Aww, they do love each other!!

The kids have been playing together so well lately. They'll run all over the house pretending to be someone or something. Belle will sit in Ethan's room with him driving his Cars around his geotrax set. Ethan will play dolls in the dollhouse in Belle's room. They've wrestled on the couch, or took turns jumping off the couch into their bean bags (before they got yelled at).

So I thought it best to document it while it lasts. Who knows, they could be at each other's throats tomorrow.

Laying under the table eating pretzels


Enjoying all the costumes I got for 75% off around Halloween time.


I told Belle to act like a pirate, this is what I got.

Love Shutterfly

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Scripted Name Baby 5x7 folded card

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ABC Drill Sargeant

Belle is sitting on an ABC poster and she's drilling her brother on the alphabet. He seems to be a willing participant, so I'll take it.

Saturday morning

Been playing with the ipod camera capabilities. It's convenient, but not always the best quality. Lighting is key. And I haven't figured out how to get HD videos. Oh and wondering if there is a way to record video horizonally. It looks a little weird vertical.

But here is some fun we had this morning. Yep, the kids jump off furniture over here.



This was from the Instagram app.

She's reading!!

I had forgotten about the collection of BOB books that we had. It occurred to me to maybe try them out again. She's doing awesome. She's read two of the books very easily, but gets stuck on a few words with the rest of the books. She's been very proud of herself!

Ah, my baby is growing up.

Droid!!

I've been playing with this wonderful Droid2 now for awhile, but had to give it up this week. It's been wonderful. You may remember me going to this party with Ariel hosted by the Queen of Free. I had been wanting a smart phone for awhile, but just haven't wanted to pony up the money. So this was a nice treat and let me get my feet wet a little.

There were all sorts of fun and useful things I found on the Droid. I think I used the VZ Navigator the most. It was nice since we don't have GPS in the car. I loved how it would find nearby restaurants by using our location. That was an especially useful app on a recent trip to IKEA.

I think Swype, might be my favorite app. I had originally thought that I wanted a Qwerty keyboard, but after discovering Swype, I never used it. It is so easy and SO intuitive. I wish I could get that app on my ipod touch.

Then there were the fun apps like Grocery IQ and of course the amazingly powerful time suck that is called Angry Birds. I was familiar with this app before the Droid, but its just so addicting that I had to have it on the phone too. The kids LOVED Talking Tom. I really didn't see what the big deal was, but man that app really entertained the kids. There was even a Talking Santa app for the Holiday season. One thing that I learned, that once I download kid apps, the device is no longer my own. The kids were always wanting to play on it.


The Droid even saved my rear one night when my internet service was down. I had several projects that needed emailed to their respective clients and the mobile hotspot that the Droid created save the day.

Only problems I had were getting videos off the phone. Seemed like I could never get a strong enough connection to get a large video uploaded to youtube or to an email. And the picture quality wasn't always the greatest, but definitely better than the pictures that come off my current phone.

Overall it was a great experience and when the day comes that I might get a smart phone, a Android phone will definitely be it. Thanks Verizon and Queen of Free for letting me have fun with this phone over the holidays.

Ice Skating

Belle has been asking to go ice skating for awhile now. I'm not sure where she got this idea, maybe she saw something on tv. Well since we were heading to Troy for Christmas and the Hobart Arena is so close, I thought we'd give it a shot.

Now Belle has never even been on skates. At all. We got off to a rough start. Belle wanted to keep moving her legs really fast. But she eventually got going at a good pace and learned to move slowly. I was getting one heck of a workout by trying to keep myself upright, and also pick Belle up off the ice.

In an hour we made it around the rink 2.5 times. She swears she had fun, but asked to go home and cut through the center of the rink. Maybe we should get her some roller skates so that she can practice. 

This was the best pic I got on my phone. I think she was too scared to look at me and lose focus.


And video of course.

Christmas Evening

In the evening Mimi and Poppy came over with their gifts.

They enjoyed their final round of gifts with the grand finale being new bikes. Belle with her new 16 inch bike and Ethan with a new balance bike. Ethan hasn't quite gotten the hang of pedals yet and his tricycle is too short for him to push around with his legs. And boy can he move on his tricycle going "Barney Rubble" style. So we thought the balance bike would be perfect. Poor kid needs a growth spurt in the legs before spring, he was just a little short. He'll get the hang of it Im sure.

