Birthdays 3 & 5

Thank you so much, everyone, for your gifts!!

This dollhouse was the hit, from Tito and Tita.

Can't believe they're 3 and 5.

Where does the time go, when it seems sometimes like it's inching by?!??

Grandma Bergman's Birthday

Happy birthday to my mom, Grammy B.! Since they were visiting, Grandma C. made these delicious pumpkin bars for her birthday celebration. Yummy!!

Cousins

Well, second cousins, but really...cousins. These kiddos are beginning to really love hanging out with each other. It's so cute to see. This picture really shows their personality too!

Trying to make up for being behind!

I'm soooo behind with pictures and blogging. I really feel like I've been buried in life. October, November, and December are CraZy busy months for us, with 5 family birthdays in November, 1 in October, plus the busyness of holidays, visiting in-laws, and Eric's conferences coming up. No time whatsoever. Sound familiar? Yeah, I know everyone is feeling the crunch. But pictures are coming soon! Just trying to finish editing them.

But while you wait, here's a few cute-isms from my kiddos lately:

Abby:

-After getting to ride a couple horses at a ranch on Saturday, she announced today that when she grows up, she wants to be an artist, cowgirl mommy. I love that no matter what she wants to be, she always includes mommy in the description.

-Her foot fell asleep this morning, and she looked at me curiously and said, "Mommy, why are there sprinkles in my foot?"

-Today, for the very first time after over 2 months of faithfully home-schooling every day, she announced, "Mama, I love learning with you like this." Makes my heart sing.

-Have I mentioned she's brilliant? She can solve just about any problem. Seriously. Amazing kid. Daddy says she needs to be a lawyer when she grows up; then she can afford the horses for when she's a cowgirl. :)

Essie:

-Finds a compass in Great Grandma's things and comes up to my mom and says, "Gwamma, is this a compass?" My mom was shocked, "Why, yes. How did you know it was a compass, Essie?" Essie shrugs her shoulders and says, "Cause it's not a cwock." We've never even told her what a compass is.

-She knows the concept of fault and lets you know, "Actually, it's not my fault, Mama; it's yours." True story.

-About a rubber diaper, she asked, "Is that a shower cap?" Um, none of us own one. How does she know what a shower cap is??

-Seeing Grandma Carmichael eating a roast beef-and-ketchup sandwich, she asks, "You like a boo-boo in your sandwich, Gwamma?"

-We've always referred to the Grandma's by their dogs to help the girls not mix up who is who, i.e. Grandma Lexy and Grandma Maggie. The other day, I was asking Abby if she left a toy at Grandma's house, and to clarify (because Grandma Lexy was here at the time), Essie turns to me and asks, "You mean Gwamma Bergman's?" She's already figured out who is who, and nobody's ever explained it to her. Smart kid, huh?

Caleb:

-10 months.

-Crawling around now (for about the last two weeks), but he still prefers the military crawl. We call it the military swim because it looks more like he's swimming, throwing both hands to the right as he pulls himself forward along the floor.

-He mimics everything you say, so we swear he is saying words, like, "Mama, Dada, Sissy, Hi, ditch (yes, ditch -- from "This is the way the cowboys ride..." song). I know. Brilliant.

-Tonight he was doing something silly at the dinner table, and I was teasing him, saying several times in a high-pitched voice, "Don't do dat!!" When I stopped saying it, he picked up in a high-pitched voice, "Da do da!" Amazing. He repeated it several times, so we all got to verify it. Yes, he's brilliant. What can I say?

Halloween

Yes, they were princesses again this year, but their costumes still

fit, and it went pretty cute with Caleb's Dragon costume,

I thought, and it's what they really wanted to be...again!
So how could we refuse?

Couldn't pick my favorite

Abby's Birthday

Like last year, we decided to combine the "party" on one day in between the two birthdays (this was actually Abby's request), but on each of their birthdays, we're doing a special thing to celebrate the actual day.

So Abby's special birthday event was Chuck-E-Cheese.

Despite recovering from colds this week, we had a great time!