Me and My Boys

Pregnancy

2012-01-25T19:11:00.001-06:00

My pregnancy with Rowan was a breeze. No morning sickness no other annoying symptoms. I had a period of insomnia, but since I didn't have any kids yet I could easily take a nap after work or on the weekends.

With Eli I had some morning sickness, lots of tiredness and of course gestational diabetes. I managed though, I went to bed with Rowan at 8pm every night. I was also basically in a diet for 9 months, which sucked BUT helped me not gain an insane amount of weight!

This pregnancy I had lots of morning sickness, tiredness, and just feeling like basic crap every time I moved off the couch. The beginning basically sucked!

Of course, now I'm feeling mostly normal but I've learned something- each pregnancy gets worse and worse. So if we hadn't already decided this would be the last I think the thought if another pregnancy where I felt even worse than this one would be enough for me to say "I'm done!". How do people have more and more kids? I don't get it....

2012-01-14T15:25:00.001-06:00

It's a BOY!!! :).

We really weren't surprised. Mike has two brothers as well, so the odds were looking good that we'd have 3 boys. 3 boys! Wow! Sounds like a crazy fun life, right? ;)

My babies

2011-12-09T16:05:00.001-06:00

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T12:38:00.001-05:00

We let the boys draw "faces" on their pumpkins And then we attempt to carve them.

Rowan decided his should have 3 faces!

Eli's masterpiece!

Rowan side 1

Side 2

Side 3

Eli's carved pumpkin!

And mikes!

Eli was a rocketship and Rowan was a ghost!

After trick or treating we went to my moms church for games and cookie decorating!

Eli took one bite of his cookie and then walked away. I picked off the skittles (yuck!). And ate them :)

Rowan had no problem eating his!

Then we headed home to check out the goods!

Happy Birthday to Mike!

2011-10-11T19:58:00.001-05:00

Today was Mike's birthday! The boys have been so excited and counting down the days for the last few weeks. Rowan really wanted me to wake up and make donuts (I did a few weekends ago and they were good but took forever!). So, instead I said we could get up early and make coffee cake. I worked last night so was pretty tired this morning but got up anyway. When I went to get Rowan up to help (he had just woke up cause he heard the garbage truck) he said he was going back to bed and I could do it myself!! :). He got up a little while later and did help and we all got to have breakfast together!

I gave the boys each a roll of streamers to decorate before mike got home from work. They mostly just made tracks on the floor with it.

They put some around our Fall table too.

And then threw it all at Mike.

And he threw it all back at them!

Rowan has been working for weeks on presents/cards for Mike. This one is my favorite ;)
He randomly asked me to write "I like" on a post it one day. A few days later he wanted me to write my name on it. I don't think he planned this but it's pretty funny! He's been really into the stapler lately too.

I made pecan pie fir the first time ever! It was good and pretty easy to make!

Movie Night!

2011-09-09T19:40:00.001-05:00

Mike is in a wedding tomorrow out of town. In the morning we'll all head down for it, but tonight he had to go to the rehearsal dinner. The boys and I decided to have a fun evening at home so we made some cookies popped some popcorn and cuddled up to watch some movies!

And yes, that was our dinner! I love Friday nights!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-07T22:44:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we headed up to Michigan to spend sometime at the beach and visit some of Mike's family. We went last year to the same area for a wedding and had such a great time we decided it will be an annual trip for us. Luckily this year the weather was much warmer!

We stopped in Elkhart, IN to check out the RV Museum and hall of fame. Yes, that is a real place. Mike loves trailers and has been wanting to go there so we took a different route up so we could spend a few hours there. It was actually pretty neat, although I could have lived without smelling some of those really old trailers!

Mike was really excited!

After the museum we headed to mikes aunts house a few hours away. We also got to hang out with a few of his cousins, of course I didn't take any pictures of that but it was nice to see them. Most of our time was spent at the beach. We'd head there after breakfast (free at the hotel!) and eat lunch there and snack and leave pretty late.

The boys love the beach! Eli wasn't too into the water but the giant sandbox kept him pretty happy! Rowan loves being on the water and especially the waves!!

Camping Weekend

2011-08-28T19:30:00.001-05:00

Earlier this summer we got a pop-up camper, we finally got a chance to take it camping this weekend. It's nice and I slept much better than if we were in a tent! Plus there is so much room in there!

Mike's brother bought an awning to use for the 4th of July every year and we are keeping it at our house. We took it with us to put over the picnic table and we brought Christmas lights to put in it. The kids (and us) loved having the lights!

Saturday we did several trails

Including one through a little creek where the boys got to play for a while.

Rowan got to practice his balancing skills!

The park has an old homestead area that's really neat

Rowan begged to go up to the top of the observation tower and didn't even get halfway up before he wanted to come down. Mike and Eli made it a little more than halfway up. Me? I stayed on the ground!

Eli was so excited that he did it!

We ended the weekend with a Cub scout event, Rowan is really looking forward to cub scouts. We are all exhausted and ready to be home. Now to just recover before leaving again on Friday to head to Michigan for a few days at the lake! At least we'll be staying in a hotel so it'll be a little less work for us!

Vegas and back

2011-08-22T20:43:00.001-05:00

We had a blast in Vegas. In fact we are still recovering from all the fun! We missed the boys and it's good to be home but wow did we have fun!!

Morning at the park

2011-08-10T11:08:00.001-05:00

I am loving these nice cooler days! The air is off the windows are open and we are living outside again. Today we walked to our small towns park ,its a pretty decent park but for so
E reason we just don't come here too often....

Tomorrow Mike and I are leaving for Vegas! Without the boys! We are beyond excited!

Cooling off.....

2011-08-04T22:28:00.001-05:00

Our heatwave seems to have broken, at least for now. To celebrate we went outside! My kids seem to have forgotten how to play outside so they mostly just whined about going inside....

We did have a nice wall to the post office this morning/- and we weren't covered in sweat after the 5 minute walk! Woohoo!!

We were invited to a friends house to swim today. I thought Eli would be too scared to Get in, boy was I wrong!

Above is Rowan jumping in.

At one point Eli took the ring off ( his suit had floaties and he had the arm things) and pushed off the side kicking away from me :)

We put them to bed early because they were both in some moods! Eli almost always starts out in his bed but we always find him with Rowan when we go to bed.

Sunday!

2011-08-01T09:02:00.001-05:00

Wow, what's this like 3 days blogging in a row? Yeah me!

Mike made the boys these toolboxes with their names on it for Christmas. We planned on letting them paint them as soon as it got warm but we just now got around to it.

Eli lost interest pretty quick but Rowan painted all his.

These sit on their room and hold books or random toys.

Mike helped Rowan spray paint on it a little.

The painting got interrupted when mike found a snake in our shed. No pictures since I would not go near it. Of course the boys wanted to see it but I will never spend time outside again!

Tonight we went to a cookout for Rowan's t-ball team. The boys had fun playing in the pools and other outside toys they had there and Rowan liked seeing all his friends again and playing a little t-ball!

And they came home with pinching balloons!

Summer Nights

2011-07-30T21:17:00.001-05:00

Since it's been so hot lately we don't go outside much during the day. On the weekends we usually grill out a late dinner and eat outside when it's cooler. Tonight we had some after dinner cantaloupe.....

Then the boys discovered this odd thing Mike built to help move his pontoons(don't ask). It's kind of like a teeter- totter except it goes side to side and you stand.

When we finally come in we end the night with the projector and movienight!

The boys almost always pick Looney Tuned! They love this stuff and Rowan laughs like crazy during it!

Of course we hope they'll sleep in since they stay up late but usually not. We won't stop hoping though!

St. Louis

2011-07-29T08:47:00.004-05:00

Last week we went to visit my sister and her boyfriend. They live close to St. Louis so we stay with them (for free! thanks Ab!). We were going to go to the zoo but decied to skip it since it felt like 120 outside! Instead we went to the City Museum. We hadn't been there before and it was great!! We all had a great time- especially the boys (and Mike!).

Oh and I got an iPhone, it takes great pictures and I can blog from it! So I might attempt to do this blog thing more often again....

Testing

2011-07-28T21:48:00.002-05:00

Testing with picture

Rowan diving into my mom's small pool....love this picture!

2011-07-28T15:11:00.001-05:00

Testing.......

Hello Blog!

2010-12-06T13:39:00.007-06:00

Wow! I guess it's been a while... We just had our first big snow of the year (hopefully the last too) so I thought I'd share some pics of the boys. I won't bore you with months of pictures to catch you up on what we've been up to since I last blogged, but basically- Eli turned 2! Rowan turned 5! Rowan started kindergarten! Eli started daycare! I started a new (part-time) job! Mike started a new (kind of) full-time job! That's about it..enjoy the snow.

Rowan LOVES the snow and he claims the cold. I do not, and Eli seems to take after me after about 5 minutes outside he decided he'd rather come inside and.....

dress up like Mickey Mouse!

