Andreani Family

Nutcracker

2011-12-04T18:17:00.004-06:00

Ethan playing piano, he is really enjoying piano lessons.:)

Emma at her Christmas ballet to the Nutcracker, it was fun. It was snowing when we drove home after her ballet, just beautiful! I love this time of year...We are taking her to see a real nutcracker ballet this week and she is so excited! Emma is on far left, she lead the girls out on stage.

Eve Angeline in hospital just hours after she was born.

2011-12-04T17:58:00.003-06:00

Baby Eve Angeline was only two hours old, my friend took these pictures for us at hospital wrapped in the hospital blanket and I love them. So precious so I had to share!

Thanksgiving Day, a lot to be thankful for...

2011-12-04T17:45:00.004-06:00

all the kids...

Ethan and Jake

Emma and her bestie Maddie

our dining room

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with some good friends. We loved the brining turkey recipe from Alton Brown! So juicy and the flavor from all the spices tasted so good. The kids had a blast playing with friends. Since our family is all back in Oklahoma we decided to invite friends over to enjoy our feast. I can't believe our old table has held up so well over the years. It is almost 100 years and still very sturdy. We squeezed everyone in, kids and adults. When I asked Ethan what he was thankful for this year, he said his family. :)

Eve Angeline at 8 weeks...

2011-11-27T21:12:00.001-06:00

Well Eve is 8 weeks old and is doing new things all the time. I forgot how quickly newborns change. She is a very happy baby. Smiling at anything. I tried to take a picture of her many looks. She tries to hit her toy now, she hit it a couple of times and let out a loud coo! We are really enjoying her!

Thanksgiving prep

2011-11-15T23:44:00.001-06:00

Ok so I don't write on my blog for months and now I can't seem to stop. It just looks so clean and fun to update now. It's kinda like after I give my house a 'hard' clean I find myself wanting to just stay home, light a good smelling candle, drink an ice tea, and just relax.

This Thanksgiving is going to be a lot of fun. We are hosting some good friends over for dinner then 9 more are coming over for dessert after they all eat. So we will have a house full. I'm looking forward to it. I'm putting together the menu now. We are brining our turkey for the first time with an Alton Brown recipe. And I'm going to attempt to make a new gluten free cookie recipe since one of the families eat all gluten free. I'll let you know how it turns out and of course with pictures. We are staying in Iowa and are planning on a visit back home to Oklahoma for Christmas. I love this time of year.

Elise lovin' on baby Eve

2011-11-15T22:40:00.000-06:00

As you can tell Elise loves her baby sister! Eve Angeline is now 7 weeks old which doesn't seem possible. She coos now and gets so excited when you talk to her. She is FINALLY only waking up twice at night. Until now it was every 2 hours, which amazingly enough I haven't been that tired. She looks a lot like Emma did but has Elise's smile! There is never a dull moment in our house and I wouldn't change it!

Lego League

2011-11-12T18:36:00.004-06:00

The kids participated in a Lego League for the first time and really enjoyed it! Ethan's group
built a pizza oven out of Lego's which turned out very cool. And Emma's group built a cheese and crackers factory.

Emma in blue sweater explaining with her group about what they built. She is getting so much
better about talking in front of people.

Ethan reading about what his group built in grey shirt.

I got a good laugh this morning when I saw Elise at the front door just hanging out in MY old flip flops in her diaper drinking a bottle. She usually drinks out of her sippy cups but every now and then she requests her drink in her old bottle since we had Eve. Not sure what she was waiting for.:)

We have so busy I have had NO extra time to even look at our blog. In fact I had to reset my password to even update our blog! I just noticed I never even announced that the arrival of our newest baby, Eve Angeline. She is now 7 weeks old. And we celebrated Elise's big 2nd birthday last month. I will update with some pictures soon. We are feeling very blessed. I changed the background, fonts, and colors of our blog all by myself, it is so easy now with blogger which is saying a lot since I'm not a computer savy person.:)

the girls...

2011-09-05T06:09:00.000-05:00

The kids wanted to get their daddy an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery for his birthday this year and I must say it was incredible!

Emma and Elise dancing and singing with the tierra's they made from a kit their grandma mailed them. Elise is quite a fan of Emma. And Emma having the big heart that she does is very patient with her. Being an only child myself it is such a blessing to see them so close, true sister bond.

Emma our little ballet dancer.

Elise kept begging Emma to pick her up, I think we have another ballet dancer in the works.

Elise getting directions from Emma. Elise takes everything Emma says to heart.

We have decided on an 'E' name...

2011-06-14T20:16:00.002-05:00

Eve Angeline

So we almost broke the 'E' tradition, but we now have a name for our sweet baby girl. Her name Eve means life. And her middle name, Angeline is French and means messenger. We are now at 26 weeks which Sept. will be here so very soon! We have so much to do switching rooms out and painting walls. I'll share pictures when we are finished. Emma, Elise and baby Eve will share our old room and Ethan will now have his very own room! And we are moving downstairs!:) Lots to do!

Vintage finds and freebies...

2011-06-14T16:27:00.005-05:00

This old warehouse locker from the 1920's was an awesome find for
the price.
I found it setting outside on a porch of a junk store.

And yes those are old records a friend gave to us left over
from her neighbor's garage sale
that didn't sell for them.

I feel like I'm on an episode of American Pickers when we go junk shopping anymore. Paying full price for anything except food and basic living necessities with the cost of gas and our growing family feels like a splurge. But that doesn't stop us from having a little fun every now and then. This locker I saw and knew it would go perfect in our sun/craft/school room. BUT I didn't want to pay the asking price of 45 dollars. Even though it wasn't a bad price it just wasn't in our budget. So I waited until it sat outside for about a month on the shops front porch with no buyers and we made an offer for it after pointing out all the flaws and they accepted our offer! Just like on American Pickers.:) It smelled a little musty but after a wash down outside with a sponge and bleach then again with vinegar it smells better. We will eventually paint it black and install shelving inside. It could easily be used to store scrapbooking materials, craft supplies, or home schooling workbooks.

As for the records there were a handful or so of really good albums Mario was excited about and for free you can't beat it! We also now have a great electric piano which we also got for free!

Catch up!

2011-06-03T20:46:00.001-05:00

Emma at her ballet recital!

Emma is in the front on the end.

Elise can't get enough of ice cream.:)

Ethan showing off his book he made for Writing class!

Elise looking cute in her pink dress her grandma bought her!

Ethan has his sisters wrapped around his fingers. I think he will be just fine having 3 sisters. :)
He does give her rides and she loves it!

My front urns this year were done on the cheap but I think they still look pretty!

Our free weighted keys electric piano! The kids love to jam on it!

Ethan with his friends!

It's all about Emma on her big 7th birthday...

2011-06-03T16:17:00.055-05:00

At the park with her friends...

Emma eating her birthday snowcone, cotton candy!

the Tangled birthday cake...

The kids playing Mario Kart at Fun City in Burlinton, Iowa. Emma wanted to go and stay the night there ride the Go Karts, go to the indoor water park, and play a few video games. It turned out to be a fun cheap trip!

Since it was Emma's birthday she got to go into the birthday box and get a chance to put money in this box and she got 1000 points to use towards little toys. The lady that helped us said Emma did awseome! Not very many people get that much. leave it to our Emma to figure out the trick.;)

It was so funny to watch her, she had to put these cool glasses on!

They loved driving the Go Karts.

The kids at the top of Snake Alley.

This was taken at the top of Snake Alley you can see the kids running down it!

The kids in front of Snake Alley in Burlington, Iowa. This was a really cool place to check out. The kids thought it was cool to walk down. It was built in the late 1800's. It is known as one of the crookedest streets in the world. The kids wanted me to drive down it in my cool mini van but I was afraid I would get stuck on a curve!;)

Ethan's 8th Birthday...

2011-04-16T19:06:00.003-05:00

This is what we woke up to on the day of Ethan's party, snow. I have lived in
Iowa long enough now that it honestly
didn't shock me.

And it was beautiful and any other day would have been great but we had 9
boys coming for
Ethan's party. I think it all worked out. They ate pizza, cake, and played video games.
And seemed to have a good time!

Ethan and Emma opening up grandma's present.

Ethan giving Emma a hug after he opened her gift, a Star Wars Bounty Hunter.

The big present from us, Boba Fett Lego Set. It's kinda sad because as the kids get older
the number of gifts we can give them gets smaller and smaller. A couple of books,
new bike, and a
Lego set and we called it good!:) But he said this was his favorite birthday!

I was going to bake a cake and realized I would have to bake 2 cakes to make sure we had
enough cake for everyone so I splurged and we bought this at Target and it was yummy. I thought
it was pretty cute too better than what I was going to do for sure.:)

I still can't believe their are 8 candles on that cake, it really makes me stop and think how fast
our kids are growing up.

Ethan getting a little shy while we are singing to him!

And Elise she LOVES chocolate cake! Can you tell?:)

Oklahoma

2011-03-18T14:25:00.007-05:00

We had a great time visiting last week. It was not the trip we planned, but it all worked out. We had planned on taking the kids to the zoo among many others things but when you have 2 kids sick it just doesn't always work out. Ethan came down with strep and Elise had a fever that topped at 104. So we spent 2 days at the doctor but it was nice to visit with our old pediatrician and ran into old friends. Actually the whole trip was more meaningful. We got to see the kids so happy just hanging out with their grandparents, aunts, and uncle which really makes you stop and realize just how important family is.

My dad was so happy just to sit in his living room and talk with us. We had good conversations not forced or generic, very genuine. When we left he seemed so sad to see us go. I have never been good with goodbyes yet I am very aware how important it is to tell someone that you love and appreciate them. My 94 year old grandma looked so weak and lonely it was hard to tell her goodbye. She was so happy just to get hugs from the kids. I was so proud of them. Ethan really showed me just how caring and thoughtful he CAN be. He offered to get her things without me even mentioning it. He is becoming very aware of people and their feelings but still loves to annoy his sisters.

