I'm terrible at this.  Hopefully, the good mom award has little to do with blogging.

Since the last update (months ago), Avery started walking and talking (a little) and Emmaline has started adding to her words.

Avery says "me" when she wants something and "baby".  Sometimes she'll say "nah, nah, nah" when she doesn't want something, but that's becoming less frequent.  Mostly, she makes a kind of gurgling sound to communicate.  

Emmaline says "cup", "cracker", "pup pup" for puppy (I suspect that one will stick as Kenny and I have both started referrring to dogs as "pup pups"), and her favorite word, "stuck".  Everything is "stuck".  She's stuck in her carseat, stuck in her high chair, and stuck in her crib.  The puzzle pieces are stuck when they won't go in the right way.  You get the picture.  It's very cute.

Avery is really into reading her books.  She'll sit on the little couch grandma and grandpa bought her for Christmas and look through book after book.  I love watching her little facial expressions, especially when she gets a surprised look on her face and says "ooh". She's become a super social toddler and just loves big kids.  We visited our friends Jenn and Taylor (11) and Avery reached for Taylor the second she walked through the door.  Possibly the cutest thing she's started doing is pouting.  If she's told she can't have something, she looks down and pouts and won't let anyone look at her.  I try not to encourage it, but darn if it isn't the cutest thing in the world.

Emmaline is really into her puzzles.  I'm so impressed that she's figured out where all the pieces go.  She often gets frustrated when she can't get the piece to fit, so we're working on turning right now.  Emmy is a little more like her dad; it takes her a little longer to warm up to people, but once she does, she's a little charmer.  She loves "pup pups" and can point out a dog in the tiniest of photos. 

Both girls have clearly entered toddlerhood.  I spend a good part of my day as a referee.  True to form, they always have to have the same toy or the same book.  That's all easily dismissed when I hear them giggling at each other.  They're favorite group activity is playing peek-a-boo around their bookshelf, which is light enough for them to move around.  They also seem to think that wrestling with each other is great fun; that is, until one of them inevitably gets hurt.

As for mom and dad, we're looking forward to summertime activities with the girls.  We did take them on one bike ride, with the bike trailer, this season.  We're excited to take them on some longer rides.

I'll try to upload some pictures soon.  I've been uploading pictures frequenly to Facebook, so if you happen to have a profile, add me as a friend.  I'm better about updates there.