Pictures as Promised! :)

So here are the pictures I promised! :) Enjoy!

Daniel before the fall (see previous post!)....

Daniel after the fall....my poor little man!

This was Kate last night as I was changing her diaper (again...see previous post!)...

Big Brother and Little Sister! :) And she's smiling!

Mommy and her kiddos!

Another picture of Kate smiling! Such a big girl!

Random Thoughts...

As I'm sitting here this morning I have lots of things running through my head...so I'm just going to dump them all on here and see what comes of them! :)

* Why is it that the moment I write about anything on the blog...the opposite happens??? :) Last night Kate went to bed at about 8:45 and slept until 6:45 this morning!!!! WHAT??? I even heard her stirring at about 11:00 and so I went in and in an effort to get to bed at a reasonable time I changed her diaper, thinking that would wake her up...but no! The girl just kept on sleeping so Greg and I put her back to bed and even stayed up later because we just KNEW she was going to wake up...but again....no! Now I'm kicking myself for not going to bed earlier! :)

* Is it going to be warm enough to go to the wading pool today???? I hope so! I am really looking forward to it!

* Why is it that the minute you make an appointment for your kiddos to get their pictures taken something happens??? I had just made an appointment on Friday for all three kids to get their pictures taken...Saturday morning Daniel wiped out on our driveway. I am going to post a picture later of my poor little man...he has scrapes on his nose, a big one right below his nose, his lip is swollen PLUS his knees are now a mess because even after that, the poor kid couldn't walk 10 feet without falling over! :( Who knows now if we will get the pictures taken or not. I just can't decide...I guess we will see how the week goes! :) I just feel horrible for him...he just wants me to "take his owie off!"

* Chris has only three days of summer school left! YEAH! I can't wait for my little man to be home for the summer!

* Greg is leaving for Salt Lake City on Monday...I am really going to miss him while he's gone...I hate trips like this! Part of me really wants to go but knows that that is unreasonable....Greg would be in meetings ALL day...who knows what I would do with three kids in a city I don't know all day by myself! :)

* We are leaving for Wyoming in just a short couple of weeks...what will it be like (I've never been to Wyoming before!)? How will traveling that far with three kids go??? Should be interesting and fun! :) I can't wait!!!! I am really looking forward to getting out of Kirksville for a while and I can't wait to see some mountains!

* The Fourth of July is only a couple of days away! I love spending this day with family and friends!!!! It is one of those holidays where you can just sit around, relax and enjoy everything...the food, the fireworks, everything..nothing has to be done at a certain time (besides the fireworks!). Barbeques, sitting on blankets with your family and friends watching fireworks, playing outside all day, parades, seeing everyone in red, white and blue and just having fun!

Lots of thoughts for a Monday morning...but man do I feel better having thought some of this through! :) Or at least putting it out there! :)

Thanks for stopping by...pictures will be going up later today!

Late Nights...

So Kate has really taken to being up late at night. She actually has stayed up pretty late since she was born but she also ate every 3 hours and so we were up all throughout the night. She now sleeps for a good 6-7 hours straight at night...the catch being that she doesn't go to bed until around 11:30/midnight each night!!!! This really makes for long nights for Greg and I sometimes...this is one of those nights...we are both tired (and would LOVE to crash!) and we are just biding our time until she finishes her evening bottle and falls asleep for the night.

Neither Chris nor Daniel stayed up this late. The boys were the kids that went to bed at around 9:30 for about 6-7 hours straight and then would wake up in the middle of the night...like around 3:30/4:00. They would always go back to sleep (as would we!) and be out until around 8 or 9 in the morning. Thank goodness...although the getting up and then going back to sleep was at times brutal.

I'm not sure that this schedule is any less brutal sometimes. I REALLY want to go back to sleep after her 6:00 bottle but I just know that Daniel will be up and I will need to be up to get Chris ready to go to summer school, etc....it's exhausting at times.

But who are we kidding??? I really just need to be thankful that she is sleeping through the night and that we are getting as much uninterrupted sleep as we are and have been since she was around 4 weeks old! :) I'm very thankful for that.

I just have to remind myself of that every so often (like tonight!) when it's is almost midnight and she is FINALLY starting to fall asleep!

Hope you all had a great day!!! Stop by again sometime! :)

Yeah!!!!

So tomorrow is going to be a day full of fun and excitement! :) It is actually kicking off a weekend of great fun!

First we are having playgroup...I love to just sit around with my friends and let our kiddos play while we have some great conversations about EVERYTHING! :) Our kids really get along well and so it's a great time to get caught up and just talk.

Then, I am heading to St. Louis with Miranda to go scrapbooking!!!! We are headed to a fantastic store that is a scrapbookers heaven! This store has everything you could possibly want or need to complete a wonderful set of pages! We can just sit and work without kiddos to distract us...our loving hubbies are keeping them here in good old Kville! I'm not sure how much work I will really get done but we will have some time to shop and eat and talk and just hang out. I can't wait!

