Menards

This weekend Ryan and I have had no kids. Most husbands and wives without kids for a weekend would find tons of things to do with each other. We just so happened to think that Menards was a great place to spend our Saturday alone. Everyone was making fun of me for this at work on Friday but I was super excited. We are 28 weeks along and need to get things moving along in Dash and Sammie's room. Get them use to their new sleeping arrangement before Ali comes. Well, we(mostly me) have been tossing out ideas for the last 2 months of how we want the bedroom to lay out. I kept coming up with new ideas, meaning new problems and one annoyed Ryan. So this weekend we were able to talk, communicate, think, plan, and purchase what we wanted for the kids room. Now all these things are possible with the kids around, but if you have 1 you kinda understand, but when you have 2 or more kids shopping with you, it makes this task very difficult. It is at this time we would normally not understand each other, get frustrated and give up! So with out the kids we were able to have a wonderful time thinking and working as a team! Thank you Grandma Kitty.

Not only were we able to get EVERYTHING we needed for the bedroom, but we were also able to get the paint for the basement walls. We had to take two trips to Menards because we couldn't fit everything in our carts nor in the van. Now we just need to find the time to do these projects!

Now, about Menards, we were able to experience the NEW HUGE Menards that just opened. It is two stories. Wide isles, moving walkway(like a flat escalator that you and your cart can go up and down) and if you don't want to use the walkway there is a glass elevator inside. This is a place we wanted to check out kid free so when we do need to go with the kids we are not stressed out from the store alone! I am sure Menards was thankful for us this weekend as we dropped A LOT of money on the two projects! Thank you Uncle Sam :)

Dash's Prayer at breakfast

This was Dash's prayer this morning,

"dear Jesus, thank you food. Thank you Isaac(isaac doese) play basketball. Amen"

Dash has really been missing his friends this week. We just watched a video on facebook of Tyler, Caralynn, and Isaac singing happy birthday and every time we watch a video Dash gets so excited to see his friends that we have to watch the archive of videos on Gretchen's facebook.  He is always asking to play with them and go to their house. At Christmas time we had gotten their card and in it was a picture of the kids. We posted it on his bedroom door and every night he says good night to all three! Yesterday we went shopping for Isaac's birthday present, thus starting the desire to play with him. 

As a mom, it makes me so sad to know that he had lost some of his best friends to their move last year April. But yet at the same time it is cool to see the gift of Compassion God has given him. 

So for now we will continue the count down until their visit this summer, 3 months 2 days!

We cant wait to see you Jason, Gretchen, Tyler, Caralynn, and Isaac!

Feeding the ducks

Yes, that is a duck at the end of our driveway, approaching our house! I have never seen any ducks on our part of the river, but I have seen them upstream. So not only was it cool to see them near the house, but on our yard! He even started to go up the driveway. Ryan had noticed them and I opened the front door for the kids to see. I had asked ryan to grab some bread, I figured they must have been hungry to be this close to people!

walking to our porch!

crossing the street to the river

Eating the bread we threw out on the grass.

Back at the river :)

We got our bread, put on some shoes and went across the river to feed the ducks. Just after we got all the way outside they flew to the river. I took the kids across with the 1 and half of pieces of bread we had to see if we could see them. We could so I called ryan over with some bread and we tossed it to them in the river. It was really cool. The kids loved it. Despite the rain!

The ducks had enough bread and started to swim away. So we came inside, but about 15 minutes the girl was back to our front yard. Here is she is wading in our driveway(didnt know the hole was that deep!) She came to eat the rest of the bread that they had left when they flew off!

Going back to the river by her man :)



Photographer: Elizabethany Strutz aka BETH

New Track

Yesterday I got an email from Toys R Us offering a free thomas the tank engine and friends wooden train. There were four you could pick from, two were well known(thomas and percy) PERFECT. So we headed out to the store this morning to be there by open, we were not sure what to expect for people turn out, and we were the first ones there. We were able to get three trains for free this morning, that was a savings of $50.41! I like the Thomas trains and I think some of their tracks are cool, but I dont think that they are worth that much money! Ryan has been dreaming of extra pieces for the track set we got him for christmas. While we were getting one of our trains, I checked out the expansion packs of the Imaginarium brand. To get what we wanted that would be an extra $40 and that's without getting anything for Sammie! So i thought and then did, get dash another set like he has and we can build from there. He was excited for the tracks and a couple hours after we had set them up he came up to me and said, "mama, thank you for track." Moments later, "mama, thank you for percy"! To everyone's surprise, prego here did not cry, but my heart melted! He is excited for his new tracks, but not so excited that he'd skip going outside! But who would in WI on a day like today!

