Not me, but Jansen sure does. Here's Jansen having free reign over our neighbor's dog. SO FUNNY! Jansen would try and get as far away from us to prevent anyone from taking away the leash. Jansen sat on this dog, pulled his tail, and hugged it to pieces. Thanks Brandon for letting him love your dog! And Reesa is getting so good at riding a bike. She's learned how to use the brakes, and can even go uphill.
man my kids LOVE to be outside!
AND I about had a heart attack when I came in the room and saw Mitchell like this...I thought he had bruises all over his face and I was sick! I left the room only to answer the door, but with Jansen around... I started thinking the worst. It only took a minute to realize Whitney had come over and left her mark with lip gloss. We couldn't stop laughing.
The best mom award goes to...Me!!! See even Jansen agrees with his Thumb's up!
What do you have to do to get this award? Take 4 screaming kids, drive them for over an hour in the car when you get home give them PINK heart shaped Krispy Kream donuts and they LOVE you!!! I never want to forget... that I rarely get a moment by myself. When I sit on the computer, it's considered a break to have Jake hold Mitchell, and I ONLY have to have Jansen on my lap, and Reesa trying to find her way there. Here is Jansen trying to make me "color" on his paper. Just another day, I'm sure glad these kids love me!
Jansen LOVES preschool 100%. He takes off running to his class the moment we get in the school doors. He prefers to play alone and doesn't really like to play with other kids. In fact if someone comes to do his activity, he'll move to another one. He's SUPER good at puzzles, and has mastered our 24 piece jigsaw puzzle. It's SO CUTE! He's now making lots of vocalizations, but no real words still. He takes your hand and leads you to whatever he wants, ie food, toys, or TV. He LOVES wind-up toys, having his back rubbed, and his blanket (which he NEVER leaves without a fuss). He likes things to be in order and will line objects tallest to smallest. He is so kissable, and has the chubbiest cheeks. His teacher just emailed me this photo, and it's the first one where Jansen is actually doing something normal, so I thought I would blog it.
Oh I just love this cute boy!!! p.s. Although Jansen is holding this brush in his right hand, we think he is LEFT HANDED. He eats lefty, and will usually trade things to put in his left hand if you place it in his right... my dad and sister are both leftys...
I came into the kitchen the otherday to find this... Reesa loves Mitchell so much, she can't stand to be away from him. and of course when she saw me she knew I would ask her to MOVE, so she tried to hide.
Jansen turning his head AWAY since I asked for a picture. What a STINKER! Don't worry, 20 pictures later, I got one.
oh, scary teeth!
And here is Jake's idea of babysitting.
Reesa loved it
Mitchell fits too
Come on, he is so DANG cute!
I had to include this picture of Jansen, being Jansen!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The time is getting closer to our family making our decision about where to live FOREVER! Yuck, doesn't that just sound hard, scary, and daunting? I find myself crying when I think about moving across the country and leaving behind good friends, and all the rich history found in the east. So I find myself wanting to cherish every moment of where I'm at now. I want my nieces, and nephew to remember how fun it was to have us like less than a mile away. I want everyday to count. I want Reesa and Jansen to have wonderful memories. How can I do all that???
Chelsey had her birthday and since we couldn't celebrate with her family, we had a little birthday lunch with my kids and Brinley. Chelsey is a wonderful sister and friend, who will drop anything she is doing when you really need her. I hope you know how much we love you Chelsey!
Merry Christmas! Christmas was SO FUN this year! I didn't put any presents under our tree until the night of the 23rd, so I wouldn't have to try and protect them from Jansen. (Reesa went to her cousin's house and came home and asked me why we didn't have ANY presents under our tree, I felt a little guilty) I also decided not to use any bows, since I had so much wrapping to do. I was a little sad about that, because I love a beautiful present, but this year it seems has been about survival, so why change now, right? The only pictures I got are from Christmas eve, and you can see our pathetic Christmas Tree. My dad kept saying we needed to throw out our Christmas tree because it looked like it "needed to be fixed by the grinch." Jansen knocked over our tree a total of six times this year, and by the end I hardly bothered to put back up the ornaments. Really it looked so sad..., but I had to stop caring! Our tree has lasted 5 years, and I think we paid less than $20 bucks for it. Maybe next year well get something Jansen proof.
