The blogging has taken a back seat to something called LIFE.  Wow, things are busy around here.  Between school, speech, swimming lessons, Community Bible Study, staying in shape and trying to be a working mom, I've found little time for blogging.  Since I write this blog as my children's baby book/scrapbook, I will do my best to back up and report to you (and them someday) what we've been up to.

Chloe is still 100% diva and is just about the most adorable little girl we know.  Lately, she's been insisting she's a boy.  So when we tell her that she's such a pretty girl she gets  upset with us and screams that she's actually a boy.  

She doesn't say "actually" though. She "actually" doesn't say much and until a couple of weeks ago I was starting to worry a little bit.  I worried mostly because Brooks was a genius child and was reciting chapters of books at this age (well, not really but pretty close). 

This week though, she's begun to speak much more clearly.  Yeah! Her favorite sentence is "NO WAY".  She replies "NO WAY" to almost everything.  She says it so much that Brooks told me the other day that he is "so sick of hearing Chloe say NO WAY."  And to that comment from her brother Chloe would most definitely say "NO WAY!"  We think it's darling and will proclaim that as her first real sentence.  She had one other sentence much earlier on, but it's not appropriate to talk about on the blog (no swearing or anything like that, just something that might make you think we are goofy and we wouldn't want that! wink, wink.)

 We had a fabulous birthday party in November for an even more fabulous sister.  We were thrilled to honor my sister Stephanie at our house for a super fun night of games, food and stories about our favorite girl.  Brooks had a secret date with his Ti-Ti in the bathroom and came out with some tattoos on his back.  Yes, this is the whole package.  This kind of stuff is why he loves his Ti-Ti, I'm sure.

Do you want to know what true love looks like?  See below.  Steph is such a good mom.

 During the party Brooks had tons of fun playing Wii with the boys.  He fit right in with the older kids.  They were so nice to him.  It's neat to watch him learn social skills and master the art of taking turns and getting along.  Lakeview Christian Academy is worth every penny to us.  He's learned so much about loving Jesus and so much about becoming a polite young man who kids want to be around.  It's such a blessing to watch him make friends.

 And my little girl boy Chloe loves her guns.  What a doll cowboy.

Daddy's little helper.

That's my kid!

It's been a fan--tas---tic Fall.  It's the middle of November and Brooks was outside today without a jacket!  It's warm and sunny and pretty tropical for Duluth, MN.  We are loving  it and are going to try to remember how beautiful the Fall was when it is April and we still---have---snow (boo).

We had some friends over on Sunday.  It was a blast.  The kids played together perfectly and having four around instead of two actually seemed easier than having just our two.  Brooks  told me he wishes we could have another baby.  No chance of that here.  Poor kid, he's so deprived.  I told him we can have babies come and visit.

  

He's already forgotten about wanting a baby. 

Now he's onto wanting super powers that would let him see inside of people and a grey Batman costume.

During our time with friends we loved watching the girls be girls and the boys be boys.  

It's amazing, really.

Brooks is a busy boy. On top of school three full days a week, he attends speech therapy twice a week. He's learning to say his "s" more clearly. It's starting to work when he's rested. When he's tired, not so much. He's been a great student so far. He's trying hard to make his tongue a cup and is getting much better at keeping his tongue behind his teeth.

We skipped trick-or-treating this year.  The kids had no clue.  Brooks had swimming lessons and quite honestly it seems like Halloween every day at our house.  Brooks does not go one day without multiple costume changes.  The best part of it all?  He thinks (really believes) that we have no idea who he really is when he is dressed in costume.  

Recently, after running around the house for an evening in his Spiderman costume Brooks called my dad (his Opa) aside to whisper something in his ear.  

What did he whisper you ask?  

"Opa, don't tell anyone, but it's really me...Brooks...under here!"

(I am sure my dad fell in love AGAIN at that exact moment.)

We did have a chance this past weekend to attend trunk-or-treat at our Auntie's church.  What a great idea.  No traffic, cars close together allowing less walking for a two-year old, daylight, quick, minimal candy and lots of fun letting the kids run free.

I think Chloe won the award for the cutest Batgirl they've ever seen.  At least if there was a contest, she'd of gotten an award.  I'm sure of it.  She's such a diva and loved her pleather Batgirl outfit.  

Mostly she loved being just like Brother.

