Massive Update!

Soooo...

Whose been wondering where we've been?! LOL

Man, keeping this blog updated is rough lately! Let's start with the basics. How are we? Doing well. Royce isn't too busy with work lately. He just has me bossing him around and dragging him along to babysit while I do photography sessions. His hair is extra curly right now because the poor man hasn't even had time for himself to get a hair cut! I think it is incredibly cute and he reminds me so much of his dad when his hair is this curly. :) I'm doing ok. My necklace biz is overgoing a rehaul due to the CPSIA. Never heard of it? Well, you need to google it. It will effect everyone. :( It is especially effecting work-at-home moms (and dads!) who make hand-made products - like myself. Google it. CPSIA. National Bankruptcy Day. I'd rant about this more but I'm trying to update my blog here! :)

The kids are doing good - we've had a few hurdles. The biggest was how sick Evan was a couple weeks ago. He had severe croup. The scariest time of my life I tell ya! He had to go to the Dr. two times for steroid shots and he was also put on oral steroids. We did breathing treatments, but they didn't seem to help much. Unfortunately, there was no magic pill but time. Watching him suffer and not able to breath was just horrible. All our hearts was in a contact state of tensity. I wanted to take it away. Royce and I both did. For a week, we didn't sleep. Evan was in our arms, we paced the floors, opening windows to let cold air in, switching to the bathroom for steam, or just holding Evan and keeping him as comfortable as possible. Poor little guys was not himself and was not happy! I'm happy to say he is recovering, even though it does seems he got a little bit of a cold back now. Megan also has a little virus right now. I'm hoping we can get healthy and stay healthy soon! I had the carpets cleaned today and scrubbed the house clean yesterday. I'm washing hands like a nut and yelling at my kids not to touch anything. There really isn't much else I can do besides putting them in a bubble - anyone know where to get one???

Milestone wise Evan is amazing! I had to get some video. I really do! :) He says silly things like "where'd he go" but it sounds like "wheredeego". He'll run under the table and squat and then jump out and go AGH! Other words he is saying right now - dog, here, stop, go, no (yep, likes that one), water, sit, fish, megan, run, down, done, up, neigh (for horse), baa (for sheep), vroooooom (playing with cars), and the cutest word I think right now is 'ya'. :) When we'd ask him a question - "Evan, do you want water?" He'd just shake his head up/down vigerously, it was comical. Now he's resorted to "ya" and he says it sooo cute. I ask him questions just so I can hear him say "ya". LOL Physically he is great. Long, fine hair - needs a haircut! Running, climbing, chasing, you name it. He loves having his teeth brushed. I think he likes how the gum cleaner taste LOL. This is a good thing considering he just got 4 more teeth - he almost has them all now! Just needs a couple more back molars and I don't even know when those are suppose to come in. Otherwise, he has a full mouth. Food wise, he really doesn't have one food he likes a lot. He goes through phases where he likes something but then I offer it again and he turns his nose at it. He still isn't loving milk of any kind (soy or cow) but he does love water, just like Megan does. He hasn't had any juice yet and since he's content with water I don't see a reason. I can say that Evan will NEVER turn down chocolate, ice cream, or any sweet for that matter. This boy has a major sweet tooth!

Now, Megan. Our dear Megan. :) Where to start with her. She's really turned into a little leader. A nice way to say bossy. ;) She doesn't really do it in a mean way, just a "You will be the baby, I will be the mom." way. It is funny watching her direct her friends play at preschool (when I get there early). She is just vibrant and so full of energy. Preschool is going well and she hasn't missed a day. She loves her friends, especially one named Olivia. Funny how they bound with certain people...she just thinks the world of her! She still in dance and she's really picking up tap and jazz. She will have a recital in May - I can't wait! She was in soccer until Dec. but she decided to take a break from it and is now doing swimming. I have to write about her past swim class.

Swimming Instructor: "Would anyone like to jump off the diving board?"

*insert image of petrified 4-5 year old faces here* (this was a big diving board in 13 ft. water)

Megan: "I will!"

Instructor: "Ok, let's go Megan!"

*insert imagine of Megan full of confidence watching up to this huge diving board*

*no she didn't even hesitate*

A splash and that was it.

She did have a belt on and also a noodle in her arms, but dang, that girl has guts!

I couple more boys followed after they say Megan do it. No other girls though. Plus she is the youngest in her class, might I add. Does this really surprise anyone that knows Megan though? All the parents told me I had a future Olympic diver. Nah. I don't think so. Megan is just willing to try anything. Sometimes I wonder how much of a good thing that is (or is going to be!).

