I love when:

-Kinzey crawls up in the chair with me and puts her sweet little arm around my neck

-Nadia gives me nonstop kisses for 2 minutes straight with barely enough time to take a breath

-Tate makes me laugh in the middle of a stressful moment

-Zane asks me to cuddle him in his bed ‘just for a minute’ before I leave him to go to sleep

-Tater goes on and on about his video game even though I’m pretty sure he knows I have no clue what          he’s talking about

-Kinzey comes up to me and gets her face really close to mine and then uses her hands to forcefully rub the back of my head and hair or cheeks to show me she loves me 

-Nadia constantly talks about her ‘friends’ even though she can’t remember their names or where they live

-I put the boys to bed and they beg me to ‘tell them a story’ which usually consists of stories from when they were little or when I was little or from the early years of Travis and I being together

-Kinzey giggles at herself after she says something she wasn’t meaning or uses the wrong word for something 

-Nadia makes up her own songs

-Zane calls his sisters “sweetie” and doesn’t have a clue how much that blesses Travis and my hearts 

-Tate constantly worries about his sisters’ safety and is always keeping his eyes on them when we are away from home

-Kinzey situates herself in the playroom to watch a show on netflix or plays with her babies with no help from anyone

-Zane calls me Mommy

-Tate cuddles with me in the chair while watching a movie

-Nadia asks to drink my coffee and then when she leaves the room says, “Mom, don’t let anyone drink our coffee while I’m gone.” 

These are just a few of the little things. I am sure I’ll have to make another list or add on to this because the sweet moments just keep coming even as the kids get older!! Oh how I love these sweet little people of mine!!!  

This year Travis and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary! 10 YEARS! Wow…what a milestone! So much has happened in those 10 years. We took a trip (by ourselves!!!!) to Charleston, SC for a week or so. My Mom and Dad and Krista and Isaiah took care of our kids for that week. For that we are so grateful! They all had such a blast and I think my family enjoyed some quality time with the kids. I know they would say that now at least maybe not back in April when we picked them up! haha!  We had a wonderful trip to the beach. The condo we stayed in was on the beach in a little beach town. The view was gorgeous, the weather was gorgeous and it was a blessing to get away from reality for a few days with just the two of us! 

Zane finished out 1st grade with a bang. He loved his school year and his 1st grade teacher. It was a great experience for him and we are just thrilled that he loves school as much as he does. He turned 7 in May. During the summer he went to a basketball camp where his second grade teacher was the coach. That definitely made this momma a little more confident about the upcoming school year! He also took swimming lessons. and passed again. He loved summer, but was excited to go back to school in August. He’s now a big second grader! He has a young male teacher this year and loves him so much. The whole classroom is a sports theme and his teacher lets them do fun things like listen to Disney radio while they do their work! Again, we are so thrilled at how much he loves school and how well he is doing considering he is probably the youngest in his class or close to it. He loves reading and math. His teacher had only good things to say about him at his conferences which is not surprising to us at all. He is a sweetheart, a great helper at home and a wonderful big brother. 

Tate finished out preschool in May. He loved preschool last year and made lots of nice friends. After much thought and prayer, we decided to let Tater do a 3rd year of preschool so he could be 6 when he started Kindergarten. He actually was so indifferent about doing more preschool and is such a homebody that I think he kind of liked having a year to hang out and spend most of his time at home. He turned 6 in June and continues to be such a little fire cracker! He’s so funny, and witty and smart that sometimes he catches Travis and I off guard and we find ourselves speechless. He did tennis this summer and passed his swimming lessons as well. He learned to ride his bike this summer in about 2 tries once he decided he wanted to take his training wheels off. After a fun summer, Tate was ready to start Kindergarten. We hoped and PRAYED that he got the right teacher who could appreciate him and his strong personality. And God answered! Tate’s teacher is wonderful and Tate loves Kindergarten. He is doing really well and we are very happy that he enjoys school so much! He is still a fire cracker like I said, but is sweet to the core and really is a great big brother even though he gets annoyed at times!! ha! 