I'm pretty sure he has never even looked at this sostume before, but he wanted it today!

Of course Rowan wanted to make snow ice cream! Remember last year and the year before? (click the 2nd link and see Eli as a baby!)

Eli wasn't as into it as Rowan....

Rowan's New Bed!

2010-04-29T19:49:00.009-05:00

A few months ago I discovered this awesome website Knock-Off Wood. We were already thinking of getting Rowan a twin bed since he was barely fitting in his toddler bed anymore. Then I found the website and the plans for this bed and decided we should build Rowan a bed! Mike wasn't thrilled with the idea at first, but quickly realized I was right and we needed to build him a bed ;) The bed (and a lot of the furniture) is actually a knock-off from this site, here is his bed, it actually is listed at $900!!!
It was pretty easy to build, but did take FOREVER, mostly because we don't have a garage (I now understand what Mike has been complaining about for the last few years!) I already have several more projects picked out (especially this FarmHouse Table- with benches), but I'm thinking for the next one we'll need to borrow someone's garage....

the piece's built, just needed painted

(it's really comfy..)

Rowan waiting to see his new bed!

(complete w/ super cute bedding from Target!)

(the color on the pics is a bit messed up, this is the actual color of the walls)

Pallet Shelf

2010-04-23T09:45:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago I came across this awesome blog Knock Off Wood. It is basically plans for building your own furniture, mostly Pottery Barn inspired furniture. We have been working on a big project that is almost complete, look for pics soon... But yesterday I decided I needed to build some of these pallet shelves. I love them, and will be making several more for our house this weekend (as soon as Mike brings home more pallets!) And I did it all by myself! Well almost, I needed a little help cause the wood was warped, but if it hadn't been I would have done it all by myself!

Table Makeover

2010-03-20T18:25:00.001-05:00

Want to see what I did to this chair? Check out my craft blog....

The Many Faces of Eli

2010-02-27T08:00:00.001-06:00

Basic Carseat Info You Should Already Know...

2010-02-24T12:40:00.004-06:00

I've neglected the blog for too long, so sorry, I'm sure I've lost my millions of readers....I'll get back back to posting adorable pics of my boys soon enough, but I have to share some of my newly acquired knowledge on car seats! I loved the class and learned so much, I knew most of the basic info, but was surprised at all the other- did you know there are different kinds of seat belts? I didn't... Anyway, this is some very basic info on car seats, stuff that if you have a child in a car seat you should already know! But read it anyway, just to make sure ;)

--Reading the Manuals- It's something most people don't like to do and probably quite a few don't do, but definitely a must before installing a car seat. And not only the car seat manual, you also need to read the vehicle manual. Different vehicles have different specifications for car seats. We actually had a very expensive car come in during our class that actually stated in the manual that the middle backseat (which is typically considered the safest) was not to be used for a car seat! You never know what you are going to learn- so you MUST read the manuals!!

--Rear-Facing- I have a bunch of rear-facing links to share, so I'll try to do a post soon just on rear-facing, but the bottom line here is- rear-facing is the safest way for anyone to travel! Of course the problem with that is that obviously we can't all travel that way. The current minimum recommendation from the AAP is that infants should be rear-facing until they are 1 year and 20lbs. The actual recommendation is to leave them rear-facing as long as possible, which would be until they are too big for the Convertible seat they are using to be used rear-facing. In case you are unsure a convertible seat is one that can be used both rear and forward facing. The reason rear-facing is the safest is because the seat cradles the babies whole body (head and neck included) in the event of a frontal collision (the most common). When a child(or adult) is forward-facing and there is a frontal collision there is nothing to hold the head in place so it has to go forward (think of whiplash, but in a very small body...not good). Since babies and toddlers heads are proportionally large for their body they need that extra support.

--Belt Path- Convertible seats are great because they can hold larger babies rear-facing longer and still be used forward facing once they get to that stage. Something you must pay careful attention too is the belt path (don't forget to read your manual! ;)) There is one for forward facing and one for rear-facing. I've actually seen infant-only seats (that are rear-facing only) in cars being used forward-facing, I don't know how you would even do this, but it is not safe!

--Seat Tightness- Once you have your car seat installed grab it at the base close to the belt path (for the seat belt or LATCH) and try to move it from side to side. If it moves more than 1 inch it is too loose. I have personally seen seats that were strapped in and could be picked up and turned because they were so loose. During our class we watched some videos of crashes and you would not believe how much a properly installed car seat will move in an accident, I can't imagine what would happen with the one I saw that could be moved....

--Harness Slots- These are where the straps go that go over the shoulders in a 5-pt harness.
If the baby is rear-facing these need to be in the slots that are at or below shoulder level. This keeps the baby down and in the seat if there is an accident. If the child is forward-facing the straps should be in the slots that are at or above shoulder level. In a convertible seat usually only certain slots can be used for rear-facing (typically the bottom ones) and certain slots can be used for forward-facing (typically the top ones) you must read the manual to find out which ones to use!

--Chest Clip- The chest is just that a clip that goes on the chest (this the top buckle in case you are unsure). Notice how it is called the "chest" clip, not stomach clip.... This should be buckled and placed (not necessarily in that order) at armpit level on the child. This is where it goes no matter which direction they are facing.

--Strap Tightness- After the child is buckled into the car seat, try to pinch the straps at the shoulder between your thumb and finger, if you can pinch any slack at all- the straps are too loose! I'm sure we've all seen pictures of kids in car seats and the straps are hanging off their shoulder's, right? (although I'm sure no one reading this has actually done that, right...?) What is going to hold that child into the seat if there is an accident? It wouldn't be that hard for a child to slide right out of those straps!

**I think that about covers the "basics." I really don't understand why so many car seats aren't used correctly every time- something like 80% of kids aren't as safe as they should be- all of the stuff above is simple stuff- having the seat in tight, the child in tight and correctly, reading a manual.... this is stuff that can potentially save our children's life so why do so many parents simply not do it right?

**I recommend having your car seat checked by a CPST to be sure if it is being used correctly, locally Safe Kids is the organization that does it, but just check out Google and you can find something close to you.

**I am adding this because of come recent discussions I've had...;) I didn't talk about boosters at all (maybe I will later), boosters are perfectly safe for older children (4 is usually the recommended age, but you know best when your child is ready) and like any other seat as long as they are used correctly they protect the children as much as any other seat. I would think (hope) that there would be a little less user error in a booster seat because you don't actually have to install the seat, just the child in the seat. They obviously provide less protection than being in a 5pt harness, but the forward-facing harness obviously provides less protection than rear-facing...every "step" they move up provides a little less protection, but they will move up so it's not something that can be avoided...unless seat belts begin to be made like they are in race cars...

Any questions?

Safety In The Car

2010-01-14T17:59:00.004-06:00

Next week I am taking the Child Passenger Safety Technichian class. It's something I've wanted to do for quite a while and they finally have a class I can attend- I'm really excited about it! (I might be a little dorky, but whatever...)

Today I came a cross this great post on car seat safety, written by Megan at Our Little Footprints. I think it's a definte must read for everyone with kids in car seats. She covers all the basic important information- did you know kids shouldn't be wearing their big bulky winter coats in car seats? She's also got some great links on her blog to video's on car seat safety (like extended rear facing).

The last paragraph was my favorite part of the post so I just had to repost it (w/ her permission of course):

To be frank, probably too frank, laziness and ignorance are crappy reasons for kids to be
unsafe in the car. There is excellent information on the safest way to secure your child in
the car that can be easily found and acted upon. Opting to ignore that information or be
too lazy to take a few extra steps to protect your child simply boggles the mind and may
cost your child her/his life, spinal cord, brain function or general health.

Did you know that something like 80% of car seats are installed WRONG!!?? How sure are you that your child's is installed right?

I'm sure after I take the (4 day) class you'll hear a lot more from me on this, so get use to it, or stop reading :) and if you need any car seat help after next week feel free to ask me for help- assuming I pass the test and all!

Happy New Year- 2010!

2010-01-06T12:00:00.003-06:00

New Year's Eve we planned a big night of snacks and sparkling juice. I had already planned on making a gingerbread cake (YUM w/ cream cheese frosting) so it worked out well that Rowan decided that day was Kitty's birthday- apparently he turned "almost 2." Kitty wanted a red cake (cause that's his favorite color), but he was ok w/ just red icing since the cake I was making was brown. He was nice enough to pose by the cake, but did not want candles or us to sing to him... I guess he's a little shy.

Rowan decided the next day that he was "just kidding" and it hadn't been kitty's birthday after all! HaHa!!

Eli was very excited to try the sparkling grape juice, he gets this excited about anything we give him in a cup without a lid so he really didn't know what he was getting in to

He did enjoy dipping his pretzels in it- even if he didn't want to drink it.

He was not as in to the hats as Rowan....

