Little ones with big ideas!

Walter got a new toy and all I can say is thumbs up to leap frog! It has been helping him to sound out small words and now he pretty much knows his upper and lower case sounds along with each letter. It's been so much fun and has sparked his interest more into writing them too. This kids wheels are always turning! Tonight on our walk we walked past an empty house and he said to us "some day I'm gonna get all the ladders from peoples houses that aren't using them and build train tracks on them all the way up to the houses in the sky." I said whose house is up there and he said "Jesus's." The things they think they can do at this age. I remember as a kid thinking that my sisters and I where going to dig a hole leading all the way to China in our sandbox!

Little miss Rose E is growing up before our eyes too! Lately when I say something to her she'll respond with "oh" or "okay" and if she accidentally bumps into me she says "sorry" and gives me a kiss. She is little miss independent though! Whenever I announce that we are doing something (everything from eating to brushing her teeth or going somewhere) she runs away and says "I hiding." On the other hand though I have never seen a child smile so much as this one.

Still seeing white!

We had to use our wagon for a day as for we popped a hole in our stroller tire (although I can't really complain after how many miles those tires have seen). Anyway, Walter of course thought it was exciting and pretended he was in a train, if you look closely he is making train noises too. Today he also made "band aids for his tracks on his layout to protect them from bugs." As you can see though it still seems like bug season is so far away.
Little Miss Rose E here thought she could get away with taking Daddy's boots on the hike and Walter is "fishing with the mitten" (one of the mittens came off of the string). It seems that every venture out of this house ends up to be an adventure!
Last but not least this leap frog toy has become a favorite for Rose E, it sings songs about counting and she likes to sleep with it, so every once in a while in the middle of the night we will here from her room "hi I'm tad and you can count on me."

Cute as a button!

Walter and I made an Easter decoration today, his didn't have one bear spot on this egg but he sure had fun! Speaking of eggs, today we where at the grocery store buying eggs and he said "mama if we sprinkle water on those eggs will a chicken grow inside of them?" It made it even harder not to laugh when someone else heard him and started to chuckle. He is questioning everything these days, he even asked me why the trains are able to talk in the Thomas stories.
Our little Easter diva here. The kids have been pretending to be the Easter bunny and have been hiding plastic eggs around this house and then escorting them around in this basket. Check out her home made hat too! She wanted a bib for her dolly and then after tiring of it on the baby she decided to turn it into a fashion statement. Her newest accomplishment the past couple of weeks has been that she can know match things up. I've noticed that she now knows where the pieces go in a puzzle and works at it until she gets the piece in just right.

Rays of sunshine!

Gotta love this girls sense of fashion sometimes! She has discovered where I keep my dress shoes! This little diva has learned the phrase "no I won't" too and she's not afraid to use it. It kinda makes me chuckle though, usually it's used when Walter wants a toy from her.
Walter and Rose E were thrilled to spend some time with their cousin Ariel this week (he came to visit during his spring break). Lately when Walter is having a good time somewhere he will say "I wish this day would never end."
It has been a strange couple of days for me. On Tuesday I felt like I was getting a cold and then all of the sudden my face was swollen and I could barely open my eyes. Then I got hives. Anyway, I have been combating it with allergy medicines and am just stumped as to what the cause could be. The kids brought a smile to my face yesterday though, the medicine made me tired so Walter stirred-up some pretend food to make me a medicine to "make my bones stronger" and to make my "eyes less puffy." Then he made "roast beef-chicken for supper." He has been sweet and concerned about me. Rose E made me smile too as for she was playing with stickers and put a Y sticker in the middle of my shirt, I told Jeff she couldn't have picked a more appropriate one! Yesterday she too had problems of her own, she is getting in two teeth and had a fever to boot. At least today though things are looking up.

Snow snow go away come back another day!

This kid literally eats, sleeps and breaths trains! Here he is asleep in his Thomas pajamas while wearing one of Jeff's Chesapeake and Ohio train hats (usually there is a train tucked in there as well). Then yesterday I had to laugh because I made a cheesecake and after I put the chocolate topping on I caught him licking the spoon and when I asked what he was doing he said "I'm feeding coal to the tender."

We have been doing a lot of creating lately with his blocks too, each "layout" has "train tracks"(of course) and "car roads". This one also had "a car road bridge for the cars to go on top and a train track to go underneath it."
This girl loves anything that has to do with laundry! Yesterday I tried to put clothes away into Walter's drawers and I swear she took more things out than I put in. She would spot something and say "I need it." Then when I was finished (and snuck all of his clothes back into his drawer) she looked at the basket and said "play basketball."
Afterwards I decided to take a peak into our yard to look at their basketball hoop and saw that yes indeed it is still buried in snow. At least today though we had 50's weather, woo hoo! I was finally able to take the kids for a walk without snow pants!
It was nice to see some of that snow melt but we still have a ways to go. Here Walter is standing in our driveway.Last but not least Rose E's typical appearance lately (which includes a hat, a necklace and a purse).

