Where Did January Go?

I can't believe January is half over and I've posted nothing of real consequence. Hmm...Perhaps I'll be diligent with picture-taking and blog-posting over the next couple of weeks to make up for slacking? Perhaps...

The first part of January was awesome! The weather was gorgeous and I would even venture to say warm. In January! We took advantage of the sunshine by hitting up the local park. I was patting myself on the back for even taking the kids to play outside in January and wow, am I a great mom or what for getting my kids outdoors - only to discover that everyone else had the same great idea. The park was a madhouse! But, Everett and Juliana had fun, even though this picture of Everett would seem to indicate the contrary.

I just love that Juliana is barely big enough to play on this bouncy thingy. She was scared at first, but then I couldn't get her off of it. And yes, that is her "I'm so happy you brought me here and I love this toy so much" face. Just ignore the death grip she's got going.

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In my attempts to be a better mom I've recently started using a great pre-school-esque book that has great ideas for how to add a some structured learning to Everett's day. It's called Teach Me Mommy and it is wonderful! We learned about growing and how big Everett's gotten last week with this little project. I had E lay down on a piece of butcher paper and I outlined his little body. He then got to paint "himself". I cannot even begin to convey how excited he was to be painting "Everett". He loved it so much we had to hang it up for all to see. Can you tell what side of the paper he was sitting on? I kept trying to get him to paint the whole body, but he wasn't having it. In fact, he was very particular about the parts he painted and got mad at me for painting his feet green.

This picture is just classic Everett:

And here's one of his new favorite words:

He's taken to asking me, "Mommy, are these shoes cool?" "Mommy, is this cool?" I can't believe my three year old knows and understands what cool means. This definitely spells trouble for me since I happen to be decidedly un-cool. I thought parents were safe from cool/uncool status until sometime around middle school? Um, yeah, this is not cool!

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We had spaghetti last night for dinner. I think that pretty much sums up these pictures.

And that's a wrap. Giddens out.