Sunday, November 28, 2010

Fun surprises and Utah!

Well we had a really good time in Utah!  It was so nice to see family and friends!  Thanks to everyone who made time for us!  Love you guys!  I hardly took any pictures because we all got sick, but we did love being there!!

BEFORE 

AFTER 
I chopped my hair off and donated it!!  It is such a nice change (although it doesn't save me much time getting ready!) and I have loved it!  Thanks Susan!!

FINALLY ANNOUNCING
I'm 25 weeks pregnant!!  IT'S A GIRL!!  Having her March 1st!  Can't wait to have another little girl!  I will admit I'm terrified for 3, but there is no going back now! 

Love my family!  The girl in the middle wearing the white shirt is Johanna.  She is from Norway.  She is living with my family for the school year!  We loved getting to know her and the kids loved playing with her!  We can't wait for her and her family to come visit us in June!!

Ha ha.. finally hanging up our first pictures in our house!!  We have lived here since June, but with being very sick all summer I just didn't feel like it!!  I'm glad to finally have them hung up!  Thanks hunny!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The other night I went to Relief Society and came home to find both kids asleep in the family room.  This is a FIRST for Miranda.  She never falls asleep anywhere but her bed!!  Love it!  So cute!

Ian fixing his bike because it squeaks.  He was a little dissapointed that no matter what he did with that screwdriver it was still squeaky!!

HOME DEPOT 
Went to the free kids workshop they have the first Saturday of every month.  So fun!  Miranda built a spice rack.  She loved hammering the nails in (after I had done most of it of course) and she loves her apron!  I built hers wrong twice and they had to take it apart for me.  Guess I'm not that great at following instructions?  A lady next to me did the same thing so I didn't feel as uncapable!! =)

All smiles the whole time!

Ian built a fire boat.  He did a really good job hammering the nails in.  I would just get it started and he would finish it!

Both kids with their projects... they LOVED it!  We also got coupons for free doughnuts from Dunkin Doughnuts so after we were done building we headed over there and had a treat!!  What a fun, FREE, morning!


Where's Miranda? 

There she is! 
Her favorite new hiding spot!!



And this is the face of someone who just got home from taking his LAST FINAL!!!!!!
HORRAY!!  Good job hun!

And Ian and Nik are currently having a "daddy day".  Ian has been looking forward to this day for a long time!!  They went to Chick-fil-A and then to the park.  Nik also has a surprise waiting at home for Ian when they get home (thanks to me!).  It is a couple of little squishy frogs!  Ian loves little squishy animals!!

We are heading up to Utah for Thanksgiving and I can't wait to see everybody!!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween Happenings

Ian decided at first that Miranda was the tooth fairy, but then changed his mind because she didn't have wings!  I don't know what she was, but she was darn cute!!!!

Ian was a Dinosaur!!!   

We went to the Midwestern University Halloween Party and had a blast!!  Trick-or-treating in all of the buildings, then fun games and activities in the gym and cafeteria!! 

Miranda loved the concept of getting candy!!!!  At first she wanted to eat every piece of candy she got, but we convinced her to keep coming and she could get more!!  =)  We had a happy little candy monster on our hands!!


Ian fishing for a prize!!

The kids loved the guy making balloon things!!!  Miranda got a flower!

Decorating sugar cookies!!  The best part was I got to eat both of them!! =)

Waiting for their balloons!  Ian got a weeny dog!

Love those eyes!!

Making paper bag haunted houses!!  Ian loved this!

Going down the big slide!!  Miranda wanted to really bad, but Nik and I didn't want to go with her!!  Poor thing!  I guess next year she will be big enough to do it on her own!! =)

Happy Kids!!  They had a lot of fun!!


We also went to our ward's trunk-or-treat and the kids had a blast!!  They played games at first, but Miranda was just ready to get more candy in her pumpkin!!  (Like I said... she really liked that concept!!)  They had fun trunk-or-treating and we had fun watching them!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Carving Pumpkins

This year we had fun carving pumpkins!!  It happened in two different waves.  I bought the pumpkins a week or so before Halloween and Ian just couldn't wait so Nik helped him carve one that day!  We put it outside and it got moldy really fast because it is warm here!!  Then we carved the other three on Friday!!

Miranda really liked the pumpkins!!  I think she is trying to imitate the face! =)  Doing a pretty good job too!

Ian liked using the tools to carve the pumpkin!  Nik got to do all the yucky stuff!!

I grew up painting pumpkins, but this year I decided to get into the carving spirit!!  I carved the one shown with Miranda!!  Nik did the yucky part on my pumpkin too!!  Thanks babe!




The finished products!!  Turned out pretty fun!  We will light candles in them tonight!!
Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Wednesday Mornings

On Wednesdays we watch the garbage truck.  It is the highlight of our day!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Who they are...

MIRANDA
Miranda is that girl who likes to watch football on TV with dad.  She is the girl who hides when she is doing something she knows she shoudn't do.  She is the girl who likes to wear hats, sometimes two at a time.

She is the girl with the crazy, curly, unruly, beautiful hair.. and sometimes she even asks for a bow to get it out of her eyes!  She is the girl who learned how to go down a slide all by herself and would stay at the park all day sliding!