Christmas Morning

I need to get the photos from mom for a Christmas Eve post, but here is Christmas morning at the Freshour house.

The loot. Nic and I had our first taste of staying up putting toys together. We had to assemble the train set and the Geotrax set. It was also the year that I was pretty thrifty. I got the Geotrax set on Craigslist for half of what it was new and it was in perfect condition. I bought the train set with a table that came with it. Since we already had a nice train set (from CL), I sold the new train table. Which made the train set itself much cheaper than what I would've paid for it in the store.


On Belle's side she got two of my old dolls. My American Girl doll and one of my Precious moments dolls ( I have over 20!). Mom has been bugging me to get them out of her house. Two is a start. Belle really liked the dolls, but doesn't play with them a whole lot. She's never been a doll girl. And that Zooble set was half off on woot.com. I probably spent more overall than I had hoped, but there are some great deals in there.




The cat had fun trying to get the cars on the Geotrax set.


Time came for our annual Christmas pj picture, and Ethan wasn't having it. I think he got in trouble for something and there wasn't getting a smile out of him after that.

That picture reminded me of this one.

Freshour Christmas

We headed to the Freshours the Sunday before Christmas to celebrate Christmas over there when we could get everyone together. The kids were super excited to get their first taste of presents for the season.

Ethan actually did a good job opening presents here. I think he got his fill at Mamaw and Papaw's, cause we could hardly get him to open a gift at Christmas.


Belle got her Rapunzel. Do you think she looks excited?






Here are Waren and Ethan in their matching pjs. Ethan is little to begin with, but when he's slouching next to Waren he looks really little. They are about the same size, even though Waren is 6 mos younger.


And the family photo.

Sledding

So far this year the kids have loved playing in the snow. Ethan wasn't into it much last year, but is loving it so far this year.

We went sledding a couple weeks ago when we had quite a bit of snow. Of course the kids had a blast.




And here are a couple videos. In one, the kids try to take me out with the sled.

Belle's Christmas Program

I'm way behind on blogging. Blame it on the load of freelance work I have. I'll try to catch up.

It was time again for Belle's Preschool Christmas program. Last years was really quick, the preschool kids sung only 2 songs I think. This year the PreK kids got to sing 4. It was still a super quick program. Belle of course has no problems being in front of tons of people. There was one poor little preschool kid though that I felt awful for. He just stood up there crying the whole time, with his eyes closed. It was hard not to laugh though.





Each year they do a Christmas Story power point presentation where the kids dress up as different characters. Last year Belle was a cow, this year she was one of the stars of the show, Mary.



They had a slide of Belle's class. Of course she is striking a pose.



Mimi and Poppy came.



So did Mamaw and Papaw, with a surprise visit from Savannah. Not sure why Belle was giving us a weird look.



Ethan spent the evening with his friend Titus so he wouldn't have to sit through the program. Ariel and Jeremy took them to ride the "up and downs" (escalators and elevators) at the mall and then to Chik-Fil-A. Bless their brave hearts for even attempting that. They also got to experience Ethan's excitement for Christmas lights. He was going through a phase where he'd yell "LIGHTS!!" every time they passed a house with some Christmas lights.  Totally cute at first, but quickly got a little old.

The Year in Review

I was going through some of my old posts throughout the past year. Its even kind of hard to believe that I've had this blog since 2007. You can go all the way back to when Belle was 6 mos old. I hope this blog will be here when my kids get older and they can go through it themselves. And just in case it isn't, I've been printing the blog using Blurb (which reminds me, I still need to do a 2009 blog book).

Here is what Belle has been up to the past year.
• She started off the year pretty rough. She had Whooping Cough for HALF of 2010. I think she finally stopped coughing around June.
• She finished her first year of preschool. She loves going to school and isn't happy unless she gets to go somewhere every day. Very unlike her mommy in the fact that she thrives on social interaction. Mom on the other hand could probably be a hermit.
• Belle learned how to write her name really well. She knows all letters, upper and lower and all their sounds. She's even pretty good at reading three letter words. She can count to 30, although once you get past 15, it's a little hit and miss on accuracy. She's learned her address, but for some reason still struggles with her full name (First, Middle and Last). I guess I should take credit for that, I gave her one heck of a name (Isabella Annaleise Freshour). Oh and she's pretty good at rhyming.
• She completed her first dance recital in Ballet. She loves the stage and loves dance. It was fun watching her. She also started Tap in the fall and so far Tap seems to be her favorite. She's currently working on dancing like a Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz.
• Belle had her first solo (as in without parents) swim lesson. She has been asking ever since it ended when she can go back to swim lessons.
• She's started PreK and is, of course, loving it. Next year she may go to Kindergarten, if I decide to not hold her back.
• Belle definitely has a lively personality. She's constantly on the go and is always asking questions. This has been the year of the "why?" question. And for some reason she's never satisfied if I tell her "I don't know".
• Belle still loves horses. She got to take her first horse back riding lesson this year.

