We Are Alive...

Last week was a rough week...so blogging was pushed to the back burner...normally I kinda stress out if I don't blog, but I was feeling so icky last week I didn't even care! Last week found me laying on the couch or the floor...while the kids ran wild through the house! Looking at food is just not my things right now, so we either ate with my family, had my sister Ceara come over and make food or order in food! Everyone made sure we didn't starve and I had plenty of protein to eat...not sure what I would do without my family!

 The kids and I have been spending a fair amount of our time reading books...James has a favorite...the shop manual for the 4-wheeler! He loves for me to read him the page about spark plugs...he always responds the same way, "Uuhhhh" like it was the most interesting thing in the world to him! We also have been watching far too much tv...we have no television so we watch movies...the only movies we ever watch is the Dugger Family and Cars...if I am quite sneaky about it I can sometimes manage to get a Gilmore Girl in the dvd player...but that is a very rare moment!

 The kids have been good though...James loves to take care of me while I lay on the couch. He covers me up with lots of blankets and runs for his little Doctor kit. He listens with his stethoscope, takes my temp and and gives me lots of shots. And he gives me lots of shoulder rubs...he is such a cute little man! 

 James loves to kiss my belly...we call the baby a "Little Raspberry" because that is about the size of the baby.

 We also have been eating way more junk than normal! The kids have had chips, candy, hotdogs, pizza, grilled cheese...lots of not so normal things...they don't seem to mind at all though!

 Elsie has been a super helper...she even volunteered to vacuum the living room floor for me! She loves to take care of her brother...get him a cup of milk or a little snack...my girl is growing up!

  I am determined to make this week better than last week...I think the Morning Sickness is starting to lessen...so that is a wonderful feeling! I still spend way more time than normal on the couch, but I feel like I can function a little better...and I managed to make the kids some lunch today...so I am hoping the food issues are dissipating!

 Elsie is one happy big sister...on our last Ultra Sound we found out the for sure due date...November 4th...which just so happens to be Elsie's Birthday! She is already praying for a sister born on her birthday! James and Elsie were born at 2 and 3 weeks early...so I have high hopes for a October baby...which would be the first October birthday in my family! 

While I am starting to feel better, I doubt I will be blogging regularly quite yet...so just be on the look out a post every now and then!

Embrace the Camera {Family Meal}

Jon and I both enjoy cooking...and so do our children...so quite often making meals on weekends is a family affair!

On this particular weekend Elsie was in charge of the camera while Jon, James and I peeled potatoes and carrots...a four year old as the photographer explains the butt view in all the pictures...

James loves to help...

Jon and I have a little "thing" about how we peel potatoes and carrots...I only use a knife to peel potatoes and he uses a peeler...thus I call it a carrot peeler and he calls it a potato peeler...we have laugh and have a friendly little argument about it every time!

Elsie felt like it was very important to get a picture of me with one of the carrots I peeled...gotta love a 4 year olds creativity!

James insisted on a picture with his carrot too...after the picture he ran off to the living room and sat down and ate the whole long carrot!

I love creating warm memories of cooking together...

I am linking up with the Anderson Crew again for Embrace the Camera...

Daddy Time...

My kids have a pretty wild, crazy and fun Daddy...He is a pro at getting them SO wild...when Jon is home bedtime almost never happens on time! On this evening, I was not feeling too good so Jon was supposed to be settling them down and getting them ready for bed...lets just say quite the opposite happened! When I hear the kids laughter and see their happy faces it makes it impossible to get upset!

 My big ball for doing my daily stretches has provided more fun for the kids {and Jon} than I ever knew was possible!

 This past week was Jon's birthday! He had to be working out of town for his birthday...so we are going to celebrate when he comes home in a few days! Elsie is just relieved that Jon and I are both 29 now...she says it "freaks" her out that I am older than Daddy! She is funny...

 I have to point out real quick that the clock on the wall has no batteries...when I say he kept them up past bedtime I did not mean he kept them up until 11:00!! Elsie turns into a pumpkin if kept up past 9:30...that girl loves her sleep!

