7 Ways My Kids Make Me Smile

7. They are very creative when they play. I would never have thought this lamp would be such a useful item for them, but it does a great job keeping their toys, pretzels, and goldfish until they are ready for them later. Notice there is a car resting on the top part of the lamp and another blue toy jammed inside of the lamp (there are probably a few goldfish in the bottom as well). 6. They get to wear adorable outfits! I love getting them new clothes more than I like getting myself new clothes. Who could blame me when they look this cute!

5. Eli decided he wasn't done swimming while Aaron was stripping him down to bring him inside. The result was Eli swimming naked in the kiddie pool. I have to say he wasn't very happy after sliding down the slide in his birthday suit - he picked up a little extra speed and ended up completely submerged in the water!

4. Eli seriously loves to wear hats. If there is a hat lying around, Eli will find it and put it on. And he is an expert at putting on hats. His absolute favorite hat is Aaron's BYU beenie. He was running around outside in 80 degree weather with it on the other day. I also found him napping in his bed with his baseball cap still on. How cute is that?!

3. They are finally starting to say words. So far their list of words include numerous animal sounds (dog, cat, cow, monkey, elephant, horse, sheep, duck, rooster, frog, lion, tiger), Ito (Aiko), bubble, baby, dada, apple, and yuck. I'm pretty sure Eli is mooing in this picture (while Aiko tries to steal Noah's graham cracker).

2. The way they put so much emphasis into the word yuck. Noah will scrape food out of his mouth and hand it to me with a loud, "Eee-uht!" They will run over to me with a tiny piece of garbage in their hands, "Eeee-uht!" Noah will stand over top of a dirty diaper as I'm changing Eli, "Eeeeee-UHT!" In this picture Noah is yucking the piece of watermelon.

1. Baby kisses! Eli gave me my first kiss today and it made my day!