I didn't get to visit with all my aunts, cousins, and friends as I really wanted too but that's what is so wonderful about having such a great family. I know they understood and next time will catch up. I do really miss Oklahoma the weather was so warm, the trees were budding, the flowers were out, and spring was there. Here in Iowa we're still waiting but at least it's starting to warm up!:)

Skating...

2011-03-18T13:52:00.006-05:00

Emma loved her skating experience! She did pretty good. She has
some beginner skates
but I think
she just might be ready for some like these.

Mario was a good sport about going out on the rink with the kids since I couldn't.
I really wanted too. I still have my ol' white skates with pink wheels. I loved to skate when
I was their age. My friend Jana and I would skate all day in our neighborhood!

Ethan had never skated before so it took him
a bit but he did good!
Emma and Mario helping him out!

Emma looking great! She has great balance. Must be Ballet!

Emma checking out the
other skaters.
This girl was pretty good!

Ethan getting help from grandpa!

Now he looks like he is having fun!

Emma at Pink Swirls. Great place to get some
yummy and somewhat healthy ice cream!

Ethan put about 12 toppings in his ice cream. At least he
put some
fruit.
We loved the whole experience.

Mario looking cool on the rink.;)

Elise,caught red handed...

2011-01-21T15:09:00.001-06:00

Elise keeps us on our toes that is for sure. Today while I was cleaning she found a small Polly doll toy that she obviously knew she wasn't supposed to have or she wouldn't have found this hiding spot between the bookcase and wall to admire it. When I found her she actually hid the toy in her sleeve so fast that she pulled her shirt up with it. My camera just happened to be close by so I snapped a quick picture. Sneaky girl, she loves to look at all Emma's Polly doll stuff but she sometimes just can resist the urge of putting them in her mouth. So we don't allow her to play with them unsupervised. But every now and then Emma leaves a small Polly purse or shoe out and Elise always finds them. She is so sneaky. :)

Lazy Days...

2011-01-16T17:12:00.006-06:00

Elise napping...

Ethan playing a little Donkey Kong on the Wii with Mario...

Emma playing with her dolls in my dining room...

January brings some crazy cold temps in Iowa. Today when we went to church it was 5 degrees. You would think after living here going on 5 years I would get used to it, but I haven't. We stay at home a lot playing games, watching movies, and just hanging out with each other. Come March we will start to venture out and do outdoor activities again so until then we will be having a lot of lazy days.

Mario and I made a pizza recipe with all fresh ingredients. The crust turned out pretty good but the pizza sauce needs some tweaking still. We really enjoy cooking together these days. We really don't ever eat out anymore. We find it is more fun trying out all kinds of recipes in the comfort of our kitchen. We made a chili recipe a few weeks ago that was delicious.

My Mom and I

2011-01-13T13:56:00.015-06:00

My mom was 34 years old in this picture. That is exactly how old I am now. I look at her and she looks so young to me yet when I look at pictures of myself now I always think WOW I am looking old. How ironic. Since being an only child my mom and I were best friends. I loved to hang out with her. Mario likes to remind me how I used to cancel dates with him when we were in high school because I didn't want her to go grocery shopping by herself.

This week will be 12 years since I heard her voice say Amy Kathleen. Nobody calls me that anymore but she always did. My name was going to be Amber she told me once, but she decided I looked more like an Amy when I was born. Funny. This is the way I remember her now at this age. She was the happiest at this point in her life. She lost her battle to cancer at the young age of 46.

I thought I would list 12 things that remind me of her. So here it is:

1. Her smile, she had an amazing smile that was contagious.

2. Her whistle. She would stand in the kitchen washing dishes by hand whistling the whole time all kinds of tunes. I tried to learn but I'm not a very good whistler.

3. Beach Boys she had a lot of their records, yes I said records. This was the early 80's.

4. The TV series MASH we used to watch the reruns of it together at night. She liked it.

5. Bicycle, she loved to bike ride with my dad. We would ride to Woodland Park in my hometown every Sat. afternoon. I always went too. I now have her old bike.

6. Hamburger Helper, she actually loved it!

7. JC Penny catalog, we would get the catalog in the mail the big one and go through it together every year.

8. Washing the windows on the outside of our house, I always liked to help her.

9. House plants, she had them in every room of our house. She loved to have plants.

10. Baking cut out sugar cookies, I looked forward to this every Christmas. We would play all of her old Christmas records and bake and decorate cookies. I now have all her records.

11. The way she tucked me in at night and gave me a kiss when I was a kid.

12. How much she loved my dad.

My dad didn't think we needed any more cats but my mom had a talk with him and some how he had a change of heart. I also remember her helping me name the cat, we decided on Frisky. I was almost 8 years old here the same age as Ethan.

Elise Claire at 14 months...

2011-01-12T14:06:00.014-06:00

expression after she saw her new puzzle that makes sounds...

The big present Ethan got from his grandma and grandpa!

Elise I think was more excited about the Zhu Zhu's than Emma...

Elise had to be right there in the middle of the action...

Elise doing her new puzzle, she is really good at puzzles. This is cool because it makes sounds...

Climbing onto sofa...

she is very dramatic about most everything...

And loves Emma's Zhu Zhu pets.

opening presents...

Well Elise is quite the adventurous baby girl. She expresses herself in many ways these days. Last week I had given her a little bowl with lid of crackers because she loves to walk around the house with it. And when she ate them all she came to me poking my leg with her finger to get my attention saying "mor, mor" for more holding her bowl up until I gave her more of the crackers. She will now say "yay" and clap when she gets excited or is proud of her accomplishment.

For example today I stepped into our office to get a book and came back to her standing on our dining room table clapping and saying, "yay." To say she is a climber is an understatement. The girl never stops moving. Our dining room chairs now stay pushed away from the table. Today I turned on Sesame Street for a few minutes and put her in Ethan's old comfy red chair that is just her size and I kid you not she sat there eating her snack gabbing at Elmo having a grand time UNTIL I walked out of the room for a minute and came back to her standing on our sofa clapping with her beautiful smile just so proud of herself. And she has no patience at all. The other night I was feeding her and I stopped to help Ethan and she called "momma, momma, momma" and I guess I didn't make it back fast enough for her because she started feeding herself but with her FORK! She doesn't like to be dirty. If her hands are sticky from something she cries and holds them up to me for me to clean them. And she knows our schedule. She gets her bath in the mornings so right after she wakes up she goes straight for our tub and points to it. Then we load the dishwasher together and she MUST help me or she cries. Then we get beds made which she finds very amusing. And she LOVES to have her hair and teeth brushed. She hates socks I mean the second I put them on she is pulling them right off. She knows how to say, "bye bye"and will get her shoes and hat if you tell her lets go bye bye.:)

She will give the best hugs now with a firm squeeze and a pat on your back with a kiss. If you raise your voice at her for example when I caught her standing on our dining room table it scared me so I quickly grabbed her and said "no" very firm and she knew I was not happy so she cried. She is a very smart girl, she knows when she has been naughty. Like when she turns the Wii off on Ethan when he is just about to defeat a level on his game. She pushes the button and looks over her shoulder at Ethan and then takes him her favorite book for him to read. I think she honestly just wants his attention and knows when she turns it off she GETS it. But Ethan is good about it, he just screams ELISE and then she smiles at him and holds her book out to him and he just says, "ok I'll read your book to you." She has us all wrapped around her finger. She is definitely the BABY in the house.

She takes 1 nap usually but always around 1:00. She is FINALLY sleeping through the night that just happened recently. She walks like a she's been doing it forever and loves to dance to music. But of all our kids she is a daddy's girl. When Mario comes home she screams with excitement and just hugs all over him gabbing away about her day sometimes I'll hear momma and then a bunch of sounds and then points at me. She is quite the sweetie. I'll post more pictures of Ethan and Emma at Christmas soon!

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends...

2010-12-25T12:53:00.006-06:00

We now have many Christmas traditions in place with our kids. Baking is one of them. Our Christmas Eve is full of family fun. Mario and I cut out all our gingerbread men, women, and kids along with our sugar cookies the night before then on Christmas Eve we icing all of them with the kids. A lot of work but also fun. We also made Chex mix which was a big hit with Elise! Cherry flavored popcorn, pretzel rods drizzled in white chocolate, Franks in a blanket, and pizza rolls Emma's favorite. We just snack all day then go to Christmas Eve church service and finally the kids open some presents. I have learned to love to cook and bake in the kitchen with Mario and the kids, it's always a favorite part of our tradition!

Elise Claire turns 1!!!

2010-11-10T15:22:00.007-06:00

These days having been flying by for me. When I looked at the calendar and realized it was Elise's 1st birthday it really hit me. So I have been trying my hardest just to let things set just a little bit longer so I can really enjoy all three of my kids. If you saw my house right now you'd be VERY shocked but I really wanted to take a moment and share some of these cute pics of her! She LOVES baby dolls. It's so cute because she'll pat her baby's head and give them kisses. She got a baby stroller for her birthday and I really recommend it. It's a great size for her and she can even lift it if it gets stuck and her babies slide in it very easy.

Elise has walked since a few days past 11 months and has never looked back! She wants so bad to be like Ethan and Emma! She can say the basics; momma, dadda, no, hi, meow(for our cat), wave hi, and bye, be-be(for bottle). BUT she loves to just gab. She makes sound effects for her toy(just like Ethan did and still does) she loves her barn and tractor. She also has a little car she can sit on that keeps her busy, it makes cool sounds. She is getting into books now and baby puzzles. She will point at birds outside and make sounds and then just start laughing! She has an AMAZING laugh. BUT she can also have a very bad temper!!! She doesn't want to give up the bottle for nothing! We are trying different sippy cups so we'll see! She is a daddy's girl for sure, when he comes home from work she gives him the tightest hugs and I can tell that it just makes his day. :)

1st day of Ballet.

2010-09-14T01:40:00.001-05:00

Emma had a blast!

