oh, how i LOVE these days!

I love the joy of Lily's laugh!  And Peter's excitement about "driving" and seeing a bus!  Life is so simple for them.  And I get to share in that with snuggles and airplanes and tickles.  Its just SOOO fun!  Can we please freeze the time!!

I did SS with Mike this am (he usually does it alone- Peter's younger 2's class QOW)--- can I just say that he is so sweet and so good with them.  I told him afterwards that he needs to be the daddy of more than just 2 kids b/c he is such a blessing to little ones, such a good reflection of their Heavenly Father and good at pointing them to the Gospel!  (don't read anything into that moms ;)... just a moment & thought about my husband that i wanted to record :) )  my guy is great!  i like him for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that he loves well...   :)

Thought I'd add this pic of Mike's SS class... He was not teaching this week but was still excited to get this pic with "his kids" in it.

I can hardly keep up!

Peter has learned to say his numbers this week and counts everything--- he usually just goes to 6 but I think he knows them to 11. He's really into saying letters too!  And I got my first spontaneous "I love you Mommy" this week!  Occasionally it turns a little whinny- how does he know to do this already?!  3-4 words sentences are the norm now :)!  Life is much easier with communication.

Lily is learning to "Pat-A-Cake".  I took a video today but still don't really know how to upload... I need to figure it out!

Both have had colds this week... :(.  This is Lily entertaining herself at the party on Tues eve- I was trying to deny that she had a cold... No fevers this time for either one so I am thankful.  (Its been 9 months since Peter's last seizure- praise the Lord!!  I am SO thankful! I hope they are behind us.)  You can see Lily's 2 little teeth in these pics...

We had to cancel a trip to Gram's this afternoon to see all of the second cousins so that we don't share the snotties- sad!

More pics from the party on Tues eve for Landon

Catherine

and Jane Martin

Here's the second set of triplets from our small group---

Fields (7/8), Lily (7/6), and Ruby (7/1)

Toothpaste

Peter can find and get to his (or our) toothpaste no matter where I put it (or forget to put it).  He can pull up a stool, climb on the toilet, find it in his bedroom, etc, etc.  He'll get to it.  If I had a dollar for every time, I'd be rich!  It's kinda cute and funny to write about but not so cute and funny over and over and over...  I've asked him if maybe he'd like to be a dentist, but he still wants to be a bus driver.

The Glorious Outdoors

We had to take advantage of the sunshine and warmer weather (upper 40's!) last weekend.  So we headed to one of Peter's favorite places- Meadow Farm.  Its actually one of my favorite places too.  I took lots of pics b/c everything looked so pretty in the sunlight.  I thought these chickens were so pretty in black, white and red.  Peter learned to say "rooster" and "cockadoodle doo" b/c the guy put on a good show for us!

Snow is still on the ground... 3 straight weeks, alto I would have guessed 4!

Peeking in at the pigs... love these 3!

I couldn't stop taking pics of the pretty girl!  Jill made this adorable hat for her!

Speaking of the girl, she's started saying "dadadada" this week! And she's just turned so purposefully interactive, trying to make us laugh instead of us making her laugh, putting her arms up, throwing her head back and laughing!

She and Mike have really bonded too!

Guess who she's gazing up at in this pic...

yep, that smile (and sweet little hand) melt my heart!

and i like to hug his neck!

good times!

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Mike's been working on Bennett's 1st Birthday present.  Peter tried to lend a hand.  His little walking stance in this one just melts my heart too- is it OK for me to say he's a little hottie, like his Daddy?

got my hat, Daddy!

how can I help?!

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Mike's been working a lot in the last week (altho I can't really complain, I've had so much help from the moms plus a fun party last night- pics to come so its really been a good week).  Peter has really been easy lately.  Today was one of the only days lately that he has really had a hard time obeying, said no a lot, did a lot of hand biting (sign of frustration).  Thankfully, we had visitors to be a distraction.  But we did have a little head to head tonight at dinner over vegetable consumption (that is suprising b/c the boy loves his veggies, just not sugar snap peas apparently).  So there had to be some repentance and forgiveness on both of our parts, I was being too strong willed too.  I'm happy for the simplicity of a good read of Baby Dear to make bedtime happy, Peter gave it a big "YE-AH, haha"!  :)

One last farm pic :)!

