Kitty, Mommy

This morning I was sitting watching TV and Steven was in the room with me playing. He walked over and looked out the window, and started saying to me, "Kitty, Mommy, kitty." I kept saying, "yeah, is there a kitty in the backyard?" I was feeling very lazy so I didn't want to get up and actually look, but he was just not going to let it go until I did so I got up and looked. I was very surprised that instead of a kitty I saw two deer just feet away from our window. They were looking at Steven and he was looking back. We went outside and got a few pictures. The funny thing is that this is the third time we've seen deer in just a week. The other two times we saw deer walking down the middle of the street in front of our house. Also, I have had two separate neighbors report that they have seen a bear on our street this week. We are missing a family reunion in Yellowstone this summer, but I guess we don't need to go that far to see wild animals and the wilderness.

Four Year Old Conversations

Yesterday I picked Elise and her friend Zach up from preschool, and while we were driving Zachary home they were talking about babies. Elise was telling Zach how she was getting a new baby in her family, but she and Steven were still really babies. She was then explaining to him how everyone is still a baby to their mom and dad, even moms and dads. Where does she get these things from? Anyway, Zach replied with, "Yeah, Moms and Dads are big fat babies!" They both laughed and then Zach thought for a minute and said, "Except, my mom and dad aren't fat." Elise quickly said back, "Oh, well my mom is really fat!" Thanks Elise, you really know how to make a very pregnant lady feel good :-).

A Little Bit of Denial

Denial about what, you wonder? Well, I can't believe that this baby is due in less than 2 weeks! Although I am very ready to be done with the whole pregnancy thing, I am in no way ready to bring a baby home. This last week it hit me how close I am so I finally bought diapers, formula, bottles, etc. However, so many things are still undone. I haven't washed any baby clothing, I haven't gone up to the attic to bring down things like crib sheets, blankets, burp cloths, etc., and I haven't gotten out the portacrib, bouncy chair, baby bath, or carseat. I hadn't even thought about packing a bag of stuff for the hospital until I picked Elise up from preschool yesterday and a mom that is due 3 days after me mentioned she spent the morning packing a hospital bag and getting things ready. Hmmm.... I guess that might be an important thing to get done. I have way more general family laundry stacked up than I care to think about, and no motivation to go down to the basement to do something about it. I really need to spend today getting ready, but instead I am sitting here eating Oreos and looking at pictures of my two other kids as babies and wondering if this one will look like either of them. The sad thing is that truth be told I don't even like Oreo's, but it is the only treat in the house right now and I am desperate for a treat, so it will have to do. I guess I better get up, put the Oreo's away, and go get something done. But before I do, here is a picture of each of my kids as newborns. Any guesses as to who this one might look like? Or if it will be a boy or a girl? Or any name suggestions? We don't even have a list of names ready, so we are far from being settled on one.

Elise as a baby:

Steven as a baby:

Swim Lessons

Elise started swim lessons this week, and she is having a ton of fun with it. I debated whether to sign her up or not because I really could teach her myself, but I decided to go ahead and do it. She is a bit of a scaredy cat, but when she sees other kids doing something she is much more likely to try it. Also, she is a lot more likely to do something her teacher asks her to do than something her mom asks her to do. The first day she was a little timid and afraid to try things, but by the second day she was jumping in, putting her head under the water, and doing everything her teacher asked. She is loving it. Here are some pictures from her first day.

Preschool Trike-athon

Elise's preschool does an annual trike-athon as a fundraiser. This year it happened to fall on a very busy Saturday for us, so I was hoping to sort of skim over it without her even realizing what she was missing. However, they talked it up so much at preschool on Friday that she was just not going to forget about it. It was all she could talk about when she got home from school, so we ran to Party City last minute on Friday night and got some stuff to decorate her scooter. Since she has a Tinkerbell scooter anyway, we went with a Tinkerbell theme and it turned out cute. She was pretty cute at the trike-athon too. They rode around in circles for about 20 minutes, and after about 15 she was so worn out that every time she passed me on the track she would yell to me, "Mom, I'm soooooo tired." She is a bit of a drama girl, and so the "tired" looks on her face were just priceless. I would tell her, "Okay, it's almost over, just ride slower if you're too tired." Really though, I had no idea how long they would have them ride or if it really was almost over, so it's a good thing it turned out to be true! Steven was pretty sure that it was his job to run around the track chasing after Elise, but once I talked him out of that he was content to stand by me dancing to the music and yelling "Go Eeese," everytime she came by.