2010-09-14T00:57:00.016-05:00

I look at the kids in these pictures and I get a little sad. It is not until I see my kids photographed that I really see how much they are all changing. They are all growing up so fast. Emma told me she wants to stop growing when she turns eight. Not sure why eight, but she is very aware of time and ages. She is always asking me how old she'll be when Elise is a certain age and then she'll ask how old I'll be. She tells me she wants to live in the pink house on our street when she gets big and that she'll come and visit me everyday. Ethan says he's never moving out of our house!:) I have been so busy lately. Homeschooling is more detailed this year. I like to get the lesson ready the night before along with cleaning house so we wake up to a clean house and just eat breakfast and get started. This year we homeschool from 9-12 then eat lunch with Mario and then from 1:00-3:00. We really don't break much. The kids are loving History, Science, Math, and Geography. I am very happy with our curriculum this year too. We also do Abeka for Phonics, Spelling, and Language. So it makes for a busy week. Emma started Ballet this week. We don't do the what I call Britney Spears-ish dancing Emma takes traditional ballet. She loves to go and I thinks it is good for her to spread her wings a little. Last year when I would drop her off at her class she would always look back and give me a hug and kiss and tell me she loved me. I wondered if she had out grown this so I tried to prepare myself because I found I looked forward to it last year. So today when I said I would see her soon she walked into her room and didn't look back. Ethan must have noticed my eyes get a little watery because he immediately grabbed my hand and said, "Come on momma I want to read to you in the van." But as we were walking out she came back and grabbed my hand and said, "I almost forgot" hugged me and then said those sweet words, "I love you Mommy" then ran back into her room. I am very aware that there will be a time when she won't say it anymore so I was very relieved to hear it. I still remember when my own mom used to hold my hand and I remember saying to her one day when she went to grab my hand that I was too big to need to hold her hand anymore. I was around 8 years old, we were walking into the grocery store. For some reason I still remember the expression on her face but at that time I was to young to understand. Now looking back I know how she must have felt. But Emma remembered our routine and it made my day!:)

I took a picture of our Japanese grasses we planted a few years ago, I can't believe how big the one on the end has gotten! We are going to need to split it. But it is beautiful!

2010-08-13T16:31:00.008-05:00

Garden

2010-06-30T14:45:00.008-05:00

A hobby Mario and I enjoy doing together is gardening. We find it so rewarding as our hard work really pays off when our plants and flowers start to fill in. Our urns this year really look nice. We found this tropical plant called Pony Tail Fern that looks beautiful. Our Snow Princess flowers dripping out completely covering our pots are my favorite. I also thought the Fireworks grass turned a pretty red. We didn't have time to plant any veggies this year but all our pots are so nice to sit and just enjoy!:) The kids got so excited because we had a hot air balloon go right over our house last night, pretty cool as Emma would say!

Elise at 8 months...

2010-06-30T14:27:00.003-05:00

The kids have been busy this summer! Emma and her friend both love playing the guitar together and Ethan with his friends playing his new favorite game on the Wii Lego Indiana Jones! We are getting ready to leave for Oklahoma this week. As you can tell from these pics I have a lot of cleaning to do. I hate coming back from vacation to a dirty house! We have been busy with VBS at our church but it has been a really fun time. Elise is now crawling all over the place( she is super fast now) and her new thing is trying to pull up on our sofa to stand. She gets into position but doesn't have her strength yet in her legs. We are finding that having 2 other kiddos dropping paper, toys, etc. on the floor is quite a challenge because EVERYTHING goes in Elise's mouth... We have had a few close calls with small pieces of paper she gets caught with in her mouth so we are trying to teach our kids to be cautious. Elise is curious and gets herself into trouble alot! :) But I must say we are really enjoying her she is at such a fun stage!

"Catch up"

2010-06-08T12:54:00.004-05:00

I almost feel like a stranger on my own blog... I think this has been the longest I've gone not saying anything, not even a picture! AND the crazy thing is so VERY much has changed since I lasted posted! Emma turned the big 6 years old and she had a wonderful birthday party, her dance recital was just incredible, and we have been super busy working on home improvements around the house. Garage is cleaned, basement is looking more like a room in our house rather than a dungeon. But the most shocking new detail in my life that has changed since I last posted is that we found out my dad has Leukemia. He had been tired to the point of passing out a few times but we NEVER imagined in our worst nightmare that this would be the diagnosis. I know that God is ultimately in control so I have been praying for wisdom, strength, and courage for my dad. I know he is scared but seems to be surrounded by friends that love him. We are planning a trip back home soon to OKC to comfort him and spend some time with him. But with this change it has motivated me to take a closer look at my life as a mother, wife, daughter, etc. I have been grumpy with myself, family and friends. I have finally today put things into better perspective thanks to the grace of God. Today I am focusing on the emotions that I am feeling with the diagnosis of my dad. Many conversations I have had with him have ended with me crying to Mario whom I am forever thankful to God for. So today I'm focusing on what is happening now and praying God will help me understand the events that happen in the future.

Emma did a ballet called The Waltzing Cat at her recital and it was beautiful! Her party was great and according to Emma "being 6 is the best!" I can't wait to visit with family and friends in OKC in July!:) Here is the "readers digest" version of the last month in pictures!

Elise eating cereal...

2010-05-16T18:17:00.006-05:00

Elise seems to be one of those babies that thinks eating is hilarious! She LOVES to eat, but is still having problems with the swallowing part.:) She has her bottom 2 teeth in now. Her favorite part of eating is spitting it back out, all over her hands and down her neck! I usually make about a 1/4 cup of cereal and she might if I'm lucky actually eat half of that! I guess she'll get it down eventually. For now I'm so glad she finds eating so entertaining!:)

Family Fun!

2010-05-13T14:42:00.007-05:00

Well we had no power for around 3 hours last night which gave us a small taste of how our family and friends must have felt in Oklahoma since they went almost 3 days without electricity after a few dozen tornado's hit in the last couple days. We luckily just had very strong winds. So we lit some candles, put our pj's on, and played the game Sorry in the dark. My uncle sent it to Ethan for his birthday and the kids love it! Last night we ate snacks and had great family time with no TV, computer, or video games! I think I might just flip our breakers off every few weeks for a few hours in our home so everyone has to get creative for something fun to do, it was so relaxing... I took this picture of the kids with my flash, you can't even tell it was dark! But I have to admit when the power game back on we were very thankful!!!

Mother's Day...

2010-05-06T09:03:00.010-05:00

Mother's Day is one of my favorite holidays. Since I'm a stay-at-home Mommy it is, as my friend put it so well, like our "evaluation time." Or so it seems. It is this time that I always take a look at the past year and remember all the good memories I have made with my kids. Yesterday I got the opportunity to visit with an old friend that I haven't seen since Ethan was a baby. She was in town on business but came for dinner last night. I hadn't thought about my own mom in a while and this friend went through the most difficult time in my life with me when my mom passed away. So when she asked me, "So how are you since your mom died?" I froze for a second. I took a deep breath and I noticed my voice was a little shaky and I couldn't seem to control it and answered very generic, "real good." But she must have noticed and went on, "how long has it been?" It was at this very point that I had all these emotions come out like she found a door in my heart that I usually keep locked up. As anyone who has lost their mother your heart will never fully heal. But being married to my best friend and being blessed with three beautiful children I feel like my mom would be very happy for me. Now I do miss my mom like crazy since she never got the opportunity to hold any of my children but I somehow feel like she knows them. Now God has also blessed me with an incredible friend and we talk every morning if just for a minute while I load the dishwasher, etc. And today for the first time EVER I cried to her like a child that I missed her and wanted her to come visit me. We live 12 hours away. After I got off the phone I realized the last time I cried on the phone like that was with my mom a few weeks before she died. But I still have great memories of her that make me laugh that comfort me. This Mother's Day I am feeling so thankful that I am a stay-at-home Mommy to three wonderful children, for Mario, and for my special friend that God has blessed me with in my life. And I am looking forward to this Mother’s Day to enjoy with my family!:)

Elise at 6 months...

2010-04-29T20:17:00.004-05:00

Our sweet baby girl is a growing like a weed!:) We went to her 6 month checkup and she is weighing in at 18 lbs 6 oz so she is at 90% on her weight. And she is 27 inches long so she is at 97% on height. So she is just a solid healthy girl!:) She has been sitting up now and she likes to try to crawl and will get up in position but she just can't get her body going! It's so cute! We have officially tried some veggies and she liked them. Her fav right now is sweet potatoes. We have only tried one fruit, pears which spit out every time! Maybe she will love her veggies, that would be a first in our house!:)

Ethan's 7th Birthday with our family...

2010-04-17T21:14:00.004-05:00

It was a great day! We took the kids to eat at Chuck E Cheese. We had never been before so it was exciting for them. I was glad I had a coupon because we got to play 40 games and eat pizza for around 20 dollars. Can't beat that deal! We opened presents and had cupcakes. We had his party with his friends today which was a lot of fun! Ethan is so blessed to have so many special friends! I have some really good pics, I'll try to post soon!:)

Our basement windows; Before and After...

2010-04-12T19:59:00.004-05:00

We have been working on our old 1937 house since the day we bought it going on 4 years ago and have never looked back. We had the old original basement windows still in tack, well sort of. Over the winter the glass finally cracked we had cardboard up until it warmed up so we could take the window out and repair it.

First Mario had to rub the rusted out metal frame of a window with a wire brush, then knock out the original glass and glaze(which holds the glass in old windows), then paint with Rust-Oleum paint, and finally replace glass. The whole project cost around 20 dollars. It was mostly just time consuming getting all the rust off of it. We thought about just replacing the windows but after hitting every home improvement store we soon realized that the standard basement window was too big that was in stock at the stores. And we would have to have a professional window installer do it which was way out of our budget. So Mario with a lot of work and a little money managed to bring our old basement windows back and I think it is very neat to say we have the orignal windows to the house! They even open to let fresh air in our basement!!! I snapped this picture of our house to show we don't live in a creepy house we just "USED TO" have creepy basement windows! But now they look much better! We are working on making a small retaining wall with the bricks around each window but that is for another weekend! :)

Easter

2010-04-08T15:02:00.010-05:00

I took these pictures in our house and in our front yard. We had a good one except that our water heater/heating unit had to have 4 parts replaced on it and was not fixed until Monday. So we had no hot water or heat. It's been pretty warm but at night it gets down to the upper 30's. But we made the best of it! I am planning Ethan's 7th birthday for next weekend! He is having a Super Mario Bros. game theme party. I had to order the plates, balloons, etc on line yesterday because we couldn't find any Mario themed party stuff. He is so excited. I've been busy planning it, I hope all his friends will have a good time. It's funny because I was thinking about my own 7th birthday. I still remember exactly what I got. Barbie's of course, but it made me realize that from here on Ethan is making childhood memories that he will take with him into adulthood. The days are moving fast and I am seeing Ethan grow up right before my eyes. The good news is he still will let me hold him, on my lap of course. He's been too big to pick up for many years!!! And he still lets me kiss him! He tells me he'll always be my baby boy. :)

Elise Fun, at 5 months...

