Koensie

Mall of america!

2012-01-17T10:16:00.002-07:00

Elijah or Evie?

2012-01-15T17:36:00.005-07:00

Some of them might be a little trickier than you think.

Ok so you can probably tell the difference, but seriously! These guys would be twins if they weren't a year and a half apart.

1.Evie and Grandpa

2. Elijah dressed as a girl to see what future evie was going to look like.

3.Elijah watching TV

4.Evie sleeping

5.Elijah...dressed as a girl again

6. Elijah getting a hair cut. Evie has still never had one!

7. Evie playing.

Weekend getaway/Old Blue comes home, almost.

2012-01-10T08:41:00.002-07:00

This past weekend we had a little getaway. Well, the kids had a getaway. Aunt Wendy and Uncle Joe volunteered to take then for a few days! Now, Elijah loves going to see various family, but he gets very excited when we mention Uncle Joe. He was over the moon to learn that he would get to go to Uncle Joes house for the weekend. Evie didn't seem to mind much either. We were a little hesitant to let Evie go, but as long as Elijah is around, she seems to bode well.

We met Wendy and Joe and put the kids in their car. Elijah couldn't get away from us fast enough and Evie was close behind. Normally Evie says No! to everything even if you talk about candy, but when I asked if she really wanted to go with Aunt Wendy she shook her head with a vigorous Yeah!

So Tony and I had sat and most of sunday to ourselves. What did we do? We ate. More or less. We opened the gym sat morning, participated in the new yoga class being offered (did I mention we now have yoga once a week at Timberwolf Crossfit? me like), and then we went home and made Meatza, ventured out to do some shopping, caught a movie, did some mall wandering, then hopped over to another crossfit to hang out for a bit at a party they were throwing. Then? Oh yes, there's more. We realized the lions and saints game was on so against our better judgement since we had already stuffed our faces for lunch, at the movies, and at the party, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings, ordered wings, and sat ourselves directly in front of a large TV to watch the game.

What a day without kids. We realize that we went a little overboard. You kind of do that when you realize you dont have any person to worry about keeping entertained or under control or keeping vigilant of constantly. We just went. out. Where ever we could think to go. Maybe we can make this a once a month thing? Hmm? Aunt wendy?

Anyways, Elijah screamed and cried when we pryed him out of their car to take him home with us and Evie swung her arms trying to get me away from her. They were happy to be coming home. Not. We had to make a candy stop to get elijah to stop crying. I might be a little sad that they didn't seem to miss us, but I know that they had a billion times the fun playing this weekend and didn't want it to end with stinky old parents.

On a side note, the police called Tony yesterday to report that his truck has been found. So we went to go check it out. At 9pm. With all of us in tow. What they failed to tell us was that Tony needed to have a bill of sale to even see the truck since it was still technically not in his name (given to him by Uncle Joe). Oh and there were parts missing including the transmission being gone and it would cost $150 just to get the truck out of the impound. Sorry Old Blue, looks like your time has come. Tony is gonna go back to see if he can find any of his belongings still in the truck, but aside from that it is pretty much a lost cause. At least we have some closure. RIP Old Blue 1989-2012

New years party shoes

2012-01-02T09:54:00.002-07:00

Wrestling

2011-12-31T16:39:00.002-07:00

Teagan the kitty: A Christmas Story

2011-12-28T11:21:00.004-07:00

About eight months ago, in April, Tony was moving across the country to St Paul to set up his CrossFit. He was bringing our kitty Teagan with him to keep him company while I finished up classes back in Utah. After a long drive, Tony made it the first leg of the trip to South Dakota, arriving at his Aunt Debs house around 2am. When he opened the door, Teagan promptly hopped out of the car and ran into the darkness. Tony was too tired to attempt a search right then, so he went in and went to sleep. The next day Teagan was nowhere to be found and Tony had to continue on to St Paul.

Fast forward to November.

Aunt Deb sent me a text saying they saw a cat on the deck, who she thought looked like Teagan and was wearing a collar. They dont see a lot of cats since they live in a somewhat country area, you know, big expanses of land where your neighbors are across the field rather than next door. So I told her to keep an eye out for her if she comes back around, but they didnt see her again since they have a couple dogs that I assume would bark and scare cats away.

Christmas time.

We go out to visit the family for Christmas and decide to take a look around the land for cats. After walking around for awhile yelling "KITTY KITTY HEEEERRRE KITTY" and looking weird, we settle back inside. On Christmas day, Tony comes through the door, telling me that he found Teagan on the neighbors barn and put her in the car. WHAT! Eight months after we lost her she turns up next door and just lets Tony pick her right up and cuddles on our laps.

I was a little nervous about bringing her home since for all I know she has been living in squalor as a barn cat eating mice and small birds. I looked her over, combed through her fur and she looks great! She is still nice a clean, maybe even a little more plump than when we left her. Maybe the neighbors have been looking after her. She and Oliver even rode home in the same car together with no incidents! They touched noses and sniffed and not even a bark (maybe a small hiss). She has been home with us for two days now and she is just regular old Teagan! The other cats dont really like her that much right now, but they generally just avoid each other, so nothing major has happened. I really can't believe it! It is great and Evie just LOOVES her. She meows at her trying to get Teagans attention and will bend down and put her face in Teagans and laugh. Teagan has been a champ about it all.

