this and that

Here's a few pictures from our last few weeks...

Right when I thought we had whipped the illness bugs in the butt, Jaxon came down with strep...again! It was the second time this winter and he had the weirdest symptoms... vomiting, low grade fever, cough. Unfortunately, this pose is one I saw way too much this winter :(

 Austin likes to walk the dog with us and this night I tried to sneak out for a little bit of a faster paced walk. Not happening. He had himself dressed before I got out the door... notice he was in pajamas ready for bed. I think the hat did it for me... who can say no to that cute face squeezed in there? And who lets their kid go out dressed like the Eskimo poster child?

 Not a cute picture of me, but precious none the less. My belly is getting too big for Austin to lay on these days. He manages to find the right spot though still, as does the dog :)

 Jaxon has been a reading machine these days! He is racking up minutes to try and get first place in his class for most minutes read. The competitive side of him has really taken off with this competition... what a great thing too! The other day he and I sat on the couch together and read for almost an hour. It was awesome!

 Jaxon had his first music concert this spring. The lighting in the gym was bad, so I don't have great pictures. However, this one is great because as Jaxon walked out on stage his brother proceeded to yell in the quiet gym for all to hear "HEY BRODER, HEY BRODER". Jaxon and his friends couldn't stop giggling, as could us parents. It was too funny! Jaxon did a good job... had a little speaking part even. For a kid who can get out and play sports in front of anybody, he does not like speaking and singing in front of a crowd. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree :)

And finally... Austin and Jacob. Now that spring is here, cold or not, Austin lives in his sand box again. His best buddy and neighbor, Jacob, is moving this week or else we would often see both of these boys in here together. Austin can spend so much time in here by himself even playing, driving, digging. He loves his trucks!

two please

I recently got out my glass tea set for the kids here and I've been invited to many tea parties lately. On this day though, Austin and Avery informed me it was for them only. They are so sweet when they sit down together... pouring water for each other and sharing cheerios. Tea is served around 10 and 4 usually... may have to make a reservation with these two if you want included :)

weekend away

 It's not very often our family goes away for a weekend. We take a couple MN weekend's away a year usually and that's really about it. Dave's job doesn't let us get too far from home most weekends, so when an opportunity came up for us to head to DSM together I jumped on it! We didn't do much other than visit my aunt and hang out as a family. It was really nice actually. No phones, Internet, much of a TV, chores to do, work to go to, or errands to run. We literally just hung out. It was awesome! I am a big fan of weekends away every once in awhile. I mean lets be realistic, chores DO have to get done, errands won't run themselves, and well, Dave does have to go to work :) But, every now and then a little break from it all sounds pretty nice! We enjoyed a weekend of 75 degree weather, the zoo, 2 parks, and just playing in my aunt's backyard. Beautiful!

Firefighter Darwin

Recently I had a dear friend of ours, firefighter Darwin, come visit my Learn and Play class. We had been learning about Community Helpers and fire fighter's was our last helper to learn about. Austin was SO excited when I said firefighter Darwin was coming! Every fire truck we drive by or see, fire station we drive by, or firefighter video we view he assumes firefighter Darwin is there or in it or on it! Since Darwin visited Austin has pretended he is firefighter Darwin and drives his fire truck around the house putting fires out with nothing but his undies and his red firefighter hat on. Austin loves his trucks, needless to say he was a bit disappointed when Darwin did not pull into our driveway in HIS fire truck (the kids kept asking where it was !?!?), but I promised a visit to Darwin's real firetruck sometime this summer :) How cool to have a real firefighter visit you at your house!! Thanks Firefighter Darwin for coming straight from a fire to see the little friends here!!

25 weeks

 Mama at 25 weeks

Baby boy is just a growing! As is mama! I can't believe I am half way through carrying this little peanut. I am finally feeling really good, normal almost, except for the expanded waist line :) My energy is coming back, my appetite is very healthy (actually I am hungry all the time right now!!), I am sleeping decent if I go to bed at a good hour, and I even snuck in a little sun last weekend to help with my pregnancy "glow". The kids are getting excited to meet our little man and Austin talks about him everyday. He loves to tell me how he will play with his new brother, where he will sleep, lift my shirt up to see the belly, and tell people about his new brother. Jaxon has been wondering lately what his nick name will be... we have Brother and Monster... guess we'll have to see what he's like :) I am actually 26 weeks this week, so a bit behind with the picture, but all the same just maybe a bit bigger tummy. I did a bad, bad job of taking pictures with my first two pregnancy's and I wanted to be sure to capture this one. It amazes me what our bodies do to carry new life. Growing babies is good!

