Baby bump?

I am finally four months along. The nausea is mostly gone, HOORAY! I am not showing too much yet, but here's my tummy at 16 weeks... (Yes, Eli is in his spiderman costume again--don't judge me.)

Dora being cute. She was clinging to my leg!

Oh and we painted Dora's toes for the first time. She's really excited about it and if you comment on them, she'll hold her feet up for you to see and wiggle them around! It's really cute.

Santa and Playing with Dad

Around the same time as the gingerbread house, we went to see Santa. Eli was pretty excited.

Dora was willing to sit on his lap as long as Eli was sitting there too. (She actually pooped on his lap! Haha)

Here's Eli doing the craft while Dad changed Dora's diaper. It's a snowman doorstop.

The kids also play with Daddy all the time. Dad's being a horse...

A horse that can also walk around on two legs! Amazing!

Gingerbread house and Pool Playing

Around December 1 we made a gingerbread house. So, that shows you I'm a little behind. Actually though, I just haven't been taking many photos lately! So, here are a few posts to catch up some. Eli and Dora helped Daddy and me decorate the house. Dora mostly ate...but we had fun.

Dora, striking a pose. Haha.

Also, our club has a pool and the kids have been loving it when Dad has time off to take them swimming. Eli's doing really well...

What a dive!

Also, I should note for the record that five days ago, we decided to take the plunge and make Eli wear only underwear. He's gone five days now without a single accident. WAHOO! Dora is potty training too, much to Eli's dismay. "But she's only one, mom." Yeah, Eli, she's still just one.

Mom, You're the Best

Today has been sort of long. It started out badly because the kids kept me up all night last night. I won't go into details about the anything, but I had some shopping to do and I took Dora with me. I also went to the post office here that's in a drug store--not a good call with Dora in tow. Anyhow, I was pretty tired by the kids' bedtime. I just put Eli to bed: brushed teeth, told him a story, said prayers, etc. I was about to leave when it happened.

Eli said, "Mom, you're the best. I know you could save the day."

I said, "How do you know that?"

He said, "Because you save me when I have bad dreams."

And I couldn't argue with that, because I do.

I'm so glad when daddy comes home...

Eli and Dora missed Daddy a lot tonight (he's working) and so I tried to teach them a song. You have no idea how many times we practiced. I was a little disappointed that this is all we got!!

We miss you dad!

And one more...

Nana's Visit--and A GARGANTUAN TREE!

Nana came to visit--she had a fun time, but the kids were the real beneficiaries. Dora still points at photos in the album of her and cries, "Nana! Nana!"

Nana grabbed a photo of me with my angels snuggling on me. It so rarely happens! I'm really going to miss it. They grow up SO FAST!

Nana also watched Dora so we could take Eli to pick out a tree. Here you can pay $5 for a license and go cut one down yourself. They're supposed to be 12 feet at most. We really thought ours was... until we got it home.

Whit's holding it up here...
Eli had a fun time...

Here it is at the house... It was a bit much for the base so we had to lash it to the wall!! Plus, it still hits the ceiling.
After we cut off the top, it just fit. The only problem is that we couldn't reach to decorate the top. So, Whit had to stand on the top of the ladder, utilizing all 6'3" and toss stuff up there! So, it's a bit haphazard up there...

Pretty cool tree for $5, right?

Snow!

It snowed out here a few weeks ago--YES, I am way behind. Anyhow, the kids loved all inch and a half. They had their "shovels" (which translates as spatulas and spoons) to scoop it up with, and they wore all their new snow clothes. Don't they look cute?

There was a lot of snowball throwing.

And a lot of smiling. I didn't take photos of it, but if you're a parent, I'm sure you can guess there was also whining and hot chocolate, not necessarily in that order. :-)

Also I am three months pregnant here--so THAT'S what a 3 month pregnant lady looks like with no make up--SCARY!

Misc Catch Up...

Little Miss Dora wears her mullet in pigtails now and it looks much cuter--kinda like Cindy Loo Who!

The sure love their dad--and his I-pad. Haha
Dora loves to scribble too--and she always does it all hunched over with her feet tucked up behind her--cute!

Oh yeah--I gave her some jam toast--blackberry that I made this year. She likes it, a little too much perhaps. She doesn't eat the toast, she licks the jam off. I came back downstairs to see this.

