Uffda!!

Jesse just got home from his annual Fruitbowl golf tournament. This year, they rode a coach bus down to Des Moines. They lost again, but had a great time. I am exhausted from the four days by myself! Thursday, I brought the kids to daycare so I could work on paperwork at home, but ended up going to garage sales, mowing the lawn for the first time on the riding mower, and picking up some monarch caterpillars from a mom at preschool! Oh well! Then, we went to Nathan and Stacy's for dinner and playing. The kids loved that (so did I)! Friday, we went to the grocery store and Target, but pretty much stayed home and hung out. We had popcorn and a movie before bed :). Saturday, we went to Auntie Jenny's house in Hastings and then the Bjorklund's for dinner along with the Tranbys (minus all the Fruitbowling dads!). We all had a great time, but got to bed way too late! Today, we spent the morning cleaning and doing laundry. Jenna had a REALLY hard time helping and listening, so she spent most of the morning up in her bedroom! Nolan was a good helper though, so that was nice.  They were most definitely excited to see Jesse when he came home :).We also had fun finding milkweed leaves for the caterpillars, watching them devour the leaves, and then changing into pupae (inside their cocoons)!

Well, I suppose I should do a little updating on the month of May since June is already here!! Jenna finished up preschool and is ready for kindergarten now! They had a few field trips that I was able to go with to end out the year. We went to Pinehaven farm and got to see all the animals and ride on the tractor/wagon. Then, her class visited a kindergarten class at McKinley. Jenna was very nervous and did not want me to leave her side. I took some pictures to make her a social story book about going to kindergarten. I still need to get that done, but will hopefully be soon and then will share it with another family and the preschool teacher.  I'm hoping it will help prepare her and not be as scared. We visited the Adventures Plus program one morning as well (Jesse and I took her). She'll go there the Tuesdays and Thursdays that I work before school. Jesse will drop off the other two at daycare and then bring her up there. We were really impressed by the program and are excited for her to be able to meet other kids. The spring program at Acorn was fun....except that Jesse had to miss it because he had to quick go out of town for work. It was a little crazy taking all three kids by myself, but we made it through. Jenna did a great job singing all the songs. I tried taking some pictures, but they didn't really turn out since I was holding Ellie! Good thing we bought the DVD :). I have loved having Jenna in preschool, but it has been nice not having to wake up Ellie from her naps to go pick Jenna up. Jenna and Nolan are going to attend the VBS program at Oak Haven the end of June and then also the August summer school session at Acorn. That will be fun for them! Jenna is definitely getting older...and apparently that comes with a little attitude! I'm really trying to figure out how to parent this little girl. She is sometimes so helpful and thoughtful and then the next day is just awful about helping and talking back way too much.

Nolan has been a good boy for the most part, tagging along with field trips and finishing up ECFE. We won't be able to sign up for ECFE next year because he'll be in preschool on MW and Jenna will have school and I work on T/TH. We could go on Friday, but Jenna will be in kindergarten, so she can't come with us on the days she doesn't have school. We'll be busy enough I think! Nolan is excited about starting preschool and we are excited to see how he'll do. He's a lot different playing outside this year....not caring about having his shoes on now! He has enjoyed helping Jesse build the shed and watching him as well. The dirt pile next to the shed has been the most fun though! We planted our garden finally and he was somewhat interested in that. Just wait until we can pick the vegetables!

Ellie is getting bigger, hard to believe she is almost one!! She is still just a little peanut...I should weigh her tomorrow to see if she's gained any weight! Just in the past week, she has gotten braver with her motor skills, doing more cruising, walking with her hands held, and now, crawling up one step!! The baby gate got put up today at the bottom of the stairs! Today, as I was folding laundry, she crawled over to the basket, stood up, and pulled out a towel and rubbed it on her face. I'm thinking she was imitating washing it...super cute!

More!

