February

At the end of 2012, I jokingly declared that 2013 is going to be "The Year of Amber"... so I joined Farrell's... at 5:15 in the morning... and I hate mornings!  However, I have to say that I've grown quite fond of getting up at 4:30 and getting my workout in before work.  It's forced me to also pay more attention to my nutrition and what our family is eating. We haven't gone off the deep end or turned into major hippies, but it's been fun experimenting with new foods and cooking healthy meals.

Sage joined me for a sporadic work-out at home. You should see her push-ups and sit-ups!

I'm not sure how effective our workout really was...

 Uncle Lucas also moved to town last week, so it's been fun having him around.

In other news, Drew got tubes in his ears after three months of constant infections and has been a happy boy. However, he hasn't escaped cold and flu season. Yesterday he was sent home with a 103 temp again. We are sooo ready for spring around here! By then Drew should be walking! He's finally started to want to walk and will do so for about 10 steps. Otherwise it's back to the boot-scootin' boogie for our little Ginger. :)

Sager

Sage has grown to be quite responsible and the perfect little helper around the house and school. She fills our days with pure joy.

We also helped Sage start a calendar to mark her school and social events. She had so much fun putting on the stickers and talking about all of the fun days she has ahead at school. Before bed tonight she even checked her calendar to see what she needed to pack for school tomorrow and packed the box of cookies that she needed into her backpack. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. We sure love our Sager!

Kitchen Living

 Yes, Mom? Nothing going on here...

  Hmm... that's how it's done.

 Got it.

 Have you checked out my apartment lately?

It's pretty sweet in here!

I'd actually prefer a little privacy.

Drew, come over to my place. It's more of a studio.

Well, I think it's a little small for a Mortenson. Mom... Dad???? Anyone??? I'm stuck!

Dancing the Night Away

We've spent a lot of evenings lately playing in our basement. We rearranged it a bit to have a big pretend play area on one end and still have room for the train table and other riding toys. We also brought the slide in from outside so that Drew could take advantage of it this winter.  They both have a blast down there! Lately Sage has been obsessed with dressing up and putting on a "concert" which then turns into family dance parties. Drew usually spins the tunes and bounces to the beat, while Sage insists that we wildly spin around and clap our hands.  She has very particular moves that we are allowed to do and others that she tells us are not allowed...if you can imagine... :)

  Yes, Sage still insists on putting those headbands on herself! She luckily hasn't tried to wear one like that to daycare.

Drew could go up and down the slide a million times. He carries around that wooden dowel like it's his prized possession.

 

 Sage also LOVES to draw! She can literally sit for hours and color.

Additional updates: Drew has started to crawl (once-in-awhile) on all fours. Otherwise he still relies on his fast gorilla scoot across the floor. He blows kisses and chatters all of the time. He yells "hi" at me when I come to pick him up from daycare and he's obsessed with light switches and knobs. He continues to enjoy his clubhouse (cupboard next to the stove) and has started to climb in there and open and close the door over and over and over.  He is the world's-best snuggle bug and still prefers to be carried around on my hip or at our feet when we're working around the house. I hope he doesn't outgrow that phase anytime soon. He's such a happy little guy, unless his ears are hurting and he's running a 105 fever, like at the end of our winter break! Both kids have been so much fun to watch playing together!

Over the Last Month

Is Christmas really just around the corner? Drew is getting funnier by the day. His one-sided scoot has turned into all-fours every once in a while, so he looks like a really fast gorilla scooting across the floor. He is such a snuggle-bug and is happiest being held or wrestled with. He holds out his hands to almost anybody so that he can get picked up. He loves to laugh and his toothy grin is contagious. He started clapping for himself after crawling to the top of his slide in the basement. His kisses are often open-mouthed and slobbery, but once in a while he will pucker up his little lips and plant one on you. He loves to crawl up and sit on the couch or on chairs and he can't get enough of climbing up and down the stairs. He is starting to stand on his own but gets ticked off when you try to get him to take a few steps. :) He gets along with Sage really well and loves to pull her hair and tickle her.. and he finally beat a five week double ear infection after three antibiotics!

Sage continues to love school and make new friends. She got a great report at her parent-teacher conference and we were told that she is very happy, friendly, and clean. :) No surprises there! She always comes home with some sort of project or artwork that she can hardly wait to share. Ella(s) still go to school with her in her backpack everyday, and it seems that they are accompanied by more friends as the weeks go by. Yesterday she brought seven stuffed animals home in her backpack (that she had apparently rounded-up on her morning trek throughout the house). Ross and I both agree that she has really grown up over the last couple of weeks. She seldom has tantrums and can generally be reasoned with. She is a wonderful helper and has a very sincere and empathetic heart. She loves her baby brother Drew. She can also be quite hilarious at times and she catches us off-guard with her dialogue.  For instance, she was walking out of Target with me the other night and saw a cart left out on the sidewalk. She told me that, "They're not responsible, Mommy!" She also had the time of her life on her special Daddy date when they went on a train ride from Boone to the "North Pole" and met Santa on Santa's Express. She got to wear pajamas, drink hot cocoa, sing carols, and listen to stories, but her favorite part of the night was "playing with her friends". We've also been fortunate with this nice weather to get to the zoo a few more times this winter.

 Here are our two monkeys snuggling up together:

The big ONE!

Drew turned one on November 20th!

Cousin Luke helped out with the festivities, as usual. :)

 Drew really could have cared less about the gifts, but he enjoyed the paper. 

His friends at school made him the poster in the background. :)

He didn't know what to think about his cake...

 And as a true Mortenson, he hated getting dirty!

 Sage got spruced up for family photos. 

 But don't let the pigtails fool you. She can wrestle like a Franklin.

Ben really didn't know what to think...

Freedom!

Drew is helmet-free! We went for a routine appointment on Monday and decided that the helmet had done it's job. It was starting to really put a lot of pressure on his cheek bones and in order to prevent facial asymmetry from occurring, we decided to remove Drew's helmet for good. We are very happy with the progress that it has made. Over the next couple of months Drew's head will continue to round out on it's own. I find myself trying to snuggle with him at every opportunity possible now that there's not a plastic shield in between. I've already appreciated the lack of head-butts.

Drew is quite reckless and got used to being able to roll around and slam down on the floor head-first because his helmet always broke his landing. He's had to figure it out the hard way that he can't always dive to the ground head-first these days. :) He is also harder to find at pick up from daycare because we were so used to spotting his helmet! Now we can just look for his red hair! :) Hard to believe that he will turn one next week...