The things he says . . .

"Look at this silly face, Mommy!"

"I'm retending (pretending) . . ." or "Let's retend . . . "

"I want to sit next by you."

"Can I wear my jammies?" (24/7 if we would let him)

(Lots of fussing if things don't go his way!)

"Mine sisser" or "Mine Jenna"

"Bow-oh-airno" (bow and arrow)

"Meow" (Pretending to be a cat phase. Will only speak in meows when he's "retending" to be a cat.)

"Go Kellen! Go Mommy! Go Jenna!" "DNY! Go Rangers!"(Cheerleading cheers - not sure where "DNY" came from)

"Dea God, Thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Jenna, Kellen. In Jesus Name, Amen." (His standard prayer.)

He got these jammies passed down to him on Tuesday and was beyond thrilled! He said, "I'm so happy for these jammies!" He made this doodle for a thank you note! And, he's been wearing them ever since (except to go to his music class and Daddy's concert when I made him wear real clothes).

A couple of weeks ago, we were in the car, just the two of us and he said that he wanted blue hair. I asked him why and he said, "Because it's better than my color hair." I told him that he could save his money and when he had enough to pay for blue hair, he could have blue hair. Today, I told him we were going to the bank to put some money in. He didn't miss a beat and asked, "For my blue hair?" It took me a minute to realize what he was talking about. Guess that blue hair idea is not going to go away anytime soon!

Another year over, a new one's just begun

I got the idea for these ornaments from my cousin. I finally got around to making the dough, getting the kids' hand prints, and baking them on Christmas Day. Over the next few days, they got a few coats of white spray paint. Then, the rest didn't get painted until the 29th. Jenna painted her own hat and wanted green.

Dec. 30th, we finally made it out to see the zoo lights. This frozen waterfall was really cool.

They advertized "one million lights" and had lots of animal scenes. This one was my favorite. The lights changed so it looked like bears catching fish in the stream.

On the 31st, the oldest cousin turned 10! He wanted an Adventures in Odyssey party, so we celebrated at Whit's End at Focus on the Family. It was really fun!

These two are pretty good buddies.

During nap time on New Year's Eve, Jenna and I took down the tree decorations and then Kevin took the tree outside. When Kellen woke up and saw it gone, tears started streaming down his face and he kept saying, "Where's the Christmas tree? I want the Christmas tree." Poor guy! I didn't realize he had become so attached.

In the evening of New Year's Eve, we went to a friend's house for a party. It was fun and the kids had a blast! We stayed longer than we normally would have and got home right before 10pm. We let them stay up to watch the ball drop in New York and then we all went to bed. I got up right before midnight to watch the fireworks that hikers set off on Pikes Peak. Jenna wanted to try to get up with me, but when it came time, I couldn't get her to wake up. She was really sad in the morning when she found out she missed them (lots of crying). They were both so cranky in the morning! I hope we remember that next New Year's Eve and not let them stay up.

Kellen ended 2013 and started 2014 with some bonks. The one between his eyes was on Dec. 31st when he bent down to get something and smacked his head into the seat of the dining room chair. The one on his cheek was on Jan. 1st when he fell off his step stool and the leg flipped into his cheek. Wonder how many more bonks he'll have this year?

I didn't have to wonder for long, because soon after the cheek bonk, he bonked his head into Jenna's mouth; which made her loose tooth come out. This is her second tooth to lose, and the first tooth that came in when she was nearly 10 months old.

See that cute little tooth poking out?