catch up -

it has been a while since our last post and things have just been crazy around the house.

we have been busy trying to stay warm and keep the kids entertained during the winter months. spending all day inside is not an easy task. we have been lucky enough to have a few days where we were able to go sledding. last sunday, the kids and i meet up with grandma, uncle christian, leah and miles at payson park in portland. it was a perfect afternoon. the kids had such fun playing with each, going over the bumps and seeing who could go the farthest in their sled. i say kids but really daniel didn't do much sledding. he'd ride down on my lap but it was then a project to get him back up the hill. he didn't like to ride in the sled and would roll out, start to run back down...it was funny. natalie loves to sled. the whole way down you can hear her laughing and for part of the day she would even walk back up by herself! grandma and i were happy about that.

last night we survived our longest. biggest and noisiest tantrum from daniel. it lasted about 20 minutes during dinner time. he wanted to stand at the stove with me while we were trying to get dinner ready. since there were several burners hot - i wasn't going to let him and that is what set him off. he kicked and screamed on the kitchen floor for a bit and then we moved him to the play room and told him when he was ready he could come out and eat dinner. natalie kept asking why he crying and "making all that noise". after he settled down he was the happiest boy ever. daniel is starting to transistion into the two year old room at daycare. he was the oldest in the one year old room and was becomng a bit too big for his britches and with some younger kids moving in they felt it was best to move him up. i think it will be good for him to have new toys, new people and lkids to play with. i am hoping that being around older kids were are talking will help him pick up more words and also get him to use the words that he does know. i will also say that i am worried that he may start biting again. daniel would bite out of frustration or anger and i worry that being in a new situation he might start up again. but only time will tell...

natalie likes to pick out her own cloths and it makes getting ready in the morning much much easier - even if it means that she goes to daycare looking like punky brewster! she is always wanting to know why daniel doesn't have pretty dresses or cloths that have sparkles on them! natalie is in to wanting to know what things smell like. she wants to smell her juice, the green beans, the hand soap, the snow, the sleds anything and everything. it is a weird little quirk. she is also becoming quite good at picking out letters and finding them when we read stories. she now wants to know what words they are and starting to understand that letters make up words. it is very cool to watch her learn.

mark has been able to escape a few times to go ice fishing this season. and we are happy to share that grannie gets stronger and stronger with each passing days. we are certainly happy about that.

i think that is most of what has been happening with us. i will try to post more pictures and video as soon as possible. -

take care