March Mud-ness...

We have had more beautiful weather this week, so some trips to the park were a must. We haven't had any snow on the ground for awhile, but man is it muddy! As soon as we walked in the door from the park Anna would have to take off her shoes, pants, and once her shirt. They were that covered in mud. I know dirt and mud are essential to every kid's childhood, and I'm not opposed. I just wish I were better at getting out the stains. My mom is a stain removal miracle worker, but sadly, that was not passed on to me. :-)

I love the two pictures above because a.) Anna and Ben are playing together - so sweet of Anna to push her little brother on the swing, and b.) Benjamin's facial expressions are too perfect. The first one shows him gripping the sides, holding on for dear life with a very concerned look on his face, and the second one perfectly captures how much he ended up loving the swing.

Here are few more pictures from that day. Anna loves balancing on things and pretending she is doing gymnastics or is in a circus. This same day, we took a walk to the library. It was especially fun because Ethan was at the library studying, and Anna was so excited to surprise him. Ethan enjoyed a little break from the books. Oh, and let me say that the Moby Wrap (baby sling) is back in full force. After using it pretty often last summer, I realized I hadn't used it at all during the winter months. When I was at the park the first time, I thought it'd be perfect to sling on Ben so I could climb around and play with Anna, as opposed to carrying Ben in my arms (which isn't sustainable for very long since he is 25 pounds of pure chub and constant motion). I use a side hold that is very comfortable, and Ben-Ben loves it too. I used it for our walk to the library too...so fun to have him snuggled close.

Two little cuties. They were both going for the farmer look this day - Anna on purpose and Ben had no choice. We did a lot of pretend play with planting and farming. Anna doesn't have any overalls, so this jumper had to do. She felt authentic enough. The second picture shows Anna helping Ben learn how to walk. You can see how much he enjoys it (although it's a little fuzzy) and Anna loves it too. She likes to go as fast as possible without making Benjamin fall over, which still happens pretty often. Good practice for Ben...and he won't usually do it with Ethan or I, silly baby.

Precious picture of Ethan and the kids getting home from church and relaxing on a Sunday afternoon. And the final picture - I took the kids bowling with the SKIP program a few weeks ago, and of course Anna loved it. She even got a strike...with the help of the bumper rails. Ben just sat in his stroller and enjoyed some snacks. Well, I guess that is plenty for now, but I do have a video I want to post of Benjamin, and I want to fill you in on some of the sweet and some of the frustrating milestones he is hitting. So, you can look forward to that in the next few days. Have a beautiful week!

Spring Break in Fort Wayne, Indiana...

We were going to go somewhere tropical for Ethan's spring break (not really), but then decided Fort Wayne would be a better choice. Nothing like good ol' Indiana in February. We had so much fun visiting my Uncle Harry and Aunt Linda Jones. I love that my kids are getting to know the Jones side of the family. It's important to me. We went down the first weekend of Eth's break and packed a lot in Friday evening to Sunday night. We played with cousins/family (including Uncle John, Anna and George's fam, and Pat and Amber's fam, yay!), we saw my good friend Elizabeth and her family, we visited with one of Ethan's friends from his mission to Australia, and we went to the Science Central Museum. (We got in free with our Flint Children's Museum pass as part of the ASTC group, nice!) We had a great time and are thankful to Harry and Linda for having us. Anna has been asking to visit Uncle Harry's since she was there this past summer and fell in love with their garden, her "new cousins", and rides on the golf cart...and yes, I gave her a heads up that the garden wouldn't be around this time. Anna did get to help sprout some beans though. Enjoy the pictures:


Uncle Harry feeding Ben. Uncle John reading to Natalie and Anna.

Levi reading to Anna, impressive! Ethan's mission friend, Jake Newhard, and his family.


Ethan, Benjamin, and Anna outside Science Central! Anna and I looking around.


Ben exploring and learning how the inside of a piano works.


Anna exploring and learning how a river flows.

A Very Lovely Valentine's Day...

Me - "Anna, what is love?"
Anna - "Love is Mama, Ben, all the people I see. When you love someone you kiss them and you
play with them, even grown ups."

Ethan completely spoiled me this Valentine's Day. He let me sleep in on Saturday, which is typical, but when I woke up there was was a note. He wrote that he was with the kids and that he wouldn't be back until 5 pm. He told me he had rented me movies the night before, and got me some special snacks, and told me where they were hidden. At first I thought it'd be hard to just lounge all day and that I'd want them to come home early. I was wrong. This day was heaven!!! Yes, I have a few hours to myself most nights to get things done, workout, or just recoup, but this was sooooo different. This was alone time for 8 whole hours!!!!! I watched two of the movies that Ethan had rented (ones I'd wanted to see for a while, and Ethan did not :) I'll admit, I did do a few chores, but they were done so quickly without two little kids interrupting or wanting to "help." I also called a few people I'd been meaning to chat with, and I gave myself a pedicure. Oh, and I did a quick workout. I made some valentine cupcakes that Anna and I decorated when she got home. (We shared some with a few of our neighbors.)

