Growing-up way too fast!

I just can't believe that my little man is going to be four soon! Anyway we told him that his Birthday is coming-up and he said excitedly "will I be as big as Daddy then?" He told us the the other day when he gets to be an "indult" (adult) he is going to live with Mama and Daddy and drive trains, make Christmas lights and be a pet doctor (he will drive the trains during the day to deliver the lights he made at night and he is also going to be a pet doctor at night) . He just loves to be Daddy's little helper too. Today he was trying to help him break-up some boxes for the garbage and he said "this is hard work, I'm out of breath." He just cracks-us up sometimes. On Sunday we where leaving for church and he had his dress shoes on (they don't like to stay tied) and by the time we got to our vehicle they where untied and he turned to me and said "I'm appointed (disappointed) and I said why and he said "because my shoes came untied." Oh and today his tonka truck was "duty" and I said do you mean "heavy duty" and he said yes it's "duty." We sure are going to miss those litte expressions some day! He has also been wanting to know what EVERYTHING says, if we are at the grocery store and he says what do those signs say I have to read every single thing to him even the little ones such as restroom (it has opened my eyes though and made my realize what I don't pay attention too, just pulling-up to the store the other day I had to read about ten signs out loud and if someone beforehand would have asked me how many signs are in fron of econo foods I would have said one). Gotta love it, he is our little reader, tonight we read a book and he said they should have made that book longer and added more to it (and I thought it was a decent size).

Rose Ella here has now learned how to open and close all of our doors (thank goodness we have those impossible child proof door knobs on all of our outside doors now the only thing is half the time I can't even open them) anyway that is her latest game, opening any closed doors and shutting any open doors. Such a goof. Oh and she has this whole shoe thing completely backwards. I don't get it, she loves to wear shoes in the house (especially those Thomas sandals) but as soon as we get into the suburban in the cold (where it has been around the teens in temperature lately) there goes the shoes or boots and socks immediately sprawled all over the place and every single time. What is up with that little girlfriend! Everyday she is putting more and more words together it is just so amazing(or as Walter says inmazing) and she defiantly knows exactly what she wants! She was looking at all of our photo Christmas cards yesterday and I ended-up rearranging them because she said "put Brady(her cousin) down here" (closer to my reach) so I moved it down the refrigerator and she kept trying to run around the house with it, so it is now in the middle of the refrigerator where it is too high for her to take off but easier for her to see. Oh and lately after she is done eating she comes up to us and says "get you?" "come on" and Jeff and I have to take turns chasing her and giving her big kisses, she tells us too when it's the other persons turn, such a cutie.

Merry Christmas to all!

This year we began our Christmas celebrations in Wisconsin and then ended here in Michigan. Here we are eating lunch at a restaurant in Rhinelander called Kids Corner Pizza. It has a G Scale train layout(like our kitchen has) in it and has become a family favorite (gee I wonder why). Lately Rose E has been into the trains too and asking us to turn them on in the kitchen.
The two train fans! Walter (and Daddy) where of course thrilled then when we followed a train from Rhinelander to Tomahawk (one of the best Christmas presents they could get).

Here it is crossing the road near a park that my sister's and I played in a lot growing-up, in Heaford Junction, I'm proud to say that I took this picture (yes I guess I'm one of them now).

The night before Christmas Eve we celebrated at my sister's house. Here's Colton being the holiday ham

and a truck driver. The kids got so many nice gifts from both families and have been enjoying them all. It was cute because after Walter opened his presents in Tomahawk he said "I must have been a really good boy here."

We came back for the Christmas Eve church service in Michigan. Unfortunately, Jeff had to leave the service because he got severe gallbladder pains and actually ended-up going to the Emergency room (he hadn't had them in a long time and then just within the past couple of weeks have had a few short pains). I felt so bad for him. After church we had a get together at his grandparents house but with everything happening I didn't really take any pictures. On Monday his doctor is scheduling an appointment with the surgeon. The poor guy has to avoid milk, cheese, creams, fats and greasy foods, which leaves not much for him too eat.

The kids had a good Christmas morning though. Rose E was thrilled to get a baby carriage for her babies and have been giving them joy rides all over our house.