(after staring at this photo for quite a while, wondering why Eli looks so awful, I finally realized that this was when he had pink eye, and obviously I got him at the right angle to show it off!)

Rowan was crazy for the sparkling juice and the hats, I think he stayed up until 10:30- the party kind of gets ruined when they interrupt Ryan Seacrest for the news!

Snow!!

2010-01-05T12:01:00.004-06:00

This was Eli's first time to play in the snow- and he really didn't care for it, lucky for him I was willing to sacrifice my outside in the freezing cold snow time to take him in early- it was a tough decision!

Rowan attacks the snowman with his chainsaw- he might have some anger issues....

We made snow ice cream again!

Christmas Day

2010-01-04T15:45:00.012-06:00

Last year Christmas was exhausting, opening presents, eating breakfast, and spending the next 1.5hours in the car. This year we decided we were doing nothing but staying at home, we had a blast. We were lazy, trashed the house with toys, ate way too many cookies.....the best day EVER!! We had stuffed manicotti and breadsticks for supper, and drank good coffee all day long (well not the kids). I think this will be our new tradition for Christmas Day- sorry Mom! :)

ok- this one isn't from Christmas, but I'm sure this is what he would've looked like Christmas morning when he saw his presents- if I had the camera ready...

coolest toy ever- it lights up!

So exciting!

Slippers!!

he actually was excited about the socks!

I think he is using the block as deodorant....

click here for more info on their slings

building towers- Eli has started to build rather than just destroy...Rowan is very happy!

Christmas Eve

2010-01-04T15:39:00.001-06:00

While I was Away...

2009-12-10T18:53:00.003-06:00

I think it's been quite awhile since I've blogged... so sorry...I'm sure you all miss me so much :)
So here's what we've been up to:

-um we celebrated Thanksgiving- have I blogged since then?

-I have lost my camera charger- I have tore the house up looking for it!! I'm going to have to look into buying a new one soon or we'll have no pictures of Christmas!!

-We painted the hideous wood paneling in our office/sewing room and it looks great!! But took a few days, so we've been without a computer (it's been hard, very hard..)- I'll share pics as soon as I have a charged camera again...

-We've started baking cookies!!!

-We decorated for Christmas and Eli has only pulled the tree down once so far!

-We have all (well except for a very few small items) our Christmas presents bought!

-I cut Eli's bangs! It was hard, very hard, but he doesn't look too bad, I don't think it's really that noticeable that it might be a teeny bit crooked, but it was hard! He needed them cut though, they were way too long.

-We got the boys pictures taken- the first time we've ever paid for pictures- and they turned out great! Although I don't think it's something we'll be getting into the habit of, I can't believe how much those places try to rip you off!!

-That's about it obviously exciting stuff going on around here

I have to try!

2009-12-10T15:29:00.002-06:00

MckMama has a very cool giveaway going on right now for a brand new HP TouchSmart Computer!! And even though I never win anything... this one is too good to not at least try for, so head on over and check it out!

Another Apron Giveaway!!

2009-11-25T08:40:00.002-06:00

The Secret Stitch Club is having another apron giveaway. I love this blog, they make the cuteset stuff- check out the Robot onesie, and I've gotten some really cute sewing isead from them too. They are giving away this cute Christmas apron, but have a whole bunch of cute stuff for sale in their etsy shop. They even have some adorable little girl aprons in their shop!

So anyone want to start a sewing club with me and wear and make cute aprons?? :)

Brotherly Love

2009-11-16T16:12:00.007-06:00

This weekend Eli started coughing, he sounded pretty bad Saturday night so Mike took him in to Convient Care Sunday morning. Of course it was my weekend to work so he had to go with boys, we expected a long wait (it is "flu season") so Mike was prepared to bribe Rowan with whatever to keep him good (half kidding...)! The doctor thought he had pneumonia and wanted to do a chest x-ray, so of course they ended up being there for at least 2 hours. Eli does have pneumonia and is now on antibiotics (he really always acted fine though just his cough mixed with his other breathing "issues"). But the strange part- Rowan was good, like really good the whole time!! And when they did the chest x-ray, wich involved Eli being sort of being strapped into this thing (I wasn't there) Eli was not happy and crying, and Rowan (according to Mike) started to get up and go to him, and told the person "not to hurt my brother!" Now that made me want to cry! Of course I also wanted to cry because I wasn't there with him, and didn't hear anything for a longtime, and couldn't get mind off of him while at work..... but it's alright he's fine...

(these pictures are from several weeks ago, when we were still out enjoying the nice weather!)

Happy Halloween!!

2009-10-31T20:59:00.014-05:00

First you have to find the perfect pumpkin...

Then draw out your perfect design....

Scoop out the slimy insides....

Then watch while Mommy and Daddy do the carving....

Light and put outside....

Rowan's pumpkin(on the right) has many eyes, ears, teeth, oh and a USA butt (see picture above) he came up with that all on his own!

Then dress up and go get lots of candy...

Bird-Watching and Book Reading

2009-10-26T21:16:00.012-05:00

"A bird!"

Signing "thank you" to Rowan for reading him books

Trick or Treat Bags

2009-10-09T12:03:00.003-05:00

Last year I wanted to make Rowan a bag for trick or treating, and never got around to it (of course). So after Halloween I bought some fabric on clearance to make some bags for both boys for this year. I finally got around to doing it this week, I thought they looked a little big, but after seeing the sizes of some of the bags they had at Target, I think they are just fine! Rowan is requesting the one with the orange, hopefully we can fill them up!!

UH-OH

2009-10-07T08:31:00.002-05:00

Fall Days

2009-10-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

We are enjoying this weather, and hoping it lasts for weeks and weeks! The boys always love to be outside, but something about this weather makes me want to never come in. It must be thought that winter is not far off and then we will spend way too much time shut in doors!! Last week we headed to Clinton for the Apple & Pork Festival every year my aunt has a family weiner roast, usually during this festival so everyone can go there first. We love it, there is great food- real food, not just fair food, if you are local you should defienetly think about checking it out next year. They even had green ice cream cones, Rowan's favorite color!!! Rowan wanted his picture taken in front of this green tractor, but other than that, lately he has been boycotting the camera, so most of the pictures I get are when he's not looking or expecting it.

One A Day

2009-09-30T15:13:00.005-05:00

After: Boys room curtains, it's a pretty bad picture, but you get thepoint- before it was a blanket hyanging up tp block the sunlight.

The floor Before: Now I would like to say that we did not cover the floor before painting the fridge, because we planned on replacing it soon, so this is a pic after the fridge was painted. So the black stuff all over the floor is paint, not dirt :)

After: but before fridge was put back, you can see Eli is already throwing stuff on it

Wordless Wednesday: Brothers

2009-09-30T08:00:00.001-05:00

Taste of Summer

2009-09-24T06:41:00.000-05:00

Summer is ending, which means soon the tomatoes will be gone. Poor Eli I don't know what he'll do when he runs to the garden to pick a nice fresh juicy tomato and finds nothing but straw!

Wordless Wednesday: Carrots

2009-09-23T06:34:00.000-05:00

One A Day: Day 3 and 4

2009-09-22T13:41:00.004-05:00

Day 3- Paint the fridge
Day 4- Rest from being up late painting the fridge!

Mike did more work with this than me, but I was up late, way later than usual so I'll still rest!
The fridge before was very old, yellowish, and had rust spots (which are usually covered by magnets), last year we got a new black stove and dishwasher and have been wanting to paint the fridge to match. We did it last night after the kids went to bed. We covered everything w/ paper and plastic since it is spray paint. Mike had to make something out of styrofoam to put over the fridge, since we had to have the doors open all night and we wanted to be able to leave the food in (rather than use a bunch of coolers), so he covered both sides and the seal worked great- the doors were open all night and no cold air leaked out so the food was fine!

It looks like a black fridge! We are replacing the floor anyway, so didn't cover it much.

The Beach

2009-09-22T06:35:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago (or months) we went camping and spent the day at the beach. Rowan had never been to the beach before and he was in love!

Eli looks like he's just chillin in the sand- but he had no fear at all in the water!

We spent ALL day at the beach, Eli was obviously tired, but I was still surprised when I put him in the stroller and he went to sleep!! He's not even strapped in- which should tell you how tired he was, otherwise he would have been climbing back out.

Rowan could have spent all day sitting in the waves, hopefully soon he can go to the ocean!

We ended up meeting up with my cousin and his 2 kids at the beach, they came back to our campsite and cooked out with us and later my aunt and uncle came out for some smores!

Rowan is just about 3 weeks younger than Ethan, this was the best picture I could get. Of course everytime I tried one of them would move!

Mike got Rowan a light to put on his head, he wore it in the tent when we were getting ready for bed and to read- him and Eli both thought it was pretty neat. I found it annoying since he would shine it right in my face every few minutes...

Waking up happy in the tent!

