My Favorite Place

When we first bought this house, Adam and I both wondered if we would ever really even use the living room. The kitchen was so big and sunny, and we had the yard, our own hobby rooms, the basement... why would we just sit in the living room? Well, it has definitely become my favorite place in the whole house. I love how cozy and comfy it is. We spend hours in there... especially since starting Kindergarten. I nurse Aaron in the black recliner. We do Bible stories in the chair and a half - I sit on the ottoman while the boys snuggle up in the chair. I fold laundry on the big couch. We spend hours playing games and doing puzzles on the red rug. It's really a wonderful place, my favorite place!

SETH ~ Seffers

Seth is really into doing everything for himself lately... including dressing himself. I sent him upstairs to get some clothes one day. When he came down he assured me he had picked out an outfit that matched. "See Mom, there are orange stripes on my shirt and orange stripes on my pants." I guess he kinda gets it : ) Another day he picked out his Lightning McQueen outfit and was ecstatic because he could wear his Lightning McQueen shoes that matched. Anyway, I guess you could say we are on a matching kick, for now.

We are also (sort of) working on potty-training. I am letting him take charge of that. If I push him at all he seems to back off, so I've figured out that if I don't mention it he will come to me to go "poopy in the toilet." A huge help in the process has been the Bumbo potty seat. It works so much better than any other we have tried. I am hoping to have only one child in diapers by March (Seth's 3rd birthday), but we will see.

Silly Boy

Hopscotch - I love this one!

"I'm stronger than you" he says to Sam... everything is a competition between these two.

If ye shall ask anything in my name,
I will do it.
John 14:14

Kindergarten Korner

SAMUEL

We don't really have a whole room in our house to devote to kindergarten so we've set up a nice little corner. I found this great desk for $15 on craigslist and painted it red so it would look like it belonged in our living room. It's AWESOME! Sam loves it and he LOVES kindergarten. So far, we've been mostly just reviewing the vowels and their sounds. He's really great at picking out the vowels in each word. We are doing Bible class first thing each morning and both boys are soaking it up. We are memorizing verses, learning Bible doctrines and new songs. It's so much fun! We typically start between 7:30 and 8:oo and end by 10:00.

Today was an especially great day because Sam got to pick his first prize out of the prize bag. He has to earn 10 stickers (10 perfect papers) in order to pick a prize. Seth actually got to pick a prize as well. He looked at me with those huge brown eyes and said "I go to school too." How could I refuse that! So we spent the rest of the morning outside blowing bubbles and playing with rocket balloons.

The 3 cutest boys in the world!

Another thing Sam has learned recently is to ride his bike without training wheels. He picked it up so amazingly quick. I couldn't believe it the afternoon that Adam came in and told me Sam was riding his bike. What an amazing kid!

Movin' Along

Aaron is not even 6 months old yet , and he's all over the place. Since this video last week he's begun getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth. I'm guessing he'll be crawling in just a matter of days. So crazy! Am I ready for this? NO!!!




Also, these are pretty cute video's of Seffer's from when we first got here... some things never change :o)

New News

Yeah, I know..... it's been more than forever, but I have been just a little busy. Things are starting to slow down finally, and I'm starting to feel overwhelmed. I'm sure that sounds totally crazy, but I think we've been so busy that I haven't allowed myself time to just freak out about all these changes and the crazy things that have happened in the last several months.

I love Wisconsin! I wasn't sure what to expect when we got here; I was excited about the move and ready for some changes, but I expected it to be a lot harder to adjust. It's been so awesome... People have been so helpful and friendly. We have found a really great church (Brookside Baptist Church) with lots of young families to connect with. It's much larger than we had planned on, but we really just seemed to fit right in. This Sunday, we are going to lunch with our new pastor and a few other families... I am looking forward to it, but am a little nervous too :o)

We are really enjoying having weekends. It has been so long since we've had a weekend with Adam home, and now we have them every week. It's AWESOME! We're really looking forward to being able to just kick back and relax, though. We've been shopping every weekend since we got here... sounds great, I know, but I'm all shopped out! We've bought 2 cars, 4 beds, 4 dressers, 3 desks, 2 end tables, a bench, table and chairs, a recliner, sofa, chair & ottoman, a lawn mower, and a dishwasher... and that's just the big stuff. I think we are basically finished for now. Yay!!!

Here is our new dining room table... we didn't buy this. Adam built it for me... he is so awesome!!! I wanted something simple, to match our kitchen, but that I wouldn't worry about the boys scratching up. Then he went and built this BEAUTIFUL table... so now I don't want it ruined :o) Oh well... thanks Babe... I LOVE IT!

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Seffer's and I were sitting in the hallway yesterday morning, just in front of Aaron's bedroom door. I heard a few little noises coming from his room and I looked. All I saw was a few wispy little hairs sticking up above the bumper... then a couple little fingers...


Then the sweetest little smiling face...


I just love this kid! He is so happy almost all the time. Lately, he is teething, but he still tries his hardest to put on a smile even thru the whimpers of pain. He is growing up way to fast... it makes me sad. I want to keep him like this for much longer.... I just don't want him to become a 2 year old :)


If you look closely you can see those little teeth poking thru... love it!

Another Masterpiece

When Sam turned a year old, we kindof started this crazy tradition of making crazy birthday cakes. I really should say Adam started the tradition because I really have very little to do with the whole process. Adam had no idea what he was getting himself into... now with each birthday comes the expectation of another amazing cake. He really does an incredible job!!!









Frog
Sam's 1st Birthday










Tonka Dump Truck
Sam's 2nd Birthday










Stegosaurus
Sam's 3rd Birthday










Elephant
Seth's 1st Birthday







Shark Attack
Sam's 4th Birthday





And, finally, the latest:















3 Little Monkeys Jumpin on the Bed
Seth's 2nd Birthday

This one was an experiment with a new medium --- Fondant. It took a while to figure it out, but by the end I think he mastered it. Very cute cake... once again. Good job, Babe!!!

I LOVE Craigslist!!!

The highlight of my day was cleaning up the new carseat I bought yesterday for the new baby. I figured since we have only 2 weeks to go I probably better get one. Actually I had one in mind that I really wanted and have spent the last several weeks scouring craigslist for it, but I never saw the ads in time. Each time I called on one, it had already been sold (for like $75). Crazy! Well, yesterday I found one and called within 10 minutes of the posting and it hadn't been sold yet - yay! And the best part.... I only paid $20. Double yay!!! It is in super good condition, and I saved myself (or rather, my husband) $160. I just love a good deal...



This is one way the boys spent their day... when they weren't fighting with each other :( I hope this fighting phase they are going thru passes very soon and they realize that it is much more fun to be friends. They really do have lots of fun together a few moments of each day.

Finally, we decided to make a little treat -- I was really craving something chocolate. So, I went to allrecipes.com and found a really great recipe... Rocky Road. It only has 3 ingredients; can't beat that! Here they are if you're having any cravings like me: 2 cups chocolate chips, 1 cup peanut butter (super chunk is yummy!), and 4 cups mini marshmallows. Melt the chocolate and peanut butter in a saucepan, remove from heat, add marshmallows, pour into greased pan and place in fridge until cool. The recipe said to completely melt the mallows, but I tried to leave them a bit un-melted cuz they are just yummy that way. Sam and Seth loved them!