Little Mama

 Kieran and Svea were playing in Kieran's room the other day.  Kieran had climbed up in his chair and was just hanging out when Svea decided that she thought he needed to take a nap in his chair.  He sat patiently while she propped him up like this.

 Blanket....check.  Pillow...check, check. Paci...check, check, check!

I realize that this boy is getting too old for pacis.  We are working on this ever so slowly:)  Someone is still a wee obsessed with them.  He looks so stinkin' old here!!!  (grown up:)

"Mommy, take my picture"!  This all happened on Tuesday! I had a bonus day to stay home because we didn't have daycare.  Dan ended up taking the day off too at the last moment because he had a weekend filled with hospital visits.  I still took the day because I already had a sub lined up, etc.  It was a great day!  Daddy got work done from home, but at least we were all together, Mama did some laundry and damage control, (toys everywhere) and most importantly we got extra time together to play.  We are so blessed!

Best Buds!

 Svea and Kieran have been having a fun time with these buckets from Gaga.  Simple buckets for their pretend food make for the best before bed festivities!

 They like to stand in them and then fall over.

 So much fun!

 Such a goofy smile from Kieran.  I love it!

 It makes us so happy how much they interact and play together.  They make each other laugh, get on each others nerves on purpose, and come up with simple games like this!

I hope they always have this much fun together:)

Practice Easter Egg Hunts

They are all the rage and Svea can't get enough of them!

At first I hid them for her.  After she would find one she'd say, "I found one goofball"! She needed a little help in finding them and she loved it, but then...

 She wanted to hide them over and over and over.  I'd go looking for them and she'd say, It's over here in the bookcase because I like to read books."  Or, she would just tell me where they were before I could get there.  It was such an exciting event for her!

 It's just little moments like these that I love the most!

Friday Funday!

 Is it just me or does Kieran look SO grown up!  I still love our Fridays together and I love having this day off during the week!

 The kids were playing with the laundry basket and having a good time.  Kieran, of course, kept trying to stand up on it.  He is not afraid of anything. Later on Svea was pretending that her outfit was her swimsuit and she was swimming all over on the floor.  Then she got out two stools so she and Kieran could jump off the edge into the pool.  Kieran tries to do everything she does so he did.  His stool was much shorter and he'd stumble off, fall down, and squeal with excitement.  I love watching them play together and interact.  The other day they were playing dress up with all of the winter hats, mittens, etc.  They have a blast doing games like these!

 Svea has been getting so close to Meeko or "Meeker" as she sometimes calls him.  She makes it a point to go and snuggle and pet him.  Here she's playing doctor with him and if you look closely she's got a cast on his foot, which he could have cared less when she put it on.  She's a good Mommy to her kitty.

Last week was conferences week for me and the 2nd week into Lent for Dan.  It's some busy weeks, but we just keep taking things day by day.  I have to work a whole week (gasp!) coming up.  I take students to a play on Friday.  That's about all that's going on!!

 

Weekend Post

 I'm so creative these days with our posts and titles, but it's a testament to what our lives are like right now:)  Gone are the days of creative titles and thematic pictures!  Gaga came last weekend to see us!! She got to town just in time to go and pick up the kids. Svea was so excited to see her and ran from across the room into her arms!  They were inseparable the rest of the weekend:) Kieran was pretty excited too although I think it took him awhile to figure out what was going on.

 Dan and I snuck off for a quick dinner on Friday night (thanks Mom!) to Zorbas.  It was amazing!  I had a margarita, we ate bad food, had some quiet time to hear ourselves talk to each other, and had a great time!

 Kieran got into taking care of this baby this past weekend.  He would put the baby in its highchair and feed it a bottle.  Here he is giving baby a hug at dinner time.

 And we found Svea's old bunny hat and dressed Kieran up, just because it was funny! 

 He obviously thought it was funny too!

 Gaga brought Easter Egg kits to dye some Easter eggs!  Svea got Hello Kitty and Kieran had Monsters Inc.  He didn't actually do any dyeing with us so we did them for him.  Svea had a blast.  60%  of the eggs fell on the floor and cracked or she ate them right away, but it was the process that was the most fun.

 We stayed in most of the weekend except for going to church.  Dan's friend Amy came to visit us for a few hours.  I set up altar guild, we accidentally watched a movie that made Mom and I cry (I blame Dan) one night, and we played with the kids!  It was a good weekend!  The best part is the weather FINALLY started getting warmer!  We put all of our winter jackets away now and I'm hoping we haven't jinxed ourselves!  Spring is coming!  We can feel it!

Fun Weekend! (Last Weekend)

  We had the best weekend this past week!  On Friday we headed to the cities with the kids.  We had planned on staying with Joe and Andrea and family, but Dan also wanted to watch one of the students from our church wrestle so we headed down early.  We squeezed in a visit to the Children's Museum and we had a blast!

 The wrestling tournament was down the block so Dan ran down for a half hour and came back.  I'm not sure who had more fun though us or the kids at the museum.  It's a toss up:) There are probably six different exhibits, but we only made it to one!  It's called "Our World" and it's a little town.  The first room was the art gallery and the kids built and threw around these weird blue "things".  Svea built this sculpture!

Then they headed to the karaoke/dance room where they could see themselves singing on the screen.  Kieran was the DJ and loved it!  You could push these buttons and change the song.

