Birthday, take one...

Today, Sweet Pea were going to be with our friends for the morning, so we celebrated her birthday too!! Above, you'll think I'm trying to be artistic with the picture, but really it was just a horrible picture that I tried to make better so I could post it. You all know that I'm not the photographer in the family!!!

This morning, she didn't want to take off her pj's, so I bribed her with an Elmo t-shirt. Since her cupcakes had Elmo on the too, I figured it was fitting!!!

While we are all singing "happy birthday" to her, she chimed in and sang to herself! She blew out one of the candles too... I helped her with the other one.

All of the kids got kicked outside to eat their cupcakes!

The icing first, then the sugar Elmo, then one or two bites of the cupcake. Then, she was done... no cupcake for her, the icing's the best part!

There's our sweaty sweet pea opening presents. It was the most excited I've seen her with presents before... and the friends giving them to her were just as excited!!! She got two books, a 'my little pony', and a parachute!!! She brushed the pony's hair the rest of the afternoon. Notice the Elmo shirt... very classy :)

Birthday, phase two will be on her birthday on Sunday (7/1).

Birthday, phase three will be when her grandma and grandpa are here next weekend!!! She'll think she's the most special person on the face of the planet!!!

you'd think it was football season

So, my friends and I swap food once a month. We each pick one recipe, make it 4 or 5 (depending on wanting one for your own family) times, freeze it, and trade. It's wonderful!!! We get together and come home with 4 different meals for our freezer... quick and easy to pull something out when you don't know what to make for dinner!!!

I've got 5 baked hoagies going on in my kitchen right now!!! You'd think a dozen guys were coming over tonight to watch the superbowl or something :)

I know Hubby likes the meal, hopefully my girlfriends and their kids like it too...

We just got home from a weekend 'up north'... more news on that and pics to follow.

(oh, the aroma of baking meat, cheese, and bread :)

A weekend at the Lake...

Last weekend we went with our neighbors to her dad's house (where she grew up). It's "up north" as are all lakes...

What a glorious weekend!!! Jodi's dad was an amazing host... taking the kids on tractor rides, borrowing a pontoon boat so the boys could fish and we could all swim...

We had such a relaxing weekend... we all wanted to get 'lake homes' by the end of the weekend. Of course, none of us plays the lottery enough to have the slightest chance to get a lake home... but we can dream, right?
No, this is not the bait... he actually caught this one :)
That's a little better... at least it's skin-able and eat-able. We haven't eaten it yet...
Not many pics of Sweet pea on this weekend because her dad spent so much time on the boat and mom's not so good at taking pics :)

Sweet thing...

just wanted to get this one out there so hubby could copy it to his computer at work. it's from bubble day, a few weeks ago.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

This morning, we're cleaning up our campsite and Sweet Pea was over at our neighbor's campsite playing with their boys. After we got done, we went over to help and saw Sweet Pea sitting in the mulch with the middle boy. Sweet Pea was digging through mulch and then she yelled...

"mommy, look! Look!"

She was holding a baby daddy long leg spider!!!! She was SO excited!!!

"Look! Mommy, look! Daddy, daddy... LOOK!!!"

Over and over again!

So we were amazing, watching Sweet pea holding a spider between her fingers as it's wiggling and trying to get free. Hubby bends over and starts singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Sweet Pea, while still holding the spider, starts singing it with him - hand motions (one hand) and all.

Oh... it was a video moment... if we only used a video recorder!!! I think the last time we pulled out the video recorder was her first birthday - almost a year ago!

Sweet Pea has NO fear when it comes to bugs and such. She's hilarious! We didn't even get a picture... hilarious.

We left the campsite and went fishing for a little while, I'll post about that next - there are cute pics of her kissing a fish :) Actually, there are alot of pics and stories about camping... we'll just have to talk about that later, I'm tired (something about sleeping outside for two nights on an air mattress while 32 weeks pregnant :)

Camping in the city :)

Over father's day weekend we went camping with three other couples. We didn't want to venture far since some of the campers were 'newbies' and rain coupled with 8 kids didn't excite us so much... we wanted a quick escape!!!

We found a campsite about 30 minutes away! Right next door to the zoo and in the flight path of the airport :) We actually did feel like we were away though... it was a great site, secluded from the city as much as it could have been.