2010-04-07T21:40:00.002-05:00

Elise has 2 favorite toys, these baby keys(which were Ethan's) and this jumper we bought for her. It is a Baby Einstein and she loves it! She has figured out that she can jump like crazy in it! The girl has a lot of energy! She is sitting up pretty good now and when we put her on her tummy she moves her legs and arms but she just can't seem to get her bottom going! I can't believe she is 5 months now! She now cries if someone holds her that she doesn't know. She knows her name because she'll smile if we say Elise, it's so cute.

Very nice!

2010-04-06T19:28:00.003-05:00

This is a great video...~Mario

Here and there...

2010-03-26T16:29:00.005-05:00

The weather has been beautiful! It's not the warmest but we've had snow on the ground still before on Ethan's birthday in April so I'm happy. Also if you look close our bushes are budding! :) I'm hoping this weekend we can start cleaning out our flowerbeds by at least raking the leaves. It's still been a little cool to really do a lot of yard work.

My flag deals. Somehow we got lucky and hit a store that was closing and found our last name initial still available on these flags! We literally paid dollars for them and I really like the way the look! I guess the initial "A" isn't that popular.

We also found these neat canes that the kids thought were cool. One is a rooster head and we have a family debate on the other! Not sure!

Ethan is really starting to look more and more grown up! Elise thinks her big brother is pretty special!:)

I know I haven't posted a pic of Ethan and Emma in a while so this is for the grandparents! We are painting our basement this weekend. We are trying to make it a place that we can use but our basement isn't the prettiest, we're hoping with a little elbow grease and A LOT of hard work it will be nice. Did I mention a lot of work! I'll take a pic and post soon. It's amazing what a little scrubbing with bleach and fresh paint will do!

Relaxing during a nice bath or nap!

2010-03-22T14:42:00.009-05:00

Elise LOVES her bath time, she has learned to look forward to it. She splashes like a fish. She is in awe of her hands! She has had good control of them for sometime now. She pulls hair, earrings, books I'm reading to the kids, food, anything in her reach now. And everything goes straight for her mouth. I can't believe she will be 5 months soon.

Her eyes still get very red like this when she gets very tired. It's funny because by the time she wakes up from her nap the redness is gone! :)

Our 11 year old and 9 year old cats enjoying our sun room. They must have finally worked out their differences because they haven't been hanging out much the last few weeks. Talk about a "cat fight" but now all is well again!;) They wouldn't even eat at the same time, strange I know. We took the kids to Des Moines this weekend and had a great time. It was nice to have a family day and enjoy each other, I feel so blessed. We found a great deal on a weight machine and we will pick it up this week sometime so next Monday will start our life changing eating habits. I'm very excited about it! Mario and I are not only going to start cleansing our bodies of all the junk we eat but we are changing the kids eating habits as well. On the weekends we will treat ourselves to a "fun food day" within reason because we are going to be realistic about this diet. We did this before about 8 years ago and both of us lost about 15 lbs each very quickly so I'm ready. I'm also ready to be able to carry Elise, all 16lbs of her, and not get sore arms! That's how out of shape I am. I know it's going to be a hard road but we're doing it together! I hope I'll have good news in a few weeks of inches being lost!:) I need this because I haven't been feeling very energetic!

Gabby Elise!

2010-03-10T22:57:00.006-06:00

I snapped this picture of Elise in the middle of talking, she loves to play with her toys. She even seems to have favorites now. We have been so busy the last few weeks but I'm trying hard to just slow things down so I can really enjoy her because she is at a fun stage. Everything is so new and exciting to her. She is awake a lot more during the day. She still takes her cat nap(which is always around 30 min) in the morning then her long 2 hour nap from around 1:30-3:30 then is up until 8:00 her bedtime she gave herself. But now she likes to be entertained which is not a problem in our house! Ethan and Emma love to play with her. And she finds them extremely fun! I now know how fast this time will go! Ethan and Emma have been so busy with school, I'm so proud of both of them. Emma has been reading better and better. The other day we were in Target and Emma just started reading any word she saw, I REALLY love the new A Beka phonics we're doing this year. And Ethan is doing great too. He seems to shine at Math. And believe it or not in our math curriculum he is doing a very basic algebra. It's more or less for example ?+7=10 but he is really doing good at it. It's so rewarding to see such great progress this year as a mom and their teacher. We rented the movie Old Dogs and I don't recommend it! The story was just blah! We had high expectations though, I was so wanting it to be a good family movie. :( Ethan said Elise was more fun to watch and I have to say I agree!

Sick Days...

2010-02-28T18:57:00.014-06:00

We bought the kids the game Mario Cart's for our Wii and they LOVE it! Notice Emma had to be dressed in her play dress up including shoes!:^)

Ethan is so into this game notice his mouth, wide open! Yes Emma put some of my makeup on! She is such a "girly" girl!

It is their new fav! I'm gald someone in the house is feeling better! Mario, Elise and I have seen better days...

Elise LOVES this chair. She just chats away in it. You can always tell by her eyes when she is getting tired, they get red like this! I think a nap is in her future...

I walked in on Mario an Elise laying on the sofa in our office with yes, that is a heater! As you can tell they don't feel good. We are all sick AGAIN with the same head cold, yuk. But I thought this pic was pretty priceless. I asked why a heater instead of blanket, and Mario's response, "a heater has warm air blowing on me!" I think that fever has affected his thinking! :)

Elise at her 4 month checkup today!

2010-02-25T17:31:00.017-06:00

Well we have been a little behind on our vaccinations for Elise due to wanting to do a little more research on our part. Today we did her 2 month shots at her 4 month checkup. Our pediatrician sees nothing wrong with taking our time which is great, I really like her. It's always nice to have a good relationship with your child's doctor. It is so scary with all the conflicting stories you read about these days with autism. Even today I had to read this binder full of information at our pediatricians office of why vaccinations do NOT play any part in autism but with that being said doctors aren't 100% sure what causes it. I don't remember reading something like that with my other kids so I know a lot of parents are getting a little concerned about it. We don't want Elise to get the measles or any other disease but she is a perfectly healthy little girl so we just really worry. But on to the exciting news! Elise is, according to the stats, going to be a big girl. She is 15 lbs so 75% on weight. And 26 inches long so 97% on height! So she is just a long girl! I knew all her clothes were starting to seem short! Happy 4 months Miss Elise Claire!:)

Spring come soon, please!

2010-02-22T10:28:00.007-06:00

I took this picture outside my front porch last night, we were supposed to get 5 inches of new snow but we barely got an inch so that was great! But the existing snow is starting to look grose from melting. I know I should just be content but I am so ready to be outside again. I'm ready to take long walks with my kids riding their bikes. Emma says she thinks she's ready to take the training wheels off her bike so we'll see! I'm ready to take Elise outside to the parks, to go swimming, well you get the idea!

I put out my Easter decorations around the house!

And birds nests!

All my family and friends are very aware of my feelings for this miniature schnauzer! She really could be a great dog but she jumps and NEVER just relaxes. I'm really worried she might hurt Elise so we have been looking for a good home for her and we think we might have finally found one! I am so happy! And although the kids will miss her she needs a better life!:)

The kids playing grocery store in my living room! Notice Emma's shoes! I have been so proud of them because we have been "fight free" around our house! And when everyone gets along it puts me in a fantastic mood! I think Ethan has figured this out! :)

Hanging around!

2010-02-19T16:37:00.013-06:00

Emma and Elise in their pj's hanging out. It's amazing how close they are already! :) Emma said, "Elisie is my best friend oh and brother too." She still calls Ethan, brother. And Elise's nickname is Elisie.

Ethan and Emma decided to get out some old costumes! Ethan was the crab when he was 3 years old. I'm not really sure how he even got the costume on. He didn't understand why it was so short. We have had an extremely busy week! It seems like we haven't been home at all. And it is snowing outside BUT I am hearing more birds in the morning so that's something!

Elise has been teething so she has been sucking on her fists all the time. I left the kids with Mario yesterday to get my hair cut and run an errand for a few hours and I came home to a crazy house! Elise had been cranky and crying because of her teething and Emma accidentally locked herself in the bathroom and was crying. Mario was working on getting her out! I came home to both my girls crying! Elise never looked so happy to see me. She grinned from ear to ear. Mario says we have very dramatic girls! All Ethan did was want to play Mario Brothers on the Wii. I told him just wait until they are teenagers! He looked stressed. I think Mario appreciates me a little more now because he told me things run smoother when I'm home! :) I think it was good for him!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T11:04:00.004-06:00

Elise Claire is feeling all better and smiling again!:)

It maybe very COLD but the sun is shining and we have beautiful blue skies today! We got the kids a toy and yummy candy so they are happy! Unfortunately our family has been sick with yucky runny noses, sneezing, coughing head colds. The good news Ethan, Elise and I are feeling better!:) The bad news now Mario and Emma have it. Mario did surprise me with a new camera for Valentine's Day! I really like it! Happy Valentine's Day to all our family and friends! :)

2010-02-12T19:41:00.015-06:00

Playing around with my Valentine gift...

My camera is no more!

2010-02-12T09:56:00.010-06:00

Elise in her seat! She loves it! Our friends in Oklahoma gave it to her!

The kids playing a little Wii!

