Nothing like the feeling of new carpeting on the paws!

As you can see somebody else likes the new carpeting too!! Chevy has been laying and playing on it all day. He has made himself right at home in our home the past couple of weeks. Even though it's still a battle of the sexes between the cat and the dog I think with time that will pass.

Well today I went on another mad mission for socks for Rose E (round three) and came out empty handed): I have searched all over kingdom come and found that all of the baby socks have some kind of elastic in them, I suppose to keep them on. I guess I will have to do some more searching online. We had a fun visit tonight though, Jeff's aunt and cousin Claire where in town (helping Jeff's cousin Wesley move home, he has been going to college here and is done for the summer). Walter was thrilled to get to play with his cousins Kirsten and Cale.

I thought I would also mention a few of Walter's question today since I got a kick out of them. First of all, with potty training we have been spending a lot of time in the bathroom lately and he was looking at a couple of lighthouses that we have on the back of the toilet and he said "mama why there not a sidewalk coupled up to the two lighthouses(coupled up is a train term that gets used in his everyday language quite often)?" He also said today, "mama cars don't grow, why cars not grow?" I swear we should have named him George! Speaking of books, Rose E was cute today as she "read" a book to me and then closed it and said "all done!" She has been looking at several things and saying "that?" too. Her words of the day where "chick", "birdy" and "more" (bird and more she signed as she said them).

Yeah our carpet has been laid!

Yeah (as Rose E would say), our carpet has been laid! It feels really nice to walk on and is a lot quieter. Also, Rose E keeps excitedly signing that she sees new flowers! I added a before and an after picture for all to see (the before picture doesn't do it justice to how badly the steps needed to be covered).

I kept these kids busy today by batting a balloon around, they both got a kick out of it. Rose E also made-up her own game that she played over and over where she would take my hair scrunchy off of my wrist and then hand it to me and wait for me to put it back onto my wrist, then she thought she would get Walter involved too so she handed it to him and said "here." Those wheels never stop turning! Speaking of wheels, lately when she sees a firetruck or ambulance she says "whee o whee o."

Both of these kids have been playing a lot with the toy telephones too. Walter usually pretends to call his Papas' and Grandmas' several times a day. Today I wrote down his phone call to Papa A.J, he said "Hi Papa A.J, good to see you. We playing Thomas trains. Good bye." I kept wondering where "good to see you" came from and then tonight the librarian at story hour said that too him, so I guess my mystery has been solved! He has also been into making-up names for his toys. Today he named two stuffed bunnies "betas" and "Zazas." He was tired today, so I had to laugh because he tried to lay down on the floor and Rose E said "get-up Walter!" Unbelievable! This morning when I was feeding her breakfast too Rose E said "mm yum, yum, yum" (the carpet installer whom she was quite the little flirt with said that to her yesterday). Boy oh boy do they ever keep us entertained!

Coming out smelling like roses!

Here is a sneak peak of the carpet that is being installed in our hallways and steps. I think it is going to look really nice, they should be done tomorrow. I will post a before and after then. This morning before they came I told Walter about the new carpeting but then he didn't know what to think about them actually going into his bedroom once they got here and said "Mama why are there strangers in mine bedroom?" Rose E on the other hand told Chevy "stop Chevy" when he barked at them. I have a couple of little police officers on my hands! I tried to keep the kids busy today with puzzles, games and books to keep them out of the way. Walter was proud of himself for putting this big firetruck puzzle together. He said Nana was driving Papa and Barney to the fire! I also added a picture of our little tomboy playing with Walter's tools. These little tools have gotten a lot of use lately. It was cute because Walter, after seeing the carpet layers pounding all day, decided to take out his hammer and "fix the rug." I also had to laugh because it was too busy for Rose E to nap, so once she finally did get to nap I took her into her room and she said "yeah!" She must have been really tired because it is usually "no, no, no." Lastly, I had to take a picture of Rose E and her bear crawl. I put a dress on her today and saw her almost stand-up as she crawled and I said "Rose E what are you doing?" She replied "this!" She is still going sock less. She broke out from the new socks that I bought for her too (the elastic at the top- they had the least amount off spandex in them out off all the socks I looked at at three stores) I am hoping that I can find some all cotton ones at J.C Penney or online. This little women is one sensitive kid! Her food choices are getting pretty limited too. I now think she is allergic to both wheat and whole grain oat as well as milk. I really do not know what to feed her! But a smarty she is. Today her other new words that she said where "train car," "swing" and "star."

All I want for my Birthday are my two top teeth!

Well, Walter finally got to eat at his favorite restaurant today after church, Pizza Hut! Speaking of eating, tonight with supper he made "steps" out of his cheese. Every time he would take a bite he would say "now there's more steps going down". Also, as long as I'm on the topic of steps I am pretty excited because tomorrow we are getting some nice rose patterned carpeting put down on our steps and hallways. Tonight I said my final good byes to the hard wood floors as I gave them a good scrubbing. I wonder when the next time will be that I will see them again. The carpeting I bet is going to add a lot! It is in dire need.

