Week 14!

Well I am still going strong.  I don't know if it will last much longer but I will try. 

April 2, 2011

Well this picture sums up what we have been doing for the last couple of weeks.  MARCH MADNESS!!!!  My tv some how gets stuck on basketball channels all through March and into April.  My poor kids.  :)  I guess I am just teaching them to love the game early.  Or maybe they will completely be burned out and tired of it.  I guess we shall see.

April 3, 2011
Today was a pretty nice day.  We have 9:00am church so it gives us the rest of the day to do something together as a family.  Today the kids decided that they wanted to try and fly our new kites.  We walked down the road to a school and had a lot of fun doing it.  We met up with some friends of our the Lybberts.  They brought their kites out too and the kids had a blast.

Cooper flying his kite

Cooper's little friend Calvin flying his kite

 

Rob Lybbert helping Cooper and Calvin out

 

April 4, 2011

 

It is the first day of Spring Break. Spring is here and you know what that means.  No more studded tires.  Today Brian had the day off so we spent the day switching out the tires on the car and doing oil changes and other needed maintennece on all the cars.  It was such a nice day to do it. I think the kids have been fooled a little bit by such nice weather.  They are really enjoying the sunshine.

 



 

 

This was Ethan's contribution to the day.  I told you my kids are being fooled by the sunshine.  Check out his two missing teeth.  I love having a 2nd grader and his teeth missing. He is definitely enjoying his spring break.

April 5, 2011

 

 Today was day 2 of spring break.  We spent the day visiting the doctor.  Ethan and Maycee had checkups.  Ethan had his 7 year check up and Maycee her 9 month check up.  Everytime we go to the doctor my kids beg me to go to the "lincoln log" park.  This is a park that we pass on the way to the dr.'s office.  They love this park because it is huge and it is all built out of logs.  That is how it got it's name.  It is definitely one of their favorite places. 

Look at how cute those 3 little boys are.

 

Cooper not so sure about walking over this bridge

 

Ethan peeking up over

Maycee enjoying her time sucking on my lense cap



Cooper shooting me from his hiding spot

 

April 6, 2011

 

Day 3 of spring break.  My kids were starting to get bored so I decided to find something fun for them that would take a while.  Well this did take a while and they enjoyed doing it.  I was surprised that they stayed doing it until it was done. 

Here are the boys with their homemade centepedes.  These are popsicles sticks that they wrapped with individual pieces of yarn so it would have legs.  They all turned out pretty cute.  They were so excited that they could use them as book marks.

Cody showing his off

 

Cooper's is all done.

 

April 7, 2011

 

Well Little Miss is getting so big.  Her hair can finally go in a pony on the top of her head. I think it is so cute.  I always call these alfalfa ponies.  I tried to get some good pictures of her today but she wasn't really interested and I didn't have great lighting.  I am learning that my house is horrible for natural lighting.  Oh well.  I think she is still cute. 





 

Here is her with a cheesy smile.

 

This is one of her new obsessions.  She loves magazines, newspapers, and anything else she can tear up to make noise.

 

 

April 8, 2011

 

Today is Ethan's birthday.  7 years ago we were blessed with a HUGE and loving baby boy.  He is the sweetest and most loving little boy.  He is a super softy too.  He is always there when I need a hug and always on the lookout to make sure no one is sad.  I love him for that. He was big at birth and his growing is finally starting to slow down.  He loves to play sports and enjoys spending time with his family. 

 

His favorite food: Spaghetti

Favorite Sport: baseball, basketball, soccer

Teacher: Mrs. Lemargie

Best Friends: Seth Chamberlain, Wilson Lybbert

Favorite TV Show: Transformers

Favorite Toy:  Anything Legos

 

For Ethan's Birthday this year since it was on spring break he wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese's in Tri-cities.  So we took the weekend and headed to Auntie's house.  My kids love Auntie and Uncle.  They enjoy going to their house and how Auntie goes out of her way to do something special for them each time.

 

This time Auntie set up the office as their room and they got to stay up and watch movies on their own "tv" aka her computer.

 

Maycee was having too much fun.  She was out to get the kitty

Ace did not know what to think about this little girl that is chasing me around. 



Week 13!

