Sledding

I got to take Jon and Becca sledding this past Tuesday with my mom's group.  I was a bit apprehensive since the last time they went sledding the barely lasted 10 minutes.  When we got there the hill was pretty steep and almost solid ice.  I had to grab Jon and head down the hill with him before he could get too scared.  And it worked - he loved it!!  Becca did too.  I think it actually helped that it was icy.  It was more like a slide and there was no snow to get in the face.

After many times going with Mom, I finally talked Jon into going with some of the other kids.  Yah!



Becca went quite a few times with me and some with another mom.  Eventually she did go twice with Jon, but I don't think she liked walking back up the hill without a Mom.  She lasted 45 minutes though which is awesome and then chose to sit on the bench and watch for a while as the bigger kids finished up.

7 and a half

Yesterday was Michael's half birthday.  He chose to go out to eat for the night and mid-afternoon it started to icy rain and then turned to snow.  We decided to stay in instead.  So his second choice for a birthday treat:  Milk Shakes!

We had to get a bit creative with how to put candles up with a milk shake, but play-doh to the rescue!


Anticipation....


Taking in a deep breath....


Blow....


And blow some more....


And blow some more....


Seven and a half candles is a lot - especially when they are all around the cup.

Happy Half Birthday Michael!

The evolution of a Mom's shower

My kids are fairly early risers.  I am not.  What does this have to do with a shower?  Well, I have found it almost impossible to get up on a regular basis before my kids which means if I want a shower it has to be accomplished while the kids are awake.  I suppose I could wait until nap time, but to be honest, I don't want to waist that precious time on a shower, nor do I really want to wait that long in the day for one.

Taking a shower while kids are awake can be tactically tricky.  When Michael was a baby it wasn't too bad.  I carried the bouncy seat into the bathroom with me and he would lay in it while I showered.  If he started to cry I'd just have to hurry things along.

Then he got bigger and didn't like laying in the boring bouncy seat.  In came the exersaucer.  It lived right outside the bathroom for a while near the end of Michael's first year and the beginning of his second.  I could put him in there within ear shot and let him play for 10 minutes no problem.

But of course, he outgrew that too.  My next plan of attack was to bring toys into the bathroom.  He would play on the floor and I'd try to keep an eye on him while I showered.  Luckily Michael was never much into getting into the toilet or anything and usually did well.

When he got older I started giving him a bit of time in the morning to watch a cartoon show.  Turns out that with a snack in front of him and the TV on, he was one of those kids who wouldn't move.  So enter the perfect time to take a shower.  It would have to be pretty quick, but I could trust him for a little bit of time.

Soon, though I had two children.  After Jon outgrew the playing in the bathroom with mom I tried to have him join Michael by the TV.  This was a bit scary for me.  Not only does leaving them there keep them out of my line of sight, but with the water on it is out of ear shot for me - that is until someone screams.  And then what am I suppose to do.

For the last couple years, my shower time has been a time of interruptions.  While I try to provide snack and TV to keep the kids' attention, with two and then three kids in the room together without mom, there is bound to be fights.  One would pop their head into the bathroom every couple of minutes or bang on the door with "So and so did so and so" and I would try to officiate from the bathroom.  And then there is Becca who likes to come in all the time to see what I'm doing and try to jump in the shower with me.

Well, folks, today I am here to announce that I may be entering into a new phase of Mom showers.  Michael is off at school in the day and Jon and Becca have been playing so well together in the mornings.  They have games involving their stuffed animals that keep them busy for at least an hour.  And I took a long hot shower this morning without a whine, shout, or little face peeking in at me.

Making Valentines

So I know I shared with you already about Valentine's Day, but let me back up to the two days prior to that.  As I said, we had three parties and we were to exchange Valentines for all three.  Jon and Becca needed 20 each for the morning.  Jon needed 11 for his class and Michael needed 22 for his class.

I had been looking through one of my digital scrapbooking stores the other day and Michael saw these and thought they were really cool (especially the bat man one)!  I thought they might make fun Valentines.



So I purchased them and we attempted to make them.  The first 20 were great fun.  By 40 I was making mental notes to not do something that required so much work next year, and by the 76th (I wanted a few extra in case some fell apart) my fingers were developing scissors blisters.   I think this would have been a better project if more than just one of my kids could help with the cutting.  However, I think they turned out super cute (pun intended) and I even think I'd do it again.  It is kinda like going through labor.  When you're in it you can't imagine doing it again, but afterwards you love the results so much you think....  (And really this was nowhere near as painful as labor.)





The kids wouldn't let me turn off the camera until we got a picture of them flying!

Becca's Doll Blanket

Grandma Haig knit a wonderful doll blanket for Becca for Christmas.  At first, the blanket was used at night to tuck an animal into bed, but now it seems, the blanket has a persona of it's own.

Here is Becca lining all her animals up to watch TV.  And blanket had to have a seat of its own.


And blanket has even been found moonlighting as a hat.

Valentine's Day

It was a day with three Valentine's Partys.

