First Goal!!

Joshua got his first goal during his game on Thursday night. Go Joshua! Of course, we were situated on the wrong end of the field to get a good shot of it.  But here he is right after kicking it past the goalie. He is number 9.

Here he is at halftime getting a drink of water...he's so silly! I think this is his mean face he does when he plays goalie. LOL

Like her brother and sister before her, Ellie has found her toes and finds them very tasty (she's been doing this for awhile actually but I just never seem to have my camera handy.) She's also doing the army crawl now and can quickly get across the room. I still need to get a picture of it!

Birthdays and Easter

We had a busy weekend with both mine and Joshua's birthdays as well as Easter. I can't believe Joshua is 5 years old now and will be starting kindergarten in the fall!!  Where does the time go?  He impresses me more each day with how smart he is.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend. My parents came up to stay with us and celebrate. We also got to spend a couple of hours with Uncle Mark and Aunt Virginia while they were waiting for a flight at Salt Lake International.

Here is the birthday boy (wearing his crown from preschool) and the enormous cake I made for him. We saw it online and he requested it.  It was yummy and turned out great, but it wasn't easy to build. LOL We found it here-http://theidearoom.blogspot.com/2009/07/rainbow-cake.html

A few Easter photos.  The Easter Bunny hid their baskets and some eggs for them to find.

Brrrrr!!!

It's snowing right now. We had a couple of warm days last week then it turned cold again.  The snow isn't sticking but brrrrrrrr...!!! Joshua likes it anyhow. But I am trying to stay warm with the girls.

I sure hope it warms up soon.  We all went to soccer practice last night. (Abby wanted to yell "Go Joshua" but she suddenly became too shy once we were there.) They played against two of the other teams to practice. Joshua made a goal attempt and just barely missed.  We were so proud of him for trying though! I think his soccer level has pre k and k children playing so some of the players have played before. The actual games start Tuesday. Anyhow, here are the kiddos all bundled up to watch last night. (Joshua is in the star shape.  He is number 9.)

Here he is....

What a cutie! He is so excited to play and wear his uniform!

Green Dinosaurs (Soccer)

Joshua joined his first sport last week...soccer!  He has been wanting to play for a long time.  (Soccer is actually the only thing he can sign up to play at age 4 around here.) He missed his second day of practice since he was sick so I missed the memo about him wearing his team jersey. Anyhow, here are a couple of shots of him at practice tonight.  He LOVED it.  He had so much fun and was such a great listener. They picked their team name...the Green Dinosaurs. He sticks his tongue out when he concentrates...so cute but I hope he doesn't catch a bug! Eeeewwwww!

Joshua is finally feeling better but Jeremy, Abby and Ellie are all under the weather. I hope everyone is healthy again very soon!!!

My sister, Ellie's six month portrait and my little chef

Crystal stopped over with her friend for a quick visit.  it was good to see her but it was way too short. Doesn't her new hair look so pretty on her?? 













I tried to get a good portrait of Ellie today to add to the wall with Joshua and Abby's 6 month photos. Instead of paying too much for someone else to take her picture, I thought I';d give it a shot.  Our little photo session was short, though, because little miss Abby wasn't cooperating (she kept running in front of the camera).  Anyhow, I got a couple of good ones.  I think this one is my favorite. But I haven't decided for sure yet.

Here are a couple of others...what do you think?

And here is Abby wearing a chef's hat I made for her(and a wild hair clip underneath it).  She loves to "cook" at her kitchen.  She even brings over my recipe books to "read" from while she cooks. :)

A couple of random photos

Just a couple of fun photos to share. Abby loves doing anything Joshua is doing.  If he's playing cars, she wants to play cars.  If he is coloring, she wants to color.  If he is reading in bed, she wants to be right there next to him. Here they are in Joshua's bed (with bed head!) using their Tag/Bugsby readers (little "pens" that read the books to them and ask questions).  They often wake up before we do and read/play in their room.

One afternoon, Joshua asked me to take pictures of him with Ellie.  He sat there holding her and tilting his head in different poses (without me telling him to do it) while I snapped away.  It was pretty funny. 













I hope you have a great weekend.
Stacey

Sitting and sleeping

Ellie's been working on her sitting skills. She's getting better every day! (And then after a while she flops onto her belly and gets mad. :) )

Here, she is exercising her vocal cords and having some tummy time.

