Monkeys

Natalie has always been a climber. She has been scaling the chimney on this house at the park for almost a year. My stomach does a flip every time she gets toward the top. Every single time. 

Max is starting to follow along. The caterpillar doesn't make my stomach churn like the chimney though. And there's that tongue again.

Grandpa Hat

Max has always liked Grandpa John's hat, so Grandpa got him one of his own for Christmas.

Picnic

Natalie got a new big girl bed for Christmas, and it has become the new favorite play place.

28

Natalie prepared a birthday feast of plastic food, Max gave me the best nap he has taken in a LONG time, and Chris took me out to our favorite Mexican restaurant. Twenty-eight is off to a great start!

Legos

This is what a lot of our January has looked like - playing with Christmas Legos in pajamas.

Concentration

I've caught this little tongue sticking out a few times when Max is working hard on something, and it's just the cutest.

Update

Apparently the three kings do have names! They are Balthazar, Gaspar, and Melchior according to Christian tradition (and Grandma Beth and Grandma Patty).

The Christmas Story Obsession

This girl.

I know I just recently blogged about her love for all things Nativity, but over the Christmas season her interest and knowledge on the subject exploded. Her new favorite thing to play is Mary and the angel Gabriel. We play it every day. We start out with me as Mary sleeping in bed and Natalie as Gabriel coming to tell me that I will be expecting a baby and that his name will be Jesus. Then we switch roles at least once.

This is her updated costume. It's multi-purpose. The blue head covering (secured with a clothes pin) for Mary and the "white" dress (it's more white up top!) for the angel Gabriel:

I wrote these quotes down around Christmastime. This age of curiosity and imagination is so fun!

Natalie: "What was the frankincense for that they gave Baby Jesus?"
Me: "Frankincense makes you smell nice."
Natalie: "What needed to smell nice in Bethlehem? Maybe the ox? Sometimes ox are stinky like pigs."

Natalie: "God didn't give the baby to Mary because God is the baby."

Natalie (singing): "Speeeaaaak in Heavenly peace."

Natalie: "What were the Kings' names?"
Me: "I don't know. I don't know if anyone knows."
Natalie: "Why is nobody a good rememberer?"

"Eat eat, baby"

This is possibly one of those "had to be there" moments, but since I was there, I want it recorded on the blog so that I can smile when I look back at it. Max says a lot of words, but he doesn't combine too many of them yet. He was playing with the plastic food and the Little People yesterday, and he kept saying "Eat eat, baby," in the cutest voice. By the time we took this video he knew it was a trick that made everyone laugh.