A dirt pile,a lemonade stand and other fun stuff.

We have a nice big section in front of our house that has nothing growing in it. It has turned in to a popular, although very dirty, place for the boys to dig and play! I wish it was sand, and am considering taking out the dirt and filling it with sand because it's a shady area and we'd get more use out of it as a sand pile than a flower garden. We'll see. The boys require a bath after they are done playing, and since Wesley hates bathing right now I try to only let them in it once a day. Scooter also enjoys digging in it with them.

Miles and Scooter taking a little mid morning rest on the couch together.

Sophie playing with Scooter outside. He's a fast little guy!

Nora wanted to do a Lemonade Stand and I finally let her this week (since it was 80 degrees out!) I made cookies for it and she made a sign and set it all up. I tried to prepare her for the fact that possibly not many people would stop... and an hour and a half later she had $35.00!! Sophie was pretty upset because she didn't feel like helping much and spent most of her time reading Calvin and Hobbes. She cried on the couch for an hour and said, "Nothing I do ever makes that kind of money!" Oh, the drama.

This is Nora's face all lit up when I told her how much she'd made. After setting her tithing aside and giving Sophie and Miles 5.00 for helping she immediately wanted to go to the store and buy a mini tea set she saw at Hobby Lobby. It is kind of worrisome how fast money burns a hole in her pocket. (Brian says we'll have to warn her fiance about this when the time comes)

It has been so fun to go on family walks again. We took a walk to a park that is about 5 blocks away from our house and Sophie packed up her backpack with lots of things so she would be prepared for anything. This included: books, toys, a roll of toilet paper, an umbrella, snacks, water and extra undies. Right when we got to the park Sophie stepped in a swampy mud area covered with leaves. It soaked one of her feet and she was MAD. She has always hated getting wet and she was doubly upset since this was probably the only thing she wasn't prepared for! She sat on the bench for a while and I tried to get her to laugh at the situation but she just didn't think it was too funny at the moment. So I gave her my socks and dried off the inside of her shoe with a washcloth we had in the stroller and she cheered up and we had a fun time.

We've had amazing weather the last week or so and have taken full advantage by spending lots of time outside. Hooray for Spring!!!

... and a nice Sunday nap on the couch.

Wesley

Wesley has had a rough fall/winter of being sick off and on with various illnesses of puking, fevers, colds, diarrhea, etc. Because of this he's turned from our happy, sweet little man to a certified grump pants. It's also made it so he is up more in the night and is up around 4/5 wanting to be held just the right way which varies every morning. Then it's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at about 6. He is now better and not up as much - but still wanting up at 4/5. We tried letting him cry it out for a few mornings but he literally SCREAMED for 45 minutes before I couldn't handle it anymore.... and I'm afraid he's going to wake up the puppy, too.

He was pretty good at pulling grumpy faces and making mean sounds at anyone and everyone who looked at him.

Oh, how I missed this sweet smile and happy boy! Anyway, we're glad he's mainly back to normal and he's been so fun the past few days.

Welcome back sweet Wesley boy.... let's hope you are here to stay for a while.

Birthday Boy.

Miles turned FOUR and had a fun birthday. When he first woke up he came out of bed and into the dining room with squinty tired eyes and said, "Where's my birthday cake?" he had Lucky Charms for breakfast and opened presents - a Hotwheels race track from Brian and I and a Lightning McQueen pillow pet the girls bought for him (which was perfect because Wesley has adopted the puppy one as his own).

Later in the day we had a few friends over to play and have treats with us (oops - no pictures of that!) Brian teaches a class on Thursdays until 5:30 and Nora had a Dinosaur Museum at her school that night so I took the kids to that and Brian met us there. Then we came home for cake and ice cream and one last present (another track set for his growing Thomas collection!)

Miles is lots of fun and a sweet little guy. He still loves all things Thomas and Lightning McQueen. He is funny and loves to get spoiled by his sisters. He still insists on chocolate milk every morning and loves to snuggle on the couch. He loves playing computer games and going to Pre-School group once a week. He wants to play with his friends every day and likes to stay at home unless he is going to a friends house, pre-school or the park. He is learning to be more patient with Wesley. He has surprised us by being a very good boy in Primary at church! He loves playing with Scooter and does a great job when we need someone to tire Scooter out. We love this boy!

A memorable Valentine's Day.

I saw this heart hairstyle on Pinterest and decided to give it a try on the girls. I remember one year (although I was in the 5th grade!) asking my mom to braid my hair in a heart on top of my head for Valentine's Day and I thought it was so cool! The girls loved their hairstyles.

Miles is doing a co-op pre-school with some friends so we had a little party at our house with them and their younger siblings. Two of girls were sick and couldn't make it. Darn it! The kids had fun playing and passing out their Valentine's and eating cupcakes.

We ended the night with something pretty darn exciting.... a PUPPY!! The kids have been wanting a dog for a long time and we've been telling them we'll get one when the time was right. I thought that meant when we had a house of our own, but our landlord allows pets and I randomly looked on craigslist at the pet section on Tuesday and saw this adorable Muggin (cross between a pug and a miniature pincsher) puppy that was for sale. I called Brian at work every couple of hours to check in and see what he thought. I wasn't sure I was ready for the big commitment of a puppy. It's not like I am bored and need something to do :) Then I thought of how badly I wanted a puppy when I was little, and how so many of my childhood memories involve the dogs we had (Mic, Chancy and Chewy!) So after Brian got home from work I went out to "look" at him. And once I saw him I couldn't leave without him.

