April fun

04.09.11 Finally!  A warm day.  I was beginning to wonder if we were going to have any of these.  We were able to go for a walk, play in the yard and "pretend" to clean up the flower beds.  I had had a crummy night with Esther and Peter being up most of the night and so I just played it cool and didn't really do much weed pulling.  That can wait for another day.  Dave was out of town all week and is expected home tonight (Saturday).  Boy is he going to be surprised when tomorrow it will be in the 80's.  He has been in L.A. and it has been moderate but not really warm.

04.12.11 My meatball making helpers.  The kids were so excited to help me make meatballs that I let them.  It was kind of messy but they were having fun.  Kirsten and Peter always want to help me in the kitchen except when they are playing. . . , or watching a show . . ., or if the mood isn't right. . .

04.16.11  Our Annual Spring Cleaning the Church Building.  This is one of my most favorite events of the year.  We are able to clean the church top to bottom and have a fun time doing it.  My kids think this is the coolest thing to do.  I like it a lot.  This year I felt like I was doing a bit more directing then cleaning but that is okay.  I have helped clean the chapel for the last couple of years and so I know what to do.  Plus with Esther I couldn't get down and do some of the things I might normally do.  Too bad the weather didn't cooperate we ended up eating in the nicely cleaned cultural hall.  Good thing we didn't vacuum in there yet. 

Esther five months

I have been waiting for a nice day to take Esther's picture for her 5 months.  She has been growing up so fast this month.  She not only can turn over but can do it over and over again.  She kind of scoots her self over to the toys if they are not close enough.  Even as I was trying to take these pictures she flipped over.  Boy does she think she is cool.  She has even started making a lot of noise with her mouth.  She discovered she has a tongue and has showed us many cute faces with it out.  She also has figured out she has toes and tries to get those in her mouth if she can.  Pretty much anything that will let her, goes in her mouth.  Here are a couple of pictures I played around with from this photo shoot. 

She started eating and seems to enjoy it immensely.  She gets her arms and legs moving when you are getting ready to feed her.  She has even started grabbing the spoon or mom's hand and trying to "help" me feed her.

March madness

The View from Dave's office downtown.  He says he can hear the cars honking their horns all day long.  He is not to far from Union Station and the Willis towers (formerly known as the Sears Tower.)  We are going to have to plan a trip into town, I just have to figure out how to get downtown on the train with 3 kids.  Ummm, that sounds crazy.

03.16.11  Our first taste of food.  I think she isn't too sure, but seems to love all the attention.  I find that she spits 95 to 99% out.  Right now it is a novelty but soon it will be a necessity.

OvErWhElMeD!  This is how I have felt for the last couple of weeks.  One day I looked around and thought - UGH!  That cute little girl is making it really difficult for me to get anything done.
I promise I cleaned the craft room but this shows how quickly it can become a mess.  This is just after I dropped everything after our craft group.  Which was a success for everyone except me.  Esther was wonderful for our morning class but for the evening she was fussy and I couldn't get anything done.  My serger was not working but I couldn't get it fixed because Esther was being so fussy.  I finally gave up and realized she needed a diaper change and then after that she fell asleep in Liberty's arms.  Of course it was almost time to go home by then.  I came home with my dresses not finished and just dropped everything in the craft room.  The rest of my house looks much the same.  Hopefully some cleaning fairy will clean up around here soon.

03.24.11
Kirsten's school had an open house and fund raiser for the PTO at her school tonight.  I almost forgot about it but Kirsten didn't.  She wanted to have ice cream and to show me her room.  Her teacher let them choose a lion or a lamb and then they decorated it.  Kirsten chose a lamb.  Then in her "seat" at school was a little girl that resembled Kirsten a bunch.  She had come home after they made this and made one of her own for her and Peter.  She is so smart and very good at working with paper, scissors and glue.

03.25.11  While the crazy kids were playing on the stairs with blankets, pillows and stuffed animals (see below), Esther was showing us her tongue tricks.  She just figured out she has one and can make it do so many things.  It is pretty long and cute.  Of course who couldn't resist such a cutie pie.

03.27.11  Another tooth out.  This one has taken FOREVER to come out.  I was ready to pull it out myself, but alas it finally fell out.  After awhile you get really sick of watching the tooth move back and forth (along with all the germs they are getting in their mouth each time.)

The Pillowcase dresses are done.  I was able to finish them and then today take pictures of them.  Aren't they cute?  Peter felt a bit left out when I was taken pictures of them.  SO -- HERE HE IS.

03.31.11  SPRING BREAK!  We met dad at the zoo train station (with our car) and went to the zoo today.  The weather was nice and we were able to wear our jackets.  Although by the end of the trip I was freezing and I'm sure the kids were too.  Peter loved waiting for the train and for dad to come.  We were a little surprised when it let them off on the other side of the track.  We just had to wait for him to walk over to where we were.  The kids had fun going from place to place and riding in the wagon.  I think Dave's back was hurting by the end because of the awkwardness of pulling the wagon (plus he has a desk job and we walked all over the zoo.)
Many of the animals were out and moving around.  That is the advantage of going when it is nice outside.  Some of the animals were not out because the weather was not warm enough for them.  We had to go inside for those animals.  As we sat and watched the dolphins I mentioned my favorite animal was a dolphin.  Both kids chimed in that they did too, and while I staid behind to feed the baby.  Dad bought them stuffed animal dolphins.  They were playing with them near the big glass window and a couple of dolphins swam right over to see what was going on.  It was pretty neat.  They were right there looking at the kids and the stuffed dolphins.  Of course the camera is never ready in situations like that.  But they did swim by a couple more times so we could get some cool photos with them.

I'm here

I promise I have pictures to post, but it has been a bit crazy around here and I haven't got to it.  So if you come to this blog and think - is she not going to do this anymore.  You are wrong.  I just need to have a couple minutes on the computer when Esther is not wanting my attention.  I usually try and update on Sundays but they have been a bit busy lately.  We will see where I get to this week.  Hopefully I can post in the next couple of days.  I have a couple weeks worth of photos sitting in my cameras and I need to get them sorted and journal them.  See you in a few days I hope.