First up was a party with my mom's group in the morning.  The kids ate a bunch of goodies, did crafts, and decorated bags for passing out Valentine's.  We had a lot of fun.





Then I was the helper for Jon's class that afternoon.  We made heart cookies and decorated them with fruit dip and small pieces of fruit to make fruit pizzas.  Yum.



Since I was at their school I was able to stop by Michael's class and see the end of their party too.  Michael was so excited about all the Valentines he received.

Happy Birthday Becca

This week my baby girl turned 3.  I know so many moms say this, but with my oldest I was in great anticipation of his birthdays and milestones.  With my second, it seemed that time was going by quicker, but this one completely caught me off guard.  How is she already 3?

I asked her what kind of cake she wanted and she asked for "yummy" cake.  She picked strawberry cake out at the store and pink, red, and white heart sprinkles.



Becca has been practicing holding up three fingers so she would be ready for today.  She was SO excited and proud.  When you ask her how old she is she always holds up three fingers now.  Half of the time she still says "two" but we are working on that.



She got a package in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Haig.  It was so fun to watch her open it.  She was so excited to see these air filled packing bags.  :)  The kids love to jump on them and hear them pop.



Eventually she found her presents though.



Then came a present I've been anticipating giving her for a while now - my old doll house.



Michael helped me go through all the furniture and we packaged them up so each room was in its own box.  She had so much fun opening each new box and furnishing the house.



Happy Birthday Becca!

Saturday Mornings

There are times when I miss having a baby and I can't believe that there are so many stages of my kids lives that have already past.  Saturday mornings recently have not been those times.  Instead, I'm thrilled at how big my kids are getting.

You see on Friday nights I put out bowls of dry cereal on the table.



And then I pour milk into three small cups.


And my kids can get up Saturday morning, pour their milk, eat their cereal, and watch cartoons all by themselves, while Tim and I sleep in!

Trains

We've had the train set upstairs from the basement for a couple of weeks now.  In fact Jon announced to me that he doesn't like trains anymore.  However their cousins were over last weekend and Cody and Luke are both train fans, so out came a lot of the train pieces.  Becca was very interested to play along and this week she has loved getting out the train set.  And lo and behold when I sit down to play with her Jon and Michael seem to materialize to play along.  I wish I'd had a video of it so that you could here the "thank you very much" said from one brother to the other while this picture was taken.  Of course after a while they turned into fights, but for a short while the train set brought out fabulous manners in my kiddos.   :)

Rock, Paper, Scissors

My boys use Rock, Paper, Scissors to settle many of their differences.  Who gets to have the football first, who gets the last piece of cheese pizza, who gets to pick first in the car draft.  This has worked great for a long time, but poor Jon seemed to get the raw end of the deal more than not.  He was fairly predictable with the game (as in he had his favorite sign at times that he'd use more than the others) and when Jon won, Michael could usually convince him to do best 2 out of 3.  Jon has been getting a lot better though and a couple weeks ago he won and then they went to 2 out of 3 and Jon still won.  It must have been a rough day for Michael, because it sent him into hysterics and he had to wait it out for a while in his bedroom.  I think that was a hard wake up call for Michael.  The boys still do a lot of Rock, Paper, Scissors, but now Jon is winning just about his fair share of the stand offs.

Family Gathering

We have been trying to get together with the local DeJong family crew about once a month.  It is a great time to catch up on each others' lives and to let the cousins play together.  Our most recent gathering was at our house this past Sunday.

Everyone came over after church and we had a wonderful quesadilla meal.  Of course I forgot to take a picture of that, but when everyone stuck around to watch the kick off of the super bowl we ordered pizza and that I got a picture of!





Highlights from the day:
*Sharing memories of childhood experiences and how much our genes are challenging Emily's parenting.
*Wading through piles of toys that covered the floor.
*Getting to hold my babies - although the little ones are not infants any more and are starting to crawl and sit up.
*Playing 6 Nimmt.
*Running the dishwasher 4 times to keep up with all the dishes from the day.
*Eating yummy food (that dirtied up the dishes).
*Watching my boys do a fabulous job cleaning up the house with me after everyone left.
*Not having to be one of the families that had to drive home late at night in the snow.

We had so much fun.  Thanks for coming over everyone!!

Winter Lunch

The other day Becca and Jon had fun making snowmen sandwiches for lunch.  Yum!

Oh the things...

I find around my house.

Hat Day

On Wednesday this week Jon and Michael had hat day at school.  And Becca wasn't going to be left out.



Michael wore a Steelers hat and so he wanted to pose for a picture as a football player.  Jon wore his new Red Sox hat and said he needed a red shirt to match it.  Here is him posing to swing a bat.  And Becca, well her favorite sport right now is cheering so that is what she is doing.  :)


Boy do I love these kids!


I found time yesterday to scrap a fun layout with the pictures!

Credits: Love You Dearly Feb Mix a Kit by Juno Designs, Give Me Layers v11 Template by Cluster Queen Creations, font is WendyTeeny by WM[squared]