Brian sent them on a little clue treasure hunt that ended in our room where I was holding the pup. They were pretty surprised and excited, except Nora claimed she knew it was going to be a dog. :) The people we bought him from were calling him Scooter, and it just seemed to fit so we kept it. And it saved us from having to let the kids all agree on a name, too!

Scooter and Wesley are quite a pair. Scooter loves to play with him and Wesley loves getting Scooter's toys and running in circles while Scooter chases him.
I think they are going to be great friends.

What's going on.

My blogging tends to slow down in the winter and I'm not sure why. Probably because I take way fewer photos in the winter. I am looking forward to Spring, even though this winter has been very mild for Wisconsin... so I'm told. The girls are great friends with a pair of sisters, Camille and Marcella. It works out so nicely because they both get to have a friend over at the same time! And they both usually go over to their house at the same time. They are sweet girls and they all get along so well. This day we had them over for a "breakfast party". Since we've opted to go the No Sleepover route, a breakfast party was fun for the girls. They ate smoothies and muffins, crafted and played with their American Girl Dolls.

This winter has been full of mild sickness for all of us. Blah. Nothing doctor worthy, mostly little stomach bugs and colds here and there. I am attributing it to the fact that we are in a new place and therefore getting used to new germs. Wesley was sick for over a week recently and it was so sad. He was miserable and grumpy! He was finally able to cheer up after getting a blessing and is now on the mend... except for now he's teething and still thinking it's a-okay to get up at 5am.
Here he is being sad after being put in the tub after puking.
Here he is feeling much better, and looking much older. Such a cutie!

He finally felt like playing and was so cute lining up cars and using the car basket as a ramp. He thought it was pretty funny when he tried to move Dinoco Lightning out of his way and he ended up sitting on him!

I got my hair cut a few weeks ago and although it was much shorter than what I was expecting (as usual!) I am liking it. I think short is the way to go for me.

The girls have been very busy with various school projects and things. Nora had to count out 100 snacks to take for the 100th day of school. (Those cute little hands belong to a little girl from our ward that I watch on Wed, Thurs and Friday)

Miles spends each day alternating between playing with Lightning and Thomas. He is super excited for his birthday this week! And I went and registered him for SCHOOL last week! Here they have a program called T4K. Which is a 1/2 day of school. At first I was sad about it, but he is going to love it and is already excited, so I stopped being sad.

Miles thought this was pretty hilarious to stick his play sword in Wesley's diaper. Wesley didn't notice and Miles was laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

We have started the process of looking for a house! Our lease is up for this place in July and we hope to find a home sometime before then. We've seen a few we like and are starting to figure out how much room we need and the things we really want, etc. It's kind of a stressful thing, but fun as well. Hopefully we'll have our first house by the time our 10 year anniversary rolls around in June!

Date night, snow and randomness...

Brian and I had a fun date night a few weeks ago. We had a competition where each of us took turns coming up with some sort of challenge and we kept score of who won each competition. Some of the highlights were the wall sit, sliding across the wood floor, running around the outside of the house (before we had snow - but still COLD), paper airplane flights, tallest block tower and spinning around Cosmo Brown style on the floor. It must be noted that I won the competition. Mostly due to the fact that through a stroke of luck I won the blow-the-wadded-up-paper-ball-across-the-kitchen-table -with-a-straw-and-make-it-land-in-a-mug competition on my first try. Yes.

It is definitely winter now and I love it when it is warm enough to play outside in it. I don't care for the wind chills that put us in negative temperatures. Brrrr.

The girls had a great time building their prototypes in snowmen.

Wesley sporting his new coat. He'd been wearing one of the girls old winter coats that was red on the outside but it had pink sleeves and girly stripes on the inside. But I couldn't justify buying a brand new one when we had one that fit. Then I came across this one on clearance at Target for 8.00 and couldn't resist. He looks pretty cute in it, and since he'll probably wear it until April it will be worth it. Now he won't get mistaken for a girl everywhere we go.

Miles and Thomas are still going strong.

The girls doing a craft from a book they got at the library.

Wesley's new family night talent. When the kids are doing their handstand and somersaults and such Wesley has to join in.

Winter Break!

We had a great time over Winter Break! It was so fun to hang out and play together for over a week. It was also nice not making lunches or worrying about homework and having to leave the house every day to pick the girls up from school. Here is some of what we did:

Played with Play-doh,

made "snow" landscapes with shaving cream and random objects,

cried over spilled milk (at least Wesley did),

made salt dough creations (one of the girls most favorite things to do!),

cleaned messy rooms (this is before the cleaning obviously),

crafted and crafted and crafted and crafted,

made bread,

smothered Wesley with love and attention,

played school and watched movies together!

It was so great having the girls home. The kids all got along so well and had fun playing together. But the girls were starting to go crazy with pent up energy so it was nice to start back in the routine of school. I'm a lucky mama!