Quick catch up....

Ok - confession? I haven't posted lately because I haven't been taking any pictures. Sometimes the grey of the winter and the rapid movement of my children are not conducive to good pictures - or even the inspiration to get out the camera. But the last couple of days have allowed me to catch a few that I liked.

So, here's Luke in all of his fifteen month glory. He's as sweet as ever, giving kisses and hugs on request. He runs around the house like a champ, and loves to move things. Right now he's sitting on the kitchen floor stirring uncooked pasta around a bowl and moving it back and forth in a muffin tray. His verbal skills are exploding, and we are getting regular "thank you"s and good attempts at "please" (signing while saying). Luke loves doggies, and actively wants to love any one he sees, shouting "gie, gie". And his adoration of the phone has continues on, often making pretend calls as he wanders around the house saying, "'Ello? um hm, mmm hum, yup, (chuckle chuckle), um hm, bye!"

And here's Max at three and a half. I actually had to bribe him with a Skittle to let me take his picture while looking at the camera. Right now he's sitting at the kitchen counter (the table's not a safe place to work anymore - Luke scrambles to the top in less than 3 seconds and takes great glee in grabbing Max's crayons or markers and eating them) "making art". This consists of taking colored paper, stickers, decorative punches, markers, crayons, and glue and assembling cards or pictures or anything else that strikes his fancy. He likes to draw dinosaurs, and knows the sounds of most letters. He's beyond patient with Luke, but listening to grown-ups is not always a strength.

It's been busy around here. We are currently getting our house ready to put on the market. Really, we don't need to move, but a little more space would be great, and the interest rates can't be beat. So we're giving it a shot. At least the house is getting cleaner than it's been in a while, the sliding glass door is fixed, and the roof was fixed and treated today. But wish us luck - it's a crazy time in the housing market.

I guess I'll leave you today with Max's latest funnies.

1. Our dear Lauren (good friend, and the boy's miraculous child care provider) is 8 weeks pregnant. Her son Liam is still nursing occasionally, and the other day Max tells me that Liam MUST stop nursing. I told him that Liam was welcome to nurse as long as it was ok with Liam and Lauren. Buit Max insisted it wasn't with a very worried look on his face. Finally, I asked him why he thought Liam should stop. The reply? "Liam's going to hurt the baby - he's going to suck it right out!" Yeah, a brief anatomy lesson was needed, and he was much relieved to learn that the milk and the baby aren't in the same place.

2. We were driving home listening to some good old Randy Travis (Deeper than the Holler, for those that care). Max wanted to know what it was about and I told him it was a love song. This led to a discussion of who people write love songs for - friends, mommies and daddies, brothers and sisters, boyfriends and girlfriends, and husbands and wives. He then wanted to know what a huband and wife were - "men who are married and women who are married" was my reply. Then, "What's married?". "Well, it's when two people love each other so much that they want to spend their whole lives together." "Well, that's a great idea. I want to get married." So I had to ask, "Who do you want to marry?" I should have known. "I want to marry Ollie. I love him very much and if we were married we could play all the time."

So, there's a quick catch up. It's all good around here - and even better now that February is almost over.