Mid-week memories- Vol. back on the wagon

These are actually many weeks memories because I fell off the wagon. Actually the delay is caused from excessive tiredness due to PREGNANCY #3! That's right, I'm 10 weeks pregnant and due on Oct 31...which is appropriate because this is a pretty "scary" thought! Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good most days, but I'm always glad to move out of the first tri-mester! (just two more weeks!)

So since I wrote last, here is what we've been up to...
My sister (Lisa) and her girls came to STL for their Spring Break and we had a blast! The kids played so hard for 4 days I think they are still recovering. One morning we went to the zoo, here are some pics:

They were hiding their eyes from the camera, a fun game T likes to play these days...

took a snack break...

again, hiding from the camera...all in all it was a great day!
last weekend we went out to eat and then to Lowe's to buy more stuff for the basement...J was trying to encourage P to smile and went a little crazy with it.

We brought "baby" in with the hopes that she would play with it while we shopped...before long she wanted to walk with T...but I made her hold his hand to keep both of them close and it made for a sweet picture.

P LOVES riding in T's car seat! well, she pretty much loves everything he does!

Have a great week, and (hopefully) I'll make it two weeks in a row...again.

too good to wait until next week...

P was helping daddy clean out his car so I thought I'd get some video and all about P is revealed...

mid-week memories vol. 2

Look out Blog World...it's two weeks in a row! I haven't written this many posts in months! We've had a fun week and the best news is that Dunkin Donuts has made a come back to the mid-west. that makes us all happy...

the weather has been warm enough for front-yard picnics, bike rides and swinging! all things the kids LOVE! now we're just waiting for the grass to turn green...hopefully that will happen before Memorial Day.

T and P have fun playing "nap time"...I'm not going to complain about that game!
her new look...dispite any forward progress, I am still making a run at potty training P, and this is her "at home" attire.
this weeks favorites...I can't get these adorable green shoes off P, she refuses to wear anything else...you may be saying, "really she's 18 months old, surely she doesn't pick out her own shoes." But let me set the record straight...for months this girl has had an opion about pretty much everything, and she's not afraid to share it.
T went on a date with daddy and came back with Buzz and Woody! they now top the charts as being the favs in the toy chest.

until next week...

mid-week memories vol. 1

here we go again...I am going to try to be committed to the blog again.
I have recently seen in the "blog world" people giving a weekend summary including thoughts, events and pictures from their weekend, which I think is a great idea. My problem with that is that every weekend looks exactly the same for us right now...Joe works on refinishing the basement and I entertain the kids with various activities. Nothing too exciting about that, so I thought I would expanded the review to cover an entire week, then there might actually be at least one fun thing to report or document with either picture or video.

My goals
1. To update the blog every Wednesday
2. To take at least one picture a day
3. and take one video a week.

and that's it...I have to keep it manageable or I'll quit!

These pics are more that a week old, but this is week 1 so I can include whatever I want...right!?

We love the playroom at the Transportation Museum...and my little character loves to dress up.


With the basement remodel we make frequent trips to Lowe's...the kids love the "tractors."

and because the work in the basement is loud, we've been spending a lot of time (at least nap times) at my parent's house. Piper goes strait for their reading glasses...and Toby loves reading books with Lala... (oh, and I love drinks from Sonic)

Swim Lessons! We have been taking swim lessons for a few weeks and they both LOVE it! while I was getting ready on Friday, P came around the corner wearing her swim diaper on her head! She is a character.

It's warming up!!!!!!!!! and now I can't get Toby out of shorts. and what Toby does, Piper also wants to do. The other morning they were VERY quiet and in T's room, then out they came...both in Toby's shorts (he helped Piper put on a pair!)

Joe had to go to Indy for work this week and as he was getting packed T wanted to go also, so Joe helped him get into work clothes! Isn't he the cutest "working boy" you've ever seen!

So that's it for now...have a good one and we'll meet back here in one week! (hopefully)

She said "Yes!"

Five years ago today...he asked, and I said yes! I can't wait for the next five. I love you more every day!