The boys had a lot of fun playing in the gravel of our parking spot, Rowan would make roads and scoop it with who else, but Scoop! Eli would shovel it into the bucket, I couldn't believe how entertained they were with rocks!

One A Day

2009-09-21T15:58:00.006-05:00

We are getting ready to sell our house, we have a giant list of stuff to do to the house- mostly small, but I'm going to try and get one thing marked off everyday. Somedays we'll do more, some less, some will have pictures!!

Day One- Rearrange living room furniture- it does make the room look bigger, but it makes
it way less baby proofed! Oh well, he'll learn not chew the cords eventually- right?
Day Two- Made curtains for the boys room. Will post pics once I get a new curtain rod and can
asctually put them up! (Did I mention they share a room now?)

Baby Cone for the Baby

2009-09-18T15:09:00.004-05:00

Eli had is first very own ice cream cone the other day! He doesn't seem too impressed by it.

Family Picture

2009-09-11T13:06:00.003-05:00

Last week Rowan came home from school with a note requesting a family picture for their upcoming family unit. I looked and looked and looked, but could not find a picture of the four of us. I finally did find this picture (above), but it is so old(Eli was 5months) I figured we would take a new one to send. So we set up the tripod outside to take a quick (HA) family picture.

I think it turned out pretty well- don't you? Ah The memories!!

Eli is crying, because he had to be pried out of the little car he ran to as soon as we went outside. And Rowan? Well apparently he "really needed to get something!" Oh that something was a clump of grass he "needed to pick!"

Garden Update

2009-09-03T08:30:00.000-05:00

Oh the garden! I had so many plans this year, while I really don't do much with the garden (hey somebody has to watch the baby!) I had planned to document the progress of the garden. I figured we would do pictures every 1-2 weeks to document how the plants were doing, takes pics when we started harvesting things, I would keep track of dates when things were ready... I would make a chart or something so we would know where everything was planted.... I had so many plans, and I'm pretty sure that other than Rowan's Garden this is my first garden post of the summer- and it's now September.. oh well there's always next year!

We have 2 peach trees that have popped up through our compost pile, they look great- gotta love compost! They can't be more than 2 years old.

This is a lemon cucumber- it's alright, we had regular ones too but no pics since they are all gone now, these ones are growing like crazy!

Fennel- Mike insists, it smells like black licorice so I won't touch it!

Amayrnth (sp?) I believe it's a grain, Mike wanted to try growing it, I don't really know anything about it at all- but it is pretty!

Okra- apparently you're suppose to pick them when they are about 1-2in. long- oops. First year for this too.

Broccoli- we have had tons!! I need to find out if we can freeze it cause it just keeps growing!

Tomatoes- yeah they've sucked, but we did have some really good yellow ones. I decided I'll will keep the gorgoues weather we've had this summer and buy my tomatoes.

This is our only pumpkin- at least that I've seen) this pic is about 1-2 weeks old and it is now almost orange, it's pretty big too.

The wall of green beans- we've had tons of these too and have already frozen quite a bit.

Rowan's garden has done great, he even had some cantaloupe!

Another cantaloupe

We have 1 cabbage.

We also have a lot of carrots and brussel sprouts. I'm thinking maybe next year I'll learn to can somethings- maybe....

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-02T08:30:00.000-05:00

Rowan Starts School

2009-09-01T13:35:00.005-05:00

Rowan had his first day of preschool last week. The school is in our town and only 2.5hrs a day M-F, so far he is doing great. He gets to ride the bus and really didn't like it at first, but is doing better this week. He's still adjusting, but seems to be doing well- hopefully!!

Random Cuteness

2009-08-13T21:11:00.010-05:00

I've been very bad about keeping up on this blog, and even worse about actually taking pictures of my kids lately, but have managed o take a few over the last few weeks- and finally put them on the computer.... In case you don't already know- Mike got a job, and it's pretty much in his field, he's working part time at the University and in the department he just graduated from!! There is a chance it'll go fulltime, but for now us both working part-time works and his hours are "normal" work hours unlike when he was in school and worked late most nights- now we can have dinner together! Yippee... Anyway, here's some random somewhat recent pics of the boys.

Rowan drew a self-portrait the other day- his first time actually drawing a picture of a person (and it kind of looks like a person..). I was very excited about it! The 2nd one he drew he actually added some crazy afro looking hair to his head....forgot to get a pic of that one!

I'm thinking the self-portrait might have been based on this picture.. :)

Crazy Eli

Sweet Eli (or just got done crying Eli, or possibly pooping Eli... can't really remember)

Everybody loves a baby in a bowl- right?

"CHEESE!" I've been trying to get a pic of his cheesey smile for weeks, Mike took this one, but it's as good as some of his smiles.

Rowan insisted I take a picture of his belly button the other day, I'm sure he also meant for me to post it on the internet for everyone in the world to see. He would probably also want everyone to know (or at least will by the time he's a teenager) that he and Eli were around the living room like crazy- N-A-K-E-D- there are much better pictures I should be posting. Maybe after I learn how to make a black bar on them!

2009-08-06T19:58:00.001-05:00

Fire

2009-08-05T12:27:00.007-05:00

One of our favorite things about where we live is being able to have bonfires! To give you an idea of the size of the fire- we usually burn pallets- whole. The other night after Eli went to bed we headed out to enjoy the fire, Eli must have known we were having fun cause he woke up right away so he got to come out too, although was pretty sleepy- probably a good thing since he didn't want to walk and check out the fire.

The sky looked goreous that night, this is the garden lit up by the fire- on the right

The Sweet Taste of Summer

2009-07-28T21:16:00.013-05:00

MMmmm tomatoes, fresh from the garden, we all love to eat them plain. Even Rowan, who lately won't touch anything that is actually healthy. Last week Eli got introduced to a fresh tomato and he is in love...

Actually obsessed might be a better word, maybe even addicted....

Eli now knows where the tomato plants are in the garden, and runs to them when we are not looking.... unfortunately he has not yet learned how to tell if a tomato is ripe

so he has picked many green tomatoes

of course the green ones aren't as tasty (or even as easy to eat) as the delicious red ones that give Eli such joy! He is truly in love when eating a tomato, but sometimes (ok all the time) Eli falls down, and when he falls down with a half eaten tomato in his hand, it's not very pretty, especially when he uses the hand holding the tomato to push himself back up, especially when he does this in a pile of fresh cut grass clippings, or a pile of tiny rocks....

then we are forsed to pry the half eaten tomato covered in grass and rocks out of his tiny hands...

and that makes for a very upset Eli......

hopefully he won't be forever scarred and grow up hating tomatoes.

Rowan Turns 4!!!!

2009-07-28T14:18:00.006-05:00

Since it has been weeks since Rowan's birthday and I have become so bad at this whole blogging thing that I didn't even come up with a cute post about my baby turning 4!!! I decided to give you something even better. Below you will find Rowan's own words summing up his birthday party- and a few, very few thanks to lack of decent internet, pictures of his big day. I would also like to mention that my cousins and there 2 boys came and Rowan got a few more gifts, but obviously only remembers the important ones... If you've never seen Rowan as a baby, and are curious to see if he was always this cute.....click here for a few pics.

In Rowan's words:

It was pretty fun. I want to have another birthday party. Eli's crying, probably cause I flushed the toilet. I want to have 3 birthday parties! I had one! Grandma J and Grandma C came to my birthday party. I want to have 5 birthday parties. I got a ball and a bat and bubbles GREEN BOOTS!!!! Thank you for the cake mommy.

If you see us in real life you will most likely be seeing Rowan in these boots, he wears them most of the time, and since most of the time he gets to pic out his own clothes they look pretty interesting!

The Party!

2009-07-15T20:39:00.022-05:00

slowly getting caught up..... His party was the 28th!

Rowan was kind enough to "help" Eli open presents

Sometimes he actually did let Eli help

New fire truck

Sometimes Rowan lets Eli play with it

Eli trying out his new boots

(action shot)

The cake- kind of looks like fireworks, not really what I was going for, but then again I'm not really sure what I was going for either...

and in case you're wondering it was a banana cake, w/0 sugar

Yeah it tasted like it sounds.... but he didn't seem to mind

He also got frozen yogurt- homemade of course

We decided to invest in a pool for Eli's birthday- it's nice!

Jealous aren't you?

Eli wasn't to into the pool, but still loves the car (that we bought at a garge sale for $2 2 years ago!)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-15T09:12:00.002-05:00

To Do List

2009-07-14T14:46:00.002-05:00

-Blog about Eli's birthday party
-Put away laundry
-Blog about Rowan's birthday (He's 4 now!!)
-Put away laundry
-Blog about the 4th and share very cute/funny pics of Eli
-Blog about Rowan's new lovely attitude
-Put all pictures from above items on the computer so I CAN do these
-Put away laundry

We've been really busy, or we haven't but I feel like we have been- did I mention I started a job? I'm still adjusting, and even though it's just part-time, it is quite an adjustment! Keep checking back eventually I'll find time to put up new pics- and hopefully it'll be on a day my internet decides to work!