Out of Commission

We had to re-open the outhouse.  I did some big cleaning at the end of last week and cleaned ceiling fans, etc.  I had Mike hanging a cover on the kitchen fan on Sat.  He "gently" touched the ceiling next to it and his hand went thru.  So we have a hole in our kitchen ceiling.  We thought all was well, just needed a little patchwork but when I came back down after Peter's bath that night, there was a puddle on the floor... :) nice!  So I called Mike in and promptly did a happy dance at the possibility of a bathroom renovation!  He wasn't a big fan of that, not sure why.  He did a little investigating and thankfully, its just the tub (we think) so we can still use the sink and potty.  I am sad because the upstairs bath is our winter bath since our downstairs one is freezing in the winter with 3 exterior walls and no heat (whoever thought that was a good addition).  But I have to admit (to the blog, not to Mike) that I am slightly excited to see what he comes up with (the hard part will be the wait when his schedule isn't my schedule).  He has impressed me in the past with his fix it, repair, problem solving abilities.  He's fixed our dryer for $30 when we thought we may need a new one, replaced our hot water heater (maybe $200? can't remember), fixed an oil leak on our car for <$100 when it would have cost $1,000+.  I'm sure there are more!  I did insist that he hire someone to replace a pipe that drained the upstairs toilet.  I feel like this plumbing problem could be within the DIY boundary since its "above" the toilet pipe.  We'll see what he decides (hopefully sooner rather than later)...  ;)!  Maybe I should go clean the outhouse in the meantime.

I needed that!

Tonight Blair and I went running for the first time since I was 19 weeks pregnant with Lily.  The thought of running has felt like a MOUNTAIN.  It seemed SO overwhelming, so much more so than any other time in my life.  Maybe b/c I have been eating everything in sight (its totally an idol for me) and not having any physical activity excect our occasional walks that have been infrequent lately with all of the snow.  But this morning in a more sane moment, I felt motivated.  It was SO good... we didn't even run that far but it was so good for me mentally.  And I forgot about the fact that running doesn't feel as much like running when you do it with a friend... it feels more like therapy or an anti-depressant.  So I am thankful for that "easy" run and that the mountain seems a lot smaller in my mind tonight.  My body may pay tomorrow but hopefully, the endorphins that were released can take care of it.

And for dinner, I made some super easy burritos :) so that was nice to come home to.  I'd had one at The Tavern that I really liked so tried to replicate it... it was just jasmine rice, black beans and fresh spinach (sauteed with garlic in olive oil), then salsa on top.  So yummy!

Tickle Time

Lily is so much fun!  She stayed up with us one night this week after bedtime.  It was a little milestone in that it was her first tickle session with Mike.  I so enjoyed it!

No video to go with it, just these pics... during the laughing tickle session, she was sitting with me (on my end of the couch after these pics were taken) and Mike kept getting her with his feet and she would cackle, cackle (Mother Goose, have you any feathers loose?).  Then she'd grab his feet when he wasn't looking.  :)  Our sweet girl, I just love her!

Things about Lily...

 * she reaches up for my face or hair while I am feeding her (and takes breaks to coo at me)

*she loves to pull her legs up and then kick them down while she's getting changed

*she squeals and cooes the sweetest sounding "ahhh's"

*she's learning to "jump" when she gets excited, she'll do this when you are holding her upright and in the jumper

*she says the consonant sound "g", this week we've heard a "k" (maybe even "kitty"- I know that's stretching it ;)
*she could win awards in the 'sit and reach' (I think she is curious like Lil Sr, seeing and wanting to pick up the pennies on the floor)

*I feed her 5X day, she has solids once a day

*she takes 2-3 naps

*she sleeps from 7:30pm until 5-6am, then eats, then goes back to sleep til 8:30 or 9am.

I'm sure this is so boring to anyone other than me but Lily's hair is starting to grow back on the back of her head.

Here's a pic from December (isn't that bald spot cute?!)...