Our New Backyard Buddy!

I've seen this little guy in our backyard a few times. Of course as soon as we go out he jets, but I did manage to get some cute pics. He likes to park it under the trampoline in the shade.

Playing Catch-Up!

So, where has the time gone. I don't think i've ever gone this long between posts. So, this one will contain a lot of info! In the past few months we've...

Had a wonderful visit from Christy, Benjamin, and Brinley! Christy drove down from CO, to surprise mom for mothers day! I of course got to enjoy her as well. Ethan and Avery had so much fun with their cousins, Benjamin and Brinley. She was only supposed to stay for the weekend, but mom and I are bad influences and she ended up staying a week! :) We went to the park, went hiking and to the lake, made smores, went shopping, and played, played, played. It was so fun to see them!

Beautiful Brinley, on Nana's shoulders.

It had just rained, and Benjamin found lots of mud, I turned around for 1 minute and this is how we found him!

Getting a shower with the hose, the other kids were quite jealous of this part, but it was a little chilly. Benjamin didn't care!

Ethan still talks about all the funny things that Benjamin did, and how much fun they had together!

We found out that another one of these will be joining our family in January! Ethan wants the baby to be a boy. We will not be finding out the sex this time around so, I have been trying to explain to him that we have to be happy either way!

So far, so good though! This has been the best pregnancy by far. Nausea has been under control for the most part, and I find myself thinking "Wow, I actually feel good right now", way too often. Definitely different food aversions and cravings than before, status...pizza, green olives, eggs, steak, hamburgers OUT! filet-o-fish, black olives, pickles, ANY fruit, salad, I could go on...IN! We are very excited!

Jesse's MBA graduation last weekend! I am so proud of all his hard work, and a solid 3.8 GPA! The ceremony was held in Little Rock, AR. I didn't capture too many pics that I could make out. But, here are some of us waiting for the ceremony to begin, just before it began Ethan fell asleep, making it a little easier on me. It was so fun to see Jesse get his diploma, and we are so proud of him!

The kids, not too happy about having to sit and wait for the ceremony! They had nothin to do, I didn't plan too well.Jesse getting his diploma, sorry it's too dark to see anything. You can kind of make him out on the big screen.

Jesse and Avery, after the ceremony. Ethan was still asleep, sprawled across 3 chairs.

What's New?

Apparantly Avery has "Body Dismorphic Disorder". Don't worry though, I think it's a made up disorder that means that she doesn't realize how big/small her body is. She REALLY wants to be small enough to fit inside her "little people" school bus, no pun intended. It was extremely cute watching her try.

Ethan has been learning to write his name. He pretty much picked it up on his own. I didn't really work with him that much. Whenever he would finish an "art project", I would write his name on it, and occasionally I would ask him if he could copy the letters of his name underneath my example. Pretty soon he would be asking me what letters come in his name, he can't always remember then all, but he knows how to write each letter. Sometimes they are not in order, but he's only 3 1/2! I am pretty proud of him. He will start preschool in September. The other day he got in trouble, and so he asked me for some paper so that he could make me a card to cheer me up. On the paper he traced his hand, and wrote OSO MOM, he told me that OSO was for "Oh SO Special" (he's been watching the new Disney channel show Special Agent Oso), and then he signed his name. It just melted me heart, the boy is so sweet! I told him I was definitely cheered up, and that he was definitely off the hook!

He did this completely on his own, I just helped him make the lines a little darker so that the picture would turn out.

These are the joys of motherhood!

As I am writing this post, Avery came to show me her "new outfit". She found a pair of swim shorts and decided to wear them. She put the waist over her head and her body is in one of the legs. Isn't she beautiful!? She's so proud of herself.

Easter Pictures

A photographer friend set up shop at a local mall and was taking Easter pics with live bunnies and chicks as props. Ethan was extremely excited and wanted to take them home as pets. Avery liked them only when they were in cages. Ruth did a great job of getting cute pictures despite Avery's freaking out. If you look closely at Avery's face, you can tell she's not saying "AWWWW!", but "AHHHHHH!". And for those of you concerned that we may like Ethan more due to the fact that we have more pictures of him solo, no worries. They are loved equally, Avery just wouldn't sit there ALONE with the killer bunny and chick! The one picture of her was actually taken quickly as she was making a run for it, the grimace just happens to look like a smile, or maybe that's photoshop! Great job Ruth! Thank You!