We are taking her to the vet this afternoon to get everything checked out (luckily we updated all of her shots just over a year ago so she should be good from the whole wilderness cat thing).

YAY!

I forgot to take some pics of Teagan, but here is Evie talking to Annie the cat.

Words!

2011-12-22T15:23:00.003-07:00

I can put words on the blog again! I cant type on the blog from my phone, just upload videos. The plug for my laptop went out recently (the plug stop working? what? has anybody heard of this?) so I have not been able to get on a computer besides a snippet here and there on Tony's computer at the gym. Hence, I have only been blogging via video uploads from my phone. Maybe now I can leave stories and even some pictures because Tony got me a new laptop for christmas!!

While my other was still in working order, it was getting older and replacing the plug (we have already replaced it once) would cost like a hundred bucks anyway so here we are! On my new lap top! It is beautiful! It is shiny! There are no tiny fingerprint smudges on the screen! Best of all, there is a camera! Now I can skype my long lost family members (weeks have gone by, baby Henry must be walking by now, I am missing it all! but no longer.)

Also, I can leave awesome stories for everyone to read (Hi Grandpa Earley!) For instance, we celebrated Christmas a little early this year since we will be spending it in South Dakota. Santa came yesterday morning bright and early. We told Elijah that he had to sleep in his own bed ALL night in order for Santa to stop at our house and leave fun presents and treats. Lo and behold, at 730 am, the door creaks open and elijah shuffles into bed next to me with a big smile on his face. The kind where his eyebrows go up and his nose wrinkles. I asked if Santa came. "YEAH! SANTA CAME MAMA! He weeve preseeents!" It was so fun.

This is the first year he has started to grasp the 'santa' concept and we have been playing it up since Halloween. Any time he is naughty or throwing a fit, we just tell him that Santa wont come unless he his nice and listens. It has worked pretty well. Any chance it will work up until next christmas? Maybe we can do it again for the easter bunny.

Trains at the Botanic Gardens (and these boots are made for walking)

2011-12-20T21:58:00.002-07:00

Christmas sing-a-long/Elijah rocks out

2011-12-16T09:56:00.001-07:00

Prodigy

2011-12-14T15:36:00.002-07:00

Elijah loses the staring contest

2011-12-11T16:58:00.002-07:00

At the mall

2011-12-06T15:12:00.002-07:00

We are excited to visit!

2011-12-03T15:49:00.002-07:00

We couldn't wait until christmas

2011-11-16T08:00:00.002-07:00

A leisurely stroll

2011-11-10T11:11:00.002-07:00

The jump

2011-11-09T07:58:00.002-07:00

Leaves are falling all around

2011-11-08T08:57:00.003-07:00

They make a carpet on the ground... I forget how the rest of that goes. In this case however, its not a carpet, but a big fluffy pile to jump into. Elijah and Evie would disappear when they jumped into it because it was so high. Tony pulled out a step ladder so they could get a good angle for the jump.

Tony tried to get in on the action, but was quickly butted out by those who wanted to jump.

Elijah helped with the piling of the leaves

And also the jumping-into of the leaves.

It is very beautiful here during the fall, the leaves on the street in front of the house are bright yellow and glow through the windows when the sun comes out. I love it! Now if we could get like a week of snow, then have it be spring, I'd be good.

Friends and karate

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

When we visited VA a few weeks back, Elijah and Lizzie became pretty good buddies. At least on Elijahs part, I don't know if Lizzie appreciated having a 3 year old around to take her toys as much as Elijah enjoyed playing with them. But they had fun nonetheless.

While we were there, we dropped in on a Karate class taught by Mary and Tim! They even gave elijah his own karate uniform (which he wore as his Halloween outfit, I like to make the most out of things). He was less than impressed for the first few minutes, but quickly caught on when he realized that Lizzie participated so well!

He tried a few kicks and a few exercises. He still knows how to Hi-Yah! now that we are home. In order for him to do it, he usually insists on having a piece of paper to kick so it makes the loud noise, like in class.

We get to go back to VA next month for an early Christmas and to see new baby Taylor whenever he or she decides to make an appearance (next week, I predict) A very exciting time. Maybe we will be able to do another karate class!

The Biz

2011-11-04T07:30:00.000-06:00

So in case you didnt know, Tony and I own Timberwolf Crossfit. Things are going fairly well, people continue to come in and sign up and Tony loves being his own boss. The kids and I like heading over there during the day to hang out when he is not too busy and does not have any classes scheduled.

Whenever we get in the car Elijah asks if we are going to one of two places, Daddy's gym or the gwoswee (grocery) store. Because those are basically the only places we go. That and story time.
We are hoping for things to pick up a little more with the colder weather now and people referring friends to the gym. After a few more things are worked out with the city and will the billing system, it should be pretty smooth sailing.
New shirts and hoodies are coming in next week! We got some in the kids' size so I will put up some pictures of them when they come in!