My parents came out to visit and it was awesome! They stayed the night at Chelsey's house Christmas Eve, then came over to our house Christmas Day around noon. We just let our kids play with their stockings and waited for my parents to open our presents. WOW, was that a great idea. Our kids had so much fun with the smallest things, and it really felt like they had time to appreciate things. We also we able to enjoy breakfast and not feel rushed. I loved it!!! I hope we can do Christmas at noon ever year. Mitchell never quite looks like he knows what's going on, but isn't he cute? The Gregory's came over to our house for Christmas dinner, and since my mom pretty much did everything, it was very low stress, for me at least... thanks mom. Again I'm so sad I never got a group shot. Here's the closest to one. (Dad, me, Reesa, Tyler, Mitchell, and Rylee) And even though this picture makes my dad look like an aging man, doesn't Mitchell look so happy all snuggled up with his pop first thing in the morning? Fun things we did; Went to the theater and saw Sherlock Holmes, played our new board games Dominion, (thanks Aaron and Laura) and Ticket to Ride Europe, (thanks Chelsey and Aaron) went to the YMCA almost everyday ate WAY too much candy. Got lots of mail!!!
Thanks everyone for all your Christmas cards and gifts. We had a great year, and hope you did too. It's always so fun to be around family. I'm so glad my parents spent probably their first Christmas away from home to be with their girls! We loved having you here.
Something so magical happens when you get snowed in. It's like the world stands still and nothing else matters. You put your life on pause and play in the snow for TWO days straight! Dad made a snow fort for Reesa to play in Jansen didn't really like being out in the snow because he was too cold! So the second day we got smart and duck-taped his gloves on so he couldn't pull them off. I wish I had a good picture, but it was so funny, and Jansen LOVED being warm, and was so much happier. We borrowed Larry's sled and pulled the kids out on the road. We ended all the fun making a gingerbread house. The best part was Jansen eating the candy pieces faster than we could put them on. His entire side of the house was swept clean. I think this house took us less than 10 minutes to make (thanks to a box kit) and it found it's way into the trash the next day. I LOVE making these, but I don't really think I wanted any help! Jake had to keep reminding me it was for the kids... What do you like best about snow days? Any fun activities you did?
It all happened so fast! Reesa turned 4 and we threw her a party. SO FUN! We had 13 little kiddies come (mainly from her primary class) to help celebrate. Nothing fancy, but these kids loved everything. We played hot potato waiting for all the guests to arrive, ate pizza and carrots for lunch, played corn hole (modified bean bag toss), decorated snowflake ornaments, ate cake, opened presents, went home.
I took pictures of everything but NO FACES appeared. I should have just had everyone pose for a group photo on the fireplace like my dad did at EVERY birthday party I ever had.
Reesa was so fun to sport all her cute gifts! She loved 'em.
I love this picture of Reesa and Olivia. It makes me think of Reesa as a little girl who has friends. ha ha, she's just my baby!
So here's pictures of everyone eating eating, and more eating.
My favorite; Reesa singing happy birthday to herself. Who wants to just sit there and listen? And Brinley the classic cousin, helped Reesa understand everything about a birthday. The cake Dianna Cardon told me to make as the easiest birthday cake. I couldn't believe what a hit it was, and it really did only take 10 minutes! (As you can tell.) Thanks everyone for coming, and all the sweet birthday wishes. Reesa really felt special and we all had so much fun.
Jansen sat on this dog, pulled his tail, and hugged it to pieces. Thanks Brandon for letting him love your dog!
And Reesa is getting so good at riding a bike. She's learned how to use the brakes, and can even go uphill.
man my kids LOVE to be outside!
I thought he had bruises all over his face and I was sick! I left the room only to answer the door, but with Jansen around... I started thinking the worst. It only took a minute to realize Whitney had come over and left her mark with lip gloss. We couldn't stop laughing.
Night time bed routines
