Here Fishy, Fishy

Last week Little N finished his first session of swimming lessons. He loved them! We thought it would be a good way for him to not only start learning some skills, but to prep for summer. N is really excited for a swimming-filled summer! He is really lucky because both Grancy AND Grandma and Grandpa have pools for him to swim in this summer.

In his lessons this Spring, he worked on front floats, back floats, kicking, "ice cream scoop arms", underwater bobs, and his favorite part of every week.....jumping off the side of the pool! There was definite improvement throughout the weeks from our little guy. Way to go N! We are so proud of you!

Ride 'Em Cowboy!

Today, the kids and I, and Grancy went out to Bunker Hills Stables for the afternoon. They were having an open house with all kinds of fun activities. We got to go on a hay ride AND N got to ride a pony. He said that the pony ride was his favorite part, but that "ponies sure don't smell so good."

This is N riding Widget

What a gorgeous day to go for a ride!

Thank Grancy for hanging out with us this weekend. We had a lot of fun! It was great to spend so much time outside in this great weather. I think N rode a mile on his bike this afternoon. We should all sleep well tonight!

Here is my N'ism for the day:

On our way to the stables today, N announced in the car "I am a Gentleman." I had him repeat what he said and he said the same thing and then added....."you know, like Daddy is a Gentleman."

Oh N, you make me laugh!

Love,

P

All Aboard!

This weekend was Opening Fishing weekend, which means that S headed up North on Friday with all the V guys for a weekend of fishing and festivities.

Grancy and I decided that we would do some fun activities with the kids here. On Saturday, we went to the train museum. N LOVED it! There were all kinds of really cool old trains that we could walk through, though his favorite part was actually the little train tables for the kids to play with.

N is always very interested in trains when we pass them while driving. He is always looking for the locomotive and the caboose. There is hardly ever a caboose these days, but at the train yard on Saturday, we got to go on a ride in a caboose!

Here he got to pretend to drive a train and make the whistle go!

This was by far his favorite part. There were lots of trains to play with!

There was even a table for Miss M!

Touring the trains

This was the caboose we got to ride for a short trip

P's Grandpa J used to work at this very train yard on these wheels. He worked for Burlington Northern and fixed all the broken wheels. It made it even more fun to see this, knowing that he worked here!

Little Engineer!

Choo choo!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello, P here! I hope all you wonderful moms out there had a great day! I know I did! We went over to my mom's for brunch and some dominoes and then went and watched S play a couple games of softball.  I told S that it kind of felt like my first Mother's Day, even though N is already 3 and a half because it was the first one that I was a mom and it wasn't opening fishing, so S was actually home! Talk about great! I loved it.  He brought me flowers on Friday and they smell soooo good! He also got me a really great new seatbelt purse that is Volkswagen themed! I love it! Here are a few pictures from our day!

Miss M and Mommy...a little bit deer in the headlights! :)

Snuggling with my sweet boy

Miss M, visiting with Great-Grandma C

Me and my wonderful kids! Wow do these little faces make me happy! Being a mom is the best! Thank you for these little sweeties, S, and for a wonderful weekend! I love you all!

Just a little dress shot for fun. I thought this dress from her Grancy was so darn cute!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Love,

P

A Day in the Life.....

...of an 11 month old! That's right, folks! Miss M is 11 months old today. Only one month left until she isn't zero anymore, as N would say!

Here are some pictures of our little sweetie!

This face brightens our days!

So silly!

Giggling at herself

M is such a good natured little sweeheart

Getting crazy!

She now pulls up to standing on everything

Hard to see, but she is doing her trick where she flips her tongue over...very talented! :)

Love to empty things....boxes, laundry baskets, toy boxes. Nothing is safe around this kiddo!

What a difference a month made in M's mobility and independence. She had pretty much said "so long" to the army crawl and it either crawling around "big girl style" on her hands and knees or walking along the furniture.

This makes me laugh because it looks like she is sleeping, but she is really just lounging, with her foot propped up on the couch and playing with her beads....another favorite activity of hers right now

Here is M, playing with her big brother N....you can see he is mid-grab to try to stop her from playing with the table. We are still working on the whole sharing concept.....sigh

And he is now letting her have a turn...thanks N!

What a ray of sunshine M is in our lives! We all just love her so much and are enjoying her gain independence by the minute! Though P is fine if she would like to take her time a bit. :)

This month has been a drastic change in Miss M.

