Our silly kitty

I got this tent for Ian and recently moved it down to our bonus room/Alexis' room/office and Ava has discovered that this is a wonderful get-away for her. She kept disappearing in the room and I just assumed she was under the rocking chair or in one of the side storage areas when I discovered her in the tent one day and found it amusing. She is very shy around people she doesn't know so this is now her new hiding spot when guests come over also.

Miss Alexis

Nothing too exciting to blog about here, just a cute video and picture of Alexis in the little playcenter we have. It's becoming more exciting the more she can move around and as I mentioned before it's really, really exciting when Ian walks around and helps her play with the toys on it.

Our Chubby Little Cherubs

Here is Ian at about 7 months and Alexis from a few days ago (almost 6 months). Now that Alexis is doing more and her personality is starting to show it's amazing how alike they are. They are very different in a lot of ways also, but the similarities are pretty funny to watch. This was a very chubby age for Ian (as you can see...haha) and Alexis seems to be the same. I'm sure that once she starts moving around she'll thin out like he did. But I just love the rolls!

Adventures with a Spoon

Both kids have begun exciting new adventures with a spoon lately...just in different ways. After several failed attempts, Alexis is finally taking to eating things off of a spoon. She was a little stubborn about taking a bottle so it's no surprise she didn't instantly take to the spoon either. And I guess I got spoiled with Ian doing it so well right away. But she is doing well now and is starting to try all different fruits, veggies and cereals.

Ian on the other hand is learning to eat with a spoon by himself, which is great for me because the more he can eat on his own, the more available I am to feed Alexis and they can sit at the table and eat at the same time. Whew! I still haven't quite gotten the hang of trying to feed both of them AND myself at the same time but I've found it's a lot easier and more peaceful to just eat my dinner after they're both in bed for the night. :o)

Ian's New Room

I made this video to post mostly so Brian could see Ian's new room but I'm sure other people might like to see it too. For anyone who didn't see Ian's old room...it was space themed with planets on the ceiling and a rocket ship on the wall. That was ok but unfortunately the rocket ship had the name Garrett on it for the little boy who lived there last. That obviously needed to be painted over and there were some other things that needed changed so I figured why not just re-do the whole room and give it a theme. So, it started with some animal door knobs for his closet and then the stickers on the doors and around the windows....and on and on until we got a cute jungle theme. The paint was a tad bit brighter than it looked on the card at the store (isn't that always the case) but once it was up on the walls and everything else was back in the room it looks great....I mean it is a kid's room after all.

And we are playing a bit of musical furniture with the kids. Ian was in the crib and Alexis was in the pack n' play. Then Ian moved into the toddler bed and Alexis got the crib. When Alexis moves in to the toddler bed Ian gets the crib back and it turns into a daybed. And Alexis switches rooms and gets some of the guest bedroom furniture. And around and around we go, where it stops nobody knows. Ha!

Computer Whiz

Ian has recently discovered that the computer is a fun toy...oh boy! So I sometimes find that he has escaped my watchful eye and begun playing with the mouse and "typing" on the keyboard. The computer is how we talk to Daddy so since he is in here a lot he obviously sees how the mouse moves around and I sometimes let him type to Daddy on IM. Anyways, this is just a video of him on the computer after I'd been interrupted trying to dress him to go do something with Alexis and he immediately took the opportunity to run in here and play.

Another trip to the Zoo

We went with Grandma Sheila to the Toledo Zoo a couple of weekends ago...when we finally had some nice weather! There is a children's zoo area where there are a lot of interactive things to play with and animals to pet...but it was still too chilly for the animals to be out I guess so Ian just had fun running around playing with anything that he could get in, climb on or move around. Alexis was along too but as her activities were restricted to mostly sleeping in the stroller there are no pics of her...sorry. But Grandma and Grandpa always have a season pass so we'll be back again soon I'm sure.

The nice thing about Ian getting older is that he can actually see a lot of the animals that aren't right up close. Before it was impossible to try to point to something and expect him to find it off in the distance or hidden among the trees or something. Most animals are still restricted to about one of four categories for him though...things that meow (anything that looks like a cat), things that "ruff" (anything that looks like a dog), things that quack (any bird) or things that roar (bears, etc.). We're working on learning animal names. Hopefully his new animal themed bedroom will help....more on that later.....

Ian also got to enjoy the carousel and train ride over in the African section of the zoo. He is obssessed with trains and cars lately so that was a lot of fun!

Our Deck

These are from a couple of weeks ago when we were out on our deck enjoying some chilly but not freezing weather. I'd like to say it's gotten warmer since then but it's snowing and 34 degrees right now. We actually have had some nice days...it was 70 on Friday but such is life in the Midwest.

Ian loves going outside to help me re-pot flowers or just walk around the yard. Although we have to watch out because bunnies and deer like to leave lots of droppings for us to navigate around. We might as well have a dog sometimes with the mess that's out there. But we are really, really looking forward to it getting nice and STAYING nice so we can get out and enjoy our deck and our yard some more.

Cute clothes

Look at me in the pretty, pretty dress that Ms. Adrianne made me!

And cute shirts that say funny stuff are the best. I get so sad when the kids grow out of cute clothes so I have to take pictures of them in everything. I'm the opposite of a pack rat and I read somewhere that instead of keeping things just take pictures of yourself with them and give the items away....so I've been putting the digital camera to work!