The kids

It seems as if I haven't given the kids much blogging attention lately. And I'm pretty sure my mom doesn't read my blog unless there are new pictures of the kids... so here goes an update.

Whitney & Cole way back on the 4th... their first day of church in 2009.
Cole thinks Primary time is party time and is so full of energy--hardly anyone can catch him. We're working on it. He had a great week last week (relatively speaking), and I think he's going to keep doing well.

Whitney & Cole are really great partners in crime these days. If you look closely at the pictures above of Cole in his church clothes, you can see some pink splotches on his face. A few days before the pictures were taken, Whitney had taken a Valentine stamp and stamped "I love you" all over his face, neck, and back. Worst part was... it wasn't washable ink. Looking back, I probably should have taken some pictures of the Valentine stamps all over him, but at the time it was not funny--especially not funny trying to wash it off for 2 days afterward!

So then the next week, Whitney turned Cole into "Triangle Man." I left them at the table to eat their breakfast while I got ready to take Whitney to preschool, and 5, maybe 10 minutes later when I came back, I saw what Whitney had done:
It was funnier to me than "Valentine Boy" from the previous week, so I stopped to take a few pictures. What a hoot this kid is. I think he really thought he was the best new superhero in town, because he was not happy when it was time to wash off the glue and triangles.

And then the next week during Whitney & Cole's quiet time... this. Cole looks totally immodest here, but he had underwear on, I promise.They play this pretend game(?) where Cole is Spiderman and Whitney is MaryJane (sometimes she is Sleeping Beauty) and they "Celebrate the Royal Birth"... not sure where that came from, but they prance around the house decorating. Whitney usually tapes up a few signs, streamers, strings, or in this case--stickers, and then they pass around the fake baby doll and pretend to feed it with a baby spoon. These days I don't even ask, I just think, "Whatever keeps them quiet during Annie's nap..."

Speaking of Annie--Annie has not escaped the creative wrath of Whitney. Whitney used her makeup on Annie the other morning and turned her into a cat...I think. Annie's hair is such a mop right now! I swear she looks like a Zac Efron wannabe these days if I don't do something feminine with her hair! At the park dressed up in Whitney's old Dalmation outfit:

Annie is also at that fun age where she's obsessed with books. Whitney is the best helper and will read to her little sister any time of day. It's the greatest little thing! It's also fun for me to find Annie sitting up in her rocking chair after baths with her stack of books just flipping through them all by herself--"Just waiting for storytime, Mom...whenever you're ready!"

Annie is also becoming a more independent eater. It can be a real mess, of course. She loves her smoothies and isn't patient enough to drink out of the straw I give her. She recently discovered how to pull the lid off the cup to make it come out faster. She was pushing the cup so hard and fast to her face that she had some freaky Joker-looking red marks on her face afterward!

Oh man, you kids are lots of work, but I wouldn't trade you for anything!