some recent favs

every day these kids do and say things that are hysterically funny, or sweet, or otherwise memorable in some way. sometimes i am seized with the fear that 20 years down the road - or 10, or even 2 or 3 - i won't remember these things. i have a little journal i write some things down in, and a few things i put on this blog, or even facebook, but it is such a tiny portion of all things i desperately want to remember! *sigh* here are some recent memorable moments:

ELEANOR - listening to a worship CD with the lyrics "the Word of the Lord stands forever", says to me, "but mommy, the Word of the Lord isn't for forever; F is for forever!!" and this girl is a master in the art of debate. a reason for every idea she has, for every request that she makes. and often a pretty logical reason! and she loves princesses. and when her daddy brought her a long stemmed rose on valentines day, she was so enamored that she hauled it around with her for hours. no vase of water for that baby! she held it in one hand while she ate lunch. she unwittingly wacked people with it. finally the blossom broke off and it is now floating in a bowl of water. eleanor loves the name "kate." most anything she can give a name to, it is kate. often "kate jane faris." but recently she had a breakthrough with a tiny toy dog that looks a bit rodent-like....she named it "mousy"!

WILL - his most recent thing he is into is the movie "cars." todd bought it a couple of weeks ago and the kids have watched it in half hour segments a couple of times since then. (side: this is how we usually watch the few movies they see. eleanor was talking to our friend miss amy recently about a movie and asked, "did you get to watch it ALL AT ONCE?!" what a novel idea!) the movie is full of things william loves - most especially orange cones, tires, and tractors. when todd's parents were here this weekend, they bought him some "car" PJ's, toys, and swim truncks. what a hit! will is talking so well. i love his sweet voice. he can be quite expressive and i'm sure has learned a little drama from his sister! when he started his little gymnastics class a few weeks ago the instructor had the kids introduce themselves and who they were with - ie mommy or daddy. when it came to us, will very serisouly said, "william robert faris"...and looking up toward me, "noelle faris." it was SO funny! we have had some real struggles with william the last couple of months....whining, tantrums, etc. but prayer and persistence have paid off, and last couple weeks we have experience the full return of "SWEET william"!! he has been so joyful, so obedient, so helpful....what a blessing to my heart!! a couple of days ago he told me, "my buddy mommy!!" what a precious boy.

JACK - well, i guess i just did that little 7 month post. but i will say again, this baby is HAPPY! so content, so snuggly, so sweet. my little friend. his first two teeth have broken through. he waved bye-bye for the first time this past weekend, to his mimi ruthie! my heart melts when he reaches for me.

okay, at least i got a few things down in writing!

Jacky at 7 months

Jack remains our "smile-boy" - he is an amazingly content baby! He enjoys being held and entertained, enjoys watching Eleanor and Will and playing with them, enjoys playing by himself. He had a shot last week and didn't even cry! He's my buddy, my little friend, a snuggler. He reaches for his Daddy and Mommy. And he's becoming a little ham! He does peek-a-boo, "so big", pat-a-cake, and loves to imitate head-shaking. Pat-a-cake is his favorite! He rolls and scoots a lot; I know crawling is in our near future! He sits perfectly steady and loves holding on to our hands and standing. Strong boy!! He sleeps most often on his tummy, snuggling with his tiny blankie. His first tooth is JUST breaking through. He is eating some solid food along with nursing - rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, avocado, banana, applesauce, and cheerios. I just started letting Eleanor and Will feed him cheerios under supervision, which they think is so fun! Can't imagine life without this sweet boy.

the past 24 hours (or so)

yesterday i wore pink ballet flats. william told me all day, "mommy, that's BEAUTIFUL shoes!!" my sweet boy! we drove to castle rock and met my mom, who was at a conference in denver, for dinner. eleanor was very excited and made up a song about it earlier in the day. *grin* we had a great time together! hhhmmm, somehow mom and i squeezed in a tiny bit of shopping at the outlets, too! at the restaurant our server seemed vaguely familiar to me, but i didn't say anything. after we left, todd told me she looked familar to him as well. we figured it out and looked her up on facebook - we went to college together! funny. eleanor and will got to watch "curious george" on the way home last night - they were thrilled and GLUED. they hardly noticed when their beloved mimi said goodbye! we didn't hear a peep from them the whole way home, other than the laughter of comradery now and then. this morning the two of them both had gymnastics, back to back classes. todd took will, eleanor and i stayed here a little longer while jack napped, we woke him a little early and headed to her class. hand stands, forward rolls, hula hoops, balance beams... while jack and i watched eleanor, todd and william went to costco and bought all the flooring we need to do our downstairs! i am so excited! they also ate chocolate cake, i hear. quick lunch, the boys went down for naps and eleanor had her rest time. we woke william a bit early to head to jcpenney's for pictures - jack's 6 month portrait (yes, he turned 7 months today), will's 2 year portrait (uummm, his birthday was october), and eleanor's 4 year portrait (march - see, i'm ahead of the game!). we wanted close up head shots, to match what we already have, for a wall collection. i brought one from home to show the photographer, to make sure we got what we needed. the kids were sweet and cooperative, although will was quite stoic and jack "smile boy" was too puzzled to do much smiling! 45 minutes later we had some cute shots....but, well, NO HEAD SHOTS. and a family of 6 was waiting behind us, and we had to leave without ordering ANY photos. and so of course i cried! i had gotten the kiddos clean, the clothes washed, jack was fed, i had woken will up early. so my wonderful, understanding husband went back in (after we had driven out of the parking lot, of course) and worked his magic! we had to wait until the family of 6 was done with their photo shoot, but we got back in and got our head shots. 2 and half hours after we had started, and almost an hour after jack's dinner time, we finished! so we decided to go to chick-fil-a to grab dinner. eleanor and william scarfed their food, they were SO excited to go in the play area! but of course there was vomit in there. gross, gross, gross, and quite the disappointment! after the tears, will said "what's throw-up means??" eleanor helped explain. boy, what a day!

phone calls

The last few nights at the dinner table Todd has been working on having Eleanor memorize my phone number. She has it down pat. So tonight he let her call the cell phone from the home phone - by herself - and hear it ring. Can we say excited?! She loved it! Todd explained to her that she could call it in an emergency.

"Like maybe when I'm 10, and it's Thursday night when you're at choir, and Mommy goes to the store and leaves me home with the boys and I'm in charge because they're only 7 and I get hurt really bad and I can call Mommy and say 'Mommy, I'm hurt really bad, I'll see you when you get home!'"

Yes, Eleanor, I think that would qualify as an emergency on a few accounts!