Sickies...

This week we have a good ol'

{super boring}

sick week...

bleh.

Bad, bad colds.

Super sore throats.

coughs.

runny noses.

Just feeling lousy.

I guess this is what happens when you spend

the afternoon playing with sick cousins!

~

Elsie and Angelina both

started not feeling good on the same day.

James is just now getting it.

Elsie bounced back quickly,

and I'm sure James will to.

I was getting worried about Angelina though...

she had such a terrible cough!

One of my sisters went to the local

health food store for me though

and got some

Eucalyptus Oil to rub on her feet and put in the vaporizer.

And some tea and natural cough medicine.

And within the day her cough was gone...

and the next day her normal happy

little self returned!

So happy she is better!

Now we just gotta get James back to normal...

and keep

mommy and daddy healthy...

then we will be ready to get back in our normal routine again!

Though I don't hear the kids complaining

much about all the movie watching

and eating in the living room!

~

A Boy and His Nails...

One day I was busy making dinner,

The baby was happily playing in her chair...

Elsie was drawing at the table...

where was James!?

Elsie found him,

in the bathroom...

Painting his nails!

He reasoned that it was okay

to paint his nails because he picked out

orange...

and orange is a boy colour!

Because I knew it was loosing battle to fight,

I let him paint his nails bright orange.

He did pretty good.

Elsie said he needs a little more

practise,

I assured her boy's aren't supposed to paint nails perfectly!

In the end he did have some

snazzy nails...

And the polish is put up high.

I figured there are enough

Justin Beiber-ish

boys in the world...

we don't want to add to that group.

so the polish is out of reach.

Now if we could just get him to stop with his

love of lipstick...

haha...

{kinda}

Sleepy Toes...

I have a 'thing' for toes...

and you cant get much better than

little baby toes

in hand-knit booties...

Grandma B. has knit

all her grandkids a special blanket for

their baptisms...

When Elsie was a baby she also

knit her a pair of little booties.

I shoved Elsie's little toes

into those booties

until they were almost popping out the side!

Now it's Angelina's turn to

wear the special little booties.

They are pretty much the only booties

we have that will actually stay on her feet...

so I'm sure I will be

squeezing her into them for as long as

possible too!

I don't think she will mind having

squished feet though...

30!

Happy Birthday to the best guy around...

 Yep, He is no longer in his 20's...

We are an old and wise couple now that we are both 30...

right!?

~

Friday...

Another week...

Jon is finally coming home today

after being gone for 2 weeks!

We've had a busy week of

enjoying the little things...

~

1. Angelina doesn't like

bottles...but sometimes I wish she would take one

so I could at least run to the

grocery store and not have worry!

As of the beginning of the week,

the Kleen Kanteen with an

avent nipple was her bottle of choice!

 2. Last year's Jelly Beans...

the kids enjoyed them!

 3. Sisters.

These two have a little cuddle

time every single morning!

 4. Watching Nitro Circus

on Hulu...

with his sister's pink earphones!

 5. All bundled up and headed to

Grandma B's house to play with

the little cousins.

 6. Angelina and I went shopping with

my mom and sisters,

Lisa and Marissa...

Lisa needed a prom dress...

And I even had time to get all

three kids new Easter clothes!

 7. I love having time to just

browse while shopping...

gotta wonder at some of the stuff though...

do you think people really

wear rings like this!?

 8. Monday was a super

grumpy day here!

Too many late nights create

unhappy, sassy children...

so we spent the afternoon reading books

then enjoyed an early bedtime!

 9. We made home made Chinese for dinner!

 10. Elsie was determined

to figure out those chop sticks!

 11. 8,000 melty beads all over

the table...

 12. The finished melty bead project...

 13. Baby got to try out the high chair for the first time!

She is still pretty little though,

she kept slipping down!

 14. James loves to balance

on his little wooden car!

 15. We got a lot of snow...

like at least 8"...

James put on his boots and jacket

and figured he would go out to shovel.

Don't worry,

I made him put clothes on!

 16. I have been busy sewing this week...

I managed to make baby a new

summer hat and decorate it with a flower!

Now we just need summer to

hurry up and get here!

 17. One evening,

James was playing in the closet, and closed the door over his toe...

and got a big cut.

I thought about heading to the ER,

but instead we oped for

some butterfly band aids.

He kept his foot wrapped up in the

towel and laid perfectly flat!

 18. This week Angelina

tried out cloth diapers for the first time!

being that she is the 3rd

cloth diapered baby,

the other kids keep fighting about

whose old diapers she should wear!

Sad to say that most of our old

pink ones are loosing the elastic,

so she is forced to wear the boy colours...

she doesn't seem to mind one bit though!



Block Building...

James favorite toy lately

has been

the big bin of

Wooden Blocks!

He builds houses, garages, and roads.

We have a big bin of blocks,

and he feels they all must be dumped out,

so we spend the rest of the

afternoon stepping

on and over blocks!

James is such a cool boy.

He has SO much personality...

He is going through that

super annoying phase

of not liking it when I try to take his picture!

James can build some pretty impressive

wooden houses...

He is just starting to get into playing

with the wooden blocks

and little cars.

He likes to line blocks up

leading up to the houses for a road,

then he will zoom his cars on the road!

I love watching James play.

It is so much different than girl play.

He is rough and loud.

He pretends everything makes some kind of a loud noise.

He things everything needs to fixed with a hammer.

~

Both of my kids have been blessed

with an incredible imagination...

I hope they never loose it!

Summer Dreams...

Winter is

L.O.N.G.

in Minnesota...

and cold...

and blah.

So, to boost our spirits

we headed to the pool one Saturday afternoon!

The local hotel in town,

charges $3 for the afternoon of swimming...

and it's perfect because

there is rarely anyone else there...

so we have the whole pool area to ourselves!

The pool is warm...

but for some reason the kids

prefer to just play in the

hot tub!

James is quite the Daddy's boy...

so swimming with Daddy was a blast for him!

Just lately Elsie has gotten over her

"don't my picture" phase...

and now James is entering that phase!

We always bring with some

tupperware bowls

and cups

for scooping water for pretend play...

the kids happily do this for a long time!

And Jon and I get to relax in the hot tub...

perfect, in my opinion!

James loves to dump cups of water over

his own head...

god forbid I dump any water on his head

while attempting to wash hair though!

After we were there for a little while,

Angelina woke up.

So we put her

cute little pink bikini on her

and she enjoyed her first swim!

Elsie was super happy because she

can finally touch the bottom!

And she hasn't forgotten how to swim...

I have a feeling that by

the end of summer,

she will be swimming with no

arm floaties even!

Angelina was a little less than impressed!

The kids and I went swimming

last Monday too,

and Angelina enjoyed herself a little more...

she was even splashing!

I cannot wait till

winter is over and we can sink our toes

in the sand at the beach!

While we were busy swimming we liked to

pretend it was summer...

but reality hit us when we

had to go out in the 15' weather

to get to the car.

But it was a fun afternoon while it lasted!