Autumn time

2011-11-03T08:28:00.000-06:00

The weather is permanently cooler now. This means that Holiday season is in FULL SWING! I am very excited to venture out into crowded shopping areas to search for the perfect gifts. Also, I am excited to lay out decorations. I mean, who can resist making paper turkeys out of little traced hands or one of my new favorites THIS.
We kicked things off by warming things up around here. Evie picked out her new long johns.

We ventured out on some brisk fall walks.

When we went to VA at the end of September, we went apple picking! Nothing says fall like more apples than you can possibly consume (Apple pie? Apple fritters? Lets throw some apples on those pancakes..).

Elijah was not so impressed with the idea.

Jen helped to pick up some of the apple picker slack.

And I just thought I would throw this one in. The only pictures I got of G.Deb and Evie, Evie wouldn't take her finger out of her nose. I keep trying to convince her this is not a 'pose' and that it is not the position that should be assumed when the camera comes out.

A Party

2011-11-01T09:16:00.003-06:00

I know this is late, but here are some pictures from Elijah's birthday party that we threw! It was a little bit for me too, but mostly Elijah.
One present that he got was a little portable Thomas set. He carries it around sometimes like a business man and his briefcase.

Our friend Megan, who comes to the gym, just happens to be sort of a pastry chef. SO we recruited her to make the cake! Thank you, Megan!! Even Tammy, who is not usually much of a cake fan, loved it.

We had the party at the gym, because it had space.

Evie was a little sneaky cake stealer.

Megan also made a fruit tart for me! The most delicious amazing berrylicious yummy fruit tart I have eaten. Ever.

Long story short, Elijah is three. And we plan on locking Megan in the basement, to churn out desserts for us whenever we please.

Jumping rope

2011-10-29T08:57:00.001-06:00

One time Elijah and Lizzie borrowed my camera.

2011-10-26T16:54:00.000-06:00

and this is what happened. (This happened when we visited VA last month and my sisters and I were in the church gym at an exercise class)

Sing a long

2011-10-25T13:42:00.001-06:00

Zoozy

2011-10-20T20:47:00.002-06:00

So we made quite a few zoo visits this summer, but I havent posted much about it. Here, there is the Como zoo (free!) and the MN Zoo (not free, not even close, except when you are a savvy library go-er and find out you can 'check out' two free admissions cha-ching!). Hereare some pictures from both.
One of Elijah's favorite animals to see are the flamingos. Or rather, 'ah-meen-ohs'.

He high fived a beaver

And we chilled with the gorillas.

Morphed into polar bears (who give thumbs-up apparently).

And grazed amongst buffalo.

The Amur leopard was particularly interested in Elijah...

Tiger, not so much.

But overall we love the zoos. As far as I know they are open all year round, but dont expect to see many pictures of us posing in front of monkeys with booger icicles hanging from our noses. I think we will move on to the aquarium for some indoor animal fun this winter.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-18T19:41:00.001-06:00

After I finally came to terms with it being October and the weather cooling down, I realized we needed to get to the pumpkin patch before halloween! Time has been going by so fast, I have so much fall baking to do. Anyways, we started off with a slightly chilly hay ride!

This is the closest we came to a family picture, so it will have to do.

Elijah found a tiny wagon that never left his hands the entire time at the pumpkin patch.

Evie wasnt too fond of our putting her on the pumpkins.

Elijah couldnt get enough.

And when we got home from picking our pumpkins, Tammy was finally home from her three week stint in Omaha. The kids took full advantage of her. It is so nice having her back! Elijah had a rough night last night and woke up at 4am kicking and crying. After half an hour or so he calmed down with some cartoons and a bowl of cheerios and eventually we went back to bed at 6am. Little did I know, around 630, Elijah apparently crept out of bed and went upstairs, and proceeded to snuggle with Tammy until I woke up around 830 and found him watching cartoons with some breakfast on the couch. Thanks Tammy!

Tammy's home to save the day!

2011-10-17T19:43:00.002-06:00

Thomas and Friends only comes on at 8am on saturday mornings.

2011-10-15T07:14:00.002-06:00

Febtober

2011-10-12T18:42:00.000-06:00

So far, October is shaping up nicely. The kids and I have been making the most of our time, hitting up every storytime in the area and starting to spend more time at the gym, weasling our way back in to Tony's life. He has been so busy at the gym these past few weeks, and while we are VERY grateful that he is getting the business, it also means he is usually gone from 5am to almost 9pm. He has a break for a few hours at a time between classes during the day, but he uses that time for more business stuff; improving the gym, sending emails, running errands, etc.

Now I am trying to get more family time in by finding things that I can do to ease up Tony's load a bit, helping with some time consuming tasks that mostly have to do with finances. At least that way we all spend time together. Evie cant get enough of Daddy. Elijah mostly just really likes watching his Thomas movie at the gym.

So this next month will mostly consist of getting more involved at the gym (for me, at least), baking (lets face it), and anticipating the arrival of baby Taylor, and also praying for the health of my Sis in law and her little bun in the oven as well, which will come after the new year. Maybe a little house hunting as well? We will just list that under tasks that have to do with finances.