Once Again...

2009-07-01T19:00:00.003-05:00

.... I'm trying to win something. The Secret Stitch Club is having another apron giveaway- 2 actually! They also have a yummy looking recipe for key lime filled cupcakes! So go check it out and enter.

Walk!

2009-06-27T17:52:00.008-05:00

Saturday (Eli's 1st birthday) was the local Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer walk. We try to always do this as a family, but last year I was VERY, VERY pregnant so we skipped it. This year my cousin Carey joined me, the boys, my sister, my aunt, and my mom. My Grandma had breast cancer and this walk was something she always looked forward to, so we try to keep it up for her. She passed away when Rowan was a baby. There are always so many people at these walks, and the survivor lap is always really emotional, I really want the boys to be involved in stuff like this and tried to explain why we were doing this to Rowan. Of course, without going into too much detail- cause I'm just not ready for all that! They both did great and had fun, and they got to play at the park a little bit after we were done.Since they don't sell kids shirts 9and I wouldn't buy one if they did...) I bought some shirts and let Rowan paint them for the walk. He wanted their names' on them so I helped with that and I put a pink ribbon on the front. The back I wanted to dedicate to my Grandma, he got to paint the rest himself. he will be taking orders- in case anyone really likes wearing t-shirts with big globs of plastic paint on them- let me know! ;)

After the race we went to Perkins for a late breakfast, my other aunt brought my cousin's baby and met us there. Rowan begged to hold the baby, seriously he really wanted to hold him. He was so excited, he seems to have lost that excitement for Eli....

One Year Ago Today ....(Warning VERY Picture Heavy)

2009-06-27T14:34:00.002-05:00

Eli was born!! You would think, since he is my 2nd child, I shouldn't really be surprised how quickly this year has gone, but of course I am. I've heard people say that they wondered if they would be able to love their second child as much as their first. It wasn't something I was worried about, but I think I even surprised myslef with how much I love him. He is an amazing little boy! He's been so happy ever since he was born, so active and alert! I still love thinking about his birth and how great it was. Everytime he smiles his big cheesey smile at me I want to have a million more babies- just like him! (Don't worry Rowan quickly reminds me of why this would be a bad idea!) So enjoy looking at my baby boys first year of life- I think I've added just about every picture we;ve taken of him! Ok not really there are tons more, but I really couldn't just pic a couple he has changed so much! ENJOY 1 YEAR OF ELI!!

A Day at the Zoo

2009-06-24T22:24:00.016-05:00

Last weekend my mom and I took the boys down to visit my sister, since she lives close to St. Louis we decided to go to the zoo- the FREE zoo!! The boys had a great time, even though it was like a million degrees outside. Rowan got soaking wet in a waterfall pretty early and he actually felt pretty cool most of the day just from being wet. I'll try not to bore you with pictures of the animals, cause really I'm sure you all know what an elephant looks like right?

My mom, my sister, and my kids

Abby and Rowan

Rowan in a tunnel

Eli underwater- kind of

Eli naps!!

Eli LOVED the primate house he was going crazy pointing and screaming, I think I got a video I'll have to post later.

Eli made a friend- and guess what his name was?? You're right it was Eli!! Actually Elijah, but they call him Eli.

Notice how the giraffe is looking at the camera!

How Old is This Kid?

2009-06-15T22:31:00.009-05:00

Oh Eli, my sweet, smiley, super cute almost one year old is going to make me crazy. Recently Freak passed down some outside play stuff to us (Thanks Freak!!), a swingset and a climbing cube with a slide. At first Eli would try to climb up the slide, of course he is only 11.5months so he barely moved up and then slid back down. He thought it was hilarious and I was able to sit back and enjoy watching him safely play (from the comfort of my swing). So last night we're watching him again and all the sudden he just keeps going at first he gets like half way up, but it didn't take him long to figure out how to get to the very top. Of course once you're up there and go in the cube it is a ledge, that he could fall off of- so no more relaxing for me outside! After the slide fun he decided to climb the kiddie picnic table....stay tuned I'm sure there will be more!

See the diaper falling off? I was actually trying pins so he could go w/o a cover- the pins SUCKED, I obviously couldn't do it right. Thank goodness for Snappi!

All the way up, the next time Rowan wasn't sitting there.

going down

Pictures

2009-06-09T21:57:00.008-05:00

I don't really have much of an update so just thought I'd post some random pics from the past few days. I feel like we have been so busy, but at the same time like we don't really do anything- still job searching...
I can't believe Eli is almost 1! He's developing his personality more and more everyday! I didn't say that was a good thing though ;) He seems to be trading in his 2 crappy naps a day- but, is (so far) replacing them with one decent nap!!!!!!! We've had a few 2-3 hour nap days! Very Big news for my formerly non napper, and a change I will defeinetly take! Rowan drives me absolutly CRAZY at least a few times a day, but he usually knows the right time to crawl on my lap and say "I Love You," so I can usually forgive him.

He walks!!

He sleeps!!

He hugs trees!!

SCORE!!!!

2009-06-04T21:52:00.007-05:00

We are finally getting food from the garden (ok it is early June, but I have been really wanting something fresh). Unfortunately someone else- possibly the birds..- are also excited about our strawberries, so we are now picking them when they are half ripe, hoping they will ripen up and we can enjoy them. They actually taste really good like this so we shouldn't really have to wait to eat them.
We are also getting sugar snap peas! We love these so much they never make it inside or to an actual meal, we usually just pick them and eat right off the vine. We are really hoping to not waste any of our garden food this year. It gets hard, we get busy, its hot, and we just don't pick stuff for a few days and then go out to find a bunch of rotten tomatoes, but hopefully not this year. We will either eat it, freeze it, or give it away.

Earlier tonight I went to some garage sales with my mom and got somne great deals. I made myself a little goal this year to try and not buy the boys any new clothes this year, so I'm trying to get stuff for now and winter at garage sales (In case you're interested I do not think I have bought any new clothes for them so far this year..).

One of the sales we went to looked my boys' closets- there was a lot of clothes that we owned in different sizes or colors!

I spent $24 total and got:

Rowan- 2 shirts

- 1 pair Spiderman croc like shoes

Eli -5 shirts(including 1 super cute sweater)

-1 pair of jeans

-2 pairs of shorts

-1 set of pj's

Me-(I hardly ever shop for myself) **all for only $4!!!

-2 sweaters

-3 shirts

-1 pair of jeans

-1 pair of pants

Mike- ( I NEVER buy Mike anything)

- 1 shirt (ok so that's still not much...)

I am so excited, I tend to be pretty picky at garage sales, because I think the stuff really should be DIRT cheap, I mean it is used! A lot of the boys clothes I got are Gap, Old navy, and Children's Place- which I don't really care about, but that shows me how much they actually cost.

Oh and the big thing we got- Rowan's 1st bike!! We were planning on getting one for his birthday, and we'd tried one out at the store. I thought it would be great if we could actually find one at a sale, but didn't really think it would happen. One of the first ones we went to had this bike for $10- it's in great condition. The only problem is that it's a Winnie the Pooh bike (I hate Winnie the Pooh), but its Tigger and I can live with Tigger. There is not a picture of Pooh, and I think only one of Tigger (it just says Tigger), but it is orange and that is Rowan's 2nd favorite color so I think we did pretty good! And we found a helmet for 25cents at the next sale we went to. And in case you're wondering the $24 I spent was including the bike- pretty good!!

Of course the last sale we stopped at had a bike the same size for $6- damn!! Oh well I figure a new bike and helmet probably would have cost $45-55 at least so I think we did pretty well.

Look-A-Likes?

2009-05-30T21:12:00.002-05:00

11 Months

2009-05-28T11:32:00.011-05:00

One more month! WoW!! Big month for Eli- he traveled out of state and he's talking!!! Ok so he only says "go" and "cracker.," but it still counts and he is absolutely adorable when he says cracker! He is still walking a lot, but usually falls down after about 10 steps, he gets very excited about it though. He still has quite a temper and already seems to love fighting with his brother- yeah can't wait till they are older.

He has rediscovered his bouncy seat- you know the ones for infants. He loves to sit in it and stand on it and bounce and dance (another favorite of his), he thinks he's pretty funny, especially when he lays down and pretends to go to sleep in it. He's also learning how to undo the velcro on his diaper covers! Such a smartie!! So I am trying to remember to keep shorts or pants on over them at all times. He loves being outside and getting dirty, and eating sand and I'm sure every other gross dirty thing he can find do to. Oh yeah he tried to eat cat poop- yeah it's ok if that made you gag- I did when I was told about it, of course I wasn't here- that wouldn't happen on my watch....

