My Sick Son

I realize I have posted a lot lately, but I just had to share this picture of my poor, sweet, sick Owen.

He had a rough day today. A lot of coughing, a lot of holding mom and dad, and of course his share of throwing up. Do other people's kids throw up as much as mine? Anyway, he has been feeling pretty lousy, which means we have been spoiling him. Whenever the kids are sick we make little sick beds on the couch for them. I think they appreciate it.

Puppy Fever

We have always talked about getting a dog someday. Well, we have thought about it and are probably going to be getting one when we get back from Houston in September. We want to get a dog that can learn from the start how to deal with little kids and be around babies since we will have one or the other for a very long time. So, we thought that it might be a good opportunity to get one right after Maggie is born. After much research, we have concluded that a Beagle would be the best dog for us. Beagles are not large dogs, they are said to be really good with kids, don't shed too much at all (which will be good for allergy sufferers) and let's face it, they are cute.

We are just a little family that wants a pet, but some people are really serious about their dogs and buy them to compete in shows or to be hunting dogs. Yeah, we aren't doing that. I realize that many have warned us about the inconveniences of having a dog, but I think it would be a good time for us since I am usually fairly home bound with small children. Occasionally we travel to Houston but we could always bring our dog with us (as long as he/she is house trained) or kennel it for a couple days. When Daniel graduates we will probably go on a yearly vacation or something, but nothing that would constitute regular traveling. AND since I am already going to be potty training for the next 3 or 4 years, why not add another one into the mix? I am used to cleaning up accidents. Sadly.

Pregnancy Woes

Well, I am entering the third trimester of my pregnancy. For some of you readers, this pregnancy may have seemed fast for you, but for me it is really dragging. I realize there are some people who love being pregnant and really look beautiful when they are, but I just am not one of those people. This is why we are taking a break after this baby. Yes, I know, I have said that before, but this time I am really serious about it. Emotionally, I need a break!

I am starting to get excited about all the things that are going to be happening for us in the next couple of years and I really want to be in a condition to enjoy them. We will be having our baby Maggie in June, Daniel's internship in Houston this summer, interviews for jobs, actually getting a job and having money, buying a house, going on a real vacation and we are just going to enjoy our family. Since I have been pregnant or breastfeeding since September of 2004, I look forward to getting back to myself again and being able to really get our lives together and operate the way I want us to.

Back to talking about our little Magdalyn-- at my last appointment I was 26 weeks along and measuring more like 28. Of course this scares me because I measured big with Owen and he definitely was big. I have decided I need to get a doctor in Houston who will induce me early. I am really hoping for a 37 or 38 week induction. I know that is a little hopeful but I know that I can at least opt for the 39 week induction. It would be interesting if I actually went into labor since I have never gone into labor spontaneously before, but I am ok with a controlled environment complete with my pitocin and epidural. I guess we will see how things unfold.

New Camera--- YEEHAW!

I am happy to report that we bought a new camera today!! We are really excited about it seeing as our other camera was really starting to take horrible pictures. We loved our Sony camera that my aunt and uncle gave us when we got married and it lasted us almost 5 years, but it really was time to upgrade. That camera was 3.2 mega pixels and we just bought a new camera (at a conservative price) that has 8 mega pixels. Crazy.

Here is a picture of the box. The thing I love most about it is the big screen on the back. It is really easy to see the pictures compared to our other camera. The camera is a Kodak and I think we will be happy with it. It works really well and has everything we could want. We almost bought the 12 mega pixel camera but that was an extra 100 dollars that we decided would be more than we wanted to spend.

Here are a couple shots we took when we went out for lunch right after buying our camera.

Quick story: Owen and Ellie have had pretty bad colds this week. While at Chilis, Owen started hacking like crazy and I just knew he was going to throw up. So, like the mom I am, I just held my hand out and caught it. REALLY gross I know. It was pretty sick, but we were calm and just cleaned it up really fast and threw a new shirt on Owen (I now always bring a spare set of clothes with me for each kid... smartest thing I have ever done). I don't think anyone even saw... it was just one of those moments when I think to myself, "Man, I really am a mom. Only a mom would do THAT!"

And one of Ells outside---

And here is a short video of the kids with the new camera... they aren't doing much but it is only a minute long. Please excuse the bad camera work... we had only had the camera for like an hour and I wasn't sure what I was doing.

EASTER

Our official Easter festivities began on Saturday night when we dyed our eggs. It was a pretty quick process this year since we had extra dye from last year so we ended up with like 14 cups so we only had two dips to do for 2 dozen eggs.

The kids had three Easter baskets each this year. Each of their grandparents gave them a basket that we opened on Friday then Saturday. The Easter baskets that Daniel and I gave them are pictured below. Last year we gave them mostly candy so this year I really tried to not do so much candy... in fact I only gave them one thing of candy. Luckily, the Disney Store was having a really good sale on their stuff so I was able to get plenty of basket stuffers there.