We discovered today that Rose E now has two teeth popping through on top. That's how she got her bottom two too, at the same time. She also got to stand-up for the first time in church for having a Birthday in the month of May. It was cute because she stood in Jeff's lap and danced as the congregation sang "Happy Birthday". Where did the time go?!? She is getting big too fast! Her new words of the day where "duck" and "ney" for horse.

Shabby chic to chic

Well today we went from shabby chic to chic with our pump organ. A couple of weeks ago we sold this first one, it was very old but no longer worked right and today we bought this one from the church. It is also very old, it works and is in much better condition. Walter had fun with Daddy this afternoon playing on it.

We also had lots of wind with snow today, yes I said snow ugh! Although Rose E peered outside this morning looked at the swings and said "whee" we still made it a puzzle day inside. Walter had fun with a cube puzzle that makes 8 different puzzles and Rose E had fun with her wooden knob puzzle, she kept saying "what this" and she repeated "jelly fish" and "fish." For the first time too she tried to put some back in place (a few of them in the right spots).

I also took a picture of Walter at lunch today. It's funny how just about everything becomes a learning experience these days! Typically when I have been giving him grapes I have been cutting them up, but today he got them whole and boy was that ever thrilling! One of them even had a little stem left on it so he said "mama where do grape trees come from?" Then before eating them he put them into a pile and said they where "pizza hut." What a goof! Never a dull moment I swear. He also kept teasing me all day long because I wore my hair in a rubber band, he kept playing with it and saying "mama has a tail." I suppose the term "pony tail" could seem a little confusing after all!

April showers bring May flowers!

Well today was a rainy kind of day but I kept thinking about the old saying "April showers bring May flowers." Despite the rain we where able to sneak in an evening walk. This boy of mine doesn't miss a beat! He asks about everything! I have been talking about plants lately with him and he even noticed flowers coming up that I didn't notice and would say "what kind of flower is that?" He also saw some worms and said "mama where the worms going?" Oh and too there was a kitten sitting inside a window sill and he said "why the kitty sitting there and not playing in the kitty's house?" I love it though, because it gets us talking about things in greater detail.

This morning did we ever have the sound of music in this house! The kids played with a piano (in Rose E's words a "niano") and a xylophone. Rose E was cute, she would dance and play at the same time. She has really been into those dance moves lately! She also said this morning "doggy drink, all done" and "clock." I got a kick out of her during lunch too, I gave her a small bowl to play with and she took all off her crackers off of her tray and put them into the bowl then she took them out of the bowl one by one to eat.

This afternoon Jeff and I drug the kids to a few antique stores, though we didn't really find anything it was still fun. We also stopped at a new coffee shop in downtown Calumet which was neat because a couple from our church have restored it, it originally was an old car station and they have really fixed it up with lots of charm. Walter was thrilled to have an "nm and nm cookie" and hot chocolate to sweeten up his day!

Wee!

We are pleased to announce that Jeff's brother and his wife finalized the adoption of Ariel! We are very happy for them all and thought about them all day long. We will be celebrating his adoption more on the weekend of Rose E's birthday.

Walter was also thinking about them and made-up a story about him and Ariel. One of his favorite things to do is to take turns making-up stories with Jeff and I and I thought yesterdays was a cute one so I decided I would share it(in the story he came-up with all of the good parts-the people and the adventures). He pretended that we ate with Papa, Nana, Uncle Dan, Auntie Amy and Ariel at Pizza Hut and Ariel brought a car that flipped over on both sides. Anyway, he pushed it back and forth at the table and it landed in someones plate, so Walter took him in his helicopter to the car wash. Then Walter drove him to the park (the one we went to today) and he slid it down the slide and it went all the way over to the museum train track. The train ran it over and the engineer felt so bad that he gave them a special ride in the caboose. Then Walter took it home and fixed it with his Bob the Builder tools! Boy oh boy, does this boy ever have an imagination!

Speaking of the park, I took these pictures today while we played there. Every time we drive by lately Walter has been giving me the report on how much snow is left there and then finally the past couple of days it has been mostly gone so he was thrilled when I told him today we could go. Both kids had a blast. Rose E went down her first slide and every time she would go down she would say "wee." Then she would sign more and say "wee" to do it again. Walter had lots of fun climbing, sliding and swinging. I had to add a picture of him on the merry go round too because he saw it and said in great excitement "mama what is that big wheel?" Then it was cute because when it was time to leave Rose E started to cry. Also when we got home she was trying to tell me about it by talking about "wee" and then when we went for our usual walk tonight she kept saying "wee" too. I think she was asking to go back. I can not get over how many words she is saying! The past couple of days when I am done reading a book she says "the end." She also said "ring" (stacking ring), "please" and "good night" to Walter tonight. Yesterday, it was neat because I played a little game with them where I tossed balls into a container and when I tossed the first one in she said "yeah."
Lastly, I posted a picture of Walter and Jeff next to our train crossing sign. Jeff gave it a fresh coat of paint today and it really turned out nice.