Walter was excited to get the Geo Trax that he asked for (an airport) to go with his train layout.

Here he is running the airplane.

He also got an electronic Thomas game (Can't forget his love for Thomas either) which has gone all over with him (even to the grocery store).

Rose E also got a mini magnetic refrigerator that plays games too. She just loves those magnets.
Christmas day we had a dinner at Jeff's parents house. Here is a picture of his Grandparents, Gordon and Ruth Jean

and here we are.

I had to laugh when I saw this tag on Chevy, I don't know how he picked it up but I guess he has now become Rose E's gift from Santa.

Last but not least I added this one for kicks. Somehow she happened to give herself a food mohawk today.

Mama's little angels!

These kids sure know how to make us smile! Lately when Walter is done eating he will say "I am full all the way up to here" (as he points to his neck). He has been asking a lot of questions about angels this week too. Which reminded me about when he was a baby and first learning how to do sign language, he looked at an angel picture frame and signed is that a bird? Where does the time go? Anyway, he has been asking questions such as "do angels live in our town?" " and how do they fly?" Some of his questions aren't always so easy to answer. The night we decorated for Christmas he said "daddy I don't remember Christmas when I was in Mama's belly." " Someday I'm going to have somebody in my belly too." Then Jeff said boys don't have babies in their bellies and Walter said surprised "boys don't let people into their bellies?"
This Sunday after church Rose E got a kiss from some friends of the family, anyway, we got a Christmas card from them with their picture on it and Rose E keeps going up to it and either blowing them kisses or saying "kiss." She doesn't forget anything, just like her brother. It was cute today she gave the cat a tour of her bedroom. Every now and then Jeff will rock her in her rocking chair and she sings "daddy addy addy" while he rocks her. Anyway, according to her that is what the rocking chair is now called. Chessie walked into the room and she said as she pointed to it "see chessie, Daddy addy addy" then she pointed to her bed and said "see, bed."

Happy holidays!

We definitely aren't lacking any snow this year for Christmas(as of yesterday, we have recieved between 70-80 inches already and it just keeps on coming)! As you can see from my new picture on my post (up above) we took out our old cutter tonight. It was fun to walk around and look at all of the Christmas decorations, we attached some jingle bells for some old fashioned ambiance too.
Yesterday the kids went to the fire department(Jeff's dad is a firefighter) Christmas party. These reindeer where waiting for Santa.

Capturing the excitement as Santa arrives (Walter, Kirsten and Cale).
Walter told Santa that he wants some Geo trax train things and wasn't the least bit shy
Rose E on the other hand clung to her
Daddy like glue as soon as Santa entered the building
Oh so painful!

She sure did like her new Elmo books that he gave her though, maybe he isn't so bad after all. Here she is reading them with Grandma.Walter got a new firetruck which he has been sleeping with and was excited to sit in a real fire truck.

My picture here isn't the greatest but a few days ago we also went to Kirsten's Christmas program at her school(I think it is so neat that she attends the school that is named after her great grandpa(and Jeff's grandpa too) considering that he put so much of his heart and soul into that school when he was the superintendent). Anyway, it was a darling program and Kirsten seemed to know the words well to the songs. She looked so cute up there, in the picture she is on the second row the second one in (Emily has clearer pictures on her blog).

Finally three bugs in a rug! We set-up this tent in our living room the other night and as a special treat the kids watched Christmas cartoons while snuggling and I baked. It was fun because we all enjoyed some cookies and hot chocolate afterwards.

Sending a Birthday wish!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Nana (Grandma), Happy Birthday to you! Hope you enjoyed your day!

Mama's cootie pies

A couple of days ago I found this Clifford preschool computer game that I had and loaded it up for Walter. Holy smokes I couldn't believe how fast he was able to whizz around and learn all of the games. He loves it. I had to laugh the next day because he got up in the morning and said "can I play Clifford (he even slept with pictures he had printed off from the game)?" I said during Rose E's nap today you can play it for a while (she naps in the afternoon). So then all morning he kept saying "Mama I think Rose E's tired, Rose E are you tired?" Hoping she'd go down early. As you can see in the picture it was painful to even get him to turn around to look at me because he didn't want to take his eyes off the screen.

