Ernie understands things better than everyone

Ernie tells me a lot of interesting information when he's sitting on the potty. More recent eruditions include:
"Mommy, you don't have nipples. You just have breastmilk. You keep it in your bras. You have two bras in your shirts."
Ah. Good to know.
And:
"Mommy, you have to go to work, 'cause your an 'dult. Daddy's not a 'dult, Daddy's just a daddy. Mommy, you like 'dult juice [wine], but Daddy doesn't."
Grow up, Jeremy. And drink once in a while; you're making me look bad.

Once again, guess the sibling!

See a resemblance?

This looks a little tight

Ernie loves to adopt new characters, and he's especially happy when he can add a costume to the role. Recently we rediscovered his bear hat from his very first Halloween, and he had to put on the whole costume (in 6-12 month size, mind you).

He won't suffer for fashion, but he will for a good game of pretend.

Lenora marching

The cutest part of this video is that she enjoys Daddy's air tuba so much, she actually fakes a pout-to-cry when he tries to stop during the transition.

Lenora REALLY wants to roll over

Tummy time when from fun to frustrating since Lennie REALLY wants to roll over. Since her changing pad is kinda like a mini half-pipe, we've given her some motivation and experience of success by using the slope to get her started.
Get ready for some live-action nakkie baby!
First she gets angry:

Then she has success!

Lenora talking

One day she woke up saying "Augh augh augh augh!" and she loves it! It's hard to get her talking on video, because the camera distracts her so much, but she'll converse for minutes on end!

Cousin Maisie's Baptism

The blizzard-streak abated enough for us to travel to Council Bluffs for Maisie Wells's baptism recently. Good thing, too, since Mommy is her Godmother (I'm so freaking awesome and proud!). She was a dear, so alert and attentive and sweet the whole time! And her hair continues to rock, and her eyes have only gotten bigger. But you'll mostly have to take my word, because Jeremy got very few pics of her since she was being held so much. Apparently, Jeremy thinks it is rude to photograph a baby while they are either sleeping or eating. I may agree with him about adults, but not babies.
Lennie and Laura looking lovely. The baptism. The church was decorated so beautifully, and it was a nice private family ceremony.

Grandmas with their granddaughters.

Ernie and Kitt also got a chance to run around like the crazy toddlers they are afterwards.

Uncle Darren and Aunt Liz holiday greetings from Seattle

We weren't able to be there in person, but Uncle Darren and Aunt Liz made an impression on our holidays that will last and last. Thanks to Rocky, the Robotic Dump Truck. Not to be confused with a simple dump truck, Rocky speaks, dances (actually successfully encourages Ernie to dance), and even passes wind (*sigh*). THANK YOU UNCLE DARREN! (see videos below)!

And I'm guessing Liz is fairly responsible for the utter cuteness sent to Lenora. I think you can tell by Lennie's poses she knows how adorable she's going to be when she wears these.

Whole Lotta Holidays

Thanks to a snow blizzard, the Mohr/Hall Christmas was several days longer than planned. We heard news of the weather and did our family holiday on December 23. The next day we beat the storm to Omaha for the Mohr holiday. And Christmas day was far too dangerous to leave the neighborhood (not that Jeremy and Grandpa Darrell and Grandpa Denie didn't try) so we had another day to enjoy our new toys with the Mohrs. Finally on December 26 we got to see the Halls and all the Hall aunts and uncles got to meet Lenora. As an extra Christmas miracle, Nicholas and Ashlee were liberated from Mead, Nebraska to join us. The storm abated enough that we could drive home on December 27. Of course Uncle Darren and Aunt Liz's gifts still had to arrive, extending Christmas that much longer. But that is for another post. Here's a whole bunch of pictures!
Lenora got some hair bows in her stocking.
Ernie got a toy cell phone, and immediately decided to be "Grandpa Denie Moose" (since he was wearing moose pajamas). He mostly says "Hi, come on over." making us think we must be pretty welcoming folk.

The bounty before Ernie was unleashed upon it.

Lenora got a Raggedy Anne doll from Aunt Laura, and you can see her other baby doll in the crib Grandpa Darrell made for her (it's beautiful).

Grandpa Darrell also made Ernie this awesome marble pinball game! He's pretty good at it.

And Lenora gave the g-rents each an ornament with her adorable mug wearing Mommy's first Christmas outfit.

Tummy timing with Aunt Laura.

I bet you can guess this toy pedal firetruck was a preeeeeetty big hit with the Ernster.

Amy and Chris held Lenora's attention quite a while. She decided she likes all her Hall relatives immediately and stayed awake to flirt and coo. Heck, just staying awake is a pretty big feat for this baby.

Aunt Cathie and Lenora both got the snowflake memo.

Finally getting sleepy with Aunt Heather

Waking up to flirt with Uncle John.

With cousin Ashlee (Nick was there and actually held her, but the camera was elusive at the time).

Thank you all for a wonderful holiday!

The Many Personalities of Rick the Construction Worker

Ernie has a set of construction men and trucks. One of them, Rick, was of particular intrest this morning for Ernie. After showering, I came to check on Ernie, who was playing with Rick--whom he began referring to as "The Enchillada Man." And Rick's dump truck became his Enchillada truck. Ernie also then confirmed that he works with his grandpas at Fernando's.

Later in the morning, Rick's adventures took a great turn for the worse. Ernie liked a cartoon called Dinosaur Train before we stopped letting him watch TV again, and he still likes to pretend we are all characters from it (see video where he refers to Lenora as Tiny). He and I got off the Dinosaur Train at "the Great Pond" and Ernie got out, picked up Rick, and said, "This is meat." And he proceded to chomp on poor Rick's head. Probably more disturbing is that he turned Rick over then and began to eat Rick's back, suggesting, "Mmm, this is the candy."

I'm going to decide to overlook the horror story in favor his imagining working with his grandfathers at the family business and since he was after all pretending to be a dinosaur and therefore somewhat correct that humans (had they been around at the time) would have been meat for him. Still . . . the fact that he's imagining that one part of the human body would be more delicious than another strikes me as a bit peculiar. We'll be sure to keep an eye on that.