A Mind of His Own

I miss my sweet, submissive little boy. He is in one of those stages. Here is what a lot of our conversations looked like in the past:

Me: Jared, it is dinner time!
Jared: Okay, Mommy! Thanks for making a yummy dinner!

Now they go a bit more like this:

Me: Jared, it is dinner time!
Jared (distractedly): No.
Me (in a more serious tone): Jared it is dinner time.
Jared: Why?
Me: Because we are hungry.
Jared: Why?
Me: Because it has been a while since lunch and it is good to eat dinner.
Jared(pleasantly): I don't think so!
Me: Jared, we are going to eat dinner, so come to the table please.
Jared: Mom, you're just teasing me!

Now he is happy and generally pleasant during the said frustrating exchange. He is not being rude, so I don't feel like I can scold him for it. He needs/wants me to explain everything before he will lift a finger. I do want to explain to him the whys of our world, but it is completely and utterly exhausting.
I suppose I just need to get used to a child that has his own mind! Because I'm not sure we're ever going back.

A Drive in the mountains

Ken and I went on a little date. It was so amazing to see how green the mountains were this time of year.

View of the valley

Giant manzanita tree?

A horse with no rider to be seen!

It was soooooo romantic!

A day at the park

One thing I love about our Christmas's in California is that we can so easily take the kids outside to wiggle.

Our little Bobae can't hold still for a picture!

Notice the bits on Rosie's chin. I love how that she can't resist bark!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you are having a wonderful holiday!
Love,
All the Rosses

Sharing

 Sharing is probably the thing we talk about the most these days. Mostly they are great sharers

 Hey, now it is my turn!

Mom, do you want a chip?

The way they share a new favorite toy- Jared steers and Rosie is the motor (mostly).

Flashback: Come at me, bro!

 This is from October of last year:

Ruthie teach Jared probably the best catch phrase from Jersey Shore. And they've created a wonderful game out of it!

Ken and Grandma Porter

Ken recently was gone on a (much too long) business trip. The highlight, of course, being staying with his sweet maternal grandmother!
She is so great.

Peek-a-boo

Placing your hands over your eyes is harder than it seems.
Also, I love when she just gets a little wild at the end

Baths Are Awesome!

Jared and Rosie had fun bathing together. Jared just dumped water over both of their heads for probably 15 minutes straight. Rosie LOVED it.

(I think this may be the best action shot I've ever taken!)

Quinoa What?!?

Rosie was playing in the cupboard (as she often does) while dinner was cooking. There is nothing dangerous down there, so I wasn't paying much attention. She found and opened an (expensive) package of quinoa and dumped it over the kitchen floor.  This picture is after I'd scooped a fair amount of it up.

Just a little bit of vacuuming and a future dinner or two lost, but not tragic.


However, the next morning while I was showering, she found it's new spot, opened and dumped the remainder all over the carpet.

There was about this much in the other direction. The issue here is that quinoa is impossible to vacuum. I spent probably twenty minutes trying different vacuum settings and attachments to get it cleaned up. GAH! At least it wasn't paint or anything!

Quilt

I made this:

For my new sweet, sweet niece, Lauren.

Isn't she adorable???

Thanksgiving in Wisconsin

Mom on the swing with the chillins.  What awesome weather on Thanksgiving!

Jared went canoeing with Ken.

And potato digging with Grandpa.

 These cousin played so well together!

Not pictured: Dinner (it was awesome!!!) and my sweet newborn niece (also awesome!)