What's Been Going On

I've been promising for a while now to update everyone on the latest and greatest adventures of Henry and Emma. Where do I begin? So much has happened since my last information post. So if I repeat anything, well, then I repeat a few known facts. The kids are now 17 months old and have been going through on and off again growth spurts. They are now totally on grownup food/table food which has helped so much with the grocery bill! Their favorite thing to eat right now is "pasta"-mac and cheese-white cheddar. I think Henry would eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we let him! Emma likes it a lot too! We have been trying other things as well, but with only little success. At least they are eating and we have read and been told that it's a phase all kids go through. They enjoy snack time in the afternnon, are down to one nap a day(usually last 1-2 hrs), and bedtime has changed to 7:30pm. If we load up or reload a fork for them they will eat on their own with it and have also tried to reload the fork themselves with some success. The only time we do bottles is at bedtime. Otherwise they prefer sippy cups now and are also interested in other people's drinks. So they have had their share of things they probably shouldn't-rootbeer,HiC,cherry limeade. Henry likes the occassional sweet, but Emma will take one almost anytime you offer it to her. They are both walking,running, and climbing all over the house. And when we go outside they have no problem checking things out. They both throw major fits when it's time to go back inside-even in the hot Texas heat! They have both almost mastered climbing up into our recliners and the couch. And will use various things to climb up on to get things that are out of their reach. Now if they would just master the "stay on your bottom, please" part of being on the couch or in the chair. We decided a short time ago that timeout wasn't going to work right now for us so we've resorted to spanking when necessary. So that has been trying on all of us. Henry is jabbering away, but we still can't understand half the things he says-good thing his sister does! Emma hasn't done that yet, but I'm sure she'll do it soon. She talks a lot too, but not like Henry. Their latest words are-hi,see you/ya,puppy,tree,thank you,birdie,backpack. I'm sure there are more, but I can't seem to think of them right now. They each weigh somewhere between 21 and 25 pounds. It's getting really hard for me to carry them both at the same time. They both can give kisses and have a really good time doing it. They even kiss each other! And they can blow kisses. We are working on giving people hugs. Still not successful with that one. They are quick little learners and we are really enjoying watching them discover new things. We are so close to their initial teething to being over. Henry only has about four more teeth to get in and Emma is close behind. Their hair is coming in more now. Emma's is getting lighter again, but I guess it doesn't matter right now-both Mamma and Daddy were blondes when we were little. I really need to start keeping a better log of every day happenings. They are happy and healthy and we are so grateful for that. I think that that is all that has been going on recently. We'll keep you posted.

Howdy!!!

Just wanted to share a few pictures that we took today. It's hard to get these two in action these days. They are really interested in the camera and love seeing themselves on the viewscreeen. So I've been having to sneak the camera out and not be obvious about what I'm doing to get most of the shots. They are happy and healthy. So much to tell, but I'm going to write it all down first and post in the next week or so.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas Vacation 2006

1.Jason took this one of the first nights we were at the cabin. This is our view from right outside the door.
2.Emma, Henry, and Aunt Amy/YaYa(as Henry likes to call her!) on the playground on our trip home.
3.Henry patiently waiting at the front door to the cabin to go "bye-bye" outside.
4.Emma also patiently waiting to go "bye-bye" outside.
5.The family out front-this was the day we left.
Backrow-Richard(very close family friend),Aunt Amy,Nana, and Papa
Middlerow-Henry,Jenny(Mamma),our niece Elysabeth,Aunt Suza(Susan),Emma
Frontrow-Jason(Daddy)