Remember December????....

... and January and February and March and April???

Well, I barely remember them since they were SO LONG AGO.  I've been putting blogging off for many moons now because the sheer mass of photos, stories, and shtuff is just ridiculous.  BUT here I am... at 4 in the morning, slapping photos together in crude storyboard formats and hastily jotting down the high points (or the points I remember). 

Here we go. 

First:  Do you remember a billion years ago when I got my dream come true free photoshoot by an amazing photographer, April Farnsworth?  I completely spaced posting the final photos I chose... so here they are...

 

 

I think the photos turned out wonderfully... just what I wanted. 

Let's just go chronologically here, people.  I'm really less of a multi-tasker and more of a one-trick pony, a linear thinker.  So we start waaaaaay back in December of 2011 (cue wavy dream clouds to transport us to a different time...)

Christmas was spent at our place again this year and it was truly a good holiday (from what I recall).  Christmas Eve was spent with us inviting our friends, the Hursts and the Killians over for some festive fun.  After we let the kids open up their Christmas pajamas, we let the kids decorate cookies (read: smear frosting on every surface they could find while shoveling candy into their wide-open mouths) as we adults ignored them and played a fun game called Dicecapades (I think that's the name). 

 Christmas morning finally came.  I was spotty (at best) with my camera while Ava opened her gifts.  Sterling actually slept until nearly 10am so we didn't (couldn't) wait for him.  Ava scored with some good loot (trust me, we only got her a few things we bought earlier in the year and saved up... dress ups are a great, cheap gift).  And when Sterling finally woke up, he had more fun with the trash than anything else... I wish that phase would stay forever. 

 (The middle photo in the bottom row cracks me up... it's just one of MANY pictures we have of the poor guy being forced to play dress up with his sister.  He's one patient "fairy godmother")

December was kind to us.  We thoroughly enjoyed the super-mild winter.  Hope everyone had a great holiday!  Merry Christmas!!!!  (extremely super insanely late)

 And to end December's photos, I have a few outtakes from the photo files. 

 January is next.  And unfortunately I must have been allergic to the camera that month because I only have a few pictures from January's files.  The major thing that happened was this:

Glorious.  Despite the lack of hair on TOP of his dome, Taylor is mighty proud of the face hair. 

January, I'm sorry but I just don't remember you at all!

But in February, I get a little better.  But only a little.

 *sobbing* My babies are growing up.  So incredibly fast.  I'm not at all happy about that.  I'm contemplating wrapping them up like little Chinese women's feet.  Please don't call CPS on me.

In this next series, I want to take a moment and show the many faces of my son.  He's working on becoming America's Next Top Model.  I advised against it, but he seems to have taken a liking to the circus freak show that is Tyra Banks.  Work it, Baby.

 Other than being the handsome git that he is, Sterling's pretty cool.  He's chubby and cuddly (my favorite kind) and a pretty happy boy.  Unless he's teething... then he's a bear who wants to hug you ALL the time with his snotty nose and his whiny growl.  Fun times.  We're grateful for his sleeping habits, this is one area he has never let us down in.  As of today (not back in February) he's a timid walker (only about 5-10 steps before he slowly sinks to his bum) and he's an open-mouthed kisser.  With lots of drool and slime.  He loves his family, but he really really REALLY loves his sister.

March!   By March we got about 6 teeth all in the space of 2 weeks.  Two horrendous, hellish weeks.  But we came out of it alive.  And drooled on.  And happier, much happier. 

One day in March, I was in the kitchen (probably wasting my time playing Words With Friends on facebook, but I'll pretend I was doing something like practicing the exquisite art of calligraphy... that way I'll sound much more respectable), anyway back to my story... I was in the kitchen doing something amazing when I looked over and started spying on Ava and Sterling on the couch.  The camera was right there, so I just started clicking away.  Part of me is annoyed that I didn't just record the whole interaction, but they were so quiet that the sound would probably not have picked up.  Nonetheless, it was a pretty great moment... I'm so glad I was able to watch this:

 

 Ava's growing up quickly.  She and her best friend, Leia, play together almost every single day for hours and hours.  They love ponies, playing "house", tea parties and dress up.  And I love that they let Sterling follow them EVERYWHERE they go, it requires a lot of patience when your little brother is constantly knocking over your tea party table or chewing on your Polly Pockets.  We just registered Ava for kindergarten next year and met her future teacher.  Life moves quickly.  I'm grateful for a fun and caring and quirky daughter who looks after her brother so well.

And now we'll finish off with April, then I'll finally be caught up!!  We went to Rock Springs for Easter with my parents this year.  What a great vacation.  Ava and Sterling got 100% of the attention from their grandparents and even got to play with their cousin, Bella.  The Easter egg hunt was a success (much, MUCH better than the one our little town offers), Ava had a ball.  We went to the Rec Center to swim at the newish indoor water park... that place is Awesomeville.  I wish I had taken my camera out more... but I tend to eat Easter candy with two hands.

We miss being around grandparents, we wish we lived closer.

Now that we're back in good old Idaho, Taylor has started back into school.  He is loving it and we are just happy to be finishing up!  As for myself, I stay busy following my two nuggets around... and they're fast!