After hanging out together, feeding the kids, baths, and nighttime routine, we put Anna and Benjamin to bed and celebrated Valentine's Day just the two of us. We had some steaks we cooked together. I got dressed up for our date (see Ethan's photo work above :) and I was getting ready when Anna was still awake....

Anna - "Mommy, where are you going?"

Me - "Oh, I'm not going anywhere. Daddy and I are just having a special date tonight, here."

Anna - "What's a date?"

Me - "Well, we're going to do things together, just the two of us. Maybe watch a movie."

Anna - "I would like to watch a movie with you. I can get dressed up too."

Me - "Oh, sweetie, this is just for mommy and daddy. And it's a grown up movie..."

Anna - "Well, I don't think we should watch a movie. We can play a game. Maybe jump rope.

Oh, I have a great idea mom...how about Grown-up jump rope."

Me - "I'm sorry Anna, this is just for daddy and mommy...it's time for bed sweet cheeks."

Of course Anna was hurt and offended by this. How dare we have a fun, special night together without her. I think she realizes that we stay up a little longer than her, but I don't think she ever assumed we were having any fun. Poor Anna. Our next family night is going to be a dress up party.

Beautiful weather...

Anna and Benjamin on one of the walks we took this week. Most of the week the weather was sunny and in the 40's and 50's. This day it hit 60 degrees. Yay!!! It was a beautiful day and it was so fun watching Ben marvel at the outdoors. There's just so much for him to see! We even sat down and had a little 'picnic snack' during our exploring. So all of the snow has melted, and we hope it stays that way until next winter. :)


Anna getting in some running (which she manages to do often enough in our apartment, but it's just different with the wide open space). This is on a trail that goes through town and part of it comes right up to our apartment complex. So convenient.

We went to the Children's Museum last Saturday when my parents were visiting. Now that Ben is so mobile, it's really nice having another adult(s) along. I do still go on my own, but we've started occasionally going on Saturdays so Ethan can come with us.

Every few months my dad has various work meetings/conferences that he attends around our area, lucky for us. That's why they were visiting this past weekend. We had lots of fun with them including a few hikes, ate at Zenders in Frankenmuth (famous for their incredibly delicious Chicken dinners), story time at the library, a visit with my Aunt Cindy in Midland, Children's Museum, and of course some euchre after the kids went to bed. My parents were here Fri. night through Tues. early morning, so we could fit in a lot of different activities. Good times!

Okay, one final thing. Every week or so we rent a movie and I've decided to watch some of the classics. This past weekend we watched The Sting and really enjoyed it. Casa Blanca is also on my list. Soooo, any 'oldies but goodies' you'd like to suggest? Let me know....

The milk is marrying the water...

Yet another example of Anna's incredible imagination and creative play. We were eating breakfast and all of the sudden Anna asks Ethan and I if we'll sing the wedding song. Why? Because the milk and water are getting married, of course. :)

The Last Few Weeks...

First Picture: Anna pretending that she is a baby. Second Picture: Benjamin, Anna and Aiden playing at Aiden's house. (My friend across the hall has kids the same age...yay!)

Benjamin and Tristan playing together. This is Ben-Ben's first friend. The baby book that I keep for him has a spot for a picture and paragraph about "Baby's first Friend" so we had a little photo shoot. They play pretty well together...for 10 months old. And by "play" I mean they take things away from each other over and over and over. Tristan is 3 weeks older than Ben...they're so cute together.

This is Ben sporting the "Made in the U.P." shirt my parents got for him. I know, I know, it's a little weird with all that the statement implies, but we try to humor them. And Benjamin was a good sport about it. :)

Here's a bit more personal info for those interested..it's not pretty:

So, January seemed to just go on forever. I am glad to report that I made it through...but just barely. I know I mentioned it in my last post, but it was just one hard month...mainly the last week. The kids were sick at various points, so we stayed home...often. Ben was teething...yet again. I got sick too...no fun. It doesn't sound that bad trying to write about it now, but I was just going CRAZY in this little apartment with crying, needy kids day after day. Unfortunately, I can't even say that I stayed positive and patient despite the circumstances. (But I really, really tried...really.) To say I was snappy and emotional would be an understatement. That was the worst part of all...me.

But, I have moved on. Thank goodness for forgiveness. Ethan was so supportive and helpful and forgiving. And sweet little Anna was so understanding, for a 3 year old. Most importantly, through lots of prayer, I could feel the forgiveness, love and support of my Heavenly Father. What a blessing! We're not perfect and we don't always handle things well, but that's okay. We can recognize that, ask for help and forgiveness, and move on. It's a good feeling. Perfectly corresponding with this good feeling was an increase in temperatures and sunny days these last few weeks. We've been on a few walks and almost all of our snow has melted. Yippee!! Life is beautiful.