"We don't go pee in the garbage can"

I honestly NEVER thought I would have to say that to my 3 year old....or at least not until he was under the influence one night in high school! LOL...Seriously, I did some stupid things in high school, but never pee'd in the garbage can...Here is the conversation we just had:

Me: "Luke, did you go pee-pee in the garbage can?" completely bewildered and still trying to figure out exactly what the yellow liquid was in the bathroom garbage can.
Luke: "I don't want to tell you"
Me: Now, knowing for sure it is pee and it is his....."Why would you do that?" "What made you say hummmm, maybe I will pee in the garbage can today?"
Luke:"I didn't say hummmmm." "I don't know" (I have to remember he is 3, so rhetorical questions do not work well yet...)

So, yes he pee'd in the garbage can, still not sure why, but he does know that if he does it again he will be in trouble. Oh and he had to help me clean the garbage can and the floor-(since he is 3, he still missed probably 1/2 of it!)

It's like Christmas....

In April~ Luke was so excited to wake up to snow this morning! This is the first time that was giddy with excitement to go out and play in the snow! It was adorable listening to him in his room peeking out his window and realizing it had poured down the white stuff! Mommy and daddy are just happy that it will not be sticking around too long, we are very ready for Spring!

Mick and Luke- the camera focused on the gutter (brown thing on right) rather than my 2 boys...

The boys and Sarge

Luke making snow balls!

Seriously.....

Can there be anything cuter than this??!! OMG I love this little tiny baby girl sooooo much! She was totally striking a pose for the camera the minute I got it out!

Friday Favorite thing

I love when my babies first wake up and they are all warm and snugglie and want their warm milk. They are so calm and quiet and trying to wake up and it is so nice to get to sit and watch them without them running around like crazy. So here is our morning routine. Get up, move to the couch, get warm milk for each baby and then watch a show. I love being able to stay home and enjoy this quiet time with my little ones.

Egg time!

Luke and his friend Jameson colored eggs this morning whiule Emily napped. It was super fun and the boys loved it! The funny thing is that I have more dye on my fingers than the boys! Jameson loved the yellow and orange dye and Luke loved the green dye~ The boys were very nice tho and even made some purple and pink ones for Emily!

Here is the result!

Finally my turn....

Here is Emily in her cowgirl outfit. Sorry for the delay, the camera died after I took these 2 pics, so I had to charge the batteries so I could get them off the camera. Emily's pink boots are so much fun! I can not wait to see her walking around in them with a little skirt on! Her dress is a bit tight, so my bro's girlfriend is exchanging it for me when she goes to see my brother in about a week. I will post more pics of her with her new outfit on when we get it back!

Someone went to Texas

Grandma Chris, Aunt Jamie and Uncle Mat, went to visit Uncle Mike in Texas and here is what they came back for Luke! Too cute! I will post pics of Emily in her pink cowgirl boots and dress later!

Where is your mom?

So the kids and I walked to the park in our neighborhood this afternoon about 3:30. I thought it would be packed with kids, so I assumed we would only stay about 15 minutes before I was ready to leave. When we arrived there were only 3 kids on the playground on this beautiful day. Luke rode his bike and I pushed the stroller with Emily in it. When we got close to a table I parked our stuff and we headed over to the swings. Before I knew it there were 3 young kids all over Luke's bike.

Now, I am all for sharing, but these kids just came up and assumed they could climb all over it! Luke was rather upset about it, but I kept re-assuring him it was nice to share his things with others. At one point there were 2 of them climbing on it (mind you, Luke is 3 and his bike is a little pre-schooler bike) so I told them it was only for 1 child. As I started looking around for these kids mom (they were siblings) I realized she was sitting in her parked car on the other side of the park! Now, these kids were probably 2, 4 and 5...maybe! Seriously, she was sitting in her car! I was looking around for her for a bit of help in handling in the situation...should I make Luke share everything or should I have let him decide? When we go to the park and Luke wants to play with something I tell him he needs to ask the owner of the said item. I was expecting their mom to do the same....

Mick says, I should have stood my ground to these kids and told them no, but then there is part of me that wants to teach my kids to share and be nice, but I also do not want my kids to feel they have to all the time....how do you teach a child to be nice and share, but not get walked all over?

Super Sweet Saturday

Today was a great Saturday! The weather was awesome, sunny and upper 50's! We had a huge to do list of things to get done in our backyard, but before we started we had to make a quick run to Target. I broke my sunglasses last night and had to replace them before we spent the day outside. We were back home and ready for some serious yard work by 10am. Luke and Emily loved spending the day outside, getting dirty, and making a mess! Mick cut down 2 trees in the back yard, cleaned gutters, spread grass seed & mulch and planted new plants in the back and front. Luke had a great time searching for worms and digging big holes. Emily was so thrilled to be outside exploring, and climbing on her slide. I raked the yard and spread mulch and kept an eye on the kiddos (alot harder to do than it sounds!) Once we got both kids down for nap, we made some serious progress. After nap we cleaned up and went out for ice cream! Then we came home and cooked out on the grill, the kids had hotdogs and Mick and I had awesome steaks. Oh so yummy! Unfortunately after dinner Emily had a blow-out, so into the tub she went and Luke followed right behind. Before we knew it, it was 7pm and the kids were in bed and we were ready to relax! We are both exhausted, but so happy with how the yard looks, I can not wait to see what it will like next week once the tree removal is completed!

