This blog update is going to be severely lacking in photos of substance.  I just uploaded pictures from my phone and thought I would have at least a handful of good stories from the past few weeks.  But all I saw were these:

Blurry pictures of a coloring book.

About 15 pictures of the monitor. 

And about 25 pictures of this can.  

I'll give you one guess as to the budding photographer behind these pictures.  I'll often play Pandora on my phone and let Audrey hold it while singing and she has perfected the camera.

BUT.  This post isn't about cool pictures.  This post is to describe a little more in detail what my 4 year old and 1 year old are up to, so I can someday go back and remember these glory days.

Let's start with Audrey.  She loves school.  I've never had to persuade her or drag her to school.  She always gives Ethan and I a quick kiss and hug at drop off  then hurriedly runs to stand in line.  She has only had her name written on the chalkboard once, and that was because she wouldn't stop talking to her friends.  Nick smiled when I told him this because I think he got into trouble when he was younger for the same thing.  

Audrey is so nurturing.  A little mother figure.  She is always so concerned about Ethan, how he is doing, if he's hungry or needs a diaper change.  She loves him so much and they are inseparable.  

Audrey never stops talking.  She is always going a million miles a minute.  So much to say.  I often long for 5 minutes of quiet sometimes just to think, but as soon as she is in bed after a long day, I miss her.  I'm guilty of waking her up just to talk to her a little longer :/ 

She is obsessed with clothes and nail polish and chapstick and hair.  A supreme girly girl.  I really hope wherever we move next, the chosen school has uniforms because going through 5 outfits before 7:30 is exhausting.  But, I'll give her credit for always wanting to be at her 100%.

And now my handsome Ethan.  I haven't done an update on his "milestones" in a while, but when he turned 13 months, he learned how to sign "milk" and "more," made the noises for a dog and dinosaur,  all in just a few days.  I'll never forget the time he first played peek a boo.  We were walking by the shoe isle in the PX, I gave him a pack of onesies to hold and all of a sudden he starts laughing and playing peek a boo with me.  Why that moment stands out in my mind, I'll never know.  It was so sweet.  

And today was a big day because he took two steps!!  Yes, at 14 months, he still isn't walking, but he makes up for that in his nonstop babbling and his expert climbing skills.  He can crawl on top of  the table faster than I can stand up.  He is fearless and at parks, immediately climbs to the highest point.  

One day last week, I actually had a lady walk by, then turn around, gasp at Ethan and exclaim "I just have to touch him."  She then yelled at her friend to come over and see this "cute baby."  He does get a lot of attention, and I have to say its his extremely dark, almost black, eyes that are very mysterious especially combined with his bright blonde hair.  

His little boy mind is so different from what I remember about Audrey at this age.  He is intrigued with cords and how things work.  He will sit for extended periods of time, examining a toy, taking it apart and putting it back together.  He is a thinker.  I can see his little mind working.  Take for instance, his insistence on opening this bottle of wine:

He is content playing by himself, but lights up whenever Audrey is around.  But, he wasn't too animated this day, when he had to bring him to Urgent Care for a high fever and being inconsolable.  Turns out, 24 hours later, he started to shows signs of Hand, foot, and Mouth Disease - a common childhood virus that can't be treated and really isn't that serious.  Audrey had this around the same age but Ethan had it much worse and we experienced a good week of no sleep because he was so miserable.  

Its December 2014, which means we have about 6-7 more months here in North Carolina.  The list of potential places we could end up this summer came out a few days ago.  We won't know anything until March, a whopping 3 months before moving.  I scrolled through the list earlier today.  Bahrain, Netherlands, Argentina, Turkey, Australia, Korea, Japan, Hawaii, along with all of the CONUS stations.  We have to make a wish list soon.  Its a little nerve wracking. 

I'll leave you with this.  I came home a few days ago to find Nick eating a chunk of cheese in between two slices of bacon.  So proud.