Q & A:

we have officially arrived at the Q & A phase of connor's toddlerhood....

all day long he's asking questions!

and even when i answer them, he asks "why?"

and his questions are pretty good most of the time

but the best part is how is phrases his questions.

for example:

"we in our neighborhood mom, or no?"

"nolly go with us mom, or no?"

"we go to my friend's house, or no?"

"we go to the store now, or no?"

you get the idea

after every question he asks he says "or no?"

and it gets me every time!

and it doesn't matter my answer he ALWAYS asks "why?"

i love all of his questions 

{even though at times it doen't seem to end}

he is one smart boy!

connor

the kids had their well checks last week

and poor connor had to get a shot

we felt so bad because after the doctor left the room he looked at us and said lets go

we didn't know how to break it to him that we were waiting on the nurse for a shot :(

he did pretty good but we were so sad for him

after we got home i asked him how his arm felt 

and this was the face i got...

connor has gotten big!

he's 31.5 lbs now! 

{he's been 28 lbs for like the last year}

molly - 16 months

our little sweetie is 16 months now!

she is...

{so much different then connor was} 

she is a very busy girl

talking non-stop and repeating everything we say

if you sneeze she will say 'bless you'

she loves her binkie, blankie and babies!

she walks around the house saying

'binkie where are you'

and

'MOMMY'! {over and over}

she is very independent and likes to do everything we do

she likes to dance and watch movies for about 4 minutes

she loves books and to brush her teeth

sometimes i wonder how she even knows how to do things

like only eat the middle out of an oreo

or turn on and off the lights

{she loves light switches}

she is still little 

tiny feet and 10th percentile for weight

but she is growing! 

she's a little bit of a bully 

she's a hitter and at times a biter

these days all connor says is "no nolly"

these days all i'm saying is 

'molly get off of the table'

'molly don't stick your finger in there'

'molly get out of the trash'

'molly don't put that in your mouth'

'molly stop (hitting, biting, screaming)'

'what molly?'

we still call her our little moo-moo bear

and connor still calls her nolly

we love her so much and everyday she amazes us with what she can do at her age

it is seriously never a dull moment with her around

she really keeps us going!

"i love you to the moon and back"

raising tots isn't easy and some days are just plain tough...

but when you have moments with your kids when they show you in their own way just how much they love you it brings me back to why i wanted kids in the first place.

the other day i was trying {desperately these days} 

to get connor into bed with high hopes of getting actually getting him to sleep

and as he was bouncing around {and i was trying to find the patients to get through bedtime} he said

"it's ok mom 'acause you my girl"

i was stunned at where he got that from and then my heart melted...

i said "i am?"

"yeah, you're my girl and my best friend too"

"and nolly's my girl too"

{i know, right? make it stop!}

he said it to me again this morning followed by a big hug...

where do they get these things? 

i don't know and when they are this cute, i don't care! 

connor is my constant companion 

and he makes sure {with great effort}

that i am never alone

not for a meal, or shower or anywhere in the house!

and i love him for it!

happy new year!

james and i dropped what we were doing and on new year's eve we jumped in the car and headed to vegas to celebrate.

we've never done anything for new years and this year it

worked our perfectly for us to take some time and get out of town just the two of us!

{the new bridge over the hoover dam is DONE and made the trip so much faster}

we had a great time...

james' dad and kim were staying in vegas for new years too so we got to hang with them a little more

we ate at some great places and rang in the new year on the las vegas strip outside of treasure island and the palazzo

it was the most spectacular fireworks show at the stroke of midnight that i've ever seen

there was an estimated 320,000 people in vegas celebrating 

but where we were wasn't too bad.

we would definitely go there again for new year's!

{a cab driver told us that most people just drove in for the night and by sunday morning

it was pretty empty}

corkill christmas

kathy {gamma to the kids} spent the whole day cooking for us

it was great because we haven't had a christmas at her house in a few years

everyone was there and it was a great christmas

we exchanged gifts, ate great food and spent time together

we could not believe how spoiled our kids were on christmas from everyone!

let's just say gamma is going to be cut off for a while from buying them stuff

our car on the way home looked like we were moving!

uncle brian

this is all of us!

christmas morning

christmas morning was wild at our house!

connor and molly were very good!

they got all kinds of great stuff

and their grandparents also spoiled them!  

molly loved all the paper and boxes around!

after opening presents and having breakfast 

we got the kids loaded up and went to james' mom's house 

to spend christmas day with cousins, aunts and uncles

christmas eve

we spent christmas eve at my parent's house...

it is our family tradition to celebrate with a fancy dinner 

open our christmas pjs and exchange gifts

this year james' family joined us

we had a great time and the little kids LOVED their gifts

after we were done with dinner and gifts we hurried home 

to make cookies for santa and get ready for our christmas.

 these two kiddies are constantly cracking us up! 

and christmas eve opening up their gifts was no exception...

jamie & kim

molly loved the baby she got!