Here and there...

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!

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!

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...

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!

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!

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!

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!

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! :)

Playing around with my Valentine gift...

My camera is no more!

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? :)