All Done / First Pets!!!

Well, this was our first week of summer vacation. Everything we are involved in suddenly came to an end all at once last week. We are now done with preschool, Awanas, BSF, T-Ball, small group, and MOPS for the summer. That is six things that came to a screeching halt all in one week! Alec sin't just done with Preschool for the summer...he is a preschool graduate, and will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. I can't believe how fast he is growing up! It did make me a little teary that he is not going to be a preschooler anymore. I would have planned some fun things for us to do this week, but I have been feeling really nauseated from the pregnancy. So, we just kind of stayed around the house for the most part and let the kids swim in their little blow up pool. Alec had a play day with his friend Jack on Tuesday and got to swim in his "real pool". We also had Alec's T-Ball party on Wednesday at Chuck E Cheese which was fun.



Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we got our first pets a couple weeks ago. At the last MOPS meeting of the year I was given a bowl of goldfish as a gift for being a discussion group leader. Some of the other DGL's weren't as interested, so I ended up with a few extra. We started out with 7 and named them the seven dwarfs ...and now two weeks later we are down to three (the three musketeers) actually, Alec gave them names....Stripey, TJ, and Heart Tail. I kind of only wanted 3 anyway. If any of you have some fish advise let me know... I've been cleaning out the fish bowl every two days (putting in tap water conditioner), and feeding them twice a day. These last three have been doing really good, and seem super spunky. We don't want anymore fish deaths on our hands! Anyway...here are some pics.

The whole fam at Alec's preschool graduation!

Alec with his whole class...he really isn't the shortest boy in the class...my theory is they just put him in the front with the girls because he's so cute :) Just kiddin!

Ava, Sophia, and Alec at the Awana's award ceremony.

The day I brought home "The Seven Dwarfs"



Alec on his first motorcycle ride with our neighbor accross the street. I was a little nervous, but he took it super slow...Alec said he wanted to go faster!

Three is the magic number....

Well....it just hit me that I haven't blogged about the fact that I am pregnant! This is by no means an announcement because half the world already knows. I am not good at keeping in things I am excited about and have already posted it on facebook! We are very excited...we had been trying for this one for almost a year! We just knew that we were not done having kids.


We knew at the start of our marriage that we wanted 3 kids. Growing up, I always wanted 4 because I was the baby of 4 kids, and Eriik wanted 2 because he comes from a fam of 2 boys, and so we easily compromised on 3, and never went back! Besides it's kind of fun because 3 is my favorite number for many reasons..."a three fold cord is not quickly broken" Eccl. 4:12, the trinity, we got married in 2003, the title of the post "Three is a magic number" is a song from a musical I was in while in college. So, anyway...three kids just fits right into all that! Now...of course disregard all of this if we end up having twins...we would still be thrilled (and a little scared)! In fact, that would mean I win, and get my four kids!




You know I always have to put a picture with my blogs, I ended up finding an old picture of Alec and Ava. They were playing with this ball that splits in the middle...this is what I found when I walked in the room...too funny! I thought it was appropriate for this post :)

T-Ball fun...

Well, we have been really busy lately with Alec's T-ball practices and games. He has games twice a week and a practice once a week. He is in T-Ball with mostly the same kids he was in Soccer with (most are kids from his preschool class). I think I have been enjoying it as much (if not more) than Alec...I think it's more fun than watching his soccer last fall. Alec isn't super agressive just yet, so he really didn't get an opportunity to do as much in soccer, but in T-ball at least they all get a moment to shine. It's super cute and sometimes funny to watch. I think it was his second game that he got a little confused after hitting the ball and ran the wrong direction towards third base...so cute, we were all yelling "wrong way Alec...turn around". His very first game he actually did really great and caught the ball a couple times and tagged some kids out!

He was the catcher in last nights game, which means the poor little guy didn't have much to do considering it's not a pitch game!

At the end of the game...everyone putting a hand in...notice Alec wasn't about to let go of his snack!

Alec in mid throw.

The coach giving a pep talk before the game.





I finally got a video clip last week...his Nanny, Poppy and MeMa have been wanting to see him in action...I spent a long time waiting for it to download, and it failed...it may have been too long, I will try again later.

A Happy Mother's Day!