And here's what happens when a 2 1/2 year old refuses to nap.  (This is the kitchen, just a few minutes before dinner.)

Cookies and Green Beans!

Joshua and Abby love to help me in the kitchen. If you've never had the opportunity to cook with a toddler/preschooler, let me just say that it can be a bit frustrating. You definitely need to dip into your reserve of PATIENCE. It takes at least three times as long to do anything (probably even more than that but I never really keep track of time), things don't generally turn out as well as they would if I was doing it on my own, and there's generally quite a mess.  But all of this aside, I keep creating opportunities for them to help me.  I think it's a great experience, lots of fun and there are so many things they can learn while helping. 

A couple of days ago, we decided to make peanut butter M&M cookies.  I saw the recipe online, we had all of the ingredients and we hadn't baked anything for awhile so we made plans the night before and they looked forward to it. (They remember everything and usually remind me first thing in the morning!!) I let Abby do a lot more this time than I normally do.  It's so easy to let Joshua do most of it since he is older and has more kitchen experience than Abby...but I have to remember that he got that way by me letting him help.  So they took turns doing the designated tasks.  Joshua can read the recipe and measure ingredients pretty well.  Abby can pour premeasured items into the bowl and stir. They both beg to taste it every step of the way. LOL (Even if it's just flour, they taste it like it's the most decadent dessert they have ever had!!! Funny!!)

By the way, I know some of you have little ones Abby's age at home. (Abby is 2 1/2  but Joshua started helping me bake before he was 2.)  If you want to try to let them help make something, I would spend a few minutes premeasuring everything into little bowls so they can help pour them in and not get frustrated while waiting for you to measure them. You can see a couple of things all ready to be added in the background by the mixer. 

Anyhow, here are some photos from this baking adventure.

 

Here, they are telling me how many cookies they want to eat. LOL

Ellie patiently watched from her bouncer while we baked but didn't get any cookies.  BUT, she did get her first tastes of baby food about a week ago!! (Um, she's 6 months old now!!!!!!  I can't believe it!) She has eaten rice cereal, green beans and squash so far. The first few days, she just gave us a look that said, "Really? You want me to eat this stuff??" But the last couple of days, she has been anxiously awaiting her new foods at dinnertime and literally grabs the baby feeder (this little thing we can dip into the food for her and she can use to feed herself) and shoves it into her mouth saying, "Mmmmmmmmm.......Mmmmmmmm..." the whole time. LOL I need a photo/video of that still to share!

Here's the first day of green bean tasting.

That's about it for today.  I have my first sewing class this afternoon for my very cool sewing machine my mom bought me for Christmas and I can't wait! Thanks again, mom!
Stacey

The "butt shake," Valentine's, bedtime and bathtime photos

Abby and Joshua love to make Ellie laugh.  Sometimes, they can really get her going.  The sillier they are, the more she laughs.  They sing silly songs, make up goofy dances and play peek-a-boo with her.  It is totally adorable and fun to watch.  These aren't the greatest photos (the action was hard to capture on film!), but I hope you get the idea.  The second photo shows their favorite dance...the one that really makes EVERYONE laugh...the "butt shake" (Joshua claims he made this one up himself...but I think he got the idea from watching too many episodes of "So You Think You Can Dance" with us! LOL)

Joshua got to participate in his first Valentine's Day party at preschool this year. He picked out some Transformer valentines with pencils and carefully addressed them for all of his classmates. Since Abby has to do everything her brother does, she worked on various Valentine's projects right next to him.

Ellie has been really getting into bathtime lately and is hard to keep her contained.  She's not sitting well enough for us to put her into the big tub yet.  Here she's fighting hard to get control of that water sprayer! She loves trying to grab onto the water and is sometimes upset when bathtime ends.

Lastly, I want to share a photo of Abby after she fell asleep one night recently.  She is so stubborn about going to bed for naps and bedtime.  We know she is tired but she fights it many nights.  Generally, the kids stay awake for a few minutes reading in bed before drifting off to sleep.  We thought it was too cute that she fell asleep this way.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!  I am just getting over being really sick so there is much to catch up on around here.  We would love to hear from you all so feel free to leave us a message in the comments or call/email to chat.

Blessings to you all!!!

Stacey