Let's try that again...

Not a bad week...started w/ this:
(She fell in the locker room after family swim night on Monday. I was in washing the little kids and heard her crying, peaked around the curtain to find my baby with blood pooling in her mouth. Not gonna lie, I panicked! But we pulled it together and altogether she did pretty well and we're now no worse for the wear.)

Threw in a few fingers slammed in the door and ended w/ a successful Friday. In between we got a good bit of outdoor play in, Thank God it's finally warming up. I'm still holding out for the day I can get the kids in the car in under fifteen minutes. Those dang coats, gloves and hats will be the death of me. And I'd be in business if I didn't have kids that tear them off the moment they get in the car, requiring me to cram myself in the car when we arrive at our destination to force them back on. Usually only to have them dump them again at some point and I wind up carrying everything. Soon enough, soon enough.

We did play outside quite a bit, even managed a good few walks and a trip to the again visible park.

Thursday was a trip to the nursing home, the kids have come so far...I love watching them interact w/ the residents. I am also taken by the fact that the kids we bring to visit the residents are at such a similar developmental stage as those we are visiting. They are oft times entertained by and in need of the same activities and tasks. The kids have learned a lot from our visits, they have developed a certain compassion and fearlessness for and of individuals who are in such need of care and attention - both physically and emotionally. They don't know it yet, but they are learning to respect people in all stages of life...

Chris's football season is now in full swing. They had their first practice Wednesday night and we are attending their first fundraiser event this Sunday. Wish us luck as the kids and I navigate our way through this first season. My God grant me patience. LOTS of patience! :)

Happy weekend to you all.

Totally Worth It....

I encountered two Ella quotes this evening that made me decide, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it was time to revisit blogging. Without further ado:


Ella: Why are you doing that?
Me (pulling the cover off the grill for dinner): Why do you think?
Ella: Daddy wrecked it?


The second...Chris was "assessing" his tackle box (as if he's going to have time to fish this year...HA!) and holds out a particular lure and says to Ella: What are these?
Ella (O so proud and so very excited to "know" the answer: OOOOO....THINGS!


Ahhhh....the pleasures of a four year old.

...are quickly muddled by the difficulties of a two year old.

In truth, the girls are fantastic. Ella is growing into a "devoted and responsible" (stolen directly from Ginger's Christmas card) big sister. She adores her baby brother, and is growing mature enough to, occasionally, show some patience w/ her little sister...before lighting into her when said patience runs out. She absolutely LOVES preschool (cannot WAIT for "big" school to start in the fall), and I love it for her. She has made friends very well, and we have brought back the after-school playdate for the "spring" (yes it's coming). We try, every few weeks, to have a friend from school come for lunch then play for a few hours. It helps me get to know Ella's friends, and their parents, and Ella loves sharing her home w/ them.
She is also going full speed w/ tumbling and Cubbies and is soon to start Spring soccer. I personally think she is turning out to be a pretty good gymnast, but she swears to me that she will be abandoning it next year in leiu of dance. It makes me a bit sad cause I love to see her developing a skill, but I'd much rather she try something new and learn if she likes it or not. I'm anxious for whatever she decides.


Mia is a ball of energy...I certainly cannot keep up w/ her. I love watching her go, and w/ me babysitting pretty often these days, she's become quite the little playmate (although occasionally she's more sisterly to the other kids than friendly). She follows in her big sisters footsteps whenever she is able, and has started tumbling, tho not in formal classes. We have made a weekly event of open gym at the gymnastics studio here in town and watching her little legs bounce up and down on the big trampolines is enough to fill my heart for the week.
She is DESPERATE to start preschool, so occasionally I go to pickup Ella just a little early and she sneaks in the back of the classroom and sits at carpet time w/ her sister. She will start w/ 3 year old preschool next fall, and, although young I think she'll enjoy it. ...provided she learns to poop in the potty by then. There was a time a few weeks ago I thought she'd never make it, but the recent past has shown some major progress.