The Never Ending Weekend

2009-05-26T15:14:00.021-05:00

Friday morning we got up and headed to Murfreesboro, TN for my cousin's wedding. It was a 6 hour drive (minus the many stops the children required!). Like always Eli wasn't to into napping in the car (shocked aren't you?) and he probably only slept 2.5hrs. total in the car (that's both his naps). I find the car to be exhausting and don't know how he can keep his eyes open so much.

The wedding was at 7pm so we had sometime to sit in the hotel and get dinner before getting dressed to go. Of course I didn't get any pictures at the wedding, but Eli had a super cute outfit. The wedding was beautiful! I am really not that into weddings (or maybe I'm just not into the extreme cost that goes into weddings- I just don't get it), but I really like this one, they did things just a little different (like the guys walking into the drums playing..) that made me really like it. SInce it was in the evening instead of having a meal they had a DESSERT RECEPTION- seriously genius!! Rowan really like that part, and it totally made up for the fact that there was no alcohol (I know, but it really was still nice). The boys did surprsingly well during the ceremony, Eli even clapped after they had a group of little girls sing (adorable). I probably should have put the oictures in more than one post, but you'll live.

Are you wondering about this picture? We bought disposable diapers for the trip and I couldn't believe how skinny Eli looked in them. I guess I forgot how bulky the cloth really are!

Eli was super tired at the reception (which was after his bedtime!), but he still managed to help me make my new ring sling look cute!

My cousins were in the wedding and helped clean up afterwards so we brough Rowan's cousin (2nd or 3rd cousin? I don't know..) back to the hotel with us. Rowan was so excited and just kept wanting to hug C- who was not as excited as Rowan, but did put on a happy face for the camera.

Eli loved checking out the hotel!

And he especially loved the fact that there was no crib, which apparently meant he didn't have to go to bed. He finally gave in at 11:30pm(almost 4 hrs. after his normal bedtime) and was up at 6:30am the next day. What is wrong with this child?! Seriously!?

So Saturday morning we got up and drove to Kentucky to a park just south of Evansville, IN. It was about a 3 hour drive (we wanted something half was home). After we got our tent set up we went for a hike.

Eli slept in the Ergo carrier, on my front since it was a short hike.

I thought it was cute when he folded his arms under his head.

The boys loved that there was so much dirt to play in. Luckily Rowan took a bunch of diggers so he was able to get extra dirty! It was really fun when it rained!

Eli liked the dirt too.

We bought a new tent since our old one was getting tight with Rowan, this one is great and has tons of room.

Eli chillin' in Rowan's chair with Rowan's water bottle. He tumbled out of the chair right after I took this. Reminder- never leave babies unattended in chairs without straps- or something like that.

Reminder- The 3 year olds water bottle is NOT spill proof.

Eli's new favorite toy is this Barney handheld vacuum. He loves to clean with it.

What happens when you forget your backpack.

Sunday we went on a 3.5mile hike. It took us about 2 hours at Rowan's pace- ok so I was probably slower than Rowan. But there were a lot of hills and a lot of steep hills. Rowan walked most of it and just had Mike carry him a little. Eli rode on my back in the Ergo, he napped for a while at first and then enjoyed looking up at the trees. It rained the whole time, but we were in the forest so didn't feel most of it and when we did it felt really good.

We came around a corner and this deer was standing right there eating, just a few feet away. It looked at us and then kept eating, but didn't run. I was a little scared, ok terrified. Usually they run, I was convinced it was going to come after us.

Saturday night both boys seemed to be getting colds, but they both seemed fine the rest of the weekend. We were worried about Eli, since he is suppose to get breathing treatments as soon as his cold starts. Of course I didn't take the machine, although I thought about it. So we started it last night when we got home hoepfully he doesn't get too bad. I started feeling awful yesterday morning and felt like crap the whole ride home, then spent the rest of the day on the couch. I feel better today so I'm pretty sure I'll survive this cold. Eli is sleeping better already, he stayed up way to late every night we were gone, and hardly napped. SUnday we were all exhausted and all decided to take a nap in the tent. Mike and Rowan fell alseep right away, I nursed Eli hoping he'd fall alseep, but no. I kept dozing and he just kept crawling all over us like we were playing a game. Eventually Mike woke up and took him and Rowan and I napped. H efell alseep later in the stroller for 30minutes- maybe. I just don't get him at all!

Saying Goodbye

2009-05-21T10:18:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was Rowan's last day at daycare. We've been sending him 2 days a week since Eli was born for us both to have break. He went to a wonderful in home daycare run by Buffy. We all have loved it, she has been great and he loves going there. I know he's going to really miss her and the other kids, and maybe someday he'll look at these pictures and wish he would have actually looked at and smiled at the camera! I'm sure in a few days we both will really be missing Buffy!!

Rowan and Buffy (and know that's not her real name)

Eli loves all the kids and different toys

Had to say goodbye to Barney- and still not look at the camera!

In other news we are heading to Tennessee Friday for my cousins wedding. Saturday we will head back north a bit and spend 2 days camping in Kentucky. We are really excited to go do something, even if it means a 6+hour car ride with two kids- wish us luck!

Rowan's Garden

2009-05-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

Mike gave Rowan a small square of the garden this year so he could have his very own little garden. He planted celery, peas, carrots, broccoli, a sunflower (for the peas to climb up), and awatermelon- his first lesson after stuff starts growing will be on thinning out the plants- and why you don't plant so much so close together!

Wordless Wednesday: He's Got Style

2009-05-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

2009-05-11T18:39:00.001-05:00

Poor Quality Video- With Adorable Baby Laughing

2009-05-11T18:25:00.003-05:00

Weekend Wrap-Up

2009-05-11T15:10:00.005-05:00

We spent a lot of time outside this weekend enjoy the gorgeous weather. Eli gets so excited when we just walk outside it's tough to keep him inside, but much easier for me..

Eli is taking 3-4 steps at a time- by himself!! Of course it usually ends with Rowan running over ( and accidently knocking Eli over) to show us he too can take 3 steps!

Mike and I went out ALONE Saturday. We had an early dinner at Radio Maria's and ate some delicious Tappa's (which seem to be smaller portions of appetizers that cost the same or more) but they were excellent so that's alright. This was only the second time we have been out -alone- since Eli was born.

We had a great Mother's Day, that included a last minute picnic with my mom, aunt, and my cousins kids- so Rowan had a blast too!

Friday our washer broke a belt. The load that was being washed had to be removed- soaking wet- so we could get the water out, which meant we had dripping wet, dirty clothes (that started to smell after being left in the bucket overnight) all over the picnic table and deck. Of course the one place that sells replacement belts around here closes at 2pm on Saturday (which we found out when we called at 1:40!) and are closed Sunday. So we have not been able to do any laundry since Friday, we almost had to buy disposable diapers (I know- -gasp..-) but my mom saved us and took a load home to wash! Thanks again Mom!!

Of course as a direct result of the washer breaking (I'm pretty sure these things wouldn't have happened if the washer worked fine

-Eli had some completely random puking incidences 9most likely from choking and gagging on foods) which resulted in more dirty laundry from his clothes, towels, and Mike's clothes- since he was puked on (am I wrong for being amused by that?). He also puked on our sheets, and my favorite bedspread.

- Eli has also had a couple of the largest most explosive poops this weekend, resulting in poopy clothes and towels (from extra baths). Don't worry I did rinse the gross stuff.

- Both boys have gotten absolutely filthy everytime they go outside, resulting in lots of dirty towels and washrags.

-I ripped a hole in my crappy-weararoundthehouse jeans, granted they already had a hole, but now they aren't wearable at all. I am pretty sure almost every towel, washrag, and piece of clothing we own is dirty, thankfully Mike got the belt and as soon as he gets home we can do laundry again!

The Boys

2009-05-05T20:25:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted many pictures lately, but I have been taking them- lots. We are enjoying the weather- hours at the park, lazy days, and the sandbox. We spend WAY too much time there, well that's my opinion the boys are crazy about it. Eli never loses interest in tasting sandy toys, but makes a face each and every time- will he ever learn?

Rainy Day Fun

2009-04-30T20:46:00.005-05:00

Have you ever seen these things- they're called Emergency Blankets. In case you get stranded somewhere you pull out this tiny little pouch and unfold this large "blanket" that pretty much looks like a giant piece of tin foil, and it keeps you warm . Mike found this one this morning while looking for something else so he gave it to Rowan to play with. I don't think I have ever seen one thing keep him so entertained. he ran around with it, rolled around with it, threw it in the air, even Eli thought it was fun! It does sound somewhat annoying, but I'll put up with that for the hours of uninterrupted peace I got (well some of it was still interrupted, but still). So, if you don't have one go get your kids an Emergency blanket, you can find them in the camping section at Walmart.