Then Saturday we are going to head back this direction with a stop in Columbia....we are going to have lunch at this amazing Indian restaurant!!!! I have to admit that I was skeptical of Indian food at first but it has become one of my favorite things in the world!!!!

Then that night we are heading to a friend's house for a birthday party. I'm constantly amazed by how big our kiddos are getting!!!! It seems like just yesterday we were having our first playgroup and the kids were just little toddlers...now they are older, they are learning to read, do math, they can ride two-wheeled scooters and talk up a MAJOR storm (and throw fits like you would not believe - that is a whole other post in and of itself - grrrr!!!!).

So our weekend is going to be a blast and I can't wait!!! The best part is that we are getting closer to fireworks time!!!! One of my favorite times of year! :)

Have a great night...stop back by sometime!

Special words! *updated!*

So as I was just hanging out with my kids last night I realized that we have developed a few words of our own (really, the kids have said them and we have just caught on!) and I realized that perhaps people don't always know what my kids are saying! There aren't many of these words (or pronunciations depending on the word) but enough that I think it's funny! Greg and I know what they are saying due to the situations that these words continue to pop up or the context they are used in but after this past weekend when we had a lot of people in town that the boys don't see every day I decided to post a few of their words and the meanings of them. If you think of any others, feel free to add them to the comments section! :)

* "nuggler" - Daniel needs hugs and kisses
* "yogret" - Chris is talking about yogurt
* "faffroom" - the bathroom
* "tarhero" - Guitar Hero
* "herokartwee" - MarioKart Wii ...when Daniel says it, it sounds very Japanese! :)
* "seatbelk" - This one is the best! Daniel says this when he is talking about a car seat...the best part is that Greg and I have (without realizing it until last night!) have starting using this word! :) "Put Kate in her seatblek please, Greg." HUH??? WHAT???? :)

Here are a few more that I have been reminded of!

* "binkifier" - ever wonder what a binky plus a pacifier is??? :) There you go!
* "freak" - Ok...now this is a normal word but if you are Chris it also means "Freeze!" :)
* "freegot" - another Christopher favorite...is used in the place of "forgot!"
* "yet" - Daniel means "yes"!

I'm sure there are more and I will add them as I think of them or hear them! :) If you know of any please add them to the comments! I am going to go write these down in their baby books so that I can always remember them! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

~me

Fourth of July...

I know it's not the Fourth yet but it will be soon and I can't wait! :) The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays...I love seeing the flags everywhere...everyone dressed up in their red, white and blue outfits, the barbeques and seeing fireworks. I LOVE it! :) So I just had to share my excitement with everyone!

The Fourth of July around here is definitely interesting and fun...about a week ago the fireworks tents popped up all around town...and there are a lot of them! It always amazes me how just down Highway 63 there can be so many tents! I believe there are around 10 of them...just for our little town! Anyway, the tents went up sometime last week and as of last Friday they were selling fireworks! Yeah!

There is a catch however....according to Kirksville ordinances or whatever...you can't set off fireworks until June 30th!!!!! So why do they go on sale the 20th??? Who knows...but it sure is fun when we can actually start enjoying them!

We usually start small and just get little things for the boys to enjoy and eventually as the fireworks get cheaper we splurge a little and get some of the bigger ones! We usually end up setting them off each night!!!!

So here starts the countdown to the Fourth! :) Only TEN days to go!!!! :) YEAH!

I'm a Posting Fool!

Ok...so I know I just posted but this is too funny to not share right away! :)

Chris went to kindergarten today so that meant getting up at 6:30 this morning, eating breakfast, getting dressed and making it to the bus by 7:20! This afternoon I picked him up so he could join us at the wading pool (us being Daniel, Kate and I along with our best buds!). So he got about 45 minutes of pool time in. We then came home and he and Daniel had a snack and they chose to watch some Transformers cartoons. During this time is when they both fell asleep (see my previous post!).

Well, along comes dinner time and it's time for little ones to wake up! Daniel wakes up with little problem and comes to the table to eat. Chris on the other hand is IMPOSSIBLE to wake up! Greg eventually carried him to our room to lay on our bed for a little bit longer. Daniel even went in and was crawling all over Chris to wake him up and Chris didn't budge!!!! He was OUT! Greg and I were seriously doubting that the child would wake up before tomorrow morning! But eventually he woke up and made it to the table....where this transpired:

That's right...the 2 year old is feeding the 5 year old!!!! :) Chris was so tired he had a hard time bringing himself to move to pick anything up to eat! Luckily he has a fantastic younger brother who tried to take care of him while he woke the rest of the way up! Daniel decided to take it upon himself to help his older brother despite Chris's arguments! :) Greg and I were sitting there laughing (which of course Chris didn't take to very well!). In the end, Chris ate his dinner (on his own!) and this is what we were left with:

My two little men, sharing a hug!!! I know that Chris really doesn't look happy but it was because we were laughing and he didn't like that! :) Have a great night!

