Kiddos

Alex

He is into all sorts of things now. He is constantly telling us what he wants to be when he grows up. The most recent is a superhero, baseball player, soccer player, basketball player, football player, builder, fire fighter, and karate guy. And, yes, he wants to be all of these things at once. He is super excited to start his preschool next week and really wants some little friends. We went to a preschool play date the other day and when we pulled up, he sat in the van for a minute intently observing the kids on the playground, and then he hopped up out of his seat and said, "I think they like me. Let's go play." It was hilarious. He is becoming a much better listener and is constantly cracking us up with his ideas.

He had fun recently with his second cousin Jayden. We were finally settled in enough to have him over to our house. Joseph is showing them where different places are on the globe. They loved this!
Alex is really into drawing lately . . . finally. He never used to want to do it. Ever. This is a picture he did of himself playing in the rain. We keep the chalkboard in his room, so almost every day when I go up to get him from his quiet time, he has drawn some new person on it. He wanted to mail this to Alex Courtright as well, but I thought that perhaps mailing a chalkboard wouldn't be a good idea . . . so this is for you AC!!
We have a little patio/yard area and the kids have had fun going back there and playing in the rain.
And playing in the little pool with Rebekah. They love to play together, though I do have many fights to break up each day, for the most part they are good buddies. Especially good buddies since we have been here because we have no friends yet. :) Really it has been good in some ways. I think we have grown together as a family.
Another drawing that he did outside on our patio. He can now write his name perfectly without me helping at all.
And of course one of his favs is playing with and holding Kaitlyn
And the biggest Alex news is that he has STOPPED SUCKING HIS THUMB!!! About 2 months ago he slammed his thumb in our door in Iowa. Ever since then . . . no more thumb. A year ago, when Alex decided he wanted a pet turtle we told him he couldn't get one until he stopped sucking his thumb. Well that time came sooner than we thought and we had to stick to our word. He called us on it. Sooooo, a big Welcome the newest member of our family . . . WALKER DIGGER MILLER. He is a Russian Tortoise and we LOVE him!! I think I have to finally admit it. I am, at heart, an animal lover. That is the only conclusion I can come to to excuse the behavior I have been displaying of staying up late at night reading all about Tortoises so that we can give him the best home possible. Not to mention checking on him every night just like we do the kids.
That tank he is in above is being replaced. In all my research, I found a better, cheaper, bigger idea for his home, but until we get it, we try to let him walk outside as much as possible. He is super cool.
So, Walker Digger Miller huh? Yes, yet another awesome name created by Alex himself. He chose Walker because he likes to walk. Then after a few days Alex discovered he also likes to dig, so he added a middle name, Digger. Walker Digger Miller. Gotta love it.
Rebekah

Our little girl isn't so little anymore. She "talks" all day long, though only a small portion of it is understandable. She calls Kaitlyn Buggy, and Walker Walky and Alex Awjay. She is sassy as ever and likes to yell things like, "HEY!" and "NO!" She loves to watch Alex do his worksheets and when he tells her to look at them she enthusiastically responds, "Whoah!" She loves to make Kaitlyn laugh and her favorite thing in the world is babies! She makes anything with a face a baby. It is rather darling. She is such a trooper and is always up for an adventure. Her latest interest is also the potty. We may potty train her soon. She always tells us before she is about to go poopoo and has asked to sit on the potty without her diaper many times. Oh and she has got the best sense of humor and is always cracking "jokes."

Here she is with Kaitybug
I think she inspecting something outside in this picture.
She especially loves doing anything Alex is doing . . . which drives him crazy sometimes, but mostly he is a pretty good sport about it.
Cheese!
Hi Mommy!!
Kaitlyn

She will be 6 Months old on Sept 4th!!! I can hardly believe how quickly she has grown! To describe Kaitlyn. She is happy. Always smiling and content to play with her toes or to suck on a toy. She goes to sleep very well and is really just a yummy little squishy baby.

Here she is eating away at those toes.

Her newest trick is learning to sit up. She does this monkey version of sitting up pretty well.
Here is her new crib. Alex and Rebekah like to get in it with her and make her giggle.
And, she is on rice cereal and oatmeal now!! She, like my others, much prefers the oatmeal over the rice and she picked right up on the spoon thing. I will be adding sweet potatoes soon.
Good job little Kaitybug.

And lastly, here is a darling video of Kaitlyn laughing hysterically at Rebekah. Sisters are fun.