Here are the correct pictures

Sorry, Picasa was being a pain in the butt!! Here are the pics, and you should be able to click on them and enlarge them to see the cricut markers in action!

Hey Cricut users!!!!

So, while at Wal-Mart today I saw this nifty new accessory for my Cricut. They are markers, that you can insert in your Cricut, as then it will trace, rather than cut, the design you want to use. I grabbed a sheet of scrap paper and got to Cricut-ing as soon as the kiddos were down for nap. Here are the results: In the top photo, I choose the word "thanks". Usually the blade would cut the word out, but it just traces the word. I filled it in with a clear glitter pen and now have a super cute "Thank you" card for Mrs. Pam! In the bottom, I decided to use the arrow, the term "you&me" and a tag cut out. I trimmed the arrow a bit, colored in "you&me" with my clear glitter pen and did end up cutting out my tag for the page. It was really easy and I got all this from scrap sheet of paper, so I am happy to be working my way thru that pile of stuff! I am super happy with this new purchase, the package I grabbed had 5 colors purple (obviously), pink, blue, green and a reddish-brown, but not really maroon....kinda hard to describe. They have other packages with the primary colors and a set with just black and brown too. Not too bad of a purchase. Oh and note to Christy ;0) Once I washed my old Cricut cutting board in soap and water, it became super sticky again!!

A little perspective...

A little more than 2 years ago I experienced a miscarriage, similar to the one we are going thru right now. I was a mess, I could not understand why God made this suffering happen to me. I was heartbroken and devastated. I was angry, that young girls not even trying to get pregnant, can have a baby, and then not care for it at all. I was pissed off that drug addicts could "pop" out a baby and again not give a wink to how lucky they were. Things are different for me today.

We had surgery last night after being sent to the ER by my doctor, my surgery was originally set for tomorrow morning, but with my symptoms changing and the pain I was in, my doc wanted to get this done now. I was in surgery last night by 6:30 and home by 10pm. My awesome Sister-in-Law, Kristin came over and stayed with my two completely amazing babies.

I am still sore and out of today a bit, but all in all I am doing pretty well. I realize that if we had not lost the twins I was pregnant with between Luke and Emily, that I would not be blessed with my amazing, beautiful, and incredible daughter Emily. I also see, that Luke is such an amazing big brother to her, and we were given about another year of his growth and maturing before having him take on that new role. I know that Our Father in heaven knew this is how my life at the time would turn out. I was blind to it, but our Lord knew what He was doing, He knows my life and knows the plans He has laid out for me. I am learning to grow and trust in Him more.

I also know that I was able to have a healthy, beautiful baby girl after my last miscarriage and that if I have done it once, I know I can do it again! I am excited to start healing and to enjoy this Spring season with my two amazing children that I love so very much. I know that one day Mick and I will try again to give them another little sibling. I pray that this time, everything goes smoothly and we do not suffer another loss. But I also know, that as much as I hope, and pray and wish for that, there is no promise. Only Our Father sees what is in my future, and I trust Him.

Bad day

Went to the doc today for some spotting, not good news. Did not find a heartbeat. I am set for surgery on Tuesday morning, I can not believe this happening again.

Doctors and Shots

Emily had her 1 year check-up yesterday and she is doing great! Her height and her head circumference are both in the 30th percentile and growing right along. But her weight is no longer on the charts! She dropped down since her last check-up at 9 months weighing in at a whooping 16.2 lbs! She is the 0.47th percentile for girls her age. The doctor did not seem too concerned when I informed him that she eats more than her big brother and now that is walking she is doing non-stop laps around our house. He wants us to call in 3 months and bring her in for a weight check if we do not think she is gaining any more, but for now he says all is fine and she seems happy and healthy. That was the fun part of the visit. The next 20 minutes consisted of me calming down a screaming little Emily who just received 4 shots in her teeny tiny little legs! Then once she was calm enough to sit for a moment I had to haul big brother Luke onto the table and lay across his upper body while he received a follow-up shot that we had missed at the last visit. So then as I am walking out carrying both crying children the receptionist asks if I would like to make the next appt and also pay my copay....uh sure....if I had 3 arms! I distracted Luke with some stickers and was able to get everything taken care of tho, we came home for lunch then all 3 of us napped! Whoosh, what will it be like taking 3 to the doctors????

Some good news...