  

She adores her Brooks.

This is Auntie Linda.  She loves Angry Birds.  Just ask her Carpal-tunnel Syndrome about it!

Now that I can blog from my phone, I can easily share my phone pics! Yeah! It's the small things these days that make me so happy. At church on Sunday our pastor talked about stress and worry. My new goal is to trust Him and find joy in everything. Because really, He's in control so why waste time taking things into my own hands. Right? Right.

Enough about that. Here are some sweet pictures from a recent fall festival we went to. We had fun. It was perfect for a two and four year old and very simple. Sometimes simple is just better.

Test...test...
Two awesome things tonight.
Coffee with Tamika.
Learned to blog from phone.
Love this girl.

We went to a corn maze a few weekends ago.  The kids had fun.  Chloe stayed home with Opa, which ended up being a very good decision.  It was fun to let the kids go into the maze alone and listen to their squeals from outside.  

It's become humorous that almost any event we plan that we think will be so much fun ends up with Brooks having a hard time obeying.  

He really is a good kid deep in his heart.  

He doesn't try to disobey and feels really bad when he does.  

It's just that his energy is unmatched and his emotion comes from the deepest part of his soul.  It's hard to explain, but just think of him as the only kid in our party that came out of the maze dripping sweat.  The other kids?  Not a drip.

So, just like most super fun things we do, he ended up losing his ice cream treat (which I wasn't ever really going to buy him anyway...shhh, don't tell him) because he just couldn't stop picking the corn from the maze.  After he'd picked 5 ears of corn and was asked to stop several times (the corn maze needed corn for at least 4 more weekends) the fun event ended up with a "settle down, listen to me and obey me" talk between child and parents.  Sigh.  Love him.

 There are some very sweet moments that go along with our challenges.  When the kids play together without fighting it's the best!  It's fun to listen to Brooks say things to Chloe like, "Chloe, let me just cut your fingers off." while he pretends to be the doctor.  Poor little sister.  She has no clue and does just about anything Brother asks.

 Brooks comes up with the best costumes.  Below:  Green Lantern, Buzz Lightyear, Captain America and Scary Mexican wrestling mask all in one!

Not to be outdone...

Meet Batgirl.

Miss Susan, our Nanny, says it best with a heavily sarcastic undertone.

"Heather!  I am so glad that Chloe finally got an I-Pod!  I mean, she is two years old and some weeks, isn't she?"

Ha.  Ha.  Ha.

I love that she can be so honest with me.

 Yes, Chloe has an I-Pod.  We got to thinking, and whether our thinking was right or wrong, (Please refrain from sharing your opinion.  You are ONLY allowed to do that if you are Super Nanny.) we decided to get Chloe an I-Pod.  

Our justification?  Well, if we were going to get her one when she was three or four, why not get one now and let her enjoy it?  So, off to the store Greg marched (or drove) and he bought our dear, sweet, tech-savvy, two-year-old her very own I-Pod.  

She navigates through the thing like a pro and loves her "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and "Wheels on the Bus" app.  She also loves to make us ice cream sundaes and has been busted trying to eat them off of the screen.  

It's fun.  Really fun. And the buck-toothed, full body grin that we get every time we hand her her very own I-pod makes it so worth it.

 On another note.  Not a day goes by that one kid isn't trying to be the other kid.  Or one kid tells the other kids to "do this" or "try that".  It's great, as long as they are modeling obedient behavior and telling each other to try things that won't end up in disaster or injury.  

This is one of the more innocent, "Hey, look what I can do!  Try this, Brother!"  

I won't pretend this was all sweet and wonderful though.  Greg took the picture, but I am GUESSING (a well-educated guess) that it went something like this:

--Chloe put the lunch bag on her head. 

--Brooks screamed "I want it!"

--Chloe squealed back and held onto it as tight as she possibly could while stiffening her entire body.

--Brooks attempted to take it off her head with force.

--Chloe started to cry and laid on the floor while very upset.

--Daddy intervened and explained they can both have a turn.

--Daddy took a picture of both of them.

--Kids are happy. 

--Daddy waits for kids to lose interest in the lunch bag.

--Daddy hides lunch bag.

There is very little peace around here.  Some days I long for a quiet house with no mess.  But then I get real with myself and play super hero for the fourth time in one day, remembering that I'm really going to miss this stuff.