Stuff...

What a week! We've had a few "graduations" this week that have been very exciting. :) Annika graduated out of bedtime Pull Ups!! YEAH!! I always said that as long as they are potty trained during the day I didn't care how long they wore pull ups at night. I changed my mind. And, it was so easy.....I should have done it a long time ago! All I have to do is take her to the potty before I go to bed.....then I don't see her until she gets up in the morning. Tim thinks its terrible to go drag her out of bed, but she doesn't care. She just pees and goes right back to sleep. :)

And.....another exciting thing.....Isabel sleeps through the night! She has been a great sleeper since she's been born, but this week she dropped her 3:00 feeding and goes right on until almost 7! She goes to bed consistanty at 9....so that gives me a good break. It feels so good to sleep!! But, at only 3 months old, I'm already finding that I have to move up to 12 months sleep n play clothes and onesies! So, I guess her "extra" baby fat sustains her through the night. She's also taking a good hefty 4 hour nap in the afternoon. I am loving this child!! :) Let's hope she stays a good sleeper!!

Alaina finished up her first AWANA book (Skipper) and is now in the Hiker book! She came home on Wed. night with the biggest grin on her face. :) I'm amazed how fast she can learn these bible verses! And, Erik and An are learning them right along, so they'll have no problem when they get to the Skipper book!!

We've also had lots of "funnies" this week. The kids are just on a roll of "quotes"......I'm so afraid I am going to forget them!! I had Erik and Annika to the eye doctor this morning to make sure that their eyes are not like Alaina's.....all is well. :) When we were waiting for the doctor to come in he was asking me a million questions like he always does.......but then he asked if the doctor was going to hang him up on the wall! And, then if the doctor was going to take his eyes out to look at them like the eye mold. He is totally serious. But, no hanging was going on and if he was Grandpa Bob (not Papa Bob) then yes, they would take his eyes out!!

Alaina is still singing the Marker Luker King song!! And, Erik asked me today if I knew that corn dogs were afraid of shadows......because they are, mom! He said he learned it at school. And, yes, it was corn dogs! I then realized he was talking about ground hogs, b/c he had done a craft about a ground hog and his shadow!!

Tonight Annika went to bed at 5:45.....just couldn't go on anymore. So, Erik and Alaina were busy making crafts with some new crafty things I had gotten today. I was feeding the baby on the couch and was listening to their "oh so grown up" conversation:

A: Erik, don't tell Mommy this, but I don't ever want to grow up.
E: Why, Laina?
A: Because when I grow up then Mommy will have to be a Grandma. I don't want her to be a Grandma.
E: Then she will have white hair??
A: Yes, she will have white hair and then she will get really old and Grandmas that are really old die.
E: Just like Grandma Berniece died.
A: Yeah....I miss Grandma Berniece.
E: Me too.
A: When Mommy is a Grandma then she will go to heaven and see Grandma Berniece. I will miss her. Erik, did you know that Grandma Berniece can run really fast in heaven?
E: Oh.
A: Yeah, she can but I will still be able to beat her.

Oh....the conversation went on and on. I just could not stop laughing. It was just adorable. Its funny how most of our "deep" conversations always end up about Grandma Berniece. She would LOVE her Great Grandkids!! They would have so much fun with her now!!

My kids were just extra sweet this week. Annika found a dime and told me that it was for a "gummy ball" at the store. And tonight when I was putting her to bed she found her princess CD and called it her "singer". We have had a lot of laughs. :)

God has blessed us with 4 beautiful kids!! They are so sweet and so special. These preschool years are just going too fast! I just want to keep them like this. Tomorrow we are making Valentines......I'm anxious to see how they turn out. :) So, with Annika in the mix, I'm sure there be a lot more quotes to write down!! And, to see their excitement when they get up and open up the curtain to the deck! They do it every morning to see if it snowed.....we have a lot!! I'm praying for a snow day tomorrow. :) I'm already snowed in b/c Tim is in Milwaukee! Erik shoveled the sidewalk when we got home from school today, but that was only an inch. He may have a harder time with 6 inches!!

That's it for now.....I need to get to bed! I already took a little nap in the chair, but I'm fading fast. Its says its about 8:35 when I'm writing this, but its really 11:15. I'm not sure how to change the clock! Sorry if there's lots of typos!

The Shelf...

Here's the "shelf boob" I was telling you about, Amy!! Grandma Berniece would be so proud of me!! :)

Isabel's 3 Months!

Here's Isabel's 3 month diaper pictures. What a little chunk!

I added Annika's 3 month picture just to see how they compare weight-wise! I thought Annika would have been bigger, but Isabel's got her beat! Annika really "porked" out in month 5.

Erik's Big Day

What a big day yesterday! We had a great time all together. Erik woke up and he couldn't believe the table had presents on it and donuts!! How exciting!! Sometime soon we will start waking the birthday person up....singing and with donuts and presents, but Erik is our early riser and if we had to wake the girls up first it wouldn't be pretty!! (Well, Annika would be fine, its Alaina that would be a bear!) So, we had some time with E before the girls got up. :) He got a new Disney Cars Garage.....its so big! I can even play in it! And, I know I've never made it on my own blog site (other than the pic yesterday from 3 years ago!), so here I am courtesy of Alaina.

The kids helped me make Erik's cake on Friday night. Its suppose to be a race track....the green is the grass.....it turned out a little limey! Oh was it fun to go find cars to put on it. So, it does look more like a "Sunday Drive" than a racetrack! They had fun, though. And, one side only caved in one time! I was expecting more of a disaster.




Erik went to basketball at 10:30, so after that we had our "lunch" party and cake. He requested Macaroni and Cheese, so that was an easy lunch to prepare! We even offered to get him a Happy Meal from McDonalds, but nope!




We played in the afternoon for a while and then went to Toys R Us so E could spend some birthday money. We were there for an hour and a half! I meant to bring my camera, but forgot it at home. He picked out an addition to his Geo Set track....thanks Nana Bev! All day today we tried to find his original set.....its nowhere! Its in a big rubbermaid bin....it shouldn't be hard to find! But, they still played and played with this all day today. After that we went to Red Robin so the waitstaff could sing to him like they did to Alaina. That was just great. :) Then we came home and played some more. The kids tried to sleep in the big garage (we moved it to the "bouncy bedroom" but the girls ended up back in their beds. E made it though.


It was a really fun birthday! Erik said he wishes it could be his birthday everyday. :)

Happy 5th Birthday, Erik!!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear ERIK!
Happy Birthday to you!

We can't believe you are FIVE years old!! We love you so much!! You are such a nice little guy and are growing up so fast. May God bless you on your birthday and ALWAYS!!

Funny...

Alaina came home from school on Wednesday and asked me if I knew Marker Luker King, Jr. She said he was a guy, but a another guy shot him with a gun. (She did go into greater detail on Thursday and does know more about him!)

Erik was singing in the bathroom:

Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb
Mary had a little lamb
La la de de da da.

Annika hangs her jacket and backpack on her hooker!!!


Now we just came from Chuck E Cheese for Erik's "best friend" Jeremy's birthday. Yeah.....I feel like I have friends now. :) Its a good feeling to know people! (I feel like I could sing the Mr. Rogers song!!) We are going to make Erik's racetrack birthday cake now and get all geared up for his big day tomorrow!! Its sounds like we are going to go to a boat show in Schaumburg......Erik is pumped up!! And, either Rainforest Cafe or Red Robin. We'll see. It will just be the 6 of us......unless anyone wants to come help celebrate!!

Birthday Greetings!

Happy Birthday to You,

Papa Bob on January 15th!!

We hope you have a super duper day!!