Sweet dreams

I have found it interesting to listen to Walter go into to detail lately about his dreams. Most of the time of course he dreams about trains, but, yesterday he dreamt that there was a talking pig and a talking sheep and that the sheep was chasing him so he ran into his room and shut the door. Wow, just never know what goes through those little minds, but on another hand I guess it isn't too surprising considering how many animals "talk" in children's stories. I clearly remember as a child believing that my stuffed animals where all going to "come alive" when I wasn't looking just like the Corduroy stories. Rose E has been telling me a little about her dreams too. This morning I asked her if she had any and she said nodded yes and said "playing Walter." Most mornings this little girl wakes up though and the first thing that comes out of her mouth is "see Daddy" (not that she isn't happy to see me but there is just something special about that Daddy of hers). She is definitely getting a little mind of her own. I had to laugh because both kids wanted to play with a balloon this morning (of course we only had one) and so she was holding it and I said "Rose E, Walter wants you to throw the balloon to him so you can bounce it back and forth" and she said "no thank you" and ran away with it.

Shop till you drop!

The kids have been pretending to "shop" in this house. Rose E is a true girl, filling her cart and bags with all kinds of goodies and Walter has found yet another use for those handy dandy calculators, cash registers. Oh and on another note here Rose E is wearing Walter's sweatshirt. As soon as I open his drawers she is looking for a different outfit to wear.

It's hard to see here but Walter asked me to get some more toy food from the basement (to go along with there shopping adventures) of course it was at a time where I was busy in the kitchen so he wrote me a reminder note for when my work was finished. Speaking of "work" he tells Jeff and I all of the time "I have so much work to do today" and that work usually means playing to do.

Mama's little princess. Which reminds me,"princess" is a new word of hers, now when she sees girls in fancy dresses she is a "princess" and this little princess can't go a day without her necklaces.

Walter took this picture of the two of us. I guess he's tired of me getting to snap all of the pictures.

Copy cats

Walter was so proud of himself today as for her learned how to look at his trains and copy what they look like. It was cute to watch as he carefully matched the crayons to the different locomotives that he drew to make sure they where the right color. It is kinda hard to see but he drew this train and then wrote Santa Fe underneath it too. He has been really making progress with his letters also. He recognizes most of them along with the sounds, it is so exciting for the both of us. I love to see that he wants to now copy words and label his pictures too.

This has been one of Rose E's most favorite toys the past couple of weeks, she hauls it all over our house and loves to put the people and animals on top of the ark as well into the little openings. This little girl is also getting known for handing out toys in this house. Often times she is passing them out left and right to Jeff and I and one of her famous lines while I am cooking is "uh oh baby crying" and I have to hold this doll wrapped up in a blanket throughout my food preparation time (it wasn't that long ago when it was her that I was holding)!

This was Rose E's artwork of choice today, she decided that the stickers would look much better in her hair than in her sticker book!

It is just amazing the things that she has been saying lately, she especially says a lot of phrases that Walter says, one of them that she has just started to say is "no thank you"when she doesn't want something. Yesterday it was cute too because we where looking at a Thomas website on the computer (with activities and movies) and there was a Thomas room make-over on it. Anyway, we clicked on it to see them makeover this room with all Thomas decor for a little boy and when he walked into his newly decorated room Rose E said "say thank you."

My jokesters

Yesterday before story hour Walter teased me that he was going to go as a three eyed boy and this is what we returned too. Walter couldn't stop laughing, poor Chevy.
Speaking of teasing, a couple of days ago Walter got this balloon from the hardware store and every time Rose E touches it he says "don't pop it" so today I heard her say "I gonna pop it" with a smirk on her face!
Just gotta love her ensembles sometimes, she was walking around today with this Bob the Builder hat on backwards carrying a purse full of bracelets.
Even though you can't see it, this is the typical train play in actions here (there are trains parked in the train shed behind him too, the chair) this is what this boy does all day long. Yesterday it really hit me how very different my boy is than my girl as I sat down to play with them because each of them had a different agenda one to play trains and one to play dolls, so we had trains delivering things such as diapers, milk, sandboxes, etc to the dolls, a true compromise. They'll(sometimes) play with each other but yet they still have their own very opposite passions!
Yesterday Walter made me smile as we where reading a book he noticed an exclamation point at the end of a sentence and said why is there an upside down i there. It is so much fun observing all of the new discoveries that they make!

Good times!

On Friday night we went out to eat with Jeff's family and then had everybody over afterwards. Here are the two train fans, Cale and Walter
Rose E hamming it up as usual. Uh hum... I think those belong to Mr.Potato head
Kirsten
Brady
Cheese

(On a side note here, Rose E is holding "chessie" lately every cat she sees in books too are "chessie," boy she must think we have some famous cat, well in one way we do I guess since she looks just like the famous Chesapeake and Ohio railroad cat, go figure eh.)

and finally, no...it wasn't a wrestling match, Walter and Rose E where trying to hide Cale so that he couldn't leave. These kids sure do love playing with their cousins.

On another note, I don't think Walter and I are the only ones hoping for summer to come soon! Today Rose E asked if she could wear her Thomas sandals to church and yesterday she tore off her socks so that she could see her "piggies" then Walter asked "Mama why are Rose E's feet naked?" She has been into blankets lately too. She loves to haul them around our house and cover her toys up. It is so sweet too when I tuck her in at night and she has her little dolly or stuffed animal all tucked in to their blanket beside her. These kids are getting too big too fast! Which reminds me, yesterday as Walter was washing his hands in the bathroom he wasn't standing on his stool and he said "mama the sink is getting shorter!"