 I love all these pictures...such fun ones! Jon is a hands-on, silly kind of daddy for sure! I think my kids are pretty lucky to have such a good daddy...{and he is pretty lucky to have much cute kids!}

Sweetness...

My kids are learning the art of tattling and fighting quite well...I swear I will not miss the phrase, "mommm...tell James to get out of my room, he is messing up my barbies!" Thankfully James cannot speak quite as fluently...yet! But he is pretty darn good at using body language, peppered with sign language to get his point across when his sister is annoying him!

I am happy to say though that 98% of the time they get along so well...it is so sweet! One afternoon I walked by the bedroom door and found the kids sitting, side by side on the bed...looking at books together. It was a sweet moment. 

 I love the patients and gentleness Elsie has with her brother...and I love the fact that James knows that Elsie can take care of whatever he needs. Quite often he prefers her over me to do simple little things like give him a cup of water! I find it to be melt-your-heart kind of sweetness. My greatest hope is that as they grow older they will always be each others best pals...

 I cannot wait until there are 3 little ones...they are both very excited about the new baby...Elsie has helped explain to James that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy...so he enjoys giving the baby kisses. One day he insisted I keep a little toy puppy under my shirt for the baby! I think the sweetness will get a whole lot sweeter when there are 3 little ones!

 Sometimes James can be a little bit overbearing at times...sometimes he just gets a little too annoying to his sister...and sometimes she loses her patiens with him and yells or hits at him. She is always filled with remorse after she calms down...sometimes I understand where she s coming from! When we are saying our bedtime prayers we have both been praying for more self-control. The more we pray about self control and talk about it, the more I see Elsie taking a deep breath and turning away when her brother gets to be a little too much. I love watching Elsie mature and figure out life as she gets older.

 James prayer at night is that he will remember to watch his hands and not let them get into mischief. The prayers must be working...because a few weeks ago while in the grocery store check out he knelt down on the floor in front of the candy rack...I told him not to touch anything...so he folded his hands together and just looked! I was having a "look at my son, I am so proud" moment...when quick as a wink he grabbed a package of gum and tried to run off! He had to put the gum back. I guess we will keep on working on the hands prayer!

 Love these two...I think they are pretty perfect...and I tell them that quite often!

Painting...

We like to create messes around here...mostly art messes...our art hutch is always a perfect mess...but, I kinda like it that way! A good artist knows how to get messy...a clean artist is just no fun at all! A good artist gets so carried away in their imagination that it leaves little time to be clean! While the kids can use the water colours anytime they want because they are so easy...we reserve the "big paints" for special projects and when I can help them! If these kids are left alone for one second with these paints, there is no telling what they would be painting!

 a good artist also uses several mediums in her artwork...which is why the table is covered in paint, water colour, do-a-dot, stickers, stamps, sequins...and who knows what else!

 Good thing Crayola is washable! James loves to dump the little containers of paint out on his paper...we usually are unable to save any of his pictures because the paint is so thick it would take days to dry!

 Elsie loves making handprints on her paper! I love that she is slowly getting old enough to know not to paint her legs, belly and arms...unlike her little brother...he will get there some day!

 Sometimes a super good artist must sit on the table to get a whole new angle of his artwork! I was busy painting a little picture with Elsie and looked up to find James rolling across the table...right through his freshly painted picture...unique art indeed!

Our painting time always ends with bath time...and the bath water is always an icky shade of brown from so much paint in the water. I am half embarrassed to admit that since morning sickness has kicked in, I could only muster the energy to let them paint...we skipped the bath...we used a washrag to get the big blobs of paint off. Good news though...they went to bed with paint stained on their legs and elbows...and woke up clean! I was going to call it a miracle...then I saw the sheets.

Embrace the Camera {shopping with the little man}

I love shopping...my ideal weekend would be spending a full day shopping. I like to shop till I drop. My little guy is the opposite! Elsie stayed home with the little aunties and Papa Wayne. I decided it would be easier on Papa Wayne if I took James with me! 20 minutes into our shopping day, I was wishing I had left him and taken Elsie with instead! Thankfully I wasn't shopping alone and my Mom and sister, Laura were with me!