Fun stories:
Evie loves to walk around now! But only if you are holding her hand(s). I catch her making little attempts at walking occasionally, but not much effort is exerted. She sure does like to take her sweet time.

Last night, Elijah woke up and climbed into bed with us (a normal occurance). We giggled for a little bit and then I told him that I loved him. Elijah responded by turning the other way and telling Tony, "I love you, Daddy." Burn.

They do it to earn treats

2011-10-03T20:20:00.002-06:00

A humble lunch

2011-09-30T12:35:00.000-06:00

Elijah either has mastered the art of sarcasm, or I need to make sandwiches more often because for lunch today, I told Elijah we would be having turkey sandwiches to which he replied, jumping up and down, "YAY YAY YAY! I get turkey and breeeaaadd!"

He heard it on the radio and starting singing it all by himself

2011-09-30T08:38:00.003-06:00

St Paul

2011-09-29T09:04:00.002-06:00

Have I mentioned that I really like it a lot here? St Paul is a really fun city to live in. There are little local shops on every corner, some of my favorites involve ice cream... Even the movie theatres here are little two-screen ones where there is one, big screen on the main level and a smaller one upstairs. Tony and I went to see Captain America when it was playing on the smaller screen and I tell you what, I am ruined forever in going to the big multiplexes. Even though there were quite a few people there, it felt like we were in a private screening.
People keep warning me about the winters here, but I've had a taste of them before in the form of holiday visits to the twin cities in the past few years. I plan on finding a few favorite indoor places to hang out with the kids and then expanding on my movie collection, maybe even try out this 'netflix' everyone keeps talking about.

It was so nice to see the fam in DC last week and it makes me wish we lived closer (especially to play with Lizzie and steal baby Taylor away when baby decides to arrive). However, I hope that some of my family will be able to come swing by our neck of the woods in the future (private screening for The Avengers? Anyone?)

Papa time

2011-09-24T19:30:00.002-06:00

Walking!

2011-09-17T15:42:00.002-06:00

My favorite present

2011-09-13T07:58:00.001-06:00

Excited.

2011-09-08T20:47:00.001-06:00

Hello world, I am excited. Excited for the next week. Excited that Tony got another person signed up this week. Excited that I have successfully found a storytime session at various library and bookstore locations for basically every day of the week (M-F at least) and a place to go for kid activities on Saturdays. We have been to two this week and there is another tomorrow and zoo animals on Saturday! Zoo animals! At the bookstore! Also excited that we are having a little party for me and Elijah on saturday and one of Tony's members is a pastry chef (say what) and is making a train cake for elijah and a nummy tart for moi.
I am excited that I finally went to the coolest little train store around, Elijah was more excited though. I was not excited, however to find out that the Thomas train sets are so dang expensive. We might be holding out on that one this year.
I am excited again that football season has begun.
Excited that I discovered that the library has Adventure Passes to various museums and attractions in the area (Minnesota Zoo and the Childrens Museum for starters). An Adventure Pass is something you can 'check out' from the library that gives you two free admissions to whatever your choosing to use that week. Free! I said freeeee. We are going to the zoo tomorrow or monday. For free. Thank you public library system for once more coming through with things to occupy our time with something useful.
Excited to go to VA next week and celebrate my sister getting ready to have a baby! I had a phone conference with Jenny yesterday to go over some of the deets of the baby shower. Hopefully it will turn out, but how could it not be great with Willards BBQ, right? Dont worry Julie if all else fails, you will have bbq.

Official first steps

2011-09-03T19:57:00.002-06:00

Happy September

2011-09-01T15:18:00.003-06:00

Ah, one of my favorite months is finally here! The month when things start cooling down. A month of birthdays for friends and family and bloggers...Ok its me. My birthday is this month! Yay. Anyways, we are all super excited for this month. Tony is steadily getting more and more clients at the Gym and I think we are up to a profit now. I have also started doing crossfit and it kicks my butt into next week, but its strangely empowering when you have finished one of those workouts (picture: RAAH!! I do pull ups!!).

Elijah is almost potty trained. He wears his underwear pretty much all the time, but is still not quite pooping in the toilet. Afraid? Maybe. Lazy? Also maybe. Yesterday though, he wasnt wearing any undies, just sort of roaming free... and he pooped in his potty. So thats a good start I think. As I was writing this, I actually saw him go down on all fours in a 'pushing' position and I ran after him and took his pants off really fast, but it was just a little too late. Just a little. poop. Oh well.
Tomorrow we leave for a weekend getaway with the fam, looking forward to it.
In two weeks, me and the babies are flying solo to VA for my sisters baby shower!! I am mucho excited for that! Lots of baby talk or rather talk about babies and girlie time (pedis and manis? no? just me? It seems like a sisterly thing to do) We will be there for about a week and a half!

Now that I am finished with school, did I mention that? That I graduated? I did. I graduated college. My degrees have been awarded and are in the mail. But now that I am finished with school and the older guys that I keep watch over are heading back to school next week, I will have some tiiiiiime on my hands. Time! Something I havent had in .. well.. a while. I wont have a lot of time I guess since I will still have two children. But downgrading from four to two children and from full time school to no school, I will have TIME. Money, however, we are working on.

