Cutie Patooties!

After months of trying to talk Jack into joining Owen for Taekwondo I finally just pulled out the tough Mom card and made him go in. Surprise, surprise the kid LOVES it. I knew he would! He was terrified of the adults and the kids and thought I was going to leave him. Not sure why since he had sat with me and watched Owen every time we took him and I have never left. Who knows how a 3 year olds brain works, but alas he's finally going.

It took a couple weeks for his uniform to come in due to a mess up in the shipping and then the holidays, but it finally got here and he looks so cute! At first Jack was stuck to Owen like glue, but he is getting more and more confident being out there and showing his stuff. I'm so proud of both of my boys!

Countertop Cuties!!

If I'm in the kitchen...which being a Mom is most of the time...the girls usually want to be right there with me.

Of course their arms outstretch and they start asking to be up on the countertop...

together!!!

How We Weathered THE Storm!

This is what our tree normally looks like. The lower branches are over 6ft off the ground...Michael can walk under it without having to duck.

This is what it looked like when the snow froze into ice. I was sure some of those branches were going to snap, but they held on tight.

The neighbors tree across the street wasn't so lucky.

It was fun seeing how the icicles were hanging off everything.

It's was really quite beautiful!

Ella and I even broke off some icicles to eat.

After the snow froze we pretty much stayed inside. We visited the ER enough last year so I really didn't want to start this year off making a trip there.

After the snow and ice melted Michael had to take care of the aftermath.

These three trees that were on the side of our driveway all snapped.

They weren't healthy and Michael was wanting to chop them down anyways.

Since they are the kind of trees that have shoots that come up he left the trunks thinking maybe they will eventually fill in again. We'll see! If they don't start filling in we are just going to rip them out. I think this area would make some nice garden space.

Can you say summer campfires!!!

Baby Update - 20 Weeks!!

The halfway mark is here!

Part of me feels that it's gone fast, but most of me feels like it's taken forever to get to this point. Don't get me wrong I don't want to rush this since it is my last pregnancy. I really enjoy being pregnant normally, but I have to tell you this pregnancy above all the others has had me so worried. I've tried and tried to not freak out and I think I've done a good job, but I still couldn't ever get that tight feeling in my chest to completely go away.

I'm at the best part though...I CAN FINALLY FEEL THE BABY MOVING!!!

This above all is what I've been waiting for. To feel those flips and kicks are so absolutely reassuring to me. I love it!!! This baby is a bit crazy too. There are big gaps in time between the kicks, but when Baby Z is awake and moving I know it.

In regards to my body my back is starting to bother me some. Our insurance covers massage therapy so I have my first appointment on Friday. I'm really looking forward to that and hoping it will help some. I figured since it was my 6th pregnancy I deserved a little professional pampering!

Michael and I still don't have any definite ideas as to the gender...I just can't wait to snuggle and nurse a baby. Doesn't matter to me if it's a boy or a girl. Jack on the other hand is SO convinced it's a girl. In fact he's told Ga-Ga that she's wrong because she thinks it's a boy. I asked him the other day if he would be mad if Baby Z was a boy and he said, "Yeah...it's a girl!" Oh my goodness! Owen also thinks it's a girl, but he's not quite so adamant about it. I think Ella thinks it's a girl because about a week ago I asked her to say hi to the baby and she said, "Hi..." and used the girl name we have picked out. It will be interesting to find out in 20 short weeks!

My Dreams!

I thought it would be fun to write down all the things I dream about having or doing right now. Not that I'm not happy with life right now, but because I think it will be fun to look back in a few years and see which ones have actually come true.

- I dream of remodeling our kitchen and playroom into one big kitchen / homework station for the kids.

- I dream of taking the kids to either Disneyland or Disneyworld and seeing the look of wonder in their eyes.

- I dream of getting a bouncy house for the kids so they can bounce, jump and fall as much as they want.

- I dream of going to New York with Michael to see the 9/11 Memorial when it's finished.

- I dream of a day when my kids are all grown and I have hours and hours on end to do nothing, but get crafty!!! Just keepin' it real!

- I dream of remodeling our basement into a studio apartment...first to be used as a school house for the kids and then one day to be used as a place for either set of our parents to live.

- I dream of one day having a house or a cabin on a lake.

- I dream of my children going to college, getting married and making me a grandma one day.

- I dream of growing a vegetable garden so big we can sustain ourselves.