Toby's Birthday at Gitmo

Well, as so it has been lately, we're finally getting around to announcing Toby's 3rd birthday. We had a small get-together at our house a few weekends ago. Kelli, as always, did a great job of organizing, planning, developing and producing a theme consistent with Toby's interests this time around. So, Fire Trucks it was. This lead to one of Toby's funnier lines lately while we were in the midst of trying to get everything done in preparation for the party...

"Mom..."

"Yes, Toby..."

"What rhymes with truck???"

Granted, maybe it was the sheer timing of this question, but Kelli and I both broke out laughing as to what we were going to respond. Let's just say after trying to get everything done, we had a one track mind when giving, er, almost giving our response...

As to why this is titled "Gitmo"... please see below-

Apparently, they have softened the rules since Obama took over and now allow the detainees to have their woobies, but we are a softer, gentler country on terrorists these days... Kelli had the kids play "pin the spot on the dalmation" in honor of the Fire Truck Theme, but made for some interesting pics.

We are in the early stages of re-refinishing our basement, as we grew tired of the faux wood paneling and enormous Fire Place that led to nowhere. That and if anyone came to visit, they were relegated to the basement floor with a blow-up mattress. So, the kids had their party in the dungeon of Gitmo and they seemed no worse because of it.

After enjoying the surroundings for only so long, it was off to the Crestwood Fire Department for a tour of the Fire House. Aside from our kids, everyone was looking forward to it!
The Crestwood Fire department did a great job entertaining and informing the kids about their role and why its so important. The kids were able to see where the firemen sleep (if anyone is concerned about me saying firemen instead of fire-people, deal with it. it is used in the same context of mankind, hence everyone included. This is not the direction to look for PC anything!), eat, lounge, and work. Everyone also got a chance to shoot the fire hose out the back door.

Alas, our little guy is growing, but what a joy it has been and will continue to be. More to come on "Operation Gitmo" in the basement.

The Blog... Really???

Well, for all of you wondering if we have fallen off the face of the planet, we have not... just planet blogspot. Here's the skinny, as some of you know, I undertook the wonderfully enjoyful task of gutting our quasi-finished basement over the holidays and subsequently disassembled our "office" space as well. On top of that, Kelli's computer has recently been rather tempermental and slower than The Supreme Court Justices clapping for Obama. (So, if anyone out there knows how to diagnose the source of a slowa** computer, please let us know :)

I am rather leery of Kelli doing any blog work on my work laptop (hope you're reading this, big brother HR department), so we have been non communicato.

Here's ths short-short version:
Joe- Working, playing with Kids, Trying to play with Kel, Deaconing, sleeping
Kel- Momming, Momming, Momming, tolerating Joe trying to play with Kel, planning to take over the world with Heather Dillard one summer ministry at a time...
Toby- Growing like a weed, being a great big brother, watching every possible train tv show and movie ever made.
Piper- Being cute, sassy, expressive, tempermental, adorable, and a wonderful tackling dummy for Toby
Max- Trying to avoid deportation to anywhere but here.

That's us these days. Kelli is promising to get her computer to a more functional state and I am promising to actully get cracking on the basement, so if you see many more blogs from me instead of her, know things aren't tracking as planned.

a playdate at the park...

before we left for the park, I caught piper reading some books in her room...

yesterday we played at the park with some friends...it was a beautiful day and the kids had so much fun!

piper thought she would check out the sprinkler since the boys were enjoying it so much...
and she HATED it!
she also doesn't like laying in the grass...the sunshine must have been hurting her eyes.

more picutes

Fun picutes of our sweet...and very funny Piper! it is really fun to have a little girl in the house!

At Joe's softball game...Toby's new favorite place to go!

Forth of July...Piper and Sugar!

we spent the morning with Becky and the girls...the big kids had cupcakes for dessert, so we gave some to Piper...as you can see she LOVED it!

Joe's sisters family came in for a visit...here was a quick cousin photo shoot for Baci!