Mama's little monkeys!

I've found that the simplest little things can entertain for hours! Today after Rose E was all done eating, (as you can see in the picture she has rice cereal all over her face) I had to work on lunch for Walter, so I stuck a small spoon inside this empty container and she had a blast drumming on it and shaking it. Walter on the other hand, kept saying "Mama that garbage that not for Rose E to play with." He can't understand why I give her spoons and measuring cups to play with too. He'll laugh and say " Mama that for eating with not for playing!" Funny thing is it doesn't seem like that long ago when he was entertained with these things too!

This little girl is just talking-up a storm! She has been waking-up saying "Mama?!?" Also, Jeff had to work tonight, so I brought her with to story hour and she asked "wheres Daddy?" Then later in the evening when Jeff came home he was taking off his tie and she said "whats that Daddy?" He said "a tie" then she repeated "tie." Earlier today too, I was singing 5 little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed with them, Rose E was having a good old time jumping as I held onto her and then when the song was all done she said "jump" (asking to do it all over again).

Walter found his entertainment in some pretend tools today. Mr. fix it said that we had a major problem that there was "a crack in the track" in our kitchen and dining room so he had to use a whole array of tools to fix it. Which reminds me, if there is anything that I struggle with during the day such as something that I can't open he'll say "mama Daddy will fix it when he gets home."

He also surprised me today as he came up to me and said "hey Mama, house rhymes with louse." Then I would say a word and he would make-up something that rhymed with it. These kids just amaze me!

Weee!

I promised Walter the other day that I would take this magnetic alphabet leap frog toy back out, so this morning I put it back on the refrigerator and he decided to rearrange all of the letters into a "7-up abc train" (he made a 7, well a backwards one and then made them go up). His thinking just blows me away sometimes. He has definitely been into arranging and sorting his toys and things in certain ways lately. Even in his sticker book he has started to arrange the stickers into lines. This alphabet toy apparently set his mind onto letters too because then later he told me he was a "fast and slow train moving in (not circles but) o's" as he ran around and around. He also told me that the letter K looked liked it had bunny ears.

Another cute thing that he said to me today as I was washing his hands and he was studying the water coming out of the faucet was "is that a waterfall mama?"

Little Miss Rose E has apparently taken on her brothers longing to be "big"too! I had been giving her a sippy cup with water in it after her meals and now she has discovered that what Mommy drinks out of is a whole lot more fun. She is just fascinated with my drinks and once I give her a sip she just keeps on asking for more. In the picture she has her bonnet on because I let them eat out on the porch today, Walter was excited to have "a picnic." Then afterwards we played outside. It was in the 60's! It was cute because Walter gave Rose E a full blown tour of our yard as he pointed out grass, trees, the fence, his slide, etc to her. Then when Rose E saw the swing she started to kick in excitement and said "wee." I couldn't believe it especially since it has been a couple of weeks since she has sat in it (she is usually napping when Walter and I go out to play)! She is saying so much! Today she said "pacifier" and "giraffe." She also started to sign tree and hat.

Uh oh who turned out the lights?

Walter had his first day with no accidents today while wearing his big boy underwear and even went potty for the first time in a public restroom at church. I also had to laugh to myself because we paid a visit to the restroom in the restaurant that we ate lunch at too and he was completely fascinated with the soap pump and had to me ask me all kinds of questions about the mechanics of it. He certainly is our little Curious George. Sometimes I think that I should write down how many questions he asks me in a day. We had a gorgeous day here today and he spent the majority of the afternoon with Daddy outside helping rake, picking up things and playing. It is cute to watch him with Jeff, he takes out his little shovel and rake and copies every little move. He is also our little jokester! As I was getting him ready for bed he kept closing his eyes and saying "uh oh who turned out the lights?" Then he would start giggling.

And for our little Rose bud I don't think she could be any sweeter! She has been hugging me the past couple of days. Yesterday when I took her out of her highchair she gave me a hug and then this afternoon after her nap she hugged me too, I just love it! Speaking of when she got up from her nap, when I went to change her diaper she told me "no, no, Mama!" She has been using "no, no" a lot lately. She will look at a cord in the kitchen for plugging in our train head light into the wall and she will say "no, no." I also think she is cutting another tooth. We can see it in her gums but it hasn't poked through yet. Anyway, she woke-up the other morning at 6:15 a.m crying and saying "no, no." Then last night she was doing the same thing when she was suppose to go to sleep, poor girl.