My dining room, I know it looks blurry!:(

I made these turtles from a recipe my friend Paula found! They are so easy to make! I let Emma help decorate the cupcakes with the hearts! She did a good job!

The treat bags the kids got. The craft we did was decorating our Valentine bags! But I didn't get to photograph them!:( Or the kids!:(

I thought they turned out cute for a $7 dollar investment!

I found these cute red and pink frames for a dollar at Michael's then I bought blue scrapbooking paper and these cute letters to spell LOVE.

THE LAST PICTURE!

My camera has been moody for awhile now but I was real disappointed when I went to take pics of the kids Valentine Party we did at home with a few of their friends and got pictures like this. I will go ahead and upload a few others that don't look quite this bad. ????? This is the last picture my poor 4 year old Nikon will ever take, now it won't take anything but black pictures. Now I am going to have to start saving my monies and hopefully it won't take too long to buy a new one!:) I know what I want I have been window shopping for awhile but it's expensive! But a camera is an investment, right? And it is memories that I am documenting, RIGHT? :)

Poor sick Elise!

2010-02-09T15:48:00.003-06:00

Poor Elise she has been dealing with a runny nose and sneezing the last 2 days. She has been such a healthy girl so she just doesn't seem to understand why I can't make her feel better. You can tell by her eyes she doesn't feel very good. Luckily she slept all afternoon and seems to be doing a little better now! She wanted to be held while napping which who can resist these sad eyes, so I did. After school I let Ethan and Emma play Mario Brothers on the Wii and Elise and I for the first time EVER took a nap together. It felt so nice! :)

Lastest Elise!

2010-02-07T17:10:00.002-06:00

She is so strong Mario was holding her today and she will sit up from laying down on his tummy. When we put her in her bouncer she tries to wiggle out of it now! I told Mario maybe she is going to be very athletic! Who knows but she is a hoot, always smiling!:)

Snow shoeing

2010-02-07T16:56:00.003-06:00

We have never been snow shoeing before but it was a lot of fun! Great exercise! :) It was perfect weather! The snow shoes were a little awkward to walk in and Ethan got tired after awhile and decided to rest in the snow!:) Before we started our walk we were talking about Indians that had lived in the area and how they survived in the cold winters in Iowa. I guess Ethan got so tired of walking he became delirious and thought he saw some Indians in the snow! Needless to say we were all laughing! I have realized Ethan is not and outdoors kinda guy! We took advantage of all the nice snow we have had here in Iowa last week! But I'm still hoping Spring is just around the corner.

Sledding

2010-02-07T16:44:00.002-06:00

Emma and her friend sledding! We had lunch, roasted some s'mores and had a good time!

The hill was pretty steep. Ethan waving!

It was a great day, until Emma hurt her ankle. Emma and her friend went sledding backwards and ran into a fence smashing her ankle. She was fine until that evening. Her ankle got pretty swollen so just to be safe we took her in and her doctor did an x-ray but she is fine. It was just a sprain.

Around the house!!!

2010-02-03T13:10:00.007-06:00

The kids playing, yes Elise loves hanging out with them! You'll have to excuse the paint can in the background I have been touching up our white.

A little Battleship again Elise hanging out with them. Ethan said she was making sure no one cheated!:) It seems like Elise always has her fist in her mouth. :)

Emma very seriously watching Barbie on TV. Notice the Barbie outfit she is wearing and she said her Barbie wanted to watch the movie on her lap. It again has been so cold here. So we keep entertained! :)

Manners

2010-01-31T15:43:00.014-06:00

Ok, I am just going to assume that I have good manners. I mean most people in their thirties do, right? Hmm or do I? Anyways I'm really talking about my kids for now. But when it comes to my kids how can I be sure they have good manners? This is something they will take with them into adulthood. Of course any proud parent wants to just tell themselves, yes my child is kind and courteous and says please and thank you most of the time, well but I don't want to just assume. In my mind that would be what I call lazy parenting on my part, let me explain a few events that happened this weekend that got me thinking about this topic.

1. We are at our local grocery store, just Ethan and me; I had to pick up a few items for dinner so I grabbed one of those handy baskets. The girls are home with Mario. We get to the check out and I simply sat the basket on the counter. The lady checking us out goes on to start throwing our food out of the basket on the moving table(not sure of exact name of this so I'll keep it simple) anyways Ethan, as she is throwing the food, starts to organize the food by categories(frozen, veggies, etc.) very neatly. I was impressed. The lady goes on to ask Ethan what his name is and of course he goes shy and just stands there staring.

Me: Ethan, tell her your name.

Ethan: very, very softly, Ethan

Me: I repeat his name because she couldn't hear him.

The Check out lady: She asks Ethan, “Are you an organized person?” And tells him he did a good job.

Ethan: Stands there until I tell him to answer
her. And may I add had to tell him to say, Thank you!

2. At church another mom caught Ethan and his friend being mean to his friend’s younger brother today while I was visiting a friend for a few minutes I caught the part where this parent was pointing her finger at Ethan and his friend and explaining to them that their behavior was not nice. I immediately jumped in to find out exactly what happened and put Ethan in time out. Now his face was bright red so I know he was embarrassed about the incident. Which I hope is his conscience which is great, but when I asked him to apologize he got again very shy and quiet.

Now Ethan does understand what manners are, but why is it that I find myself having to push him to use them? To say thank you and to use respect and say hi to his friends parents and any adult in general and call them by their last name. Emma struggles with her “good manners” as well. Like table manners, etc. As a parent I want my children to use there manners daily, Am I asking too much out of a 5 and 6 year old? I am learning that bad habits are VERY hard to break. I too am guiltyof starting many bad habits! But I am on a mission to really start working with Ethan and Emma to make sure they always use there good manners and I know one day they will thank me for it, I hope! Please pray I can successfully achieve my challenge! My children are such a blessing to me!!! :)

Our cheap sideboard find on Ebay!

2010-01-23T13:41:00.011-06:00

Outside it is cold and icy on our driveway but inside I'm ready for SPRING! In Oklahoma where our family is from it is warm and beautiful so I've been told, maybe that's why I'm ready for warmer nicer weather even though I have lived here in Iowa for going on 5 years. I should know better but a girl can hope, right! And with Groundhog Day soon approaching (I know I'm stretching here but just entertain me) maybe Iowa will have a short winter! Please, Please, Please!

With that being said I put some bird nests out in my house!

Last week we bid on this antique sideboard on eBay and won it for next to nothing. That was the other reason for our drive to Chicago, we picked it up. When we loaded it Mario and I were very disappointed on the shape of this piece. I even called my best friend who was at market in Texas shopping for her boutique in a panic with questions about a good painting technique. But Mario and I have an appreciation for old things and decided to try and repair and bring back the piece. It took nearly all day and some help from this product below, sorry I put in sideways.:)

And here it is in our living room (please excuse the wire mess I'm going to make something to conceal all Mario's speaker wires soon), we moved our black armoire to the basement for storage which we needed desperately so all is good. And for under $100 including products to restore it we now have a nice antique! Some day Mario and I would love to open up an antique shop but that is me dreaming!:)

Ins and Outs...

2010-01-22T20:34:00.005-06:00

The family loaded up in our Kia mini van and took a day trip to Chicago last weekend. It was great. We had a good lunch at Portillo's a fun family oriented restaurant known for hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches, the kids loved it!

Elise is a very strong baby! She will be 3 months next week but acts more like a 10 month old. She will talk your ear off these days and loves to sit in the high chair and play with her toys. She is even lifting her head and body to try to sit up. And unlike our other 2 kiddos at this age she now loves her tummy time! She takes what I call a cat nap in the morning now around 10:30 am for about 30 mins then a long 2 hour nap in the afternoon around 3:00 pm then is awake from 5:00 pm until her bedtime which she has made herself at around 9:00 ish. Then every night she now wakes up around 4:00 am for a quick snack then is up for the morning at 8:00 am. The girl has a clock in her head. She is very scheduled!:)

The girls hanging out!

2010-01-10T17:42:00.001-06:00

The weather has been very cold so we have been playing a lot of Battleship and Wii! We have been snacking on cherry flavored popcorn, it's becoming a routine. Every night we play some kind of family game and munch on this yummy snack. I know it's not a good habit to start when I still need to lose about 20 lbs, I wish I could get more motivated to really get focused to workout and cut out sweets. :( Elise is holding her head up like a natural now. She is so strong and is cooing making new sounds all the time! She is a lot of fun. :)

Passing the time during the cold Iowa days...

2010-01-10T17:38:00.003-06:00

Emma and our 11 year old cat Cindy. Cindy is starting to slow down a bit now. She does some strange things these days. She loves to get Emma's dolls and ponies and carry them down the stairs by their hair and meow very loud. I'm not sure why, we are guessing she thinks they are her babies! I have even seen her lick them, I told you it was strange!

Elise being silly!

Our friend Bonnie bought this dress for her, she looks so good in purple! I can't believe she is now in 3/6 months clothes! The girl loves to eat. She is getting so long, I can't wait to get her stats at her next check up! She is measuring bigger than Ethan at this age according to his baby book! And he has always been in the 90% on weight and height! So she is probably going to be a healthy big girl!

Emma showing off her new dress she got for Christmas!

We met our friends in Oklahoma! It was so nice to get to visit with them! The kids had a great time playing! It's funny because they only get to see each other now once a year but when they meet it's like no time passed!:)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T23:59:00.006-06:00

We had a great Christmas Eve! Our tradition every year is to open presents then go to Christmas Eve service at our church which was wonderful then come home watch a family movie and eat snack foods for dinner. This year we watched G-Force, it was pretty good. We were hoping to leave for OKC Christmas Day early and the funny thing is we can't and it is not because of the roads in Iowa. OKC got around 8-10 inches of snow and ice which it has been years since they have had a white Christmas! We were supposed to get ice/snow here in Iowa but so far we have been blessed with just rain! Yesterday it was strange because the trees had ice on them but the roads were not slick. I wasn't complaining! Hopefully we can leave out Sat. early. We are ready to see our family and friends in OKC! Have a wonderful Christmas!

2009-12-24T23:54:00.000-06:00

More Christmas!