And Dane...my little Dane Bug. He's just a precious little dude. I couldn't love him more. He is a VERY happy baby, laughs (mostly for his daddy), smiles often, and my God the boy sleeps. HE SLEEPS! I've never been more excited in my life. And this is why I've been able to resusitate the blog. I know there will be waking nights ahead still, but on the whole he has started sleeping pretty well. And isn't that the most important thing about a new baby? I can't believe he is 3 months already...we are going for pictures on Tuesday (we have a FAB photographer by the way). He adores his big sisters, Ella can make him smile from across the room, and has been blanketed in love since coming home. Both of them were very happy to have him (and mom) home after the slightly elongated stay which left them and daddy stranded in a snow storm w/ my mom. God bless all of them for enduring (but mostly my mom!!!!!)

Chris and I are well (he sleeps! of course we are). We have embarked on a weightloss effort, and have tentatively agreed to reward ourselves w/ a trip sans kiddos if we should meet our goals. Though I think we are at a point in our child-rearing years that just such a vacation may materialize w/ or w/o weight loss!!! Chris has taken on the position of head coach of the Midwest Rampage. They are a "minor-league" football team here in town. That's right, he is coaching adult-rec-league full contact football. God help us all. But he LOVES it, and I'm glad he's able to do something he enjoys.
We have taken the last few weekends to spend one-on-one time w/ the girls. First me, than Chris. I took Mia for an errand-running/shopping day in Ames, then took Ella to the Civic Center to see Frog and Toad. Chris took Mia to Bass Pro Shops and will be taking Ella to Very Hungry Catapillar in a few weeks at the Civic Center. She loves the theater (or so it would seem) and it has just been a ton of fun to see each of them while able to focus completely on them. I asked a friend why, if it is so nice to spend time w/ just one, do we have such a compuslion to have so many?!?! She says: So we have options! :)

I hope upon hope that I will be able to continue blogging, but sleeping well or not, having a third oddly takes more time than having two! :) Chris asked me the other night if this "laundry thing" was going to be an "every night thing?" ummm.....well....I will be doing laundry so long as there is laundry to be done. Should the other four members of my family stop wearing clothes I promise not to do so much! :)

This IS the Good Life!

And I don't mean like Nebraska claims to be the "goodlife" this really IS the good life. We've had a few more Tuesday playdates recently. Chase last week (in the jeep) and Trevyn this (finger-painting). It's been fun having boys around...between those boys and Colin, whom we've babysat frequently of late, Ella's gotten lots of "boy" style play recently.
Went swimming last night with a whole slew of friends...Abby, Addie, Ally....geesh, looks like we place the "A" in the wrong place in L's name!!! Lots of fun though. As far as goings on around here that's about it. Been pretty quiet with lots of play. Ella has informed us that she will be dressing as Annie for Halloween this year. We'll see if it holds up in 8 months.
Mia is becoming a talker quickly. She's now willing to repeat pretty much anything...however her most common phrases are "where Ella?", and "Where Matthew" (which sounds a lot like mat-new). We abandoned the active potty training after about a week, as I had figured we would. She's quite the holder, but not so much the "goer!" Since then she's peed and/or pooped in the potty four times on request.
As quiet as it's been lately we'll be returning to full speed soon....Chris is having a poker night at hte cabin with the boys this weeknd so the girls nad I will tag along and spend the weekend with friends in Lincoln, while hopefully catching the Knights in the title game of the state basketball championship. Then Chris has a conference scheduled in Chicago at the end of the week so we're taking advantage and spending the weekend prior in Racine visitng (and a gymnastics party for the girls!). Then the two of us will spend a few nights in Chi-town while the girls stay with Granny and Grandpa.
The following weekend I will be in L-town again for Jaime baby showers! Yay fun. Haven't decided if the girls will be spending the weekend with dad or giving him the weekend off in favor a weekend with nana and papa.....if the g-parents have a say we all know which that will be!!!!

Just a few extra pictutres to share....Mia "stretching" like dad...and then some with Alleyna. The girls LOVE to sit on the stool together!!!

Poop and Puke

So I've embarked on the journey that is potty training....even if Mia is a bit young. She loves to sit on the potty and we had a pretty home bound week planned so I figured we'd go for broke. Dropped the diapers (save nap and bedtime) and switched to thick panties with a vinyl cover. And when I discovered she's a "holder" (only pees a few times a day) I thought I could deal with it at least for a week or so before deciding to can it and try again in a month. Ella was peeing every 20 mintues or so when we trained her, so this wet pants a few times a day thing seems like cake!!!

