Recreating the image...

The top picture is from when Big Brother was a baby.  It was his first time meeting his Papa.  There is something special about the photo that I can't quite desrcibe.  Maybe it is the 3 generations of men who share the same name, maybe it is the look on Papa and the proud Daddy's face, I am not sure.  When Papa came to visit I thought it would be a great time to try and stage the picture with his first granddaughter. Well darn, we had the wrong person holding the baby!  Note to self -- look at the original image before trying to stage the photo.

Lowe's Build & Grow

For weeks now I have been trying to get Big Brother into one of the Saturday Lowes Build and Grow classes.  It seems that the one at our local Lowes is always full and it just hasn't happened.  A couple of weeks ago the Mr. took the boys to the hardware store mid-week.  An older gentleman at the store thought the boys were super cute and wanted to give them something.  He came back with two of the police car sets that were going to be made the following weekend at the Build and Grow class!  My boys had so much fun putting together their cars and they love the blinking lights on top of their cars.  They are so proud what they were able to do.  

I have tried signing up for 3 more classes at Lowes and they are all full!  What gives?!  My good friend, Tracy, informed me though that you can just show up at the store and see if they have any no-shows or try to see if they have room.  I think we might do that in a few weeks.  The Halloween Monster Truck looks pretty awesome! 

reading their directions

hammer time!

the open mouth really helped Little Brother with his hammering! 

It has to be healthy, it's a salad..

I think I have mentioned before that I have a slight addiction to Pinterest.  My primary interest there is drooling over fabulous looking recipes and photos of food/desserts.  I think I may gain a few pounds every time I look at the site.  If you value your figure then stay away from the food (especially those deliciously evil desserts) on Pinterest.

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a "Snickers Salad".  The woman who posted the recipe described it as similar to a caramel apple and I was hooked.  See, I haven't had a caramel apple since before I got braces (umm that would be pre-8th grade folks).  The day I got my braces on I told my mom that my big treat after they were off would be to indulge in a caramel dipped apple from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  For some reason it never happened.  In the ummm 15 or so years that have passed since my braces were removed I have walked past the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory numerous times and always admired those delicious looking apples.  I never have purchased one for a multitude of reasons.  I think next time I visit my Mom that she should treat me to one! --- Now back to the salad --- When I discovered it consisted of only 3 ingredients, apple, a Snickers bar and Cool Whip, I knew I had to try it.  With Big Brother's peanut allergy and the fact that I am trying to avoid nuts while nursing, I decided to substitute a Milky Way in place of the Snickers.

Snickers Salad (or Milky Way if you are like me) -- try it, you won't be sorry!!!

1 apple diced into bite sized pieces - you should try to use Granny Smith but I only had Gala in my house and I was desperate for a sweet treat!
1/2 milky way bar chopped into pieces (refrigerate it for ease of cutting)
1 heaping spoon-full of cool whip

Mix ingredients into a bowl and enjoy.  This served one, just me.  I am sure you could share it if you wanted but I did not.

Painting Fun

This week was the first week I didn't have help when taking Big Brother to school.  It has been a little challenging getting Little Brother to actually leave the classroom when it is time to go.  He actually sprints in the door as fast as possible to gain a couple of extra minutes of play time.  I wasn't planning to send him to school for two more years but I think we may have to send him next Fall anyway.  

This week one of the activities at the tables was painting with a Matchbox car.  I knew that this was something that Little Brother would love to do so I put the idea away for a rainy day.  Well -- we have had a ton of rainy days here lately so we had time this week to work on this project.  It kept Little Brother's attention for about 40 minutes.  He made at least 6 paintings.  Easy and fun little rainy day activity.  :) 

lots of fun until he decided to taste the paint.  yick.  thankfully it was non-toxic!!

Happy 1/2 Birthday!!!

I saw this idea on a blog somewhere but I honestly cannot remember where.  It is a celebration for your child's 1/2 birthday.  I thought it would be so much fun to start this tradition and something that our kids would love and look forward to in the future.  For Big Brothers 3 1/2 birthday we made one half of a chocolate cake and had pizza -- his choice.  He was super excited and everyone enjoyed the indulgence!  No gifts, no party, just fun times as a family, celebrating his life!

