Three Helpings of Cheese Please

Yes, my children are hams for the camera! Not that they have a choice since I take their picture almost daily thanks to digital cameras. Remember the good old days of film when it cost an arm and a leg to buy film, processes and then get reprints of the few good ones for your family?! I still do. Some say that I take good pictures, I just reply that with digital I can take 20 - 50 pictures at a time and one or two are bound to turn out nice.

Well, nothing too exciting here, but I have to give my few loyal blog followers something to look at and read. :-) We are going to the park today it was suppose to be about 60 degrees but now the reports say 67!!!! I should have some park pictures up tomorrow!
Here are my three on "stage". The bay window has become the stage for the ice skating rink/dance hall. Eric was on here the other night singing (I use that term VERY lightly) into a toy microphone while the girls were dancing on the floor. Oh what the neighbors must think!

The Man Knows What He Wants

Eric is really getting to the point where he knows what he wants and he knows how to get it. He can open the refrigerator and frequently helps himself to grapes or blueberries. Yesterday, he got a spoon out of the drawer and went over to the pantry and tried to open the door. The pantry door is now the proud owner of a door knob safety device that keeps Eric out but surprisingly Emma can still open, which is a good thing. Anyhow, Eric was pleading at the door (with spoon in hand) for "Pia ya! Pia ya!". I thought he was asking for pizza, which we don't keep in the pantry, so I opened the door and he pointed up. I lifted him and he went right for the peanut butter! Eric got his spoonful of peanut butter (one of our families favorite snacks) and after his second helping was a happy little man.

Indoor Volleyball

It's that time of year when you really want to take the kiddos out for some exercise but 17 degrees is just a bit too cold. So, we blew up a balloon and started to play indoor volleyball. Eric liked the reaction he got when he grabbed the balloon and trucked out of the room but my ears did not, so I found two more and each child had their own balloon. We went to our indoor skating rink and had a blast. Indoor skating rink you ask? Hardwood floors, the rug rolled up and behind the couch, socks or tights and you have a "skating rink". We had a lot of fun! There were lots of giggles and the three E's were even huffing and puffing at the end.

Apparently Eric got bored with the balloon and turned his toy drill into a gun! Quick side note, Eric doesn't even own a toy gun and he found a way to have one ... gender genetics are strong!

My Ballerina

Emma recently started taking "ballet" classes. It is a beginner dance class offered through the parks and recreation which is a good place to start. I learned that "real" dance studios only start new students in the fall and they work on basics and performances for their spring recital. This means no starting in January, but gives us a great opportunity to see if Emma really likes dance before investing in ballet school. Her outfit was given to us by a neighbor whose daughter has outgrown it (Emma LOVES her tutu!) and the absolutely adorable bag was made with love by my best friend Sherri. Emma actually asked Sherri the night of her first class if she could make her a bag stitched with ballet slippers with the ribbons on it ..Sherri did NOT let her down and had it made and shipped BEFORE her next class. That's SERVICE!!! Click on the picture to view it larger.

These pictures were taken before her second day of dance. I love the upper one where Emma has her hands on her hips with the cutest smile. We did a fun photo session and Emma did her star pose (I am assuming the get ready to twirl pose) and of course twirling. I love the seriousness of the middle picture, she does like to get things right.

You didn't think we could have a photo session without Erin getting in on it?! My favorite part is Eric's expression in the background. Again, click on the picture to enlarge if needed.

Good Morning

Good morning everyone!
Here we are all gathered in mommy and daddy's bed for a morning snuggle. I love slow mornings and snuggling with my babies. Only seven more months and then school starts for Emma, so I am trying to savor our time together. We are off to church; I just wanted to share a photo and a smile with you today.

The Play's the Thing!

I took all three little people to a play this evening.

There was a children's theater production at our local arts center of "The Princess and the Pea" and I thought it would be a great way to expose them to the performing arts. I know it may be crazy to some that I would do this by myself but I really wanted to take the girls and I didn't want to get a sitter for Eric. Honestly, I have been looking forward to doing things like this with them and I am so glad they are getting old enough to do so. The performance was good, the girls where enthralled and Eric was quiet for the first 45 minutes. It was a loose interpretation of "The Princess and the Pea" but still cute and it had quite a bit of humor for the parents. The whole thing was only an hour long which means I spent the last 15 minutes feeding Eric "nacks!" that he started loudly asking for. I still had ALL of my hair and most of my patience afterwards...not bad! I really liked the intimate setting and even though we were one row from the back (not a bad place to be in case of an early exit - which we didn't have to do) we were only in the 7th row. Like I mentioned, it was a children's production which meant kid-friendly and siblings in the audience so I didn't feel so bad bringing in my gang.

