Sleeping bags

This last week we had a few rainy days, so I decided it would be fun to pull out the kids' sleeping bags and let them play in them. They had a great time! Jake and Drew played for hours under the dining table. I zipped their sleeping bags together to make it a little bit more fun. They wrestled and played, laughed and cried. But all in all it was a perfect rainy day activity. We had a very lazy day. We even stayed in our jammies all morning. --emily

Oldie

My uncle Al has been posting some funny old family pictures to our family face book account. I just had to share this here it is too cute! This is a picture of my Mom, Myself and two brothers Joshua and Jason. Okay mom where are we? In California somewhere? --emily

Snow!

Our weather has been so odd this season.

On Saturday we were all in shorts running around in the yard. We sat on the back porch and watched the kids dig in the dirt. I planted some wonderful new plants in our yard. We were acting like spring had sprung.

Then this morning, Monday, we woke up to snow-capped mountains and this afternoon we even had a little mini blizzard. --emily

Marshmallow Shooters

The other day I was reading on a friend's blog and she had a fun post about marshmallow shooters a friend has made for her boys. I thought to myself, "That looks like lots of fun!" I did a little bit of research with Google and found a pattern I liked. Then the boys and I went to our local hardware store to pick up all the parts we needed: PVC pipe, joints, glue and paint. Jacob picked out the red spray paint. He though it looked cool. I do have to agree.

After dinner, we rode our bikes to the fields behind our house to see how the shooters worked. We all had a great time. There where marshmallows flying all over the place.

Jacob had a great time "shooting" marshmallows. He would drop his shooter every once in a while to just run away from his dad, who couldn't help himself from shooting Jacob up close because it didn't hurt. They had such a fun time.

Andrew on the other hand had more fun eating all the marshmallows that where on the ground.

In this picture Andrew was playing the game Chubby Bunny. He won of course! He was the only one playing.

We did learn a couple of things that we will use to our advantage some day when playing against non-family members. So prepare yourself! Get ready friend this is fun. Friends if you are interested, I will make the "shooters" if you provide the marshmallows. --emily

First time to the dentist

Jacob had his first dentist appointment today. I now realize we should have been to the dentist before today, but you live and learn, right? Jacob did a great job. Whenever Jacob gets nervous he becomes very quiet. The hygienist would ask Jacob questions, but he wouldn't reply to almost all of them.

I took Jacob to the same dentist that Kelly and I see. He is amazing! I had trouble with one of my teeth and he was the only dentist that was really able to fix it. We drive 40 minutes to see him, but it is worth the drive to see a good dentist. So, I trust him with our children's teeth.

Yes, Jacob had two cavities. We didn't always do a great job of brushing his teeth, and we don't have fluoride in our water. We're doing better about brushing now. Hopefully these will be the only cavities he ever gets. Jacob was a real trooper in the dentist's chair. He sat there nicely with his mouth open and didn't complain. We were proud of him. --emily

Goggles and Giggles

Today the boys and I went to a community consignment sale looking for some pants for the boys for next year. All we found where these awesome still-in-their-package swimming and bath goggles. We stood in line for 40 min to buy them. Andrew also picked out a little toy and when we got home it wasn't in the bag. Good thing he is so easy going. He hasn't mentioned it. --emily

The joy of baking!

This last weekend a friend of mine had asked me to make some cupcakes for a dessert auction she was helping to organise. An excuse to make cupcakes, I am in! I Love, Love, Love to make cupcakes. I am not sure why, but I just do. I made a few boxes and wrapped them in very spring-like ribbon. I just had to share this picture.

It just looks so happy to me.

Yes I do birthday parties! But I am not cheap. --emily

Andrew's New Bed!

We've been thinking about transferring Andrew from his crib to a big bed for quite a while now, but since he never jumped out of his crib, we didn't want to rock the boat. If he woke up early in the morning, he'd just stay in his crib and play. That all changed this morning. Andrew appeared in our bedroom at 4 a.m. He had his blanket with him and was ready to cuddle in our bed. We took him back to his room, rocked him back to sleep, and put him in his crib. That didn't last very long, he jumped out and came right back to our room.

We decided we needed two things--a new big-boy bed for Andrew, and a lock for his door :) We have bunk beds in Jacob's room, but we want to keep Andrew in his own room for now. Emily went looking for a new toddler bed, but we didn't want to spend very much money. Emily walked into a second-hand store and asked if they have toddler beds. They didn't, but another customer in the store said that she had one she wanted to sell for $30. It turns out she lives in our neighborhood. So not only did we get a cute new bed for a great price, we made a new friend.

The boys were very helpful with taking the old crib down. Jacob is a wiz with the screw driver. He did most of the work taking out the screws. Andrew loves his new bed. He was so excited to have it. Emily made cute new bedding and a pillow case. She's so talented. She did it all in on afternoon. --Kelly

Andrew is posing for this picture. He looks asleep but he isn't.

Valentine's Day

My goal this year was to be as festive as possible. It was a lot of fun! Our day began with pink heart-shaped pancakes with syrup and sprinkles.

We came home from an afternoon of church and the fun continued. We ate pasta with pink sauce on sparkly heart plates. We had yummy festive cupcakes for desert placed in darling heart shaped bowls.

From our home to yours we wish you a warm and happy Valentine's day filled with much love and kisses! --emily

Who is celebrating today . . .

What a great couple of days I have had. Today I turned 31 and we have had a few fun days celebrating. On Wednesday my YW remembered and celebrated with me. We had cupcakes, brownies, gifts and cards. They are such amazing girls. I Love them so much. At their age I wasn't that thoughtful yet. Thank you girls! Then on Thursday, a couple of girl friends had me over to celebrate and chat 'till it was my actual birthday. It was late in the evening, almost morning by the time I got home. Thanks Thursday night friends. You are crazy! Today Kelly stayed home from work so we could celebrate all day. The boys let me sleep in. That was well needed. I woke up to a warm breakfast followed by cupcakes and gifts. Boy was I spoiled today. We went out for lunch so I didn't have to cook that meal either. The weather outside was awesome! We all jumped onto our bikes and road to our local Mexican restaurant. It was so warm we didn't need sweaters and I even wore flip flops for the first time this year. I am so grateful for my fun boys and their thoughtfulness. Thank you to everyone for making this such a great birthday. --emily