More Pictures!

Here are a few more pictures from this past weekend...I have tons more but I'm still sorting through them! :)

Playing washers...

Miss Kate! :)
Playing in the rain on Saturday night!

Smile Becky!

Days Like Today...

I'm stumped as to why the summer can't always be like today. The weather is beautiful outside...it's around 80 degrees...but it's not a steamy 80 degrees...it's a the wind is gently blowing and it's not sticky outside kind of 80 degrees! :) The grass is green, the flowers are blooming, the trees have their leaves, the kids can get into the pool (which they did today - the wading pool is fantastic to have in town!), we could barbeque and actually eat outside, we can hang out with friends and not worry about whether or not we are sweaty and gross.

It's just a beautiful day! :)

On another note, a miraculous thing has happened...all three of my kids are asleep at the same time! :) While we were at the park playing in the pool, Kate had a bottle and she fell asleep. Daniel and Chris have had such a busy day that they have just zonked in the living room....should I be concerned that it is 5:15 and my kids are sleeping? Probably...but in the end they will only have a 30 minute nap and they will still be tired for tonight...for now I'm going to revel in the quietness of my house! :)

I'm in the process of taking pictures off of my camera right now and so I will post some of them later on! Thanks for stopping by!

Blessed...

Today was Kate's baptism and what a special day it was!!!! In fact, the whole weekend was special and I loved every minute of it! I was exhausted at moments, I was thrilled at moments and I was frustrated at moments...but the overall feeling I have leftover is happiness...pure happiness.

We were blessed to have our whole family (Greg's and mine!) plus our closest friends with us for this special weekend! :) Everyone who could came over for a spaghetti dinner last night and then we all met up at Church this morning where Kate was baptized during the service. Afterwards, everyone (a total of around 30 people) came over to our house for lunch. We did quite a bit of hanging out, talking and catching up. It was wonderful watching all of our family and friends just being here...with us! :) I loved it! :)

Kate did a fantastic job...she did not make a peep when she was baptized and she didn't cry afterwards...she was just awake taking it all in!

I've posted before about how lucky we are...but this weekend really was proof....we are lucky and blessed!

Here are some pictures from today...enjoy! :)

The baptism...

Our family of five! :)

The Marshall clan!

The Harman clan!

The Cousins! :)

I have many more pictures...ones of Kate and her godparents, ones of Kate and "the girls!", ones of Kate and her grandparents and the list goes on and on! :) I have pictures that I will treasure forever! :) I could post them all here but I think I will spread them out over a couple of posts! Have a great night! Thanks for stopping by!

Why?

So a new phase has started at our house...the WHY phase!

Daniel has started asking why about almost everything!!!! I'm not sure when it really started but man have I noticed it tonight!

While tucking him into bed tonight I told him it was time to close his eyes and go to sleep..."why?" was what I was asked.

"Because it's dark outside," I told him. "Why?" was the response I got! :)

"Because the sun went to bed and so should you!" You will never guess what I was then asked....

"Why?"

We never really went through this phase with Chris (I guess he was just a much more take it for what it is kind of kiddo)...I know other kiddos who have done this and I have always thought it was so cute! :) I love the way the questions can circle around and around...and although it can be wearing I have always liked it and have always been amazed at the challenge of actually coming up with the "why" answer! :) I am actually loving this at the moment...how long do you think that will last? I guess we will just have to wait and see! :)

I guess I have had a lot to say today! Thanks for sticking with us! :)

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures that I have recently taken off of my camera! :) Enjoy!

My little princess sleeping.....how peaceful, right? :)

Look mom! I made it to first base!

Daniel feeding his little sister...he's been dying to do this since he's seen Chris do it!

This one is way overdue...but this is Chris on his first day of kindergarten summer school. I didn't get a picture of him getting on the bus because he as embarrassed! :)

More to come later on! Have a great night! :)

I really should not be sitting here writing a post at this moment in time..Kate's baptism is this weekend and I have things I need to get done today so that I can enjoy tomorrow morning's playgroup and hopefully have time to hang out with friends tomorrow night! But oh well, right? All will be fine...the house will dust and vacuum itself, the dishes will jump into the dishwasher, the table will wipe itself off and the laundry will hopefully fold itself and make it into the right drawers...right??? :)

I'm just feeling overwhelmed at this moment in time. Everything seems to be changing and little is staying the same! The kids are getting older, my friends' kiddos are getting older, Chris is losing teeth, Kate is already two months old and is going to be baptized, Daniel knows most of his letters and is working pretty hard on the potty thing, and Greg has been doing a lot of work on things not related to Truman and has been keeping pretty busy with that!