 

March 26, 2011
Today we went to Cle Elum to spend some time with all of the Meulman Family (Brian's mom's side).  We rented a lodge and some cabins up there so we could all get together.  It isn't often that we are able to get together with all of the extended family. It was a good time and the kids had a blast.  Brian and his siblings are the oldest of the cousins so when we get together our kids really enjoy playing with Brian's younger cousins that are around the same ages.  The lodge that we stayed at was beautiful.  It was up in the woods with nothing around it.  It had a beautiful patio and outdoor eating area.  It would be a great place to rent in the summer with the beautiful weather that Cle Elum gets.  The kids enjoyed playing in the little bit of snow that was left.  They had some little snow sleds up there that the kids couldn't get enough of.  It was a great weekend and I was glad that we were able to spend some time with the family.

 

 

 

Maycee is loving her bouncy chair.  This has been a favorite for all of my kids.

 

 Something to know about the Meulman Family.  They love to play cards.  Something I have learned about playing cards with them.."there are no friends in cards."

 Now you know where my kids get their craziness from.  Their AUNTIE!!! These photos explain it all.

 

March 27, 2011

 



 

As you can tell from the picture we were worn out from the weekend.  This is what our Sunday afternoon looked  like.  Auntie walked in on us looking this way and thought it would be a great picture.  I am pretty sure that Brian was suppose to be in charge but he must have been exhausted too.  Thank goodness the older too were good enough to sit and quietly play together and watch a movie.  My favorite in this picture has to be Cooper all snuggled up into the back of the couch. 

 

March 28, 2011

 

 

Here is what I got to do today.  My friend Missy and I were able to go to the Women's NCAA tournament sweet 16 games that were in Spokane.  We had bought tickets quite a while ago not knowing who we would be able to watch but knowing that it could possibly be Gonzaga.  Well we took our chances and that is who we got to see.  It was a great time even though the Lady Zags lost.  It was fun to see the support from the Spokane area.

 

 

March 29, 2011

Here is my little man.  I love how peaceful he is when he is sleeping.  I love that he has to cuddle with his blankie.  Cooper is going a million miles an hour from when he gets up to when he goes to sleep.  So when he finally lays down he crashes.  It cracks me up how much energy he has.  He is constantly running, bouncing, jumping, hoping, or moving.  He does not stop.  So when he gets like this I love to just stare at him. 

Well that moment is over.  Tonight we took the kids to get ice cream at McDonald's.  They loved it as you can tell.  Not one of them was able to finish the whole cone but it definitely was a treat for them.  What crazy boys we have. 

 

March 30, 2011

 

 



These are two of my goofballs.  They were so proud of their "cool" hair after bathtime.  My boys loving having mohawks and hate that I won't cut their hair so they have an actual mohawk.  So one of their favorites things while in the bath and after bathtime is to give themselves faux hawks.  They crack me up. 

 

Yep they are "COOL"

 



March 31, 2011

This boy is getting to big.  I woke up to him laying in the chair this morning.  Sometime in the middle of the night he woke up and came and cuddled up in the chair to read a book.  He obviously was still to tired that he needed more sleep.  Somethings I love about this picture though is that he has a love for reading.  The next thing that I love is that even though he is getting older and bigger he still will cuddle up with his blanket.  I also love but am sad to see how big he is getting.  It seems like it wasn't long ago that he could cuddle up in the seat of this chair and not have to hang over the edges.  I love this boy and the little man that he is becoming.

April 1, 2011

Here are my 3 boys doing what they love.  This is one of their favorite things to do.  They love playing games on the computer.  I love how they enjoy being together and playing with each other.  It really makes me happy that they can play so well together and enjoy being with each other. 

 

Week 12!

March 19, 2011

Today my sister-in-law became very ambitious and ran in the Canal Caper fun run.  First of all there is something wrong with the last sentence.  I have yet to know why these things are called "fun runs".  Do you know?  If you figure it out let me know.  This whole adventure started yesterday when I called Crystal to talk and mentioned that I forgot to see if she wanted to come run the Canal Caper with me.  The thoughts that crossed my mind at that point were:

-She lives 1 1/2 hours away she won't want to come to run tomorrow.
-I had good intentions but it is okay if she says she can't come. We will do it next year.
-Am I crazy the farthest I have run within the last couple weeks at once is 4.5 miles.  I would have to run 6.2 miles.

