Our genius--and very silly--kids...

On any given day, it is always amazing to me the things that the kids discover, or make up, or think is funny, or learn.

Right now, Noah is learning so much every day that it makes my brain hurt: He knows most of the alphabet...he confuses some of the letters like I and T, F and E, and other similar letters. He also likes to count as he's playing and can get all the way up to twelve without messing up...he also tries to through in fourteen and sixteen but doesn't know where they go! Singing is one of his favorite hobbies...today he actually made up a song about one of his favorite books, Fox in Sox. He constantly picks up new songs if I've been singing around the house (i've really had to watch what comes over the radio!) and then walks around singing like I do when I'm cleaning.

He also loves learning his prayers...we have a couple of night time prayers we always say, plus the before meals prayer, and he is learning the Our Father. Recently he decided that the words were: "Our Father, who art in Heaven, Howard be thy name"....but he gets the majority of the words right!

Noah is also so creative...he'll take a bite of his food and say it is a dinosaur running around the table, or will hide under a blanket so that the lion that is chasing him can't get him.

Bella, on the other hand, is at that point where everything she sees is new and exciting and she tries to get her hands on it. She is at the point where she is developing so much physically...and fast! I started working on this post about a week ago, and at that time was going to say that she is just starting to crawl and get go about four crawls forward....and now she is all over the place! Yesterday she started to pull herself up to her knees...and today got all the way up to her feet. SHe went through a period of scooting backwards, and she still has never scooted forwards! I tried to get a video of her doing it but every time I tried she would stop and smile up at me, so I never got one :(

Bella is such a sociable baby..she just wants to smile and talk at everyone who looks at her. Sometimes I think she looks around just for people to coo at!

Here are some of the pictures I've taken recently of my new favorite silly things the kids have picked up around the house. Enjoy them as much as we do :)

Noah got this pop-up fire engine tent from Joe and Chels for Christmas. It has been a pretty permanent fixture to the living room! The day I took these pictures, he had decided that it was too cold in the house but it was warm enough in his fire truck. So whatever toys he wanted to play with got dragged into the tent. At one point, he told me he was tired and needed to have a "nigh-night' in the tent...so he grabbed a pillow and a blankie and tucked himself in inside the tent.

Noah during his "nigh-night"...that is what he calls naps.

Checking to see if it was warm enough to come out yet. It reminded me of Ground Hog's Day...

Bella loves mirrors. She discovered the little mirror on top of the excersaucer and sits and stairs at herself for forever. Sometimes she tries to grab at it...I don't think she understands why the other baby can't play with her, though.

Bella's new favorite toy: Socks. Give her socks and she's happy. SHe loves the feel of them in her hands, how they feel to chew on, the way they look...everything. This was during dinner one night. She was really fussy and was throwing all her toys on the floor so Brian took her sock off and handed it to her...she was quiet the rest of the time. And sat like that with it in her mouth for about five minutes.

Noah has loved bath time for a while...but it is a new thing for Bella. She has discovered splashing. She doesn't laugh like Noah used to but she gets mad that the water hits her in the face and whines for a little while. And then starts again. Noah does like to have Bella in there with him. But last time I checked with the official bath-giver of the family (aka my wonderful hubby) we've been having tub-toy sharing issues.

Mid splash...love that face :)

Mid-bite...Bella isn't such a fan of her veggies.

Noah has developed such a little sense of humor lately. He finds something funny and just doubles over laughing. He is also such a ham that he'll do something that he thinks is funny and the breaks out into this cheesy laugh where he throws his head back...and then when he stops and looks around he'll go "Silly Noah!".

In these pictures he is playing with his new Elmo...and he literally falls over laughing because aparently this Elmo is THAT funny to him. It is the Elmo Live doll, which talks and moves its arms and legs and tells stories, sings, etc. Noah can't get enough of it! I haven't gotten any good pictures of Noah playing with it because he is always doubled over or jumping!

Having a Wii at our house is also very new for Noah! He doesn't quite know how it works yet but he gets really into it.

The buddies enjoying a little Sesame Street together.

Noah has recently gotten very interested in cooking. I hand him a bowl and a spoon while I'm make dinner and he's a happy camper. He imitates so much of what I do...in this pciture he is busy scraping out the bowl with his spatula.

Noah's new flash cards. They are Sesame Street number flash cards and have really been helping Noah learn his numbers.

This is the closest I got to getting a video of Bella going backwards. When she would scoot backwards she would inevitably get herself stuck in a corner and get mad because she couldn't herself back out!