P.S. I had to have a picture with my gray sweatpants. I live in these things these days!!! I'm sure my husband is amused :)

my blankie/binkie boy :)

I snapped this just a couple weeks ago... Austin has been our little blankie and binkie boy for so long. You can see his green blanket tucked in under him and his favorite binkie popped in his mouth. The binkie is mostly for just nap and bed times now, but the blankie still goes with him a lot of places. From an early stage he chose that green blankie on his own. He always reached for it, rubbed it, chose that one. He loves it! It is so sweet. The binkie will be going soon, but I had to remind myself of my sweet blankie and binkie boy before we put an end to at least one of them. I don't care if he takes the blanket with him to college, but I think the binkie may cause some concerns if that went with him too :)

spring break 2011

This is the third year in a row the boys and I have packed up and headed south to a little place called God's Mountain Camp over spring break week. Our church takes a group there every spring break and I have found a good nitch working in the kitchen to feed their hungry tummy's during the week while they serve! One of the things Dave and I did a lot of before we had kids was go on mission trips. I love this season, but I have missed being able to go and serve in such a way that a mission trip allows you to. I really want my kids to have experiences on such trips and serving opportunities and I am SO blessed this trip has worked out the last few years. I love to feed people well and take that burden off the main leaders on the trip, I love to have my kids with me, I love cooking, and I love going on mission trips! This has been perfect for us! This year we packed up and left on Jaxon's 7th birthday and drove with my awesome cooking partner this year, Marla, and stayed for the week. God's Mountain is a great place serving at risk kids and their community through their camp and different outreach they do. You've got to have a lot of flexibility going here and be ready for lots of changes :) It's good for my heart and my kids LOVE it here. I hope to keep this tradition alive as the years come... we've made new friends, found peace here, and grown in our own relationships. It's always a good trip each year!

 Jaxon helping peel potatoes in the kitchen. The plastic "wall" separates where we were cooking from the new kitchen where future cooks will get to work their magic! Nothing like cooking in the middle of a construction site :)

 Dining hall is front building, new kitchen is back edition. It is going to be SO nice!

 We had lots of space to run and fly kites! Austin's first flight...

 They have chickens and if you know my middle son, you know he loves animals. Every morning he awoke with "can we go see the chickens"? Here he is chasing them in the trees. There is one peeking right behind him!

 Rule #1 when going on mission trip with your kids: take your amazing baby-sitter!!!! Natalie was what helped me juggle a busy week of cooking 3 meals a day for over 60 people! She was available to hang out with Austin when I had to be in the kitchen. Austin LOVES his buddy, Natalie and we are so, so, so thankful for her!!! If I ever had a daughter I would want 10 of these!

 Collecting eggs with little friend, Wil. It was a different year with so many little one's tagging along... Austin loved making new friends and having so many to play with during the day :)

 And Jaxon had plenty of friends too! These girls come every year from Minnesota and they have such a blast together.

 Puzzles during a chilly morning in our "apartment". Marla in the back untangling kites :) I still owe her an ice cram for some how accomplishing that!

 Something else new this year... our living space was surrounded by dirt, literally, and big huge trucks! They are moving mountains at camp and the truck and tractor activity was enough to prove it! Jaxon is getting a ride here!

 Star searching... one of the roof tops is very easy to access and the night we lost electricity we found our way to the top to do some star gazing. It is a beautiful view from here!

 And totally wiped out by the end of the day... they didn't even make it to their own bed! Austin liked sneaking into Marla's bed and Jaxon usually crashed anywhere. We all managed to get sick with really bad colds/coughs and each night we doped up on cold meds and fell asleep in 2 minutes. What's a mission trip without getting sick? :)

Jaxon doing a little dancing... he was a riot to watch with all the teenagers!

Sigh....  what a great week we had despite getting sick and bringing it home :) The boys were a great age to take this year and I can't be more proud of them for how well they did!!! They were so well behaved and so fun and so funny and so great to have along. I couldn't have asked for a better week with my boys! Kind of sad to take a year off with the new babe coming, but we may have to sneak down for a visit at least!! I can't thank the people that helped make the week go so well enough and feel very blessed to be part of such a great church family!! Spring Break 2011 is in the books!