Well, hello there. Please excuse my January hibernation and consider this my attempt to peek out from my cave of blankets and hot coffee.
Yesterday I got to hold my sweet nephew, Austin, for the first time. Huston and Arden were so excited to meet him for the first time, as they hadn't been allowed back in the NICU while he was in the hospital. He is the CUTEST little thing and I'm so glad I get to be his aunt. We're so thankful to God for the healing work he has already done in little Austin's life and know He has big plans for him.
Since the weather was actually beautiful yesterday, the kids and I ate a snack in the backyard and played for a long time. Please excuse the trashy look of our back porch in these pictures. I would say it doesn't normally look like that, but I would be lying.
Huston amused himself by coming up with superhero costumes. At the end of last year he started playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance with Daddy on the Xbox, and now he loves playing with his Ghost Rider, Wolverine, Iron Man, and Dr. Strange action figures.
When Arden got up from her non-nap to come outside with us, she informed me her name was "Haircut Fananny" (rhymes with 'nanny'). She gave me haircuts with tweezers and blow dried my hair with the bubble gun. Then she scooped up some mud, which she said was dog food, and fed it to her dogs (who of course live on her feet, where all her imaginary friends live).
After we played I said, "Arden, it's time to come inside and wash your feet."
She said, "You mean Haircut Fananny."
I said, "Haircut Fananny, it's time to wash your feet."
She said, "You mean, my dogs."
So I had to revise, "Haircut Fananny, it's time to wash your dogs."
She is such a crack-up with her character names lately. A few weeks ago, she wanted me to alternately call her, "Arliss," "Garla," and "Onion." One day she was "Baby Reindeer" and "Rudolph."
There was a lot of pretending about hospitals while Baby Austin was in the hospital, and Arden would be "Nurse Arden" and Huston's action figures would fly in to visit the babies.
Huston's other big interest, besides action figures and drawing (which he does all day long), has been building. He built constantly with his magna-tiles after we gave him those for his birthday, and still does. They are one of the best purchases we've ever made for him! At Christmas he got Lincoln Logs from Mimi and Grandpa, and CitiBlocs from us. This week while we were running errands he wanted to take the instruction manual from his Lincoln Logs along with us so he could learn how to build the buildings. He studied it the whole time we were out, and came home and built a really complicated cabin!
The CitiBlocs are a bit trickier because they fall over so easily, but Huston is determined and will rebuild and rebuild until he gets it to work, even if there are a few tears of frustration along the way. This week Clarke has been helping him build this city, a few buildings at a time, every night. Aren't they so cute with their heads together, studying the picture to make their city?
Here's a quick brain dump of Huston-related things:
He pulls his pants up constantly and it looks ridiculous and drives me crazy. He just can't leave them on his hips, he thinks they need to be up to his armpits. People are going to think I don't buy him the right size pants.
This was probably last month, but we were going to Ridgmar Mall, and he asked, "Why does it have two malls in it?" I was trying to figure out what he meant, like maybe he meant why do we go to two different malls, but he repeated, "No, why is it just called Ridge Mall Mall?" I cracked up, because I knew he'd been saying it kind of funny all this time, but never knew that's what he'd been saying.
A few days later I was making grilled cheese and he asked, "Why does it have a girl in it?" This one made sense, as he pronounces it, "gurled cheese."
He says "destroyed-ed" for "destroyed" and it cracks us up. "Daddy, they destroyed-ed that building!"
He's a deep thinker who always asks questions about things. He even asked one day, "Why did God make bad people?"
He's most likely to be found hunched over a drawing on the floor with his markers or in his room pretending with his action figures.
Arden continues to be a book-lover, as she has been since birth, practically. She's most likely to be found in her bedroom with her door shut, reading on her bed. She has to ask before every nap and bedtime, "Can I weed in my bed?" and usually has to be told to put her books down before she'll fall asleep. She can stay up until 10 reading sometimes!
She says, "I fink" for "I think" and all her r's sound like w's. "Mommy, I weely weely want to weed my books."
She only takes naps if I go into her room after she's read for awhile and pat her back. I like those sweet times of putting my baby to sleep.
Here's a few snapshots from our playtime at the park last weekend on another good weather day. Here's hoping for more spring weather soon!