In August our baby girls turned 3! It’s hard to believe! They have grown into such sweet little girls…not so much toddlers anymore. They still spend all their time at home with me which I love!  They loved all of our trips to the pool and the park this summer and are so easy to take almost anywhere now. Nadia still has a strong personality and likes everything her way. She loves when her sister is preoccupied with something else so she can play by herself or pick which tv show to watch. She prefers Travis and I over anyone and often the other three kids will be off playing and she is hanging out with us while we make dinner or talk. Travis always jokes that she thinks I am her BFF and I am pretty sure that is the way it is in her head. Her and I are BFFs and Kinzey can be Daddy’s favorite! haha! She is incredibly vocal and has no trouble letting us know what she thinks about any situation. We often see hear her talking to her stuffed animals and singing made up songs. She and Kinzey spend hours a day playing tea party and babies and just playing pretend. Nadia is so sweet and funny and talks like she is about 12. She tends to keep everyone in line including the adults and dogs. We have to be careful how we talk because she will repeat almost anything. She definitely keeps us on our toes! 

Kinzey is probably the most easy going of all of our kids. She is independent and quiet and entertains herself really well. She is a total Daddy’s girl and will not be told she can’t do something the boys are doing. She follows them around the house and if ANYONE is going outside, she will get herself dressed and will be out the door with them in no time. She is as sweet as they come and has such a fun sense of humor. She laughs at herself all the time which is just adorable! Another thing that is so sweet about her is that she tends to think out loud. When she goes to say something often times she’ll start saying something and then stop and giggle and then say, No not…. and then tell what she was meaning to say. She is a great calm presence at our house which is usually much needed!!  It’s been a lot of fun to see her personality develop as she has grown! Kinzey loves to play with her sister and brothers or sit with Daddy in his chair.  

Travis continues to stay busy with work and his hobbies.Last January he started guitar lessons from a local teacher. He enjoyed it through the year and has learned a lot. This year he went turkey hunting, to the boundary waters, and on a deer hunting trip. He also enjoys spending time playing video games with the boys and loving on the girls. He keeps busy with the normally daily stuff around the house like feeding kids and putting them to bed along with cleaning and all those other fun things that parents and adults do! 

This was a big year for me as I earned my Master’s of Education from SDSU here in Brookings. It was sure a great relief to walk through the graduation line and to get my diploma in the mail. It was about 4 years of hard work that paid off. I am still home with the girls looking for some online teaching work or hopefully will land an adjunct job here soon. I am not really in a huge rush as I know these years with young children at home go so fast! I have loved the extra time I have home with the girls since the boys are both in school full time. I am not sure they love it as much as I do though as I hear often, “is it time to get the boys now?” It was definitely an adjustment for the boys to be gone all day. This fall I started doing a Bible study with some mom’s I have met through my kids. It has been such a fun time getting to know these ladies and to spend some time studying God’s word with them. 

Last week we had a wonderful Christmas at home with our four little ones. I think Christmas this yer was the most fun it has been since having four kids. There is something so magical about 3 year olds and celebrating anything. The kids got leopard geckos along with other fun toys from us. So far the consensus is that the geckos are the best gift! That was all thanks to their Dad! haha!  

This year was stuffed FULL of God’s blessing in our lives. I just barely skimmed the surface here with some updates over the last year.  We are so thankful for the memories we have of 2011 and now we will look forward to what God has in store for us during 2012! 

Both of my girls are just SO into getting dressed up, having their hair done, etc. Kinzey kept going on and on about how she “needed” her necklace and earrings while we were all rushing around to get ready. Nadia was right there with her! They both were excited to wear their dresses and in an unusual fashion, no one complained about getting their hair done. Little girls are so precious when it comes to all of this sort of stuff. Both of them are very into girl stuff usually, but Kinzey tends to be more of a tom boy. She only leaves earrings in until she realizes they are in for the most part. She loves me to put them in, but always ends up pulling them out. Nadia on the other hand leaves hers in for months at a time and would be completely heart broken if she lost one of hers! But for this special occasion, Kinzey decided she would leave her earrings in and not pull on her necklace!

Unfortunately I forgot my camera for the wedding. How in the world I managed to do that, I guess I don’t know. Luckily, my cousin Scott’s wife had her camera and so she took a family picture of us.