Here is Ells showing off all the eggs she found. We did a hunt in the living room when the kids woke up Sunday morning.
Owen with his Easter basket.

Ellie ready for church on Easter. I was really feeling like a bad mom because I didn't get my kids Easter outfits this year, but luckily Ellie had an Easterish dress that I got her last year that still fit.

Here is my sweet Owen ready for church. This little cutie decided it would be fun to throw up on mommy in sacrament so we ended up going home early.

Later in the afternoon, Grandma Weber hid plastic eggs in the backyard and Ellie had a really fun time finding all of those. (The kids are also wearing the "Princess Elise" and "Prince Owen" shirts their Grammy McPherson made for them in these pictures).

Lastly, here is a picture of Owen walking around in Grandma's crocs.

We are very blessed to be able to celebrate Easter each year and remember Jesus Christ in our lives. We are also very blessed to have so much loving family around us all the time.

Fun Weekend!

We had a wonderful weekend. We were lucky enough to have Daniel's parents come to visit us for the weekend and we had such a fun time. The kids especially enjoyed the extra attention. Ellie sure does love both her grandmas (grandpas too, but she follows around grandmas everywhere). The Webers brought lots of fun activities that kept the kids busy.

On Saturday morning, we decided to try out the Eggstravaganza egg hunt downtown. It was crazy!!! We showed up to a massive line of people getting in and once we were in it was mere moments until the egg "hunt" (more like pickup) began.

Owen waiting in line to get in.

Ellie waiting in line.

The Easter Bunny and Ellie.

The mass hysteria when the egg hunt began. It was so crowded that it really was quite scary. The kids went into the area with just the 2-3 year olds and it was the parents who were so nuts. They were mean! You can barely see Daniel in the picture above with Owen and there they are again below... not sure where grandpa and Ellie were... they were somewhere in the crowd.

I think the conclusion on this one was that it was just too crazy and crowded to participate in this venture again. Perhaps next year we will just have some friends get together and do a hunt in someone's backyard.

Ellie showing off the eggs she (grandpa) managed to snatch up from other parents.

Ellie with her grandma.

Owen playing with the bucket. While dad and Owen went into to hunt for eggs I think they came out very quickly deciding it was a bit too dangerous for them.

After the egg hunt, we went to the Austin Children's museum. It was a close drive away from where the egg hunt was held.

Here are Ellie and Grandpa jamming.
Owen playing with the train set. We actually have a train set that his Grammy and Papa gave him for Christmas that we have been hiding away for a rainy day but it might be time to break it out since Owen really seemed to LOVE this train set! Ellie and Owen playing in the water exhibit... they were both pretty wet. We decided to stop when Owen started drinking the water. Ew.

Ells doing a little discovery.... just what the Children's museum is all about.

Here is Ellie with the bunny ears craft that her and her grandparents worked on together at the museum. We really enjoyed the Children's museum as we do every time we go visit one, it is just such a good place for little kids to get into whatever they want!

After the museum we headed for the Salt Lick. Our little family went a month or so back and were quite anxious to share our find with friends and family. Must have been good since we hardly talked the whole time we were chowing down!

Word Nerd

Daniel and I are pretty big word game junkies. Daniel enjoys crossword puzzles, my favorite is four square (if you haven't ever played it, it is addictive). We also enjoy watching word game shows--- keeps the mind quick--- like Wheel of Fortune and Lingo. The kids really like these game shows.

Owen is definitely a fan. He watches these shows and shouts out letters, "D", "T", "G", "E"! It is really cute. Perhaps Owen will follow in his parents footsteps and be a word nerd.

A Couple Videos

By popular demand here are a couple of videos of the kids. I just took them this morning so they are still in their PJs. These videos are pretty dark, but you get the idea.

Here is Ellie singing "I am a Child of God". She got the words a little messed up but she knows this one pretty well.

Here are the kids jumping on the furniture. Since we don't have new furniture, this is one of those parental battles I have chosen not to fight. It sure keeps them busy and it helps distract Owen from getting up on more dangerous furniture... he sure likes to climb.

P.S. Ellie's tummy is fine...

We tried to get a good video of Owen doing Popcorn popping, but he wasn't cooperating so hopefully that will be forthcoming.

Teaching Ellie and Surviving Daylight Savings

Ellie is a pretty smart cookie, well she is pretty intelligent as far as a two year old goes. I am not trying to sound braggy here, quite the contrary... It has actually been a real struggle for me lately to try and decide what to do with her. She knows her alphabet really well and her numbers pretty well (at least up to 15) and of course colors & shapes. She is getting to be really good at tracing and things of that sort. The problem is... she is two and while I want to continue teaching her because she is such a sponge right now but I also don't want her to enter school and be totally bored.

After much thought about this issue I have decided that I am just going to go with the flow and continue teaching her things and doing projects with her and when she is 5 and ready to enter kindergarten, we will assess the situation then. Who knows, I might have to home school her for a year or two or put her in a private school. I mean, Ellie is not a genius or anything, she just has a really good memory and is a bit ahead of other 2 year olds (for now).

