Maggie has been talking a lot more lately. She recently started saying “no” a lot. The only problem is she doesn’t really mean it most of them time – which can get confusing for me and frustrating for her.

She’s also starting to say short sentences. The other day should couldn’t find me and was calling my name. When she saw me coming up the stairs she said, “There she is.”

She’s getting to be such a big girl!

Luke: Mommy, I got a giant frog.

Me (misunderstanding): You are a giant frog?

Luke: No, I a cowboy.

Me: You’re a cowboy?

Luke: Yes, I a cowboy. I use my lasso to get the giant frogs and put them in a cage.

**********

Me: Luke! Stop walking on the furniture. We don’t stand on tables!

Luke: But Mom, I like to do tricks.

Being Luke is exhausting.

Last night, when Adam and I were picking out his clothes for today, he commented that he wished he had a shirt with a one hundred on it to wear for the hundredth day of school celebration. I told him that he would just have to find something else nice to wear and we picked out an outfit he was happy with.

An hour later, after some encouragement from my sister, I was working on a shirt for Adam. He had a plain red top in his closet that I knew would work and it didn’t take long to transform it into the perfect shirt to represent his 100th day of school.

Adam did question why I didn’t have it say “I am 100 days smarter”, but overall he was really happy with it. When he got off the bus this afternoon he couldn’t wait to tell me how many different people at the school complimented him on it.

I’m so thankful I was able to help make his day a little more special.

Adam drew a picture of the basket he made in his last game, for those of you that missed it (this past weekend’s game was cancelled because of the weather).

There are so many things I love about this picture. He drew himself saying yes” (it’s written backwards) and the player on the other team saying “no”. He also drew his coach. I love the facial expression on his opponent and the fact that they both have their hands up.

I think my favorite part though, is the lines on the top of the page. He told me that he noticed during the game that one of the lights in the ceiling was out. So he drew two lights lit up and one that wasn’t working.

That kid kills me.

Earlier this month Adam got another 10 stickers for good behavior at school (each time they get to 10, they get a prize).

He told me before he left for school that he was going to pick a penguin key chain to put on his backpack. He changed his mind though once his teacher showed him some new prizes.

He ended up picking a Skippyjon Jones book (his favorite series to read with Dave). He said his teacher guessed he would pick that prize once he saw it (he’s told her before how much he and Dave like the books).

I think our babysitter is really short-changing herself by not adding super awesome train track builder to her resume.

She and the kids created this fantastic track last night and the kids have been playing with it all day. We’re on our third snow/cold day off from school this week, which paired with having Monday off for Presidents’ Day, means that Adam had school one day* this week.

*And, as my mom just reminded me, there was a two hour delay that one day due to the weather. We’re all starting to go a little stir crazy here.

Adam made a puppet in his church school class. His teacher told me that in all her years of doing this project, Adam was the first kid to want to put eyebrows on his puppet. I think it turned out great and am also a big fan of the handlebar mustache.

Luke asked if he could read Bruzer (my brother’s dog) a story. He stood in front of the door, described what was happening in each scene, and then said “woof woof” before he turned the page.

Maggie loved being pushed around the living room by Adam and Uncle Steve (her little cousin wasn’t so sure).

Adam had another basketball game last Saturday. He had quite the cheering section too – Mabel, Papa, Uncle Steve, Aunt Amanda, Baby Connor, and our friend Davey all came to see him play.

Adam played a great game. His coach even told me afterwards that he’s noticed an improvement in his playing.

And Adam scored his first basket during this game! It was a pretty proud moment.

One of his favorite parts of the game, like in t-ball, is the high-5’s at the end.

Adam and Luke both helped with the vacuuming last night.

Can I just tell you how much I love that little toy vacuum cleaner? We had it custom made to match our real vacuum cleaner.

Ha.

Just kidding.

I found it at Sam’s Club for $20. I couldn’t pass it up, especially since it is just like our actual vacuum. It even has the same attachments.

His likes include puzzles and trains.

And, as we learned today, he strongly dislikes the car wash.

* I just want to point out that 96% of that awesome train track was made by me. I’m not saying that Luke couldn’t have come up with something equally cool, but I want the credit here.*