Some vids from Soda Springs

I was just clearing out the video camera and uncovered these. For whatever reason, closing weekend was a super magical time, and I still feel that when looking at these videos. I just love how much my kids love one another and how much they love Soda Springs. (Ok, Amelia may not know that she loves Soda Springs yet, but she'll figure it out soon enough!)

2 1/2 years!!!

I can't believe it, but Miles is 2 and a 1/2 years old. Sometimes I look at him, and he is still my little baby, but mostly I see a little boy. His language is exploding and we now talk all the time - real conversations. I am totally surprised by his little memory, and he is picking up concepts really quickly. Some snippets:

• "Look Miles, a school." "Yeah, people going Kindergarten there." "Yeah, kindergarten." "But Mamma and Pop-pop are too big for Kindergarten." "yes, that's true, Mamma and Pop-pop already went to kindergarten. Where are mamma and Pop-pop now?" "On a boat!" (Cruising in Alaska.)
• "Miles, are you done with your blueberries?" (he, looks) "No, just have a little bit left".

He is amazing with his little sister and is constantly jumping out of bed to say goodnight or good morning to her. He is a wonderfully polite little boy and says please, thank you and your welcome all the time. He has even started to say "bless you" when someone sneezes, including himself.

When I count my blessings, I count Miles twice.

Miles wearing his hair like Amelia

And one more guitar one because they ROCK

Guitar Hero

2 weekends ago, we went down to Santa Cruz with the kids, Uncle Doogan, Mamma, Pop-pop, Kylie and Cody. Miles was THRILLED to see his cousins, in fact, when they all met up, Miles was so excited he ran down the boardwalk flailing his legs out to the right and left - just an expression of pure joy.

As we milled about the boardwalk, Miles was disinterested in all the games and other "schlock" the boardwalk promoted - until he saw the stall with guitars. At which point, he made a hard left, crossed pedestrian traffic and waited for one of us to win him a guitar. The game was to throw 2 darts into a star on a board. Tim took a couple of attempts, so did Uncle Doogan - but it was actually me with Amelia in the Bjorn who one him the guitar. I actually threaded the second dart into the back of the first one - like Robin Hood. The kid manning the booth gaped and declared he hadn't seen that before. We hardly noted the rareness of the throw and concetrated on arguing why we had one our little man his guitar.

He then spent the rest of the day walking around the boardwalk and playing. We could hardly get it out of his hands for the ride back, and 2 weeks later it is still his favorite toy. Clearly Miles has a thing for stringed instruments.

In fact, last weekend up in Soda Springs, our caretaker's daughter Brooklyn had her small guitar and she let Miles hold it. I really think this might be his future album cover....

Funny kids

Last weekend we went up to close Soda Springs for the summer. :( It was a gorgeous weekend full of mental pictures. I am not sure if it was that the light was better (which it is in the fall) or if I was trying to capture all the memories to get me through the winter (which I did), but it just seemed like everything was a memory. Miles ran around like he owned the place - and knew just where the ping pong table way, Nick's cabin, and even the lake. On the ride out, I started saying "Goodbye" to everything like the cabin, the meadow, the soda house, and the river. Miles repeated everything, and then started adding his own "goodbye lake, goodbye beach, goodbye trees) so cute! I hope that he grows up knowing how special of a place it is and loving it as much as his parents do.

While in the cabin, Amelia scooted everywhere on the floor. She really became a filthy mess, but couldn't have been more pleased with herself. At one point while I was trying to photograph her excursion, she made the following face:


Obviously not her prettiest, but Miles thought it was so funny, he wanted to imitate it!

Visit from daddo!

Daddo and his partner were out in CA for the weekend and came by for dinner. Out Little Bug was a bit cranky, but couldn't have been happier in her grandfather's arms. Daddo was a little tired and hurting, but he danced away with our little girl and she calmed down and loved the cuddles!

Make up man

While I was putting on my make up the other day, miles took to the activity. He quietly sat next to me, which is big for him, and brushed on his own eye shadow... Just not on his eyes.

Holy Cow - 7 months!

Life has been insane, and I can't say I have been all that graceful at handling life as a working mom with 2 kids. However, everyone is happy and healthy even though Mom is exhausted!

Amelia is 7 months old today, and here are some notes on her development:

• Teething. Awesome. The first one came out of no where 2 weeks ago, but lately she has been snotty, cranky, and waking up at all hours.
• Eating. She eats everything. She seems constantly hungry and is always thrilled to have more food. We got her her own high chair so she now sits at the table and not on the table - very Exciting! I think she loves being in her own chair, and when she is done eating, she is mostly content sitting in her chair and chewing on a teething biscuit or frozen fruit until the rest of us are done with dinner.
• Moving. Amelia motors everywhere, though still in the army crawl. She often gets up on her hands and knees and can sometimes scoot both her legs forward at once, but she hasn't figured out the real crawl, though I imagine it is coming soon.
• Communicating. Though she hasn't started with many of her consonants, she engages with her squeaks and her grunts. She is ahead of the curve physically so I am not concerned that she might be a week or 2 behind the curve verbally.
• Sleeping. Still not through the night, especially while teething. She seems fine with it, but I am pretty cranky. :)
• Siblings. Miles adores her and she adores him. Lately the two have become quite chatty at night with each other and part of their routine involves entertaining one another before the drift off. It is literally my favorite time of night when we've put them to bed and listen to them build their relationship.
  

More to come soon, she is an amazing little love and we can hardly imagine life without her.