Miss Rose and her 11 month pose!

It's hard to imagine but my little Missy is 11 months old already! Each month I have been trying to take a picture of her with her blanket that we took her home with from the hospital. It's funny how now that she has grown so much, the blanket seems smaller! This is the first picture for her month to month pictures that she had to have a toy with her and surprise surprise it is one with a string. This morning she had fun digging through Walter's bin of wooden blocks. She would find one, examine it and then toss it behind her. Walter and I have been playing a game lately where we stack them up for her and she knocks them over. She is also digging the whole practicing to walk thing now. She just cruises around this house with her push toy! Her words of the day where "candle,"" Chevy"and "ouch". We ran errands this afternoon and she just ate-up all of the attention that little dimple smile got her!

I had to take a picture of Walter's words on this little magna doodle that he was drawing on this morning too (this little one is suppose to be for church since he has a big one he plays with too but as soon as I put it in the church bag it mysteriously gets taken out and now that it has become one of Rose E's favorite toys too I just gave-up and let them play with it) anyway, he held it up and said "look Mama me drawed love you too Daddy, Mama, Rose E, Buster and Chessie." He has been into writing lately and how things are spelled. A couple of days ago he asked me what "mama" starts with and then asked Jeff to write an M for him and tonight he asked me how "Walter" is spelled. Today and yesterday he was occupied for a long time putting stickers into his sticker book. I had to laugh because I got some free stickers in the mail with pictures of different countries on them and as he put them into his book he said "look Mama me put the crunchry stickers in mine sticker book." He also said another cute thing today on our way home from our errands as we passed the museum and he said "the trains are sleeping in the shed, Mama what do you think they are dreaming about?" I said "I don't know Walter, what do you think?" He said "umm maybe playing outside with two Soo line trains."

High fives to Walter and Cale!

Yes!!! Or as Walter would say ahus! Yesterday Walter found out that his cousin Cale is potty trained and that was just the nudge he needed to get potty trained himself. For quite awhile now we have been working on potty training him and he has been going 3-4 times a day on his toilet but still going in his diaper too and now he is saying no more diapers and hello big boy underwear! We even ventured out of the house today first to shopko and then to Papa and Grandma's house and he went for the first time on the big toilet. Yippee!

Speaking of going to Papa and Grandma's house, I posted a picture of all of the kids(Walter, Rose E and their cousins Kirsten, Cale and Brady) there this evening with Great Grandma. We celebrated her birthday (which was yesterday the same day that I found out that I was pregnant with Walter 4 years ago). It was a nice get together. I enjoy watching their imaginary play together. Tonight they pretended to have their own restaurant courtesy of Grandma and Papa's pretend dishes and toys used as food. Rose E played with a ride on toy, she had fun pushing it around and showing off with it as she zipped around the room.

Monkey see monkey do!

I snapped a picture of my bare footed babe today, we have been keeping her socks off as much as possible the past few days because she has broken out on her ankles. At first I thought that I didn't rinse her soap off good enough during her last bath but now we suspect that she is allergic to the nylon spandex strip in her socks. Last night I put a pair of small socks on her so that they wouldn't irritate the broken out spot and lone behold she woke-up broken out in that spot too. So anyway, I am now on a mission for all cotton socks. I made a run to Pamida this evening and didn't find any, I'll have to do some more searching tomorrow. Speaking of allergies, I am suspecting some food allergies too. She has been breaking out in rashes on her belly and I think I have narrowed it down to milk and either whole grain oats or wheat. It has been hard coming-up with things that a baby with only two teeth can eat without those ingredients in them. I am hoping that she will eventually outgrow them. I am still nursing her and so far what I eat doesn't bother her. Thank goodness.
I took the kids to playgroup this morning. I had to chuckle because Rose E was stuck to me like glue after having a babysitter last night. At playgroup she found a wooden lacing card and carried it around the most of the time we where there. She has been into things with strings lately. Walter has this small magna doodle and it has turned into one of her favorite toys (you just never know what will entertain them)! She is a little monkey see monkey do lately! When we got back from playgroup she was rubbing her eyes and I said "Rose E are you tired?" She said "not tired!" Then I came downstairs where Walter was with Jeff and Jeff was asking Walter the same question and guess what he said "me not tired." Every day it is just blowing me away with what she understands! I found a cat stuffed animal for her to play with and said "what that?" She said "kitty." Then I saw our cat and I said "whose that?" She said "Chessie." What a little smarty!

I also added this picture of Walter outside today, a lot of our snow has melted and he was thrilled to get outside and play. Today we played some football I worked on teaching him how to catch the ball, he loved it. He was also very excited to play on his "playground." He said "mama playing on mine playground is fun." I had to laugh because I showed him how to climb up his rock wall and then I went down his slide and as I slid down he said "woo." Then I realized I had been saying that for him. We also had fun exploring the different buds on the trees and plants it will be fun for us to keep tabs of everything as it blooms.

