Happy July!

The last three evenings Jeff and I have been staying-up late painting our front porch and back steps. It's time consuming, especially with our fancy spindles but well worth the effort. It already looks so much nicer. Walter is still pumped about the fourth of July! For more than a month just about every day he has been saying is today July? He was thrilled when I told him today that it was the last day of June. He's been spending a lot of time outside and has discovered moths. He found a dead one and said "Mama who died that moth?" Today he was also touching a butterfly and said "I'm tickling the butterfly." Lately too he has been coming-up with words for those who can't talk like the dog, Rose E or his toys. To keep him occupied while we where working on painting I brought out some trucks and a train he hasn't played with in a while. Anyway he took one of them with him to Sherwin Williams to buy some paint and forgot it in the van. When he remembered it was in there he said dramatically "Mama the fire truck is in the van and it is saying I'm lonely I miss Walter and Mama." Such a character! When Chevy watches him eat too he'll say "Mama Chevy is saying I want some of Walter's food."
Rose E has been doing lots of singing. The other day she sang parts to "Jesus loves me" and has been keeping herself occupied by singing "Ring around the Rosie" and then falling down. She's also been singing a song she heard on the radio and the alphabet. Today it was funny because Walter said "mama we need to get Rose E her own potty" so I said she is too little she has to be able to tell us when she has to go potty before we start potty training her and then she blurted out "potty." Doesn't miss a beat! She has also been saying Walter's name on a regular basis. The other day Walter was playing with his puzzles on the floor and walked a way for a few minutes and when Chevy walked by she said "Walter?" Her other new expressions have been "see t.v", "down" (as I carry her down the stairs), and "froggy" (we where reading a froggy book today, there are certain words in it that Walter recognizes and says and one of them is froggy so I would let him say that part and before I knew it she was saying it too).

Jesus miss us?

Rose E has definitely been a little copy cat lately! Today we blew bubbles outside and every time Walter would laugh she would laugh and when he would blow bubbles she would blow torwards the wand too, it is so much fun to watch. She is going to be our little chatter box too, today her new words where "sheep," "house,"and "thirsty. " For a while now she has been singing "Daddy addy laddy" to the tune of Ring around the Roses, so today I sang it and she sat down when ever I would say "all fall down". She is taking several steps at a time now too which has been exciting for us all. Walter never keeps it boring around here either of course. Yesterday he said again "mama Jesus in the sky?" I said "Jesus is in heaven" then he said "why Jesus in heaven?" I said "because he died" then he said "Mama Jesus miss us?" I said "Jesus can see us from heaven." He has been scraping his knees up lately on our driveway when he plays with his cars and trucks, anyway, earlier today he was so fascinated with the fact that his "owie was disappearing" he just couldn't get over how it was like magic. I just love watching all these little discoveries. Both kids have been playing a lot with a toy telephone too, Rose E holds it up to her ear and some of Walter's conversations are getting longer and more creative. I had to laugh today as I heard him pretend to call his friend Cyrus he said "uh huh uh huh okay Cyrus you going to bed, sweet dreams, don't forget to pick-up all your toys, okay bye-bye."

The Skies the limit!

Well we are making it official, at our home tour meeting it was suggested that we make a sign for our yards to let people know that we will be on the home tour and this is what Jeff came-up with. He made the letters a copper color and the background a green color with a green copper tarnished look. It turned out nice and we have seen people looking at it already.

Last night the kids where asleep at 8:00 and we worked until 10:30 on our yard. I weeded our flower beds and even though it is kinda late in the season I think that I am going to drag the kids to the green house again today and get a few more plants. Speaking of flowers, Walter has been quite impressive with his plant lingo this summer! Lately if we are playing outside when Jeff comes home, Walter will show him the new flowers that opened up and say "look Daddy a Poppy" or "look a bleeding heart" and then he remembers the name later. When ever we see any kind of flower he has to know what it is. It is funny taking him to a green house because I end-up reading a lot more of those little inserts than ever before. A couple of days ago he was outside and he looked up in the sky and said "mama what the sky made of" I said "well I can tell you what the clouds are made of." Then I briefly told him about the water cycle. So yesterday we stepped outside and I said "wow is it ever humid out here." He said "what humid mean" I said it means "there is lots of water in the air that we can't see" then he said "mama the clouds are opening up?" What a cutie! Yesterday he bumped his head on something and he said "Mama I don't like the hurt." Rose E been lots of fun too of course. Lately when Walter is done eating she will say "the end" or "all done." Also, when we go somewhere with out Jeff and when we are pulling up to our driveway she will look out the window and excitedly "Hi Daddy, Hi Daddy." Yesterdays new word was sandal and speaking of sandal Walter got a pair of Thomas sandals and the first time we put them on he said "Mama why me not wearing socks" he has something with socks, they must be on at all times.

Fun in the sun!