She is the girl who climbs up and sits in my sink to bruch her teeth ALL DAY LONG!  If she is really quiet or has been missing for a while that is where I find her.   (Nik is so proud!)

Miranda is the girl who is usually wearing boy clothes (unless we are going somewhere) because I just don't have enough girl clothes that fit her! =)  She actually prefers Ian's clothes over hers.. especially the clothes that have footballs or race cars or lions on them!  She is that girl who carries around stuffed animals everywhere she goes.  (Notice the monkey hitching a ride on her back!)

She is the girl who melts my heart every day!!  I put her hair in pigtails for the first time the other day and I just couldn't get enough!!  She looked so cute I could hardly stand it!  She is the girl that is always willing to hug Ian (even when he pushes her away).  She is the girl who is so good at sharing (most of the time) and doesn't like it when Ian (or any other baby for that matter) is sad.  At church when she hears a baby crying she will say "baby, sa, blae blae."  Which translates to baby, sad, needs a blankie.  If Ian is in timeout and crying it makes her sad too and she wants to go be with him to help him be happy.

Miranda is also that girl who can scream the loudest and cry the hardest at the drop of a hat.  She is so girly and emotional and dramatic!!  She is the girl who likes to unload all the movies from under the TV and then put them back.  She is the girl who is so good at playing and entertaining herself if she is in the right mood!  She is also the girl who will hang on my legs and cry until I pick her up and get her what she wants.

Miranda is the girl who usually has daddy's socks on.  She is the girl who loves to wear necklaces and backpacks.  She is the girl that gets really sad if she doesn't get to say goodbye to dad in the mornings.  She loves her dad and loves picking him up from school!

She is the girl who has more attitude than my 17-year-old sister and a bigger heart than most people I know.  She is so loving and caring and sweet and I just can't get enough lately!!  I love her so much and love this stage that we are in!  I can understand a lot of what she says (most people probably wouldn't be able to understand a word) and she is learning more every day!

IAN 
Ian is that kid who likes deviled eggs, but hates getting his picture taken.  He is the kid that likes to play with cars and trucks and anything really!!  He just likes to play.  He is the kid who will choose the orange bowl and then after I get his cereal and pour the milk and hand it to him will decide he wants a different bowl and when I tell him "you chose orange so that is what you get, I'm not going to switch the bowls" will just start crying and say "you scared me." (He says that alot for different reasons, but that was just a good example.) 

Ian is the kid who likes to do projects (coloring, paints, playdough, cut paper, stickers) and would do them all day if he could!  He is the kid who wants to play with whatever Miranda is playing with.  He doesn't like sharing with Miranda, but expects Miranda to always share with him (and she does.)  He is that kid who, when he decides it's ok, is so nice to hug and kiss Miranda and help her get her blankie and play with her. He is the kid who likes to call Grandma on the phone, but will only say hi and then he is done talking and wants to do something else.

He is the kid who is very picky about the clothes he wears and won't wear any shorts that aren't basketball shorts and won't wear shirts that "hang down" or "make bumps" (whatever that means).  I even took him to the store and let him pick out some shirts so he would wear them... ya didn't work.  He chose some great shirts and now won't wear them.  Most of the time he just doesn't wear a shirt!!  We usually have to bribe him or get mad at him before he will get dressed in nice clothes for church!

He is the kid who likes to climb on everything and I tell him at least 10 times a day to please get off the cupboards!! =)  He is the kid who has to have a bowl of cereal in his bed at night and loves to cuddle with us in our bed in the mornings!!  He is the kid who loves to read books.  He is the one that will say what he is thinking... for example... this morning he tells Nik "I don't like you.  You always do wrong things I don't want you to do like clean and I just want you to do right things like play."  Nik tried to explain that we can't always do things we want to do and that if we don't clean our house it would get really messy and it wouldn't be fun to live in.  Ian replied "I just like it messy because I like to play, play, play a lot." 
Ian is the kid who is always giving me hugs and kisses and pushing daddo away, until he is about to give up and then he wants kisses and hugs from him too.  He is the kid who likes to play with friends and gets so excited when we are going to a friends house or they are coming over... I usually try to wait to tell him they are coming or else he wants them right then!!  He is the kid that would take one marshmallow NOW over a whole bag of marshmallows in 10 minutes!!!  He too is so sweet and loving and is always telling me he loves me or he likes me.  He is also the one who gives me the most compliments and disagreements with the clothes I wear and the way I look.  He is very opinionated about what I should wear and what he thinks looks good! =)

These kids are my life and I love them so much!  I love seeing their different personalities and the different stages we are in.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE when they play and laugh together!  At those moments our home is truly heaven on earth!  I pray every day that I can be a better mother and that I can teach them the things that will guide them through their lives and bring them happiness!!  It is scary to me how impressionable they are at this age and I have really tried to be careful of the things we watch on tv or the things they hear because they will repeat things I don't want them to know about!  They are such sweet little spirits right now and I can see how important it is that they have a good home where they can feel safe and learn the gospel and feel the spirit!  What a job we mothers have!!!  Wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!