My boys were all dressed up as well and were the gift attendants with Isaiah. That was one of the cutest things I have ever seen in my life! They were all shy and nervous to ask people to get their gifts from them to bring to the table, except Tate of course. And I was worried he would drop, kick, throw and toss the presents. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that our talk about his ‘important’ job paid off and he did exactly what he was told to do! That’s my boy…growing up and becoming responsible! At least that’s what I thought that day!

Well, on to the BEST part of the day. In my opinion it was the best part of the day! haha! about 3/4 of the way through the reception, the MC started calling up couples to the front of the reception. These were couples Tara and Loren had picked earlier. Travis and I got called up and as I figured it was a kissing contest. As SOON as we got to the front and found out what the game was, Travis leans over to me and says, “We got this, Babe! We got this!” Haha! My response: “I guess we’ll see!” lol! So we were the second to last couple or maybe third to last. I think there was about 10 couples in the contest. So we watch them all do their kisses. Some did a fist bump, some did the ‘bend her over his knee” kiss, some did a ‘normal’ kiss, some did LONG kisses, and then there was our kiss. My husband starts off our kiss by requesting the microphone. He says something like, ” OK, here’s how you have to do it. You rub her cheek a little, and forget everything that’s going on around you. Forget football, forget the hunting channel, forget the kids running around, etc. Give her all your undivided attention and then lean in and lay it on her!” hahaha! So we kiss. (And it was a GREAT kiss if I do say so myself!) And before he hands the mic back to the MC, I grab it from him and say, “FYI, too much of that, gets you THIS! (as I point to where my four kids are playing/sitting) And the room filled with laughter!   (I forgot to mention, the reason for the kissing contest was to give Tara and Loren some kissing advice/help since they ‘needed it’ according to the MC!)  So the other couples kiss and then the MC let the audience vote by applause for who they thought had the best kiss. We got the most applause so we WON!!! There was no price except that we got to kiss one more time before we sat down. But have the title of best kissers was enough for me!! ha! I always knew that Travis was an awesome kisser, but I am glad to hear that everyone else agreed!! I still smile every time I think of that!

It just so happened that two of my cousins who have weddings this year ended up planning a shower the weekend before the fair came to town in TRF. The shower was in Alex and so we decided to head over for that and then head up to my parents house. Travis normally always goes with me when we go out of town just for the mere fact that it is a LOT of work to take four kids anywhere let alone a week long trip by myself! But…because other summer busyness he has taken so much time off that we decided I would do this trip on my own. This is the first time I have gone for more than a day without him (excluding times when I have been home while he is away). Anyways, so this was my first adventure on my own away from home with my four monkeys!

Friday night we headed to Alexandria where I got to see 2 of my cousins who are working overseas and I hadn’t seen in a very long time. I also got to see my Grams (who is 87) and my aunts and uncles and other cousins as well. It was great!! We had the shower and then my sister rode in my car with me to help with the kids as we trekked up to Thief River Falls. My parents were also with in their own car. Krista and I took all my kids plus Isaiah in our van. It was all going well until Nadia decided she needed to poop. She was frantic that she NEEDED to go to the bathroom, so we found the first gas station we could and pulled over. Unfortunately by the time we stopped she was in such a tizzy that there was no way she was going inside to go to the bathroom. Why you ask? I’ll tell you why: “That bathroom is too dirty. I will NOT go in there!” I tried over and over to convince her that she had never been to this bathroom and that she wouldn’t know if it was actually dirty, but of course she was not convinced. So the drama continued. All the while, my parents are siting in their child-less van ahead of us wondering what the ordeal was. Ha! Somehow we eventually convinced Nads that it was fine to go use that bathroom (I’m pretty sure Krista bribed her although I don’t remember for sure!) We go in and go to the bathroom. Nadia does not even poop! lol…figures!! We get back to the car and my parents see us loading up so they start heading out of the parking lot. Well because we had 5 carseats/booster seats in the car, the boys were having trouble buckling their seatbelts because all the seats were so squished in the back, so it took another 15 minutes just to get everyone buckled back in.