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, especially since I feel a little odd writing it out there for everyone to see...but I just have this fear. I love my life. I love my family, love my house, love my friends, and everything else that I have right at this moment in time. I know things that are meant to be will withstand the test of time but I've been so lucky for so long and things just really seem to be changing right now and it's scary. I know my family and friends aren't going anywhere...I have confidence in everyone that I'm close to. I know that I tell them when something is bothering me and I know they will do the same....Greg and I have that down pat! :) I know that our family and friends love us for who we are and we can all be honest and share anything...

Like I said...it's just a fear...nothing is big is happening...it's all little things. I just feel very overwhelmed at the moment by life. Perhaps it is this weekend that makes me feel that way. Everyone that we love the most in our lives will be here this weekend...all in our house...celebrating our little girl and that is touching to me and perhaps that is causing me to reflect on everything and see how very lucky I still am.

I think it's always good to reflect on what you are thankful for and to remember how lucky we all are. We are all so lucky to have our family and friends in our lives...and I want to say thank you to all of you. You are who makes us, us....You are the ones who have touched our lives and influenced us, no matter how small or how big that influence may be. Greg and I would not be here without our beautiful family and our wonderful life without each and every one of you. You know who you are and I hope you know that we love you!

No matter what fears I have...that won't change how lucky and thankful I am...no matter what the future may bring I cherish every moment of every day we have you in our lives! :)

Sorry if this post doesn't make too much sense...I just felt the need to write this and get it out there rather than keeping it in and mulling it over...that usually doesn't get me anywhere!

Hope everyone has had a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Fun Conversations!!!

Greg and I get to have lots of fun conversations with both Chris and Daniel! I just can't wait until Kate is in the mix too...it should make for some REALLY fun times around here!

So here are two conversations that took place in our house tonight....

CONVERSATION 1:
Greg read a story (some Blue's Clues book that is a learning to read book) to Chris and before they started Chris said, "Who's the author?"

Greg: "I don't know. It doesn't say on the front."

Chris: He flipped it open and said, "Does it say on the title page?"

Greg: "Yes! It's written by *****."

Chris: "Who's the illustrator?"

After Greg told Chris who the illustrator was he jokingly asked Chris if he wanted to know who the publisher was...Chris completely oblivious to Greg poking fun at him said: "Sure!" :) Oh man! And Chris has not a clue as to how he knows what in the world a title page or an illustrator are!!!!

CONVERSATION 2:
Then as I was giving the boys their good night hugs and kisses, Daniel and I had this conversation:

Daniel: "Mommy! Tigger-Pooh (this is the way he says Tigger AND Pooh)"

Me: "What about Tigger-Pooh?"

Daniel: "TiggerPooh and Nemo!"

Me (with a giggle!): "What about TiggerPooh and Nemo?"

Daniel: "TiggerPooh and Nemo see my stars!" (They have glow in the dark stars on their ceiling!)

Me: "Did TiggerPooh and Nemo come see your stars?" :)

Daniel: "Yes! My house, my room, my stars, TiggerPooh and Nemo see my stars!"

Me: "They did?"

Daniel: "Yes! They sleeping." And then I got the biggest hug in the world from my little man who was thrilled that Tigger, Pooh and Nemo had come to see his stars! :)

Ahhh...what great conversations we can have! :) I wish I could record some of these!!!!

Video???? GRRRR!!! Bandaids???? Yeah!!!

Ok...so I tried posting a video and I just can't get it to work. It was a video Greg took of Kate smiling and it's really cute but it's just not working right! :( So when I get it working, I will post it!

Other than the frustration of that it has been a pretty calm day! :)

Poor Chris scraped up his knee again! This is the third time this week...poor kid! His left knee looks horrible! And of course there is the drama that ensues every time he hurts it! :) For those of you who know Chris and his hysterics when he thinks he is badly hurt you can just imagine this!!!! :) He came running up to the porch screaming "Mommy!" When I opened the front door he had tears streaming down his poor face and he looked like the world just might end right then and there! After washing it off (amid much screaming from him and giggling from me!) we applied a bandaid and all was right in the world again! Who knew bandaids could be so fantastic and be the cure for almost everything!

Now if you ask Daniel about bandaids he will shy away from you and tell you NO! That kid does not want anything to do with a bandaid...he calls them stickers and we all know Daniel will not have anything to do with stickers! If Daniel is hurt and I think he needs a bandaid, he will refuse one...he would rather bleed everywhere than submit himself to that torture and how dare I for even suggesting it! :)

Who knew that two kids coud have such differing opinions on such a small thing? Not me...but since the two of them are getting older, I have been amazed by that and much more in their short little lives! :) My boys have so much to teach me!

