Wordless Wednesday

A tea party and growing Josh.

Dana has been blogging up a storm lately so I thought I'd spell her off and guest blog today. But I had to first wrestle my camera back from her. She has been on fire with the photogging. I love it. Although if Dana really gets into it it could mean no early retirement for us.

Okay, so this morning we found the kids with this set up. Ironically they were having a tea party on top of the coffee table. Too bad we didn't get any video because it was quite entertaining. Eva and Micah are playing so well together.







When I got home Dana held Joshie's feet in place and I snapped a few pics of the tall guy. He's even giving out some smiles.




Later, Dana grabbed this shot of Josh and I. Josh actually hung out with me without crying for almost 10 minutes. WOW.

Eva's Photo Gallery

On the weekend Eva did some photography. She became quite incensed at Micah because he wouldn't let her take his backpack and Nerf gun long enough to include it in her carefully crafted setup. Here are a couple photos she took of her birthday loot:




This is a fun series of photos she took of Andrew and our Sunday Dinner guest, Mr. Bill.





By the way, the blue stuff on the wall in the middle of the frame is a picture that Micah drew and then taped to the wall with blue masking tape. I was quite impressed by both things and so I have left it on display for a month or two now.

Cake Party

So I got pretty stressed about Eva's birthday cake. The last time I baked a cake was one year ago. Baking at high altitudes is challenging. And I can't eat wheat so I couldn't do any taste testing. Eva asked for a lemon cake so I found a layer cake recipe online and made it on Wednesday so if it was garbage I would still have a day to get one done. Things were going pretty well. I felt good about how it came together. I made a single cupcake so the kids could try and approve it. That cupcake just about did the project in! I tried to fit the muffin tin plus two 8" round pans on the same rack. And managed to push one pan right off the back of the rack!! NOOOOOooooooooooooooo!!!!

I was able to salvage about 2/3 of that batter and that was good enough for me. The beauty of the layer cake and toppings is that it doesn't matter too much what the cake underneath looks like. It's all about the taste. And the kids gave it two thumbs up (I'm sure the two cups of sugar in the recipe had nothing to do with that, ha ha).

Here is the finished product.



And finally, our FIRST FAMILY-OF-FIVE PHOTO! (Hm, the cake looks rather lopsided now that I look at it. Maybe the cake underneath does matter a little. Ah, whatever. I wasn't going for perfection, just edibility.)

Josh Snaps

Finally, some photos of Joshua! Nothing fancy, but some snaps nonetheless.

Three weeks old.

Also three weeks old, taken the day after the previous photo. Who doesn't love to have a baby sleep on their chest?

Tell me this isn't a smile! I think he looks like baby me in this photo. I took these and the rest today. Joshua is exactly 5 weeks old. Eva was so excited to hold her brother! I was excited that he was calm and relaxed enough for a photo opp...

9 Minute Intervals

Last Thursday we had a brief power outage. Just long enough to set the clocks a-blinking.

When we went to bed that night, Andrew turned on his alarm like he does every weekday night. It didn't occur to him to check it first (wouldn't have occurred to me either. But now it will!). If he had, he would have learned that the alarm time had reverted to 12 midnight. We went to bed on the early side that night, and fell heavily asleep. When the annoying beepbeepbeep of the alarm clock roused us at midnight, our heads were packed full of cotton balls. Andrew made it stop and we both fell immediately back to sleep. For a whole nine minutes, at which point it went off again because he had SNOOZED it, not turned it off. Stuff happens, no problem. I groggily suggested he turn it off rather than snoozing it, and gladly returned to dreamland when the beepbeepbeep stopped again.

For nine minutes.

People- he did not fully turn the thing OFF until 5:30am!! We were roused every nine minutes for five and a half hours!! Why didn't I get up and turn it off myself, you ask? Well, I was paralyzed and trapped by a newborn. Why didn't I suggest somewhat more strongly that he turn it off? I did, at least twice. But remember, I was paralyzed. And we were running a noisy swamp cooler plus a fan. I was probably pointing away from him. Andrew also was apparently fighting some sort of paralysis. Of the brain variety, perhaps. ;)

Friday was a rough day. But we learned a valuable lesson and added one more page of things to look back and laugh about in the book of our marriage....