A night on the town.

Tonight for the first time in six and a half months we left the kids with a babysitter at our house. Rose E wasn't too sure about it at first and cried (which made it really hard to leave) but was eventually fine and Walter was pumped because he had a new playmate and got to watch cartoons. We went out to eat (it was such a strange feeling without any kids especially when it was time to order, we are so used to ordering kid friendly food to share) and then went to our first meeting about the home tour. Jeff wrote-up some information about the history of this home and how our garage was used as a horse livery at one time. Sometimes I wish I could look back in time and see the different families that have lived here and what the house looked like then. Anyway, we left the meeting feeling like hitting those antique stores full speed ahead.

Walter was Daddy's little sidekick again today. Jeff and his dad are looking at buying a ranger four wheeler, so Walter was thrilled to go with them to check them out this afternoon. He also helped Jeff rake. He loves feeling all grown up and just idolizes his Daddy. Today he noticed that his onesie tag has a picture of a baby on it and was just appalled. He said "mama me not a baby why there a baby on mine shirt?" I also figured out the mystery of why he said "me just want the snow to go into a cave" he was referring to the storm sewer street drains that the water has been flowing into as the snow melts. He is so observant!

Rose E did some more practicing at walking today. She absolutely loves her push toy that helps her walk and has been doing laps from our dining room to the kitchen. I had fun watching her wheels turn today as she played with a magnet on the refrigerator too. She would drive the little magnet truck to the edge of the fridge and then take it off, put it back on and start the whole process all over again. She idolizes her Daddy as well and has been saying "hi daddy" and "hi chessie." She also tried to say giraffe and sign banana today.

The ten pound floor!

This morning Walter was walking around and measuring things with Jeff's measuring tape and he told me that the floor was "ten pounds." He also had a good time helping Rose E playing with her stacking rings, she got a good lesson on colors and small, medium and large too. We spent the afternoon shopping and on the way to shopko he saw an U.P.S truck, he said Papa A.J drives one of those and he delivers freight. He sure can be impressive with his lingo sometimes! Speaking of lingo, Rose E picked up a new word today "dirty" (Walter and I had a long conversation about why and how the outside of the van got dirt on it). It was also cute because on the way home from the grocery store Rose E figured out she could reach a paper bag and was trying to rip it and Walter said "mama stop Rose E" as I was driving, then she said "no, no, no" and stopped touching it. Sometimes I forget how much she really understands! Walter had story hour this evening so I decided to pick-up deli meat and make sandwiches for supper to make things easier. Anyway, Jeff asked Walter what he wanted with his meat and cheese (mayo or butter) and he said syrup! Boy do these kids ever know how to sweeten our lives up!

Me getting bigger and bigger

I thought this picture that I took today of Walter wearing my shoes would be pretty appropriate since he has been saying lately "me getting bigger and bigger" and that it fit after the night we had with him. Several times last night he woke-up screaming and when we asked what was wrong he said "me sick." So Jeff and I would sit with him in the bathroom and snuggle with him thinking it was his belly. Then eventually it came out that it was his feet that hurt (he was screaming and crying so much that we couldn't get him to say much, poor guy) he must have been getting growing pains. Anyway, since 4 or 4:30 a.m this morning he has been fine.

Boy has this boy been into the questions lately! Last night he said "mama why the moon in the sky?" Speaking of night time, lately he has also been pretending that his toys are asleep and then he says "cocka (doodle) doo" and they all spring back into action. What a character! He is still using Daddy's belt as a train too. Today I was thinking about how he drives it around and then it gets parked in weird spots like next to the dining room table and how embarrassing it could be if someone stopped by and spotted this thing in some of it's locations!
Another thing that made me laugh today was, we where sitting at the dining room table and he started to rock in his chair so I said "walter stop." Then I said "why do you need to stop" he said "because me might open mine head!" I just love the way he says things sometimes!

Rose E is loving her new found freedom with walking behind her push toy(Walter has named it the "juice car" because when she isn't using it he is using it to pretend to deliver juice to the kitchen with it)! She visited every room downstairs today with it. She also played a lot with a pull dog. Her new signs are bird and telephone and she is using the expression "all done" a lot now. Today before taking a nap Walter picked out a book to read and it was a little too long for her so she closed the book while I was still reading it and said "all done!" Then when she woke-up from her nap I went into her bedroom and she said "all done." It also sounded like she said "hi Daddy, love you" this evening. Talk about a little cutie!

All aboard!