I continue to be amazed how dislike her sister Mia is. And I'm grateful for it....mostly cause it helps me realize that I don't control their destiny or abilities and helps me to relinquish control and responsibility. They are their own independent people and while I get the chance to help shape their lives they have their own beings underneath it all.

Aside from the expected poop on the floor and in her panties Mia has awoken covered in poop twice in the last three days. All in all she's taken three "poop" showers in the tub. She's not a big fan but seems to have come to terms with it. As for me....I'm just glad dad got me new shower heads for Christmas...the hose has been of much use!

Ella woke up complaining of a headache, then belly ache at 3:45 yesterday morning before I fully awoke to the splashing of puke on my bed/floor. Thank God for the wood floors! She heaved a good 7 or 8 times before it was over, more than I would have imagined she could contain in her little body. But when it was over she patiently and obediently got cleaned up and changed before crawling into my bed, watching a little tv then drifting back to sleep. She never complained again and never threw up again. I was glad to have skipped out on the throw up flu that has plagued our town this year, having seemingly traded it for a one-time event. She was pretty lethargic all morning and took a good strong 3 hour nap. But I threw her in the bath in the late afternoon and she perked up enough to go to Cubbies and was laughing and singing all the while. I can't believe how "mature" she's becomming. I say this with obvious relativity, but I am able now to put her to bed and if she isn't quite ready to sleep she turns on her lights and reads books before putting them away, turning out hte light nad snuggling in to go to sleep. All without any prompting from me.

I'm totally taken by both of my girls every day. Alleyna is with us this morning and she got into a little mischief while Mia tried to pee on the potty and I checked a few chores off my list....

it's not my fault!!!

I would blog more often but I've been effectively lured onto facebook. the greatest productivity sucker since, well, since blogging! :) I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I'm fully addicted to facebook, but it's true.

The fam is doing well. We've been home mostly since my last stop on blogger. We've had another preschool friend over for a playdate, this time Morgan. It was the Thursday after Brooklyn had come to play and Ella stops Morgan on the way out of school and says 'Morgan! We're gonna have you over for a playdate. OK!' and my fate was sealed! We've had about a week of great weather (yes we consider high 30's lower 40's great weather around here), so have been outside taking walks and jumping in snow puddles a lot lately. Since doing so, Mia won't let me carry her anymore. Needless to say our "in-transit" time has increased greatly, but I'm glad she's becoming independent, and she's a funny little thing.

Last weekend seemed to be "movie" weekend. Friday night wsa movies with the girls and Tesdahls (minus Jim). We watched a quick veggietales movie so Mia could take part, then put her to bed and let the big girls (and Matthew) watch Annie - which, it turns out was more for Heidi and I than the kids! Movie night is tons of fun...we only do it every few months, but the bowl of popcorn and sleeping bags seem to completely set it apart from our usual tv time at night and Ella loves it. Mia and Matthew weren't such great watchers, but the big girls put up with it well enough. We've been watching Annie every night since - which makes for a happy mom...I love Annie!

Saturday night was for Chris and I. I ran the redbox at McDonald's (greatest invention ever!) and picked up Traitor and Wanted. We both really enjoyed Traitor....and Wanted as well, although the latter was a little gory for me. Still good action and the like.

I've finally gotten smart and have implemented midday routine for the kids around here. We've been doing so much babysitting that it seemed like the smart thing to do and I can't for the life of me figure out why I didn't do it sooner....like the day Ella was born. We have lunch then play for a while (we try to go outside, as I've found fresh air makes for better nappers) before coming inside for a quick pick-up (poor Ella winds up doing most of the work with me while the babies ruin it all! but they are getting better). Then we sing and dance to a few songs, everyone gets to pick a book for a quick story time and it's off to nap time for the babies. Best of all is that it has made Ella completely compliant regarding having a quiet time. I think it's very good for her, and VERY good for me. I've committed to taking a break myself during this time, and instead of cleaning/laundry/etc the entire time I run through and do a quick pick up of what is left, wash dishes quick if needed, etc. then sit down at the table (or in this case the computer) and read a magazine or do the crossword in the paper....or both - our local paper can be read and crossworded in less than ten minutes. we're all thriving for it.

