year, New Updates

Lainey:

• She's finally realizing good/bad choices and repeating them to me…like what was a good choice/what was a bad choice. :) Not perfect by ANY means, but she did tell me that two girls were teasing each other in dance and she didn’t join in. Good girl. :) She didn’t even want to repeat what they had said (to tell me the story) in front of Walker in case he was going to repeat it.
• She has an interesting way of counting.  She'll say, "I have 36 100 socks." or "20 100 seconds."
• Can snap her fingers. And tries whistling every single day (she's very close to getting that one).
• She's trying to read prices at the store. However, the cents sign and the dollar sign are still confusing to her. :)
• The girl is still terrified of toilets with automatic flushing capability.
• She will still have an accident if she's too busy to go potty. That's just her. And I've just accepted it! :)
• Likes putting her own ponytail in her hair (as well as putting ponytails in her dolls' hair and Barbies' hair). And she's pretty good at it, too! :)
• Will say "Really!?" whenever someone does something unbelievable (to her). As in...Walker destroyed her card game and she said, "Really!? Really, Walker?" She was so frustrated.
• She'll start sentences with "We always never..." or "We always all the time..." or "All the time we..." (She's big into what we "always" do and what we "always" don't do.)
• When I've tried to have serious conversations with her, she seems to "get it" and then move on. For example, I'm telling her about how Grandmother died, and she sees something sparkly, so she's sad one minute then commenting on the sparkles the next and then she goes back to being sad. A second example was when I was when I was telling her about how her great-grandfather wrote stories about Native Americans. We had somehow landed on the topic of tee-pees and I thought it was the perfect segue into discussing her great-grandfather and his work. Well, that didn't sink in because the next thing she told me was that she and "Gage went in the tee-pee at JumpStreet and it was SO stinky!" So there. My serious topics are lost on her at this point. :)
• She once happily reported to me that she “did Lion King with Reagan and she liked it.” (As in, she held Reagan up like Mufasa does with baby Simba in the movie. I'm pretty sure Reagan didn't like it!)
• Says "wacks" for the word "wax."
• She still hates getting her hair brushed. UGH. 
• She calls her wrist her "ankle arm" and her footies (those little slip-on socks you wear when you don't want to wear a full sock) her "foot unsweaters" because they help your feet not get sweaty. :)
• Almost always puts her shoes on the wrong feet and couldn't care less. She really will go the whole day with them like that. 
• Lainey gets mad because apparently I'm "always asking [her] to do things." She also doesn't like me sometimes because I "always tell [her] no." :) She is really good at groaning, too, and stomping her foot when she's asked to do something that she doesn't want to do.
• Still loves dollies, dancing, gymnastics, art, and playing games.
• She is a really good sport and a good loser. She cheers for the other person when they win. That's good, in my opinion!!
• She is a messy eater. Cannot be trusted with a snack in the back seat. She's also clumsy and is more likely to fall, run into something, or slip than her brother.
• She is a collector of all things tiny. You should see her "collection" around her car seat. It's terrible and makes me crazy but I let her keep it anyway...she has more rocks and random "treasures" that she's picked up off the ground than she knows what to do with. I certainly know what I'd like to do with them! :)  
• She often says that things "look interesting" or "smell interesting." I think it's her way of trying to be polite. I think I do the same thing.
• @4.5yrs....she's started really trying to read. She can identify words like no, cat, dog, mom, dad, on, go, the, a, I, not, to, and off, and she'll find them on billboards, signs, in books...wherever. She's asking how to spell everything and can write all her letters and numbers. She's particularly proud of her "s" and truly spent time practicing it until she got it right. She likes to sound out words, but of course "sounding out" words is harder than it looks when dealing with the English language. She can do simple math problems, and can (sometimes) read a digital clock.
• Loves bath time with her brother. They make up all sorts of games.
• She's learned how to say the Lord's Prayer and likes to ask me what each part means. I've waited awhile to teach this prayer her, and it seems to have worked out well because now she is better able to understand the meaning behind the words.
• At age 4-1/2, she's awfully concerned with the socks and shoes she wears to school. She never wants to wear white socks because "everyone else has crazy socks and [she's] the only one with white socks." Um, okay. So, often, she'll wear her Halloween socks because those are definitely crazy. And some days she wants to wear her boots because she just knows her friends will be wearing them. Same goes for dresses. She still doesn't wear pants...she'll wear leggings, but no pants. Definitely not jeans!! 
• She loves her Twinkle Toes shoes. They light up. They are fabulous. And one of her most favorite possessions.
• Lainey's a very creative, imaginative girl. She has lots of ideas and is a pretty good problem solver. She is forever making up songs and games and she's pretty good at playing by herself. Whenever she involves Walker, however, he gets SO excited and happily goes along with whatever she wants him to do.
• In general, she's a sweet, positive, optimistic girl. Not a lot gets her down, and she continually sees the bright side of things. I love that about her. I hope it never changes!!

