Artsy Fartsy

Here is the next installment in the original "Self Portrait" series by Abigail C. This one is titled "Self Portrait in Red: A Study of the Nose".

Where is a mom supposed to draw the line with creative license?

I know, right?

What about more regular blogging? Sometimes things just don't happen.




So. Weather's nice, we're getting out. Feels good. These are at our favorite park (they're cell phone pics, so I apologize if the quality's not quite wonderful):



The usual response lately when told to "Smile!!"...(that's marker on Alex's hand)

The bench where daddy proposed to mommy...

The view from the bench where daddy proposed to mommy...

Not bad.

Alex has been fighting a brutal stomach flu for the past 3 days...the poor guy is pretty much wiped out. Abby is going out of her mind and climbing the walls waiting for him to recover so we can leave the house again. I'm overflowing with gratitude that it seems pretty isolated and the rest of us haven't come down with it (knock on wood). Bj is busy with work, but we're appreciating the flexibility he has with his time, and I'm so thankful he's not putting in the 14 hour days installing anymore!

Baby news: I had an ultrasound this morning, everything looks wonderful. We're at 16 wks, 4 days, due date of Nov. 4th. We were also able to spot a little something between the legs, Dr. Olson said he'd put money on it being a boy! We'll be able to tell for sure at the 20 week ultrasound, but it looked pretty clear to me as well. Abby went along with me to the ultrasound--she said, "Mom, it sure is dark in your tummy!!" Her name suggestions so far: David and Napkin. I'm getting more and more excited to meet this one--I'm not sure if it's the arrival of spring or if it's hormonal, but I'm definately already in nesting mode!!

Home Group has finished up for the year, there's one more Sunday of Sunday School to teach, one more grad party to go to, then it's just sitting back, enjoying the summer, enjoying the kids and getting ready for baby! What an ideal way to pass the days...life is good.

It's in the genes.

Let the gaming begin. Basketball of course.

Birthday Weekend!

The Big Four. Festivities began on Friday night, with a Birthday Dinner with friends Jon, Michelle, Ezra and Tirzah...and the unveiling of "the big box from Grandpa and Mimi". A very large box arrived on our doorstep a full week before THE day, creating a week of torture and angst for the soon to be 4 year old. Weather didn't permit us to set up the bouncer outside, so all the stuff in the basement was shoved to one side, creating just barely enough room for the super toy! Good pictures were near impossible with four jumping, jostling, wrestling and wriggling bodies bounding around and the ugly basement light, but maybe you can get the idea. At one point, Abby threw her arms in the air and declared, "I LOVE THIS THING!!!!!"

Thanks Grandpa and Mimi, the bouncer was the hit of the weekend. My kids are spoiled.

Saturday, the actual day of the birthday, began with this:

I know, right? April 26th??? Good grief. Anyway, it was a good day. Aunty Karen had her birthday party in the afternoon (they share a birthday), which was fun, then Blue Grandma, Grandmama and Uncle Rick came over for lasagna and cake. More fun, sugar and presents!

Sunday we played hooky from church and headed down to the Mall of America...Abby loves the rides and had birthday money burning a hole in her pocket! We had a blast, it was so much fun to be together with no big agenda and the entire day to kill!

So, what does a big 4 year old spend birthday money on? These:

And lipgloss. Blue lipgloss. Lots of blue lipgloss. Doesn't she look glamorous? The big girl fell asleep in the car on the way home from the mall, but not before putting on her makeup!

Season changes feel so great--the excitement of finding out what's around the corner and what this new time will bring, the changes in schedules and pasttimes--a chance for something fresh and new! Good times, good times. The snow if finally gone, the air is warming up and the sun is coming around a little more, things will be green soon! Finally.

We're busy at home--it feels wonderful to feel like myself again after what felt like months of just feeling "off". Laundry is caught up after weeks of living out of clothes baskets and I'm back to grocery shopping after weeks of pizza and cheeseburgers.

Abby is so creative and loves anything involving "making". I love being able to do "big girl" things together and hold conversations while we work together-- she worked so hard on a necklace while Alex napped one afternoon:

We've fallen into the habit of having "chocolate coffee" or tea most afternoons...fun times...

Here's a sleepy boy, post-nap:

He's so huggable. Hmmm...what else? He repeats "Mom! Look at ME!" 100 times a day, or 10 times that if we go to the park. He's excited to be such a big boy this year, and truly, I'm excited about it too, because it means more bench sitting and less damage control/following/helping/pushing/pulling for me at the park! :)

Things we're looking forward to:

• A 4th birthday in a week.
• The end of Sunday School and Homegroup for the summer (for REAL?? EVERY evening of the week will be open??).
• My last day at work next week.
• Swimming lessons.
• Watching business come in for IGS, and the first summer in 10, 11 or 12 years that Bj hasn't spent climbing ladders and installing gutters.
• Walking/biking to the lake and spending whole days at the park.
• Blogging regularly again.

For Pete's Sake

Snow. Again.

Really, when will it be spring??? Oh, and we're the "to the west and north" who's lucky enough to get the 10 inches rather than 4-6.

No new pictures to share...to be honest, it's been a very hard few weeks or month. I've really felt very crummy for a long time, nauseous all day, very emotional and so very tired, all. the. time. The house, the kids and Bj have all suffered along, but this week finally feels like a fog is lifting, and life will carry on. Work is picking up again for IGS, which is good--the housing/economy slow down doesn't seem to be affecting business too much.

The kids are learning to clean up their room, and that work comes before fun. They can actually be quite handy at cleaning windows and mirrors, Alex "washes" dishes, and Abby is great at wiping down and setting the table. They enjoy helping out, which is an attitude I hope we can foster and maintain for quite a while. (haha, right? I can dream anyway.) We've become firm believers in the "less is more" philosophy of toys--if there's so many that they can't clean them up themselves, there's too many. Especially when working with the limited amount of space we have. The upcoming new arrival has made me mindful of the amount of work I do for the kids that they're capable of learning to do for themselves--hopefully we're setting ourselves up for an easy transition--being outnumbered is a little daunting.

There's the glamorous update. I'll find something cute to take pictures of and get back in the swing of blogging pretty quick.

Easter '08

Dying eggs...

(Abby wiped out in the bathroom giving herself a black eye a couple weeks before Easter--this looks worlds better than it did! She's forever biffing it and giving herself bumps and scrapes.)

Dying hands too...

Easter cookies from Grandpa and Mimi make everyone feel the love...

Hastily taken picture of Easter finery...

I'm still working with the painfully slow desktop, so that's it for now as my patience has reached its limits. Hope everyone had a great weekend!