The pictures at the top are ones I took right before we left. Eric has joyfully learned how to open the doors in our house and his favorite is the pantry of course. While I was getting the girls ready, Eric decided that the bowl of spaghetti he just ate wasn't enough so he helped himself to some oatmeal! And believe me, he ate quite a few handfuls...and I let him hoping it would fill his belly and I needed to get the finishing touches on the girls. We had a very nice time and we will do this again.

My Revenge....

I found this cartoon in our Parade magazine that came with the Sunday paper and HAD to share it.

Eric hasn't been sleeping well since Josh left. There have only been about three nights that Eric has slept all of the way through the night. It is almost always about 3 am and the sound of "Maaaa! Maaa!" rings through the house. Now to some, it wouldn't be bad to bring Eric to bed, which I have done just to get some more sleep, but Eric is a pre-sleep thrasher. He changes positions about every two minutes for what feels like forever and then I hardly get sleep. Also, Josh will be home in a week and a half and I can't have Eric waking up Josh every morning at 3. Any suggestions as to what I can do?

My Quirky Children

Erin loves to run around the house practically naked. I at least try to keep something on her bottom, which means Erin in panties running around the house. Here is a picture of her on the kitchen floor playing with me. I love her smile and the way the shadow highlights her features.







Emma was lying on the stools and when I asked her why she replied, "My back was hurting and this helps to make it feel better." Do we have a future chiropractor on our hands?





Eric did his usual pushing of the bar stool over to his favorite corner in the kitchen and started to climb on the counter to get a banana. I got him down, peeled the banana for him and went back to unloading the dishwasher. Well, apparently I didn't meet all of his requirements because he reached up, got a plate from the cabinet, broke his banana into bite sized pieces and THEN began to eat his snack. I guess he knows what he wants?!

A few quotes from the week

I noticed that I didn't blog on Friday or Saturday so I will add a few quotes from this week.

#1. While watching Meet the Robinsons (the part where an evil hat turns everyone bad) Emma said, "Mommy, I wouldn't be mean wearing that hat because I know Jesus and he makes me happy!"

#2. Emma was afraid to go downstairs one night because the lights were off so Erin said, "Emma it's okay because God and Jesus are with you." Then Emma said okay and off she went downstairs.

#3. We are in the process of making a few Valentine's Day cards. Emma was making one for Josh and said, "I want to give this heart tattoo to daddy so that he knows I love him!"

Getting older.....

So, I must admit that I will be turning 40 this year...not until the last day of November but I am starting to feel the effects of my advanced maternal age. It all started with the acquisition of my weekly pill dispenser. I appreciate having it and it makes taking all of my vitamins easier but it also makes me feel old. The only other people I know who use these are my parents and Josh's parents! I am grateful that so far it doesn't have daily doses of drugs but only vitamins, however it makes me feel....almost 40!

Witch or not?

The girls were helping me get dressed this morning. Emma likes to pick out my clothes already and I don't know whether that will be a blessing later on so I stay hip or a curse that every outfit will be scrutinized...but that is tomorrows issue. While Emma was helping her mommy be more fashionable, Erin was putting together a gift for me. As most of you know, a gift from a three year old means a toy wrapped in a baby blanket or tissue. Mine was a one inch snow white dress wrapped in a kleenex. After thanking Erin for the lovely gift I said, "Wouldn't it be fun if we could magically make it big enough to fit mommy?" They told me I wasn't Snow White...good thing we got that cleared up! So then I said, "Maybe I am the Wicked Witch!" I was thinking I was pretty funny since Erin laughed but Emma replied matter of factly, "But mommy you can't be the evil witch, you don't know how to make poisoned apples!" Little does she know.....

My Love-Hate Relationship

Not with Eric but with the bunk beds, I love my little guy. I do LOVE the bunk beds because they provide lots of space for the girls to sleep. I love that they are well built and will look great separated out into two twin beds. I love that the girls love them and feel like big girls in their beds...Erin said that she missed her bunk bed while we where gone over the holidays. However, I HATE making the top bunk! Oh my goodness that is a day's worth of chores all rolled up into one. Enjoy the videos of my little guy "helping" me make Emma's bed.

