Little sweeties!

This boy has been such a sweetheart with his sister lately. Today before nap time he said "can I read to Rose E?" Then he said "I can read by showing her the pictures" and that is just what he did. The other day too at supper he wanted the last piece of bread so he tore it in half and said "I'm going to share it with Rose E."

It was cute because just out the blue a couple of days ago he said "when I get older I am going to have 72 horses and 4 dogs." I said where are you going to keep all of those animals and he said "I am going to get a barn and in the winter time when it is cold they will live in our house"(imagine that). For some reason he has been into horses for the last couple of months. When he has a hard time falling asleep instead of saying that he is going to think of trains(which he has done for the past two years) he now says I'm going to think about horses. He also now has some pet fish (that are made out of pieces of Popsicle sticks) they live in a pitcher in our bathtub and he periodically checks on them. Yesterday he said "mama can you open the shade in here so that they know it's morning time?"

Hats off (or I should say on and off) to this girl! Such a fashion diva! She also is turning out to be a little copy cat when it comes to her brother. Yesterday I let the kids do some painting, at first she wouldn't put on her smock(thinking it was a "bib") but when she saw her brother wearing his she asked for hers back. Then she started to paint on white paper and when Walter asked for green paper she said she wanted "green paper." To top it off Walter was of course painting train track and mountains and once Rose E heard that she pointed to her painting and said "paint, geo trax."

Adios amigos!

I do believe there is a fence under there somewhere!

Yes, haul it away please! We watched the loader yesterday load this dump truck up with many loads of snow, I felt like saying keep on coming, if you look closely our fence is pretty much buried on this side of the house. At least though the temperature hasn't been as cold. The kids I and I went for a couple of walks this week and it felt so good! For one of the walks I put Rose E in the backpack carrier and it was cute because she wanted me to tell her what every building and everything was and when there was a word that she didn't know how to say she would whisper it to herself until she could pronounce it, oh and when we would see people she would say "whose that?" Leaving the people with a little chuckle. I can tell that Walter comes from a family of train fans! It is funny to hear him use the train lingo in everyday words. He has been into comparing things a lot lately (patterns and sizes) anyway as we where heading out the door he said "my Nike's(he's been itching to wear them) are the same scale (size) as my boots." Everything is also "coupled up" instead of connected too.
This is where I usually find this girl as I am cooking! She loves to go into my pantry and pick out food and say "I want this" or close the door while she is inside saying "I'm hiding.....peek a boo." A couple of days ago she hauled out a little kids metal tray and used it as a foot rest while watching me cook. She also thinks it is so funny that their is still baby food in their (I never used it all up because I made a lot of her food and then when I tried to use it up months ago she wouldn't eat it) anyway she proudly carries it around the house saying "baby's."

A ride down memory lane.

This picture didn't turn out the best but it was with the best of intentions. Today would have been my Grandfather's birthday leaving me thinking a lot about my Grandparents and how sad I am that they aren't around anymore, especially now that I have kids of my own. So anyway, I decided that on the Birthday's of those special to us, who have passed on, we would share some memories so that our kids can know a little about them. So Walter helped me make one of their(my grandparents) favorite deserts, dump cake, and then we ate our special desert and looked at pictures as well as told stories.

In my later childhood my grandparents moved from Illinois to my hometown in Wisconsin and we saw them nearly daily from then on. They where a big part of my life, I have many fond memories of sitting at their dinner table eating(my Grandmother loved to cook) and talking. During many summer days I would bike to town and then on my way home drop off wildflowers for them and sit and talk for an hour or two (and then many times it would not even be dark yet but they would insist on driving me home- I think just to have an excuse to come over). My Grandpa was always keeping himself busy and loved to putz with things and build things, in fact my first ten speed bicycle was built by him. Anyway, I am grateful for all of those memories and am grateful that I am able to share them with my children, even if they are no longer around.

Reading is contagious!

Chevy now officially fits in with the guys of this household!
Boy does this boy love his books! We hit the jackpot at the library this week, a Clifford book about his Clifford computer game and I think this is going to be a hard one to part with as for he eats with it, sleeps with it and plays with it by his side! His love for books is starting to rub off on his sister too as for she keeps bringing her dolls to me along with a book and saying "read baby?"

Someone at church gave Walter this train hat about a month ago and lately it is also the hot item that accompanies him all day and all night. In the picture he is pointing to the sign on the wall that says "wall." He has continued to want to know how things are spelled, the other day I told Jeff that I must have had to spell fifty words for him. I have to chuckle though with Rose E as for she thinks they are treasures too, that is, sticker treasures! She has been stealing them when Walter isn't looking and proudly wearing them on her shirt. Walter has a pretend dog dish for a stuffed animal and labeled it "water" so she was walking around with the labels "water" and "couch" on her shirt and excitedly said to me "show daddy abcd sticker."

Cheese! This girl is a fashion goofball! She just loves clothes and not just her own! I have to watch when I open Walter's drawers because someone else has sticky fingers! Yesterday all within one day she had worn her own girly clothes with Walter's sweater (two sizes too big) over her shirt and Walter's swimming trunks over her pink pants along with Jeff's winter hat and the Thomas sandals! I should have snapped a picture! She also loves to carry certain clothes all around the house!

Speaking of the fashion queen, she has also learned how to remove some of her own clothing and this is how I have been finding her lately!

On another note, Jeff is feeling a little better but is not totally back to normal yet. He had a scary reaction too to his medicine and broke-out in hives all over his belly. They seem to be slowly getting better too. Poor guy!

Eskimo Greetings!

