Fourth of July in Arkansas 2010

Corning has a carnival-type celebration with a parade and pageant. We made it just in time this year! Cole rode on the kiddie train and cousin Ariel won Queen of the infant pageant!

More Photos of Summer Trip

Here are some of the Arkansas side. Note the photos are uploading backwards in order.

Summer Trip 2010

This summer trip went as expected. There weren't any real surprises which we wouldn't have dealt with very well! Cole was actually better this year on the drive talking about going to Nana's house and swimming in her pool and watching the train with her. Alora was not as excited about driving. She was able to snack and nap for the mostpart, though saving us additional stress from all the screaming we anticipated. We probably spent more time driving than we did anything else; possibly more than everything else combined! Alora didn't want to sit in her carseat at all when we got home even after a couple of days of doing nothing but stay home. It was worth seeing family, though.

We drove up to Michigan and then down to Arkansas. In Michigan, we saw fireflies and fed ducks. We helped Grampa pick up leaves...There was a carnival with hot-air balloons as we were leaving one of which crashed on the side of the freeway! In Arkansas, there were a lot of mosquitoes and swimming and gardening with Grandpa Stephens and swimming and digging and watching trains and digging! There was even a toad trying to swim with us one day! The kids had a great time seeing their cousins again and meeting new ones! We also got to see Rick and Laura in Oklahoma City on the way back! The photos show just some of the highlights of our cross-country adventures.

The New Year

Alora feeding herself eggs!

Mommy's sweatheart!

Cole and Alora getting along!
Alora and Cole really have become quite chatterboxes! Cole's sentences are marvelous! He started out this year asking questions and them repeating our answers...over and over again. Now, he's quite the conversationalist! Alora is repeating things...sometimes she just chooses to babble. Other times, she repeats what anybody says. She likes to say "Hi" to anybody she sees in the store. She has said "Hello" when she's found the T.V. remote and help it up to her ear. She calls for me "MaMA" and Heath "Ma?" and Cole "BoyBOY!" She says "Nigh nigh" when she's ready for bed. She quacks for duck, "oo"s for cows, "bahbah"s for dogs, and snorts for pigs! Today, at the end of Cole's backpack song, he said "Yeah!" and Alora said, "Yeah!" I helped Cole change clothes and before Alora ran away, I grabbed her and said, "Your turn." While I was changing her, she said, "Yo durrr..." YOUR TURN. So precious. Her talking is really either for entertainment or a slip; she prefers to point and grunt. Necessity, I guess. I imagine she'll be competing with Cole before long, though! They are getting along a lot better lately.

Christmas 2009

It was a magical day as I hoped for...Alora surprisingly was up early and did not want to go back to sleep like she normally does so early in the morning, but possibly she knew there was something special about the day! We all got up and went downstairs to see what Santa had left us all. Cole was very excited about the car track he saw first and Alora her 4-wheeler that matched Cole's. Of course, Cole couldn't pull himself away from his new electric train! We set it up in his room so that he could play with it by himself and not worry about little sister trying to take it apart and of course he asks us constantly to go with him to watch it! We had a fun time playing with cars, building robots with all the Megablocks, coloring, eating, practicing ABCs, and chasing each other on the 4-wheelers. It was a fun-filled day that I hope the children will remember...at least a part of.

Alora is babbling!

She's so cute! The past couple of weeks, we realized that when Alora yells, "Bah BAH!" She's calling her brother. We would say, "Boy BOY?!" We tested it out...she will keep repeating after you! This week or rather yesterday, I noticed when she woke up from her nap she started doing the "Doy doy doy..." the same thing Cole did last year transitioning to words! She also has been "La la la..." singing and "L..." swishing her tongue side to side...So I believe her first word was Mama which she still says, for me it's "maMA?" but it sounds similar when she wants a bite of your food! "mammma". She says bottle "BAba". I miss it, but am so glad she has stopped the glass-shattering scream! She still has quite some lungs when she cries and you can't miss her crying...oh no, she WILL be heard!

Decorating Done?

Here are some current photos of the house...