These two: A long awaited update.

I am constantly amazed at how blessed I am to have been given these two sweet spirits.  I love them so much!  They are so fun, funny, cute, ridiculous, and full of their own unique personalities.  It's so fun to watch them grow and learn new things.  It's been awhile since I've given any updates on them and I'm sure I'll forget stuff but I'll do my best!

Colton:  Colton is a man's man...in little boy size.  He loves anything cars, trucks, & dinosaurs.  He loves to climb, wrestle, jump, run, and a lot of things that make no sense (a total man quality).  Recently, he  loves to impersonate animals- especially dogs, lions, and dinosaurs.  Of course, he loves the loudest ones.  I often feel ridiculous when I go out shopping because Colton will just bark in the cart, as loud as he can, pretty much the whole time.  I've even had a friend comment that she immediately knew we were there when she walked into a ward function because she could hear Colton's growl.  Yes, it's a bit ridiculous and sometimes embarrassing, but I love his imagination and determination.  He will bark all day long at you until you confirm that he is being a little dog and he has a great bark!
He is learning so much lately!  He knows lots of new words and can identify almost every animal he sees a picture of (even walrus's and camels!)  He can now count to 8 all by himself, and he knows his colors and shapes pretty well.  His favorite games are telling mommy what animal to draw and then what color to color it.  Unfortunately, mommy is a TERRIBLE artist.  A friend thought my drawings were Colton's.....yeah, it's that bad, and "Get you" where he runs and I come "get him".  He loves his baby sister!  He would smother her with his love if he let him!  He gets really distraught whenever Katie is crying and will say, "Oh no, baby crying.  Baby sad."  And then it often leads to him crying as well.
 He ended up needing glasses.  He has really bad eye sight in his left eye and normal in his right so his brain was started to compensate and only use his right eye- making his left go lazy.  Thankfully, he has adjusted to his glasses really well!  I'm so proud of how well he's doing!  If I forget to put them on after a nap, he'll tell me, "Oh no!  Glasses!"  He always brings them to me if they fall off and he rarely takes them off himself.  He is only at half his prescription right now, but there is already a noticeable difference in what he is able to see.  He has an appointment next week where the will be upping the scrip.  It'll take a couple more times til he's all the way to his prescription!
He's still a SUPER picky eater but I guess maybe it's getting a little better.  Now that Halloween happened and we can bribe him with "Trick-or-treats" to eat his food.  

A Funny and a Sweet Moment from Colton lately....
1.  We had just returned from a trip to MN and we left him buckled in his seat while Jon and I were unloading the car.  We brought a load into the house and as I headed back to the van I heard him yelling.  When I got to the car, I very distinctly heard him yelling, "Ayuda-me Ayuda-me"  ....Thanks Dora.
2.  I was headed out to the store Saturday morning with no kids.  I went to Colton and told him that I was going to the store and that he needed to stay home with daddy and be a good boy.
Colton says: "Ok.  Hugs!"
Hugs given.
Colton: "Do you have your keys?"
Me: "Yes, I have my keys."
Colton: "Your phone?"
Me: "Yes, I have my phone."
Colton: "Ok.  Love you!"
And then he blew me a kiss!  So SWEET!  It seriously melted my heart!

New Glasses!

Playing with his favorite friend, Tate, at the Park.

Colton and Tate.

First time the kids could swing together!  This is they day after Katie got her harness off!

Katie: Katie is still the sweetest little girl ever!  She is so funny!  She loves to play games and purposely tries to get you to play games with her.  She loves the yelling game of yelling loud until we do it with her, stopping, starting, stopping starting, etc.  She also loves the head shake game.  She'll shake her head back and forth, over and over, with big smiles trying to get you to do it with her.  She can roll both directions now and is getting really good at sitting up!  Her legs are still pretty weak for her age but she's making progress and getting stronger!  She loves the jumper and daddy's little homemade physical therapy treatments.  She has an appointment in December to check if her hips start regressing but we're told it's very unlikely.  She has two teeth in the bottom front and her eyes are almost all the way brown!  She loves to be loud and make noises.  She also loves playing with Colton, until he gets too rough.  She is turning into a little daddy's girl and starting to wrap him around her finger as well.  She turns to all smiles and cackles (a pretty fitting description for her laugh) whenever he walks in a room. She is struggling with solid's.  She either won't eat it, or she violently throws it- and everything else she's eaten all day- up.  This has happened a few times with pears, bananas, and oatmeal.  She won't eat carrots, sweet potatoes, or apples.  The ONLY thing she likes to eat and can keep down is green beans.  Weird little girl :)

...I'm telling you, she's got personality!

Best friends! They always get each other's best laughs :)

Jon and I are doing well!  Things are great here in Iowa and we finally upgraded ourselves to a King Size bed so life couldn't be better!  Haha, ok, maybe it's not all bliss and roses but we're happy and we love our kids and we're so thankful for the blessing we have to raise them!