So anyways we continued to talk and sure enough she volunteered to come run it with me.  Really??? I was hoping she would say no so then I could pretend that I just had no one to run it with. 
So sure enough we ran it and enjoyed ourselves.  We ended up finishing the 6.2 miles in just over an hour so that was good considering we walked at least 1 mile of it.  In the end it felt good and it also meant that I could eat whatever I wanted for the rest of the day.  Yea for working out.

March 20, 2011

This is Maycee's new favorite toy.  She loves the fact that she can pull herself up on it and dance to the music.  She has really started to get brave with trying to get up to her knees and feet.  Needless to say we have a had quite a few bonks in the last couple weeks from her thinking she is a big girl.  It happens too often that she tries to put all her weight on this and it ends up on top of her on the floor.  The good thing is that she is kind of expecting it now and not so afraid of falling over and ending up on the ground.  Just some of the stages of getting bigger.

March 21, 2011
 This mornings pictures really cracked me up. I was getting Ethan ready for school and he wanted a piece of toast to eat. So in the hustle and bustle of getting ready I gave him his toast and asked him to watch Maycee for me. I checked on him and everything was going good and this is what I saw. Ethan sitting with his arm around his baby sister. Cute right? I loved it. He is such a good big brother and loves being in charge of her and taking care of his little sister.

With that said the funny part was yet to come. I have said before that Maycee is quite the little piggy.  She doesn't let any food get away from her without it getting in her mouth.  Anytime someone is eating she thinks that she needs to be eating.  So this is what I found next. 

 "Hey Ethan that toast looks pretty good are you going to share with me?"

"I spit by binky out give me a bite of that before I get mad and "tell" mom."

I thought it was too funny that I had caught her actions on camera.  Everytime someone has food this is exactly what she does. 

 

March 22, 2011

Little Miss Maycee is up and going these days.  She is getting so big and is now starting to sit up.  I can't believe how quickly things go. 

 

March 23, 2011

 

 So whoever invented those toddler graham cracker bar things obviously never had children to clean up after.  As you can see she absolutely loves it but she was a complete mess.  I think the worst part is cleaning between those fat little fingers.  I am amazed at what gets stuck between those things. 

 

March 24, 2011

Sorry it's another picture of Little Miss.  I swear there are other people in this family but usually my day is spent chasing her around and I think with her changing so fast I don't want to miss anything.  As you can see she thinks that she needs to do anything I do.  I was laying on the floor working on the computer and she wiggled her way over to be able to try it herself.  She loves to be right in the middle of whatever is going on.  She was totally fascinated with the screen and the pictures.

March 25, 2011

Sorry for the horrible picture quality.  Maycee and I got to spend some time with Auntie today.  My kids love their Auntie.  She has always been a big part of their lives.  It is always a good time when Auntie comes around.

 



Week 11

Playing catch up.  Hopefully I can do it.

March 12, 2011
Today we went bowling for a friend's birthday party.  The kids love to bowl and were so excited when they found out we were going bowling for Colin's birthday.  It is so funny to watch them bowl and how excited they get to watch the ball roll down the lane.  I would have to say Cooper was the funniest to watch because he showed so much excitement just to hit one pin down.  Cooper is getting ready to throw the ball. See that perfect form? He was adamant that he throw the ball himself. It landed pretty hard sometimes but he was able to do it all by himself.  The following pictures show his anticipation and reaction to such a great roll.

How could one not enjoy that reaction?  I just love it.  I also love that Ethan is coming to celebrate with him.  They had so much fun.

March 13, 2011

We have a semi-mobile baby on our hands.  I have been not wanting this to happen because it means my baby is growing up.  I will admit that the first few times she started to try and move I picked her up and sat her back up so she wouldn't start crawling.  I am not ready for my baby to grow up.  I remember with Ethan I was so excited for him to start doing everything so early and now I want time to stop so I can have them little forever.  She was so excited to be chasing after this ball.  She loves being able to move where she wants to move.  She is still trying to get the hang of full out crawling but she still gets around pretty well. 

