Heave Ho...

as in the baby in the belly that is growing by the day and for the mama who is feeling quite loaded down. We've got just 6 weeks to go and are starting to gear up for little girl gunn to join our family. If she comes out with bruises it's because Matthew and Ella Jane still love to feel her but don't always understand that when they push on the belly, they are also pushing on me...well and baby girl too. So, I just have to make sure I have a hand ready block the big mash that is about to come my way and redirect with "gentle, gentle."

My best winkers

A few weeks ago Ella Jane discovered she could wink. She thought it was the coolest thing. So for awhile we had a lot of winking in the house. Funny thing with Ella Jane is that when she winks she looks like a little tough girl; Matthew looks pretty Joe Cool in this winking picture too though. They are so funny together. Since our little friends are still sparse around here they mostly just play with each other. Some days it hits me how MUCH time they spend together. With this warmer weather we're bound to be outside more and hopefully meet more of our neighborhood.

We are gearing up for Easter which means having egg hunts in the house, going to egg hunts at church and posting Matthew's Easter projects from school. They are just beside themselves when holidays roll around.

Little baby girl is just that. Little baby girl. No name yet for this little one, but she continues to grow as I now find myself holding on to my belly just to give it a little more support. It's fun to try and guess body parts, I'm really only good at deciphering her legs since she sometimes has them criss crossed on the top of my belly.

Matthew has been amazing both Jim and I lately with his thirst for knowledge. Mmm...I wonder where he gets that? :) He's very interested in spelling, and pointing out familiar words. The other day we were at the library and noticed a large city map of Dubuque on the wall. Nothing fancy, just the plain kind. He wanted to know what it was a map of, and not really being a map person myself I nonchalantly said it was a map of DBQ. He then wanted to know where our house was, and then where campus and his school were. Definately Jim's brain inside this child of ours! So we spent some time looking at the map and learning where everything was.

Pictures are of present and past; enjoy!

Matthew helping to make cinnamon rolls

mmm...they're soooooo good!

I love my dad

I love this photo- she's so contemplative

Patsy made pillows for the kids; Ella Jane loves hers AND Matthews


Melting crayons to make Valentines for Matthew's class

Watching the crayons melt...wow!

My winkers...aren't they great?

Last fall...before all of our snow

More pillow time; and Matthew looks so grown up here

They really do make a great team

They were both batman for Halloween

Just a cute photo

Time

Such siblings...Sept. '07 Maryland

Kids in the moving van Oct. '07 Maryland

Great friend Patsy with kids on one of our last adventures... to the Baltimore Aquarium in Sept. '07

Ella Jane at Eagle Point Park Oct. '07 Iowa!

Funny these pictures are several months old but I look at them and feel as if it were just the other day. Four months have passed?...really!? In some ways, time seems to stand so still and then in other ways it seems to fly by. Matthew is at a stage where he is EAGER to learn about anything he can wrap his little mind around. Yesterday while I was making lunch he asked me which ocean polar bears live in. Uh....well, the polar bears like the cold, so they probably live in the arctic so they must swim in the Arctic Ocean. (That's an ocean right?) I realized that was a pretty easy one compared to what is to come. I'll have to go back to Elem. school just to keep up!

Ella Jane is into asking if she can keep this and that. Can I keep this book? "no it belongs to the library", Can I keep this toy? "yes, that is your toy." Are we going to stay in this house? "Yes, honey, we're going to stay in this house." Perhaps she thinks she's getting uprooted again? And for those of you who know how much I love to clean out...I haven't tossed any toys recently.

Baby girl is getting big. She and I did the salsa this afternoon. What a fun little dance, it's a new workout I'm trying here at home. No names yet. Not even a possibility or a back up. We've got to get going on that!

Carol

Snow time fun...

Jim and the kids are outside enjoying the morning "snow flurries" as forcasted for today. We got about 3 inches. Mmmmm... At the end of our culdesac the snow gets plowed into a huge pile and the neighbor kids then make snow tunnels and slides on all sides of it. We take full advantage! Matthew is out there right now making his own trail. He's such a joy to watch in the snow; so able bodied and such control over his movements. He handles the snow better than his prego mama.

Ella Jane is way into Little People these days. She loads EVERYBODY into the bus and off to school they go. When it's full there are about 12 little characters in there, construction crew included. We have the little buldozer and the other day and said "mommy look!! it's the snow pick up guy!" Nothing about scooping dirt or making roads, just picking up the snow. That's because here in IA. after the snow has been piling up, they come in with the dump trucks and bulldozers and scoop up the snow. I imagine there is a kid's dreamland of snowforts and slides just waiting to be built somewhere.

A balmy 24 degrees

We finally warmed up to 24 degrees on Saturday and I thought, what a beautiful day to go OUTSIDE! After a week of single digit weather and below, it was just too cold and uncomfortable to be out there. Temps in the 20's felt pretty nice. You can imagine how excited we were when we saw 44 degrees forcasted for today. We've already been to the park where we trudged through the deep snow to get to the playground. Matthew went down the slides and pushed all of the snow down and even made Ella Jane and I chicken soup with bread rolls. He's such a little star.

Oh my goodness...

Matthew is so funny. He just came downstairs to ask me if he could climb into the baby's bouncy seat and use it as a sled to slide down the stairs.

I've recently cleaned up the tornado that was the baby's room and in the process gotten out some newborn clothes, baby toys etc. The kids are fascinated by teethers, rattles and the sort. Ella Jane constantly carts them around and reminds me that they are for the baby. "When baby comes out of your tummy, if she cwies then I will give her a toy." I think they might be ready! Although I might have to keep an eye on that bouncy seat. It's currently piled to the top with EJ's babies to which Matthew offered to push it down the stairs for her. (laughing)

Library...

This is the kids' new favorite game. I think it has something to do with the self checkout when we go to the library. Although I must say, I have yet to master the one here; I set of the beeper everytime we walk out the door and end up having to haul everyone, and everything back to the counter.

We had a few empty boxes lying around upstairs in the office not long ago and it didn't take long for the kids to discover them and make a new game. It now holds all of the movies and videos and is the checkout box. Ella Jane is very dramatic when she is playing library, in fact she tells me she is "returning", which means that she puts the book into the air into the pretend scanner and then pushes it out to the customer and then takes it back again. It's a very funny process to watch. Her other new favorites these days are putting things into a line, game pieces, cups, blocks; whatever she can get her hands on!

Matthew has gotten into games recently. He really enjoys playing Go Fish. This morning we tried Chutes and Ladders and I'll tell you what, that game can drag on forever with all of the slides that can put you back at the bottom again! School is going well for him. We've even had a playdate already and refers to his friends when talking about his day. He had the chance to feel the baby move last week, it was such a sweet moment. With his hand on my belly anxiously waiting for little girl to kick, he was so patient. And then, thump! and his face lit up in such surprise. So fun to see.

No pictures for awhile. The camera broke a few days after that last posting much to my dismay. There are ways to get around that though, as I still own a camera that takes film!

our dancing kids

Wow, now that I know this works, I'll have to get some more footage to send along. How exciting! Dancing is a daily occurance in our house; usually after dinner. Some of the latest favorites are Walk the Line, H.S. Musical, and the feelings CD which is posted here. As you can see from the picture there is plenty of room to run, so we crank it up and let them go!