Speaking of Rose E's nap, yesterday when she woke-up from her nap we where walking to her room and Walter could here her crying and said "where coming cootie(cutie) pie."

He also made me smile at lunch he was eating peas and said "mama I know how to spell pea you just make that letter with the straight line and the curve at the top."

Today I switched out a bunch of their toys and boy is Rose E ever loving lugging those toys around our house. After I had brought them out though I had to laugh because we had a happy little trail of toys from our living room to our kitchen. It's also funny to me because afterwards if we don't pick something up she'll say "uh oh mess, pick it up." One of her favorite toys right now is the magna doodle. It is so cute she will scribble and say "see... baby or see.. fish."

Walter's debute in the Church Christmas program

Walter sang for the first time in the church program today. Here he is at practice. My picture didn't turn out the greatest but he is a donkey with the snowflake sweater on.

Here is a short little video of his favorite song during the program he is standing next to the wiseman with the purple robe on. We have been practising the songs at home for a while so I think I could sing them in my sleep (Rose E too). So he knew the words. Everybody chuckled though because halfway through the program he ran-up to me to have his shoe tied. I was sitting in the front pew because I had to help with costumes and when Rose E saw me get-up she kept saying "mama, come on(come sit next to me)."

I also meant to wish my sister a Happy Birthday this weekend too! Hope you enjoyed your day and that your dinner was delicious Jessica!

Imagination at work!

Merry Christmas! Someones found a cozy spot. We have been fortunate that she has never tried to climb those branches.
And yet another cozy spot. Rose E made a little house for herself. These kids just love my laundry baskets and as you can see she's still sporting those sandals. She had a cold this week so I was glad when she finally came back to life when she saw the laundry basket. I just hate it when they are sick. It broke my heart at night because in her sleep she was calling out "mama?" and I would look at her in her crib and her eyes would still be closed. After she had been sick for about five days and was getting worse instead of better we took her into the doctor, we where all grateful that her doctor gave us a different kind of medicine because then after a couple nights of good sleep she was feeling much better.

The other day I brought out some cups and plates for the kids to play with, it was cute because Rose E kept rearranging hers and saying "cheese" (take my picture). She told me she was making fish and Walter of course made "train wheels" and a "train steering wheel" that he drove and then
a race car and of course it had to have "a boiler" (spoiler). Then that led to....

this! His car of course had to have roads and buildings. He worked on it for a long time and really thought out all of the buildings, he had "a hospital, school, bank skyscraper, MC Donald's, houses and Daddy's work." Lots of cars have seen those roads since!

Finally, I took this picture of Rose E at lunch today thinking she may be wearing more food then she is eating! She had a bath after this one because it actually looked like she was growing noodle hair! She sure loved those noodles though and couldn't get enough of them (so glad she is getting that appetite back). Her big meal accomplishment lately has been that she is not using a sippy cup anymore and is doing quiet well with little spills.

Yesterday we did some grocery shopping, I had to laugh because most of the things that I put in the cart she would say "this this" she would hold them and take off the price tag (thinking they where stickers) and then chuck it into the back of the cart(where her poor brother was sitting) saying "throw" and move onto the next thing. Such a sticker queen, gotta love it though at least it kept her entertained and Walter survived the trip with no major bruises or bumps!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit!

This weekend we decorated for Christmas Walter was sooo excited about everything and followed Jeff around. He was his little helper and said "daddy isn't it nice that I'm helping you?"
Rose E loved digging through all of the boxes of decorations too. She is just fascinated with the tree. Well, I should say all Christmas trees. Today at church she was checking one out for the longest time saying "pretty" and "light" and "ball" and then she noticed that the tree skirt had glitter on it(it was made that way) and said "uh oh mess!

Here they are putting on ornaments.

Walter really got into the garland he and Daddy decorated the house as well as his bedroom and he came up to me and said "Me and Daddy decorated my bedroom with garlic (garland) and bells!"

Walter's other masterpiece decorated with "garlic and bells" also.