Walker:

• My favorite words/phrases of Walker's: “tchugga tchugga tchoo tchoo” (chugga chugga choo choo); “choo-choo cains” (choo-choo trains); “ke-cause” (because); “I sarin’ with you.” (I am sharing with you.); “I sare with him.” (Meaning, I want to take his toy and “share” with him); “Mommy! I need you!”; “ketend” (pretend); “cah-light” (flashlight); “mus-ang car” (mustang car); “bal-ega” (banana); "meh pants" (my pants); "meh head" (my head); “my tone" or "my cone" (my turn); "biper" (diaper); “I fuhsty.” (I am thirsty.); “I fawwy.” (I am sorry.; "binky and lanky" (binky and blankie); "dere" (there); "sficy" (spicy); "Nightning McKeem" (Lightning McQueen, from the movie Cars)
• Loves counting, pumpkins, and playing "I spy with my little eye" (especially in the car). 
• When playing by himself, he just mumbles – I’m sure he knows what he’s saying.
• Seems to be fascinated with "sfooky" (spooky) things. He thinks upstairs is "sfooky" and he won't go up there by himself. He doesn't like dark spaces because they are all "sfooky" or "scary." He likes spooky books, and he really loved the Halloween season.
• Calls his friend Brayden "Buh-den." Although, if you ask him if he wants to go play with "Buh-den" (his sister does this) he very clearly tells us that it's not "Buh-den" but "BUH-DEN." (He obviously thinks he's saying Brayden!)
• At mealtimes, if I ask him where all his food went, he'll reply by saying, "It in my tummy. Yummy in my tummy!"
• Says "I tired of walkin'" when he wants me to carry him.
• He still calls helicopters "hah-cuh-lows"but he no longer refers to himself as "Yacko." Now he's "Wal-kuh."
• Refers to the store as the "grossey store" (grocery store) but I don't know where he got that. I don't think I call it the grocery store. I think I just call it the "store." Maybe he picked it up at school or something! :)
• Says his own prayer at night - "Now I lay me down to sleep...." - and he insists on saying it himself. He'll sometimes say it super fast so all you can really catch is the "Amen." (This prayer is a special thing between Walker and his dad.)
• Says "poo poo" at the end of any sentence if he wants to make his sister laugh. :) And then they both just dissolve in giggles.
• Absolutely hates having sticky hands. I have to wipe them all the time!
• Likes to kiss his toys bye-bye if he won't be seeing them for awhile...like if we have to leave them in the car when we go into the gym.
• He usually brings a train or two (or a couple of cars) with him to school every day. Thankfully, his teachers are great sports about this.
• Loves pushing his own "teeny tiny cart" in the grocery store. Mom does not love this, however. :) I'm always grateful when he chooses to ride in the cart with the car in front instead of pushing his own teeny tiny cart. :)
• Frequently takes off the -g of words ending in -ing. Examples: workin', cryin', walkin', runnin', helpin', comin', doin', goin'... :)
• He has learned to pee on his sister. And that is funny for both of them. :)
• He requests a "pillow" when he lays down on a hard surface for me to change his diaper.
• Walker tries to be a "big boy" by standing on his tippy toes. He wants to be "like Gage."
• Anyone seen the movie Animal House? When the guy at the club says to the fraternity guys "Do you mind if we dance with yo (your) dates?" Well Walker always asks, "Mommy, can I have a bite of yo (your) apple?" It always makes me think of that line in Animal House. Totally inappropriate connection to an almost three year old boy, I know.
• He definitely prefers blue and green to pink and purple. He is aware of "boy" colors and "girl" colors and "boy" stuff and "girl" stuff.
• Gets his "befores" and "afters" confused. Usually he says "after" when he means "before." 
• Loves to ask me to do things for just "one minute" or "two minutes." He has no idea how long these periods of time actually are (as evidenced by his crying when one and/or two minutes is actually up). He just hears us say it and then repeats. But we hear his negotiating skills daily...he often asks to "play choo choo trains one minute after we leave." (He's asking if we can play trains for a minute before we leave.)
• He hates hangnails. I have to clip every one that he sees.
• The boy doesn’t like getting his hair brushed/fixed/etc.
• He doesn’t want to be anywhere near Lainey’s dollies. If it’s on the seat near his car seat, he pushes it farther and farther away.
• Walker will say “I sit closer you.” (Meaning, he'd like to sit closer to me at the table...particularly in an unfamiliar house. He would like our chairs to be touching, if possible.)
• “It not workin’. It broken. It need new bah-rries." (It's not working. It's broken. It needs new batteries.)
• He's very bossy about how I'm supposed to sit on “Sit like this. Do like this.” (Either sit the right way on the ground, or lay on my tummy next to the trains, or lay on my belly with my chin in my hands to play with the trains/cars/etc.)
• He loves "samiches" and PB&J is his favorite.
• Understands (mostly) the phrase “Look with your eyes. No touching.”
• Walker's best friends at school are Grace, Kasen, and Brayden. I think he and Grace play together a LOT. Their teachers, Ms. Linda and Ms. Suzanne, call them "an old married couple." They love and fight. And Walker gets mad if Grace doesn't sit a certain way or do something he wants her to. ;)
• He wants to communicate with us by grunting when he has his binky in his mouth. It's kinda funny but totally in appropriate for someone his age. I laugh anyway, because he truly thinks I can understand his grunts (which I can't). 
• Speaking of teachers, around Halloween, our neighbors and friends the Loredos put up their friendly inflatable witch "Glenda." Well, Walker kept confusing Glenda with his teacher Ms. Linda (because they sound the same). Whenever we talked about Ms. Linda, Walker would inevitably say "Ms. Linda Witch." I think he meant "Glenda is a witch." But I had to warn Ms. Linda all the same. ;)
• Walker is very competitive. He wants to beat his sister in EVERYTHING. How fast they finish their lollipop. How quickly they get their seat belts buckled (and I'm the one helping Walker with that one). Being the first to open the door. Being the first one to reach the door at the gym. Being the first one to open the door to the house (if we're in the garage). He will sit and give us an all-out fit if he doesn't win...he gives up easily. Thankfully, his sister is understanding and many times, she'll take his hand and they will "both win" by running together. :) Thanks to Lainey for being so stinking sweet (sometimes) and saving her mom some trouble. :)
• He's a clean eater, and he can be trusted with a snack in back seat. He doesn't like messes or messy hands. He always wants me to wash his hands after eating.
• Walker's obsessed with "mus-ang cars" (Mustang cars) wants us to catch all the “mus-ang cars” he sees on the road. He doesn't understand that I can't catch every single one! 
• He's kinda sorta pedaling. He loves his tricycle and his bike.
• For some reason, he likes to make quesadillas in the bathtub. He uses a cup and soap and water and uses a paintbrush to mix it all together!
• If he's in a grumpy mood, he will say, "“I no like __________.” (Even if he really does...like cars, for instance.)
• Still loves trains, cars, his binky, his blankies, riding his wiggle car, sleeping (the boy sleeps till 9:00 a.m. every day), his crib, watching Wow Wow Wubbzy and playing with his mom and dad. 
• Makes me laugh when he says, “Ooh! That big bless-you!” (Meaning, someone just did a big sneeze!). Along with that - if someone sneezes, he'll say, "Excuse me, Daddy." Once he sneezed when he was playing a game on my phone and exclaimed, "I bless-you'd on my phone!"
• “A hair.” (He hates hairs in his mouth. Or really anywhere. Who doesn't?)
• Whenever he hears a loud sound, he puts his hand up to his ear (he covers it) and says, "I hear somepin'. What that sound?"
• He's an excellent bumper of fists. He does large ones (and you have to make the sound) and small ones (with fingertips and you have to make that sound, too). 
• Walker is a sweet, sensitive little guy. He's calm, cautious, he loves to read books, and he has zero interest in climbing out of his crib. 