Oh and evie took her first steps this week. Maybe two small steps, but she is working on it. Not too hard though. She takes her precious time. She is going to 18 months old this month. 18 month old and still scooting around on her knees. I dont know if that will fly in nursery at church.

Something to get you through the hurricane

2011-08-27T19:39:00.001-06:00

Over the past few months...

2011-08-23T14:42:00.006-06:00

Pictures! Many of these have been posted to facebook, but not everybody who reads this blog uses facebook, believe it or not. So, finally, some pictures. Here is Elijah getting ready to jump into the lake.

Driving the boat.Everybody gets tired after lunch, am I right?

The new bike trailer! Thank you craigslist! and Tammy. It doubles as a stroller too, say whaat.
Hanging out at the gym
and some more hanging.Evie is now in her forward facing carseat.

She loves giving the kisses!
And hugs.
Fighting over Elijah's booster car seat.
Playing in the pool at Tammy's!
The zoo with Papa! Miss you papa

When she first learned to stand up in her crib.

Oh, technology, you got me again. I have been trying to figure out how to get pictures from my phone onto the blog for awhile now. Little did I know that all I had to do was use my phone charger/usb to hook my phone up to the computer and upload my photos from there! Wonderful. Now how to save my videos to the computer...

On a side note, get well soon Grandpa Earley! We are sending prayers your way.

Elijah dance party

2011-08-19T18:42:00.005-06:00

Elijah is a pretty talented dancer. I would describe his style of dance as Toddler Break Dance Two Step. He can get down. Both of these videos are a pretty subdued version of the dancing though, because he gets a little distracted when the camera comes out.

This second one is for Brooklyn (listen to it real close) and even Evie gets in on the party.

Yes, I realize he is in his undies in both of these videos. He is almost potty trained, but until then, he is mostly pantless. So what.

We're working on the whole 'utensils' thing

2011-08-18T08:08:00.003-06:00

For now, she makes do.

*please note she somehow maneuvered her sippy cup to pour some milk into her tray with the cheerios. I just sat and watched.

At least she didn't have a sharpie

2011-08-11T18:57:00.002-06:00

Bye bye (she decorated herself with markers)

2011-08-08T16:09:00.001-06:00

Kissy's

2011-07-28T17:05:00.002-06:00

College

2011-07-28T15:57:00.002-06:00

Three exams, one quiz, and one short paper (in the works) stand between me and two Bachelor degrees. One more week to go.

PS Uncle Joe, Aunt Wendy and the rest of the Kutter clan took Elijah and the older kids with them today to South Dakota for the family reunion. Its just me and Evie! Not to mention Tammy and Tony, but they both work all day. So what did I do with three less children today? Two assignments and half of my paper. Hopefully I can finish said paper tomorrow while its still so quiet around here (Did I say thank you Kutters??)! Then we leave for South Dakota tomorrow evening.

Applesauce

2011-07-22T11:09:00.004-06:00

Sometimes when there are kids all around you, you forget about the fun part and get honed in on the 'do it right' or the 'dont do that' s of parenting. For instance sometimes kids do things with their own flare, and rather than stepping back and relishing the amusement they get from it, you step in and tell them the 'correct' way of doing it.

Today Elijah got himself an applesauce cup from the fridge. He brought it to me to help him open it then I told him to go grab a spoon to eat it with. He came back from the kitchen jingling. Jingling? He had the whole collection of measuring spoons in his hands. I almost told him to go back and just get one spoon, but stopped myself and laughed as he proceeded to use every spoon on the ring. In order. Going through the cycle until he finished the applesauce. Nice.

Also, I got ambushed today with a face full of diaper. Evie sat on my face while I was laying on the floor. I couldn't get her to stop unless I stood up. She thought it was the greatest thing since beating up daddy.

Maybe we should upgrade to a slip n slide

2011-07-19T08:38:00.001-06:00

Woooah!

2011-07-12T10:46:00.002-06:00

There's a party in my tummy!

2011-07-08T15:52:00.002-06:00

A new way to enjoy lunch

2011-07-07T11:39:00.002-06:00

Entertainment in MN

2011-07-01T18:05:00.002-06:00

She cried and screamed when I tried to feed her, but then...

2011-06-15T20:43:00.004-06:00

Please notice when Elijah says "Chooo Chooo"

Swinger

2011-06-11T23:46:00.002-06:00

Playtime or naptime

2011-06-10T20:15:00.001-06:00

Da da

2011-06-08T19:28:00.001-06:00

Trapped

2011-06-07T20:01:00.002-06:00

A recent twist to my mornings (ps Elijahs face has cleared up)

2011-06-06T00:17:00.002-06:00

He didn't get it from my side of the family, I'll tell you that much.

2011-06-04T00:13:00.001-06:00

Pancake peekaboo

2011-06-02T22:56:00.002-06:00

This might be considered a crossfit workout

2011-06-01T23:42:00.001-06:00

This is not a workout offered at crossfit

2011-05-26T19:54:00.002-06:00

Sharing at the airport

2011-05-25T16:18:00.002-06:00

Magpie

2011-05-24T09:47:00.002-06:00

We are practically on a first name basis

2011-05-22T21:54:00.002-06:00

So I feel like I take these kids to the doctors office at least once a week between the two of them. In the past week and a half, Elijah has been thrice. He swallowed that piece of plastic spoon the other week, so I took him in to the Kidscare instacare just in case and to know what to look out for. They said if he hadn't 'passed' it in about a week, to bring him back in. So for a week, excuse the simile, I spread out his poop like peanut butter looking for those pieces of plastic. I didnt find them.

