Gardening with Grandma

This morning Casey went to my parents' house to put the doors on the fireplace--the last step in the basement project! He took his little helper with him, and while Daddy was working, Esther planted flowers with Grandma. Grandma even had gardening tools, a pink watering can, and Dora gardening gloves for her. They had a great time!

Mother's Day

We had a very nice Mother's Day this year. The weather was gorgeous, and we celebrated by having dinner with both sets of parents as well as Casey's brother, my sister, and my Aunt Elaine. We appreciate our Moms all the time, but it's good to have a special day to think about how truly blessed we are to have the Moms we do. I am also so blessed to be a Mom to Esther and Peter.

I had a strange realization the other day. I have been pregnant on 3 of the last 4 Mother's Days!

Flashback

This Tomy School Bus toy was a favorite of mine when I was little. My mom found it recently at her house and we brought it out for Esther. Unfortunately the bus stopped working, even with new batteries. Thankfully, someone on eBay didn't think this toy was that great, so I managed to buy a whole set complete with original box, instructions, and a working bus for about $10. The one I bought also included 2 "kids" and we only had 1 with our set. Having 3 makes it much more fun! Esther has been spending quite a bit of time playing with this, and it's fun to watch. Sometimes I think the "vintage" (how old am I, anyway?) toys are the best!

Lucky Mom

I'm a lucky Mom. This is what was awaiting me when I came home from work today. After Daddy Donuts this morning, the crew was very busy. What could be a better Mother's Day gift than a beautiful bouquet (picked out by Esther), a homemade card, and chocolate chip cookies (see previous post about being hungry all the time)?! I have great kids and a wonderful husband, and I feel very blessed!

Boy or Girl??

Esther and I were talking this morning about the baby in Mommy's tummy. Esther proclaimed to me that she was having a little sister. So, I asked her why she thought that was true.

"Because that's what I picked!!!" she explained to me as if I should've already known.

Glad that was explained to me today.

Baby K #3!

Yes, that's right, there's a new ticker at the top of this page. We are expecting Baby #3! As we have started telling people our news, there have been a few questions that we have been repeatedly asked, so here are the answers to those FAQs:

Q: Was this planned? Did you want 3 kids?
A: YES!

Q: Wow, they'll all be really close together, won't they?
A: YES! Esther will be 3-1/2 and Peter will be almost 2.

Q: How are you feeling?
A: Very, very, very hungry.

Q: Are you going to find out whether it's a boy or a girl?
A: Nope, we're just hoping for one or the other.

When we told Esther the news, we asked her whether she wanted a brother or a sister. Not surprisingly, she said, "a sister." Then she said, "Maybe there's both in there!" We laughed a little nervously at that thought, but then she reassured us by saying, "No, there's not room for both in there!" Whew!!

One of the most exciting things about this pregnancy is that I get to share it with Casey's twin sister, Renee. She and her husband Jeff are expecting their first child (our first niece/nephew) and we have the same due date, December 4! How's that for a crazy twin connection?! We are so happy for them and think it's very cool that these cousins will be so close in age.

Start of Summer

Summer is officially here...we've been to Cone City! Thanks to Jeff, Erin and Anna for joining us on the first of many trips that we'll be making over the next few months. By the way, Peter did have his own dish of ice cream. Once that was gone he honed in on Daddy's cone. Apparently ice cream is as good as macaroni and cheese!

Macaroni Dude and Strawberry Girl

In case you can't tell from the pictures, Peter LOVES Macaroni and Cheese. He eats about 1/2 the box all by himself, which means that one box really can't feed our whole family anymore! The whole time I was waiting for the water to boil today at lunch, he just stood there holding the box, wanting it to be ready to eat! He was able to take a break from his gorging to say "cheese" for a couple shots.

When I was done taking Peter's pictures, Esther said, "Now me!" so I had to include her as well. Esther is our fruit girl. She likes a variety of fruits, but her favorite by far is strawberries. I think she'd eat a whole container at once if we'd let her!

Girls' Weekend in the Windy City

This past weekend Esther, my mom and I took the train to Chicago to visit my sister Karen. Esther was a great traveller, and did well on the train rides despite being quite sleep deprived by the end of the weekend. You just can't take naps or go to bed early when you're having that much fun! The weather was perfect, so we were able to spend quite a bit of time outside.

Here are some highlights of the weekend:

All Aboard! Playing games with Grandma on the train. Watching the scenery with Froggy.

Lincoln Park Zoo, riding the carousel with Aunt Karen, watching the giraffes.

We tried out a new pizza joint, ate Coldstone Creamery ice cream, and had a pretend picnic.

Hanging out in the apartment, playing at the playground.

As stated above, Esther missed out on quite a bit of sleep over the weekend. It took her about 1 minute to fall asleep in the car on the way to the train station. I guess that's a sign that we packed a lot of fun into our 30 hours in Chicago!

Boys' Weekend in Vomitville

While the girls were playing in Chicago, the plan was that Casey and Peter would go to Mt. Pleasant to visit his cousins Don and Lisa. Lisa had some weekend plans, so Casey thought they could have a boys' weekend with Don and his 2 little boys.

Unfortunately Peter's Little Caesars pizza came back up during dinner Friday night, and he continued to vomit over the next few days. Casey's weekend was spent getting puked on, doing laundry, and trying to keep a sick little boy happy. Definitely not what he had in mind! Peter did get a phone call from Kyle (Don and Lisa's oldest boy) on Monday to make sure he was feeling better.

By the way, we didn't think anyone would want to see a picture accompanying this post!