Our Busy Week Last Week

Last week we returned from the funeral on Tuesday morning, and the very next morning Karin headed to a work event for about 5 days. While we were definitely very glad to have her back last night, I think it’s a good thing once in a while to have that bonding time with your kids. I continue to feel very blessed to have been entrusted with Matthew and Isabelle, and they really were very good for me all things considered. They are both at fun stages in their development, and I was reminded again by my sister-in-law recently that they won't be at those stages very long and that we need to write down the things they do and say before we forget, so here's another shot at that.

Matthew talks pretty much constantly right now, and it's funny (and a little scary sometimes) to hear the things that escape his lips. He definitely keeps us entertained with what he says and does. A few weeks ago, I took Matthew to the grocery store, and he rode around in one of those carts that has a little plastic car on the front. When we got back to the car, he hopped out and said, "Where's my button? Hmmm... I don't have one. Oh well." He then held out his hand and pretended to click something with his thumb and went, "Beep!" - he was locking his "car."

Again shopping with him the other day, this time at Old Navy, I was walking out of the store and thought Matthew was following me. When I realized he had stopped, I turned around and saw this:

That same day, we were hanging out with our friends, and Matthew turned to his little friend Maggie (OK, she's six months younger but a lot taller than he is) and said, "Maggie, I have to tell you something terrible. My mom is GONE!" Then when Karin got home yesterday, he told her, "I'm so proud of you for coming home!"

Isabelle only knows one trick at this point (she can clap), but she is (if that's possible) more active and into everything than Matthew ever was. Our house is fairly locked down, but she is into every cabinet she can open, and I caught her the other day prostrated on the floor trying to reach under the pantry door for something. She somehow knows which remotes are real and which are old ones with no batteries (this always amazes me that kids can figure that out). She is on her feet almost any chance she gets to pull herself up, so I don't think it'll be long before she's running around, and then we'll really be in trouble. She continues to smile nearly all the time, though.

As much fun as I had with the kids over the past few days, I'm very glad I'm not a single parent, and I'm really looking forward to a normal week for us, and I know Karin is, too. She gets pretty worn out by those events, and our DVR might have exploded anyway if she had been gone any longer since I can't really delete anything while she's gone.