Since the boys were entertained, I had time to make these supercute pants for Eli. I bought this fabric months ago (it has elephants on it in case you can't tell) from the remnants bin and had no idea what to do with it, so when I came across a baby pants tutorial I thought it would be perfect! They are flannel, so they'll be great for jammies, Rowan's already requested some of his own- luckily he wants shorts, cause I don't have enough for pants for him.

Reality Check

2009-04-30T09:03:00.002-05:00

After spending close to 1/3 of his life in college, Mike graduates in about 2 weeks. TWO WEEKS, do you know what that means? After 2 weeks, we are an unemployed family of four. I'm sort of starting to freak out just a tad, something I usually don't do. I know everything will be ok somehow, but we will not have any income coming in in TWO WEEKS!!! We knew this day was coming, but I feel like it really just snuck up on me- I know that's my own fault, but still. So we are both applying wherever we can, but honestly I don't want to go back to work right now- I don't want to leave Eli, I don't want to wake up early, get dressed, pack a lunch and leave my boys for the whole day. It's just not what I want to do right now. But I am realistic, so I am also applying for jobs, mostly part-time.

So for now we just wait and see what happens, but in the mean time, if anyone hears of an awesome job that pays decent and would let me bring my kids- let me know- OK. Thanks!

Sewing, Sewing, and more Sewing

2009-04-28T20:39:00.003-05:00

Want to see some more of my latest projects? Check out my craft blog.

10 Months

2009-04-28T11:03:00.006-05:00

Wow, didn't I just do his 9 month? This month Eli got another cold, he spent a week on breathing treatments (after talking to the doctor) and wasn't getting better so we had to go in. He was put on a steroid (for the breathing treatment) and got better in a few days. his doctor thinks he will probably have some of the allergy/asthma type issues I had as a child, so that pretty much sucks! As for now, we will probably start breathing treatments EVERY time he gets a cold to avoid any other issues.

In other news, he's been great. He LOVES to feed himself, and I have loosened up a lot with letting him try new foods (although no junk or french fries..). Some meals he'll let us feed him, but other times he throws a fit if he's being fed, so meal time is getting quite messy (and I'm hating the idiots who put carpet in my dining room!!).

Still just has the 2 teeth

He can stand alone- quite a bit actually, and has taken 1 step!

First Harvest

2009-04-26T20:09:00.004-05:00

MMmmm Asparagus, one of my favorites! And who knew it actually tastes pretty good raw too!

Attention Locals: Updated

2009-04-22T08:32:00.000-05:00

Updating to add the website, in case anyone's interested. Check it out here.
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Do you live in the Champaign-Urbana area? Are you looking for something to do this coming Friday night? How about checking out the School of Art + Design Master of Fine Arts Exhibition.

Sounds exciting doesn't it? Why do I care? In case you didn't know, my husband is in his 3rd and final year in the MFA program, so he will have work on display at the exhibit. So if you're wondering just what he really does (I know I am...) come check it out, you know you're curious.

The opening is Friday April 24th from 5-7pm, the show is up until May 3rd, but there may be food out during the opening (don't hold me to that, it may be a lie) so you should just come to that. Besides if you come to the opening then we'll actually see that you came and you'll get extra points for that! :)

So yeah, Friday night at the Krannert ART Museum from 5-7pm. There are two different Krannert's make sure you come to the right one. So come check out some art, I know at least some of it is pretty cool, I can't vouch for the other people's stuff though.

Orange for Stellan

2009-04-21T13:00:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite blogs is My Charming Kids, today the youngest of MckMama's kids 5month old Stellan is having heart surgery. There is a VERY big following on her blog and many, many readers are wearing orange for Stellan today. I decided to have the boys in orange and send in their pic, someone is posting them to her blog during the surgery. Rowan and Eli's pic did make it on the page, but there are A LOT of pics so if you want to see them you'll have to look down pretty far. If you aren't already familiar with her blog check it out, and keep baby Stellan in your thoughts/prayers.

Apple Dumplin- A Review

2009-04-18T09:47:00.003-05:00

Last night we went to Apple Dumplin(g?) for dinner. My mom and I had been talking about it and she called and invited us so we decided to check it out. I remembered going there as a child, but it's been 20some years so I really didn't remember it at all.

Mike asked the waitress what kind of fish the White Fish was. She said "I dunno, it's good." He mentioned some kinds of fish and she just kept saying she didn't know, a lot of people get it it, it reminded her of catfish...... I remember her even shrugging her shoulders and saying she had "no idea." Now my only experience working at a restaraunt was at Arby's in high school, but I thought it was common knowledge that if you (as the employee) can't answer the question of a customer YOU GO FIND OUT WHAT THE ANSWER IS!!!! I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but saying "I have no idea" like an idiot, doesn't seem like good business practice.

So we order our food, it was alright, except my mashed potatoes (which I had planned on sharing with Eli) had TONS of pepper on them, I couldn't even eat them, forget giving them to a baby. Eli got to discover his new love for crackers, though!

Then we are finished eating and I look at the check I notice that we got charged for Rowan's chocolate milk, that was suppose to come with his kids meal. I ask the waitress about it and she says "oh the kids meal just comes with pop." What? Now I know a lot of kids do drink pop, not mine, but when I think of a kids drink it's usually juice or milk. The kids menu said- Grilled Cheese, fries, drink- not soft drink, not pop ONLY- it said DRINK. SO why would I assume that chocolate milk is not included. I should also mention that we all ordered water (including for Rowan), and when I ordered his food I said "he would take chocolate milk, I didn't realize his meal came with a drink." So anyway, she did take it off the bill but I really don't see us going there ever again. I give it 2 thumbs down. I think we'll stick to Culver's where the chocolate milk ALWAYS comes with the kids meal!

They Never Forget

2009-04-17T09:39:00.003-05:00

Rowan remembers everything- well at least the stuff that he doesn't need to remember at all. For a while, a few months ago, he would all the sudden remember something- like how he was going to play with his trains while I cooked dinner- YESTERDAY. So he would remember a few days later that he didn't do this and would have a huge meltdown, and since I don't have a time machine I could not stop his fit. I think I've gotten pretty good at avoiding this and he hasn't had too many of these meltdowns in a while.

Last night, right after supper, he said he wanted a muffin for his bedtime snack. We both forgot, he brushed his teeth, read books and went to bed. It crossed my mind right before he went to bed that he didn't eat his muffin- but by that time I was ready for him to go to bed so didn't say anything. I had a brief thought that he would probably remember as soon as he was in bed, but he didn't.

1:52am he wakes up crying/whining cause his blankets fell off him. I go help him, and go back to bed.
2:16am he's crying/whining cause he's thirsty, I tell him to come get a drink of my water- back to bed
2:30am- he starts crying/whining a lot. I can't understand him, but think he is upset about his train track- I'm confused cause he didn't even play with it that day, did I step on it when I went in there? He's crying louder, I am trying to quietly yell from my bed that will fix it in the morning...... Eli is next to me and has now shifted his head on my arm, I know if I move him, he'll hear Rowan and wake up- and I don't even want to mess with that. rowan's still crying and then I realize what the probelm is- HE DIDN"T EAT A MUFFIN FOR HIS BEDTIME SNACK!!! Are you kidding me, it's 2:30 in the morning and he's crying cause he forgot to eat a muffin 5 hours earlier! Of course this continues for a while and he finally goes to sleep. He woke up cranky and whiny and one of the first things he mentioned was how he had wanted a muffin for a bedtime snack! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-15T09:08:00.001-05:00

Easter

2009-04-12T19:14:00.009-05:00

As if I needed to make it so obvious that the 2nd child DOES get treated different. The above picture- yeah, that's Rowan. Eli was lucky we remembered to take a picture of him sitting in the grass holding an egg... oh the memories he'll have!! He did seem pretty happy with his egg though, he also got to try watermelon and shortcake (don't worry it was homemade- remember preservatives=BAD!) ;)

Rowan got to have 2 different egg hunts today, he didn't really seem too concerned with getting a lot of eggs. But did still have a good time.

Those big eggs are hollow (so sad..)

getting 9 kids in a picture(6 were 5yrs and under) wasn't too hard

Above pics at Mike's family, then we headed for desert at my Aunt's and some more egg finding

Yeah we found eggs!!

Issues

2009-04-07T15:39:00.002-05:00

My computer is having issues. I don't know if it's the computer or the internet, but something is not right. Pages never load, or just load EXTREMELY slow. We get the "Internet Explorer cannot display web page...." almost every other time we try to open a page. It is driving me absolutely insane, and hoepfully won't end with me throwing the computer out the window it sits in front of- this has crossed my mind way too many times. A 10second email check turns into a 20 minute constant refreshing and restarting of the page.
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So if anyone has any ideas as to why this could be happening and what I can do to fix it, please help!! Of course you might not even see this since the chances are good that the internet will stop working again and this won't post.

True Love- Baby Style

2009-04-01T22:10:00.014-05:00

This is Baby.

Eli LOVES Baby!

He gets this goofy-happy look on his face everytime he sees Baby.

