(Never)Plain and (Never) Simple Life

We've been trucking along here with nothing too terribly exciting going on. Something sad has happened and that is that we've kissed good bye forever the simplicity of being at home with our kids all the time. Caroline now has ballet and Ezra is beginning soccer and t-ball within the next week. Yikes, huh? We knew this day would come. We are torn between excitement to see them blossom. Excitement to see them love these activities they've been waiting and waiting to take part in. And sadness that babyhood is over for two of our little ones. We have to start cutting those apron ties bit by bit from here on out. Sniff, sniff.

The below photo is out of focus and Ezra is picking his nose (sorry) but it shows how Nora is now perpetual motion. She is fully walking and wants to do everything her way right away. She is an instant replay of Ezra only in the girl flavor. In this photo Tadd is playing the guitar, Ezra is on the key board and Nora is the back up singer/dancer.

This is their stage coach. They are "Con and Maggie". Anyone else watch the Five Mile Creek series?

Nora discovered the washing machine one day. If only it could hold her interest for more than two minutes.
She does love to climb into these kids chairs and sit there looking pleased with herself and feeling quite grown up. Yes, she does have a black eye. It actually looks a lot worse now than it does in these photos. She took a head first dive out of her high chair about a week and a half ago. She didn't cry much at all (because she was nearly passed out) and got real lethargic. While I was waiting for the doctor's office to open again from their lunch break (weekends and lunch hour are the ONLY times kids get sick or have accidents) she started vomiting violently. So, we stopped waiting and loaded into the van to head for the ER. I wasn't gonna mess around with a head injury. They did a CT and determined she didn't have any brain bleeds. Probably a concussion. Praise the Lord, Tadd jumped into a company vehicle and met us at the hospital, because I had to hold Nora down to get the scan and someone had to stay and watch the other kids in the exam room. They let us go home and we had to wake her up every two hours to make sure she was still okay. And you guessed it, she slept for longer than two hours for her nap that day--and for more than two hours in a row that night. It's pretty hard to wake up a baby who never sleeps. Better safe than sorry, though.
About a month and a half ago, Ezra was thrilled to discover that he had his first loose tooth. He wiggled it with his tongue and played with it with his fingers, but nothing as aggressive as yanking it or twisting it. Then last week I heard him shout "Awesome" and he came running to me with the tooth in his fingers.

We've arrived at the awkward photo years. Cheesy smiles, missing teeth, too big for the face adult teeth growing in...
So, this is Ezra's impression of how Daddy starts his mornings--reading his Bible under a cozy blanket. The sunglasses are supposed to be reading glasses.
And that's about it. Now I need to rush off to finish cleaning the bathrooms while Perpetual Motion is gaining back her energy (aka: napping).