Hope you have a great night and I will hopefully talk to all of you soon! Thanks for stopping by!

PS - Kate is doing wonderfully today! She only slept for 45 minutes this morning but then followed that up with a 4 1/2 hour nap this afternoon - Yeah for me!!!!

So I've decided that if a title doesn't come to me when I am staring at the New Post screen within 30 seconds then it is going to go title-less! :) No more stress for me! So you will probably be seeing A LOT of title-less posts from now on! :)

We have been keeping busy the last couple of days...we hung out with our friends yesterday (which was really fun!), we went to Walmart this morning (which was not so fun), we went to lunch today with our friends (which was really fun!) and now the kiddos are down for a nap (which is fun for me but not for them!).

The rest of our day is looking pretty calm...I have some cleaning to do around the house, laundry to fold and dinner to make...then later tonight Chris has his T-ball game. He only has four left this season which I'm excited about (for times sake) but I'm also sad for him...he really does like T-ball and it's a good activity for him. Thank goodness soccer will start again in the fall! :)

So nothing really new in the Marshall house for now...there will be tons going on this weekend as Kate is going to be baptized! :) Greg's family and my family and our friends will all be getting together to celebrate! I can't believe that it is really going to be this weekend! I'm so excited to see both families together along with our friends and I'm anxious for everything to go smoothly. Please keep your fingers crossed for us! :)

Well, I finally have downloaded the photos from the wading pool along with other random pictures so here are some for you to enjoy!

Happy Father's Day!

A special Happy Father's Day to my dad, Greg's dad and of course GREG (love ya honey!)! :) Hope all the fathers out there have a great day! You deserve it!!!! :)

Will post more later!

Summertime!

Today I truly feel like it's summer! We woke up a little later, we lounged around the house, ate a late breakfast, and we went to one of the city's wading pools with friends to eat lunch, swim and play. Of course the bummer was that Greg was in Columbia for most of this but still...it was fantastic! :) We were thrilled when he got back early and joined us at the park! And to top it all off, the weather was PERFECT! Not hot, not humid and sticky...just nice and comfortable enough for the kids to play in the water and us to sit in the shade and chat!

Today is what summer is all about for me...hanging out with friends, swimming, playing outside, sleeping in, eating outside, doing what we feel like doing, when we feel like doing it even if that means letting the kiddos stay up extra late! :) The best part is when we can do these things with friends and family which we were lucky enough to do today! :) The down side is that tomorrow night it's back to an earlier bedtime, etc. so that Chris can pull himself out of bed to go to summer school. Only 13 more days left and then we are done with that as well! He is truly enjoying himself and has met a lot of new people! :)

On a side note, we have some YEAH news! :) Daniel stayed dry all day yesterday (well, ok...until 4:00 but STILL!) and he was so proud of himself! We are on track to do that today as well which makes mommy a very happy lady!

We also discovered yesterday that Chris has a SECOND loose tooth! His grandma actually discovered it...man...like I said the other day...when it rains, it pours! :)

Kate is doing great...we had a rough couple of days after her shots but since then she has calmed back down and been our very happy baby! :) Whew! Thank goodness I have been blessed with kiddos who aren't colicky or anything like that...someone somewhere has been watching out for me!

Well, I just wanted to update since it had been....well, ok...a whole day! :) Thanks for stopping by and I will post some pool pictures later tonight! Enjoy this wonderful summer day! :)

Update on Kate! :)

I ran out of time yesterday to fill everyone in on Kate's appointment. Dr. Ionis said everthing looks great!!!! She now weighs 10 lbs. 6 oz. and is still around 22 inches long...so she's gaining weight, etc.! We are supposed to encourage our little one to sleep, etc. on the other side of her head as the right side is getting a little flat! :( Poor baby!

She did get 3 shots and an oral vaccine yesterday so she's a little on the cranky side still but that should wear off soon! Thank goodness for baby Tylenol!

Other than that, nothing is really going on! My mom is here for a visit and the boys are THRILLED as am I! :)

Well, thanks for checking up on us and I will probably have more to post later! :)

2 Months Old!

Kate is 2 months old today! It's so hard to believe! And right at this moment she is sleeping in her crib, Daniel has taken his stool in there and is continually running in to check on her! Thank goodness she can sleep through just about anything!

The fact that she is 2 months also marks the halfway point (almost) of my time at home. I have very mixed feelings about this...I miss school and teaching but I really love being home with her and with Daniel and I will really be sad to send them both to childcare come August....very mixed feelings. My children mean the world to me and I love them more than anything else...I just hope that as they grow up they know that! :)

I will post again later today when we find out how much she weighs, etc! Thanks for stopping by!

Taking the Time Together...