I took the kids outside the other day, we did some shoveling and playing (not today though as for we had sub zero temperatures). I thought Rose E looked like a little pink Eskimo. We got on all of her winter gear and as she wobbled around in it and said "it hurts" I said "where does it hurt?" She said "everywhere."
These next two pictures don't do justice but we are just loaded down with snow this year to say the least. Our mountains of snow are getting to be quiet the workout for shoveling snow on top of. I guess I am not the only one ready for spring as for tonight Walter got out of bed at bedtime to tell us that if we see the Easter bunny to go to sleep (he just hates it that we get to stay-up later than him).

This is in front of our plowing pile which has grown in size even more since a couple of days ago when this picture was taken. It's hard to imagine this pile ever melting! I couldn't believe it too when we drove past our park today we couldn't even see the playground equipment with the snow banks up so high (and we where even sitting up higher in our surburan).

On another note, Jeff had his doctor's appointment on Tuesday. Everything looked good and he is not supposed to lift anything heavy for another two weeks. However, the past couple of days his stomach hasn't been wanting to cooperate, I pray that he is back to normal soon.

Speaking of praying, tonight I started to sing "Jesus Loves Me" to Rose E and she said "no singing, Amen(and that is final)!"It's so funny how she is getting a little mind of her own these days.

Busy bees!

Everyday Jeff's pain is getting better and better now, although I do worry that he is not resting enough, I swear I am living with the energizer bunny, I don't know how he does it. He has an appointment with his doctor on Tuesday to follow-up after his surgery.
The kids are keeping me busy too. Walter is continuing to show an interest in words and we now have signs all over saying things such as door, wall, calendar, floor, etc. He is really beginning to have quite the heart. The other day I was cutting-up his chicken and he said "mama are you hurting the plate when you do that?" Oh and these two kids are now two peas in a pod! They are playing more and more together, I love it! Lately when I prepare meals Walter has been wanting to play with his trains in his bedroom and Rose E just can't stand to be away from him (he wants her to play with him too) anyway I caught her removing the gate on the stairway and heading-upstairs while he was playing in his room saying "see Walter." We did some shopping tonight and I let Walter pick out some Thomas stickers as a special treat (he picked out some for Rose E too, she was with her great grandparents at the time) anyway we got home and he realized that he had two sheets of Thomas stickers in the package so gave one to Rose E, what a sweetheart!
Rose E is big time into the dolls now! They go everywhere with her. She feeds them, gives them stroller rides and then when it's time for her to go to sleep they do too (in their doll bed). She is just talking away and saying some 4-5 word sentences now. This kid doesn't miss a beat either. I just can't believe the things she is picking-up on. She is pointing out things in books that I didn't even know she knew what they where! Yesterday it was cute because I had the cat in my lap and she dressed her up, put a toy phone up to her ear and said "Chessie hi" and put all kinds of toys in front of her and said "see Chessie." Then she decided to tell her(the cat) where her eyes, nose, mouth, fur, etc. where, she is determined to teach this cat a thing or two I guess!

Jeff's surgery

Jeff's laparoscopic surgery on his gallbladder was a success and he is now home resting. Thank goodness! Today's technology is so amazing to me that an organ like that can be removed and the patient is in and out so fast. The doctor said that he can't drive or lift anything heavy (such as snow) for a week. I know that's going to be a tough one for him especially with the snow we get this time of year! But he'll have too!

Jeff's update

Tomorrow (Monday) is the big day for Jeff's surgery. They will be taking his gallbladder out hopefully laparoscopic (their is a 90-95% chance), the recovery is much quicker laparoscopic. We will both be glad when it is over. Tonight Jeff told Walter that the doctor is going to fix his stomach so that he won't have any more pains and explained that he will have bandages on his tummy. Anyway, I just can't believe what Rose E takes in because a few hours later she lifted-up her shirt and said "bandage, tummy?" I said "Is Daddy going to have bandages on his tummy" and she nodded yes.

Happy Birthday to my big boy!

The morning of Walter's birthday we baked sugar cookies. As you can see we started out a little heavy on the flower (he liked it it reminded him of snow). He picked out train, snowmen and a tree cookie cutter.
The best part of all was tasting them when they where finished!

Here is his official four year old photo.


Here we are at his party. He was so excited for his party this year, floating on cloud nine all day. He got lots of nice gifts- Thomas the train things, art things, a John Deere bank, and clothes.

Here we are with the cake. He spotted this cake at a grocery store and just had to have it because it reminded him of the ranger this summer and riding on the trails.

This picture is out of order but here he is enjoying some of his new toys. We definately aren't lacking in the train department in this household! He added the "Thomas book for some color (it is on the tracks next to the dog). "

And speaking of trains, before the party Jeff and Walter set-up his Geo trax train set in his bedroom, the kids had a blast playing with it. His cousins Kirsten and Cale are in the picture with him.

Some girl time here. I didn't take a picture of it but I made a book that the kids will add to every year at his party about each kid. They drew pictures of themselves, their names, and wrote down their favorite things to do and favorite food, what they want to be when the grow-up and what they got for Christmas this year. They turned out cute, it will be neat to look back at them each year too.

A picture of their cousin Brady loving those cars and trucks.

Last but not least, these weren't taken on Walter's Birthday but I couldn't resist these pictures of little miss fashion queen herself.

Yesterday she was next to me when I took Walter's clothes out of his drawer and spotted these swimming shorts. Anyway, they haven't left her side for two days now. Don't you just love the look and the sandals too of course had to be added to the ensemble. We just never know what her next obsession will be!