It rained horribly on friday night, while we were all sleeping though. Our family was in charge of breakfast on saturday morning. While I was awake, un-comfortable, and listening to the rain... I was organizing the trip to Bruegger's Bagels for breakfast since there was no way we were making pancakes in the rain. Luckily, it stopped and didn't rain again the entire weekend.

Boy was it hot though... I'd rather camp in the spring or fall when you're huddling around the fire than in the summer when you're sweating the whole time!!!

Sweet Pea and her friend Mikayla in a bike trailer. Yes, Sweet Pea's the one w/o the helmet ;)
She woke up from her nap a little sweaty. Yikes!!! I think that one was border-line child endangerment... a little hot in the tent for a little one. Sorry, sweet pea!!!
A short hike on dad's back. She still fits in that pack!!! Yeah!!!

Yes, she's kissing a fish!!! Good girl :)

A few days...

We've had a fun and busy week here.

Monday was errand day - getting hubby new tags for his car (no, I didn't MAIL the payment... I went down to the city offices almost 2 weeks after the tags expired!!! Then, I called hubby and told him if he got pulled over the tags were in my purse... he didn't know they had expired until then... sorry). Off to the post office to mail by brother a package. He's in Iraq for 3 months... he got a hodgepodge of stuff... cookies which I'm sure are in 1 million pieces by now, magazines, snacks, gum, whatever Target had in their $1 bin. Off to the mall for a bang trim, father's day cards, playing in the play area, and an iced coffee :)

Monday evening, I had another pregnancy moment. I'm not sure if I've told you all... I really don't think that pregnant women should be allowed to drive or take care of small children. I was loading up the van (purchased in February) to watch a neighbor's 8 year old play soccor. We were ready, late but ready, so I turned on the car and started to back out of the garage. CREAK... I had left the back door open as I backed out of the garage. There's a nice little scratch on the door and part of the frame of the garage is a bit broken. Everything still works... just not as it is supposed to :)

Oh Tuesday, what was I thinking? It's been in the 90's all week, so tuesday we went to the Zoo?! The Dolphin show and fish... Sweet Pea's personal favorites. Then, on the way to see if she'd feed the goats and sheep we stopped and watched the outside birdshow. Yikes was it hot!!! We both got bored and ran out of time to go to the farm (remember, our zoo doesn't have gorillas, giraffes, elephants, or lions... it has a FARM!). We ate our lunch and went to church for the staff meeting. She still slept in the pack in play in the nursery, I was a little worried since she's in a big girl bed now. I'm not sure what I'll do when she doesn't sleep in the pack in play anymore, it's sortof my only plan for going to staff meetings :) Well, such a busy morning and no nap or relaxation for me during her nap, I was exhausted by evening!!!

Told hubby about the car this evening. He took it well. I'll get it fixed before baby is born... and I'll get the two dents from where I backed into a trash can taken out too. After telling him about the car, I told him I was taking Sweet Pea swimming tomorrow... huh... remember, pregnant women shouldn't take care of small children. How about small children in large bodies of water with lots of distractions?!

Wednesday, a trip to a local lake (we have a 'few' of them around here) for swimming with some friends. We had a blast and I only missed a few spots with the sun block... oops. Days like that, I feel bad that hubby can't be there for the fun. It was a completely free day and everyone was so good! I wasn't so excited about putting this 32 week pregnant body in a bathing suit, but who is ever excited about putting on a bathing suit?

I have a few pics to post, during her nap today. I also put her hair in pig-tails this morning. I think she aged a full year!!! I'll snap a pic and get it posted too.

Come tomorrow, only 7 more weeks until my due date!!! Remember, 37 weeks is considered full term... so you can all jump on the band wagon and start praying for a late July birth instead of an August birth (that would be only 4 weeks away... I might not be ready for that, but we'll deal)!!!

Oh - we're going camping this weekend. Crazy?! Yes. This will be the first time in almost 11 years of marriage that hubby allows an air mattress on a camping trip :) Thanks hubby, I love you too!!!

Firetruck at the library

We headed to the library one day and - saw a firetruck in the parking lot!!! We headed inside to catch the end of story hour with a guest reader - a real fireman!!!!

We weren't really late, I didn't know there was a story hour that day.

After the story, all of the kids headed outside to look at the firetruck , sit in the firetruck, talk to the fireman, and get free stickers, hats, coloring books, and tatoos!!!