2009-12-24T23:46:00.007-06:00

Thanks to grandma and grandpa for helping buy this Wii the kids are pretty excited! This will be a lot of fun! I may get the Wii fit later!:) We already tried the bowling game very fun~!

Mario got some new guitar tab books.

Elise got some new clothes! She was a little unsure with all the Christmas Eve excitement! She was just ready to eat!:)

Elise hanging out...

2009-12-20T14:46:00.002-06:00

Smiling and getting excited.

She loves to be talked too. She has been making new sounds lately which is fun. She has also been trying to raise her head to sit up, she is VERY strong. We leave for Oklahoma on Christmas Day after breakfast! Everyone is excited to visit family and friends. I can't believe baby Elise will be 6 weeks old this week. How time goes...

Snow and more Snow!

2009-12-12T19:10:00.004-06:00

We bought these cute little mittens at the store Tuesday Morning to keep Elise's hands warm. It has been so cold here in Iowa.

Ethan and Emma playing around the house in their pj's. She is a cowgirl she said. We have to really use our imagination since we have been stuck inside the house because it has been so cold.

We got 15 inches of snow this week!

It is beautiful for the first few days now I'm ready for it to melt. I know I have a bad attitude about it, but it is so hard to get around with Elise. I think I just need a mini vacation back home to Oklahoma, hopefully it will be warmer than -8 degrees with no snow! Emma reminded me that without snow we would not have snowmen, snow angles, or snowballs! I told her she was absolutely right and asked her to forgive me when she heard me complaining about the snow! :) Elise has been smiling now. She doesn't do it for just anything or anyone so we are always working hard to do something funny to make her smile because when she does smile it is beautiful! I will try to catch her and take a picture. The kids are so excited for Christmas. Next week will go very fast because Mario is having friends over for video games and hot wings on Friday so I will clean all day Thursday. And Sat. I am hosting my first jewelry party for a friend at church. Then Sat night we promised the kids we would go look at Christmas lights. This year they want to do it all. Christmas music all the time, Christmas cookies, gingerbread house, look at Christmas lights, see Santa, and write Santa a letter. But I was proud to know that they still put Jesus first. I was talking to Mario and discussing when we should open presents before or after Christmas Eve service at our church and Ethan explained to us that we should wait to open presents after service since it is Jesus' birthday. I was very proud of him. :)

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

2009-11-30T20:28:00.006-06:00

We bought these red lights for our home in OK and used them once 4 years ago and packed them away until this year! The kids really like them. Mario had to get back up on the HUGE ladder for the top peak. After our summer of painting he said he wasn't going to get on it again for a long, long time. It is pretty scary up that high! I think we keep our neighbors entertained! After we put the lights up, put the huge ladder back in the garage, we walked out to the street to do a "Griswold light production" (I felt like we were in the Christmas Vacation movie, I haven't seen that movie in years) and the top light on the highest part of the peak was not working. Mario couldn't let it go so he gets the ladder back out, climbs to the top, and about breaks his neck literally to fix the burned out light! Needless to say our lights are up, stockings are hung and I plan to finish my Christmas shopping this week!!! :) Sorry this is so blurry, my camera has a mind of it's own these days! Maybe Santa will bring me a new one! :)

We love fresh garland, it smells so good!

I really like our urns on our front porch! It's amazing what some clippings from you own garden and red dogwood can do to add a little charm!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-28T09:34:00.003-06:00

We didn't get to go home to Oklahoma to visit family and friends for Thanksgiving so we tried to make the best of the day even though we missed everyone. We had a delicious turkey with all the traditional fixings and I told the kids to set the table. And this is what they did. Emma put pink streamer everywhere and Ethan colored these pictures for us to enjoy. I know this Thanksgiving will be one to remember for sure! :) Notice the easel with his prize coloring page!

Our pies were incredible!

Emma snuggling Elise!

As you can see the kids are pretty attached to Miss Elise! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! :)

Sick baby!

2009-11-24T15:36:00.002-06:00

Well last night I was up with baby Elise most of the night! She has a runny nose, sneezing, with slight temp! Poor baby you can tell by her eyes she doesn't feel good. She seems to be doing a little better this afternoon. She wouldn't take a nap for nothing this morning. She was up from about 6:30 am to around 1:30 pm. She was so tired but luckily I suctioned her nose and she is doing better. She HATES the nose sucker.:( She has never stayed awake that long. I think she just didn't understand why she felt so yucky. She kept staring at me with her beautiful blue grey eyes waiting for me to make her feel better. It is so scary when they are this small and have problems breathing. I just found out our friends daughter who is 1, has the H1N1. We are blessed that Elise just has a cold. But I think we will be staying home more. :)

Around the house!

2009-11-19T13:49:00.004-06:00

I love these little shoes!

One of my nativity sets that my friend Paula gave me for Christmas last year!

Emma loving on her baby sister as she calls her! Many things have changed in my daily routine!

I don't have much time to update our blog, my shower went from 15 mins. to barely 5 mins. in the mornings, and multi-tasking is how I get anything done! But this pic of Emma holding Elise is how we all feel about her, she's pretty special!:)

Our Christmas tree decorating party!

2009-11-19T13:29:00.004-06:00

Emma and Ethan love to kiss all over Elise! And Elise loves to watch them. I was very impressed at how careful they are when holding Elise. It seems so natural to them. Elise seems to feel very comfortable with them too. They can be very loud and crazy and it doesn't seem to bother Elise at all! :)

A little Christmas decorating!

I took all theses pics last weekend at our Christmas tree decorating party. We now have a tradition in place where we eat yummy snacks, play our Christmas music (my fav the Elf sountrack), and decorate the tree! We had a blast, I love this time of year. We have a lot to be thankful for.

Elise at 1 and 2 weeks old...

2009-11-19T13:18:00.003-06:00

This pic was taken at 2 weeks old. Her skin is really lighting up, and her face is really filling out! :)

She already is changing from these pics I took at 1 week! She gained 10 ounces at her 2 week check up last week!

The kids on Halloween

2009-11-03T20:52:00.002-06:00

Elise loves this car seat and this blanket! I bought this fabric at Hobby Lobby a few months ago and my friend Bonnie was so kind to make it for me. I will post more pics soon! I have a hungry baby to feed! :)

Trick or Treat!

2009-11-03T20:39:00.002-06:00

Ethan is Optimus Prime the transformer and Emma is Cinderella! We went to our neighbor's on our street and Mario gave out candy! And picture of our pumpkins we grew this year!

Meet Elise Claire!!!

2009-11-03T20:13:00.003-06:00

Elise Claire was born on Oct. 28th at 8:53 pm. She is our biggest baby at 8 lbs 1 oz and 20 inches long. I had went to the doctor that morning for just my routine checkup since I was past my due date my doctor and I were talking about inducing me on Wed. Nov. 4th but when she went to listen to Elise's heartbeat it measured at 190 which she had always been around 139-156 so my doctor wanted to take her that day since Elise seemed very stressed. I literally left my appt. and went straight to the hospital. It took from 2:00 pm until around 8:40 pm to get dialted to a 10! But then around 13 mins later she was in my arms! Mario and I are very proud! The last week seems like a blur. The kids are always kissing and loving on her! They are pretty excited about her!

39 weeks, 5 days and counting...

2009-10-25T18:53:00.005-05:00

I had Mario snap a picture of me today at 39 weeks, 5 days, and still counting! I really can't complain too much I still feel pretty good. I'm just sooo ready to hold her in my arms rather that in my stomach. My face is now starting to swell which is pretty normal for me and I have cankles which I know are very attractive! :) We installed her car seat today which was pretty exciting for me. My doctor will induce me at 41 weeks, so we just might have 1 more week! Tom. I'm going to try doing some walking. It worked when I was pregnant with Ethan so I'm going to give it a try. I am dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced so maybe just maybe! :)

Ethan and Emma helping with some raking today. Except Ethan decided the snow shovel would work better! Emma is practicing dancing. She is taking traditional ballet and loves it. Today she asked me if we could install a "dancing bar" in our living room for her to practice. She also asked me a few weeks ago if she could have her own cell phone. I asked her why and she said to call her grandparents and friends. I told her to ask again in 10 years...

A few weeks ago we had our first "snow" of the season. Just a trace. I was taking some recycling to our bin and turned around to find our 10 year old cat Cindy had snuck outside to enjoy the snow.

Great Baby Elise News!

2009-10-15T19:21:00.007-05:00

I went to the doctor today and received the best news! Baby Elise has dropped and I'm dilated to a 2! Hey it is a start so I'll take it. Her heart rate was great at 137. So now I feel the pressure to finish up a few things around the house and get my bag packed! :) With Ethan I was only dilated to a 1 on my due date and Emma I was induced a week early due to swelling and my blood pressure so this is wonderful news. I'm off to enjoy some yummy cake since it is my 33rd birthday, yikes. :) Mario asked me what I wanted to do and I said stay in, have a good home cooked meal, eat some sweet cake, and rent the movie The Proposal. Our menu, chicken fried steak with homemade mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans. :)

Car Seat Purchase!

2009-10-12T14:51:00.012-05:00

I bought the fabric for this blanket at Hobby Lobby a few months ago and my friend Bonnie was so kind to make baby Elise a beautiful blanket, I love how it matches the stroller/car seat so well. It is fleece, a softer heavier material great to use in car, shopping, etc. I found this stroller on line at most stores but it was cheapest at Wal-mart.com. I was a little nervous ordering a car seat that I had never seen in person before but the reviews were all wonderful so I decided to just go for it last week when I saw it was on sale! And I'm so glad I did! I love the quality and pattern. It really was a good deal at around $150.00 for the system. And it only cost 2.37 to ship directly to our house. There is something very exciting about buying the car seat, its like I know we are about to meet our sweet baby girl but here we now have her car seat that she will use! I can't stop looking at it and imagining her in it... This Tuesday marks 38 weeks. My feet are swelling again, I now have no ankles!!! I went to doctor last Friday and baby has not dropped at all! I go again this Thursday so I'm hoping for something, anything! But who knows she might just decide to be late and be a Nov. baby, I'm trying to really just enjoy everything with this pregnancy because it might just be our last! It snowed on Sat. so our weather is crazy, today it is sooo gloomy. This past weekend we went ahead and bought the kids new snow boots, hats, gloves and coats. Old Navy and the mall in general were crazy busy, I think a lot of parents had our same idea! Enjoy you week! I'm off to clean my house and light my pumpkin candle! :)

Apple Orchard Fun!