A few things that have started recently:
1.  Negotiations - he always tries to negotiate a few more minutes of tv, his favorite game, time at the playground, etc.  If you say we are leaving in 3 minutes, he chirps back "how 'bout six minutes"
2.  "I think I love you a bunch." This has to be one of the sweetest things I have ever heard!
3.  He insists on wearing khaki pants at all times.  I am not sure if his jeans or any other pants will get any use this fall.
4.  He loves to run and has to be wearing his super fast shoes.  He calls Little Brother's shoes "super slow shoes" since LB can't keep up just yet.
5.  He gives kisses to his sister every night before bed.

Best Friends

Chances are if you ask Big Brother who is best friend in the whole wide world is that he will answer with a quick "Daddy!"  About a week before lil sis was born we went out to a local park and took a half million pictures.  We were attmepting to get a few belly pictures and I really wanted a few of me with the boys before life totally changed.  I think that most of those images ended up being big fat failures but there were a few pictures in the bunch that I will treasure forever.  This picture of the Mr. and Big Brother makes my heart melt.  

our goal was to feed the ducks that day but the ducks were not interested in our bread...not at all. 

I actually felt great at this stage of pregnancy (one week to go) but looking at this picture now I think I look really uncomfortable!!

First Day of School

This past Wednesday was Big Brother's first day of school!  He is returning to the same school he went to last spring and has many of the same classmates as well.  He is so excited about school this year!  I haven't gotten to do the drop off yet since I stayed at home with Little Brother and Baby Sister this past week, but from what I am told it has gone very, very well.

We really talked up school the past couple of weeks and told big bro he was SO big and got to go to school and have fun this year.  He was trying to run out the door the morning of his first day.  I hope he has this kind of enthusiasm for school for a very long time!

Introducing...

Welcome Emily Kate!  

9/3/2011 - 11:58AM

6lbs 15oz - 19.5in

First of all let me say that life is fantastic!  Emily is such a good baby and the boys are adjusting so well to her being here.  She has only been here a week but it seems like she has always been a part of our family.  :)  Here is her birth story. 

On Saturday morning we headed to the hospital at 7:15 for my induction.  When we arrived the sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a very pretty day.  Got inside, hooked up to my IV, answered a million questions and finally started on the pitocin.  My nurse, Laura, was absolutely wonderful.  We basically just sat around waiting for my doctor to arrive and decide what she wanted to do as I was already over 4cm dilated when we got to the hospital.  

Around 10:15 my doctor showed up.  She wanted to break my water immediately but I knew based on the experience I had with both Ryan and Owen that I wanted the epidural first.  While we were waiting on the anesthesiologist to show up we heard some loud crashes outside.  I thought it was the garbage man but in reality it was huge thunder claps.  Next thing you know the power went out.  The anesthesiologist arrives around 10:40 or so and there is minimal light for him to work in while putting in the epidural.  He gets it in within a few moments I start feeling numb --- on my right side.  They have me lay on my left side and say gravity will take over.  Around 11:15 my doctor shows up again and I am still not numb on the right side.  Mr. Anesthesiologist was quite busy that morning and wasn't able to come back.  Around 11:25 my doctor checks me -- still 4cm and decides to break my water and heads out again. 

11:30 Laura, the fabulous nurse, gets me all comfy and says press the call button if I feel any pressure and heads out of the room.  11:35 - OMG holy moly my left side is killing me.  I have an uncontrollable urge to push.  The pain on my left side was something I had never felt in my life.  I really thought I was going to have the baby before the nurse even came back into the room.  I push call --- Laura comes running back in the room and can't quite believe what I am telling her.  She checks and says I am over 9cm and starts scrambling trying to find someone to give me some more drugs and trying to get my doctor back into the room.  She tells me just to breathe and no matter what do not push.  For the next 15 minutes I breathe through contractions and focus on anything other than the urge to push.  Finally another anesthesiologist comes in and gives me some sort of magical drug.  I don't know what it was --- but it caused me to lose all feeling in my lower body almost immediately, feeling that didn't come back for almost 6 hours.  

It is sometime around 11:50 and I have relief.  My doctor is rushing to get her delivery gear on and they are trying to find someone from pediatrics to come in and turn on the baby warmer.  11:57 -- everyone is ready and my doctor tells me to push.  I push two times and she is totally out.  Jeff quickly cuts the cord, I realize that we indeed have a beautiful (and tiny) baby girl!  OMG!!!  They take her over to the warmer to do whatever all it is that they do and weigh her.  I am in disbelief that we had a child less than 7 pounds!  I am in disbelief that she came so quickly.  I am in awe at the amazing blessings that God has given us.  

so thankful that both of our Moms were able to be here!!!!

we are home!!! our little party of 5! 

little brother absolutely adores his sister.  He is always right by her side.