I took him back in on friday to follow up with his pediatrician, who promptly told me that I shouldn't have had to look through the poop because it was very likely it would go through his system just fine and I probably wouldn't see it because, well, it would be covered in...poop. How many times can I use that word in this post? We'll see.

While at that appt, I took the opportunity to ask about a few other things that have been going on. Elijah has this rash on his face that has been persistent for a few weeks. The doctor attributed it to an eczema type skin irritation after testing a few things and told us to use some hydrocortisone cream to help it. I did, and it did help, but its not good to use for more than a week at a time and his rash would come right back and flare up. I also tried a more mild vaseline type ointment, but that made it turn bright red. In the afternoon, his eyes started to puff up. The rash had spread up to his eyes before, but not quite as puffy. Poor guy was so bummed about his eyes. He would point to one and go, "hurt."

Needless to say we were back at the doctor's office Kidscare tonight. Why wont this rash go away! We met with a different pediatrician and she suggested it could be an allergy thing because it was puffing his eyes up. So after a dose of Zyrtec, a popsicle, and a lollipop, we stopped by the store for some Children's benedryl and Claritan and Elijah fell asleep on the way home. We will try this regime out for a few days and see how it goes.

On a side note, Evie is crawling around on her hands and knees like a pro. I think she thinks that it is just fun to see how fast she can crawl. She will take off across the room, then turn around and come right back. Very cute. We are coming to visit MN this week, HOORAY!

Would you like some wine with that?

2011-05-21T21:42:00.002-06:00

The beginning of the end.

2011-05-17T22:05:00.003-06:00

The summer semester has begun. My final semester! I will officially be done with my degree(s) when I pass these last five classes. Yay! To add on a little more stress, we will be moving halfway through the semester! yay!

SOOO GLAD that Papa Mickey is here to step in when it's class time or even when studying is needed. I think I will pack him up and take him with us when we go. Some of my classes are only five or six weeks long, so they will be done toward the end of June, and the rest are online classes, so they are just gonna be packed up and moved with us and I will finish them up in St Paul.

Elijah and Evie have been doing so much lately! Sorry, Tony. Evie is now crawling on all fours rather than army style and she is pulling up to stand on a few things, too (as can be seen in the video from the last post). She is copying the faces we make at her and she tries to sing along to songs with me at church. And the best thing, she is now starting to annoy Elijah. It is SO funny. She likes to point at him and try to poke him or just reach for his face. Elijah always tells me to tell Evie no. "Mama! Say NoNo Evie!" Then he will turn to her and just say it himself. Nono evie!
Elijah is starting to listen... a liiiittle bit more. He is very sweet. One of his favorite games to play is where he makes me pretend I have a booboo and he kisses it then we say All better! Also, when I get upset with him (which happens often), he sometimes will come right over and give me a little kiss (can you say shmoozing?). He knows it will help him get out of a time out. He can count to maybe 15 and he knows pretty much all of his letters!
Here's the kicker, every night before he goes to bed, we say a little prayer together and he says, Heb paaader (heavenly father)
bleejeglges daaaaddy (bless daddy)
blegldels paaaapaaa (bless papa)
nam uh jee kwysss (in the name of jesus christ)
AMEN!

sometimes I can coax him into a few more details, but that is his basic prayer for everything.

Party at Evies crib

2011-05-17T11:01:00.001-06:00

Peek a boo

2011-05-13T22:44:00.002-06:00

I like to call it ' cultural exploration'

2011-05-12T13:09:00.000-06:00

Dinner/Snacktime

2011-05-11T20:21:00.000-06:00

Nom nom nom. I dont know why he suddenly decides its 'yucky'. Fickle two year old syndrome I guess. But notice he keeps eating.

Periodically if evie is napping, Elijah will come up to me just to let me know. "Mama, Evie sweeeeepin."

Spin, gamaw

2011-05-10T10:43:00.006-06:00

So, you may have noticed lately these videos have been with elijah not wearing pants... We are potty training and the no-pants route is what seems to be working best.. so..... I tried to keep it clean, but you may still get a few elijah booty shots.

The kids are having lots of fun with Grandma Debbie! Yesterday, Brooklyn came over for the day and played with evie and elijah. We even braved a trip to the grocery store together. interesting to say the least.

Also, in case you havent heard, I unofficially officially graduated from college this past weekend! You can see some more on that on my dads blog www.papamickeysplace.blogspot.com

And lastly, I can finally talk about the new baby that's coming in the fall! No, no, not for me and tony. Nooooo nono. My sister Julie and her hubbo Mark are expecting this time. I pass the baby torch.

Vlog: Bath time (this is not as awkward as it sounds)

2011-05-03T19:43:00.002-06:00

Not only standing, but also crawling on hands and knees.