The Easter Bunny

Saturday we had a few easter egg hunts to choose from, and unfortunately we chose badly! We got to see the easter bunny but when it came to the egg hunt, we ended up with ZERO eggs. Apparently they were expecting about 5x's less people than came. I don't think the kids were too dissappointed, and we ended up doing a small egg hunt at home, they really liked that one. Here are pics of the kids with Easter Bunny. Of course, at first Ethan was trying to "figure him out", and Avery was hysterical. What is it with kids and huge stuffed characters. They LOVE them on TV, you'd think they would love to meet one. We tried to prep Avery, but that girl is just a BIG CHICKEN (bock, bock).

"Tinkle Tinkle Star"- Avery's Antics

Avery loves singing, and is quite good (I may be biased). She can pick up on any song after hearing it just a few times. Here is a clip of her singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. (Drum Roll Please)...

Avery is talking so much, and surprises us most of the time with what she understands, and the full sentences she uses. She loves to be held, and has started asking us to pick her up by saying "I hold that mommy?" (or I hold that daddy, or nanna, or papa, or BeBen/Brendan). Who can say no to that!? Nontheless she is spoiled.

She loves to see pictures of herself, and I have a few framed around the house, and she likes to carry them around the house saying "I hold that Avery".

She has also recently learned to count to 10. She likes to try to put Ethan in time out, by calling "Ethan" followed by gibberish, and "time out"...more gibberish "1-2-3-so on".

She loves to wear daddys shoes, and does quite well walking in them.

She recently started taking my broom and riding it like a horse naying and all, I have no idea where she got that from??

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!!

Of course these pictures were taken yesterday, when we actually celebrated St. Patty's day. We didn't do much, just made some fun green shamrock pancakes, and went to the Library! As you can see Ethan and Avery love helping me in the kitchen. I love Avery's "just woke up" face. And if you watch the sequence of pictures you can see the result "in action" of having my little leprechauns "too" helpful hands.

New "Bigger Boy Bed"

We decided it was time to move Ethan from a toddler bed to a twin. We did this in preparation for the surgery he's having at the end of the month. We wanted there to be enough room for either Jesse or I to lay with him after he's home from the hospital. So far, the new bed has been a big hit! Avery wakes up each morning and goes straight to "brubers" bed and lays in it. Ethan still fights naps, and bedtime, but will lay in it randomly throughout the day just to play around.

Ethan transferring his "stuff" to his new drawers just after Jesse set it up. Jesse could barely keep Avery off of it long enough to put it together.

Aspire to be Great!

Ethan started gymnastics last month. He loves it, and looks forward to it all week long. Here are some shots of out little future olympian in action. (Just kidding about the future olympian part ;0)

Pride and Prejudice

I saw this quiz on my friend Lara's blog, since I literally finished watching Sense and Sensibility, I thought this would be fun. It was kind of a surprise to me, I guess, but maybe I should watch this movie again because I don't remember it. I think I would probably get a kick out of it.

Take the Quiz here!

Random Snow Day

Why God Made Moms!

I saw this on my friend Melody's blog and thought it was hilarious!
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2 She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

It's Getting Warmer...

I just hope it stays that way. I have heard rumors about another "cool" front coming through, but it's almost March it HAS to be getting warmer. The other day seemed like a warm day, so I thought it was time to break out the double jogger, it has been neglected for 4 LONG months. However, once I got the kids in it and ready to go I realized the warmth was deceiving, their was quite a wind chill. Undeterred I grabbed Ethan's "cold blanket" (ie his down comforter), and tucked it around them and we went about 1 1/2 miles! Oh, it felt so good. I don't know if I can be patient much longer! I love jogging outdoors, I LOVE my double jogger, I LOVE warm weather! I LOVE that the kids are "trapped", they only complain when the sun is in their eyes, time to invest in sunglasses!

FHE

Monday for FHE I decided to make a dessert that the kids have never seen before. It was a big hit. We don't have dessert all the time, and usually it's just chocolate chip cookies ( I always have dough in the freezer). The kids had so much fun! Cupcakes baked in ice cream cone cups!

The Joys!

These are the joys of having a BIG BRUBBER! She watches everything he does and tries to do exactly the same. Here I caught her trying to use the "poppy" just like her "brubber"!