Now Ethan:
• Ethan has changed so much over the year. He's turned into a kid and is not a baby anymore.
• He too had it pretty rough healthwise at the first of the year. Constant ear infections led him to get tubes like his sister. He's done well since then, although one tube has already fallen out. Belle's tubes lasted MUCH longer. I think she just lost one this year after having them since 14mos old.
• He has gone from a great eater to a picky eater to being a pretty good eater again. I'm thankful that he eats better than Belle, but sometimes she influences his eating practices and he likes to act just like her in that regard.
• Ethan got rid of his paci at about 18 mos old and moved into his big boy bed shortly there after. Both pretty painless experiences. Although Ethan has become a horrible sleeper, I hope this is a phase that will end soon.
• Thankfully Ethan grew out of his biting phase, but he can still be pretty rough with other kids.
• He's such an active little boy. And such a daredevil. I always thought he was a little advanced in the gross motor skills (but I'm a little biased). That kid seemed to be doing things that you wouldn't think kids his age should be doing. If it was a physical obstacle, Ethan would overcome it.
• Ethan made his first ER trip, courtesy of his mother. =)
• He's really gotten into pretend play and I have to credit Belle for that. He loves to grab two dolls (or cars) and act out some sort of scene, just like his big sister.
• We haven't really worked on letters, numbers and colors at all, but I've started to get into that more. Ethan can count to 3, we do know that. He's named a few letters but is not consistent at all. And he does NOT like for me to sing the ABC song or ask him to participate in counting or ask him about letters. He'll only participate in the ABC song if Belle is the one singing it. He'll point to letters and say "E, I, T" or ramble letters, obviously not the correct ones. We've been using Preschool Prep Meet the Letters/Numbers dvds. I credit it with teaching Belle for the most part.
• Ethan is really into Cars the movie. He sleeps with at least one Lightening McQueen every night. He's also a big fan of trains (Choo choos)
• He's talking so well now too. Although he does have some weird names for things. If he wants a drink, he'll ask for a "hoot", even though he can say "drink". And I believe he calls cars "Tadoo". It's also his name for Lightening McQueen or "Ca Queen"

In other news:
• We started off the year taking a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class. Highly recommend it, and I'm proud to say that we are debt free (minus the house). One of our new years resolutions was to pay off the van or school. And we paid off BOTH!!
• The kids and I started BSF. I'm really enjoying it and so is Belle. She always wants to go to "BFF" or "The church with the thousand classrooms". She always has neat insights into what lessons she's learning.
• Nic started a new position at work and enjoys it. Im just glad he moved on and can form some healthy coworker relationships away from his former coworker that got a little weird.
• My work has been picking up this year as well. I think I had a 50% increase in income this year. Which still isn't much, but I'm glad that work is at least coming in.

We thank God for all the blessings this year gave us and look forward to what 2011 brings.

Our first Gingerbread House

I've never made a Gingerbread house, but when we saw a kit at Walmart, I thought it looked like fun. I know now that it will be a source of constant frustration for me until it's gone. I should've thought this through better. Belle is a sugar fiend. It's like a serious addiction of hers. But really though, we had fun making it. Certainly not perfect, but it was my first time and it was decorated by a 4 yr old, so don't judge.

My favorite quote of the night was Belle saying "I can't stop thinking about eating Santa".

This morning Ethan attacked it and grabbed a handful of gumballs off the roof. Only to later find out that he doesn't like gum getting stuck in his teeth. Both kids are constantly asking to eat on the gingerbread house. I don't think it'll live long in this house.

Here is Belle after me telling her that she couldn't eat the house and that it had to stay intact for atleast a day.

And Belle after me bribing her with a Skittle to get a smile for the camera.

