brightSUNSHINYday!!!!!!!!!

We were so excited that that it was such a beautiful day today and we had nothing on the docket! We thought it was the perfect day to finally try out the bike outside! We headed over to the school behind our house before lunch...Carter tried out our trike from Thomas...fun! :)

Slides of course...wish I could've caught his cheesy grin on the way down, but like that you can see Mike at the top...

The parentals... :)

M and M headed inside when we got back into our yard and Carter wanted to play a bit longer with his Momma...

Peek-a-boo! Lookin like his MiMi! :)

Had a little bit of a photo session with my Carterboo... :)

So nice to have a ((((brightSUNSHINYday)))) today!


A piece of the action...first time on her bike outside!

3s the MAGIC #

Carter and I dropped M off to school on Fri. and came home to get ready to babysit a little guy Carter's age...

The boys were so funny...both are very "into" things...Carter: dinos and figurines...the other little boy trucks/cars/towers....so it made for a very fun morning with very little "sharing issues" that 2 yr olds normally have bc they each got to play with their own fav stuff...

So nice to make $ for a playdate! I babysat once last yr too for this fam and it is amazing to see how much the boys have grown and learned in a yrs time!

This was us waiting in the pickup line for M to get out of school....it was fun to look back @ 3 carseats with 2 little boys "reading"...

While I got lunch ready the kids played...so interesting to see the dynamic change once their was an "older sister" here to "direct"...the little boy has 2 older sisters so he fell right in line! Notice Mr. Man is playing alone on the other side of the room.... catching a break since there was another little boy for M to "mother"... :)

Our very own Pippi Longstocking...this is common sight in our house these days...Carter playing with dinos and M on her new bike....we have been practicing bike riding in the house bc it is so cold outside and M loves going around and around our staircase and it feels very Pippi-ish to us...

What a fun morning! The little boy left at naptime and our 2 went down for rest time too! It was fun to pretend to have 3 today... :)

Fav. Things

Playing Hide and Seek with the B&As and watching the hubby find a spot to hide... :)

Painting piggies...and this and this and the fact that Mike has a ***snow*** day today! :)!!

Supper with SQ!

Aunt Susan stopped by for dinner on Tues. night...we were having one of her fav. dishes from growing up...my cookin wasn't quite like MiMi's, but it worked... :) Afterwards Susan drew a pic of Kingston and M colored it...such fun! I love taking pics of their artwork, bc it takes up less space and preserves it! (Someone along the way suggested taking pic of art projects for that reason...then you don't feel like you have to hang onto everything forever and store it....cuz you have a pic!) This pic is now hung in our kitchen for us to enjoy though! And below is a little tree M made in her MOPS class last week.... :)

Moose Lingo

Love our little moose and we are so grateful he is starting to talk more (even in the last 2 wks!)...here are some of his current words I don't want to forget...

croc-a-da-dull (crocodile)
a-poe-poe (apple)
pippos (hippos)
en-ee-saur (dinosaur) every figurine used to be a horsey
mom! mommy? momma. mom? mommy. momma! mom? mommy?
like this commercial
"HI!!!!!" brings animals up to you and wants to have a convo with no volume control...the dial is broke!
Ask him the color of ANYthing...."RED!!!!" will be his enthusiastic (hardly right) answer :)

He makes us laugh daily...and we are working on his social skills bc NO! is still his fav. word....someone might say..."Hi!" his response...."NO!"

One more thing I want to remember is we are really working on eye contact with him...once he came out of T.O. like a blind man...eyes squeezed shut and arms outstretched...I mean really...right back into T.O. for that kid! He is getting better at looking at us in the eye and I am thankful for it! (pet peeve of mine!)

I'm really enjoying seeing his personality come out on MWF when his big sis is in school...He is our silly moose and we love him madly!

Totally 80s!

YAY! It was finally time for our Date Night to LEGWARMERS! MiMi and Kayla headed over to spend the night....(PaPa was out of town on a hunting trip with his coworkers)...Carter sat down and had a little chat with his best dog... :)

We ate some pizza together and left the kids in the very capable hands of their MiMi!

My date for the evening at the restaurant next door before the show...

Def. fun to people watch and see all the 80s outfits as the people filed in...

Then we headed over to the show and met up with friends...only got this one pic....I wish I had a head to toe shot...Cara was decked out!!!!! :)...And sadly I missed out on pics of the other couples with us... :( ...Gotta little crazy bc the place was packed and sold out!

Such a fun show and we really got a workout with all the dancing we did...hilarious to see people so hyped about the 80s!

Thanks again for watching our kids MiMi! We had an awesome time and so did the kids...and it was fun to have a dog in the house for the night...the cats might not have thought so, but fun for us! :)

Grateful...