What's That

Dash's latest phrase is "What's That?" It applies to everything! From his toots, to a bird chirping, to any noise he hears. It is nice to know that his hearing is pretty good, unless it is mom talking :)

26 weeks

Day 1

Yesterday was the first and last day of Sammie's introduction to potty training. She could have cared less about being wet, mostly wanted to play in it after an accident. She couldnt sit still on the potty after i would sit her there. She mostly cared about the undies. Putting them on ALL BY HERSELF!

I also had come down with the flu yesterday! So putting two and two together, I had no energy to keep up with her on the potty. Today after her bath she had an accident and actually recognized it was potty! So maybe in another month we can try!

instruments

Got to love the baby einstien videos! That is where dash has learned all of his instruments from the orchestra! He still loves to watch it!

sorry for the old man with no pants but with socks and shoes....we are in potty training mode :)

Who Needs Toys....

This was back from January. I had just purchased a mattress for Sammie's big girl bed and the only place I knew to put it was in the livingroom. This was not scripted, but rather just capturing my goofy boy!

pockets

sammie found them!

The Wheels On The Bus

Unfortunately this video does not give full justice. He saw the camera and stopped short and got kinda goofier than without it!

dressing himself

This morning Dash and Sammie came running into our room like normal. I had noticed that Dash's pj pants were on inside out! Weird! I had asked Ryan if he had taken his jammies off last night 1 of the 5 times he had gone in his room and he said no. So I just left it! When I went to get his skittles for staying in bed i patted his bottom and noticed that he didnt have a pull up on but undies! I had put him to bed with his undies on so thus began the mission for his pull up. He wouldnt tell me and it looked like one had been thrown in the trash recently. Thus explains the inside out jammie pants! Now for the shirt. While he was washing his hands he had gotten some water on the sleeve! Well not allowed, so he wanted his jammie shirt off. While I was folding some laundry he asked me to come here and he told me he wanted to wear is green and white shirt! Fine whatever, here's to toddler independance :) Before our Bible story i had asked if i could take a picture, "no thank you mom" but i couldnt resist. So he gave me this face of i dont like it but didnt throw a fit.

***I later found out he grabbed his dirty undies from the laundry basket and put his pull up there. Thankfully it was dry! I was so proud of him for getting his own undies on before I even had to ask him. He is doing great with this potty training thing!

Models

Dash~ "mama, picture please" he wanted his picture taken with sylvester

dash~"mama chair too please"

Dash~"mama couch too; here sammie sit percy"

Sammie asked for her picture next to beth

sammies attempt to pose with sylvester

Sammie~"mama dog please"

This morning Dash ASKED to get his picture taken and Sammie followed suit! What mom cant resist when their child asks to get their picture taken! Enjoy my posers :)

terrible twos~early

Sammie is hitting her terrible twos early. Dash had hit it about this time too so this time around i know it is only a phase and what to expect~kinda!

She is becoming a big brat towards her daddy and towards her brother. But then 10 min later she is so cute and sweet!

Ahh, to the life of toddlers

Sarah Mom

On Friday night we had the Mingo girls over and as dash and aidyn were watching their bedtime movie and eating their bedtime snack aidyn had called my name, "sarah". Dash quickly followed with, "sarah". I corrected him by saying, "dash you call me mom" and he responded by saying "sarah mom".

it was too funny and thankfully only lasted that one time.

Like It, Dont Like It

Dash's latest phrases are "i dont like it" or "i like it".

For example, tonight we went to dinner with ryan's parents at arbys. As we pulled into the driveway he said, "no mom, no thank you, i dont like it"

Sunday night at dinner at applebees he saw that i had something other than water to drink, "mom, i like it" pointing at my drink before he even tasted it!

It is cool that he is at the point to communicate this to me but it can get frusterating because he will make up his mind before he trys things. oh well, at least he is polite about it :)

Risky Prayers!

This past Sunday Pastor Guy was talking about the risk you take when you pray. I didnt think of this as a risk but Ryan had brought it to my attention.

Last September the kids and I were getting into a new routine that involved me being able to read my bible daily. I would read during nap time since I wasnt needing to nap anymore :) I would always ask God to help me be the mom he created me to be. Because I know I cant be the mom he created me to me without his help. Ironically the next month I found out I was pregnant! I guess you could say that is a risky prayer based on the out come, but like I said, I never thought of it that way. I was just looking to my creator, my God, my Savior to help me like he says he will do if you just ask :) Shortly after I found out that I was pregnant(total surpise like dash and sammie were) and I dealt with the fact that we are going to have another before either of us planned, I looked at it like God was telling me I was doing a good job raising His kids. If I wasn't then why would He trust me with another!

