William is One!

I can't believe it.  I've almost been dreading this day.  He has been such a delightful, happy baby, and I'm sure he will continue to have all of us as his adoring fans.

Everett especially loves William.  Everett can get him to laugh like no one else can.  They are always delighted with each other.

Everett loves having a little shadow.

It might have something to do with the fact that having William around is just like having a giggly puppy.

He is always chewing on things.  Always.  The kids have learned the hard way that they must hide their important documents (ie scribbles).

Furniture is not out of the question.

Yum.

William is intensely curious.  

And very drool-y!

Whenever I sit down, William crawls right over to me and into my lap.

Then he stands up so his face is right next to mine.

And gives me kisses.

When William isn't engrossed with things he isn't supposed to handle, he crawls around until he finds me.  If I'm sitting on a chair, he'll lean against my leg and suck his thumb.

If I'm standing, he'll pull up and stand, too, and then of course he'll lean against my leg and suck his thumb.  This makes it difficult to move quickly when I'm preparing dinner.

He's got a grin that can soften anyone in this house.

Even Joel is not immune.

And?  William loooooooves sticks. 

Anything stick-like is his immediate friend.

When he is not playing with sticks, climbing on his mama, or sucking his thumb, you can also find him climbing around.

The barstools are his favorite (and not just because there are always some kind of crumbs underneath).

Yep, that's my sweet William in a nutshell.  I am grateful every day that I get to spend my days with him.  It kind of makes up for the fact that he is fast becoming a little toddler, the stinker.

Faces of Ashley

I have a bunch of miscellaneous photos of the kids.  This week I'm hoping to post them all on the blog so we can always have them.  Today I'm starting with Ashley!

Ashley is an absolute delight.  She is reserved around other people, but at home her magical giggle lights everyone up.  When she is especially happy, she jumps and bounces and throws her head back with laughter.  She has a great sense of humor and is very bright.

"What did one car say to the other car?" she asked a few weeks ago.

"What?" I asked.

"Let's get driving!!!"

(she has a whole slew of made-up jokes and will tell them on demand.)

She is always pleased when she gets a laugh.

Ashley is a very thoughtful child.  She hates it when William touches her, but she is very good about asking him to stop rather than getting upset.  (Getting an 11 month old to listen is a whole other issue, but I appreciate the effort she makes.)

Ashley has some fantastic pouty faces.  When these faces are accompanied by her shrieks, I am a little less patient than I should be.

Ashley takes great pleasure in pretending.

She likes to be a kitty, a dog, a horse, or when I'm trying to get her to change clothes, a dancing fairy.  In fact, she loves dancing and prancing and twirling on her tiptoes anywhere she can.

She has some funny expressions.  If we ask her not to do something, she says "Ok, I willn't." or "I can't found it!"

( As you can see, she also has very little patience for getting her picture taken.)

One night when I was tucking Ashley into bed, she told me that I was her best friend, and that her kitty was her best friend "in the whole jungle!"

Ashley also loves having long hair.  Often she will come up to me and say, "I love your long hair, Mommy.  Do you love my long hair?"

Ashley really does have the ability to melt our hearts with her sweet little face.

And she loves tight squeezy hugs, which is good because I love to give them to her.

Triplets

The kids and I recently discovered three dollar clearance pajama sets at Walmart.  Apparently the stores are trying to make room for more inventory.  Well, I told Everett and Ashley to pick out a pair and they decided it would be fun to match each other.

I decided it would be fun to get a cute, loving picture of the matching kids.  I'll give you one guess as to whether they agreed.

(I bribed William to sit still with my dangly earring)

Things were going really well and everyone was very happy.

. . .And then, in an instant, they really were.

Aww.  There it is.  I don't know how it happened, but in one never-to-be-repeated take, there it is.

Then the kids discovered the bare-headed lamp on the floor nearby and I turned off the flash.

(absolutely no pouting occurred.)

(all sunshine and daisies, right here.)

Being distracted by enormous shadows is an instant mood lifter.

Especially when one can pretend to be the most terrible monster this world has ever seen.

Chores (the most exciting blog post you'll ever read!)

Almost every day, the kids and I do chores together. We don't have a specific chore chart or schedule (I am far from organized enough to keep up with one of those); we just talk about what needs to be done that day then do it. Easy, peasy.

But first (and this is probably the most important part), we put on some fun music. We dance together for a song or two and get our blood flowing before we tackle our jobs.

Everett and Ashley (and I, except when I'm taking pictures) love dancing around together.

"Let's pretend to get married, Ashley!" Everett said on this particular morning. He hasn't really seen very many princess movies, but dancing = getting married must make sense in his preschooler mind.

It wouldn't be a complete dancing session without the favored stuffed animals joining in.

Everett and Ashley are best friends, and this is something I appreciate daily.

They truly have an affinity for each other.

And they never argue or pout.

Well, after we're done dancing around and acting like a bunch of crazies, it's on to the chores. I'm always amazed at the abilities kids have. As long as I have a positive attitude, they can help in some way with any chore that I do. Mopping, laundry, or tidying are good ones, and so is cleaning the kitchen. Everett likes to rinse the dishes, and Ashley likes to help me figure out where to load them.

We try to make it fun and non-threatening. If they don't do a great job (they don't) and I have to re-wash something later, it's not a big deal. The point is that we're all working together, talking, and having fun.

Ashley, typical of a two-year-old, does not have a long attention span. On this particular day, she only stacked one cup. That's fine with me--I don't push her. She tries and that is what counts.

Everett is a machine, once he gets in the groove. Ashley wanted to show him something and I told him he could go upstairs with her for a minute, but Everett refused. He said he wanted to finish his job first. He doesn't always say this, but when he does it is music to my ears!

Ashley often likes to follow Everett's example.

One great two-year-old job is folding dishtowels. Two folds and they're done. Ashley does like to get a little creative with her folding, and that's fine. I don't care how they end up looking. Sometimes I think doing chores is one of the best kinds of learning activities a small child can do. Problem-solving, coordination, observation, taking-turns, they're all part of it.

Usually we do chores while William is down for his morning nap, otherwise he follows us around looking like this when he can't figure out how to get down the stairs. If he is already backwards he can zip down, no problem. Remembering to turn feet first is where he gets stuck.

When we're all done, we reward ourselves with an activity we do together. Usually it is a game.

Everett is thrilled that he found the first match.

Ashley is not thrilled that the match happened to be Tinkerbell, her favorite.

(I played with the timer on my camera)

Believe it or not, chores and game is the best part of our day, I think. The kids are more motivated with quality time than anything else, of course. The nice thing is, it's fun for all of us!