As we were heading out of the gas station this random guys comes out of the store, looks at us and says, “you guys roadtripping?” I kind of laughed and said, “Uhh, I guess you could say that.” He goes on to say, “that’s a lot of kids in one car!” LOL! You think so buddy? I replied with something like, “uh-huh” Looked at Krista and we both laughed! It was a nice twist to the normal comment I get which is “You sure have your hands full”. I’ll give the guy props for that!!

So we finally get back on the road and see that my parents had pulled over to the side of the road waiting for us! ha! We made it safely to Thief River later that day and began our busy week away.

While in TR we got to go to my parents church picnic where we saw lots of old friends and enjoyed some fun games and activities for the kids. My mom had every afternoon off while we were there so we stayed busy with going to the Red Lake Falls pool one afternoon and then to the McDonalds play land one and enjoyed ice cream treats thanks to grandma!

On Wednesday my sister-in-law Karen brought my nieces and nephew up for the fair. My kids were so excited! The loved going on rides and spending time with their cousins! The boys got to ride on some of the bigger rides and the girls enjoyed the cars, the slides, the merry-go-round and the tea cups (there were a few others too).

It is tradition that Krista and I always take a spin on the tilt-o-whirl whenever possible! haha! This year the boys were big enough to go on it on their own. Zane, Tate and Isaiah went on it a few times and then Krista and I decided we should go too. So, we got tickets and took the girls on it. Kinzey was crying the second it got going, surprisingly. Nadia didn’t say much while it was going but never once cried. When we got done she said, “That was my favorite!” LOL! I was really surprised she liked it so much and was so happy! I hope she turns out to be my little tilt-a-whirl partner in the future!!

We ended the night with a parade where my kids each took home about a grocery sack half full of candy! They looooved getting so much candy and I loved watching them squeal and run after the candy as it was thrown. I ended up getting soaked because the boys kept trying to get parade participants to spray us with water and throw waster balloons at us! It was fun though!

We went back to the fair, let the kids ride some more rides, watched the fireworks and then headed back to my parents house. The next day we got everything packed up, watched Isaiah’s baseball game, and then headed back to Brookings. Unfortunately right as we were getting ready to leave town something was strange was happening with the car, so we had to have it looked at. Turns out it was just the rear brakes, an easy (and quick & inexpensive) fix so that was good. We ended up not getting back to Brookings until late Thursday night. It was wonderful to be home. And for the most part it was pretty uneventful. I had my moments of course, like any mom of four), but luckily for me my family was a lot of great help and made the trip enjoyable too! Life is always so much more fun when Travis is with us, but this time it worked out for us to go without him. I am pretty sure he missed us a lot and will be going with next time though! It’s not the same to be left with a quiet house than it is to leave a busy house.

Tate is still our wild and crazy Tater. He is a monkey always climbing and jumping off things. His newest thing is to climb our six foot privacy fence to chat with our neighbors and wave at them. Sometimes its to apologize for throwing weeds, rocks and articles of clothing over the fence. But mostly its just to ‘chat’. He is such a sweet little man and I seriously cannot think of a day of his life that he hasn’t made me laugh. He is still full of hundreds of wonderful ideas. Well, they are wonderful to him…Travis and I would beg to differ. But, he keeps our household hopping and he is usually the one at the pool who finds his friends from preschool to swim and play with. He is social and friendly and people really are drawn to him. I love that about him. He has become the dog whisperer at our house. We still have Lady (she’s a Llewellin setter) and this past Christmas we got Leia (as in princess Leia of Star Wars) who is a pug-zu (1/2 pug, 1/2 shih-tzu). As far as Tate is concerned, that dog is HIS dog. She is often sitting on Tate’s lap as he is watching tv or during rest time she’ll lay in bed with him. He’s always got special plans for Leia. I hope she lives through all of his ‘fun’ ideas and experiments. Tonight he was making a pet jail our of blankets and pillows for her in his room. But ultimately he is really sweet with her and lets her and Lady outside with very few complaints, if ever. He loves animals and I dread the day that something happens to one of his pets. Anyways, Tate did a 3rd year of preschool this year. He did wonderful at preschool. His teachers stopped me one day after class and told me that they had to tell me a story. Of course, right away I thought maybe it was a problem story about Tate they had to share, but instead I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that they said during circle time (story/music/calendar time with the whole class) Tate stood up and said he HAD to tell everyone about Turtles because, “I know a lot about turtles”. And she said he went on and on explaining how you can the difference between turtles, what they are called, etc. And his teachers thought the best part was that all of his classmates turned their attention to him and just sat and listened to him the whole time he was talking!!! Aww..that was such a fun story for me to hear. They told me another story about him being sweet to a little guy in the class who was having a rough day on a different day. It warms my heart to hear such positive things about our little man at school. In June, Tate turned 6 and is more than ready for Kindergarten in August. I just hope his teacher is ready for him! lol!! He has grown a lot the last few years and is really mellowed out a lot. I loved having an extra year with him at home this year and have been enjoying the summer with him. I am not looking forward to sending him to Kindergarten in the fall, but I know he’s ready, so that makes it easier. Well, a little easier anyways!

