Our computer is fixed!!  hooray!!

 I banished the kiddos to their bedroom to clean up their train tracks and not long after the door shut I heard Zeb yelling: "Sit down! You have to sit down right here!".  I didn't think anything of it until he continued: "No, Ikey- you go poo in the toilet!"  Luckily we didn't have any poo on the floor- Zeb was just trying to teach Ike how to use the toilet. I guess Ike had told Zeb that he needed to poo- and Zeb got his pants and diaper off and helped him to the kiddy toilet in their bathroom.

 Ike got bored before anything happened and Zeb got frustrated.  Here he is explaining that big boy poo goes in the toilet- not in diapers. 

I really think that Ike is wanting to potty train- but I'm not ready!!  I hope he doesn't lose interest in the next few months.  I feel like he's a little too young to do effective, fast, and relatively accident free training so we are going to wait a little longer.

And here's Ike with his favorite snack.  I still can't get either kid to eat bread- but Ike will eat peanut butter.

 I have to say that I am really enjoying the phases of my kiddos right now. They play and play and play together all day- for long periods of time even. It's heavenly.  I'll hear Ike mimicking Zeb in everything that he says- and chasing just one step behind him on his hunts for treasure and quests to read maps. I love that they are best friends- and I really love that they keep each other busy so that I don't need to :)

With that said- they can also be terribly nasty to each other. In fact- just today- I heard Zeb yell at Ike: "You are being so nasty, Ike. Stop it NOW!"  Sometimes when I pick them up from the gym, the workers will report that they just couldn't keep their hands off each other.  At least they are handling each other and not the other kids, right!?

Here are some shots of their faces during a LOUD argument in the back of the car.  They can give some pretty dirty crusties.  Usually the argument is based on following some rule that Ike wants to disregard. Zeb is DEAD serious about rules (if I even use the word 'but' in a conversation he informs me that I need to be in the bathroom to use words like that).  In this particular instance Ike is shouting at Kent to "go! go! go!" and Zeb is trying to explain to him that we are stopped at a red light and canNOT go anywhere until the light is green.

I'm posting from the library...

The internet at home is being completely useless- so I'm posting this from the library while the kids run amuck.  Luckily I'd already uploaded pictures before our internet went crazy.  It will connect- but only stay connected long enough to get to pages. I can't actually upload pictures or type anything long enough worth posting without disconnecting and having to start over!  grrr. I hope we can get it fixed soon.  Maybe its some sort of sign trying to get me to deep clean my house instead of blog.  Hah!  That's not going to happen.

I really do want to get back to daily blogging this year so that I can keep up to date on my ever changing kiddos and our crazy life. This year should be AMAZING. We have so much going on in the next six months I can't even fathom it all. 

We ended 2010 with quite a bang!  We went up to Grand Rapids and had a grand celebration with some cheesy cousins.

Here is Zeb ever so intensely toasting in the new year. He can be all business at times and tends to take things very seriously.

The weekend was so much fun.  New Years day we went out running/walking/climbing at a local park.  Who would have thought we could play outside in Michigan on New Years?

Even with blue skies-it was still pretty cold!  Definitely worth it to run around outside though.

                                                                                                            

We even had Steve (the world renowned lichenologist) around to find us some great lichen.  I'm pretty happy the Leavitts moved to Chicago so that we could have more family to be around!

 We got to climb to the top of these silos and check out the views of the park.  I still can't believe it was snowless.

Kent and I even ran the stairs five or six times. I really need to find a good set of stairs around here to run!  It was hard work.

 

It's so weird to me that we're all grown up with kids of our own. I remember being the kids and running around together as cousins. Now we're the grown-ups.

Thanks for the great time Starkeys and Leavitts! 

 Most ridiculous place to go at night when it's below freezing due to wind chill: Niagara Falls.

We decided to go anyway.

It was beyond freezing.  Not only was the wind chill bone aching- we also got WET.  The falls continue to emit their famous 'mist' even in the dead of winter.  The walkways are completely iced over and anything in the vicinity is completely overtaken by a THICK shell of ice.  And did I mention that the views were LAME-o?!  You can't see a thing because they close the best viewing walkways due to dangerous conditions.

 The sum of all those factors made our late night excursion pretty darn fun.  Because who isn't laughing and smiling when they're this miserable?!  Our family tends to make the best out of every situation :)

 Check out these happy binocs!

 If you haven't seen the falls lit up at Christmas time- I don't really recommend it- but if you have to go- you might as well go with a group of fun people :)  We really did enjoy the screaming and slipping and freezing.

 And it was all worth it to the kiddos because we got to go back to the hotel afterwards and grandpa treated the boys to cheetos and hot chocolate.

 They were in heaven.

 And the little ones just crashed.

Milly in her boy coat.

And Ike on Daysa's lap.  Thanks, Days.

We're back from our New Year's festivities! and I'm trying to get back to blogging. I think  I'm just going to do one long big post.
Christmas eve dinner was delicious ( I have no idea why I didn't get a picture!). We had Chinese, pizza, sushi, Indian food, and some other odds and ends.  We did our traditional pixie pals (home made gift) via Skype with Metta and Clair at home and aunt Mary on the phone!   


