Climbing

There has been a lot of climbing going on at our house lately. See for yourself. 

Florida in February

In February the kids and I took Grandma to Florida. It was fabulous! Jason was scheduled to be at a trial for about a month. So I jokingly told him I was going on vacation. He thought it was a genuinely good idea and started looking for places for us to go. Since I didn't want to take both kids by myself we invited his mom to come too! It was fabulous. We went to Hollywood, Florida which is just south of Ft. Lauderdale. We stayed at the Westin Diplomat, which has a few pools and is on the beach.  Everything a girl and her kids and her mom-in-law could want.

 Colette was unsure of the sand at first. She didn't want to touch it. After a few minutes though, she was eating it. The two became close friends.

 Calder was sad because I told him this couldn't be our family's next car. A new Lamborghini sounds nice but there's not a lot of room for car seats and boosters.

Two happy kids flying home.

Colette at 8 Months

 Colette is such a peach. I love her to pieces and it is so fun to see her grow. She learned to crawl this week (she's 8 and a half months) and the world has opened up to her. She doesn't need me to hold her as much because she can get herself around.

She also pulls herself up to stand on everything and can cruise around the furniture. She isn't brave enough to let go yet but she will be soon, I'm sure. She weighs 16 lbs, which is pretty small. She has been riding the 25% scale since she was born. Although she is small, she is wicked strong. She can pull do little pull ups on taller furniture and let her feet come off the ground. I'm scared for when she starts climbing.

 She prefers to feed herself and will try just about anything. Her favorites are bread, cheese and squash.

 I can't believe she is already 8 months. Time is going by so fast.

January in a post

It has been a busy month. And apparently I can't keep up with the blogging world with two kids. Who knew it would be so hard to find the time. Anyway, we had a fun and fabulous month. Colette is getting so big. Calder loves preschool and is getting so big. Jason worked a lot and I swept the floor a lot. A lot. Anyway, here is our month in pictures.

 Calder is "working in a lab" in the above picture.

 And sharing his toys.

 Calder is so big he wants to sit in his own seat on the metro.

 And Colette is so big she wants to go shopping.

 January brought some really nice days. We took full advantage of them.

 I'm sure I've mentioned before how fabulous Calder's preschool is. He is outside for 2 hours most days and sometimes he is outside for the full three hours. They hike the 40 acres and learn all sorts of things about nature and animals. I couldn't imagine a better fit for Calder.

 And this is what his boots look like a lot of times when he comes home. He plays hard.

 January also brought some snow. This is one of my favorite things about DC. In January you have 60+ degree days and you have snow (most years). It is perfect for me.

 Colette loves to pretend to drive. This is her "picking Calder up from preschool"

 Calder and his friend Charlie went to Build A Bear for the first time. They let you put a heart in the bear that you've hugged and loved. I don't remember the whole saying but it is really cute.

 And then you get to wash and dry your new friend.

Christmas

 Wow. I sure didn't take a lot of pictures when we went to Oregon for Christmas. It was fabulous and fun. Calder didn't hold still much because there were awesome cousins to play with. In the above picture they are pretending to be Mary, Joseph and an angel.

 The kids were so thrilled to open gifts at both Grandma's houses. They are so spoiled.

It was so great to see everyone and be with family. Calder keeps asking when we can go back.

Pictures with Santa

For the third year in a row we went to the Ellipse just down the hill from the White House to visit Santa and his workshop (for free, might I add). And once again we didn't wait in line. It was awesome. We got there right as they were opening and were actually the first kids in line. There were 5-6 adults before us who wanted to get their pictures with Santa. 

Calder insisted Colette go first. She happily sat on his lap and took a picture. It was obvious her happiness was about to tank just in time for Calder's turn. He was so giddy. He jumped right up and smiled for his picture and then told Santa he wanted a rocket and space station for Christmas. One of my favorite things about Christmas with Calder is his surprise requests from Santa. Last year he kept insisting he wanted a certain toy and then told Santa he wanted a drum. He had never mentioned a drum before. This year he has mentioned the rocket before but Santa doesn't buy anything until Calder tells him what he wants. He is also very vague. Calder hasn't seen a toy rocket and space station at the store that he wants. He just thinks having one would be cool. 

After Calder's turn they invited Colette back to do a cute sibling picture. And cute it is. She totally lost it.

As we were leaving I asked Calder what would happen if Santa didn't get him what he asked for. He said "I wouldn't be disappointed, I would still be really happy!"