Two and Half

We officially have a two and a half year old in the house now (or as I like to think of it - we are half way through the terrible twos). Yesterday was Jon's half birthday. Michael was very set on us making him a cake, but as we are not big cake eaters (I find myself eating it just so it won't go bad) I talked Jon into brownies. I made them while he was napping and we had them for a snack as soon as Tim got home from work. This was the first time Jon was really able to blow candles out on his own which he thought was great!


Afterwards we went to Chuckie Cheese for dinner and fun. Jon is really getting to the age where he can get into the games there. He likes the popcorn catcher, is afraid of the hit the sharks as they pop up game, and tries with all his might to shoot hoops. His favorites, though are the slide and the race car driving. He needs a parent to sit in the play area half way up the steps because they are too big for him to get up on his own but he is thrilled each time he goes down the windy slide. And as for the racing, he has more fun "playing" the demo. The great thing is that this makes his favorite two things free!

The best indoor winter toy

A year or so ago we visited friends in Canada that have 4 children close in age to ours. They have turned their basement into a playroom and the boys had a blast down there. One of the favorite activities was turning the music up loud and jumping on the mini trampoline. Since then I have been on the lookout for one on craigslist and this past fall I found one!



We had to spray it and leave it in the garage for a while since it came from a smoking house and stunk, but since it has been inside it has provided hours of entertainment! It's a fabulous way for little ones to get their energy out when couped up in the house in the winter. And you have seen that even Becca likes to get in on the fun, crawling up and down.

Can I just say, "How cute can she get?!"

OK, mom - stop taking pictures and pick me up!

Jon in pink

I must start by saying that Jon and Becca have been wearing the same size cloth diapers for a while now. Mostly this makes my life much easier since I don't need to keep their diapers separate. I did, however, purchase some pink and purple diapers a couple of months ago for Becca, because after two boys I'm loving the girly stuff. When given the choice the other day, Jon picked out a pink diaper. He looked at me like he wasn't sure he was allowed and asked, "Pink?" Now I've never told him he couldn't wear it but we have just avoided them for him up until now. So I sat there for a minute with the parental dilemma: Do I let my kid express his independence or encourage him to conform to social customs so he doesn't get laughed at? I decided I didn't want to force gender stereotypes on my child (helped along by the fact that he is still too young for people to really tease him for it now).


And now I have a great picture to save for his wedding!

Soup Day

Perfect end to the cold week have been having. We have members of Tim's old band, Silent Bark coming over for dinner before they play a gig in Holland and I'm going to make soup.

First up is a very classic chicken noodle.
Bake and then cut up some chicken - season as desired.
Mix half chicken broth half water in a large pot and put on high. (sometimes more water if need be)
Add cut up carrots, celery, and seasonings (for me usually Mrs. Dash and some salt/pepper)
Add chicken pieces at some time.
When it is boiling throw in uncooked egg noodles.
Cook for about 10 minutes until noodles are soft.

Second is the easiest crock pot chili I have ever seen. The recipe was given to me by my Aunt Jane probably for my wedding shower and I just found it recently and we loved it!
chicken breasts cut up
1 jar salsa
1 brick monterey jack cheese
some onion
1 jar northern beans
Put everything in a crock pot on high for 3-4 hours.

Now the other half of the warm soup meal is some buttered bread with cheese (usually colby jack) to dip in the soup.

Oooh I can't wait to eat tonight!

My sweet babies

OK, so I never thought I'd be that mom but there are times that I can't believe my babies are growing up. I've always been excited for the new milestones and the new stages in life and I absolutely love how my kiddos are growing, but at times.... Here are a few of my rambling thoughts and some recent pictures of the best "babies" in the world.

Michael: We are getting ready to sign him up for Kindergarten - when did that happen. He is going to be going to school all day, but lucky for me only three days a week next year. I never thought I'd want to home school. I love teaching a big class and I love the experiences of the classroom for my kids. However, with only one in school I'm already feeling a bit of the school business, especially since Michael likes to play sports after school too. I can't imagine how busy things will get with all three in school and trying to manage after school activities. When will we ever have family time? I'm starting to wish that the part time school that Michael is doing now could last for many more years. Oh and on top of all that, Michael has lost his third baby tooth now!
Crazy Hair Day


Boxing (Notice the missing tooth, but no, it didn't happen here.)


Jon: He is leaning to play - he can entertain himself for hours with cars, dinosaurs, cars, music, cars, puzzles, and did I say cars? He is our social one and we are thinking he might enjoy preschool next year (that is if we can get him potty trained which he is adamantly against at the moment). Part of me thinks that because he is still in diapers I can still think of him as a baby, but we are already getting out 3T clothes for him and he is now talking in full sentences and paragraphs and has very strong opinions about his life to communicate. No longer can I just dress him, take him places, offer him food to eat, and pick out toys and expect him to just go along. Thankfully he is still a cuddler and will come up and say "I want snuggle Mom."
Playing guitar like daddy


How did he get so daring?



Becca: Poor little Rebecca has been sick this week with a bad cold. A couple of times at night she has been crying and not able to breath well with her stuffy nose. I've gone into her room and picked her up. We sit and rock and she snuggles down in, calms, and falls asleep in my arms. I realize how safe that must feel for her. I am her everything right now - I feed her, clothe her, hold her, love her, play with her, everything. That makes me feel exceedingly special. But soon that will begin to change, most noticeably because we are getting ready to wean her next month. Now I have never loved nursing. I feel that it is important and I'm very proud of making it almost a full year with all three kids. I never thought I say this, but a small part of me is going to miss it. I worked soooo hard to overcome so many troubles early on and stuck with it even when it was tough and I felt like quitting. If it turns out that we don't have another baby, I may be closing the door on this part of my life next month. How do my babies get so big so fast?

Becca can pretty much get anywhere she wants


Here is her funny scrutchy nose face she makes to get us to smile and laugh

Cup Stacking 2011

A couple of weeks ago I was writing what was suppose to be our family Christmas letter and was obviously a New Years letter by then. (If you would like to read it go here.) When we looked back on our year we realized how much of it related to cup stacking. I guess that is becoming our family thing. Instead of turning into a "soccer mom" I'm becoming a "stacking mom" traipsing my family all over the country to cup stacking tournaments. Tim and Michael already hold records and Jon almost has the cycle completely figured out before 2.5 years old. Even Becca loves the cups and comes crawling as soon as she hears the boys at work.

Well now we are getting ready for cup stacking season and the cups are flying every day. Here is Michael's current at the speed of lightning video. The full cycle took him less than 9 seconds. I'm pretty sure I've never done it that fast.