Bye Bye Baby Bathtime?

I wish I could say I bathed my children every day, but I don't.  However, when they do get baths and aren't just wiped down with a baby wipe or smeared with smelly lotion, they bathe all together.  Since Maggie was just a few months old, this has been the case and they have all had lots of fun bathtimes together.  Sure, they are getting bigger and fight for spots on the bath and I have to keep telling Owen not to lay down, but besides that space isn't that big of an issue.

The issue is that I have a four year old.  One very smart four year old.  She has long since noticed the differences between boys and girls but hasn't really been too phased by it.  Daniel hasn't undressed in front of Ellie in over a year I'd say and since I'm a girl I don't think it matters as much to her.  Recently, however, she has been asking more questions, which is normal, but this morning when she told Owen she wanted to touch "it", I decided that my big girl needs to start bathing on her own.  It makes me sad though, I don't know why.  I guess because it is saying that she is too big to play in the water, in the tub with her brother and sister and now she has to bathe without them.  Perhaps it is the realization that in just about 6 months she will be starting kindergarten and will be on her own that way too.  I think it just makes me sad to realize that she isn't a baby anymore and she is losing that innocence that I wish she could hold onto forever.

Speaking of growing and getting big... my son is doing just that.  I love my Obinator (he loves when I call him that!)

Oh my little Maggle-B! 

Valentine's Party

In my attempt to be an awesome mom, I threw a Valentine's Party at my house.  I had so much red decor left over from Owen's party that it only seemed natural to carry over to a Valentine's party.  It was lots of fun and I was smarter this time and had the moms each plan an activity.  Each of the kids decorated a Valentine box.  Here are some pictures of the kids doing theirs...

 The ONE picture I took at the party... I am such a loser.

Maggie and I cuddling after the party was over... it was lots of fun... Easter party is next!

New Years Eve Run

This Year for New Years Eve we ran a 5K... pretty awesome and also pretty dang cold. 

 The Runners... Pat, Ryan, Mom, Dad, Me, Dan, Carolee, Lindsay.  Seriously, it was FREEZING.

 Dan and I before the run... don't we look like serious runners!?

 Lindsay and Carolee.

 ME!!  I am celebrating as they announce my name as the winner of my age group.  Pretty rockin' if you ask me.  I didn't run as fast as I did over Thanksgiving but still it was a good time.  Dan actually beat me...but ended up being lower on the totem pole just because he is a guy.  So, I'm #1!

Me when I received my medal (and $100 gift card) for winning my age group.  The race was fun... maybe next year we will give it another go!

Past few months in pictures

I took very few pictures these past couple of months... shame on me.  I actually got really caught up in family history stuff and learning more about my family origins.  I have a bit of an obsessive personality so I was all over that for a couple months and did not focus my attention on preserving my little family's memories very well.  I'll be better.  In no particular order, here are a couple of pictures from these past couple months...

 Mom and Elise enjoying some hot chocolate after a family photo shoot.  This was right before she spilt it all over my pants.  I had to change into running pants in the car.  Thankfully, we got a cute picture beforehand!

 The cousins all sitting and eating yummy Christmas Eve dinner together  (cousin Austin was in a high chair so he wasn't in this picture)... We got the kids this table as an early Christmas present and have used it quite a bit!  Mostly it sits in our dining room... see!  we have a dining room table!

 Elise and Kyra

 Elise and Maggie... this was at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  Ellie helped put Maggie to sleep.  That's pretty cute stuff right there.

 Ellie building a tower on Christmas morning.

 Me, my sister Kim and my sister in law Lindsay all with our 2nd born children... Owen, Addy and Austin.

CHOO CHOO!!  It's always fun bringing the choo choo wagon to the zoo.  Some love it more than others (get a load of Ellie's face in front!). 

 Mom and Mags.

The fam got some new technology.... Dad got himself a blackberry (aka crackberry), Elise and Owen each got a Leapster.

We did a lot of family picture taking... here we are!

The Weber Fam

The McPherson Clan

A Vow to be better...

Seriously, I haven't posted since the end of November?  Really?  I guess the dates don't lie.  Well, life has been crazy.  It really has.  I think I just got overwhelmed with over committing myself, working on much needed skills with my children and being a wife and mom.  I'm, of course, quite disappointed in myself for not keeping up our family blog more.  It's important to me to have these memories so I need to be better about it.  Plus, it keeps family and friends informed about what's going on with us.

What's been going on?!

LOTS

We had a great Christmas with both sides of Dan and my family in town.  The kids had a blast with all of their cousins and are still talking about it. 

Dan was called as executive secretary and I got called as YW 2nd counselor at church and both have us quite busy and hardly seeing each other during the week.

The kids got involved in lots of play groups and co-ops which keep us busy.

I have a bigger house to clean and get overwhelmed easily... hence my not blogging so much.

My dad was diagnosed with stage III esophageal cancer... which sucks.  I won't be writing about it here but you can go read about it more at http://www.ahardacttoswallow.blogspot.com/.  All I will really say about it is that my dad is pretty great, even though it embarrasses me to say, I think he is cool.  I am still struggling with what I think is FAIR in life and if I am willing to accept any challenge that God throws my way, but I am getting there.  If you want more info, visit the cancer blog, this is my family blog so I won't be ranting away about cancer.

Dan is deeply involved in some training class and a big project at work... boo!

I am working on organizing pictures to post here soon.  As I was going through the pictures on the camera I noticed that Elise and Owen had both gotten a hold of the camera and took many pictures of each other and themselves.  Needless to say, we are going to have to have a talk about not taking pictures of body parts.  Sometimes with kids I just have to sigh and think to myself, "REALLY!?" 