The girls are growing up so much. Travis keeps making comments about how sad he is that they are getting so big. I guess there is a part of me that’s sad, but mostly I have been enjoying their new found independence (and mine too!) and all that comes with having toddlers vs. babies. If I had only had one baby for my last, I would probably be much more sad about the whole thing. But having two walking/independent toddlers is so much fun and it has allowed us to do so much more this spring and summer! With the girls growing and changing, their personalities have become so much more distinct which is so much fun.

Nadia is sweet and funny and wild and crazy. (She might have a little bit of Tate’s blood flowing through her veins!) She is so sweet. She loves me and Travis, but mostly me. Lol. I am kidding about that, but she would prefer that I do EVERYTHING for her if she could. When Travis says he’s putting her and Kinzey to bed, she cries. She can always be found near me. Kinzey and the boys will be playing outside or on the front porch and 99% of the time, Nadia will be wherever Travis and I are. I love that Travis says she reminds him of me. His actual definition of her is me on drugs! ha! Although she is a bit leary of strangers, she is in love with her family and familiar people. She talks a blue streak and is constantly talking to herself and singing. She LOVES to sing and can sing a couple dozen songs word for word by herself. She knows all her colors, can count to 15 or something and can recognize several letters. How she learned all that, I am not sure. But I am guessing its from Team Umizoomi, Dora, Sesame Street, Barney or some other of her ‘favorite’ shows. She still thinks she is older than Kinzey and sometimes acts like I don’t know what I am doing. Ha! My mom said several months ago something that was such a wonderful description of Nadia: She is so bossy and controlling, but somehow because she is so sweet about it, you don’t even realize how much she is bossing you around! That is soooo true. She definitely has a stong personality and yet is such a people person and is the happiest when we are all home together. She and Kinzey are becoming the best of friends, but can still set each other off in a split second. I am sure that will continue for a really long time!! Nadia is a very funny and whitty little girl and I can only imagine the stories that will follow as her personality continues to develop!!

Kinzey is such a funny and sweet little girl. Travis and I have enjoyed getting to know her personality better every day. She has such a great sense of humor and loves to laugh. She is ALL about her brothers and making sure she doesn’t miss out on ANY thing they get to do. Justice is very important to 2 yr old twins who are the babies of the family. That is something I have learned and learned well over the last year or so. Kinzey is talking so much now and loves to sing and play games. She is the reading queen and would read books all day every day if given the chance. She is her Daddy’s girl. Everything we do that Travis can’t do, her response, “Next time, Daddy will…… with me.” And her most famous line is, “I Daddy’s girl, Sissy your girl.” ha! To say she is her Daddy’s girl is an understatement. I often see her sitting in Travis’ recliner with him watching tv or reading books. All cozied in by her Daddy is probably her favorite place to be. It’s precious and sweet and warms my heart every time I hear her say something about Travis or watching her with him.  She can say Nadia, but always calls Nadia, Sissy. It’s so sweet. One other thing that I love about Kinzey is that she LOVES her food!!! I can often hear her saying, Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm as she is eating. And she can eat! She keeps up with the boys in that for sure. One other really funny (usually) thing that she says is whenever she makes a mess or wets her pants, her immediate response is: Ohh its ok, Mommy. I not mean to!  That statement is so precious and sweet, but sometimes it is enough to make me blow steam out of my ears like when its her 10th change of clothes for the day or the third roll of toilet paper that I find in the toilet for the day. But overall, she is just such a sweet and precious little girl who lights up our lives every single day!