Health Focus Weekend

We had a long weekend here. It was perfect timing for me who had come down with a nasty cold. Unfortunately for the rest of the family we didn't do anything exciting all together. I slept and rested a lot while Andrew took care of kids and meals (and therefore me! Thanks so much sweetie!). As you may have seen over on the Willms Photog Blog, he even took them to a tea party.

This morning, Andrew and Micah dropped Eva off at school (she had her long weekend a couple of weeks ago) and then ran some errands together. Micah was in his glory doing stuff 'just the boys'. He didn't even want me to buckle him into his carseat because he wanted "Daddy help me". So I had the house to myself for the entire morning! I'm not sure that has ever happened since Eva was born. It was glorious and relaxing. After lunch Micah and I had a long nap together. Also very glorious, as I didn't sleep very well last night.

Andrew made a delicious supper and though I still couldn't fully appreciate it on the taste end, my appetite is definitely returning as well. We had a fun family walk after supper.

I was feeling very discouraged yesterday morning because I still felt rotten, but I think I'm on the mend now. The pressure in my head and ears has decreased. Planning to wake up tomorrow feeling great!

Another Rough Night

It never ends...

Ah well, the good news is that I almost always have an opportunity to catch up on the lost sleep in the mornings with Micah. Can't say the same for Andrew though!

Yesterday afternoon Andrew went for a run- first run in quite a long time. This may or may not be relevant.

At about 10pm he started feeling rotten. He got chills and the shakes. No fever though. He had flank and back pain. Makes me wonder if he has some kind of kidney infection. Could pulled muscles or a complaining body cause these sorts of symptoms? He never got a fever. Today he feels a little better. No more chills but still some pain. So weird. I feel bad for him!

Now of course I couldn't sleep soundly knowing he was feeling so rotten. Until he settled down, neither did I. Got a few decent hours after that, and then Micah was up and bugging me. I didn't give in and feed him, but he did ask repeatedly. Then he fell asleep and my restless legs took over keeping me awake.

It is truly amazing to me how there seems to be always something going on to interrupt and disturb our nights. But by now it's the norm. So we work around it. I am so grateful for my nap opportunities, and I will NEVER, EVER take a good night's sleep for granted again!!

Easing Back Into Reality

Tomorrow Andrew goes back to work. But it won't be the return to the regular routine because Eva doesn't go back to school until Wednesday. We will miss him so much!!

I was thinking of taking them to play at Carl's Jr, a fast food restaurant. They have a great play structure and the kids have fun. The thing is that it's probably wrong to play there without ordering anything, and there is nothing there that I want to order!

Oh yeah, I don't have a car to go anywhere in. My van is in the shop to have, among other things, the coins removed from the CD player (again! This time Micah was the perpetrator).

Andrew made an amazing batch of chili con carne this afternoon. Chock full of good whole foods. Including 2 types of beans, which are slowly making their way into our regular diet. Now if I could only find tasty fish in this inland desert city....

Kids played beautifully together yesterday pretty much all day. It was spectacular. Today they turned their attentions back to us. Andrew did lots of crafts today, we both did some trampoline jumping. Micah helped me grocery shop. Eva helped Andrew with the chili a little- until she got distracted by the tv that I was using to distract Micah so he would let me finish my lunch.

Eva said the cutest thing the other day. "I shouldn't drink from a cup after Micah does because he's sick, and then I personally could get sick." Oo, I got a kick out of that one.

Eva is very excited to go back to school. She is disappointed that it's not time yet.

I am very excited that nobody has a runny nose (or worse) anymore!

Sick Micah

Here is the little bud on Boxing Day, feeling seriously rotten. We got a big dose of snuggle time while he was feeling so terrible. I'm grateful he's got his spark back! Don't even mind his mischief so much ;)

Yoga Fun

We decided to replicate this yoga pose from the cover of the most recent issue of The Reader's Digest (thanks Ma for the subscription!):

Here is Andrew assuming the pose with signature ease:

The final products:

I'm in the zone....

Bonus Photos

After Andrew did all the hard work of getting the camera settings just right, I got him to hand it over so I could get some shots of him too. Here are a couple that turned out great!