2011-05-03T10:52:00.002-06:00

Catching on... To the trouble making

2011-04-29T10:36:00.002-06:00

Elijah is teaching Evie a few tricks of the trade

I finally figured out how to get evie to eat her baby food

2011-04-27T20:14:00.002-06:00

Blocks

2011-04-27T16:33:00.002-06:00

I swear she does it.

2011-04-26T19:13:00.001-06:00

How embarrassing

2011-04-25T23:20:00.003-06:00

We went to the doctors office this morning to get that pesky rash checked out on little Elijah. After some screaming in the waiting room (elijah, not me, although after awhile I thought about it), we went back to see the doctor. We stripped elijah down to check out the poor red bum. He swabbed to check for a strep infection (I dont know, he said it happens) but that came back negative.

So long story short elijah got pantsed in the doctors office and he prescribed some steroid hydrocortisone cream to try for a few days. Hopefully it will help it go away, because this dang rash has been so persistent its been at least two weeks and every time Elijah has his diaper off, he immediately starts scratching. And it doesnt help that it is on his face cheeks and as of tonight, maybe I am being a paranoid mommy, but it seems like it is spreading to his eyes.

The doctor also had mentioned that it could be eczema related, a usually mild skin condition that I had on my elbows and knees a bit growing up. Dry, itchy, rough skin. Yuck.
I did get the chance to flip through a pediatric book of skin conditions complete with pictures. There is some pretty heinous stuff out there. As long as we dont have open sores, I can deal and I think Elijah can too.

I will have a better idea of how the cream is working in the morning with the first diaper change of the day.

Happy Easter, Daddy

2011-04-23T22:12:00.002-06:00

Sorry if the sound is a little off.

You may notice Elijah has a little rosey cheek in the video, he has been getting this skin irritation rash sort of thing lately. He is going to the doc's tomorrow to see what is up. Whats up with that, whats up with that!

Childhood Obesity.

2011-04-22T14:50:00.003-06:00

We've decided to move to Virginia!!!! April Fools.

Videos from my awesome sister's awesome blog.

Evie eating. Michelle Obama, here is your poster child.

Or wait, maybe this is your poster child.

But we get our exercise in too!

Strawberry olive gardens forever....

2011-04-18T23:09:00.001-06:00

Movin on up...

2011-04-17T00:17:00.003-06:00

We went to the aquarium...

2011-04-15T23:53:00.005-06:00

two weeks or so ago. Forgive the delay, but things have been busy. My semester is coming to end (Two more weeks!) then graduation (!) but then the summer semester to do final classes :/
Tony has officially moved out. Good riddance! Just kidding he is moving now to get things going in MN, and since Papa Mickey is out here to so generously lend his help and support to us, its all good in the neighborhood. ...I guess its getting late when I start using 90s phrases. We will be following later to join him in St Paul, MN.
But anyways, the aquarium. Elijah loves Finding Nemo lately, so needless to say, he loved it.

Some fish looked like they could eat him. Seriously, fish are scary. I wouldnt want to get in water with these things swimming underneath.
And then we found the penguins.

Who knew there would be penguins at the aquarium? Well, there are at this aquarium. Elijah actually wasnt super interested. More Nemo, please.

He was a lousy first mate on our canoe, watch where you're going and use the paddle!
Bruce.
I am still not convinced that this is the actual size of emperor penguins.
Seriously? seriously. THAT big?
This is also actual size of a toad.
We rode him to the aquarium.

On a side note, Jen and Lizzie are here for the week to visit! So far we have been to the mall, out to eat, to the other mall, out to eat, to the childrens museum which is at the mall, and papa mickey house. Tomorrow is Brooklyn's birthday party, but we could probably still fit in a visit to the mall.

That about sums it up.

2011-04-04T22:21:00.002-06:00

Motherhood.
Sometimes its the greatest and you are so full of love and gratitude for the little babies around you. You wake up in the morning to find a little boy who has invaded your bed and after saying "I love you" you finally hear in return a tired little morning voice respond, "I yuv oo too mama".

And then sometimes you have those nights where your husband is out of town and you have to call your mom for advice on how to treat a mild burn from a certain little boy climbing onto the counter and placing his hand on the (recently turned off, but still) hot burner and you call your dad to see if he can come help you because not only do you have to treat a burned hand, but another certain baby girl has pooped every single diaper that day and has acquired a quite heinous diaper rash and is screaming on the floor and you have neither diaper cream (ran out) nor burn gel or aloe vera sort of lotion.

Needless to say, we made a late night trip to Walgreens where our shopping list consisted of
-Max Strength Diaper Cream
-BurnJel ointment
-Oreos

I might have thrown that last one in there to offset the screaming children. For myself.

But now Papa Mickey stopped by to offer his papa-ness to turn the night around. Evie played with him. Elijah used him to assist in jumping off the couch. But now Evie is soundly asleep, with a heavily rash-creamed bum, Papa has gone home despite Elijah's best attempts to block the door, and now Elijah's hand is bandaged and we are watching Wow Wow Wubzy and sharing oreos. Back to basking in motherhood.

