snuggle buddies :)

This is how I found these two, plus the dog, one day last week. I was finishing putting away our food from lunch that needed to go into the fridge and I asked them to find their blankie's and binkies so we could read books before nap. We usually cozy into one of their beds and read together or find a spot on the couch. It got REALLY quiet so I walked around the corner and found them here :) Binkies popped in mouths, blankies covering them up, and snuggled in with each other. They were ready for nap and wanted to lay on the chair that day with the dog too! It was so cute I almost said yes.....   but only for about 3 seconds before the realistic outcome sat in on my mind and we found our way to the beds! I love the little friendships Austin has and the one with his best buddy Avery just always makes me smile in every way. I hope they always make room to snuggle into each other's life a little bit.

what are the chances?

Yup, you are seeing right! Dave and I are in a small group with 4 other couples. And yes, all FIVE women have been or are pregnant recently. First baby was born in December and the last will arrive in September! A couple will be here probably within this week or next! how exciting!! Our crew of kids will jump from 6 total to 11 total in less than a year's time. Ohhh, what are the chances of us all being pregnant the same year? This was a good year!! :-)

(and yes, I had permission to post this picture from all of the expecting mama's :) I think they all look beautiful carrying new life inside of them anyways!!!

planting a rainbow

I have a love for gardening and even though my flower beds and veggie gardens are not what I would do since we inherited a forest of things after buying this house, I still enjoy each season of making it more and more ours. We have lived here over 7 years now and are still working each spring to create the flower gardens and vegetable space that we want. With young tots it is a job that is going to take years! If you saw our home space the first year we lived here you know we have had some success in getting ahead of our wildly growing horticulture! :)  

I love passing on the fun of planting things to my kids and any other kids that hang out here a little bit during this time of year. My boys have learned a lot and had fun watching plants start as seeds, helping transplant them, and then watering through out the summer to finally harvest some yummy items in the late summer and fall. Jaxon is finally old enough that most days he takes on watering flowers duty all by himself.... bonus of having older kids!! :-) Of course the teacher in me waste no time using this activity to apply to their own faith lives. There are lots of opportunities to teach on the parable of the seed and talk to them about "feeding" themselves, just as we feed our plants. It's a great lesson in growing things and ourselves!

I have many plant growing books, but Austin loves Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert. So we've done just that here lately... planted our own little rainbow. What a sweet season with two young boys and making memories getting dirty as we plant our rainbow!

counting down...

We have less than 10 weeks before our baby boy arrives! Crazy! Once school is out and summer begins I know these final weeks will fly by. I think we're all getting excited for his arrival, Austin constantly talks about him coming. Currently I am 31 weeks and so far this has been a normal pregnancy. Thankful for that! Of course there are the typical pregnancy side effects... bad sleeping, weight gain, spider veins... but it really is so so worth it. I am enjoying this third time around the block and am trying to embrace each moment I get to carry a baby boy inside of me. It just amazes me how my body can do this! 

Some of my favorite things about this pregnancy... having family/friends that are pregnant with me too, having two boys old enough to understand what is going on and getting excited with us, adding another boy and the no stress this has been to think about, getting a little tan while big and preggo, my husband's excitement to add another boy, having a reason to sleep in and skip work-outs (by sleep in I mean 7am on a good day!!, ha! :) 

Here's to third trimester and super awesome endings just around the corner!!!

field trip!