Her talking has increased and her understanding!

She now waves "bye bye" and even says it sometimes.

She will often repeat "all done."

If you say "yay," she will clap for herself.

She will happily "chat" at you for lengths of time.

She is crawling fully.

She pulls up to standing and gets into everything.

She can move between pieces of furniture while "walking."

She stands up in her crib to greet you in the morning.

She now has 3 of 4 molars with #4 here any minute.

She has started to scold her brother when displeased with him.(my favorite)

She continues to be a dancing fool at the slightest whisper of a tune.

I'm sure there is much more. We are just having fun sitting back and enjoying every moment.

Here is a little N'ism for the day that I just have to share because it made me laugh all day long:

So, as I am driving the kids to daycare this morning, and as we approached Caribou on Cedar Ave, N tells me "Mommy, I think you need a large, skim, caramel latte." Oh N, you know your Mommy too darn well! And me, not wanting to disappoint, was more than happy to swing on in and order just that! I about drove off the road when he said that! I swear that I really only go once every couple of weeks!

Have a great week everyone!

Disney...shh!!

P went to Orlando last week for work for a conference on pilot training. She stayed an extra day with her friend BF and they hit Epcot for a day. We aren't telling N because he would not be very happy about this at all! He makes a point to tell us at least every other day that he "really loves Mickey Mouse." We are taking him in September, but that is still waaay too far away to tell him yet! :)

Right now it is the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. It was amazing! So many gorgeous plants and sculptures. Here are a few pics of the foliage from my phone(forgot a camera....oops!)

This one is a little hard to see, but it's the crocodile and Captain Hook

S had a bit of a rough time in the beginning of the week with the kids. N had a cold when I left and on Monday night had a very rough night, which resulted in a trip to the ER for a nebulizer. Luckily, that seemed to do the trick and he rapidly improved....once he caught up on sleep! Thank you TR2 for your patience with an overtired little boy! Grancy was also a huge help and S may not have came through the week as sane if he had to fly solo, but they were able to relieve each other throughout the week. Thanks Mom! We love you!

Late night bonding

P & M have had a couple late night bonding sessions the past few days. P thought it was just because M had a stuffy nose, but turns out she actually got Molar #3 when we weren't looking! Sorry M! Now we are pying attention because we are pretty sure that #4 will be here any day!

Bring on the Filet! Medium rare please! :)

And here is our goofball....such a difference in fashion sense from the child in the above picture. Heehee!

And the next one....

Today, we celebrated the next birthday in the string(other than a coworkers daughter next week, M is next. Yikes!) Today's birthday celebration was for the kid's cousin SV. We had a great afternoon with everyone!

Here the cute little Birthday Girl!

A couple of Superstars!

These two are going to be trouble!

See ya later ladies!

Such a fun party! I can't wait for mine! :)

This was accidental, but I thought it was funny. I'm One!

These kids were craaazy!

Uncle M wants to be a Superstar too!

This one's for you Grandma V! Not a fan, but she did let us put it on for a moment!

Happy Birthday to you!

Pretty neat eater for a 1st Birthday party!

We love you Little SV! Happy 1st Birthday Sweetie!

Love,

P, S, Little N, and Miss M

A first for Little N!

Last night, we got together with our good friends the M family. Nathan really likes spending time with MM. The M's invited us to do something that N had never done before....

Bowling!!!

We started out by putting on our cool shoes, which N really liked!

Then Daddy showed him the ropes

While Miss M did not try her hand at bowling, she did have a very good time! You can see MM doing a little trick in the backround too. :)

Then....the cosmic lights started! Both of our kids loved that part!

Way to go N! It is so fun to take you to do these kinds of things now that you are such a big boy!

And the birthdays begin!

When P was pregnant with Miss M, she had a few friends and family that were also pregnant and due right about the same time. Now, as we approach Miss M's 1st birthday(5 weeks away folks!), the string of birthday celebrations has begun. First to arrive, one year ago, was Miss P. Miss P is the daughter of P's good friend TR2. We were thrilled to be able to help her celebrate her 1st Birthday last weekend. here are a couple pics from the party:

We started with a craft. Here is N in his Ladybug party hat!

Miss P's fancy birthday cake

Enjoying us all singing to her...here is the cute little birthday girl

A little unsure about that candle....luckily Mom and Dad were there to help. :)

Happy Birthday P! We have really enjoyed seeing you grow, can't wait to see more!