First- Mick and I had a wonderful weekend at the marriage conference we went to this weekend! The kids had a blast staying with their grandparents over the weekend as well. Thank you again Mom and Steve and Mike and Kathy! We ended up skipping the conference on Sunday morning, this was our 4th year attending, and I was really missing my babies and we pretty much had the conference memorized. So we went to breakfast and bought Em's new car seat and then came home and waited for Mike and Kathy to bring the kids home early. I was soooooo excited to see my babies! Luke was pretty excited to be back home, and Emily gave her daddy so much lovin', is isn't even funny! Her walking skills have improved significantly over the weekend, it was quite a shock! We have decided that we are going to start looking for a new conference to check out for next year, since this one, we love, but have atteneded so many times now.

This morning Mick met me at the doctor's office and we had our first doctor appt. Mark your calanders for October 21st. That is when they are guessing that our new baby will be here! We heard the heartbeat and got to see it on the little screen! It made it much more real feeling. We are 7wks 5 days along in our pregnancy! Still some shock, but also a ton of excitement! The couple that was in the sono room before us passed us in the hall, and the hubby looked at us and said "be careful, they are handing out twins today!" Talk about a real shocker! I am thinking that based upon her belly size that they were there to find out the sex of the baby, not that there were 2! Can you imagine?

We told Luke that the new baby will be here around Halloween time, and he told me that it is Halloween time now, so the baby can come out. I told him we still have a few months, but the baby will be here soon enough. He wants us to have a baby boy this time....what are your thoughts? I am thinking girl, but I could be totally wrong. Mick is thinking boy...I wonder what it will be??!!

Weekend to Remember

Mick and I are headed to the Weekend to Remember marriage conference this weekend and we are so excited about it! We have been every year since we were married, minus one, last year, Emily was born the weekend of the conference, so we spent the weekend in the hospital instead ;0)

When I tell people we are going to a marriage conference, people automatically assume that our marriage is in trouble and needs work, but actually, the exact opposite is true. Who would not want to get away with their spouse, no kids, for a whole weekend that involves a date night, a love letter written to them from their spouse, encouraging words and tips and advice on making your marriage stronger? Seriously, would you wake up one morning and decide to run a 10K race without any form of training or practice...ummmm...NO! Would you wake up one morning and decide to become and amazing chef and start creating incredibly delicious creations without any form of training or schooling? Ummmm....no! So, why would one assume that creating an incredible, unbreakable bond between you and your spouse would not take some form of focus and hard work?

Mick and I have learned something new about ourselves and our marriage at each of these conferences we have attended. The first year we attended we were still in "newlywed" mode, assuming that everything in our marriage would continue to be all peachy and nice. We learned some ways to help keep our marriage feeling fresh and also some things to start thinking about when we decided to have children. The following year, Luke was about 2 months old when we went to the conference, so we were still in "zombie" mode, it was nice to re-connect and take a break from from our new role as "mom" and "dad" and just be Jessica and Mick for a few days. And sleep thru the night! The next year, Luke was about 15 months old, so we were adjusting to life with him quit nicely ;0), but we were also experiencing a very dark time in our marriage and as parents. A week before the conference we had a miscarriage and lost twins that I was pregnant with. That year the conference was hard for both of us when talking about raising children, but also a wonderful place to be, to refocus on each other and pull together during that rough patch. Last year, we were not able to attend as Emily was born the Saturday of the conference, but obviously we were thrilled to be spending that weekend at the hospital! We are very excited to be heading to the conference this afternoon and getting a break from our parental responsibilities and just focus on each other again for an entire weekend! This conference makes our marriage and love for one another grow every year, we hope that as our children grow older, they too see that the fairy tale idea of marriage is just that, a fairy tale, but if you work on making your marriage a priority, it can be pretty darn close to a fairy tale!

Have a great weekend, I know we will!!!

98 cents!

Okay, mom, you were right! I am that lady from Oprah the other day. We talked about this deal earlier, and I said I was not going to do it...but I could not fight the temptation! LOL.....Here are the prices of these items: Granier Fructris hair products on sale 2 for $7. Revlon nail trimmers $2.49, Revlon emery boards $1.49. My total before coupons $10.98. I used 2 $2.00 off Granier Fructris hair products that were from Walgreens and stacked them with 2 $1.00 off coupons from the paper...new total $4.98. Then I used 2 $1.00 off Revlon beauty tools coupons from the paper and stacked them with 2 $1.00 off Walgreens coupons...new total $.98 cents. Not too bad!!!

My Birthday Girl

Here is Emily looking at us like we are crazy, when Mick, Luke and I walked into her room singing "Happy Birthday" with the camera and the video camera...I think she is thinking that she woke up in the looney bin!

Getting a kiss from big brother while opening her presents from mom and dad and Luke

Do you remember the little hospital onesie that they put your baby in the day they are born? The one with the little cuffs to cover their finger nails? The one they basically live in while you are in the hospital? Well, this is the one that Emily was in 1 year ago today at OSF Saint Francis! The funny thing is that the arms actually fit her pretty good! It was a bit short tho in her torso. LOL ;0)