Mom had to work for her gift by moving this cookie into her mouth using her facial muscles. She had to play a little game of minute to win it.

I scored these fabulous hand warmers and scarf from aunt mary! thanks, mary!

But I think the winner of the night was Clair's handmade duct tape fashionable zebra print purse.  Very very impressive, Clair. I need to get a picture of it.

Pretty soon after that the the kiddos put on their matching pjs and then we sent them to bed. As much fun as Christmas is with kiddos- they sure can get cranky when they're tired.

Christmas morning was perfect.  We didn't get out of bed until eight and then we let the rugrats run out to see what Santa left. Zeb was far more interested in seeing if the carrots were gone than he was to see the presents.

The kids were spoiled. With seven aunts, a nannie annie, a gma pat, two grandpas, AND santa- they brought home the goods.

When Zeb opened his most important santa request- he shouted: "This is it! this is all I ever wanted!!".  It was really cute. He was shaking he was so excited.

I think Ike scored three or four Pez dispensers and loved each and every one.

We had a good amount of snow in Buffalo but the roads were super clear and I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas weather wise. 

The boys got zhu-zhu pets from Metta and they were a hit. I find the creatures terribly annoying- but the kids loved them.

We actually saved one present to open the day after Christmas. Gramps and Nannie Annie brought these crazy fun race track sets for the boys and they loved them. Ike would laugh and laugh every time the cars went through a little gate that made a funny sound.

Kent surprised me with a new camera lens! woohoo!!  I can't wait to get some good use out of it!

and I surprised Kent with non refundable tickets for the two of us to go skydiving!!  I am beyond excited- and I think he is too.

Christmas was wonderful in every way.

 I meant to get started on blogging our trip yesterday- but it turns out those three people vomiting in buffalo led to one more person vomiting in toledo. I got the vomits BAD yesterday. Worst ever. Like EVER ever. But it's over now and I feel great- so I'm back to blogging.

 Nannie Annie, Gramps, and Daysa stayed at the Marriott down the street so we took full advantage of the pool!  The kiddos LOVED it. 

 From the back it is really hard to tell Henry and Zeb apart.  If Zeb hadn't been on Kent's back in this picture I would have guessed that was his head for sure. 

 These two boys are pretty good friends and I love that they are close in age so that they can be friends growing up!  They do tend to fight and scream at each other- but when it comes down to it- they really love playing together.

 Kent and my mom and Henry decided to do a little Polar bear roll in the snow!  Not a chance that I was going to take part- but I did get pictures of Kent.  He jumped in the hot tub afterward and said it hurt like crazy.

Thanks, Nannie Annie and Daysa, for taking us swimming!

Christmas 2010 has come and gone in a whirlwind!  With only three people vomiting, one trip to the ER, one ear infection, and some crazy gall bladder issues with full body itching and major abdominal discomfort- it seems that we actually did better this year than last.  Maybe Christmas should be ruled a germ and pain free holiday?!  we have the worst luck this time of year!  Luckily we are incredibly blessed and we were with family, had the best time ever, and ate so much delicious food. What could be better than that?!  If Metta had been there- it would have been perfect. We missed you and Clair like crazy, Met!

I took 439 pictures- but I'll only post a small spattering of the christmas collection! At the moment this one pic will have to do. For now we're off to go get food for our fridge and return half our gifts! 

Zeb loves to sit up on top of his dresser and watch the snow fall. I am so glad that he loves it!  he tromps through it in his snow boots every time we get out of the car (which is actually really annoying because he's really slow and gets really wet) but I love that he loves it.  It has made me think a lot about the attitudes that I inadvertently (or often times intentionally ) teach my kids.  I think most of life is based on attitude and choices we make and I hope to be able to teach my children to be positive and happy- no matter what comes their way.

 I'm sure I've taught my kids to really dislike a lot of stuff- but snow is not one of them :)

And then there's Ike and his strange clothes habits. I am certain that I haven't taught him to be so particular.  Many days he insists on wearing FOUR pairs of superhero undies over his diapers.

 There's also an obsession with character clothes. No offense to lovers of these clothes- but I am not a huge fan of shoes/pants/shirts, etc. covered in winnie the poohs and sesame steet characters.  Ike LOVES them. I have caved and gotten him a few at yard sales- but I didn't think he'd be so obsessed. He giggles and smiles every time he sees the 'Wall-E' shirt (we've never even seen the movie).  Then, of course, he's reminded of his elmo pants and he wants them on together- with his shirt tucked in.  We don't go out of the house like this.

We just opened kent's letter with the FABULOUS news.  We got our top choice and we are moving to Dayton (in June)!!

"Second Lieutenant CHARLES K MILLER , the JSGME Board’s decision is:
You are selected for PEDIATRICS. Repeat – you are selected for PEDIATRICS.
The training location is WRIGHT PATTERSON" 

I'm not sure why they felt that they needed to 'repeat' the peds part!  we are so so so excited!