So, it was a good Mother's Day! I woke up at my usual time and Eriik made us all breakfast and he and the kids gave me this really cute plate from the Mud Hut with the kids handprints on it. I have to admit that I did give him a hint or two about wanting something from the Mudhut that the kids have helped with, but I thought he would have just have the kids do their handprints and have one of the workers do the artwork...turns out he did the whole thing with only the kids help...it was so sweet and special, he even let Alec and Ava paint on some of the flowers that he drew. Alec and Ava were so sweet today giving me lots of hugs and kisses. Ava was a little confused at one point and said "Happy Birthday Mommy!!!"
During late service today I had to (or should I say "got to") teach in "Kinderville"so I didn't hear the Mother's Day service (because I didn't make it to the early service), but it is always so much fun being with those sweet little 4, 5 and 6 year olds. After that, we decided to stay for the church Mother's Day picnic...I was a little hesitant about it at first, because I was thinking..."really, how relaxing can it be to hang around in the church gym, eating take out with tons of kids running all over!" But it was really nice, and fun. A lot of our friends were there, and the kids got to play in the bounce houses outside, and all us ladies made nice beaded necklaces. I had a surprisingly fun time! Then our fam went out to Corinos to eat tonight, so I didn't have to lift a finger all day...it was fabulous!!!
I also want to send a little shout out to my wonderful Mom...she has always been there for me, and has helped to shape the way I mother my kids. She's still a person that I can run to....when I'm excited or upset about something she is the second person I tell (after Eriik). Although I love our talks on the phone, I wish she lived closer, so that we could have spent this day together...Love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!!!

Ava is wearing a little dress that her Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Steph bought her last summer...so sweet!

City Camping...

Well, Eriik calls it city camping when you have electricity and a bathroom nearby, but to me it's still "roughing it"! He's used to the kind of camping that he and his brother and dad did when he was a kid. They lived in WY and would drive off into the middle of nowhere and camp for a whole week living off the land....that's just nuts! Anyway...this was plenty adventurous for me! We had a great weekend camping with 6 other families from our church small group at Daingerfield park. We were originally planning on staying two nights, but then Ava came down with a stomach bug and we had to get that out of her system (apperently it wasn't out of her system enough and she gave it to Sophia unfortunatly) We rented paddle boats, and fished, and the kids all had fun exploring the woods. You couldn't have asked for better weather...it was perfect. Eriik had just bought a new family tent, and we really enjoyed the extra room. We stayed warm and comfy, but I woke up hearing racoons several times in the middle of the night (the kids had dropped some chips on the ground and I heard them munching right outside our tent) It was a great weekend! I forgot my camera, but took a few pics with my iPhone....they aren't real clear, but not too bad for a phone.

Carson, Matheus and Alec. Our campsite was right by the lake so we got to park our paddleboats there.

Eriik and Alec when they had just gotten back from fishing

The Ziesemers in their paddleboat.

Alec loved playing with the fire...it's a far cry from when he first went camping at age 3...he was afraid of the "firebugs" (floating embers) then.



So...this is why Sophia caught Ava's bug...Ava was attached at the hip with her the whole time.



Eriik and Luciana after breakfast Sunday morning. Eriik made his famous buttermilk pancakes! By the way this was Luciana's first time camping and I think she is hooked now!

Easter continued....

We had a wonderful Easter. On Saturday we went to the church egg hunt which was a lot of fun with face painting, bounce houses, and chicks to hold...ect. When we got back from the egg hunt the kids dyed Easter eggs. On Easter Sunday we went to the church brunch and late service...we are not sunrise service kind of people. The sermon was excellent and the music was beautiful. After lunch the kids had a little egg hunt in our back yard. After Ava's nap we went over to the Ziesemers house. I brought the ham and there was lots of other really yummy food. The Vance's and the Simcoxes were there too. It was a nice relaxed, fun evening...so relaxed and fun that I forgot to take pics while we were there...oh well. I've got plenty of other pics from Easter. It was a beautiful day spent with friends celebrating our Risen Savior! So, here are some pics from last Saturday and Sunday.

I can't take credit for the photography here ....this photo was taken by a reporter and ended up in our local newspaper!

Alec, Carson and Sophia laughing at Mr Jazz's balloon show.






Alec got his face painted like a pirate at the egg hunt and these are his eggs he dyed

Sunday morning with their Easter baskets...Ava still has her curlers in.

Eriik was cracking them up...I have no idea what he was doing, but he is my secret weapon in getting the kids to smile for pics!

My little egg hunters

Alec and Ava had their Easter parties and egg hunts for preschool this week, and I just can't pass up an opportunity to share pics! So, here they are! There will be another Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow at our church, and then again on Easter...so I'm sure there will be more pics coming soon!

Sprinting for another egg!

I have never see Ava eat so fast...she devoured this chocolate cupcake before any of the other kids had a chance to lick off the icing!

She took a moment to pose for me...so sweet.

Ava's little class.

Alec with one of his friends Fe....she has a bit of a crush on Alec. She holds his hand sometimes when they are walking in the halls at preschool, and gives him pictures that she draws hearts all over...too funny.

I can't believe this is his last preschool Easter party for Alec....I am going a have a Kindergartner...scary.

Alec with his whole class...it's a lot of boys!