Ellie is getting better at crawling everyday now. She is growing up so fast! Just the past few days, she's been signing 'more' when you ask her if she wants more. She kind of brings her hands together like a clap, it's so cute! And tonight, while we were playing at her kitchen toy, she kept dropping the pan. I said 'uh oh' every time and then it sounded like she imitated that!!! So many fun changes with her. She is also eating lots and lots of able food, just cut up into little bitty pieces. Ellie really loves to eat!Jenna's betta fish died sometime on Thursday, although I didn't realize it until Friday morning. When I told her, she started crying. I hugged her and said we'd go get a new one. We went to the pet store right by our house and she got a red male this time, so he was really pretty with a big tail. I bought freeze dried bloodworms and the fish love eating those! Hopefully these two fish will stick around a while now :).Today, we spent a little time working on the garden, but the best part of the day was getting two honeycrisp trees to plant in the yard!! It will probably be a few years before we'll get apples, but so exciting that we'll be able to pick the best tasting apples from our own trees! Well, Ellie woke up and is crying....try to let her cry it out a little, but usually have to go up and nurse her. Tonight is no different :).

Ellie is crawling!!

Ellie started crawling this morning! Last night, before bed, she was really trying to move forward and I texted Jesse and said she was going to crawl soon....and she did!! Of course it is a slow crawl right now, but just wait! Jenna and Nolan were so excited to see her do it. Of course I took a bunch of videos, but no pictures! Tomorrow for sure :). Her tooth has also come up more and I'm pretty sure the one next to it has started to erupt as well! She's bitten me a few times while nursing, little stinker! In other Ellie news, we have thrush again. My nipples have been feeling sore the past few days and I had attributed it to her new teeth. But, I also saw a few little white patches inside her mouth and was wondering if that what was going on again. So on Friday, the doctor squeezed us in and I got a prescription for Diflucan, which seemed to work last time, unlike the Nystatin. This round will not be as fun because she puts everything in her mouth! I'm going to be boiling an awful lot of toys and pacifiers, not to mention laundry in hot water. The latest news for Jenna and Nolan is that they each got a betta fish! After our crazy day of going to the doctor and getting my medicine, we went to the pet store. A few weeks ago we were at some friends and they had a betta fish. I've been thinking about it and texted Jesse to see if it was okay (he was in Denver for work). Jenna got a reddish colored girl and Nolan got a turquoise boy. They had a small tank with a divider and food, rocks, and a plastic plant as a starter set, so we got that! They've had fun watching them swim around and feeding them. So far though, they haven't eaten the food we've given them. I think this is a good pet to start off with, and then maybe we'll move on to a dog! Jenna is almost done with preschool. I'm looking forward to having most of our days free this summer. We'll hopefully make it to both zoos a bunch. We signed both Jenna and Nolan up for the August summer preschool session. They'll go Monday-Thursday for two weeks from 9:30-12:30. And the fun part is that our neighbors and friends Gabe and Stella are also going to go! They're going to have a blast together and Stacey and I can hang out with the babies :).

Ellie's First Tooth!

This evening I happened to put my finger in Ellie's mouth and finally felt her first tooth poking through!! Jesse and Jenna came and felt it too! Finally! We'll see what happens over night :). And one other cute and fun thing tonight while praying with Nolan at bedtime....I asked what he wanted to pray about and he immediately said, "Ellie's new tooth!!". He also asked when was God going to make a dog for us! Guess we really need to talk about that one. Such a sweet boy!

Praying for my kids...

I've been reading my Bible a lot more now, pretty much daily (okay, the Bible app on my iPhone, but it is with me everywhere!) and have a few different 'plans' going. Through reading a few verses and then also hearing them at church, I did a search on Pinterest to see what would come up for them. The two verses linked to a few different blogs/websites that had some great ideas for me....something I don't think I thought too much about before...and that is praying for my kids as well as with them. They are so eager to be learning about God and Jesus and love to find a prayer out of our little prayer book at dinner. I've been trying to pray with them at bedtime and it's amazing to hear how naturally it comes to them. Tonight, with Nolan, as we were talking about praying and what/who to pray about/for, I told him that even though we can't see God, we can pray to him anytime. He agreed with me and said that he is in our hearts and then said that God is wiggling and shaking inside his body and showed me by wiggling around himself! Jenna is learning so much at preschool, I'm so thankful that we chose Acorn Academy over another preschool through the school district! Tonight, she and Nolan were in the basement and Jesse overheard her telling Nolan that it was okay to be different, because that's how God made us! It's okay to be short or tall! The other thing she learns at preschool are different Bible verses that they work on memorizing. She is very proud when reciting them. The latest is from Philippians 4:13.