I am thankful for the three kids that God has given us to raise. I only hope and strive to do the best job, but I can only do that with His help. So I guess you can say that I will continue this "risky" prayer of being the mom He created me to be.

4 kids!

This weekend was a babysitting overnighter for us. I had offered to watch Reece overnight Saturday and last minuteish I found out the Mingos needed a sitter for Friday night. Since I did not have to work I volunteered. Needless to say, I am tired! I took a much much needed 2 hour nap today!

Tracy had dropped the girls off on Friday around 3. It was perfect, mine were close to waking up and then we could go on with our day. After nap and movie time we headed out for a walk. I could not just stay indoors on the beautiful day God had given us. So Dash(2.5) and Aidyn(just 3) walked ahead of me holding hands, Sammie(1.5) held mine and baby H(5 month~i think) was in the stroller. We only went around the block, but wow, with 4 that was a trip. We got home in time for me to start dinner(pizza~our traditional friday night dinner). Well in the time it took for me to turn the oven on, Aidyn had 3 accidents, Sammie wanted to be held like she always does this time of night, dash wanted me to play train tracks with him, and baby H wanted to eat. Then just after cleaning up one of Aidyn's accidents Sammie threw up, thankfully in the bathroom! I finally got some dinner on the table and we ate. Tracy was worried about bedtime, that was a breeze compared to dinner. But in the end everyone ate and was ok :)

Through this experiance I realized and verbally told Ryan, "I dont want 4 anymore. Not because I cant handle it, but the 4th is just going to get 'ignored'" He had agreed with me. Not that if i had a 4th would they be this close but still Dash would be in school and I would be running everywhere! I also know that they would be mine and would fit more into my routine than just throwing them in for a night and a morning, but I dont want to risk it. After we both had talked and mentioned that we wanted to be done with 3 our biggest reason was we didnt want 4 just to have 4(thinking about the 4th being "ignored")

I had a blast watching the Mingo girls and would do it again in heart beat. But I will also be glad to send them home :) So thank you donnie and tracy for letting us enjoy your girls and we look forward to doing it again :)

Sammie and Dino

The Conversation does not fully reflect what is going on until the end!

This is Dino, he is ryans stuffed animal that has has some major surgery! Well, now Sammie gets to enjoy him too!

Who would have known that a 20 year old stuffed animal would be more fun than playing with toys :)

New Shoes

It is so amazing to see how much our personalities flow through our children. I had taken sammie shoe shopping earlier this day and when we got home she pulled out her new crocs and wore them. When it came time for bed she insisted on wearing them! Since they did fit over her jammies i did let her. They were on all the way until morning!

I can remember myself wearing a few differant new shoes to bed when i was a kid :)

18 months

25lbs 32 inches

23lbs 31 inches

It is always amazing to me how much kids even out as they grow. Dash was my big baby. I guess I should have known since I gained 70 lbs when I was pregnant with him. Where with Sammie I think i gained around 35 lbs and she was my small baby. I know that another contributor is that he was a formula baby and she was a breastfeed baby for 6 months. However I think that only has little to do with it because the ounces they each ate was very differant. Sammie would mostly eat 6oz bottles and an 8oz before bed, where Dash lived off of the 8oz and even worked up to 12oz before bed!

So to those that have big babies and look at the little ones, dont worry, it does even out. Just look at Dash and Sam they were within 2lbs by 18 months!

Dash?

This past saturday i took sammie out shopping just us two. I figured she could use some one on one time with mommie since she has been pushed to the side while i work on this potty training thing with dash. Dash had gone to maddies house. As soon as we got in the van sammie looked over to dash's side of the seat and said "dash?" it was cool to see that she misses her brother. It was kinda like she was lost because everytime we would get back in the van she would ask where dash is. And random times while we were out! This is something we will need to work on so she is not so dependant on her big brother, but for now i will enjoy that she misses and even likes him :)

The Best Duet!

Today on our way home from Office Max we were listening to Veggie Tales per request of the backseat :)

God is Good came on. It was sweat music to my ears to hear both kids singing this song. Sammie chiming in with the few words she knows, God and Good. While Dash is attempting to get all the words.

The sound just made my heart melt