Gwendolyn and Violet

Gwendolyn playing with her puppy Violet. She loves this puppy!! Make sure your volume is up! :)

step step step!

Toes!

We have been having a very busy week! We have had lots of friends over for Preston and Gwendolyn to play with and today is my one day off. So only my children!! Preston had parent day today at school and got to go with Ryan while Gwendolyn had her second day of school (a valentine party even!) and I got to go with her. Everyone had so much fun. Once again Ginny kicked the ball around the gym and every time she brought her foot up she would say "kick!" So cute!! This week she has also started to say "careful!" when she is about to slip/fall or right after she does and also "okay" so I'll say something like "are you all done?" and she will say "all done." and I'll say do you want to go play? and she will say "okay." or "would you like some milk?" "cup" and I'll say "okay" and she'll say "thank you." seriously! how am i able to carry on full conversations with a 13 month old?!!!

Hi toes!

Hi baby!

Cheese!

Dexter wondering how she is going to get back up stairs with a baby in her door way.

Randomly the people of Brainerd/Baxter are treated to a surprise sighting of Spider man or a Ninja Turtle. This goes off amazingly with people making wonderful comments like "oh my gosh! Spider man! thank you for keeping us safe!" or "I've always wanted to meet a Ninja Turtle!" and Preston couldn't be prouder. But on Tuesday we went to pick up Eagan and along the way of looking for ducks or mushrooms that needed to be stomped Mario fell asleep. I guess Bowser got away again. But at least he didn't get Princess Peach (Gwendolyn according to the boys) she was safely buckled in next to Mario.

Babies first day of school!

Yesterday Gwendolyn had her first day of school! She is growing up way to quickly!! She wasn't really sure what to think of all the kids and she watched all us Moms sing and dance and the look on her face was priceless. It was like she was thinking..."what are these crazy women doing?!" Ginny loved kicking the ball in gym, reading all their books and painting. I think she will really like school once she gets use to 8 other kids in the same room.

Pop and Ginny before school.

Ryan and I were finally able to enjoy a quiet night. Usually we just cuddle up with a bowl of popcorn and watch a movie but a few nights ago we played scrabble! And not just any game of scrabble but probably the only game we have ever played where we used all the tiles except for my one Q. We left the table feeling pretty smart! lol! (notice all the oi's!)
Ryan and Ginny fixed my vacuum! Turns out the reason that every time I vacuum the carpet and it still looks like a fur rug is that the vacuum was clogged. On the bottom. In a place that I didn't even know it could get clogged! Well now I can have a clean rug! Thanks hun!!
Uncle Darin took Preston to F.R.E.D. on Tuesday and as a thank you to him Pop decided to make him a cake! Angel food cake with lemon frosting, sprinkles and of course a car and monster truck. They (along with Ryan and Eagan) had a great time reading books and playing games. It is such a great night out for Dads and son's or special male role models. :) And as I type Pop is getting everything out to make yet another cake! How on earth am I gonna loose weight with this cook in the house?!
Gwendolyn did her first finger painting the other day and loved it! She felt like such a big girl painting with the boys. He picture turned out fantastic too. :)

Well thanks to my beautiful sister-in-law I am now signed up for yet another 5k. Which is really good. I have a goal of losing 15 pounds and maintaining that weight for hopefully the rest of my life so running a 5k or two keeps me on track. Race day is April 21st so I made this up to help me stay focused.

Pop showing off his cool batman gear. This boy looks like he is ready to save the day!

Ginny in her first pigtails!! So many firsts lately. First steps too! She took 9 yesterday!!

Princess Gwendolyn feeding the kitties...or at least dumping out their dish and sampling the food to make sure it's good.

Have an amazing weekend!!!!!

A Sunday Post

Hello everyone! I just have a few pictures to share with you. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

A few weeks ago I read one of my favorite blogs and well to make a long story short I was inspired to try something new. I decided that I need to spend 30 minutes each day with each person in my house. So Eagan and I have our 30 minutes together and so does Pop and Ryan and Gwendolyn and I even get 30 minutes to myself. I realized that I was living each day and not really getting a whole lot out of it. And neither were my children. So since we started this it has been wonderful. There have been a few days where Eagan and Preston's time have been together doing something special that they wanted to do but it always starts with what is something you wanna do with just Mommy? and if they want to include someone else that is fine, but it has to be their idea and choice. Anyway after I had this wonderful idea (or maybe I just finally listened to the holy spirit?) I was rewarded with this beautiful winter rainbow. Isn't it amazing to know that you are on the right track? That you are doing what God wants you to do? I am so blessed to have a wonderful blogging friend.

Preston's teacher asked if I would draw out and paint some critters for Preston's preschool class for their parent child day. The children will be "acting out" the book Polar Bear Polar Bear and I said "sure! Ryan can draw and I will paint! It will be a lot of fun!" Ten hours and 15 (we still have one to do) critters later my husband says "never say I will do something again." Well at least I had fun! I think they turned out fantastic. Pop's teacher laminated them and after they are done with parent day they will be hanging them in the hallway.
Gwendolyn got this beautiful dolly for her birthday from Nana. She is so sweet with dolly. She loves to give her her milk and brush her hair. We even put a pretty in it. (barrette) If she so chooses Gwendolyn will be a wonderful Mama some day.
Last week the boys designed some shadow art! They had to stand still while I traced them and then they got to draw themselves in! They thought it was great. Preston wanted bunny ears and Eagan wanted antlers. Silly boys!
Eagan went back down to children's hospital for a check up a couple weeks ago and we stopped at Burger King on our way down for lunch. Here are the boys being silly in their crowns. BTW Eagan's surgeon said he looks perfect! :)
My baby is big enough to play with the big boys! She had so much fun building blocks with them.

out of order.

i realize that i am doing things totally out of order but ya know. that's me. :) here are some pictures from mexico, and please notice that i added a "follow by email" spot on my page. i'm hoping that if you submit your email address that when i post an update it will let you know! thus saving me an extra step and maybe...just maybe allowing me to post more often. well we will see! and i have a few projects that i have been working on/ finishing up with so maybe i can get some pics up soon of those! stay warm!!

birthday girl!!

Hi everyone! Once again it has been a while since I last posted. Go figure that life has been busy! So we have had lots of adventures lately. Once the ice was thick enough we took the kids out to the island behind our house. It was the kids first time out there and Ryan and my second. Usually there is to much snow to even bother but with the crazy weird weather we've had this year we were able to go. First we walked over to the beaver damn behind our house and we got to see a beaver in the ice right under our feet! Once he saw us looking at him he swam away. It was so cool!! Then when we got to the island we found some honey comb and and a tiny bird nest with a feather in it. We also found some chairs and tables from the 70's some good climbing trees and trees that the beavers have been nibbling on. It was awesome.

We were able to make it to the Malecha family Christmas and that was perfect. So many family members were able to make it and Gwendolyn was the life of the party. But really one baby girl and seven little boys...she was bound to be. :)

Gwendolyn is one year old today. I can't believe it! This past year has gone by so fast! We had plenty of ups and downs but 2011 definitely ended on a positive note. :) Well here are a few pictures! Happy 2012!!

The beaver damn

sorry you'll have to tilt your head, i'm not sure how to flip the picture

Eagan's art and writing from school. fyi: crabbie crab passed away yesterday. :(

frozen bubbles!

frosted seaweed frozen in the ice!

we could see to the bottom of the "lake" most of the way there.

ginny all partied out before 9 am!!

last day of being a baby!

baby yoga!

start tilting again. ginny and great grandma ray. :)

oh and sorry the pictures are not in the proper order. but hey at least i blogged! :)