Is It Summer Yet?

I've been a terrible blogger lately, quite possibly because I've come down with a serious case of the winter blahs. I don't think I'll be able to get excited about much of anything until I see some convincing signs that winter might truly be drawing to a close. Can we just have two warm days in a row, please? We did have one glorious day this week with temperatures in the 60s, and then the next day it snowed. Such is spring in Utah. Anyway, in the spirit of making something out of nothing, here's another cop-out "What The Kids Are Doing" post:

Haley is getting really good at playing the piano. She's been taking lessons since July, and she can sight read pretty easily now. I'm really proud of her and excited to see her learning something that can be valuable and rewarding her entire life.

Also in Haley's world: after entering the admissions lottery three years in a row, we finally got into our city's charter school for next year. I'm a little nervous about the additional time this will require from me in terms of extra homework and required service hours at the school, but I think it will be worth it. Utah is not know for its stellar public school system, so I'm very excited to see what Haley can do once she's challenged a little. I'm also excited about the smaller class sizes, and the fact that the school teaches grades K-8, so all of our kids will be on the same schedule and in the same location until Haley goes to high school. That will help a lot down the road!

Carter and I generally have two hours in the afternoon while the twins are napping to spend together, and these days those hours are spent playing games. I think Carter would play games all day long if he could find a willing opponent. His current favorites are Checkers and Memory Match, and he's very, very good at them. He beats Haley at Memory Match almost every time they play, and when I play him I spend half the time laughing because he knows exactly where the cards are, even if he's only seen them once. It's pretty amazing. He also loves Go Fish, Bingo, Candy Land, and Chutes and Ladders. I wonder if there's some kind of kiddie gaming circuit? Maybe we could pay for his college that way!

Adam and Drew: I know that I shouldn't lump them together, but they do pretty much everything together. They're 16 months old and still don't walk, but I can understand because they're the fastest crawlers I've ever seen. Why would they try to walk when it's so much quicker to crawl? Every time we try to get them to say "Mama", Drew says "Dada DOOOO!" and Adam says "Rah-rah-rah-rah-rah". I don't think they'll ever actually say "Mama" because we laugh every time, so now they think it's a game.

The twins have another game that they love: pushing the trash can around with their heads. I'm not sure what the appeal is, but they do this all day long.

What else do the twins do? Drew still climbs onto everything, so we can't keep the dining room chairs in the dining room any more. They both love to sit in drawers, and I can't believe that none of our drawers have broken yet because they are often both sitting in the same drawer together. The twins have also started having death matches, which I have to admit is hilarious. Drew bites Adam, and Adam uses his head to ram Drew onto his back. It's pretty funny - I'll have to get some footage sometime.

I guess that's about it. Here's hoping that Spring is on her way!