We found a Santa hat and reindeer ears and Walter, oops I mean Santa has been filling our stockings with toys. While we are on the topic of Santa, Rose E now recognizes the big guy and says "Santa" "ho, ho, ho." However, Santa came to their playgroup party and she stuck to me like glue anytime he was near her but then when we left the building she said "see ya Santa."

Like father like son; like brother like sister

Jeff brought home his matchbox train set that he had played with as a kid from his parent's house and Walter has been in his glory to say the least! He has spent hours playing with it and just loves the fact that his Daddy had played with it as a kid too. He told me yesterday "I like the layout so much that it makes my muscles want to build more."
This week I also made up a batch of play doh, which the kids just love, anyway I was thinking that I should share the recipe so here it is:
*1 cup of flour
* 1 tablespoon of oil
*1 cup of water
*1/2 cup of salt
*2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
*food coring (optional) when I taught Head Start we would also add things like pumpkin spice or jello to go with our theme

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. Cook over medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture forms a ball. Knead until smooth. Store in a covered container. Happy playing!



Little Miss Rose E has rediscovered her brothers Thomas sandals(Walter loves these sandals too but doesn't seem to mind because he has bigger and better train things to worry about now with his new layout) and has been wearing them morning, noon, and night for almost a week. A couple of days ago I was heading out to the grocery store so tried to switch them out for boots (to keep her toesy warm) anyway she was just not a happy camper about it(I even tried to let her hold onto to them) and she cried all the way to the grocery store and kicked off her boots any chance she got. I got into the store with a kid who had nothing on her feet (everything else got tossed into the parking lot) and thought at this point her feet would have been warmer with the sandals! Oh and now all of her socks have turned blue!
She is definitely getting a mind of her own these days! I have to laugh because lately when I say something she doesn't want to do such as change her diaper she runs and tries to hide from me (thinking I can't see her standing in the corner of the room). Though she has a mind of her own she is still as sweet as a button. She is saying practically everything now and is even putting some sentences together. Most of her words are pretty clear but a few of them such as Walter's name only we would know what she is saying. So Walter now has a new nick name and it is "butter" because that is what it sounds like when she says "Walter." Walter of course says "No mine name is not butter it is Walter" and I tell him that's because you make our hearts melt like butter (but it still doesn't work).

Everyday her imagination is coming out more and more too. She dug through Walter's art supplies and decided to put all of these items onto the table. Then she lay ed her baby onto the tissue as a bed, wrapped her in lace as a blanket and fed her a bottle. Next I watched as she decorated her finger nails with glue caps. These kids just blow me away sometimes. Oh and one more funny thing is that she loves the song "this little Piggy" so I asked her what a piggy says (she can tell us what quiet a few animals say now) and she said "mmm (yummy)!"

Sending Happy Birthday Wishes to My Mom and My Sister Jenny this weekend!

My videos on this camera always turn out a little dark but as you can hear Walter and Rose E are singing "Happy Birthday" and when Walter decided he was done he ran out of the room and Rose E who was sitting in her booster seat said "down down bye bye."

Hope everybody had a good Turkey Day!

Rose E went up in the world as for she decided it was time to graduate out of the highchair and join the other kids for our yummy Thanksgiving meal! After the meal was done all of the kids got into playing Lego's, I took this picture of Rose E joining the crew. Walter has been really into his Duplo blocks lately so I wasn't surprised that he sat there for a long time and worked on his "airplanes".

This picture was taken on Friday, the kids where all dressed-up because they got their picture professionally taken with their cousins (they actually got them all to smile at once). Then afterwards we went to Mc Donalds and when we pulled up Rose E said excitedly "fries."
Friday night we walked to see Santa whom arrived in the firetruck (in the picture Ariel and Walter are waiting to see Santa). Rose E was definitely more into the firetruck than Santa as for she screamed when we walked away from the fire truck to sit on his lap and then screamed when she sat on the big guy's lap. Walter though bravely went up onto his lap and said "I want Geo Trax for Christmas." However, Rose E now does recognize Santa. Tonight I read her Twas the Night Before Christmas and she said "Santa" when she saw a picture of him and when I said what does he say she said "ho ho ho." I asked Walter where Santa lives and he said "somewhere where he makes lists."