 I love these pictures...they show my little guy's personality quite well. Never still for more than one second!

 Fitting rooms and little boys do not mix well. He may or may not have peeked under the door of random people...several times in multiple stores!

 Clothing racks are a dangerous thing for little kids...James enjoys hiding in the middle of them! More than once I have panicked only to find him crawling out from the middle of a clothing rack!

 You might look at these pictures and say, "well that crazy mother, why doesn't she just put him the stroller?" Trust me, I would if I could! This boy sees a stroller and thinks I am sentencing him to life in prison! It gets ugly...cries, screams, standing up, falling out...it's safe to say that losing him in a clothing rack is the safer option with this boy!

 For James the highlight of the trip was riding the escalator...we may have ridden it 3 times in a row...just because they are fun and we don't have anything that fancy in our little ol' town!

We had a fun shopping trip...Laura got plenty of new clothes for Spring Break...and I came home with far too many bags also!

I am linking up with the Anderson Crew again for Embrace the camera...



Weekend Adventures...

 A few weeks ago we traveled to the big city for the annual Souhrada get together...all the aunts, uncles, grandkids, great-grandkids and grandparents meet every year, on the same weekend at a hotel in the city. We normally do not attend...but this year we decided to shock everyone and show up for a change!

This year the kids were old enough and it was only a 2 hour drive versus the normal 4 hour drive...we we figured we could handle it! We will see what happens next year being that we will be adding a newborn to the mix!

The kids had a fun weekend...the hotel had a huge indoor playground...and the kids took full advantage of it!

Both of the kids enjoyed the big open gym area the best. They got to ride on lots of cool push toys...it kept them very busy and wore them out!

I love observing the difference in my children...Elsie is painfully shy and passive...James is bold and forward! While Elsie was reserved and quietly having fun on her own...James was being a wild man! In one corner of the gym was a bounce castle...filled with big kids. James did not let those big kids intimidate him one bit...he climbed right in and held his own. He even knocked a big kids down! At one point I was on one end of the gym with Elsie and I looked up just in time to see James climbing into the jump castle all alone. I sprinted across the gym in record time...but I should have known James could have taken care of himself!

James discovered the use of a basket ball hoop while observing some big kids playing ball in the gym. He quickly found a ball of his own and did his very best to make a basket!

Elsie was completely in love with these crazy little bikes! She rode on this one for over half an hour...he hands were all red and swollen by the time we left! I need to scour the Internet for some of those fun bikes!

The indoor park kept the kids so busy they didn't even notice we forgot to use the pool...well, they did remember, but we were laying in bed for the night when they finally did remember!

We had a fun time...the weekend went by quickly...

Before heading home though we had to make a few stops...like Ikea!! We had plans to go to the Mall of America...but a little boy in great need of a nap prevented us from going! It was on this fateful day that we lost our camera! {we have since recovered and got a new lens for the D40!}

We met my sister and Ted {and their friends} at Ikea...to help them with Wedding ideas. Glass vases for the Candy Buffet!

We also found a few treasures to bring home...an ironing board, white coffee mugs so we can decorate them with Sharpie Paint Pens and a long roll of art paper...I could have spend way more time {and money} there, but James was on the brink of a serious nap-time melt-down!

The best part of shopping in the big city for the kids would be the escalator! They just can't get enough of it!

On our way home Elsie was able to stop at Toys R Us and get her beloved Barbie camper she had been saving her pennies for! She had gotten some Christmas and Valentine money from Grandpa S. over the weekend which meant she finally had enough money! She was so excited!! It was at this store that I asked Jon where he put the camera so I could take pictures of Elsie...Jon's eyes got huge, he flew out of his seat and had all the van doors open while saying, "oh my god, no way, I never put the camera in the car!" Needless to say I resorted to my phone camera and Jon sat in the car and made phone calls to the mall to check lost and found. We know how to make memories! We will forever look back at this little trip as "the time we lost the camera"!