A couple of visuals

We bought Eva a helmet-and-pads set on the weekend- turns out the helmet fits Micah better!

Hide & Seek- the kids were so aware of the camera I couldn't get a good count-to-found video, but I just love the way this one ends so I thought I'd post it.

Weekend Update

Had a good weekend! Saturday morning we walked up to "The Wink" for some gorditas.




Mmmm, just as yummy as ever!

Then we walked to the park. The kids had a blast!

Andrew and Eva rented Toy Story 2. At least as big a hit as Toy Story 1. We have watched it quite a few times. I'm impressed with Eva's ability to watch an entire feature length film. Micah will actually sit and watch for quite a while as well.

Little Andrew = Micah!

Here we were thinking that Eva looks like Andrew and Micah looks like me.... but check out Little Andrew! Same age as Micah is now. Even has the same scab on the nose. He is on the left, with his sister and brother.

Daddy's Home!!

Andrew is home safe and sound. Yippeee!! We had a fun afternoon of presents and Shrek and playing outside. Shrek is Eva's new favorite movie. For some reason her favorite part is the dragon. Eva is wearing her new purple shirt and skirt to bed. If she ever goes to bed. She fell asleep during Family Walk at 5:00 and now has the dread second wind.

Eva in her new bathing suit. Thanks Nana!

A Treasure

Andrew's flight was rescheduled for this morning at 6:45. So we got a whole bunch of extra hours with him, which we treasured. One less sleep with Daddy away!

The day was pretty good. The kids played quite well while I did the mountain of dishes. Eva and I baked cookies while Micah was sleeping. I pulled the cookie and icing recipe off the net and WOW are they sickly sweet. I am planning to bring them to Bible Study tomorrow to share but I don't know if anyone will eat them!

I made fajitas for supper and the kids were less than impressed.

Eva's gymnastics teacher was sick today so her class joined the bigger kids downstairs. Eva was a little hesitant to go out, but didn't cry or anything, and in the end she quite enjoyed herself. Eva's classmate Rachel got special recognition for good work and got to ring the bell! When we got home we went for a walk and it was a bit of a disaster. Eva was quite defiant and it taxed my patience. Both kids did go to sleep very well which I really appreciated. Now for a little bit of Mommy Time!

Daddy's Going on a Plane.... Or Is He?

We dropped Andrew at the airport a couple of hours ago. He had a 12:10 flight which is such a welcome change from the usual 6:50am flight! We actually got some great family time this morning. The disadvantage of course, is that he arrives in Winnipeg at nearly midnight. Anyway he just called and he is waiting for a new schedule as his plane won't fly. Maybe he won't leave until tomorrow! That would be soooo fantastic. Unexpected special time with Daddy, whoohoo!

Trying This Out

I'm testing Blogger to see if I might want to move over from msn spaces. I am tempted, to be honest. Though it will cause trouble for some of my dedicated readers, who will now have to sign up for yet another account. Unless I leave it unsecured. Hm.

And then there's the problem of all my old posts.

One More Sleep!

Andrew comes home tomorrow!! Whoohoo!!!

Today we have gymboree and 'nastics so the day should go by nicely. One of THREE Torreon Starbucks is supposed to be open today too so that could be a fun diversion (for me, of course) if we need it at any point. The timing is perfect because I'm out of beans as of this morning. Tomorrow the big exciting thing is that I want to start decorating for Christmas. Hopefully the kids find it exciting as well. Sunday we're going to go as a whole family to get our Christmas tree and then decorate it.

Eva told her gymnastics class that when her Daddy came home she would get presents and it would be Christmas!! So cute. I straightened her out so she wouldn't be disappointed. Told her that Daddy would bring her and Micah a present because he missed them and wanted to share something of where he'd been, but that Christmas wouldn't be until after Nana & Papa and Andrey & Jen were here. She was ok with that. I think there'll be lots of exciting things to keep her going over the next couple of months.

Chick Flick night was fun yesterday. The kids kept me hopping again but there were no wet beds and they were kind enough to let me doze for an hour or so after they wanted to get up. Right now they're having fun with the slide... Perfect!