The Durling's

I know, I know...I haven't posted in days....Truth is, I pretty much use facebook now. All the status updates is just like blogging right? As you all know, I also started a photography blog and so most of my blogging fix goes to that one. What can I say...I'm a busy mommy that has to figure out her priorities.

Every year, I take my kids somewhere and take their pictures for the 10 photo collages I have of each of them on my walls. I try to change them in the fall. So I took them out to the Powerhouse and now that I am going through them, I am not sure I have enough photos of each child to fill the collage up...Anyway, Here's a little update on the kids as I have failed to even document the milestones on paper for future posterity...

Raya:

She's growing up and is almost as tall as me...She definitely doesn't have the Poindexter gene when it comes to height! She has been playing soccer and is a defender. She LOVES it. I was worried at first because after all, soccer requires running, but I haven't heard her complain once...Imagine my surprise when she chose to join the Pacer club at school! Not only does she have to get to school early, she has to run laps! It's a pretty cool club. They participate in local marathons including the one to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving day...School is going pretty good for her. She's getting excellent grades in everything except math (she takes after her mother I guess)...We are working on improving her scores, but the bright side to all of that is that she is in the high math group...For Halloween, Raya chose to be a character from Harry Potter this year. Hermione Granger...She resembled her quite well. She's been reading the series which has been awesome because she is now realizing that reading is actually fun! She's a blessing to have and I love her so very much!!!

Malia:

I am glad that Malia feels comfortable at home...I really am, but being the loudest kid in the house sometimes gets on my nerves. I guess since she is so mellow and quite out in public, she has to let out that energy somewhere and so why not do it in the one place she feels most comfortable! Malia is fun! She is always finding ways to entertain herself. Her and Ethan are the best of friends and it's fun to watch them play together. Malia (along with Raya) has joined the chess club at school. I went there and watched them for a little bit the other day. Coming from someone who knows almost nothing about chess, I was impressed at watching Malia move the pieces on the board and take down her opponent. Malia is still a little monkey. I am constantly having to remind her not to scale the trampoline poles or any other object that could potentially cause great damage if she fell. She is a great help around the house and I often find her cleaning her room without being asked! She too is a blessing to have and I love her bunches as well!

Ethan:

Ethan is the jokester of the house. He is constantly "tricking" someone. He loves to tease (in a good way) and tell jokes to his sibling's. Ethan has been playing soccer as well and has developed a great talent at the net. Being goalie is where he thrives and if he had it his way, he would prefer to stay at the net. We had to give him a little talking to last week when he was out on the field (not in the goal), he kept running around pushing people down. I guess I am the one to blame for this because he loves to play a video game called SSX Tricky. It's a snowboarding game and you can push people down in it. We haven't allowed him to play the game since then and he asks me everyday "Am I never going to get to play SSX Tricky again?" It's quite cute. Because of it, he wants a snowboard for Christmas...We're getting him a skateboard instead. I have to exercise great patience with Ethan. Someone please tell me that the cry baby, pouty, fit throwing, is just a phase...please???? This is what Ethan looks like all too often:

But even then, he's still cute!

Carly:

Carly is growing up way too fast. I can't believe all the things this kid does and says. Most of her language is alien to me, but everyday I understand more and more. I love how she says her sibling's names. Even in less than a week, she went from pronouncing Ethan's name from "Eee Hee" to "Eee Hin"...It's way cute! She follows directions like "Go get Raya for me" and even though Raya doesn't understand what Carly is saying, she still runs down the hall calling for Raya. She loves getting dressed and putting her shoes (or anybody else's shoes) on. If I need her to leave me alone for a short while, I give her some clothes and shoes to "play" with. She loves to help me fold laundry and has the whole shaking of the clothes thing down. She is also great at helping me unload the dishwasher and even if the dishes are dirty. She calls her blanket her "NaNa" which I often get confused when she actually wants a Banana. She loves milk and could drink it all day and not eat anything if I let her. She has started to want to potty train, which I think might drive me crazy if I don't start the training process with her. She is constantly taking off her diaper and climbing on the toilet unassisted without even a potty chair. I just know that one day I am going to find her in the toilet, feet high in the air! She's growing up fast and soon I won't have a baby baby anymore... I just loved this picture of her:

Here are all my babies...they're growing up way too fast!