Roller Skating

We have been having fantastic weather lately. 50 and 60 degree days in February in Nebraska are very rare, and we have been taking full advantage. We have been outside riding bikes and playing on the swingset, we went to the park on Friday and Sunday, we got out a Christmas present that hadn't been opened yet. The roller skates. They're beginner skates that go over their shoes, and they have 3 settings as they learn and get better. They did well with them on level 1. They kind of walked around on them. We switched them to level 2 (where they roll only forwards, not backwards) and held their hands and taught them how to roll. They had a good time. Today the weather is 60+ degrees, so we are planning on being outside again in the afternoon.

In addition to being outside, we went to the indoor playground place that's by our house called Lost in Fun. It's the one with the inflatable bouncers and swing sets (see Jan. posts). We with with Grandma, Aunt Lisa, Carter and Camden. We played all morning, then ate lunch there. Boy, were they tired when we got home! We also hit the library, park, church, grandparents houses and ran errands. Just a quick note on the running errands point, now that they're older, they are so much easier to take to public places. I can let them walk in and trust that they'll stand there and not run around like maniacs. I took them to their bank to deposit their birthday/Christmas money yesterday and they stood there like angels. The two bank tellers gushed over them and they each got some candy. Grace even waved to the security cameras as we were coming in and out. Hilarious! I may have also mentioned we were getting rid of diapers at nap time, and were using covers instead. Well, that has been going very well, so we even got rid of the covers! So far everyone is waking up dry and no accidents. Now, we're working on night-time. Grace has been waking up dry most mornings, so I think very soon she will not have to wear a diaper at night anymore. Will can wake up dry, so I think he pees first thing when he wakes up or while he's waiting for someone to get him up. I just need to think about how to stop that and we'll be golden!

Xander has been getting more and more sneaky lately. Here's a prime example. On Friday night, he wanted to put all the trains and train tracks into one of their play purses. Brian didn't want him to because Will and Grace were playing with the trains. He kept saying to Xander "you may not put your trains in the purse." So, Xander said to him "I'll get my surprise (which is a little plastic bag thing that my mom gave them) it's not a purse." Brian said "It's just like a purse." Xander "but it's not a purse." Brian "Xander, it's just like a purse." Xander "But, it's not a purse." Brian realized he couldn't argue with a 3 year old's logic so he said "Xander, you may not put the trains in your surprise." So Xander said, "Daddy, you need to go upstairs." Brian "Why?" Xander "Mommy wants you." At this point, I had just walked downstairs and heard the conversaion. Xander "Daddy, go upstairs." Brian "Xander, I'm not going upstairs." Xander "But mommy needs you to go upstairs." I said "Xander, if Daddy goes upstairs are you going to put the trains in your purse." Xander "no." Me "Xander, if Daddy goes upstairs are you going to put the trains in your surprise." Xander "yes." At least his is honest. Sneaky, but honest.

Grace about melted my heart today with what she said to Xander. It went like this:

Grace: I love you Xander.

Xander: No, I don't love you.

Grace (with a VERY sad face and the saddest voice you've ever heard): But you're my best friend.

Xander: no.

Me: Xander, Grace is saying something nice to you. Maybe you could say something nice back.

Xander: OK. I love you, too.

Me: Maybe now you can hug.

Grace gave him a huge hug. So cute! I about died when she said he was her best friend!

Will has started doing this evil genius laugh that is just hilarious. I'm going to try to get it on tape so you can hear it. The other thing he does now is flips his tongue out when he says and "L" sound. It's hard to describe, so I'll try to get that on video too. It cracks me up to hear words like "lollipop" and "willy nilly". My mom also said he told my dad to shut up yesterday. I haven't heard that one at home, yet, but I will not like it if we start that. I'm pretty sure that they heard that in a movie recently. (That's what I'll blame it on, not Brian and I of course!) :-) That's all for now. Thanks for checking up on us!