The Children!

I haven't updated you on the kids in a long time!

Joshua is walking, running, exploring, testing me ("Did Mommy really mean 'no'? I think I'll go ahead and push this button/open this drawer/climb on the table/sit on my sister anyway.") and he's starting to jabber a little bit, which is a lot of fun. There's not a whole lot of new words yet, but he's starting to try to repeat what we say: Mumah for Grandma, Mapa for Grandpa, Bapa for apple, and one of my favorites: Num-num. It's a hoot to watch him say that! On top of all of this, he - actually, both of them love to get their picture taken! This is the look he gives me every time he sees the camera in my hand. Not only does he become a radiant sunbeam; he runs up to me and gets his face right in the camera. I'm not sure he knows what the camera does, but he gets awfully excited about it anyway!

Miss Elisa...would you believe she'll be 1 in less than two weeks now. She' s quite a little personality, starting to say a few words (baba - alternately apple/banana, abuh - amen, and bebee - baby). She follows Joshua all around and thinks he's the bestest big brother ever, except when he sits on her or squeezes her head... She crawls very well and gets from one place to another pretty quickly. She's pulling herself up to standing by the furniture but isn't cruising yet. She has a very sweet smile and the yesterday I found her giving a stuffed toy a hug! The last picture is from our trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house. She was reading a book with Grandma and Grandpa got the camera out!