He crawls quickly towards Baby everytime he sees her.

Baby makes him happy!

He smothers her with lots of kisses (and chews).

(please ignore the piles of laundry, Eli was helping me fold..)

Sometimes he just loves to hold Baby.

He likes to hold Baby when he crawls.

This is the bus Baby came in.

Sometimes he opens the door and tries to put Baby in it and then gets her right back out again.

This is The Guy, aka "The Driver," Eli likes to play with The Guy too.

Sometimes it's tough to choose between The Guy and Baby.

But he always goes back to Baby again.

More Aprons and Etsy

2009-04-01T17:08:00.003-05:00

Wow 2 posts in one day- can you believe it?! The Secret Stitch Club is once again having a giveaway for a super cute apron. Now they have an etsy shop. They are selling some of there gorgeous aprons and nursing covers. Very cute stuff, so go check it out.

Oh and while we are on the topic of etsy, my mom has a new etsy shop too. She makes some really cute candles, so check out her shop too!!

Isn't etsy amazing? I've never really checked it out before, and now I am finding so much stuff I'm pretty sure I can't live without!!

Wordless Wednesday: 1st Wagon Ride

2009-04-01T16:30:00.003-05:00

9 Months

2009-03-29T21:19:00.011-05:00

9 months!! He'll be 1 in less than 3 months now- scary!! Nothing too exciting this month- he has stood alone a few times- getting longer each time, both front bottom teeth are coming in, I think he can say "go", a couple of sicknesses (and the whole not necessary ER trip), he is finally starting to like some texture with his food and is feeding himself puffs and some banana pieces. HHMMM I think that's about it! He got over his fear of the grass and is now happy to eplore the great outdoors- including dirt, sand, grass, leaves, and whatever else is gross and dirty in our yard!

I held him down to get a picture of his teeth coming in :)

They're in a lot more than this now and this was just a few days ago.

His ability to stand and grab has made Mike have to change how many plants he can grow on the plant table.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-25T20:43:00.003-05:00

Just Another Monday

2009-03-23T21:20:00.004-05:00

4months

Two weeks ago, very early Monday morning I woke up sick to my stomach. I spent the next few hours awake in the bathroom and the rest of the day trying to rest while taking care of two kids.

Last Monday Eli woke up early from his morning nap puking. He threw up for the next several hours. I sat on the couch holding him- either while he slept or with a towel to his face when he puked.

This morning I put Eli down for his nap, he woke up early yet again, I didn't think much of it and decided to give him a few minutes to see if he'd fall back asleep. I even thought to myself- hhmm wonder if he's getting sick. I didn't REALLY think he was, so when I finally went in the room I was quite surprised to see that his crib, blankets, and of course himself were all covered in puke!I spent the next few hours on the couch holding him while he slept or vomited into the towel. I'm really not one to call the doctor's office all the time, but he puked up some blood (just a bit) and I just wanted to be reassured that this was ok (it is). So I was kind of surprised when she started looking for a time to get him to be seen, and even more surprised when she said they thought he might be getting dehydrated since he was still getting sick so often and hadn't eaten or drank anything. She thought we should probably go to the ER to see if he needed an IV.

Even though I KNEW he was ok, just sick. The minute she told me ER I was seriously freaking out- imagining all the major serious probelms that maybe he was having. This was our first experience w/ this, Rowan was never even sick (besides a cold) until he was almost 18months, and now in the past 4-5 weeks Eli has thrown up (a lot) on 3 different days! So we went to the ER. Mike was in town so I drove in all by myself to get him, and occasionally reaching back to touch Eli and make sure he was still breathing (he was never having any breathing issues, just part of me freaking out). Of course w/in minutes of being at the hospital he was more alert than he had been all day, so I'm sure they thought we were crazy. I made a point of saying- a few times- that our doctor's office said we should come. The ER doc was really nice and watched him a little, and showed me how to push down on his nail to check for dehydration (that would 've been nice to know before..) he said if he was nursing(which he wouldn't do till we were there) then he would rather him just do that than give him any medicine so we were out pretty quick (well ER quick). So next time I think we'll just tell him we're going to the ER and see if he gets better, I'm thinking that's the trick.

Oh and as if I didn't have enough laundry to do from all the puking, when I first got Eli up and took off his pukey clothes, I walked with him to the bathroom to get a towel. I saw the basket of CLEAN clothes I had just taken out of the dryer, so I bent down to get a towel out of it and- what else- Eli puked ALL over the whole basket of clean clothes!! NICE!!

Shoes!

2009-03-22T17:34:00.003-05:00

I've been wanting to make baby shoes FOREVER and finally got around to it. You can't see all the little mistakes in the pictures, but they are pretty cute. The pattern was a little confusing, but I think my next pair will be a lot easier to make. I really wish I had made these sooner and Eli could have had warm feet all winter- oh well! The next pair will be with cuter fabric, but I didn't want to waste it if I messed them up! So far they are staying on and he doesn't seem to mind them.

Oh My..

2009-03-20T16:30:00.002-05:00

Somebody found my blog by googleing (googling?) 40 weeks belly (in quotes)- porn -nicole

I never would have guessed that!! I think that made my day!

Maybe I'm Not Quite Ready..

2009-03-17T18:22:00.008-05:00

I've been so ready for winter to be over and now that it is finally ending I'm not sure if I can handle it. Today we went to the U of I for Eli to participate in a study ( a NON paying study!), then we went to Hessel for lunch and play. I wanted to walk some to so I told Rowan we would park on the oppposite side walk around the park once and then waqlk to the playground. So we only actually walked around 2 times, but I am SO tired. Sitting in the sun, pushing the stroller, pushing kids in swings, following Eli in the grass, taking stuff out of Eli's hands from the grass..... I'm really not looking forward to nice weather w/ TWO children!! I actually fell asleep on the living room floor after we got home! Hopefully they are both as exhausted as I am and will sleep awesomely and late tomorrow!!

I wanted a picture of them "posing" in front of the tree together, Eli crawled away, and Rowan, well he's 3! So instead they both decided to "climb" the tree.

For the 1st time in months- he just looked at the camera and smiled- a regular smile!!!

Eli loves to swing!

and Rowan loves to push him...

Babies, Babies, Babies

2009-03-12T11:00:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I went w/ my mom, sister and Eli to visit my cousin and her new baby boy. He is adorable, and so tiny. Six pounds felt like nothing (well compared to my 20+lbs of squirmy 8month old!). I think he is the smallest baby I've ever held, and really couldn't get over how small he seemed. I'm pretty sure I could have held him all day and my arms wouldn't have hurt at all! :) She said I could share some pics, and everyone like looking at newborn babies- right? SO here he is- in his blog debut: Carson David

He slept most of the time, so I had to wait until he was on the changing table for a picture w/ his eyes open!

Eli was SO excited to meet his new baby cousin. I'm sure in a few years they'll love playing together! Notice how I'm holding Eli's arm- I'm pretty sure he wanted to show Carson's arm his new tooth!

Slacker

2009-03-10T22:29:00.003-05:00

I feel like I'm totally slacking on this whole blog thing, it's not really what I want it to be anymore, so I've been losing interest. But I do like showing off the boys and sharing stuff with complete starngers (and family and people we know too..). I've also been a little lazy about commenting on other blogs (sorry) I do still read though.

Anyway, in recent news- Eli is getting his first tooth!!! I KNEW all that night waking wasn't for nothing! It's on the bottom in case you're interested. We've all been loving the nice weather, and will be crying tomorrow when it's cold again. Hopefully it'll be warm again very soon and we can burn the winter coats! Tomorrow Eli and I (and my sister and mom) are going to meet my cousin's new baby. He is a week old, and like all babies due in March aparently he had to come early too (ok so I guess I only know of one- sweet little Early Bird!) He was 4 weeks early and I'm pretty sure he'll be the smallest baby I've ever held at a little over 6lbs!! I won't even start on my whole "babies coming before -or on- their due date"thing.......:)

Does This Mean Spring?

2009-03-06T10:22:00.002-06:00

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2009-03-05T19:35:00.003-06:00

Rowan to me

"Mommy, can I watch Bob the Builder? Cause Bob the Builder, Thomas the Train, Clifford, Super Why, Barney and Kathie Lee are all my favorites."

Yes that would be Kathie Lee Gifford, and surprisingly this does not come from me, somebody else in our house really likes her!

Book and Apron Giveaway

2009-03-05T15:31:00.002-06:00

I'm starting to become obsessed with apron's and found this blog a while back (which is definetly encouraging my obsession). It is written by a group of women who all make absolutely GORGEOUS apron's, and some neat practicle ones too- like a towel apron to use when giving babies a bath! So they are having a giveaway and if you blog about it you get to enter twice!! SWEET!! So go check it out! Or not, whatever, give me a better chance to win! :)

Got Ink

2009-03-03T13:38:00.002-06:00