I have worked really hard to make my schedule work so I can be in Jaxon's classroom a good chunk of time through out the school year. I love getting to know his teacher, the kids he spends time with each day, and getting more familiar with his school. I think it is important that I be involved and make myself available to some of his school experience. It is still weird to me at times that we send our kids off to school for 5 days a week, 6.5 hours a day. We miss out on a lot, but Jaxon seems to really learn, grow, and enjoy it which makes it affirm my heart that he is moving forward as he should be! We love, love, love our school and we have blessed with such a great experience thus far. Above I was able to tag along for a field trip!! As I led a small group of 1st graders I couldn't help but think "when did my son get so OLD!?!?" It was awesome to see him learn and have fun with his peers and get a sneak peek into his everyday life called school :)

Palmers

An old high-school friend of Dave's recently bought the local mini golf and go-cart place. They also happen to have the last name, Hansen! They are a great family trying to clean the place up and make it super family friendly again. We have been having fun spending some time with them and hanging out there at Palmer's. (named after their youngest :)  They added a new jumping pillow, like the one at Bloomsbury Farms, and our boys LOVE it! Austin asks all the time if he can go to "Homer's" and jump. He can't say Palmer's so well yet, ha ha. I foresee us spending a chunk of time there this summer... you should come join us sometime! They have some good deals and some great birthday party packages and it's a fun place to take the kids or go on a date :) I'm so glad we can do outside activities again!!!

 JUMPING PILLOW

Holy Week & Easter, 2011

This was a neat year to celebrate Holy Week and Easter because both our boys were at an age where we really felt like they were grasping more and more of this time of year. I was surprised how well Austin took in the story of Jesus, the cross, and his resurrection. He's been practicing the passover at many lunches lately and tearing his bread up to pass around "like God" he says :)  I love to see the words of the Bible become knowledge in my boy's little minds. The last few years I have been able to tweak a daily Bible breakfast to finally be kid friendly and age appropriate for our boys. Each morning of Holy Week we read a different part of the story from Luke or Matthew. Then I have the boys do some sort of hands on activity to help them remember what we read about. Anything from building our Easter tree to breaking bread and having "wine" together to washing our feet to showing love to someone who may not feel God's love. Of course the teacher in me has them do some reading and writing project too :) Once I have read the story for the morning the kids must come up with a sentence to tell a part of it and fill in each day for the letter of the day (using Holy Week as beginning letters and sounds). The kids wake up looking forward to what is next and I enjoy surprising them each day. We end the week on Resurrection Sunday... make Resurrection Rolls, look for Easter eggs to celebrate new life found in Jesus, and enjoy family time after a great morning service at our church. This year we had a special breakfast with some new friends and attended church together...it was great! It was a really nice Easter week this year and I always look forward to this time to share our faith with our kids passing on traditions and God's word.

 Building the cross one morning...

 Resurrection rolls.... an EASY thing to do that tastes SO yummy too! Just use a tube of crescent rolls, melt some butter, mix sugar and cinnamon together, and have 8 big marshmallows. The marshmallow represents Jesus, dip him in the butter to represent the oils they used on his body after he died, roll him in the sugar mixture to represent the spices used on his body, and wrap the crescent roll around the marshmallow to represent the tomb. Bake them and when they are done... the kids will see the "tomb" is empty! He has risen!

 Staring the story of Jesus...

 Washing each others feet...

Our boys on Easter! One more to add for next year, yeah!

 McIntosh Cousins

Goodbye Friend!

We're sad to say goodbye to our good buddy, Jakey, who is moving this week :( The last two years exactly our neighbor boy has been coming here for daycare. He's been a great little buddy for Austin and a sweet addition to Austin and Aves here at our house. I feel sad for Austin as not only his daycare buddy is leaving, but he's also our only neighborhood friend!! Austin and Jakey played great together... loved trucks, the sandbox, playing "polar bears", racing cars, riding bikes, running circles around our "loop", watching movies, baking with me, reading books, and just having fun. They really got along great! I'm going to miss my little trio that has been my daily routine the last couple years, but with every new door that closes a new one opens...while I will miss the easiness of this trio I am so excited for the next bunch of kids that will gather here... including some very new additions!!! (BABIES! :)  My heart always gets stretched when new little ones become a part of this family for a bit and Jakey was no exception. I will miss his silly sweet face.

We will all miss you Jakey! Have fun in your new house in your new town!!!

 Scratch Bakery for his last day snack :)

 The four of them being silly... :)

The Trio of Toddlers :)