I'm excited to see what 2013 brings to our family. I know for sure that we will have a move, our first cruise, and an election. And that's all before June! Whew. :) It'll be exciting, that's for sure!!

Sick and Moving

Our first sickness of the New Year: Lainey has the flu.

sweet, sleepy girl

"Dr. Love" is trying to pry open her eyes because he wants "Sissy to wake up" and "not go night-night on couch."

****

AND. We're moving. Our house officially has the "SOLD" sign out in front. However, there's a good chance that we'll be in our current house for awhile...well into Spring! This is good. We are hoping to buy another friend's house. Of course, as Ben says, there are a "lot of moving pieces" so we just kinda have to take one step at a time. But, for now, we have a contract on our house and all looks good and I've started packing so we can move stuff from storage back into our house. :)

Walker unrolled this entire roll of bubble wrap and was using the folds as tunnels for his trains.

Walker was so happy that it was "snowing" and I was really, really trying not to care that he was destroying packing peanuts. He also kept yelling "Happy New Year!" and seemed to think that was fun. ;)

Ben and Lainey's NYE

Ben went with the Baughman family to Amazing Jakes for a rainy day New Year's Eve celebration. Walker and I took a nap! :) 

Ben & Lainey, and Bruce & Avery

My favorite picture. I'm a lucky girl!

Happy New Year to all of you!

Little Notes

These are two sweet little notes written by Lainey. She writes them in my planner, on my notepad (my to-do list), on my shopping list...you name it. She used to make little happy faces but we've progressed to little "notes." :) On a daily basis I open up something of mine to find sweet little reminders of my Lainey. :) And...another cute story. Today, when we were playing with her sticker book, my sticker ripped. She said, "It's okay, Mom. Because you know what? You can survive." I think she's heard us tell her "you'll survive" a number of times. :) I'm so grateful for my sweet Lainey Lou (and of course Walker, too). She makes me smile so big. HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you!

Harris/Cook Family Pictures...

Taken in mid-November... :)

Thanks to this truck, we got some smiles from Walker. :)

Kate (9-1/2 yrs.) and Brooke (11yrs.)

Lainey (4-1/2 yrs.) and Walker (2-1/2 yrs.)

Ella (6-1/2 yrs.), Cally (10-1/2 yrs.), and Collin (9 yrs.)