Dexter's 8 mo

I'm lagging a bit this week even though I had the video done. We all came down with the flu...some worse than others (me being the "some", Jim not getting it at all, hoping if he does he can make it to the weekend). I did a bit of a video montage and because it's on the lengthy side (close to 3 minutes), I can't post it on the blog. Hence it's on You Tube. You can always search on "Dexter Munholland" to find it, otherwise the link is below. Not much to it...but gives everyone a longer glimpse of the kids and their antics. I'll try and do this every so often & get more creative in the future...guess that's not entirely up to me, but my subjects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M_KxdEdvJo

Only In Colorado

Dexter is on the prowl. He's been a mad man lately, fast little booger. He's now climbing up the stairs and stands up (with support of a piece of furniture). He babbles constantly, been saying "da da" for weeks and then this weekend when I was holding him and talking to Jim, he said "da da" looked at me and said "ma ma, ma ma" and started laughing. Ok, maybe reading a lot into that, but it was cute. We finally moved him into his high chair to eat becuase he kept trying to get out of his other chair even though we had him buckled in. He's graduated to eating Puffs, which were a favorite of Kellan and Zoe's. Now we have to give him Puffs in between bites of food since he loves them so much (luckily half of them end up in his lap). Amazingly, still no teeth. With the amount of drool we expect them any day (been saying that for months now). We miss everyone watching him grow so much.

We had gorgeous weather last week, got a foot of snow on Friday, melted away with warm temps over the weekend to get more snow tonight and tomorrow. That's CO for you.

From the last post follow-up - Kellan and Zoe both did well in their conferences. Kellan is average on everything - which pleases us very much. Zoe is currently above average - which also pleases us very much (granted she is only four, but she is a fiend when it comes to competing with Kellan, which I'm sure has helped her academically and socially).

Jim was outside bar-b-que'ing and two of his buddies were eager to join him

Crazy Kid. Kellan snuck up on Dexter while he was supposed to be taking a nap, instead he was trying to pull his mobile down and eat it.

Zoe decided to put her boots on for the second time this winter (this was actually the first day of spring)...we're still working on the rest of her clothes (though it was pretty warm and most of the snow had melted).

Dexter has mastered telling us when he is done eating. He spits it back in your face. Of course didn't get it on video, but you can tell by his face he's letting you know how he feels.

Saturday, in the park, feels like the 4th of July

It's been awhile (ok not really) since I've taken some pictures of the three kids together. Mood usually rules how picture taking is going to go (more likely not go at all). It started with no one wanting to take pictures (other than Dexter, he's a big ham), but then I bribed them saying they could take some too. It resulted in tons of pictures (not all I will be posting).

We had a great day Sat., 60+ degrees, spent at the park. Kellan and Zoe were super excited to push Dexter in the swing (his first time), at times too enthusiastic. He loved it and we can't wait for more days outside. Unfortunately on Sunday came the snow, sleet and rain, another day in the house, in our pajamas. The rest of the week should be nice.

Kellan and Zoe both have parent/teacher conferences this week. Wish us luck. Kellan says things that make us think he's struggling, but then can never expand on the topic. He continues to talk about D.C. and the monuments. He went to the Denver state capitol building a couple weeks back on a field trip and has requested we take him to Olympia our next trip to WA.

Looking forward to April 5th. We were very sad to find out the Angels traded some of our favorite players, but I'm happy one of my favorites of current day ended up on the Mariners - Chone Figgins. We have to buy Dexter some Rockies attire, in the mean time Papa Jim and G-Ma Lawna bought him a Vladimir Guerrero shirt for X-mas, which are hard to come by now that he's no longer an Angel.

To bring everyone up to speed on a few nicknames we have for Dexter, just in case we throw one out there and no one knows who we are talking about:

Deezer, Deezers, or Deezers Wheezers (don't make fun these are mine & personal favorites)

Deuce (Jim's latest)

Booger / Boogs

Big D

Last kid quote:

Kellan: "Dad said something unappropriate today."
Mom: "You mean inappropriate."
Kellan: "Not sure, what does inappropriate mean?"
Mom: "It was inappropriate when you licked your chips at lunch and put them back in the bag."
Zoe: "And Kellan, not only was that inappropriate, it was disgusting.

The Boys

Dexter loves to eat people's faces, not in the Hannibal Lecter sense, but in a more playful way. He likes to go straight for the chin and cracks himself up when he gets you right where he wants you. He has been getting into more and more lately. We set him down on the ground and the next thing we know he's in another room. We had to break down and buy a gate. We know we won't be able to keep up with him soon and having the three stairwells means trouble. We will be gating off the basement this week (for our guests that means no more Duke waking you up in the morning). Dexter was mesmerized this week with his reflection in the filthy, dirty trash can, he's discoverd long lost toys under the furniture and is eating everything and anything he can get his little hands on.

Zoe is doing well, she actually wore tennis shoes today! (big day for us). The weather has been nice, so wearing shorts and a t-shirt in 50 degrees has made her life a bit easier. She's still enjoying school and gymnastics once a week. I took an early lunch and went to watch her this week. She's done with Kellan and his video games. Today in the car after another long conversation about Lego Star Wars Wii she yelled "Kellan, I've had enough, stop talking about Star Wars." I'm right there with her.

Sitting here watching the Oscars with Jim, hoping I win a big prize for "predicting" the winners in our work contest (though Jim actually did all the predicting). Love the fact that we can fast forward through 50% of it...and "we" are five for five with our predictions (though most people probably are)...make that six for six.