So, one thing I am going to do is decide on a verse for each kid and then I will use it to pray for them over the course of the next year. I may just do this until January and then start again, but we'll see how it goes. The idea I found was to trace each kid's hand and then write the verse on there and then put it in your Bible. I'm very excited to be praying for and with my kids....and excited to see what God has in store for them and us as a family!

                                              
We had a great weekend, starting off with camping in the basement Friday night! We bought a new, bigger tent last summer, so thought we'd try it out. It fit in the family room with the couches pushed back a little. We slept on the extra full-size mattress we have (not a blow-up one) and the kids slept on their little foam pull-out couches with their polar fleece sleeping bags. There was tons of space, so the kids had fun running around, jumping on our mattress and playing with Nolan's hockey guys. They also set up Nolan's fishing game and caught some fish! We made trail mix right after dinner and brought that and their water bottles down with us. They loved that there was a pocket on each side of the tent for them to put their water and trail mix in ! It took Nolan a while to fall asleep, but they slept good (Ellie was up a few times...but she slept up in her bedroom!), and were excited when they woke up. Jesse and I had sore backs and necks, but it was well worth it. They really wanted to keep the tent up, but I'm sure will do it again, or even try the backyard. Hopefully this summer we can camp somewhere as a whole family!

Saturday, enjoyed the nice weather and went for a bike ride and played outside! After church, we went to a birthday party. No naps in the afternoon made for a long night. Today, we went to our friends' house for lunch and lots of playing! Nolan was so tired (and also has a head cold), he fell asleep in Jesse's arms. What a great time, just wish we lived closer :).

I have been off from work the past two weeks, and now go back on Tuesday. It has been great not thinking about work at all, but back to reality! I think I work now without a break (haha) until the end of May. I so love that I only work two days a week and have breaks throughout the year instead of just the whole summer off! I'm actually looking forward to having nothing going on but work this summer....no preschool, ECFE, classes, etc. Hopefully we'll be outside a lot and go swimming and to the cabin....that sounds good to me!

Happy Resurrection Day!

Easter is tomorrow. Jenny and Tim came up today and went to church with us (on Saturday). We'll make lunch tomorrow while Jesse and Tim go golfing! Probably do some egg hunting, even Nissa, and want to try asking some resurrection rolls with the kids (marshmallow inside of a roll that melts while baking, representing the empty tomb). Should be fun. The kids enjoyed church and seem to be knowing more and more about the Easter story from there and through reading their Bibles with them. I think that as they get older we can do more things with them and they'll understand even more! Let's start with little miss Ellie...not crawling yet, but rolling all over still and up on all fours. She's moving backwards when she's on her hands and knees, so that's been fun to watch. Her latest is talking even more now. And, she's added more sounds, including 'dada'! So now, it will be a toss up with who's name she'll say first!! Ellie is still a mama's girl and really wants me to hold her and not anyone else! Last night, she was really warm when I nursed her in the middle of the night and again in the morning. I think it's because she's teething....but I couldn't check her temperature because our thermometer died!! Hopefully her bottom teeth will pop through tonight and she'll be a little happier. She's been pretty clingy and whiny the past two days! Oh Nolan, where shall I start!? I really need to start taking notes on my phone with all the funny things he says!! Today, Jesse and Tim were watching the Master's and they pointed out 'Phil' and he said 'no, that's Little Bill!' He sure is funny! And Jesse just said that this morning when they were making pancakes, Nolan said 'uffda!' for the first time! Cute! Today, we turned his bed over so that it is now a loft. Hopefully he'll do fine sleeping up high! He and Jenna had fun playing 'Octonauts' this morning....sure kept them busy! My big girl Jenna...such a helper. I was folding clothes before Jenny and Tim came over and she just sat down and started helping me fold. I love how she is interested in helping with things around the house. The other day she cleaned her room. Of course, things aren't always how I would do them, but that's okay since she is doing it on her own! She is also a great teacher....especially with Nolan. In the car driving somewhere the other day, she was using her princess lunchbox to teach him how to spell and sound out letters, find colors, and count! Most of the time Nolan just goes along with her, enjoying their interactions. Wish I could record it, but have to keep my eyes on the road!!! We have one more week with me off from work. Looking forward to that, of course. I got my haircut last week and next week am going to get my hair colored for the first time! The kids will go to daycare again, so hopefully I can do some sewing or something around then house. Jesse had Good Friday off so we went to Carol's in Blaine for breakfast and then to the Children's Museum. The kids had fun there, but were a little overwhelmed when it got busy. We went home and then later, Jenna and Ellie and I went to Ikea to get a dresser for our bedroom. Of course we came home with a few other things!!