2009-10-05T17:32:00.002-05:00

The pumpkin patch.

Emma pointing to a good area to pick apples.

Emma getting help from her friend picking apples.

The girls waiting for lunch! Emma is on the right end.

Today we had a field trip to an apple orchard with our friends and had a wonderful time! The weather was perfect! The kids really enjoyed picking their own apples. It was a beautiful orchard. I bought some apple turnovers for dessert tonight that were made fresh at the orchard. They smell yummy. I think this will have to become a fall tradition. :) About 5 of us ladies went with all our kids and had lunch together. The weather has been very cool and rainy here in Iowa so it was such a blessing to see blue skies! The orchard also had a pumpkin patch and offered trailer rides.
This Tuesday marks 37 weeks! I am starting to feel all of 8 months pregnant too. :) Baby Elise has become a quite the kicker. I think she is ready to have more room! My energy level is slowing down a lot. I've had a great 3rd pregnancy but now I'm officially getting uncomfortable so I'm ready. And I'm starting to have labor dreams.:) I go to the doctor every week starting this Friday so Oct. 27th will be here soon and I can't wait!

Our Apple Orchard Trip!

2009-10-05T15:20:00.005-05:00

Emma and her friend having fun.

Ethan picked his first good apple!

Ethan and his friend walking side by side in the orchard.

The kids picking apples!

The kids on the bridge!

We joined the mini van club!!!

2009-09-28T09:30:00.001-05:00

Last week was a very exciting week for us! We bought this 2006 Kia Sedona mini van in Texas and my father-in-law and sister-in law were so kind to drive it to us here in Iowa last week! God has really blessed us. We love it. It needed a little love, but nothing a little elbow grease and a entire Sat. of cleaning wouldn't fix! It not only runs fantastic but it has a few really nice features like a DVD player the kids think is cool and leather which we have never had in a vehicle so we are pretty excited! Mario worked so hard on Sat. cleaning and detailing it out that I am amazed at how great it looks now!

Baby Elise update! Tom. marks 36 weeks! And we went to an ultrasound last Friday to get a better measurement because she was measuring 2 weeks behind. But God blessed us again and she is actually going to a healthy size baby. According to the ultrasound measurements if I deliver her today she would be 6 lbs 3 ounces! So she just seems to like to keep us on our toes! :) But we got to see her chubby little cheeks in the 3D ultrasound! I told Mario now I really wish I could hold her! :)

Our friend Cherish's Birthday.

2009-09-13T20:48:00.004-05:00

Our friend Cherish came by after church today and we celebrated her 4th birthday. Cherish and Emma are great friends so it's always nice to visit with her! :) Emma even let her borrow her birthday hat!

Trick or Treat!!!

2009-09-13T20:32:00.006-05:00

We really don't celebrate Halloween the traditional way. We call it our Trick or Treat night. We do let the kids trick or treat at a few of our neighbors houses that we know and we usually wear our costumes and go have a fun lunch and play at a park in costume. We don't go to haunted houses and we do stay clear of the more evil side to it. We went to Walgreen's last year and I couldn't believe how creepy their store looked it really scared our kids. We debated on if we would celebrate it at all but this family tradition seems to work and the kids love to dress up and go trick or treating on our street. Plus since the kids see all the Halloween decorations in the stores we have since explained the holiday and answered their questions about why the stores get so crazy with it and scary. So now we stay clear of Walgreen's and all Halloween stuff at the stores it has just gotten so creepy. This is about as "spooky" as we get! We bought this candy corn candy a few weeks ago so I cleaned out my apothecary jars and we put our fun flavored candy corn in our treat jar and Ethan's cool spiders in our trick jar. He almost didn't let me use them because he wanted to make a web for them. But since he now can get a piece of candy corn a few times a day he decided that he would "let" me borrow them he said! :) And thanks again to my friend Paula for the neat signs, the apothecary jars I think turned out very fun!

Thank You Paula!!!

2009-09-05T03:56:00.012-05:00

I am blessed to have a truly one of kind best friend! I am so grateful for her! Thank you Paula for the nice packages. Last week we received this very "smart" looking Joe Spencer owl to add to our fall collection that she picked up for us. He has become our favorite! And then yesterday we received another package with more neat goodies in it! She made, yes made, these for us to hang over some of my apothecary jars for fall! She used a CD and then covered them with scrap booking paper and then got very creative! I love them! It was just what I needed because with baby Elise on the way soon it is all about her. So it was nice to get something new to decorate with for our house! Thank you Paula, you made my week! :)

Some good fun!

2009-09-05T03:38:00.009-05:00

Ethan and Emma on our trampoline. We bought it last summer and it turned out to be a great investment! They burn a lot of energy jumping and playing together on it.

On Friday Emma was so excited because she had a play date with 2 girls from our church! They had a blast playing dress up, Polly, and riding their bikes! Ethan was a good sport about all the "girl" fun! He decided to be Optimus Prime the Transformer, Emma is Tinkerbell, Abbie is Cinderella, and Rebecca's Barbie! We walked to the park, ate popsicles, and Emma loved it! It was our first "all girl" play date and by the look of it I think we are going to have many more! :)

Rain, Rain, Rain!!!

2009-09-05T03:29:00.004-05:00

We had a very rainy week last week! Ethan decided to take advantage of it and he drew every transformer he could think of. They were really good. He is getting much more detailed with his drawings but only when he wants too. Emma decided to groom Cindy, our 10 year old cat, all day. Cindy was a very good sport about it! She really is a unique cat. She will do tea parties with Emma, let Emma dress her up like a baby, and much more. And she never gets grumpy at Emma! They are quite best of friends!

Mario's Birthday!

2009-09-05T03:13:00.006-05:00

The kids LOVE to color and draw! So of course a couple of pictures are always expected from our kids on your birthday!!!

The cake, Ethan wanted it to be a camouflaged cake. We had a great day. Since we live out of state from our family Mario and I try to make birthday's and holidays extra special with just the 4 of us! The kids have come to expect a small party now with ALL our birthday's. They planned their Daddy's as well. I let them pick out a present for him each. Ethan wanted to get the old GI Joe TV cartoon from when Mario was Ethan's age. It's so funny how much a like Ethan and Mario think!:) Because Mario thought that was pretty neat to watch them with Ethan! Emma wanted to be more practical and buy her daddy some new work shirts!

Happy Birthday Mario!

2009-08-26T10:45:00.007-05:00

Today marks Mario's 34th Birthday! The kids have some BIG plans for him tonight! I'll post pics later! :)

Yesterday we went to our 31 week appt. and heard baby's heart beat! She has decided to get into position, finally! She preferred being "heads up" until just recently! Ethan stayed home with his daddy while Emma came to the appt. with me. After yesterday I have decided Emma loves it to be just the girls. We had to wait awhile so we just had girl time which was fun. Emma is a talker. She told me she can't wait until she grows up so she can be a "baby doctor" but asked me if I could stay the same age. Emma is concerned about me growing older. My kids are both very deep thinkers. She told me she wants "me" to start eating better so I can stay young and we can be the same age! My friend Paula and I were just talking about how funny it is with girls and their mood changes. Just the other night Emma got mad at me because I poured her a glass a milk instead of grape juice to drink before bedtime. She went as far as drawing me a picture.

The picture was of me and her holding hands and at the top of the paper she wrote, "Y R U and then drew a mean face. I thought it was pretty clever for a 5 year old honestly. I asked her to explain the picture and she said she wrote, " Mommy why are you so mean?" I responded to her, because I love you! She went to bed and woke up the next morning and requested milk to drink, go figure! :)

Me, at 3o weeks!!!

2009-08-16T15:08:00.009-05:00

Well I put this up for you Paula! :) Yes that is some of our fall decor behind me. Ethan drove me crazy until I just caved and put it out. He LOVES to decorate for the holidays....I can't believe we only have 10 weeks left! I am starting to really feel it too. My toes look it, they are painted a few different colors. :) Painting them has become a pain. Maybe I should just spend the money like everyone else and get a pedicure??? Oh well, Emma thinks they look beautiful and that is all that matters! It is mainly my left side that hurts all the time now. I am starting to use the what we call "pregnancy card" more and more. For example I'll tell Mario I can't do something and ask him too. AND my new fav reason is my side really hurts remember I am pregnant! He has been a good sport about though!:) And the house is staying very clean these days! I am always wiping something down. We have found a couple of really good deals on mini vans so I'm hoping in the next few weeks we can buy one. We have seen so many good deals come and go so we now know we are really going to have to buy one soon! I am starting to retain water like normal in my legs and feet. I was hoping I wouldn't do that this pregnancy but I guess that is just what my body does. Oh well. The kids love to lay on my stomach and feel Elise move. She is starting to really have some power behind her kicks! She seems to get really excited at night when the kids are laughing and being crazy! I think she wonders what is going on...

More Fun!

2009-08-16T14:48:00.002-05:00

Ethan and Emma at the park behind our house having fun at Dotti's party.

Our friend Dotti, had her 1st birthday a few weeks ago. She usually comes and visits us once a week so the kids have really gotten to know her! They really enjoy getting out all our old baby toys for her to play with. It is so sweet to watch how patient they are with her. I know they are going to do great with our baby Elise Claire! The kids made drawings of little Dotti riding on that back of their cute pug dog Wrinkie and we put ribbon around them. When we bought Dotti's present Ethan said, "Now Mommy can we wrap her present instead of getting a cheap bag to put it in?" Ethan, for some crazy reason, loves it when I wrap presents he thinks bags look cheap. He loves to help with the tape part.

Baby Elise Claire update.