Anyway, I recently had a workbook made for her at kinkos of a bunch of preschool worksheets that I got online. She has really loved working on it and has gotten a lot out of it so far. I had some basic worksheets where she had to color a letter or a number but she has grown past that so I am glad she has something else to work on. It has activities such as matching, tracing, differentiating between big and small, cutting, gluing and learning more about upper and lower case letters.
Here is Ellie reviewing her number flashcards. I have been trying to make an effort at least a couple times a week while Owen is napping or being good to do some sort of learning activity with her. She really enjoys learning. Does anyone have any ideas about what I should do with her to help her more? We play games that have some education incorporated into them, we do flashcards, crafts and worksheets but I am not sure what other sorts of things would be helpful for her.... I know some of my homeschooling friends can help me out with this, so let me know! Or just a general question-- what does everyone do with their small children to keep them busy... busy meaning not jumping on furniture or getting into things they're not supposed to, etc??? --- I tell you, now that real parenting is starting, it is kinda hard.

ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE:

Whoever came up with or continues to change daylight savings must not have small children. One of my friends wrote a blog about this and I would like to echo her sentiments.... I hate it! It takes months and months to get a child to sleep on a schedule and when you change that, a parent has to get their child to re-learn a routine just in time for it to change again!!!

For example, now Ellie and Owen are going to sleep when it is bright as day outside. They don't think it is bed time so they fight so hard and don't end up going to sleep until an hour later anyway. Now, one would think that they would sleep in an hour later... oh no... not OUR children. They wake up between 5 and 5:30 no matter what. Now Owen's nap schedule is ALL messed up. He isn't sleeping as well at night so he is tired earlier. This video is of him during lunch (about 11:30)... I saw him falling asleep so I ran for the camera. He was so pitiful that I had to pick up that little boy and rock him to bed--- plus it was nearing torture to just let him whine to sleep like that at the table.

A St. Patrick's Day Treat

Last night, in preparations for today being St. Patrick's Day, I made a festive treat for us and the kids. I received this easy recipe from our RS newsletter and it seemed easy enough to whip up so I did! It was pretty yummy. Owen enjoyed the green whipped topping and Ellie just loves pudding. I didn't use any mint candy since I am not much of a mint fan (though I think Daniel would have liked it). Anyway, just thought I would share the recipe for anyone out there who would like to make a little treat for their family this Monday night!

Grasshopper Parfaits recipe

Prep Time: 25 min Total Time: 55 min Makes: 12 servings, about 2/3 cup each

1 1/2 cups finely chopped OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

1/2 cup finely chopped chocolate-covered mint patties

1 quart (4 cups) cold milk

2 packages (4-serving size each) JELL-O Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling

2 to 4 drops green food coloring

2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

MIX chopped cookies and mint patties in small bowl; set aside. POUR milk into medium bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Meanwhile, stir food coloring into whipped topping until well blended. LAYER half each of the pudding, whipped topping and cookie mixture evenly in 12 parfait glasses or dessert glasses. Repeat layers. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve. Store leftover parfaits in refrigerator.

Substitute:Prepare as directed, using OREO DOUBLE DELIGHT Mint 'n Creme Chocolate Sandwich Cookies .

Day 3- Back to SEA WORLD

The hotel deal we got included two day passes to Sea World, so on the third and final day we went back to Sea World. Mom and the kids in front of the Sea World entrance.
Yes, Ellie is pouting at Sea World. I am not sure why. But it makes for a pretty classic picture.
Owen waiting for the show to begin.
Now she is back to being happy!
Mom and Owen watching the penguins.

Dad and the kids in front of the Puffins exhibit.

Owen slurping some drink right before the Shamu show.

Here we are feeding the dolphins. It was kind of a rip off. $5 for 4 small fish, but I guess it was worth the experience.

The dolphin begging for our fish food.

Owen watching the dolphins... he isn't sleeping we just had a lot of pictures of him blinking... these children never cooperate when pictures need to be taken! :)

This is kind of a cool picture of Ellie and the scuba diver that was feeding the fish at the coral reef. He was nice enough to pose with Ells for this picture.

Ellie right after enjoying some yummy ice cream.

Besides the Shamu coaster, they have two rides for children 36" and up. Owen is about 33 or 34" but they let him go anyway! We were psyched that he could enjoy the rides too. This particular ride he was not happy because it kept stopping to let people on and off.

When it was going, however, Owen and Ellie loved it!---- Mom is pregnant so she couldn't ride any rides.... Oh darn.

The kids loved this ride. It is the teacups ride where they spin around. Owen just enjoyed hanging out while Dad and Ellie made it spin.

During the last show, Owen fell asleep... it is kind of what we all wanted to do so we knew it was time to go home. We had a great little mini vacation together as a family and look forward to many more.