It amazes me how the kids have developed such strong, distinct personalities at their young ages. They are pretty fanatic about a few things in particular.
Warner is my creature of habit. Everything
must be done the same way, every time, with no exceptions - or a fit ensues. Food is no exception. The dinner in this picture is served once a week at our house (at least), because both kids love it: salmon, mashed potatoes, and asparagus or broccoli.
Nearly every day he eats the same thing for lunch: hot dog (with ketchup. Ketchup is a big deal at our house), broccoli, cheese, and some sort of fruit. In fact, when I asked him what he wanted to grow in our garden this year, he said "hot dogs, broccoli, cheese, ketchup, and orange juice". Nice.
More habits include our weekly trip to the library. Warner insists on getting two Clifford books, even if he's read them already. Seeing as we go once a week, we've just about exhausted Norman Bridwell's collection of Clifford books, but this has not deterred Warner from getting them. We've tried branching out to include the five little monkeys, Thomas, Bob the Builder, etc. but nothing comes close to Clifford. We also rent DVDs at the library. For a while it was the Wiggles (thank goodness we're past that stage), then Veggie Tales, and lately it's been Clifford. So, in addition to ketchup, Clifford is also a big deal at our house.
The library trip itself is also completed exactly the same way each time. First, we return our old books/DVDs. Then, Warner and Maren race to the elevator to push the button to go up. Once inside, they both press a button (Warner knows which one is the 2nd floor, Maren pushes whichever one strikes her fancy that day). Then, they both run to the back of the elevator for the ride up. Not sure why exactly, but they do it every time. When the doors open, they run to pick out their books and DVDs. Then, we hit up the community room filled with toys and play and make a mess that we don't have to clean up (very nice use of my tax dollars, thank you very much). Finally, we check out our books and DVDs. Warner uses a step stool to do everything himself (including unlocking the DVDs and printing the receipt), and lately Maren has been checking out "her" books by herself (board books. She chooses the most randoms ones).
Warner is also a collector. He loves loves loves his Cars - all from the movie Cars. Matchbox cars will just not do right now. He wants to know their name and where they fit into the movie. He has a running list of all the cars he does not have but "needs".
With the Cars theme, he wants all things he owns to be Cars. Shoes, umbrella, swim trunks, blankets, towels, etc. That or Toy Story. Like our Mr. Potato head collection - Toy Story, of course.
One of Maren's favorite things is shoes. She spends a lot of time mastering the art of putting on shoes, and not necessarily her own. In fact, when we go to the mall play area, she usually hangs out by the shoe cubbies, trying on everyone else's shoes. These pictured below are Warner's.
She also loves soft things. Mostly that means her blanket and lovie, but it often includes stuffed animals, or anything she can find. Today while I was washing her blanket and lovie, she found an extra changing table cover in her room that's soft and carried it around until the laundry was finished.
The paci is another favorite. We try to limit paci use to bedtime and naptime only, but I give in quite frequently. I've told myself that I'll worry about that tomorrow. I have enough to worry about today.
She also loves portable snacks. Because really, who has time to sit in their highchair to eat? Her current favorites are Cliff bars for kids, and fruit ropes (also made by Cliff, if you're interested. Organic, 100% fruit, so it makes me feel a bit better about it).
And let's not forget about books for miss Maren Mae. Her attention span when it comes to reading amazes me. She will sit in someone's lap forever, reading books. The length or subject don't really matter, as long as there are plenty of pictures and pages to turn.
So, these are their favorite things today. It sure is a wild ride with these kids.
We just returned from our annual trip to Florida to visit my grandparents who spend January through April there. Since it's tax season, Kevin wasn't able to get away from work. So, my mom and I packed up the old minivan (and packed it was) and drove there with the kids. We had a blast. Two of my cousins were there as well with their families the entire week we were there. So, Warner and Maren had five other kids to play with, which they loved. I took a zillion pictures so narrowing them down for this post was difficult. Here are a few of my favorites.
Warner and two of my cousin's kids - Luke and Trey.
Watching Cars with the kids.
Ice cream and sugar were large parts of our trip. Nearly every night, we visited the Candy Kitchen for candy and/or ice cream. Warner got a Pez each time we went, and Maren chose either a Dum Dum sucker or Smarties. 
We also took one trip to the Orange Blossom, where they have the BEST orange ice cream. I think this was the first time the kids had ice cream cones, and Warner told me he liked the "hard part" of the ice cream (the cone).
The rest of the trip was spent at the pool and beach. The kids couldn't get enough of either. Watching the smiles on their faces as they played in the sand, fed the birds, and swam in the pool was priceless. Both kids were quite the fish in the pool. Maren is now swimming on her own (well, with the assistance of the puddle jumper floatie) and even jumping in the pool by herself. 
My dad came in for a few days. We enjoyed our time with him as well. One night we had dinner at Gators on the water. It's next to a draw bridge and we got to see two boats go through the bridge during dinner. Warner thought it was so cool. 
We had a wonderful trip. But now I'm ready for summer!
