Our Fun Fall Decorations

 

Happy Fall

 

 

 

These Silly Kids of Mine

 

 

 

 

Lovely Lily

 

 

 

Lily is our 10 month old Sand Boa that we have had for about 1 month. We love having her as a pet. She is very friendly and super easy to take care of. She only eats every 10-14 days. Ellie and Micah love holding her. Ben will touch her, but has not worked up to holding her yet. We have also enjoyed watching her grow. She should get up to 36inches and pretty thick.

Love this picture!

 

Lawnmowers and Trailers

 

Our Pets

 

We keep adding to the number of pets in our house. We now have a Western Painted Turtle named "Piddle" and a box turtle named "Toby". They are cute together. I am trying to keep track of all of them and making sure they eat. Don't know if we will keep the little guy. We might make Toby a home in our backyard. They are fun and the kids LOVE playing with them.

Our Newest Pet

 

If an ant farm isn't enough we decided to add a new pet to our house. A snake, or specifically a kingsnake, named "Shorty". Rob found him at the farm in Troy when he ran over the snake cutting of the tip of his tail with the lawnmower. Hense the name Shorty. He is really starting to grow on us and become one of the family, as much as a baby snake can. I always liked snakes as a kid and had little fear of them. It has been a LOOONG time since I have held one, but am reaquainting myself with the ways of snake charming. Shorty is a good boy/girl and does well when we hold it. I am learning about a domestic snake's habitat and we hope to buy him an aquarium to build him a nicer home then the bug box his is currently in. A snake is no easy pet to keep. They need heat lamps, UVB lights (to help with digestion), a humidified environment, a special diet of pinkies (look that up yourself), and the list goes on. But any pet does require a specific enviroment and diet, so we will work on making Shorty's home more snake friendly. The kids love him, especially Micah. He really would love to hold him, but I am sure that is not a good idea. Shorty can grow to be 4 feet long. Our current plan is to keep him for the summer and release him back to the farm at the end of the summer. If we grow to love him I am sure he will stay with us!

A Slideshow of Micah's Last Year

Micah's 3rd Birthday

Micah and Sis

 

I would love it if this affection they have for each other was shown 100% of the time!!! But they do play well together and really love each other!

Friends

 

So fun to see my kids have fun with their friends!!

More of our outdoor fun

Hello There!

 

 

 

I love our camera! It captures such colorful clear pictures the kids. Spring is here and we are enjoying playing outside. Minus the stomach bug that hit the house this weekend.

Let it Snow

 

It is snowing again-we have between 5-6 inches at our house and the kids LOVE to play out in the snow and help dad shovel!!

MLK 2010

This is a little late, thought I posted these, but here they are. It was cold and rainy, so we didn't stay very long out at the 'ol farm in Troy, MO. It was fun to roast hot dogs and marshmellows over the fire and enjoy nature, but it was too cold for me!

Jump Jump

 

 

 

Updates

 

Benjamin just lost his 3rd tooth. Unfortunately it came out after Micah threw a toy at him. He was a little shaken up to say the least. I was at work and tried to calm him down over the phone (I just happened to be talking to Rob when it happened). We have yet to send it to the tooth fairy; guess we should do that tonight. His toothless grin makes him look so much older. What happened to my little boy? He is loving Kindergarten and actually just had his first spelling test last Friday. He got a "Super" and 100%! I would hope he could nail his spelling words that included "I" and "a"; no joke! They start out on the easy side, so the kids (and parents) don't stress out too much I guess. He has a lot of fun playing with a friend who lives down the street. He is 100% boy as he is always making sound effects for everything, blowing things up, wrestling, and capturing the bad guy. Micah has even joined in on this.

 

Miss Ellie is still our little mama. She loves to care for all of her babies and even changes their diaper. She would be such a wonderful big sister to another sibling, but I don't know if that will happen. She is very sweet and loving, however, has started to tell Rob and I "no" a lot more lately which is causing a bit friction, but she is learning to do as she is told. She loves when I color with her and she especially loves to sing songs from church. The cool thing is I can find them all on you tube and then we rock it Jesus style!! She plays with our neighbor's little sister, Hannah who is five, and those two have fun using their imagination while playing house and doing cute little girl things.

 

Micah is Mr. Goofball around here. Even though 50% of the time he has us pulling our hair out, he is sure to make us all smile. I wish I had a good example, because I feel like lately Rob and I have been cracking up. He is talking so well that sometime I forget he is only two. I love how he says "Mama what's dat?" Or how he tells me "I will hide God in my heart" and "look I made a noman (snowman) today at gool (school)!" So precious. Sometimes I wish I could freeze time and hold on to their ages at 2, 4, and 6. They fill our lives with so much joy! Today Micah and Elizabeth are under the weather, but still their sweet selves. Micah had a 104 fever, but manages to laugh and still play a little bit-I can only imagine how miserable he must be. Kids are so resilient like that! I love 'em!!

Miss Thang

Homemade Finger Paint

 

Stir the ingredients

 

Color it up

 

Ready for painting!!

2010 Ambitions

I hate to call them resolutions. Too cliche. So here I am hanging out at work and thinking about all of the ways to make 2010 the best year yet. Here goes...

1.Play with my kids-I mean really play with them. I spend sooooo much time doing and not being. I clean the house constantly, check my email, look for lost items, do laundry, meal plan, spend time doing something for myself and the list goes on and on. My kids will only be toddlers/school age once in their life and I don't want to regret not really being there for them. Do I need a spotless house and is that ever really possible? No, and my kids need me to be present. We can start by playing with their new games and toys that they received for Christmas. And there's a lot, so that will keep us occupied for a while. I also need to remember what it's like being a kid. Mine really live in the moment and are not old enough to look ahead. I worry a lot about the future and less about how the present is going. I also want to read to them more, pretend more, listen better and laugh harder!

2.Oh dear, my least favorite, but definately needed. Get back on track with Jillian Micheals. Working out is good for the soul, right? I want to be a healthier person in 2010 and who says I can't try to be a little bit more toned. This is the one body God has given me and I don't intend to let it just expand until I outgrow my waredrobe or even worse look like I am pregnant when I am not. It is a tough sacrifice for me to find the time to workout since I totally bailed on my gym membership last year. At least this way I can workout in the comfort of my own home. A bunch of my co-workers are doing the biggest loser here at work (the winner gets money!), so that will help inspire me as well. Now to get Rob on board to eat less sweets!

3.Drink more water. I used to be ok at this, but boy do I love my morning coffee. I am definately NOT giving that up. I need to make sure I stay on top of my water intake. I have a nice 24oz camelbak bottle I can use, I just don't. I figure at least 48oz of water a day would be a good start. I really crave Diet Dr. Pepper at work and need to find away to drink much less of it.

4.Read more books. I really do love reading it is a matter of finding the time; just like working out. I received 3 books for Christmas. 2 Jodi Picoult and 1 Nicolas Sparks book. I tend to stick to the same authors, but I love their books!

This is a short list of many other ambitions I have for the new year, but I thought I would start with my top 4!

Happy New Year!!!!!