To Make A Short Story Long

Eric's first two word sentence was, "Daddy bye-bye" whether that is a statement or a question depends on the time of day. Almost every morning starts with, " Daddy bye-bye?" and "Sissy night-night?" just so he knows the whereabouts of every family member. I really think Eric needs to know these things because he is persistent until I tell him where everyone is. If he watches Josh leave then it becomes a statement, "Daddy bye-bye." Even while visiting my parents this happened with Eric. Josh and I left for a date after we thought Eric was asleep for the night, but he woke up 10 minutes after we left. He cried and was pretty upset until my dad told Eric that mommy and daddy would be home later and then Eric stopped crying.

As I mentioned in my last blog, Josh is gone for the month training, which means most nights I have at least one little girl in bed with me sleeping on daddy's side of the bed. This particular evening was Erin's turn so when Eric woke up in the wee hours of the morning (which means the loud sound of, "Maaaa! Maaa!") I got him and brought him to bed to sleep some more between Erin and me. If any of you know Erin lately you know she is my "tooty girl" meaning she has a lot of gas. Less than two minutes after I got Eric in bed, Erin passed gas that sounded like a grown man. Eric, being ALL boy, thinks this is the funniest thing ever and laughs the best belly laugh at the sound of Erin's toot. Then he looks over at me still giggling and says, "Daddy toot!" Now that is a way to start the day!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Welcome Back

Well, it has been almost a month since my last confession...I mean post! I surely didn't mean for it to be so long since I was rockin' in December but my grand ideas of blogging while traveling (with children) didn't work out. There are so many more pictures and stories to share but this is the overview..sorry some of you had to wait so long...here it is!

We really are blessed!

Our 17 day journey began with an ice storm. Thankfully we pulled over at a hotel before the roads got bad and by morning all of the roads were clear. We safely arrived at Josh's parents where a nice dinner was waiting for us along with hugs and kisses from family....and not much beats the love of family. We spent a wonderful week playing hide and seek, making cookies, playing in the snow, getting hair cuts (and a pedicure for me...thanks Josh!) and singing along with Bekah and her guitar. Josh and I were able to get a few dates together and even one with Bekah. We all spent time trying to fight a cold or flu, I had it the worst..it's was my year and Jess, Sam and Daniel visited when we weren't too sick. Some of the Riggenbach's from Michigan came in for a visit, Josh took the girls sledding in the back yard, the kids to an indoor splash pool and was even able to swim some laps with his dad. We had a lovely Christmas and many memories to keep in our hearts. Thank you to all who made it special!

The day after Christmas we drove to downtown Chicago for our annual Christmas with my aunties! It is always so much fun, food, drink and lots of laughs. We were able to see Aunt Sally and Uncle Andre's new condo on Lake Michigan and all of the pretty ancient artifacts in their house - which I am thankful are still ALL there in the same condition! We were so grateful to see Aunt Jeanene and spend time with her too. Everything was an adventure for the girls from making artichoke dip and whipped cream to taking the trash down the hall to the trash chute. It was wonderful to see Aunt Sally and Aunt Jeanene interact with the children and it brought back wonderful memories of how they made everything special when I was little too. I love and adore my dad's sisters! Josh and Uncle Andre' were engaged in conversations, while Aunt Sally took the girls to the playroom in the building and Aunt Jeanene worked her magic on Eric...which is easier when food is involved! It really was another wonderful day..thank you!

Our journey continued the next day with a lovely visit with the Knox family (friends of Josh's from Advanced Course whose parents live 45 minutes from mine) and then finally for a week with my family. My family is wonderful, numerous and always has lots of get togethers at the holidays and when we come in town...so we were in for a treat. Shaun, Shannon and Gwen stayed at my parents the first night so we could have a Christmas morning together. My dad read Twas the Night Before Christmas to the girls and the next morning before heading downstairs to see the presents Santa brought, I took the traditional picture at the top of the stairs only this year the children were styling in coordinating pajamas thanks to grandma! Even Dawn was over early (before the kids woke) to share the morning with us. We had so much fun during our visit and if I ever want to go to sleep tonight I will have to leave the pictures to tell our story of Christmas parties, New Years Eve Party, Gwen's birthday party, the missing picture of the hot tub, Josh felling a tree in the back yard, and lots of love and good times.

The last leg of our journey, the one that eventually led us home took us to Niles, MI for a quick visit with ALL of the Riggenbachs and a bonus night at Oma and Apa's to see Justin and Katelyn. As you can see Eric was thrilled to see Uncle Justin and Katelyn fit right in reading to the girls. We finally arrived home late Saturday, January 3rd. Josh was back to work Monday and off to California for a month of training early on Wednesday. Now that my uber-get-everyone-caught-up blog is done (for the second time!) I can go back to my quick little blogs like the one where Eric said.......