So tonight Greg and I had to go our separate ways with various kiddos...Greg went to his meeting at church with Daniel and Kate and I got to go with Chris to his t-ball game. I decided that after the game Chris and I would get a treat and go hang out at the lake together. We have a gorgeous lake just outside of town and it was the perfect place for us to share our treat together!

Chris decided that he would like to have a shake so we went through Sonic and got 2 strawberry shakes and proceeded out to the lake. We went to a place at the lake called the Point...it is a little piece of land that sticks out into the lake. We sat on some rocks and just talked. I have such a neat 5 year old. He was full of things to talk about...everything from school to his friends to his ideas on napping after summer school! :) He is such a great kid and sometimes I think I forget to listen carefully to what he has to say and maybe that is what leads to some of his frustration as well as mine sometimes!

Well, after we drank our shakes we skipped some rocks (he tried so hard and he was so close to getting it right!!!!) and tossed some larger rocks in...then we played on the playground that was right there. What a great night...so calming, so relaxing, a great time to just spend some one on one time with my oldest kiddo.

I often worry that he gets lost in our family of five...that we expect him to be too grown up at times and that we expect him to help out too much and that we sometimes don't listen to what he has to say. Times like this though show me that he is a well rounded, smart boy with so much to offer. He's all boy in what he likes to play and do...he can be bossy and temperamental at times but what kid isn't??? He loves his family more than anything and he values his friendships just as much! He talked a lot tonight about his friends and their families...especially his best buddy in the whole world...he talked about how much he thinks she is great (for a girl!) and that he hopes they are friends forever...I have never heard him talk about the future before...it's always been the here and now as kids tend to think.

So I guess to make a long post short...my little man is growing up....and it is definitely a neat process to watch and experience. What an amazing little guy I have for a son!

Where Did Today Go?

I have not a clue as to where today has gone! It's already almost 1:30 as I'm typing this and I am amazed that in an hour and half (or just over) Chris will be home...then another hour and 45 minutes and Greg will be heading home...then we will all need to eat and head our separate ways. Greg has a meeting at church and Chris has t-ball so we will all be kept busy until we meet up again sometime after 7:30 (who knows when Greg's meeting will be over!).

As I'm writing this, I'm contemplating what we have gotten done today...we got up, ate breakfast, got dressed, Chris got on the bus and headed for school, Greg left for work and then I decided today was the day the van needed new tires (it has needed them for quite a while now!). I guess that did take a while by the time they actually put the new ones on, we drove off, realized something wasn't quite right, headed back to the dealership and then left again with a car that wasn't making thunking noises...Greg, the kids and I did go to the square to get Kate's baptism gift from us (she's going to be baptised next weekend!) and then it was home, lunch and finally nap....

Weird how some days just fly by and others just seem to drag on forever and when you wake up in the morning you never know which it will be...I wonder why that is....

Hmmm...well, there is still plenty of today left to be enjoyed and I think that will be enough. Kate is half-smiling at me from her seat while she contemplates whether she really wants to open her eyes all the way or not...so I'm going to spend some time with her...hope your day is going the way you want it to! :)

When It Rains, It Pours...

So it seems like when it rains it pours!!!! I mean first my little man goes off to kindergarten (even if it is only summer school!) but now he also has an extremely loose tooth! He told us about it while eating a chip at dinner last night. When I felt it I about died! It actually wiggles A LOT! He asked a lot of questions last night about what it would feel like when it fell out and would it hurt and will it bleed and of course most importantly...will the tooth fairy come see me? :) He's asked these things before but they became very urgent to him last night!

Then to top it off (although this is also a much happier one for me!) my littlest man is FINALLY showing an interest in the potty! He has actually been going every morning, been asking to go before/during baths and asked me earlier today if he could go!!! YEEEHAW! I am excited about that change! Perhaps we will be out of diapers soon! Please keep your fingers crossed!

And my little girl is actually smiling at us...I know I posted about that one earlier but it's starting to happen more and she is really starting to observe the things around her and take it all in...she loves to just sit there and watch you talk to her...I could do that for hours! :)

So I guess when it rains it pours...all good things but a little sad (for me at least!) at the same time...my little ones are growing up!

Picture Time!

So I haven't posted pictures in a little while and so I have quite the stockpile to choose from! Here are a few of my favorites! There isn't a theme to them...just some of my favorites! Enjoy!

Kate outside watching her brothers play in the pool! :)

It was a rough morning...Kate had been up off and on screaming so after Greg got up, I laid her on our bed next to me and she ended up zonking...a little while later Chris woke up upset so he climbed into bed too. They slept exactly like this for about and hour and a half (I was so nervous Chris was going to not realize she was there so I was checking on them CONSTANTLY!!!! :( Nervewracking!).
Daniel and I picked up some things for him to play around with at home while Chris is at school, etc. and he picked out these foam circles and sticky letters and fish...and if you know Daniel you know he's not a fan of stickers at all. But I decided to let him give it a go and see how it went and it turns out that if the stickers are foamy they aren't really stickers (according to Daniel!). So here is his "earring" he made!