By the way, wondering why most of the other kiddos in the pictures are wearing matching red T shirts and Elise is not? Well, they sort of rope you into selling raffle tickets by playing up to the kids that everyone who sells at least 5 will get a matching T shirt. I wasn't about to sell tickets, but I was sure Elise would be crushed if the whole rest of her class had matching shirts and she didn't so I just ended up buying 5 tickets myself. Then when they gave her the T shirt my little fashionista took one look at the shirt (which was sort of ugly, by the way) and wanted nothing to do with it. She wanted to keep on her green shirt because it was prettier, and after all, it was a much better Tinkerbell color to go with her theme. That little stinker!

Egg Hunting

On Easter we got to go to my grandparents house for dinner, and the kids had an Easter Egg Hunt with some of my younger cousins and my cousins' children. They loved it! Elise must have filled her whole basket with eggs, and was totally into running around and collecting as many eggs as possible. Steven, on the other hand, went about things totally differently. Everytime he found an egg he would sit down on the grass and open the egg to see what was inside. If it was quarters he would just throw them on the grass and move on. After all, what good is money to two year old? If it was candy he would sit down, take out his binky, put the candy in his mouth and eat it before he would move on to find another egg. He came away with way less eggs than any of the other kids, but he was totally pleased with his egg hunt experience so no worries! At first I was actually trying to speed him up so that he could get more eggs, but then I thought, why do I want him to have more eggs? How much candy does a two year old need, and he obviously could care less about the money so we may as well let someone else have it. It cracks me up how different these two kiddos are though!

Why Dads are More Fun at Bath Time

Dad's are more fun at bath time because they forget practical things, like the fact that we use very little soap on Steven because he gets bad exzema from it, and they fill the bath completely with bubbles anyway! The kids are always asking for Dad to give them there bath, but most nights it ends up being me who does it. About a week or so ago Chris actually gave them a bath, and when I came upstairs they were both covered in bubbles, had bath toys out, and were having a grand old time with Dad. No wonder they don't want baths from Mom. It only took Steven a few days with lots of lotion and medicine to get rid of the rash, and since they are still talking about having bubbles in the bath I guess it was worth it.

The Easter Bunny

When you are two and four, life doesn't get much better than a visit from the Easter Bunny complete with new socks that have Disney characters on them, sunglasses, flip flops, M & M's and bubbles. I love how easy it is to please kids this age, and Elise and Steven were certainly pleased. They also each got $10.00 (10 $1.00 bills a piece). Kind of steep for a two and four year old, but we have been trying to teach Elise about tithing and I guess the Easter Bunny decided to do his part to help reinforce the concept. The math is pretty easy with a perfect 10!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, Everyone! Elise and Steven have both been sick most of the week, and Elise had to miss preschool on the day of her class Easter Party so she was quite upset. I have tried to do some fun things for Easter this week to make up for it. We colored Easter Eggs, had an Easter Egg Hunt inside in pajamas because they were too sick to go outside (and who said gummy worms inside of Easter Eggs were bad for sick kids - it was all I happened to have on hand for an impromptu egg hunt, so oh well), and "Cinderella" helped me make a Bunny Garland and hang it from the fireplace to decorate - she painted the eyes and noses on about half of them. The kids are finally feeling mostly better, and I hope Elise has forgotten that she had to miss her Easter Party at school. I hope everyone else has a great Easter Sunday!

Properly Brainwashed

Meet "Lizzie," the fake lizard but real pet. My kids have never really had a favorite toy until about 6 months ago when we got the fake lizard, Lizzie. Elise LOVES Lizzie and takes her everywhere she goes. She is probably the only toy she has played with nearly everyday for more than a week. She will explain to you all about how Lizzie is not a real lizard, but she is her real pet because she loves her so much. And she will even tell you all about how she is much better than an alive pet because she doesn't poop on things and you don't have to remember to feed her. Yep, I'd say this girl has been properly brainwashed by her mom and dad in the pet department. I think having a fish has helped, because as much as she loves Crilly, having to help Dad clean out the stinky fish water every couple of weeks is just no fun. Hopefully she remembers that for a long time to come. And as much as I don't like lizards, I'd have to say Lizzie is worth the $5.00 or so we spent on her if Elise is content to call her "my pet." Now if that darn Beta Fish would just die on us, life would be good. I'm still not sure what Santa was thinking with that one!

Classic Steven

I love this photo because it is just "Classic Steven" in so many ways. He is asleep with all of the things he is most attached to (except his Mama, of course). He doesn't get any happier than when he has his hat on his head, his shoes on his feet, his binky in his mouth and his blankie to snuggle up with.

That's How I Roll...

Elise got her very first bike a few weeks ago, and boy does she love it. It is all about Dora with a shiny red Dora bike and matching Dora helmet and knee pads. She thinks she is pretty hot stuff, even if she does still have training wheels on it. Here are a few pictures of her riding her bike. She will spend a good hour or more riding it up and down the driveway everyday, and Steven is content to either push his toy lawn mower while running next to her or to sit in the wagon watching her and hoping someone will give him a little pull. Here are a few pictures.