Taking a little break.  This crawling stuff gets a tiring for little people.

"Mom I am ready to go again.  Watch me."

March 14, 2011

Okay those of you that know me know that I LOVE basketball.  And the best time of the year with basketball season is MARCH MADNESS!  We got a little crazy this year and made our bracket for the NCAA tournament life size.  I saw this idea on a friends blog and knew that I had to have one of my own.  I told myself that it was for Brian but deep down I am pretty sure that I was a lot more excited about it than he was.  It was a fun family night putting it up and placing all the teams into their spots.  At first we were going to let each kid pick their winners but that became way too complicated so we just ended up filling in the games with the winners.  The boys really enjoyed finding different teams and the mascots.  The favorites mascots had to be the Spiders, Gators, Bulldogs, and the Jayhawks.  Each time those teams got to move it was a fight who got to put up the sticker.  I think that this will definitely become a yearly tradition.  Heck maybe it will become permanent and be painted on my wall someday.  HAHA   I love basketball but I am not that crazy.

March 15, 2011

So the reason I took this picture is because I think that Maycee is SOOOOO super adorable.  Well I do think that but that isn't why I took this picture.  I went and grabbed a bib out of Maycee's drawer just like I usually do when it is time to eat and Ethan couldn't believe I would put this on her.  I didn't understand at first because I was working on something in the kitchen and not looking but when he finally said "Mom, Maycee isn't a man,"  I understood completely.  Don't judge me for making my daughter use a boy bib, I am too cheap to purchase new ones just so they can get food all over them.  What the heck she can't read anyways.  I don't think that a bib with boy stuff on it is going to hold this little girl back from any meal.  She does like her food.

Later on in the evening it was beloved bath time.  We actually really like bath time around this house.  Everyone seems to have a good time in the bath.  Even I like bath time because I love to listen to the happy giggles and sounds that come from little kids playing in the bath.  Maycee is really starting to enjoy being in the water especially since she can move around and isn't just stuck on her back.  This toy that she is playing with is her very favorite bath toy.  The boys got Patrick from a burger king meal and he made his way into the bath.  I am pretty sure that Maycee is the only one that plays with it.  I don't know if it is the bright colors or what but it is the first thing she grabs when in the bath.  She even makes sure to bring him with her when it is time to get out.  It makes getting dressed a lot easier if I just let her play with Patrick. 

Another pic for the night.  This is post bath and I couldn't pass up a picture of all of her rolls.  How can anyone not love a "rollicious" baby.  I love the rolls on her thighs, ankles, arms, wrists, etc.  She seems to have them everywhere.  I love my chubby baby and hope she doesn't grow out of it anytime soon. 

March 16, 2011

Sorry so far this week it has been a lot about Maycee.  Oh well!  Get over it.  I promise the other kids will be on here before the end of the week.  This was my craft project for the day.  I have really been wanting a bow/hair clip organizer for all of Maycee's hair clips.  I have been looking at them online and all of the ones that I liked cost $30-$40.  I am too cheap to spend money on something that I know I can make.  So I put my creative juices together and got to work.  This is what I came up with.  I really liked the way it turned out.  I might have to make some adjustments because her clips already fill it all up.  It totally matches her room (it is on the living room wall in the picture) and all the colors tie together with her bedding.  I was pretty excited with the way this turned out.

March 17, 2011

I told you that it wasn't all about Maycee.  This is Ethan and his classmate dressed up for their class presentation on family night at school.  They put on a class skit about America.  With them we "explored" and learned about the Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore, the Liberty Bell, the bald eagle, and a few more.  The kids did a wonderful job. 

March 18, 2011

This is the extent of plants within our household.  I will admit right now that I don't have any amount of a green thumb.  In fact I usually kill anything that I try to grow in the house. Now if you put me out in the yard or garden I don't do too bad but household plants don't have the same luck.   Cody and Cooper planted these while we were at MOPS a couple of weeks ago and this is the progress they have made.  Both of the boys are so proud of their plants and so excited to water them and watch them grow. 

*Note:  Since I am a little behind in getting my weeks posted I will update on the plants.  They are DEAD!  I told you I usually kill anything that I touch. 

Another week in the books.