Here is Daniel with his "wetters!" He loves his "wetters!"

Funny face man at T-ball! Enough said about that one!

While we were in Des Moines, I picked up some sunglasses for both of the boys....now they are pretty cool dudes! :)

Chris finally had the chance to feed Kate her bottle the other day! :) He was worried that he would never be able to do it!

What did Daniel do while Chris fed Kate her bottle? Played on her boppy of course! What else is one supposed to do? :)

So those are the pictures for now! I have tons more that I could put up but we can save those for another day! Have a great one!

The Joy of Brothers! :)

So the boys have recently been getting along really well and I was counting my blessings that there haven't been any HUGE fights or anything like that! It has been wonderful! They both have gone out of their way around here to help each other out and in fact as I write this, they are both sitting on the couch and Chris is trying to teach Daniel how to play MarioKart on the Wii.

As I am sitting here thinking about growing up with my own brood of brothers (I have four of them all younger than me...plus a little sister!) I have realized how much I miss them! Yeah we see each other now and then but we all live in different spots now and we all have our own lives and families to care for. I have brothers in Kansas City, Winfield, and St. Louis...my youngest brother is in college and so he is with my parents for the summer as is my sister.

For the longest time I just remembered the things that they did to me...like chasing me around, not listening when I was left in charge, fighting with them over the silliest of things and I had forgotten about all of the great times we had. Like sleeping in our dining room in the old house because we had a/c downstairs only...we never got to sleep when our parents wanted us to because we were too busy sneaking over to get toys to play with! Or swinging on the door handles in their room, making up our own games, playing outside in the summer time, chasing each other on our bikes through the blocks of our neighborhood in the city...all of those things that I treasure now and wish sometimes that we could go back to.

And as I sit here thinking about it I am hoping that my boys are building the same memories of each other that I have of my brothers and that Chris won't just remember that Daniel always wanted what he wanted and that Daniel doesn't only remember the time when Chris rode his scooter down the street and left Daniel in the dust on his tricycle. Or any of the other small things that happen when we are younger....

I hope they just remember the times like these when they are working together to accomplish something and to learn something new. I hope they are always close and that time and distance won't keep them apart. My two boys who are working together right at this moment to prepare their snack together...Chris talking to him so kindly and listening to everything Daniel has to say and gently (that's right folks...gently!!!!) correcting him if he does or says something a little off...Daniel looking up at his big brother with adoring eyes and working so hard to be like Chris and yet be himself....the smiles they share together now that they have accomplished their small yet important task. Love you my boys!!!!

My House and the Toy Tornado....

I realized just now that I hadn't blogged today. Not that I am feeling the NEED to say anything too terribly important and nothing is really weighing on my mind at the moment and nothing too exciting happened today but I've been on such a blogging streak lately that I don't want to break it! So here is a very boring blog about my house and my toy tornado solution....feel free to stop reading now if you want...I wouldn't blame you! :)

So my house looks like a Toy Tornado came through! I'm in the process of going through toys and donating some to local places and just plain getting rid of some that are missing pieces or are broken. The boys' room is a MESS. They have toys everywhere, books everywhere and as much as they try to put things back where they belong, we just aren't there yet! So I'm reorganizing to make things easier. Here is my plan:

* All books - on the shelves in the basement.
* All toys - on the shelves or in the toybox - in the basement.
* All coloring books - in the desk - in the basement.
* All crayons, markers, pens, and pencils - in the basement.

See a theme? I'm very excited about my theme! :) They are each going to have some bins in their room to keep toys in upstairs...things that are important to them such as Daniel's trains and Chris's Transformers but other than that...BASEMENT! :) I love having a playroom downstairs...it is great! I'm hoping that soon we will be spending more time downstairs as a family where the boys (and one day Kate) can play, I can scrapbook and Greg can do whatever he would like or the boys can play while we watch a movie. We finished our basement so that we had the space to do that but mostly we've still been hanging out upstairs!

So the Toy Tornado plan won't be complete for a couple of days but I've started on it. Most of their books are downstairs, have been sorted through and are now on the shelves and most of their toys are on the way downstairs. We still have to work through which ones will be able to stay upstairs and we are waiting for more bins from St. Louis but hopefully in the end their room will be neater and they will be able to find things! :)

So for the rest of the night I will be cleaning to get ready for my friends and their kiddos to come over in the morning which won't take long because I've been pretty good about keeping up on the basic housekeeping stuff. Then my plan is to watch some more LOST...I'm almost through Season One and my goal is to be done by the end of the weekend! :)

So that is my story about my house and the Toy Tornado...