April is here!

We had a fun weekend up in Moorhead. Jesse had his high school alumni hockey tournament. His team did not win again this year, but they played well! The kids had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa and cousins Gunnar and Brighton. Grandpa bought the kids 2 ducklings, so they really enjoyed playing with them!! I'm off from work now the next two weeks, so looking forward to that. It seems like this first week will go fast, with something going on every day. I'm taking the kids to daycare tomorrow, so looking forward to a little shopping and getting my haircut....by myself!!
Not too much new otherwise. Ellie is still rolling all over. She's getting up on all fours and rocking a bit more now, so hopefully she'll be crawling within the next month. Nolan has been cute with Jesse lately, asking him, "Dad, how was work?" or "Dad, how was your hockey game?" We just smile and laugh at him! I think he must hear me asking Jesse or vice versa. He picks things up like that all the time. We had ECFE this morning and Jenna and Nolan immediately went to the puppet theater to act out "The Three Little Pigs". Last week, the teachers did that with the puppets, and Jenna and Nolan have been acting it out since then! Nolan is adament that I make those puppets for our puppet theater. I made one using two tension rods and modified some curtains, but I think we really need something sturdier. Hoping that Jesse can find some big boxes at work or else we'll have to find a bookshelf and transform that. And then...to make the puppets! Of course we could just make some out of paper bags, but those won't last forever! Maybe start there and then slowly sew and/or buy some. I just love the creativity that comes along with Jenna and Nolan's play. I really can't wait to see how Ellie will fit into the picture when she is a bit older :).
Today, after preschool, we went to Walmart to buy some seeds and a few pots. Thought it would be fun for them to have some plants of their own! They picked out a bunch of different flowers. I collected all the toilet paper rolls I could find from the garbage cans...14! We cut them in half, put them in an old seedling tray and filled them with dirt. I helped them put the seeds in and watered them. It will be fun to see the seeds start to grow!

Tomorrow is pajama day at daycare, so on a whim, we stopped at Target this morning on our way home from Target to get some new pajamas! They were super excited! Something fun to look forward to. Even Ellie got some cute jammies :). I'll have to post a pic of them all ready to go tomorrow!

Talking, talking...