YAY for a HEALTHY and RESTFUL week!!! :) And for getting outside a few days in warmer weather!

Our Weekend....

Sibling love....ahhhh....the sibling "stink eye"....Mike and I cracked up over both kids expressions in this pic...Carter is all sorts of jazzed about painting...M is a little upset he is up in her territory...he's not so much into "crafting" with us...but he loved sponges!! Thanks for the finger paints MiMi and PaPa! I also love M's hair...another perk to being sick is you don't have to have your hair brushed in the am...she def looks like she has "troll hair" from the 80s...

M loves painting these little creatures I found at Micheal's for $2!...she painted one for each cousin for Christmas (loved the crafty Christmas idea Aunt K!) and so I got another one for a rainy day and we did it this weekend...

Even though we were on "lock down" for days we had a lot of fun! (Carter wanted no part of the wig wearing! :))

Mallory drew a pic of her and I and guess who the big one is? It's her...so funny how children develop and how they make themselves so huge and the other people small...she is carrying me and we both have a ball in our hands and we are playing outside...

And here are her parents...I just love Mike's glasses/goggles!

Once we got through the sickness it was nice to just hang out and "be" all weekend...and Carter and I are hoping we dodged the sickness...fingers crossed!! :)

I'll leave you with a new trick Carter taught himself...

Your Big Backyard

Aunt Laura got the kids a subscription to this cool magazine! We got our first issue this weekend! Mallory and I followed the directions to draw a bear....she is signing "I love you" to you Aunt Lu in the pic! Thanks for keeping our kids educated about the great outdoors! Carter enjoyed listening to one of the stories and then got back to playing with his guys...Can't wait til he wants to draw with us! :)

The Sick House...

Mike came home from school on Friday feeling under the weather...so we canceled our Sat. plans...so sad to miss out on friends and laid low for the day...playing around the house and watching Land Before Time...That movie gets me every time with the music and the quotes! Bawl-a-rama!

Then at dinner M said her stomach hurt and she didn't eat and then got sick...poor girl...in the bath washing up she was so happy bc she gets to have a sleepover when she is sick! Sick on and off til 2am...then slept til 730 and she was back in full effect...Can't keep that girl down for long! Sidenote...Mike and I call her the "sleep ninja!" She is such a spaz kicking and moving when she sleeps...last night she was kicking the wall during her sleep and not even waking up...she cracks us up...Mags was so sweet to sleep with us as well...Today Mike is at church with setup and we are laying low...or trying to! We have already had a dinosaur picnic and bday party and we have played house...they are now both watching a show and I'm about to make chicken noodle soup and hope that will stay down! She has eaten a few crackers this morning and that's a great sign! She is loving drinking special Ginger-ale Grandma!

Thanks for letting us borrow the movie Pepere! I loved it as a child and I love that our kids enjoy it too...Carter loves dinosaurs so he enjoys acting out scenes while he watches it!

When we play Land Before Time the cast is as follows:
Petrie: Carter
Little Foot: Mike
Cera: Me...oh joy...I get to be the bratty character! She learns the error of her ways in the end though! :)
Ducky: Mal
Fun times... :) I love the movie and how it ties into what we are celebrating on Monday...it has a MLK Jr theme to it...

The APPLE Doesn't Fall...

...FAR from the TREE....we are trying out some costumes for our 80s concert on Friday!

Joyful Impossibility

We had a sibling day on Thurs...no where to be and just fun to have both kids at home with no agenda...M could get dressed up and could stay in her costume for hours if she wanted! Carter could play with all his guys without having to get in the van...it was nice...I could do lots of laundry! We got our Highlight's High Five from G&G and the kids love having me read the stories and M looks fwd to the craft...Thanks G&G...a gift that keeps on giving! I love to get mail so it's fun now that Christmas is over to actually still get real mail...We made a heart mobile yesterday while Carter played in the playroom...

I love that Mallory is writing letters! YAY! I have been waiting for her to want to write for forever...being a 1st grade teacher I have just longed for it! If she doesn't have a line to write on though the letters are everywhere...she wrote our names in the heart all over and I love it...Here is the link to the Highlights Mag for preschoolers...we really enjoy getting it each month!

There are so many things you want for you child as a parent...and parenting just shows you that it is a "joyful impossibility"....Click here to read a great post about just how impossible it is to be a parent, but also how freeing it can be....

"That night I began to find joy in the impossibility of it all.
The task is way bigger than our ability as parents,
but we are not our children’s messiah,
and we are not left to the resources of our own character, wisdom, and strength.

Our children have a Messiah.
He is with them and working in and through us.
The wise heavenly Father is working on everybody in the scene,
and he will not call us or them to a task without enabling us to do it."