Thanksgiving and other Holiday fun

We headed back to Ohio for Thanksgiving. This year it was dad's birthday AND Thanksgiving and happen to work out that we got to go to my side for the actual Thanksgiving day. We had dinner at Sara's house this year.

The kids had a blast playing together as usual. Brody and Ethan both walked away with injuries. Gonna have to reign in these boys and their craziness.

Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of Coop this time. I should've taken a picture of him in his cute but way too small outfit. Cooper and Ethan are about the same size weight wise and wear the same size pants, 18 mos. =)



Brody and Ethan had fun playing with Belle's Melissa and Doug magnetic dolls set. Maybe we need to look into getting the boy version.



On Saturday we were at the Freshours and had a pizza Thanksgiving. In the morning, Belle, me and Deb went and saw Tangled. I thought it was a really cute movie, but Belle was super antsy and said she was scared. I think she did better watching How To Train Your Dragon and I'd think that would've been more scarey. Not sure Belle will be taking anymore trips to the movie theater until she can really sit through the whole movie.

Sunday we decorated the tree after we all took naps after church. I'm not sure why I bothered decorating the tree, Ethan is constantly pulling things off.



And the cat has found his new spot.

Ha-App-y Holidays Blog Party

So my friend Ariel was invited to a bloggers party that our friend Cherie, the Queen of Free and Verizon were having at the Creation Cafe downtown. And since I have a blog, she thought I should go. I didn't really think I was a serious enough blogger to actually attend, but I'm glad Ariel kept hounding me to sign up. And once we got there, we really did have a fun night out and came home with lots of fun things. 

We got to sit and eat yummy desserts and play with new phones. As part of the event, Verizon gave all the bloggers new smartphones to play with over the holidays. We had to answer a survey beforehand so that we were matched up with the right phone. I came home with the Droid 2, and Ariel got a Droid X. I'm in love! It'll be hard to send it back. I'm having a blast and can't wait to try out the Grocery IQ app the next time I go grocery shopping. Oh and Swype, how I love you!!

Stay tuned, I'll update as I find super cool apps to share. Nic is pretty jealous that I get to have a smart phone, but I'm sure he'll play with it too.

Here we are playing with our phones.

Christmas Cards

Every year I'm faced with the decision to design Christmas cards or not. Which of course leads the hassle of finding pictures good enough to use and then designing the card. As a graphic designer I feel obligated to design my own cards. However it just never gets done because it's like the plumber's sink, it's always the last to get fixed. I can never find time to design my own stuff.

I've been a customer of Shutterfly for a long time. Every year I print all our pictures up into a photobook and every Christmas I print up calendars for the grandparents (which reminds me that I need to finish those while I still have a $10 off coupon at Shutterfly). I've always been happy with their quality.

Well Christmas cards might actually get done this year by using Shutterfly's Christmas cards designs. They have awesome designs and they pass my picky standards. They are offering a great deal right now where they will give you 50 free Christmas cards. Check it out here.

Poor guy

I remember having a moment with Belle when I was like "well there goes my mother of the year award". I believe she was an infant and I just watched as she fell off the bed. Never a good sound to hear your baby hit the floor. She of course was fine cause kids are resilient like that. It is also not a good sound to hear your child scream out in complete pain because he is getting his arm set back into place. Even worse when they have to try to do it 3x.

Poor Ethan had to go to the ER today because he threw a tantrum at a friends house and I'm not quite sure what happened. Either he threw himself down while I had a hold of his wrist or I might have pulled him towards me. Either way they think he got nursemaid's elbow. However when they set it, it never seemed to fix the problem. Ethan still cried out in pain and didn't want to use his arm. So they think there is a small fracture. Nothing is broken and all looks fine on the xray. So we are off to the orthopedist on Monday. So he was sent home in a soft cast sort of thing and a sling. Yea right, a two year old keep a sling on. Not a chance!

But knowing Ethan, nothing will keep him down for long. He was already climbing on things and not doing things he should with his arm. I always knew he'd end up in the ER, I just didn't think it would be my fault. Oh well, who needs a mother of the year award anyway. =)

Here he is rocking the cast and gown that they gave him to come home in. No idea what he's going to wear for the next couple days. Excuse the peaches in his mouth.





Update: He's just fine. We went to the orthopedist and his xrays looked fine to him and once the bandage came off Ethan had full use of his arm. He was thinking that maybe it was just really sore and had to heal up before he'd use it. The diagnosis of Nursemaid's elbow stood. Whew!!