2009-07-30T18:55:00.003-05:00

Well I went to my 28 week checkup and she is doing great. She is still in breech position so I'm hoping soon she will move. I am carrying her very low so different than my other pregnancies. I started buying a few items for her. And now every time I go shopping I find I am starting to get excited about checking out the baby stuff!:) I'm not buying a lot yet but we need so much for her. First off we have to buy a bigger vehicle so that is the priority now. Then a new car seat, clothes, blankets, etc. I can't believe how fast time is going and we are now in the 3rd trimester. So I know Oct. 27th will be here soon. :)

More Swimming fun!

2009-07-27T09:56:00.008-05:00

On the last day of swimming lessons we were allowed to take pictures. Emma getting her feet wet!

Emma in the water talking to her friend on the ledge. It is wonderful to watch them laugh and make friends. I have realized our kids love meeting new people. :)

Ethan hanging out with his friends and getting ready to jump in pool.

Emma getting out of pool. They are both so much more confident about the water! The teachers or life guards were wonderful. They are in the pool with the kids in the matching red bathing suits.

Ethan is in the blue swim trunks playing in the water with his friends. Just a few weeks ago Ethan wouldn't leave my side in the water. It is great to see he has overcome his fear of the water. He is still very cautious which I think comes from being the oldest. He has always been cautious with everything he does. Emma on the other hand is a free spirit. Last week during the afternoon we met some friends at a different pool to play and practice swimming which was fun. I wore my new maternity swimming suit, AH! Anyways Baby Elise moved around a lot in my tummy so she must have been wondering what we were doing! But Emma being the "free spirit" that she is said, "Mommy I want to get out of the pool and just sit on the ledge," so I helped her out of the pool and then turned around for a sec to make sure Ethan and his friend were ok and then turned back around to find Emma had jumped into 3 feet water and was completely submerged under water. It really scared me. When I grabbed her out of the water she was smiling BIG and she said, "Mommy I did it I jumped in the water and water didn't get in my nose!" She was laughing so proud of herself. I told her she had scared me but she was too excited over her accomplishment! WOW talk about my heart beating. It was scary turning around and seeing her under water for the first time! We actually left the pool after that! I told her that Mommy was too tired after that experience! But she was so proud of herself! She still talks about!

Swimming Lesson Fun!

2009-07-26T19:28:00.001-05:00

Every morning for the last 2 weeks after a good breakfast we walked over to the park just behind our house for swimming lessons. It was a lot of fun. A great memory for the kids. After our swimming lesson we would then play in the park until it was time for lunch. I have to say I am really going to miss our fun. The kids passed Level 1! So they are both very proud of their hard work. Next year we will have to take level 2. The kids both made friends too. And we conquered Ethan's fear of the water! Mario earned 4 free movie tickets at work so to celebrate we took the kids to see the Pixar movie UP, which was great! Mario and I really enjoyed it too.

Summer Fun!

2009-07-14T20:31:00.004-05:00

In our sunroom our Hibiscus plant has bloomed and it really is pretty! We bought it at Walmart and I am impressed at how well it is doing!
Mario and the kids on the 4th. I had bought a small package of sparkles and snakes last year after the 4th on clearance at Target and never used them so we tried the snakes out. The kids loved to watch!

We are really enjoying our swimming lessons this week! We are going every morning until next Friday. We are taking lessons at the pool in the park just behind our house so we just walk over to the pool. I was excited because a mom I had met a few weeks ago at the park that lives in our neighborhood was there with her 3 boys so it worked out really well. We have officially started our 6th month! And we have a name for our baby girl! Elise Claire. Elise means consecrated to God. It comes from a french origin an abbreviation of Elizabeth. So we will keep the "E" trend. Ethan, Emma, and Elise. Our weather has been very cool. I feel sorry for all my friends in the Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona area! I know they are cooking! Have a good week. :) ~Amy

Our friend's Birthday party.

2009-07-14T20:09:00.004-05:00

The kids love a reason to visit their friends and birthday parties are always a favorite. Ethan (in the solid blue shirt) and Emma ( yellow dress with pink headband) watching their friend open his presents. And then the boys listening to the instructions of a game. I thought this was a cute picture because the boys all look about the same height! Ethan lost 2 more teeth this weekend! A total of 4, his smile looks so different! He has no front teeth! I thought this seemed a little fast but I found my 1st grade picture and I looked the same all front teeth missing. :)

Happy 4th of July!!!

2009-07-04T20:38:00.003-05:00

Our flags going down our street for the 4th.
Happy 4th of July! We are doing sparklers and going to see some fireworks tonight. We hope everyone enjoys the day with family! :) Our baby girl is doing great, moving all the time. We got to take another sneak peak at her this week and she was opening her mouth as if she was trying to entertain herself. She looks so sweet, in one picture she actually looks like she is smiling. Her legs and feet look long and slender. She kept her legs crossed during most of the ultrasound. These 4-D ultrasounds are amazing. So different from when I had Ethan and Emma. Even Emma was excited because she could see her baby sister so clear and point to all the body parts. Ethan has not brought up the 20% chance it could be a boy in a few weeks. I think he is getting really excited about her. He is asking me what she is doing in my tummy all the time and pats my tummy! Mario was so kind to clean and assemble our crib this week. We bought it from Pottery Barn Kids 6 years ago and it has lasted us going on 3 babies and still looks great. Well worth the investment. I feel like we have so much to do. We also got our garage cleaned and organized! Mario thinks I have started the nesting stage of this pregnancy. I have been re-organizing everything! But I just want to feel ready because I know come Oct. I will be very busy. :) Have a safe weekend. ~Amy

July 4th fun!

2009-07-04T20:28:00.005-05:00

Emma waiting for our friends to come over to eat hamburgers.
The kids are saying Happy 4th of July to their grandparents in OKC.
Ethan being silly and jumped in this shot of Emma.
They are now riding their "big" bikes (with training wheels) so I snapped this shot of the kids on what they call "baby" bikes together. This might be the last time they ride them! :( This tractor was Ethan's favorite for years.
The kids enjoying some good music in our park behind our house.

Our House

2009-07-04T20:03:00.003-05:00

Mario and I are enjoying Iowa's beautiful weather. I took a picture of our urns and landscaping. It has come a long way from when we bought our "fixer upper" 3 years ago. But it has given us a better appreciation of what "sweat equity" really means. We still need to paint the sides of our garage. Mario and I laugh because by the time we do completely finish painting we will probably need to start touching up the front of the house which we painted shortly after we bought our home. Our Kentucky Blue grass has come along way from where it started with mostly crab grass. It was a clean canvas for us to create what we wanted which was a lot of fun for us. I planted Rosemary, which I love the smell, in our front urns with ivy and blue pansies. Ethan picked them out. I am not usually a big blue person but I think he did good I think it looks very relaxing.

Baby Mesh Hat - Pink/Pink Peony

2009-06-12T19:05:00.002-05:00

Baby Mesh Hat - Pink/Pink Peony

Shared via AddThis

This is a fun website! I am planning on buying a few of these cute hats for our baby girl!

The kids 1st Lake adventure!

2009-06-10T20:02:00.003-05:00

Our friends Bonnie and John invited us to go out to the Palo Lake here in Iowa. We ate some good food and then headed out to the lake. We rented a small boat for an hour and took the kids out on their 1st boat ride! Ethan also got to do a little fishing and caught his first fish but it got away from him and his friend. This lake was just beautiful. It is a man made lake and is actually a good size! The kids thought it was a lot of fun. I think we are going to buy a couple of fishing rods and go back! We are now starting our 5th month! Our baby girl is really making herself known. She is moving a lot more now, which I find very comforting. We have been brainstorming on names but nothing concrete yet. Have a good week. ~Amy

More Lake Pics.

2009-06-10T19:54:00.003-05:00

Emma really enjoyed the boat.

Ethan was excited to do some fishing.
Mario and Emma ready to go out on boat again.
Mario, the kids, and our friend John out on the lake. Our friend John was so kind to be our captain! I guess he felt right at home since he was in the navy!:)

Our family has an Announcement!!!

2009-05-29T09:14:00.007-05:00

We are very excited to announce Ethan and Emma are going to soon have a baby sister! We are having a sweet baby girl! The kids were so excited because during the ultra sound she moved her hand back and forth as if she were saying hi to them! Emma already has a name picked out, Cherry! She looks very healthy with all 10 fingers and toes! :) We feel very blessed! Have a good weekend! ~Amy

A great family weekend!

2009-05-27T22:07:00.005-05:00

On Memorial Day our neighborhood put out these neat American flags. You had to prepay for it last year. They put them out on most holiday's. And the money goes to a good cause. I must say it looked very pretty as we walked down our drive way and saw the flags waving in the wind. Nearly every house in our neighborhood had a flag in their yard. This is a picture of our flag in our front yard.

We took Emma to her favorite, Red Robin to eat her birthday lunch. She got her meal and ice cream free so we thought that was nice since we signed up for the birthday club.

Emma and I hanging out eating good food! We are now close to 19 weeks! And tom. we get to take a sneek peek at baby and hopefully see if we are having boy or girl! I am now officially wearing maternity pants! It's like I grew overnight! Baby is now moving more which is always fun! Have a good week! We have had very cold and rainy weather. Our yard looks like a forest since we have not been able to mow! Oh well. :) ~Amy

Emma and Ethan on Emma's "big" day!

2009-05-27T21:57:00.006-05:00

Yes Ethan is putting makeup on Emma. He agreed only if she would in return play Transformers. What brothers will do to get their sisters to play with action figures. I walked in the dining room and couldn't believe how serious he was taking it. I guess that is just the perfectionist coming out in him! We bought her this play makeup set with sparkle lipglosses because she is always trying to use mine!

The kids got scooters. We bought one for each so their would be no fighting!

Emma's cake was so good!

Emma's 5th Birthday!

2009-05-27T21:52:00.004-05:00

Emma opening up some presents.

Emma reading her Birthday cards.

She picked out this birthday hat at Target! I can't believe there are 5 candles on her cake!

The kids with poor Cindy acting crazy as usual! Poor Cindy! She is so good with the kids! She puts up with a lot too...