growing up

Time is flying by.  I look at these pictures of my smiley children and I can't help but smile back. They are growing up so quickly.  All too often I'm telling Nathan to stop talking because when he plays, he has to tell me EVERYTHING he's doing.  And if I don't say "yes Nathan" or "okay Nathan" or "that's great Nathan", he will keep bugging me until I do say something.  I keep reminding myself to be thankful for a son who wants to tell me everything because chances are when he's a teenager, he won't want to tell me a thing.

When I told the kids to sit by the tree so I could take their pictures, Nathan immediately asked for the hats. I couldn't believe he actually remembered that last year when I took their picture by the tree, they were wearing Santa hats.  He's developing quite the memory... and imagination.  Yesterday he was wrapped up in my blue afghan and said he was inside a whale.  He was pretending to be Jonah :)

I can't believe this little lady is going to be 3 in less then a month!  Last Monday we were at the nursing home by our church to sing Christmas carols with the residents.  The Sunday school kids were asked to sing the songs they were learning.  Although Mary Beth is not in Sunday school yet, she stood up there beside Nathan and sang away (while Nathan just stood there and proceeded to pick his lips and then his nose).

From the looks of these pictures, it looks like they love each other so much, but most days it seems like all they do is fight.  Nathan is learning the concept of brother and sister and he tells me all the time that Mary Beth is his sister.  Today as they were playing trains he kept saying "sister. Sister. SISTER!" trying to get her attention.  It was cute to hear :)