Oh a sidenote, Evan is in swim class too. Last week he got SO excited when he saw his swimming shorts. He started to yell WATER, WATER! LOL It was so cute. He HAD to put his swim shorts on before we left the house. He was so obsessed with just getting them on. "Evan, do you want to go swimming?" "Ya!" Him and Royce do it together - some good father/son time! I also go to Kindermusik with Evan on Mondays. It is a music program for young children. Evan is warming up to it. He isn't use to socializing without his sister in tow to lead the way! It is some good mommy/Evan time - we go while Megan is at preschool.

Academically, she has her strengths and weaknesses. She is great with math and I mean good! She knows all her addition facts (+1) and really has mastered the basic concept of addition and subtraction. She got letters/sounds down and it working on sight words and some blends. She's memorized her phone number and address and is so proud of herself. I made a sound to help her remember it. ;) I think she thought my song was uncool though. I figured if I kept signing it, it would just get stuck in her head whether she liked it or not. LOL Her preschool teacher says she is more than ready for Kindergarten. I have to admit, even though she is, I'm not! I had planned on Young 5's for a long time, but Megan is just too past that at this point. Some of the work she is doing is 1st grade stuff...I know Young 5's would just be too easy for her. Not to mention she already knows ZooPhonics forward and backward...put animals and letters together and Megan is like a sponge - she loves both of them! ZooPhonics is a program they use her too (for reading/literacy). I taught it briefly so I've shared what I know with Megan. Ok, actually Megan asks me to share it - over and over again. I am so done with the ZooPhonics song! An area she is working on right now is writing her numbers. 2 5 and S - why do we have to make things so confusing! :)

Wow, I guess I should stop before this becomes on HUGE novel. I haven't even started with pictures yet! :)

First off, instead of re-posting so many pictures here. Check out my photography blog for some cute pictures of Evan and Megan. We've taken some great snow pictures and some of them will make you giggle! I also did Evan's 16 month pictures.

The address to that blog is www.in-spir-edphotography.blogspot.com.

ARE YOU READY?

Where to start! :)

Before Christmas, Megan has a little Christmas program. It was really cute. Surprisingly though, she froze up a little and had a blank face the majority of the time! She did a snowman song...very cute.





and she spots Santa!





We soon went on our Christmas tree hunt. There are more on my photography blog of this venture. But here are a couple.





And here are the kiddos decorating the trees...





Evan thinking, "You mean you're going to hang all this stuff on here, at my level, on this cool little pokey tree...and you expect me not to touch it?!"











Meanwhile, we start working on our letters to Santa. Evan is quit the little writer! He holds the pencil so perfectly. He will write for 30 minutes at a time. No. I am not exaggerating either!











A typical winter day hanging out on the couch with a snack...yes, we eat in our living room! :)













Now, speaking of my living room. I re-designed our walls! :)









"Sure mom, I'll look cute for you."



"I don't care 'bout cute mom. Pick me up!"



Our friend Natalia had a birthday party.









Now on to Christmas!

Of course, Grandpa made his special trip here and we kept up the tradition of making homemade sugar cookies for Santa. Er, ok, maybe more for us than Santa. ;)























Christmas morning. They were up so early is was still REALLY dark outside - I think we were up around 6:30...



My kids LOVE these musical cards. Grandpa Ken got them ones last year and Megan played with and kept hers ALL year. Sometimes the small things are the best. :)



Megan's played "Away in the Manager" which she sang all Christmas season. Very cute!









Will someone let this cat out of this box!



A little playtime...







So I'm actually about half-way through pictures now LOL are you still awake???

We had a nice day - and by nice, I mean 30s nice! :) And we had a weird 50 degree day that melted all our snow after Christmas - so weird! It came back soon enough though...













This is a change...

Look whose frowning for the camera...


Look whose smiling for the camera...










On a playdate at Deanna's Playhouse - a fun place, the kids just love it there! The company is wonderful too. ;)























LOL my children don't know what a LAN line is!!! or how to hold these 'old fashion' phones...













Ok, so that is it for now!

You're lucky I've been too busy to take many pictures in the past couple weeks. With Evan being so sick and me being so busy with both websites, it has been pretty crazy.

My goal this week is to capture some pics of the kids at swim class - so stay tuned for those!

If anyone happens to read this, share some love. Megan loves when people leave commenst for us to read. Ok, mommy too and at least I'll know someone out there is reading this! LOL I'm not proofing so yes, there are lots of typos!

As Evan would say "Bye Bye - See You!"