How I Love These Little Ones

I must say life is getting to be pretty fun with these 3 little ones.  Every day life is not so much about "babysitting" anymore as it is about watching the lives of 3 human beings take shape.  I love it!

Tyler was a "delayed speaker" and didn't really talk until he was two (except in his own language and he was VERY fluent in that.)  Of course, there is nothing "delayed" about him now.  He LOVES to talk and I love to listen to him as he learns and discovers new things.  He is thriving at preschool and I'm so glad.

Tyler is such a sweet, funny kid.  I love his hugs and how he pulls his chair right next to me while we eat so he can be by me.  Tyler keeps asking me to take pictures of him with his toys.  He decides where he wants the picture taken and stages everything.  Here are some of his pictures.  (The last one he wanted to be taken with the snowman on the fridge that he made at preschool.)














The girls are NOT language delayed.  They never cease to amaze me with how much they say and understand.  (The girls do not have their own language like some twins do--they just speak English like the rest of us.) 

Megan is a mimic (the pediatrician called her a parrot, which about sums it up) and will repeat anything she hears.  Emily is a little tease.  She likes to see how far she can push things.  Then she will say, "Funny?"

Emily call herself "Emmy" and she also calls Megan "Emmy."  I think that's kind of funny. 

Emily just may potty train before Tyler does.  Whenever she has a stinky diaper she will come find us and say, "Stinky" and then she will go get a diaper and bring it back to us.  So cute!

Emily decided to help me do laundry one day.  Here she is taking the clothes out of the hamper:



and putting them into the washer:



Things were going along well until Megan decided to "help."  She took the clothes from the washer and put them back in the hamper.  You can see by Emily's face that she was NOT happy about that.



The girls are SUCH good errand runners with me.  Now that Tyler is in preschool 2 days a week I find it is easier to run my errands with just 2 kiddos.  They mainly go from their car seats right into the double stroller and then back into the car seats when we're done.

 

The thing that drives me CRAZY about running errands is when the girls decide that they will take a nap in the last 5-10 minutes before we make it home.  Then they think they have had their nap for the day and don't need to take one after lunch.  Emily is the hardest to wake up.  Here she is after I got her out of the car seat, put her in the house on her own two feet and then I went back out to the van to get Megan.  I came back in to find that she had fallen back asleep on the stairs.



Here are some of the things the kids are into now. 

A new table and chair set.



Necklaces





Play Doh (Just a side note:  Notice that all of the bar stools are at the bar and not blocking drawers or cupboards.  Yay--another milestone.)

Back packs

Bambi  (Right now Tyler loves watching Bambi.  (He calls it Am-bee).  He's a typical 3 year old in that he asks a BAZILLION questions about things, including what's happening in every single scene of this movie.  It's hard to explain some parts--like about hunters and about Bambi's mom being shot.)




Strollers



And these sunglasses that Darrell's dad bought for Tyler



I love being home with these 3 little ones every day.  Sometimes during the day I'll have random flashbacks to different periods of my life--being in college, being on my mission, or being a teacher.  I know that at each of those times in my life I was hoping that one day I would get to live my dream of being a stay-at-home mom.  I'm grateful for each season of my life and for all the things I've been able to do and become.  I think because I had to wait so long to get married and have children, I especially appreciate this time right now.  Several people on Facebook have linked to this article about enjoying being a mom.  I love how the author describes Kairos, or God's time, of "magical moments" versus Chronos, or the everyday mundane time that we sometimes get stuck in.  I am very grateful for the the Kairos moments I have each day with these 3 little sweet ones.

Snow "Y"-te

Well, we didn't have a white Christmas, but it snowed last night so we headed out to play today.


I love these Y hats.  (Thanks Aubrey and Olivia for the hand-me-downs!)

Emily


Megan


Tyler loved eating the snow.  (I'm sure it's SOOO clean from all the nasty stuff hanging around in the air due to the inversion.)


Our little snowman.


And when I say little, I mean little.

Christmas

We were able to spend Christmas with Darrell's mom and his sister and her family in sunny California.  (And the weather didn't disappoint that's for sure!)  We had a wonderful time.

The excitement for the trip was not leaving our a suitcase behind, but missing checking in our one checked bag by 5 minutes and having to take the next flight 4 hours later.  (Maybe someone will believe me now that it is MUCH better to get to the airport with PLENTY of time rather than spend 4 extra hours with 3 kids waiting for the next flight...ahem!)

We arrived at Darrell's mom's house on December 24.  That night Carol brought out a book and a "word-activated" dog named Jingle that was so fun to watch.  (Obviously Emily doesn't understand appropriate "no climb on the coffee table" etiquette at others' houses.  I'll take full responsibility for that.)  Then we watched a 5-minute DVD of the nativity and put the girls to bed.  We put the stockings up while Tyler was still awake, but he didn't really understand the whole thing. 



Santa's loot:



The kids in the morning looking at their gifts:



The kids a few seconds later:  Tyler was most excited about something the girls got as well as getting ANOTHER Lightning McQueen and Emily decided the books on the coffee table were much better than what Santa Claus had brought.

 

Megan and Tyler thought the dress up clothes were pretty cool.  Emily, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with them.  (Sigh!) (Doesn't Tyler make a lovely Snow White?)






 We went to church Sunday morning.  Here is the best picture we got after church.



The girls wore their Christmas dresses a week before Christmas also, but I never could get them to stay still long enough to get decent pictures.

 

That night we were all together for a wonderfully yummy dinner and to open presents.

 The kids loved playing with the Santa hats that the big stuffed bears usually wear.  They especially loved playing with Grandma.

The weather was PERFECT (75 degrees on Christmas Day) and we enjoyed every second of it.





One day we walked to the store and saw this real fire truck in the parking lot.  Tyler was especially excited because he got a fire truck from Santa Claus.  The firemen were getting lunch at In and Out.  They were so nice to visit with us before they headed on their way.  They said Tyler could get in the truck, but he threw a "Tyler tantrum" (akin to a temper tantrum but it means he's been asked to go beyond his comfort zone.)  Darrell got in the truck and had a grand time visiting with the firemen in the truck.



We were able to visit with Darrell's grandma Nellie a couple times at the care center.  I didn't get a picture with Nellie, but I did get this picture of the kids on a bench out in the hall.  They were the center of attention amongst all the "old folk".



We were also able to go to the cemetery and see Darrell's dad's grave marker.  It turned out beautifully.  I love the decorations.



The last day we were able to go to the park before our flight left.  Brenda treated us to a picnic in the park.  The kids LOVE hamburger, fries and Frosties so they were in heaven.






 
 
 
 

 We had such a great time.  The kids loved spending time with Grandma (who is sporting a few more bruises from these rambunctious kids than she previously had.)