It was an interesting day indeed! Well actually an interesting lunch for the most part. After church we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant and I left the place wearing more food than I ate (literally)! The waiter was a rookie in training and when he was loading-up our dishes (for 8 people) they all came sliding into my lap, luckily just missing Rose E and sending food flying everywhere. My clothes where a mess which wouldn't have been so bad but the owner (who saw it all) and the waiter never apologized or anything (I couldn't believe it). To top it off the waiter dug our bill out of the food all over the floor and handed it to me as food was dripping off my sleeve. We came home and had to throw all of our clothes into the washer (hats and jackets included). Luckily, as far as I can see the stains came out(I take it back I am bummed because I just discovered my favorite hat of Rose E's is ruined, shucks).
Thanks to my awesome hubby, I got in a much needed nap this afternoon. Walter and he played and worked on boy things while Rose E and I snoozed. Anyway, when I woke-up I discovered Walter and Daddy (and some stuffed animals that someone at church gave to the kids today) had been taking train trips from our living room. I snapped a picture of Walter inside his pop-up tent driving Daddy and Rose E to Papa's house (if you look closely you can see Rose E in the passenger car with Jeff). Rose E had fun as she crawled in and out of the doors. Rose E's words of the day today where "Katie" (Jeff and I had the duty of watching the kids in nursery at church today and Rose E was fascinated in watching this little girl play), "hop, hop" (for bunny), "frog" and the funniest one "stinky "(you really discover what words you say when you have little people taking in every word). She also has been saying "all done" when we finish doing things. Today it took me by surprise as I finished changing her diaper she said "all done." What a sweetie!

Hot digity dog the bathroom painting is done!

Hot digity dog our bathroom painting is done! Jeff and I just finished cleaning things up and putting them away. After taking everything out and then back into two rooms I thought, man I can't imagine moving right now. It is amazing how much stuff can be in one room! Anyway, we are pleased with the end results and think that it made a dramatic change! The top picture is a before and the other two are afters! Jeff also added a shelf on top of the vanity, I will post a picture when we decide how to add our nautical touch to it.

Walter, Rose E and I also went to Walter's friend Cyrus's house today for a play date. Walter loved it, Cyrus is into geo trax trains too and I had to literally pry Walter away when it was time to leave. I also added a picture of Rose E with her static hair. Even though it is still pretty thin it has started to get a little thicker in the back and curl up on the bottom, it is also coming in a light brown color. Walter told me today that Rose E came from the doctor when she was born. He has also been into doing his own reading (looking at books and making-up his own story) Rose E said the words "pizza" (that what we had for supper) and "hit on" (this morning she had a mark on her head and I said did you hit your head on your crib and she said "hit on"). She is beginning to understand so much and looking at things when we talk about them.

Did somebody say it's April?

Well, this morning we woke to a good amount of snow on the ground. After looking out the window you'd never believe that it is April! By tomorrow it is suppose to accumulate up to 2 feet! When Walter got up this morning he said "Mama theres' snow, why the snow not melting? Me just want the snow to go into a cave(I guess he thought it hibernates or something during the summer)." They predict 60 degrees next week but it is pretty hard to imagine at this point! Even though it was a bit snowy, Walter and Jeff still trudged through it and walked to the post office this morning and It was well worth it in Walter's world for he had received one of his magazines. He had lots of fun reading about the animals in it and doing all of the activities.



We showed Rose E today how to stand-up behind this toy and lone behold she just took off with a great big smile on her face! Then she practiced walking holding onto our hands between Jeff and I. Lately when I leave the room she's been saying "mama, mama?" Today I had to laugh because Walter was telling Jeff something and Jeff said "oh no" then Rose E said "no, no, no" then a little bit later I went to feed her supper and as I was setting her in her high chair she said "no, no, no." So needless to say I just gave her a snack in my lap and postponed her supper a bit. She also looked at a book today and said "pigs" and "doggy." Her favorite books right now are the ones that have lift open flaps and the baby signing ones. Last night it was the cutest thing because Walter fell asleep early, so Just Rose E and I went for a walk and on our walk she started to sing the Abc's to me. She would sing "Abcdefghi" and clearly say most of the letters, then we took turns singing it to each other.

I also, took a picture of Chessie. We took the cutter out of our porch and put it into the dining room and Chessie has now claimed it as a bed. She looked so cozy in it today I almost wanted to curl up with her (even though these kids sleep through the night most nights a full night sleep is not always guaranteed, Walter got-up three times last night for a drink of water and to use his potty, plus Jeff and I have been staying -up too late after they are asleep. I keep looking in the mirror and thinking some day I will look and my eyes will not be blood shot but on the other hand it goes way too fast and I know I will miss it when they get bigger).

Dining in style

Yippee, our dining room is done! Jeff and I stayed-up late last night getting it back into order and now it is sparkly clean and doesn't seem so plain anymore.I included a before and some after

pictures.

Walter and I went to playgroup this morning. He likes to play with the toys there and I think it is good for him to learn how to play with other kids.