Have a good night! I will post some pictures tomorrow! I took some great ones of Chris feeding Kate tonight...I just haven't gotten them off of the camera yet! :)

My Mohawk Girl and More!!!

My little girl is having a bad hair day...ok...a couple of bad hair days! :) She has a mohawk thing going on right now...not joking and here is the proof....this is how her hair is on a daily basis lately....
Notice the combed forward look at the front of her head and the mohawk behind. Fantastic, huh? Poor thing...even after a bath when her hair is dry it manages to stick straight up. I keep telling myself that the longer her hair gets on top the more likely it is that her mohawk will flop over and she'll have a comb over instead but no. It continues to stick straight up! Perhaps she will outgrow this by the time she's 5...let's keep our fingers crossed!

As for everything else...things are going. Chris went for his 3rd day of kindergarten summer school and the evenings are starting to get a little rougher with no nap for the 3rd day in a row. Our attitude needs some work as I have seen at various times and we've talked about how we are supposed to talk and act around other people...I guess it's just hard to remember in the moment because he knows what he's supposed to do...he just "forgets." I'm hoping our talk will help with this!

He managed to handle himself fine during dinner tonight when we went out with friends but he ate everything he could! I even laughed in the parking lot because as he got in the car he said, "Mom, what are we having for desert when we get home?" Seriously? The boy at this moment in time could probably eat a mountain and still be hungry!! :)

The boys have been having tons of fun and Daniel really misses his brother during the day. Today he was still napping when Chris got home but the dogs woke him up with their ridiculous barking when he opened the door which promptly woke Daniel up. Daniel seemed quite put off by this until he realized Chris was home and then all he wanted to do was be with him. Every school bus we see is "Chris's schoo-bus" as Daniel says. He adores his brother and hasn't wanted him out of his sight except for small amounts of time. Not sure when this started but it's very sweet...I just hope it continues! :)

Well, enough rambling for now...thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave a message and let me know you were here! :)

~Nicole

Who Knew?

Who knew that a changing table could take up about a half hour of my life??? Never before have I spent more than 5 minutes with one of my kiddos on the changing table. It has always been...put them on...change their diaper/clothes and then take them somewhere else....that is until today.

I took Kate in to change her diaper and she was in just a great mood once I was done changing her that I stood and talked to her for a little while. Then the best thing happened...she smiled....then she laughed at me!!!! Seriously! Now I know...she's 7 1/2 weeks old...but as I kept talking to her she just watched me intently and blessed me with several more smiles. It was fantastic!

She and I just continued to hang out there...me in the hopes of seeing more of her beautiful smiles and possible another giggle or two...her in her fresh new diaper just watching me be a complete dork! :) It was fantastic mommy/daughter time at the changing table....who knew?

Rain, Rain Go Away!

So it is raining up here today. In fact, as I'm typing this, there is a really large storm headed right this way...the sky to the west is dark...darker than I've seen in a long time and the wind has just really picked up and I hear the rain drops starting to fall.

For those who are curious, Chris's first day of kindergarten summer school was great. He got off the bus with a smile and told me all kinds of things last night! He remembered much more of his day yesterday than he ever did in preschool! :) He told me about his teacher, he told me about the kids he knew in his class, he told me all about the activities they had done and he even remembered the snacks he had eaten! :) He went on to tell me all about lunch and how the routines go, etc.! All these little details that let me know that he indeed did have a great day yesterday! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that today is just as good!

So in an effort to brighten things up this morning in light of the storm going on, I'm uploading some pictures that just make me smile! I think they are needed this morning! :) Enjoy!

Kate sleeping away....she's so sweet!

The boys planting some flower with me over the weekend!

Playing in the dirt...my boys love getting dirty! :)

And he's off....

To kindergarten summer school....I know it's only summer school but he looked so small getting on the bus with a bunch of big kids (a couple of which I worked with at RME this past year!). I just hope that he has a fantastic day and that he has TONS to tell me when he gets off the bus this afternoon!!!!

My little man...have a great day!!! :)

What a Day!

So today was the first day that we actually accomplished things as an organized family of five! :) We have been a family of five for what...7 weeks and 2 days (but who's counting!) and I have never felt like we have made it out of the house in an organized manner whatsoever! We are never all ready to go at the same time, we always forget something in the house so one of us has to run back in and there is usually much stress involved! :) But this morning we woke up a little late for church but today we managed to make it out of the house at 9:15 and make it to church before the service started. Everyone ate breakfast (including Kate), everyone was dressed, the diaper bag was packed and everyone was still in a great mood when we left! YEAH!

I just have to say that I feel quite accomplished at the moment...yeah it's taken us 7 weeks to finally function normally as a family of 5 but at least we did it, right? :) We finally have the zone defense thing down! :) Well, for today at least!

Have a great evening! Pictures will be coming soon!

Nicole