- I dream of having an awesome emergency kit so we'll prepared if the BIG ONE hits.

Okay those are a few of my dreams....what do you dream about?

Fiesty!

This cute almost 2 year old has been throwing me for a loop recently. She is so strong willed and her favorite words are "Mine" and "No". She's also started the hitting phase. My biggest challenges with her are diaper changes, changing her clothes and brushing her teeth. She is fine when Daddy or Ga-Ga change her and she's an absolute terror when I change her. I honestly dread changing her...it's such a battle. I try being lighthearted about it and have fun, but sometimes we just need to get going or I have dinner cooking and I just need to change her poopy diaper now and not mess around.

Yesterday I tried giving her choices that still got the same outcome and that seemed to help. Such as saying, "Ella it's time to change your diaper do you want to lay down on your own or do you want Mama to lay you down?" She did seem to respond better to that. My friend Kim suggested that I read The Strong Willed Child...I thought I had that book, but I think I just borrowed it from the church library and gave it back because it's was an old edition. Currently I'm reading Bringing Up Girls so I think I'll finish that one first and then check out The Strong Willed Child from the library. What I don't want to do is make her feel like she can't be her own person. I want her to have her own opinions and be a strong independent person, but she also needs to understand who the authority figures are in her life and respect them.

New Camera!

On Saturday my Dad and I went shopping for my new camera. I had done a ton of research online prior to going to the store. I was pretty sure I wanted this one camera, but I just needed to get my hands on it. I'm not really an Internet shopper I'm an Internet researcher. When it comes to actually making a purchase I love being able to go to the store, buy it and bring it home. I'm not good with waiting for shipping either!

Anyway online the camera I wanted was on a screamin' sale...I'm talking $110 off the original price. Of course at the store it was the normal price. I was bummed, but figured I'd order it online. Then I asked one of the workers and he was happy to check online and give us that price. YAY!!!

Here's my new beauty! So far from playing around with it I love it. It's got all sorts of features and fun settings. It has a really good rating 4.8 out of 5 stars and I can see why. The zoom is amazing! The manual is pretty basic, but it comes with a DVD I can watch to get more information...this was one of the things that someone complained about. I'm so happy to have a good camera to take pictures with again. I'm lost without a camera! In the words of my Dad, "Let's hope this camera doesn't get "Jacked" anytime soon!" I'm going to do my best make sure of it!

Thanks Dad!!!

Crusin'!

This boy loves his new bike. He's been riding it around and around the house ever since his birthday. We don't really have that big of a house, but he can fit around tight corners and he takes them pretty fast. Hopefully by the time this posts the weather will have cleared up enough for him to take it for a ride outside!

Side Note: My camera is dead...kaput! Jack dropped it the other day and it would cost almost the same amount as a new camera does to send it in and get it repaired. Right now I'm using my moms camera, but for some reason it has a really hard time taking a picture without it being blurry...note the picture above. But my boys aren't the only ones to have the coolest Dad...mine offered to buy me a new camera!!! Soon I'll be back to my crystal clear picture taking ways!

Crazy Dancers!

I was dancing the other day for some reason and Ella started to dance too so I thought I would get it on tape. A few days before this we saw a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode that had this crazy dance that Donald does that involves shaking his tush....Owen loves to shake his tush so it was right up his alley. So happy I got this on tape!

Fun With Friends!

The other day we had our neighbors Lance & Rachael over for dinner with their two girls. Kendra and Ella have known each other since they were 5 & 3 months old. It's been so much seeing them grow up together. Kendra actually taught Ella how to jump on the couch so I taped them jumping together. They are such cute girls!

Group Hug!

Totally, spontaneous, absolutely, adorable show of affection!

They Have The Coolest Dad!

After working almost a full day what does he come home and do for his boys? Why build them an igloo of course!!!

There is an episode of Curious George that the boys have seen over and over where George builds an igloo with a friend. Ever since seeing it they've wanted to build one. The snow was perfect packing snow so Michael used one of his old 5 gallon paint buckets and got started.

These boys loved being outside with their Daddy playing and helping.

That's one big igloo!

Here it is after Daddy rounded out some of the edges and filled in all the cracks with snow. Michael said that it was actually starting to get quite warm inside while he was working. In fact when he was inside I was calling his name and he couldn't even hear me....now that's insulation! Now I just hope the rain holds off long enough so the boys can play in it tomorrow!