Ella's gymnastics club has opened a new class an hour earlier which we have moved to. It allows for us to go to tumbling and still get home to have some sort of a family dinner, and the class is much smaller (on account of the five o'clock start time, not everyone can get their kids there that early). Addie joined this week too which is lots of fun, and with the smaller class they're able to get more individual attention and try some more skillful stunts. I think it's great.

Valentine's party at Ella's preschool this morning - it was P week, so the v-day party was a pajama party. So fun. We got a Valentine's present in the mail from Granny and Grandpa yesterday - with new heart comfies in it just in time! Ella and Mia are both in them for the duration of the day today.

Mia has become quite a talker, although my attempts at potty training aren't taking so well. We'll get there though....she likes to sit on the potty, but can't figure out the "go" on the potty part. This could be a long one!

The local spa in town is running a valentine's special on massages whereby if you get two you get like 10 bucks off each of them....Grandma Terri and I are treating each other to said massages tomorrow (and trading childcare duties)! I can think of no one more suited for a valentine's gift from me than my favorite co-worker!!!

Happy weekend to everyone - don't forget to let me know what you're up to!

Minnesota and Swimming Pictures

Busy Busy Busy

We've had quite the flury of activity lately and it doesn't stop for a good few days. Friday night Ella had a makeup Tumbling class on account of we missed all but one week of December due to cold/snow/holidays. The class was just she and her good friend Abby and Abby's sister Morgan. It was cool to see what they were willing/able to try with such individual attention.

Saturday we spent the day in Minnesota, mostly in order to see Leah and Emma as Tom had a game in Owatonna. We spent a few hours playing at Cabella's then had dinner with the Dasovich's (minues head coach Tom of course) at Famous Dave's before heading over to the game. It's so neat to see the girls all developing such unique relationships. I'm gald they are able to remain friends, and hope they always have this lasting friendship. Emma is totally sweet, she's quite the hugger as you may be able to tell from the pictures! We did dinner, game and a quick stop at Caribou to play and grab a quick coffee before heading home in PJs. Leah and I enjoyed watching the girls and the game, even if the refs needed a little of our help. Enough in fact that I'm still rather hoarse. Seriously, though, how is it possible, to shoot a freethrow, miss three tips, travel the length of the floor and call a foul, only to realize the clock hadn't started the entire time....and NOT choose to take time off? WHAT? They totally deserved it. Tom's team won (#2 in Minnesota...check out Dasohoops.blogspot.com)

The girls and I checked out a new church on Sunday - Freedom Ridge in Ames. It's a beautiful place and we hope to be able to become a part of their regular community of followers.

Last night was Chris and I's first of four tickets to the Theater in Des Moines. We were fortunate enough to see Spring Awakening - winner of 8 Tony Awards, including best musical this year. It was well deserved. We loved it.

Tonight was our first winter trip to the indoor pool. The girls had a blast, and are rightly exhausted. Tomorrow is Muffins with Mom at preschool (so much fun!) and we're FINALLY haivng Brooklyn over for a playdate. Ella has talked of her nonstop since school started in the fall, and it would seem ALWAYS holds her hand when they walk to chapel "two by two!" So she's coming over for lunch then an hour or so of play in the afternoon. Ella couldn't be more excited.

We've changed AWANA programs, Ella was a puggle at a chruch nearby, but we discovered she could get into the cubbie class (what? you need explaination??? Puggles is the 2-3 year old class, cubbies is 3-4, for some reason the first program we used wouldn't push her up...) so we're doing that with the aforementioned Abby, who has become quite a good friend this winter. Abby has two sisters, one older (Morgan) and one younger (Olivia- Mia's age) and a mom - Molly - we much enjoy their company and have seen quite a lot of them this season at indoor park and nursing home trips. It's been fun to make new friends and glean new lessons and blessings them.

That's where we've been...what say you?