As a family we have been keeping busy this summer. We got a pool membership and have used that every single sunny day that we could this summer. I have been enjoying not taking classes and enjoying my freedom with the kids. We have a few long weekends and short trips planned later this summer. Travis has been busy working and taking guitar lessons. We are both just trying to enjoy this fun time with our sweet children. I will update more about happenings in our lives. I am sad that I took such a long break from blogging, but am happy to be back on the bandwagon!

This year was the first year that the girls enjoyed the candy and even the Valentine’s. They were so sweet. And of course the boys loved making Valentine’s for their friends and enjoying the Valentine’s their friends gave them from school. When I was shuffling through some old papers a few days before Valentine’s I found the Valentine Zane made for Travis last year. It was just incredibly cute and so sweet. He had written “Happy Valentine’s Day, Daddy!” on the inside and had decorated the outside with hearts on the outside.  Then, the Friday before Valentine’s day Tate, I was digging through Tate’s backpack to get out his papers from school and I find this little red heart card with a stamped heart on the front that said, “Happy Valentine’s Day” and then I opened it to find the most precious hand written note I have ever gotten from Tate. It was simple and plain, but so incredibly adorable. Inside on the blank card, Tate had written: I love you. *SIGH* oh my heart just melted when I read that.  It just showed me that my little Tater is growing up and the fact that he had not only written, but taken the time to ask his teacher how to write “I love you” on this card was just so sweet!

We had a nice day together as a family. We got to cook lunch for the college kids at our church. We made chicken enchiladas and some yummy dips. The meal was a hit and we enjoyed getting to share a meal with the college kids. Our kids enjoyed it too and all the attention they got from them! Then we enjoyed a nice relaxing day at home as a family. It was a lot of fun!!! Valentine’s day used to be about Travis and me, but now it is about our kids!!!!

Travis and I are so blessed by Zane. He continues to be such a sweet little boy and so easy going. He is growing up so fast and its hard to believe that in a few months he will be done with Kindergarten already! He keeps talking about how he gets to move on to 1st grade after May and I keep telling him I can’t think about it yet! ha! He and Tate get along so good and have so much fun together. And the girls are in love with Zane. He is constantly helping them with stuff and is always so patient with them. Since he is on our first born and has such a type A, planner personality, he keeps Travis and I on our toes. For example, when we ran to the store last night (just him and I) as he was getting out of the car he said, “Did you remember your list, Mom?” HAHA! I did actually remember the list, but he knows that his mom’s brain is sometimes scattered. It is a good thing he checks in on me once in awhile!

And what about Tate and his Valentine’s? He wants me to make him some for his party tomorrow. I asked him to pick out what colors he wanted. His choices: black, blue and yellow.  I was fine with that and actually didn’t think much of it, just knowing Tate isn’t our conventional, go with the flow kid. Later, before bed, I heard him telling Zane, “I didn’t pick Valentine colors for my Valentine’s!”  Haha! No surprise there. And he already informed me that he is NOT writing his name on ‘all those Valentine’s and that “I can’t do that all by myself!” lol!  He is definitely our baby boy! No doubt about it! He is his own person and we love him for it! I can’t remember the last time a day went by that I didn’t laugh at something he said or did.

I have said it a million times before, but I’ll say it again. The year between 1 and 2 is probably one of my favorite times in parenting. Don’t get me wrong, it is exhausting and draining and you feel like you should probably just record your voice repeating the same 10 things you say all day to continuous play back to save your voice.  Some of the phrases on this list would include: leave your sister/brother alone, give that toy back to them, we don’t hit, are you all done?, STOP throwing your food, biting hurts, get out of the cupboards, you can throw a fit, but that isn’t going to give you what you want, come back here right now, NO!, you need to listen,  leave the TV alone, etc. You get the idea.  Besides all the fighting, biting, toy throwing, food throwing, hitting, screaming, temper tantrums, boycotting of naps, and the newly learned independence there are so many fun things to enjoy and cherish!