Life is good.  My family makes me happy... I will blog tomorrow with lots of pictures.... PROMISE!

Disney on Ice

A couple weeks ago Dan and I took Elise and Owen to go see Disney on Ice. We had never been and thought it was a lot of fun. The costumes were pretty impressive and even the cheap seats were good seats. Owen liked it but was disappointed by there being "SO MANY" princess numbers and there not being a CARS number. Maybe next time... Ellie was in love.

We showed up a little early so we bought the kids a couple of these light up spinners to distract them and keep them happy (at $20 a pop! ugh).

My boy has been a little camera shy these days, not sure what's going on with that!

Not Ellie or mom... we love getting our pictures taken :).

Daddy and his daughter.

A desperate attempt at a family picture (sans Mags who was getting some Grammy attention). We had a good time and think this will be fun again next year. Daniel gets some good deals on shows like these through work so I think we will be able to take advantage in the future.

Turkey Dash 2009

With all the running that's been going on around here, several members of our family decided to participate in the Katy YMCA Turkey Dash. I've been running for awhile now, Ryan has been running longer than I have, my mom has started in the last month or so... so we had a bit of a running group going on! Daniel talked a big game swearing he could beat me in the race only having run a handful of times in the past month. Kim also did great though had to take it easy considering her current condition.

Our running crew.

The girls.
The boys.

My friend Tiffany and I... she and I run a lot together and have done a couple races together now and plan on more this upcoming year.

Dan and I... we look SOOO ready to get out there and sprint past each other to the finish, don't we?

My mom was so awesome!! This was her first race (Dan's too) and it was so fun to be able to share it with those first timers because it really is very exciting (and addictive).

A pre-race picture before we have at it on the race course!

This was the group of us from our church that came to race on Thanksgiving morning. I loved cheering everyone on.

Here's my mom coming in for the finish-- WOO HOO!!!! Since I couldn't manage a decent picture of anyone else crossing the finish, I am happy that I got this shot of my mom!

FOR THE RECORD

Erin won!!!-- I ran the 5K in 23:53 (that's about a 7:42 pace)-- gun time

Dan came in second-- 5K in 25:02 (that's about a 8:04 pace)-- gun time

(stupid chip timing was messed up so you can probably subtract at least 30 seconds from that).

Also, I came in FIRST in my division and Dan came in 10th!! We did awesome!

So, off the block Daniel shot past me and I thought to myself, "Oh crap, he is totally going to beat me and I've been the one training like crazy!!". I was about 50 feet behind him for the first mile... we ran it in about 6:30 minutes! Then, I caught up to him, looked at him, smiled and knew that I wouldn't see him again until I watched him cross the finish line from the other side :). VICTORY!!! It is so sweet.

January 31 I am participating in a marathon relay with 3 of my friends in Waco. 3/4 of us are having our husbands run our legs of the race. It should be fun and I am excited to see if I can still beat Dan in 2 months. I'll keep you posted.

Houston ZOO

On Monday, I decided to take the kids to the zoo. We had gone the week before, but because I bought a zoo membership we can now go anytime we want. It was a really good investment, we got a 25% discount through Dan's work and we got a supporting membership which allows us to bring in 3 adults and 10 kids every visit. All for about $90, so we will probably go at least monthly, if not bi-weekly or so. Mostly I like it because I don't have to feel obligated to stay when the kids melt down. We go in the morning and about lunch time or shortly after the kids start to go crazy and I know it is time to go home.

This past visit the kids and I and UNCLE PAT (who is home for Thanksgiving) went to the zoo together. The weather was gorgeous and I'm happy we went. Though we did spend a good chunk of the time at the zoo playground, the kids still enjoyed the animals.
We left before seeing the reptile exhibit last time so I was pleasantly surprised home much they enjoyed it when we went this time. They thought it was pretty cool. Ellie was way into the snakes and Owen loved the lizards. GROSS!

Ells bells seeing how her hand matches up to a monkey's hand.

This was a little crazy because she was right next to this HUGE ape (picture does not do him justice)... he did look a little hungry and kept eyeing my children.

The girls.

My brother and I cheesin' it up McPherson style.

This little Magdals... I am thinking about keeping her...snotty face and all.

Uncle Pat!!! Sure wish he lived closer.

Owen was so funny, he stayed in this little tunnel for like a half hour.

Mom and Ellie.

My boy.

Uncle Pat catching Maggie on the way down.

Magdalyn-- this girl makes too many goofy faces.

Owen having a little snack on the playground.

Elise thought it was pretty cool that the hippo was eating her. She kept asking me to go see the hippo at the zoo and I kept thinking that the Houston zoo doesn't have any hippos, but obviously, they have one!

The giraffes were fun as they have two baby giraffes and they are all always so easy to see!

Ellie riding in the choo choo wagon... which was so much better than the stroller I brought last time!!!

I love this picture for some reason. Owen and Uncle Pat. Owen is at this stage where he doesn't want his picture taken so it really is like a miracle when I get a decent one. McPherson cousin pictures are happening this week... should be interesting to see how that works out!

My Magdalyn chowing down on fruit snacks. This girl LOVES fruit snacks (I never have liked these much) and will eat several bags if I let her... thankfully she is also a good fruit eater and loves crackers as well.

Uncle Pat and Owen checking out the Sea Lions--- I told Pat on the way to the zoo that he is playing man to man (Uncle Pat to Owen) and I will play the zone defense. Worked out well I think! Certainly much easier with another set of hands around. We look forward to lots more zoo adventures this year.