I'm back!!

To blogging!

It has been a long, busy, productive, crazy, eventful, stressful, adventurous, and milestone filled month! And that is only talking about the boys! Not to mention I have been trying to fit in house work, working on my new store, tagging items for the TMOM garage sale, having family in town 3 times, going out of town once, and compiling my TMOM newsletter!

So many exciting things have happened I am sure I won't even remember them all - but, I will give it a shot!

Labor Day weekend Ashton finally made the switch to walking full time! So now, that makes two wild toddlers walking around my house, getting into everything, opening doors and cabinets, emptying drawers, pulling all the books off the shelves.....and I'm loving every minute of it! (Well...almost every minute!)

Although the boys have not added a lot of new words to their vocabulary, they are understanding soooo much language now. We are already to the "spelling" stage with certain words! They follow many commands and point out most body parts and many household items. Ayden's first sentence is "What's that?" and if he says it once a day, he says it 200! Over and over all day long we hear, "What's that?", "What's that?"! Yes, it gets old, but he and Ashton are learning a lot because of it! How many 17 month old's can find the "alarm keypad" in a home? My boys certainly can! We make a point of telling them the real words for things instead of "baby talk".

The boys love their wooden shape sorter lately. The both started out just putting the shapes in the side, basically cheating! Slowly they learned that the circle was blue and it was the easiest to fit in. They would do it over and over and over. Luckily there are two of each shape! :) Now, Adyen is also very proficient at the semicircle and the plus sign. I am not sure what age this is normal, but this seems pretty advanced to me!

Such intense looks!

It takes a lot of concentration!

Ashton began giving high fives to his Daddy before he could even sit up on his own! Now, Ayden has decided to join in on the high five's! I took his hand and made him give me a high five every time he put a shape in the sorter toy. He never would do it on his own though. A couple days later Grandma Kitsmiller was here visiting and he gave her plenty of high five's without hesitation! Guess I was just too boring for him!

Ashton and Ayden were both resistant to clapping until just last weekend! Can you believe that? Our boys were 17 months old when they clapped for the first time!? Better late than never I suppose! It wasn't as if they had never heard or seen clapping. We even made their hands clap more times than I can count! But, again, it just took a grandma to get the job done. Last Friday morning Grandma Adams and Gigi where here. Gigi was playing with Ayden and the sorting toy (again! - he loves it!) and she would clap and cheer every time he got one in. Then, one time he put his hands together once. Of course, as I saw this I mentioned that they were not clapping yet. The next one he got in he clapped twice. Then, the next one he clapped about 5 times! That was all it took! He was clapping the rest of the day. I worked a few hours during the day setting up for the TMOM garage sale and then Jeff and I shopped during the member's only shopping time in the evening. When we got home Grandma and Gigi told us that Ashton had started clapping while we were gone! He, too, is clapping all the time now!

This month we went to the zoo twice, a couple library story times, multiple parks, Incredible Pizza and more! The boys are loving getting out to explore and learn! They still hate shopping though! :(

First time riding in the Sam's double cart!

This is what Ashton did while the lady at Hobby Lobby cut my fabrics!

Ashton petting the sheep.

Ayden petting the sheep.

Ayden playing in the ground covering at a park. It was fine pebbles, like sand, only better!

Ashton in the pebbles.

Checking out their new kitchen!