One of theeee most precious, newest things the girls have started doing is helping me with stuff. Nadia is like my little side kick. She is where ever I am and always wanting to help. Now, usually one doesn’t really enjoy letting a night quite 18 month old help with tasks around the house. As we all know that definitely adds precious time to every task. However, in my situation, it is better than the alternative which is holding her while doing everything or…letting her scream on the other side of the gate while shaking it profusely as if she is in a small cage and can’t get out even though she has the whole living room and toy room to roam. Sigh…..so I have been letting her help me. She is very particular I am realizing, not to mention thorough! If there are things out of place, she is picking them up. Her newest thing is to say ‘hop’ (translation: help) if she can’t get something by herself.  Yesterday she was trying to throw some stuff in the garbage which is on the other side of the gate in the kitchen. If Kinzey finds something that needs to be thrown, she just chucks it over the gate and moves on with her day. Not Nadia though. She will come and repeat her new word over and over and over and OVER again until Travis or I help her with the gate so she can open the lid to the trash and put the garbage where it goes! One day she found a mug laying either in the kitchen or living room. And she took it and set it on the window sill in the living room where we set our drinks. It’s just cute to see how she pays attention to details and is very worried about everything finding its way to where it belongs. Kinzey loves to help me too, but it’s on her terms and is usually motivated by whether or not her sister is trying to help. If Nadia is helping then Kinzey seems more apt to help. Both girls are so proud of themselves when they are able to help me. It really is so sweet!  I am hoping this holds. I could use a little help around here! haha!

One other area that Nadia’s personality is really coming out is in her caring and concern for people, especially her sister. If Kinz is crying for any reason, Nadia is right there with her nuk, blanket and maybe even her cup. If I get Nadia a sippy cup, she says, “Kinney? Kinney? Kinney?” over and over as a question as if to say, “what about Kinzey’s drink?” Once I get Kinzey’s drink, I hand both cups to Nadia and she makes sure to bring Kinzey her cup.  Kinzey is not so worried about meeting her sister’s needs. She has more important things to do such as dancing constantly and throwing balls around the house! ha!

One more quick story that was just too precious not to remember. This past week was the first time that I saw the girls ‘talking’ to each other. Kinzey fell and got hurt and of course, Nadia was right there to comfort her. I come around the corner to find Kinzey sitting on the floor crying, Nadia standing by her rubbing her head saying something over and over. I didn’t understand any of it, but knew that she was trying to comfort her. Kinzey looked up at her sister and using her hands was talking away in an unknown language. She stopped and Nadia started again and then Kinzey said one last thing. It was just SOOO SWEET! They were talking to each other! Awwww….. I know from watching my boys become such great friends, that these girls will be friends too and it is so fun to see them starting to interact with each other in ways other than by stealing toys from each other or biting!!! Oh toddlerhood…you really gotta love it!

When we first go the Wii set up and going, I was a little concerned that Tate would not be into it as much as Zane and that maybe this wasn’t the best gift for him. I was wrong. The child and his brother are obsessed. Every morning, the first question I get is, “Can we play Wii?”  Usually Zane sends Tate to ask me. I am not sure if it’s because Zane knows that Tate can usually convince me that anything is a good idea or if he just knows that Tate will do whatever he says? lol! Funny how that works with siblings. Anyways, It is nice that the boys can play together and they usually get along for the most part while playing. They have their moments, but overall it has been a good thing for them. Especially since it takes team work, negotiation, communication, self-control and problem solving skills to play a game with someone who is on your team not against you!

Who enjoys the Wii the most though? It’s the big kid at our house—Travis! haha! The funniest thing about it for me to watch is Travis trying to play with the boys and him getting frustrated with them b/c they don’t want to do what he wants or they are just ‘playing’ and not trying to win! lol! Let’s just say–I think it is as good for Travis as it is for the boys! And it all gives me a good laugh! That’s definitely the best part!