Things are never dull in this house! Right now Walter is playing with Jeff's belt and of course it is a train, the buckle is the caboose and it is traveling all over our room under pretend bridges (my chair) and tunnels(the bed). Last night he was looking into the cats room (where she eats, sleeps and has her litter box) and he said "oh know Chessie's room have dark in it." His expressions sure do make us smile! Another expression that I hear all day long is "What Mama just say?" Rose E kept her Daddy busy last night while he fed her supper, she kept throwing a toy fish on the floor and saying "uh oh." When I came into the room he told me about it and she held-up her fish for me to see (she understood exactly what we where talking about). What a couple of goofs!

Peek a boo!

This morning Walter said "mama me want the camp(cabin) to give me mine toys back" then he listed all of the toys that we left there (his memory is sometimes scary, he hasn't been inside the camp since this fall). Then it just made me long for that warm lake superior sand espcially after we got more snow today!

I snapped some pictures of my other two babies playing peek a boo! This afternoon I covered up some toys of Rose E's and as she would take the blanket off I would say "peek a boo" then she had fun covering herself up and giggling as she took it off and waited for me to say "peek a boo." Our curious cat also decided to join in on the fun as she reached her paw under the door and played peek a boo too in her own way before making her grand entry. The kids got a kick out of it and Rose E kept saying "kitty kitty."

Rose E also started to say "all done" today when she was done eating. It was funny because at breakfast I gave her her vitamin after her meal then I tried to give her a drink of water to go with it and she kept saying "all done, all done" and pushing the sippy cup away.

Lastly, I took a picture of Walter playing this Thomas game with Mommy and Daddy this morning. We played three games and then he played with it for hours afterwards setting-up track and playing with the trains. A true train man indeed!

Sending Hugs Ariel's Way on His Day!

Today is a special day, for it is Ariel's Birthday! We have been blessed with having him in our family since July when Jeff's brother and his wife started the process for adopting him( the adoption will be final this month), he is from the Philippines and we think he is a great kid!

In the home front:

This morning when Walter was playing with his foam cars and a road, he assigned a car that Kirsten, Cale and Ariel (his cousins) all drove to Papa's house and on the way to Papa's house a train derailed and got "hurt," so he fixed it by putting a band-aid on it. The motorcycle also got hungry so he took it to the gas station to eat. Then he played with a little fire station. He built burning train stations with his blocks and then pretended that the truck was rushing over to put the fire out.

Rose E had a good time opening and closing the door to the fire station too especially since the siren went off every time the door opened. Walter and I also played a game where we pushed a truck back and forth to her and it produced lots of giggles. Her words that she worked hard at saying today where "deer" and "hurt". She also acted like she was reading a book to me by turning the pages and making her voice go up and down. Speaking of reading, Walter had his story hour tonight at the library, he just loves it because his good friend Cyrus has been coming too.

The singing all out of batteries!

Walter was playing with a boat, toy fish and train this morning, he said the boat was on it's way to American Idol (which surprised me since he hasn't watched that on t.v in a long time) so I said what is the boat going to do at American Idol? He said "dance." Then he lined up the boat, train and fish and said they where at American Idol, so I asked if he was going to sing for them and he said "no the singing out of batteries!"

We spent the afternoon building with foam blocks and mega blocks. We made a train station, a tunnel, a bridge and a light house. Then Walter laid down his Thomas track and drove the trains around. He really got into it and drove his frog over in a car to the train station to buy a ticket and then put his frog onto his train. He also drove his boat around the light house. Rose E had fun too, she got a kick out of knocking over towers that I built for her. She also sat for a long time drumming on the mega block container and emptying the blocks out of it.

I am very excited because our dinning room now has it's first coat of paint on it. We went with a color on the top, a color on the bottom and a stripe chair rail height. It is going to make a dramatic change! I will post a picture when it is done.

Walter and his coat of many comments!

This morning I grabbed this new coat out of the closet on our way out the door to Sunday school and had no idea it would cause such a raucous! Lately, Walter has been preferring to be called "handsome" instead of "cute"(he associates cute with being a baby for some reason) and many people then called it cute! So on the way home he kept saying "me not cute me handsome train boy Mama."

I also snapped a picture of him playing with these foam shapes. He wanted to help me clean-up my Sunday school classroom (I teach kindergarten and first grade) today after the lesson and after helping for awhile stumbled across them (well actually they stumbled onto him as he pulled them down from a shelf and they brightly decorated the classroom floor). Since I was done using them for my lesson I let him bring some home. Again that creativity blossomed, as circles became cheeseburgers, triangles became pizza and of course squares and circles became trains.




Last but not least, I took a picture of Rose E. I brought out this water mat today since she has been drumming on her tray lately. She loved it, in fact twice I thought she was done playing and tried to take her tray away and she clung onto it for dear life!

