Wow.... has it really been 3 months??

We're still here! The kids are getting huge and are a couple of little smarty pants. :) I'll talk more about that in a minute. First, I have to share some sad news. Our precious puppy Haledunia passed away 2 weeks ago after a freak accident where his neck was injured. I'll be posting a Tribute to Haledunia in a little bit, but here's a link to our photo tribute. :) He was the sweetest, most wonderful puppy would ever could have asked for and we miss him dearly.

http://picasaweb.google.com/4MattM/HaleduniaMoonieDoogle20082009TheBestOfDunia#

On a more uplifting note, we have 2 of the cutest, funniest and most wonderful kids in the world. Ella has sprouted up like a weed and is quickly catching up with her big brother. Owen gets smarter by the day and is sometimes too smart for his own good. :) I'll try to remember some highlights from the last couple of months.

* Owen learned how to do instant messaging last week. It's one of his new favorite things to do. It's a fun way for him to learn how to spell, so it's been entertaining for all of us. He's got quite a spelling vocabulary now. His favorite words are "OPEN" (which he learned from sign at the sushi place one night a couple of weeks ago), "DOG", "OWEN", "ELLA", "CLOSE", and others that aren't coming to mind. If you ever want to chat with him, just let us know and we'll hook you up. :) He's so cute!

* Ella is a little mommy. One of her favorite things in the world is her babies. She cradles them, sings to them, reads books to them, lays them down and covers them up, hugs, kisses, the works! It's the cutest thing ever. She'll be such a great mommy one day. :)

* Both kids still LOVE playing outside! They've figured out how to swing themselves on their tummies, so they go out and do that when it's nice out. They also love playing in the sand. Ella will go out and play in the sandbox for hours if I let her. Owen mostly likes to pour the sand... sometimes on Ella... but always pouring. He likes to climb up on top of the playset and pour the sand through the cracks and stuff like that.

* Owen is a boy boy boy. I now have to make sure I clean out his pockets every day when he gets home from school or if he's been outside at all. I find everything from acorns (which he calls "dirt apples" because "me and talia finded them in the dirt!"), rocks (he's found some pretty cool rocks!), little pieces of chalk that he finds on the playground, leaves, etc. He and his friend Talia at school apparently have a good time hunting for things. :)

* Ella has recently started really enjoying all of her dress-up stuff that she got for her birthday. She'll just disappear for a while and then walk into the living room with a t-shirt, a diaper and high heels. It's hilarious. She's mostly into the shoes and hats, but occassionally puts on the dresses (usually backwards or sideways :)).

* I got a Wii for my birthday last month and Owen loves it. His favorite game is bowling, though he tells everyone he's really good at tennis too cuz he can just "lift it up and hit it down real fast!" :) He also enjoys the Wii Fit ski jumping game because when you crashland or have a bad take-off you turn into a snowball and roll down the hill. He cracks up laughing when that happens. :) Matt got some good pictures of him ski jumping the other day. I'll have to dig them up and post them. Ella hasn't quite figured out how to work the games yet, but she likes to hold the remote and pretend. :)

* Ella is talking talking talking up a storm. She is pretty quiet around lots of people, but at home, she is quite the talker. She mostly talks to bubby (Owen), but also talks to her babies and mommy and daddy. She can say anything she wants to at this point, though it still requires a little translation for some things for people who aren't around her much. :)

* Last night Owen told me he wanted to do a "breathing ma-treatment cuz I still have a cough". I said "that's fine, tell daddy to get it set up for you". He replied quite agitated with "but daddy told me to ask mommy. So how am I gonna do it if mommy said to ask daddy and daddy told me to talk to mommy!" I about fell over laughing so hard. The little stinker is too sharp. :) We got it all sorted out and he had his breathing treatment. :) His cough seems to be dying down... finally... hopefully...

* One more thing! Both of my kids love talking on the phone. Well...Owen loves talking... Ella loves listening. She won't say a word, but always wants to call people. She'll bring me the phone and say "onna call Nana", so we'll call Nana and Ella will just sit there grinning. :) Owen on the other hand won't stop talking on the phone. :) His favorites to call are Nana, Aunt Bee and Grami. The other day he called Nana, talked to her for a minute and then hung up. Then he wanted to talk to Papi so I told him to call Nana's house again but ask for Papi (he's got the speed dials figured out on my phone). So he did but when Nana answered he goes "UH! But mommy! I can't talk to Papi cuz Nana is still on the phone!" He was about to hang up in irritation, but Nana got his attention and told him she'd go give the phone to Papi. Haha. The stuff he comes up with is priceless. :)

That's enough for now... back to work. Hope you enjoyed it! :)