Check out my big turn table Dad and Mom!

Svea and Daddy performing on the big screen! Kieran loved to just go up there and sit and watch himself or the scenes in the background.  I think this was Kieran's favorite room.  He kept running back to it after we had left it.

Then we headed to the backyard and the kids loved playing in the dog house with the dog!

This kid was giddy the whole time we were there!

Hugs and kisses for the puppy!

Trying to take a picture together.  See the flowers by the fence...You could "pick" those.  We were so proud of Svea, she'd pick a bunch of flowers and then go around and give random people that she didn't know one flower.

Then it was time to head to the kitchen.  They were hungry:)  Svea was so into what she was doing I kept asking her what she was cooking and she couldn't even hear me.  While she did that there was a little tables and chairs area and Kieran was bringing food to the tables. 

 It was just an amazing place to take the kids.  I can't wait to take them there again!

He did not want to stop for a picture.  "Put me down Mom, there is too much to play with"!

And then there was the grocery store.  There was more intense play where Svea didn't hear a word we would say.  At this point Dan had run down the block and I didn't get as many pictures as these two were just everywhere, but it was SO much fun!

Gathering food for purchase!

We'll definitely go again and see more exhibits next time too!

We had pizza with my family, hung out after the kids went to bed, had breakfast in the morning and just hung out, and then went to a community center in the afternoon to play at the indoor playground.  This place was so cool!  It was a jungle gym that went up to the ceiling, but had mesh walls protecting everything.  Dan had to go with Svea because she wasn't quite big enough to climb up everything.  There was one tube slide that Kieran could climb up the mats to and then I would get him situated and then send him down to Dan.  That kid went around and around I bet 40 times.  Both of them were sleeping before I could get my seat belt on in the car.  That is one nice thing about the cities and all of the fun things to do.  Mom and Dad were exhausted when we got home, but it was so worth it! It was great getting to see Joe, Andrea, and the kids! I love it when we get to do stuff like this! 

 

19 Months Old (Late Post:)

Clothes: You are wearing size 18 month clothes.  The pants are too short so they get rolled at least one time and the shirts fit pretty well, although some of them look like a dress:)
Shoes: Still size 3.  We have the 4's ready to go and you are getting close, but not quite yet.  The 4's still slip right off your feet.
Diapers: Size 4 diapers
Sleep: You sleep from about 7:00 at night until 7:00 in the morning.  You nap for approximately 2 hours each day and sometimes more.  You are a better sleeper/napper.
Teeth: 12! You got one more this month on the bottom! 

 

 Traveling: We went to Blaine, MN for one night to visit Mom's cousin's family. Joe, Andrea, Owen, and Lydia Carter.  We went to the Children's museum, played with all of their toys, and got to go to an indoor playground.  You were a NUT and did not stop for a second going up and down the tube slide.  It wore you OUT!

 Talking: New words that you've been trying are Go, Dog, and Go after the book and Nana for banana.  You also love the page where the bird tells the dogs to stop, and you try to say STOP, but it comes out like just yelling at the dogs:) I can't think of any crazy new words that you are using, but you are definitely understanding us better.  You are pointing to things, following directions, and communicating in other ways even if you don't have a word for it. We know there are words you are saying to us sometimes, but we can't always make them out. You still say No, animal sounds, Mum, Dah, hi, and a handful more

 Favorite Activity: reading books, CLIMBING, reading books, tackling your sister, investigating a drawer, playing with your farm and animals, and CLIMBING ON EVERYTHING!

 Favorite Books: Any book will do.  You don't seem to have just one favorite, although you've been enjoying "Go, Dog, Go" quite a bit lately and any of the Dr. Seuss books that are shorter and have rhyme and rhythm.  Dr. Seuss's ABC, Hop on Pop, etc.

 Favorite Foods: string cheese, yogurt, and mainly peanut butter. You love eating it right off of a spoon! You are still VERY picky.  Today for lunch you had 5 bites of applesauce.  That was it...no more:)
Foods Dislike: You will not touch sweet potatoes and the list is too long so I'm not even going to try and type it.  Someday I'm sure this will change....hopefully or else you'll weigh only 20lbs. forever:)
Favorite Songs: You are not a huge song person.  You will dance a bit if we have music on, but so far you aren't into music a ton.

 Dislikes: Diaper changes and getting into your car seat.  You fight both for awhile and then settle down and just except that it has to happen.  You also get very upset when you see the iPad, but it has to be put away.  Also, big sister taking away toys from you is not fun:(
Favorite Word: NOOO...to your sister when you are trying to pull your own weight:) 

 Things we are learning: You are understanding us so much better. When we ask you to go and lay down for a diaper change you sometimes will. You can throw away your own diapers, crawl up on chairs and throw away your own garbage.  It's so much fun right now to watch you soak things up and see the wheels turning in your head:) Just this weekend you were pushing your baby around in the stroller and putting her in her highchair where you'd feed her. Right now you love taking care of babies, which is fun to see you kiss and hug them too! You are finally waving goodbye when us or someone else leaves and blowing kisses.  We thought you could do this, but you rarely, if ever did this.  Now you do and say "bye" at the same time:)

Kieran, we love you so much.  You have so much love and your sense of humor is starting to come out! We love it when you run full speed at us to give us hugs and kisses.  You have a contagious smile and kind bright eyes.  We love you Kieran, just the way you are!