Easter 2012

Happy Easter!!! We had a great one spending time with our family and frieds in Kansas. This is the first Easter I have been home since I moved away in 2001. The kids had so much fun hunting for eggs. We also had a birthday party for Emma with her Kansas friends and family while there (that will be a seperate post).

We have been really busy....once again we can't seem to stay healthy or out of the hospital here. Emma has another ear infection and Mike had a bad accident at work on March 29th and ended up having surgery on his finger. We won't be 100% sure if he will get to keep it till this coming Monday when the stitches come out. Most likely he will end up with some more skin grafs as he may only lose part of his finger. It could have been a lot worse so we are fortunate that it is only his finger we are talking about.

Emma modeling her Easter dress.  I tried so hard to get a picture of her smiling and looking at the camera at the same time but these are still some pretty cute shots.

11 Months

Wow..............we have sure come a long, long way in the last month.  One month ago I was still nursing every 3-4 hours and she was still waking up at night and most of the time would only go back to sleep if I nursed her (and that was after a 45 minute screamfest).  She won.....I tried!!

Now we are only nursing 3 or 4 times a day.  She is drinking whole milk....yes I know it's a little early but she wouldn't take a sippy cup with anything else in it and how in the world was I supposed to wean her when no bottle, no sippy cup.  The moment I put whole milk in her sippy she loved it.  She is eating 3 meals a day from her highchair and a couple snacks.  I am really hoping that this will add some weight to her.  She does eat just about anything right now.  She prefers the salty and crunchy!!

Emma is almost 17 pounds and still in a size 2 diaper so we will see what the doc says at her 1 year check up.  I did actually buy some 12 month clothing.  Emma is pulling up on everything and cruising along all the furniture.  She is very, very close to walking and will probably be taking her first steps just in time for her birthday!!

I can't believe she is almost one and we are well into planning her big party.  She is growing so fast it just amazes me.

I know our days are numbered as far as sink baths go so I am trying to do as many as I can.  Here are some pics of my happy, happy, beautiful girl!!

Cabin Trip 2012

Best picture of the whole weekend!!!

Ahhh.....the cabin. We love going to the cabin. It is only one of the few places where you can disconnect from the entire world and just relax and enjoy the moment. We try and go down every year for my birthday because it is before all the bugs come out and it is not too cold.  Everyone had a blast riding ATV's, shooting guns, fishing and just having fun.  It is absolutely beautiful and we hope to go down more often.

Will has mastered his little ATV and no longer needs us to run alongside with the leash.  He loved running through the mud puddles.

Everyone got a chance for a little ATV ride.

My silly Will enjoying what boys do best!!

My sweet baby girl!!!

The snipers of the family!!

We hope to go down again soon.

Playtime in the grass and mud!!!

What is more fun than playing in the grass and mud? We have had a couple of beautiful days lately so the kids have been able to play outside and Will found the only place in our yard where we had standing water and a whole lot of mud. Boys and mud just seem to go together. Emma got to try out the grass for the first time. First thing she did was grab a handfull and put it in her mouth. It is hard to have a crawler and be outside so I take her walker out with us so she can move around on her own but she wants to chase her brother around in the grass which doesn't work in a walker. I can't wait for her to start walking!!! This summer is going to be a lot of fun!!

Ladies Weekend!!!

My Mom turned 60 on January 26th and Emma and I took off for Kansas City for a fun filled girls weekend. I left Will at home with Mike so they could have their own boys weekend. We had a blast. We started Saturday morning with a pedicure where we were teaching Emma what it means to be a girly girl.

It was such a beautiful day for the end of January we decided to head to the plaza for some shopping and eating.   We had lunch at the Cheesecake factory and strolled around and did some shopping.  It had been way too long since we had done something like this.   Emma was a champ and did great.

For the evening we got together with all the ladies.  My Aunt Barb, Aunt Kim, Courtney (all 3 also had birthdays that week), Aunt Becky, Angela, and Sydney.  We had some appetizers and cocktails to end the evening.  it was great getting everyone together and we hope to try it at least once a year.

 

P. S.  We actually had everyone up and playing Wiii Dance 3 and Wii Sing.  It was a blast!!!

Valentine's with my little man!!

Emma got a post about her so I have to do one about Will too.  We had to start the day out with some heart shape pancakes.  It is little things like this that are so easy to do and mean so much to a 3 year old....I know because I remember my mom doing things like this for me.

and some gifts from Nana, PaPa, Mimi, PaPa

Will then had a "friendship party" at school and I was the Room Mother.    We played games, read stories, did crafts and handed out Valentine's and ate all kinds of yummy treats.

Here is one of the crafts from Valentine's Day.

I wouldn't of wanted to spend Valentine's any other way.  I love you Willbo.  You are always going to be my little man.  Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Finally Snow!!!!!!!!!!

We finally got enough snow the other day so that the kids can play in it. Mike and Will had fun riding ATV's and doing doughnuts. Yes, my 3 year old can now do a doughnut while riding an ATV. A lot of people think that is way to young to even be riding one but he has been on one since he was 18 months and is now a pro at it. Mike already wants to get him the next size up. We will see about that....

When you have 3 acres and no hills you improvise when it comes to sledding as you can see below.  We also got Emma out on the infant toboggan for a little ride.  All she did was look around and remain completley silent.   She definitely wasn't sure what was going on.

The snow was perfect for making snowballs and snowmen.  We were battling mother nature.  Not only did we really not have enough snow but everything was melting in the process.  We still managed to make some snowmen.  If you look closely at the left picture there is a baby snowman for Emma that Will did all by himself.  We used pretzel sticks for the arms and cheeseballs for eyes (improvising again).  Will had a blast and kept asking why he didn't come to life when we put his hat on.

Love making memories with my kiddos!!!