She also tried to say "no, no" today. It was cute because she grabbed a cord and Jeff said "no, no Rose E." Then I brought her upstairs to change her diaper and clothes. As I was putting her shirt on it got stuck on her noggin and she got mad at me and it sounded like she was saying "no no." Then when we got it on we practiced saying it back and forth while she turned her head to signal no.

Amen

Today we spent much of the day out and about. I am pumped because we went to Sherwin-williams and bought some paint for our dinning room and down stairs bathroom. I think some fresh paint will really finish things off and add a nice punch of color. When we moved into this house most of the walls where white and slowly but surely we have worked on changing the look with wallpaper and paint. We also ate lunch at perkins and I found it cute that Rose E was singing to herself and dancing while we waited for our food. She also got her first taste of french fries and boy did she ever like that! I also thought it was cute that Walter reminded us to say a prayer before we ate. Speaking of praying, tonight when I said Rose E's good night prayer she ended with "amen." She is copying so much now! This evening when we went for our walk she imitated the sound of dogs barking and also likes to imitate us when we cough and clear our throats.

These little hands!

Last week I was looking at these tiny little hands and they all of the sudden seemed a little bit bigger and it was just mind boggling to me how fast she is growing and changing. In this picture she was goofing around with her Daddy. Oh how she loves that Daddy of hers. When he is at work she will sometimes look around and call "daddy, daddy" and when he walks through the door she just lights up and says "daddy!"

Back to the subject of her hands, she has now started to hand me things and push things out of her way.

My goofs!

A couple of silly pictures of my goofs! For Walter it's all about the tag! Since he has been really little he has found comfort in his tag when he is tired (these days it's hard to get enough sleep in this boy, especially now that he doesn't nap, I've found that if he goes to bed after 8:30 p.m he is tired the next day because he usually wakes up at the same time every morning regardless of what time he falls asleep). Last night he fell asleep at 9:00 p.m so he was feeling that little tag all day long. The trouble is that a lot of the companies are now going tagless (which is good for me since I am starting to get allergic to mine but bad for him) maybee I'll just have to start cutting mine out and sewing them onto his clothes! Even though Walter was a bit tired we still had a fun day. He found a bucket full of bugs, reptiles and fish today and played with them for most of the day! We also brought out a tonka truck (I was blown away because he hadn't played with it in months and said "look Mama it say Tonka.") Anyway, he sorted the animals and then pretended that the truck was his friend Cyrus's and that Cyrus was delivering insects, turtles, frogs and a cat to Papa and Grandma's house (I'm sure they would be thrilled to have all of those animals visit there house)! Rose E then had fun signing each animal and dumping them out of the container. We also went outside, since we had another nice day, we found a small dry patch on our driveway to draw with chalk. Walter loved it. It was also cute today as I was getting him ready for bed he closed his eyes and said "who turned off the lights!"

Rose E was making this silly face all day long and it would make me laugh. I snapped it of her making it while crawling she has been crawling since December and boy is she ever fast! Today her new word was "buzz" (you can probably guess what we talked about all day long). This morning when I came into her room she couldn't wait to sign to me that she noticed the flowers on her walls (her wallpaper). I wonder how many times in a day they make me smile or laugh!

A sign of hope!

We had a 57 degree day today! Woohoo a sign of hope after all. I took the kids for a long walk this afternoon, Walter was on the hunt for tracks made out of mud and snow and was able to find quite a few (bunny, dog, people, cars, etc.) while Rose E was on the hunt for squirrels but didn't see any. Walter also has been very interested in road signs lately so we had to stop at everyone and have an in depth discussion about it. He is getting to know what a lot of them say or mean. When we got home we ventured out to our burried "playground" in our yard. Walter's swing was still too buried and the slide still had snow coming up it but Rose E was able to get a push in hers. As long as I was in front of her where she could see me she was thrilled! She is turning into our little chatter box! She is saying "shoe," "egg," "eye" "whats that", "Walter","hi", Daddy" and lots more now. Both kids have been into singing too. Walter likes to make-up his own songs especially ones about trains. Rose E has been doing the motions and trying to sing lullabies. Although, a few days ago I heard her singing to herself "la la la la".

I also decided to add this picture of Walter. This morning we helped him set-up this race car puzzle and boy did he ever have lots of fun playing with it! He had a car for himself, a car for me and then vehicles that belonged to people who weren't here. The other race cars where Cale and Kirsten's (his cousins), Uncle Matt drove the firetruck, Papa drove the ambulance, and Auntie Jenny drove the tow truck. Then he would come up with different situations such as a broken battery during a race and these people all came to his rescue. It was very cute. This boy has quite the imagination! When we where all done playing he said "mama you happy?"(he has been talking about feelings lately after listening to a story at story hour about feelings at the library, I have to smile because now when he gets in trouble he will say "mama me sorry me not want mama to be angry!")