Happy You You!

Elly's birthday is on Wednesday, and we've all been pretty excited.  Miles has been learning "Happy Birthday", which comes out as "Happy You You".  It's pretty funny.



http://youtu.be/U47TovgXMBw

Swimming at Mima and Papa's

We went out to CA earlier this summer to visit my (Brandon's) family.  My parents have this awesome pool with slide and waterfall.  When we first got there Elly wouldn't dare to go down the slide.  So I went with her a few times.  Then I convinced her to go by herself from about a foot up the slide, then two, then three etc.  After about 10 minutes she was doing this:



If you want to remember one of her first times swimming, click here:
http://brandonandlacy.blogspot.com/2007/06/swimming-with-teeth.html

The Show

The kids love putting on shows. This impromptu little number happened on the front porch the other day. Miles appreciates our laughter and praise at about 0:58 when he says, "Thank you".

Autumn Leaves

Here's Elly playing in the leaves with some friends of ours and their kids.  Warning: Lots of high-pitched squeals of joy ahead.  (Sorry for the video choppiness; it was getting pretty dark outside.)

Thanks, LeCheminants, for the good times!

Chase, and Putting the Roomba to Sleep

Here's a fun little video of the kids chasing each other.  Also, of Miles putting the Roomba down for a nap.  Yeah, the Roomba.  And yeah, to sleep...with blankets.

So we got this Roomba last week, and since then the kids have been mesmerized (and a little frightened in Miles' case) by it.  But they love putting it "to sleep", which means they push the button to send it to its dock for charging and then they put blankets on it.  Miles calls it "robot".  So he says, "Night-night, Robot."  It's like part of the family now.

Elly Riding Her Bike

Elly recently learned how to ride a "big girl" bike, meaning with pedals and no training wheels:



The part about having pedals is key because we started her on a balance bike (aka running bike) a few months ago.  These little bikes are awesome.  They have no pedals and the child can easily touch their feet to the ground while sitting on the seat.  The idea is that it's harder to learn balance than to learn pedals.  So these bikes allow the child to comfortably and safely learn balance as they "run" the bike.  Soon, they're gliding with their feet up.  Then it's a relatively easy transition to a pedal bike with no training wheels.  That's another key.  Elly never rode a bike with training wheels, so she never learned to rely on them.

Here's a little video of some of our first sessions learning the balance on the balance bike.  Check out this site for the brand we got - Strider.  We highly recommend it.

Playing and Screaming

This is why it's NEVER quiet at our house, except when they're asleep.

Brothee in the Box

The other day Brothee kept climbing in and out of this ottoman that had toys in it.  His technique for getting in is pretty hilarious.

Brothee's Words at 16 Months

Last week we tried to get Brothee to say some of the words he knows.  Some he says just with signs, some verbally, and some both.

It's amazing how fast things have changed in just the past few weeks.  He's growing so fast.  Even since we took this video he's learned a ton of new words including "movie" and "Elmo".

Elly's Easter Talk for Primary - "Alive Again"

Elly gave a talk in Primary about Easter.  We helped her decide what to say, then Lacy drew pictures of the 3 concepts so Elly could talk about them in her own words (instead of us whispering in her ear).  She did a great job!  She talked about the Savior's resurrection ("He came alive again"), an Easter walk she took with Doc and Lily where they noticed nature coming alive again, and Grammie and Camille who died and who will come alive again.  The she shared  her testimony in her own words.

Here's our practice that morning before church:

Playing on the Couch

We bought this couch a few years ago, and it's been (by far) the best toy we've ever purchased for the kids.  Elly loved crawling and jumping on it, and now Miles does too.  The best part is that he's old enough now for them to play together.

Miles Tells A Story

Miles talks (gibberish) like crazy now.  Here's a little story he told us the other day as he was drawing.

The New Fort

We bought this new play structure for the kids to play on. We were going to put it outside, but it's been too cold and rainy/snowy, so it's inside right now. The kids love it. It's everything from a climbing wall to a slide to a fort to a ship to a dog pound (we watch Lady and the Tramp a lot) to whatever.

Pizza Makes Us Happy

It's Saturday night, so that means pizza at our house. And everyone in our family loves pizza, including Miles.

Here's a video of Elly at pretty much the exact same age, in the same chair, eating...what else?  Pizza!



Hit the "pizza" label below to see our family's love affair with pizza.

Brothee Walks!

Miles has been able to take a few steps here and there for a while now, but he finally got enough balance and courage this past week to actually start walking. He often still prefers crawling, but he's pretty much got walking down now.

Elly's friend, Addy, came over to play the other day. When she saw Miles walking she said, "Brothee can walk? I didn't know Brothee could walk!" I guess we call him Boy and Brothee more than we call him Miles. Whatever you want to call him, Brothee can indeed walk.

Elly and Hailey

Here are a couple of videos from last May.  Hailey was Elly's best friend during the MBA program.  They played together practically every day.  We miss you, Wankiers!

Elly and Gigi Cruisin' in the Jeep

Elly's cousin, Gigi, is just a few months older than Elly.  They had a blast playing together over Christmas.  My parents have this kiddie Jeep and big lot to drive it around on.  Gigi loved driving, and Elly hated it.  She only wanted to ride while Gigi drove.  Win-win.

Miles Banana

Here's a little clip of Miles trying to say "banana".  Yes, he's upset until we give him the food.  That's pretty much every moment of his life so far.

Elly - Just Dance 2

My brother's kids have this game for the Wii called Just Dance 2.  It's hilarious.  You just hold the Wii controller and mimic the dancing figure on the screen.  We played it over Christmas.  Elly is pretty awesome at it:

Elly Thoughts on Work, Moms, and Princesses