That title says it all! Jenna and Nolan are always talking and almost always saying something smart or funny. And Ellie has really started to talk now! She's making lots of sounds and really stringing them together. She'll say: mamama, bababa, ga/guh, mmmmm, ada, ahhhh, and probably more. Wonder if she'll say 'mama' first like Nolan did?!? Last night, Nolan was stalling to get in bed and he asked Jesse in a really sad voice when we were getting a puppy. Apparently, Jesse is thinking this fall!?!?? Anyways, Jesse told him to just think of names for the puppy if he can't fall asleep. So today, he said we should name the dog Jack! He obviously was thinking about it last night! After church tonight we went out to eat. We talked about what the kids learned in Kid-o-deo and they started telling us about Zaccheus. They answered our questions about what he did and why. Then, Nolan wanted to ask us a question, although it sounded more like a riddle and we weren't quite sure how to answer! It was something like, "there's something really big....". Jesse finally said 'tree!' and that was exactly what he was looking for!!! Such a smart little boy! Speaking of that, we did decide to sign Nolan up for preschool this fall. He'll go Monday and Wednesday mornings, and just stay home with me on Fridays. I don't want to have all three of my mornings off from work taken up, so we'll see how that goes. The weather continues to be great, so we got a little soccer in tonight after dinner. We have talked to Jenna about playing soccer this summer, and even having Jesse coach, but don't think she's quite ready for that. Next year maybe! Nolan and Jenna start a Tumbleweeds class this week through community ed. It will be fun to watch them together. A comfort for Jenna to have him with her, I suppose. Would love for her to really build her confidence in doing things on her own :). On Friday, it was Day with Dads at preschool, so Jesse joined them for the last part of class. They played mini golf, made root beer floats for snack, and made a book together. They both had a great time!

Spring!

Well today wasn't as warm as it has been, but it didn't snow!! I worked today, so kids went to daycare. Ellie had a rough day and wouldn't really drink a bottle until she got home with Jesse. And as soon as she saw me, was all snuggly and sweet with me. She is such a momma's girl!!! Hopefully she'll do better on Thursday. Just glad she'll eat a little food at least! Jenna and Nolan do fine at daycare, so no worries there. Tonight before bed, we played a little wheel of fortune... Just guessing letters to the puzzle (Jenna) and Nolan crossing them off on the letter chart. Hoping tomorrow to go get zippers for the bean bag chairs and then a tension rod and washcloths to finish working on the puppet theater and puppets....and of course laundry!!

Back to work and preschool :)

Well, Spring Break is over! Although, with my job, I just work two weeks now and then have two weeks off the beginning of April...LOVE!! So, today we had ECFE after a break last week. Jenna and Ellie wore their new matching outfits, so cute! We played outside on the playground since the weather was amazing. Ellie had fun watching everyone, swinging a bit, and playing in the wood chips. After ECFE, we went to Kid's Hair and got Nolan's hair cut. Jesse was going to do it, but we seem to forget every night, so just brought him in. The lady spiked his hair when she was done cutting it and then sprayed it blue! So cool! And she sprayed a little sparkly stuff in Jenna's. Jenna went back to preschool today as well. She is finally doing better with dropoff, just needing a hug and kiss and saying goodbye! My big girl :). I've been working on making Jenna and Nolan bean bag chairs, so I worked on the inside/insert and the outside covers during nap and after preschool. They will be awesome once we get the covers on...I'll have to make one for Ellie too....and maybe Jesse and I?!?! Not too much else today, other than a storm after dinner. The warm weather and thunderstorm really make it feel like May and not March!!

Spring is almost here!!!