We had a blast. Luckily, my camera was in my purse :)

This was also a pig-tail day... which doesn't happen often because I don't have the patience for it!!! It took two extra doses of toothpaste to get this done (she sucks it off of the brush - it will be awhile before we try the fluoride stuff).


Here, she's sitting in the truck. It took awhile to wait our turn... a hard lesson for a not quite two year old. Notice the sticker on her shirt :)

It's funny, we have a firestation near our house and any time a truck goes past with it's siren on she screams - "MOM, firetruck!!!". I don't even hear them anymore... she hears every one of them though!!!

big girl

Well,

yesterday, at nap... she slept in her NEW BED!!!

last night, we tried to ask her if she wanted to sleep in her new bed again and all she responded was "read the book"... so she slept in her bed again.

today, at nap... again?!!! wow!

Granted, I've had to wake her up each time because she's slept too long or we had to get ready for church. I'm still not sure what she'll do when she wants to get up and she has freedom to get out of bed. But so far, no problems!!!

Is it that parents worry to much about transitions? The kids are just laughing... geez, mom, it's just a new bed and a new room!!!

she's an angel, and we're sure that this little boy will be completely the opposite!!!

friday on the deck - bubbles and water guns!!!

Last night was spent on the deck, bbq-ing and watching kids play with water guns and bubbles. Hubby just went to a camera class and had a GREAT time trying out all of his new tricks. I really, really enjoy the fruits of his hobby. It's even better since he doens't have a film camera anymore. We don't have to spend SO much money getting all of those pictures developed!!! While we were in Boston, his hobby was getting so expensive!!!

Here are some pics... 6/8/07... less than one month until she's two!!!! YIKES!

Below, I could actually hear her yelling - MOM, MOM?, MOM... she wanted me to help her up :) sorry, sweetie... you can get up yourself...

Sweet Pea's new room!!!

OK, so it's already changed a bit... but these are the pictures we've taken and she's sleeping right now so I can't get new ones.

A book shelf has been added and a shelf on the wall. We also found all of the parts to the day bed, so her bed sits normal height now and it's cuter.

I'm trying to get a gingham border done before the baby's born...

I'm also trying to get some ladybugs on the walls before the baby's born...

we'll see how well that works since I'm having a hard time getting the day to day stuff done :)

She's been doing great in her new room though!!! In fact, we were both in there yesterday and I wanted her to get her drink which she had left in the nursery. I told her to get her drink - she put her hands up and said, "where" - I told her it was in Sweet Pea's room - she looked around, her new room!!! I then said it was in "yet to be named's" room and she ran in there to get it!!! The nursery is no longer her room and she's good with it!!!

Yeah!!!
Here's the toy box that Grandpa made her :) When he asked her who made it she said, mommy!!!

her first push up

On the front porch... she was so excited about her ice cream!!!

I tried to teach her that you had to use your whole mouth to eat it... not just lick it with your little bitty toungue. She did pretty well?!

I did throw out the last inch or so into the garden. She was sad... but it was melting all over the place and I was eating most of it at that point.

zoo with dad

Memorial day weekend, it was rainy so we went to the zoo. Dad doesn't get to go often, it's something we do during the week alot. Above, there's a really pretty picture of her and her reflection. I can't remember what we were looking at... most likely the fish :)

She LOVES riding on dad's shoulders. I'm trying to teach her to hold onto his ears for stability... he doesn't like that too much. Every once in awhile, she'll try to get on mine... HA!!!

more cute park pics

Sorry, it's easiest to post pictures straight out of picasa and they only let you do a few at a time. I'm trying to get these in quick b/c I have to pack... leaving to visit my friend Courtney in Iowa after tutoring today.

Above, you'll see Sweet Pea trying to push me on the special needs swing. Oh... mommy used to be lighter... now she's WAY too heavy...

She seriously LOVES the swing. She cries whenever we get off of it. Last weekend, we were at our neighbors house and she wouldn't get off of it. I pushed her for about 20 minutes, Tyler pushed her for about 10 minutes, Christian pushed her for another 10 minutes, then she just sat there... hoping to get another push or two. Yikes!

cute... taking off my coat

step one... unzip

step two... continue to unzip

step three... take off

step four... throw down and RUN!!!