Diaper rash makes baby sad:Mild burn, cool hand wrap:

But some of the time she sounds like a jolly old man

2011-04-04T00:05:00.002-06:00

Notice how elijah chimes in with an occasional 'Spaghetti!'

Most of the time she is quiet

2011-04-02T20:36:00.001-06:00

Elijah's new favorite pastime

2011-03-30T22:49:00.002-06:00

He sings along to any song he hears. This one is his favorite because each verse ends with an easy word to sing. "saaame. same. SAAME. no no."

Even when he doesnt know the words he says something similar to what he hears. Another favorite is Lady Gaga.... We mostly listen to pop radio.

Show us how YOU dance

2011-03-27T23:53:00.003-06:00

Wisdom teeth are successfully out.

2011-03-25T17:57:00.002-06:00

Happy First Year of Evie!

2011-03-23T09:10:00.007-06:00

Since the first day of spring was a few days ago, naturally Evie's birthday follows. Obviously this girl can't wait to experience spring, because on this day one year ago, she came seven weeks before she was due! I know everybody ALWAYS says this, but it is so true, I CANT BELIEVE IT HAS BEEN A WHOLE YEAR. She is still about the size of a nine month old (we had a side by side with an 8-9 mo old baby girl at Bonnie's baby shower this past week and the younger baby was taller). She is really crawling all around now, army crawling at least, but she is working her way up to climbing over things, namely daddy's legs when he lays on the floor.

When she was born:

About six weeks old:

We had her birthday party about a week and a half ago so that we could celebrate while papa was still in town!
Elijah didnt feel good, so he slept through most of the party, only to wake up to play the kinect with mike and tanner.
Cara and lincoln giving a kiss to Evie

Very impressed with the wrapping
She loves her puppy.

Cupcake!

mainly she licked at the frosting and squished the cake part.
Overall it was really fun, glad to hang out with a couple of friends we dont see very often! And we got to use mike's xbox kinect to see the family in va! Thanks everyone!

PS Elijah was walking around the house yesterday singing "hap birtday... to yooou. hap birtday... to yooou..."

Onward to thursday!

2011-03-16T21:35:00.005-06:00

Oh boy it sure has been a wednesday around here. Elijah is driving both me and tony KAh-RAY-ZEE not necessarily being naughty (although he has been a little bit of that). Elijah is loud, naturally, as is most two year olds I imagine, but today he would start being loud yelling things like "LOOK MAMA LOOK CHAAWWCATE *chocolate CHAWCATE WOOOOOOK MAMA MAAAAMA" or "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH BAAAAAAA AAAAAAHH"
and this would only happen when tony and i were trying to talk to each other.

"So today, I have to print this up and drop...
"WOOOOOK MAMA WOOOOK WOOOOOOOK YAAA ...."
"... and dont forget I have to go to the doctors at..."
"BAAAAAAAAAAAA WAAAAAA ..."
"and I need to stop by the..."
"MAMA! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOK CHAAAAAAWCATE WOOOOOK!..."
"STOP IT ELIJAH! STOP IT! QUIET FOR ONE. MINUTE. PLEASE!"
.....
....
whispering, "woooooook mama, chocolate. see?"

"Good job elijah. Yes, you can have chocolate for using the potty."

Everytime he uses the potty, he gets a little piece of chocolate. And he lets you know if he hasnt received his chocolate.

But that sort of situation happened about five times today. Sometimes he would just be loud to be loud, no reason, just wants tony to be confused about what the days schedule will be since I was unable to communicate it to him vocally.

Check out those chompers

2011-03-13T22:02:00.001-06:00

Road Trip!

2011-03-13T20:35:00.005-06:00

We went out for a drive today and ended up one and a half hours away at the Bonneville Salt Flats! We had never been out there before and decided we wanted to see it before we move this summer. It was pretty cool. Just flat, salty land. Really pretty actually, almost like a beach. Some of it had very shallow water that made it look like a huge lake.

We went to another part down the road, where it was more dry and salty, less wet. and Elijah loved splashing in it. This is the best family picture to date. Minus the muffin top. whoops.

Mid-cough.

Hugsies

Overall, it was a fun day and on a side note Wendover is lame. The End.

Photo shoot

2011-03-06T21:18:00.005-07:00

I had an impromptu photo shoot with evie the other day in order to get some cute pictures to put on her birthday party invitations! These pictures are just a sample, Ive saved the cutest pictures for the invitations. Dont worry, even if you dont live in the area, you may be getting one because they are so cute. So, be waiting by your mailboxes this week! This tiny baby is going to be one year old in just two weeks.

Elijah was feeling unappreciated, so he snuck in a few pictures.
Play time or nap time? Evie recently discovered the joys of splashing, thanks to elijah.
She now LOVES bathtime.
DISCLAIMER: there is slight baby nudity in this video. Ok, total. Its a bathtime video. It happens.

Sibling bonding

2011-03-03T17:30:00.002-07:00

Further evidence of elijah's future acting/film career

2011-02-25T23:30:00.000-07:00

Pay no attention to the stove

2011-02-23T15:18:00.002-07:00

We're thinking he will be a great dramatic actor

2011-02-20T22:19:00.003-07:00