I'm just going to jump right into blogging and say nothing about how long it's been!! I had Spring Break last week, so enjoyed my time home with the kids, not thinking about work (at all!)! And to make things even better, the weather has been AMAZING!! We played in the sandbox and on the swing set, went for walks and bike rides, and even spent a morning at the Como zoo with Daddy and Danielle and Blake Bjorklund. We also had the Blake's over for an afternoon of playing. And now back to work for two weeks...then two weeks off!! Jenna is growing up so fast! She is doing really well reading simple books and we encourage her to read anything in her environment. When we make trips to the library (like today), she always heads over to the non-fiction section to find books on animals. With the weather this week, she was in heaven playing outside. She and Nolan have nicknamed the playset 'Bucky' like the pirate ship from the show Jake and the Neverland Pirates. So, they play pirates quite a bit! We put a bunch of their gold doubloons and treasure from their birthday party in the sandbox, so there is lots of treasure to find! They have also really been in to hiding their plastic Easter eggs around the house or outside for each other and then finding them. Crazy to think that Jenna is almost done with preschool and will be starting kindergarten this fall! She will have fun! Nolan is such a big boy too! He is fully potty trained, only wearing diapers at night! His vocabulary is quite impressive ans he is always amazing us with what he says. One day, I decided to give him a mohawk and when he looked in the mirror, he said it looked like a 'crest' like the dinosaurs in his books!!! He got a Wild pillow pet for his birthday and then went to a Wild game with daddy. He got to see 'Norde' there, so now his pillow pet has the same name...and goes to bed with him every night! Most of the time, he plays well with Jenna and they love playing doctor, vet, school, restaurant, and anything else creative they think of. I love listening to them play while I'm folding clothes or making dinner! Nolan is all boy and maybe has a bit of second-child syndrome at times. He gets into trouble quite a bit, but he wouldn't be the same then, would he?! Ellie is 8 months old now and her personality continues to emerge. She is very happy most of the time, but can get upset pretty quickly. Just in the past week she has changed! If you take something from her, don't give her something fast enough, or she can't reach something she wants, she lets out a high-pitched screech!! She has also been rolling like a mad baby...all over the place to get into things! Ellie just started to push up on all fours, so we'll see how fast she learns to crawl....she is going to be trouble!! She loves to eat now is trying more and more of the food we are eating. Noodles and rice are yummy! I have signing 'milk' to Ellie since she was about three months and she has been getting excited when you say and sign it. Can't wait for her to start signing herself! Ellie is proving to be just like her brother and sister when it comes to a love of reading and books. She loves to read books at bedtime and seems to know where to look when I ask her if she is ready to read a book! Ahh, such a sweet, mama's girl! If I'm away from her for work or even just a little bit, she has to be in my arms if she sets eyes on me or hears me! Okay, this is my goal now....to write something quick about each kid each night before I go to bed. I have been terrible about scrap booking and baby books, so this will be where I can keep memories for me and them! :)

A new year to try this blogging...

Okay, so I really stink at blogging or journaling!! I did find a really cool pin on pinterest to make a perpetual journal for myself. Basically, every night, I write down something on a notecard with the year in front of what I write. Each date of the year has its own notecard. Then, as each year goes by, you can see what you've been up to! Very easy to keep up with since its sitting on my nightstand! But, there just isn't room to write something on each card about each kid, myself, Jesse, and anything else going on in our lives. So, back to the computer I think! I was looking through documents on the laptop and found the printouts from the website/blog I had started when I was pregnant with Jenna and I believe with Nolan. I wrote on there until Nolan was about 12 weeks old! Here goes...again!

Today I went back to work after having two weeks off for Christmas. I ended up only staying the morning and coming home to switch with Jesse to take care of Ellie. She finally got the cold and cough that Jenna and Nolan had all during break. Poor thing, can hardly breathe she's super stuffy and runny nose all at the same time. And a terrible, congested cough. Jesse took Nolan and Jenna to daycare and stayed home with her. She seems to be getting a little better, but we have her 6-month check up on Friday, so if not by then the doctor can help. Little Miss Ellie is getting so big! She's sitting up so tall now, although we still put the boppy or pillows behind her to catch her if she falls. After dinner, we came downstairs to play the wii and Ellie had fun just watching Nolan and Jenna! She also played a funny game with me, looking at me and then turning away and then back again when I made a funny sound. So cute! Yesterday, she started making the 'b' sound....so excited to hear her start to 'talk'!!

Yesterday while I was cleaning the living room to vacuum, Jenna and Nolan were at the computer in the kitchen watching the Disney channel online. Nolan walks in to the living room with scissors and tells me he cut his hair! Oh jeez! I walked to the chair he was sitting on and saw a dusting of hair all over. He pretty much got one side of his bangs. He needs a haircut anyway, but, now he really does!! Tonight, I put him to bed and got the giggles...he though that was really funny and joined in with me :). Love that boy!

Jenna is getting soo big! Hard to believe that she'll be going to kindergarten this fall! As we were reading books together at bedtime, she seemed to be 'reading' different words in an Eric Carle book. You see the word at the top in lower case letters and then search for the picture and word in upper case letters on the bottom. Neither Jesse nor I had read the book with her for a while, so either she has an awesome memory (we know she does!) or is really starting to recognize words and sound them out! It's exciting to see this new skill emerge in her.