Boy are these days ever flying by! Sorry to all of you who have been checking my blog with no recent updates. This past weekend I ventured out for a trip to Tomahawk by myself and of course with my two little munchkins. My sister's baby, Colton, was baptized. I posted a picture of him and Rose E posing with their sun hats in her yard. It was a nice trip, we got to visit,the weather was great, and I got in some antiquing too. Little by little this place is coming together for our home tour, the past two weeks we have bought a large old mirror for our entry way and 4 old prints. They seem to add a lot to a house like this. It's been fun having an excuse to finish things up. Walter was of course thrilled to see train tracks and other train things in Tomahawk too. I had to laugh because while we where there the wind was blowing and Walter said "mama turn it off, I said turn what off?" He said "the wind." At this age they think that we are capable of just about anything, I guess. On Sunday after church we went out to the camp with Jeff's brother and his family, Jeff's parents, and his grandparents. The kids loved being with those cousins too. Rose E said "Kirten" for Kirsten and when Brady was going to sleep in his car seat she went up to it and started to rock it, what a little mother hen already! Some of her other new words lately too have been "mamamum" for museum, "playground" and "swing." Last but not least, today I splurged on a dress for the home tour. I have been looking in all of the antique stores and on the internet and have had a hard time finding what I want so I went into the bridal store and purchased this one. I think now I am going to look for an old hat. I have some old pearls, and gloves to go with it too.

Lots of fun!

It's been a fun and eventful couple of days! My mom stayed with us until this morning and after she left Walter said "I'm lonely for Grandma I want her to come back." We did some shopping, dinning out and even got to ride in a trolley! On Wednesday Jeff and I where invited to a luncheon at the museum (as some of you may have seen our picture from that event made the front page of the paper) anyway at the luncheon they had a guy from church transporting with his trolley and afterwards he came over to our house and gave Walter a ride on it! At first when Walter got on it he put his hands over his eyes (he is going through a little shy phase right now) but then once he got into it he loved it. Plus all of Walter's caterpillars turned into beautiful butterflies while Grandma was here, in the picture we are sending them off (the picture is too small to see the butterfly but if you click on it you can see one of them). Of course the kids where entertaining as usual! Walter said a few cute things. First he said "I don't like my body anymore and when Grandma said why he said "because it saying it hungry." Then he was trying to tell us something and his words where getting jumbled and he said "oh come on mouth." By the end of the night he was exhausted but still going strong and pretending to be a frog and he said "my body saying no more work, tomorrow, but I say we jump." My mom said "you better connect with your body" and he pointedto his thighs and said "this body not connect, this body not connect." What a goof! Rose E did lots and lots of practicing for walking. She proudly played with a toy snake and said "sss." She is imitating everything Walter does including counting and singing the abc's (she sings them too when she see the letters) oh and she imitated him saying Ah choo. Today she learned how to sign ant and said "ney" for horse.
This evening then we had Cyrus over and the boys had lots of fun playing outside. ThenTomorrow I am off to Tomahawk to go to my nephews baptism.

Entertainment plus!

What a nice week it has been indeed. Last Thursday very spur of the moment we decided to take a trip. At first we where going to go to Green Bay but then we decided to focus on our house because of our house tour and go antiquing so we ended-up going to Duluth, Minnesota. It was a fun and fast trip. We found a few treasures for our house including a nice old print for Rose E's room. We also went to a boat museum and Walter and Jeff toured the train museum (and rode on a train) while Rose E and I hit the mall. We stayed in Canal Park, which is beautiful. The first day it was foggy so the next morning there was lots of ship action in the bay. I had to laugh because at one point Walter could see a big ship, a helicopter and a train all at the same time. I said for him it doesn't get any better than that! A cute thing he said was "mama those boats swimming?" It was also cute because when we where driving over a big bridge Jeff was teasing and said "uh oh I think the bridge is moving and Walter replied "no Daddy it's the van moving." That night too he shared some cheerios with Rose E and said "mama I'm getting Rose E healthy."

Then we got back on Friday and my mom came to visit on Saturday. The kids have had a lot of fun with her and she has been helping me catch-up on our never ending laundry pile. Walter of course showed her our cocoons and said look Grandma they are raccoons (it has been exciting to watch, four out of the five so far have turned into butterflies already). They where also eating popcorn together and he said "me don't like pine cones (kernels) in my popcorn." He made us laugh too as he was making some cards he said "I am out of breath (tired of drawing). Then yesterday he said "mama who put me together?" I said who do you think he said "Jesus?" Oh is he ever entertaining! Little miss Rose E has been entertaining too! On Saturday she took her first steps for my mom(: She has been on a roll ever since taking 3-4 steps at a time. Oh and speaking of steps she now has a new passion for shoes. When we go places she is as content as can be as long as she has a shoe in her hand. Must be a girl thing I guess. She has been experimenting with a lot of new sounds and a few of her new words have been "door" and "floor."

Walter and his questions!

A busy week for us indeed. Walter has had vacation bible school every night this week and tomorrow we are hoping to go antiquing. Then this weekend my mom is coming to visit until next Thursday. Tonight on our way to church Rose E kept saying "see ya Daddy" and I said "bye bye Daddy" then Walter said "mama there no Daddy's in this van. "It was also cute because Walter has had little assignments to do for vacation bible school, anyway the other day we took a walk and thanked God for five things and then he turned to me and said "mama why God not talk back to me?" Some of his questions are getting hard to answer! He is asking about everything too! He wants to know what company makes everything and recognizes some of the names. He even had me searching one of our strollers to find the brand, Curious George. Speaking of the stroller the other day I got Rose E out of it and she turned to it and said "bye, bye." She also has said "pop" and the letter "g." At vacation bible school too she kept looking around and saying "kid." Also, when the lesson of the day was said in unison the kids would yell out "aha!" It was cute because she started to say it with them too. It's been cold but we still got out the other day to admire our lilacs. The wind had blown some onto the ground and Walter said those one where "resting" then he picked one up and "tickled" the other ones with it. What a couple of goofs!