For the Birds

In the last two days, about 4 birds have flown right into our windows, lying on the ground in front of them for a few minutes stunned before they can fly away. What is up with that??

Also, I wanted to document Dora's latest two things--first, she calls the phone lerdleluh--she thinks that's its name. That's what my kids call my mom. So, clearly, I call my mom too much, right? Second, Dora started calling things baby and momma about a month or two ago. She has these carebears in her room, both in big and small sizes. About two weeks ago, she started calling some stuffed animals Daddy and baby. I couldn't figure out the pattern for a few days. Then I realized--when the two animals are identical other than size, like two pink carebears, it's Baby and Momma. When they are different, like a big blue bear and a little white one, it's Baby and Daddy. I thought that was hilarious. Baby is small--she has that down, but baby and mom are the same (just diff sizes) and baby and Daddy look different was pretty impressive to me. Smart kid.

Little Camera Update...

As you can tell, these photos were from the summer! Ha. Obviously I don't use this camera enough. Dora loves to get into my purse. She found my camera and phone and was in heaven...

Pretending to be a photographer here.

My kids like packaging more than the toys... it's true.

Dora is such a messy eater! There's hope though, because Eli used to be messy and is MUCH neater now.

We have this park right around the corner my kids love because there are tennis courts and blackberry bushes and a playground. Dora eats the blackberries--Eli throws them in the river, for some reason.

Look at that purple face! Aghh! Poor Whit's head got covered.

A few months back we found this used on craigslist--so we got it for $100 instead of like $650. It wasn't the one I wanted, but I'd way rather pay $100 than $650 for the one I wanted a bit more. We didn't get the fancy swingset because I wanted the kids to be able to play on it unsupervised with babies running around too.
They like it, although they don't play on it as much as I thought they would.

Here are the few paltry shots I took on Halloween. I am feeling a bit better now, but I felt awful then and I wasn't doing much. Like Dora's pink and gray pajamas under her costume? Oh well. At least she wasn't cold.

She kept making this weird face over and over.

She still has the prettiest eyes--I think.

This video is pretty random--There's one really funny bit of Dora in the middle so I'm including it. She loves to line up all these singing carebears--thanks to Lerdleluh she has like 4 that all sing together and two that tell jokes. The yellow one on the end is a joke teller--but Dora got confused. That's why it's not singing. We sit up and play with those a few times a week before we come down for the day.

How to Use Chopsticks

Here's a little video for you. I have a lot of updating to do on the blog--I just uploaded photos from my little camera and realized I had almost 100--I haven't uploaded them since the summer!! Anyhow, this one's from today--big update blog tomorrow..

Eli likes sushi--and he's a pro with chopsticks. Seriously, sit back and be amazed.

OUCH

Eli keeps jumping on things, despite repeated warnings not to... SO, he finally reaped the consequences, poor guy. I can now attest that our Heavenly Father, even when he tells us over and over, is sad to see us suffer the consequences and would spare us if he could (and still have us learn the lesson.) Poor Eli cracked his noggen and had to go in and get stitches yesterday. Whit tells the tale (with photos-Ick) on his blog.

Shout out to my Mom

I just needed to take a second to say MY MOM IS AWESOME. There are a few people in life you know you can call at 3 am just to cry (not that I've had to do that lately.) I can count those people on one hand. My mom is at the top of the list. Whit's AMAZING, no doubt, but I'd call my mom first because she'd be way less annoyed. :-)

She goes so far above and beyond on things that it's like she doesn't even know what's normal. She is the BEST mom, the best grandma... even her quirks are cute. She's politically obsessed--cute! She can't help herself from sending the kids presents and clothes a lot--cute! She sends me care packages--cute! And she is forever making the kids (and me) stuff. CUTE! She comments on every single blog--cute! (I don't eat candy, but comments on my blog are like my candy. Haha)

I LOVE YOU MOM! You are the B-E-S-T!! MISS YOU!

Bridget

Crescent City Aquarium

My kids are the cutest. My husband is the best. REALLY. Sorry all of you have kids and a hubby who are just ALMOST the best. :-)

Lately, since I've been feeling so crappy, Whit's done all the: laundry, cleaning, dishes, kid watching, dirty diapers, baths, well, let's be honest--EVERYTHING, PLUS he's been making a LOT of crazy runs to the store at 10 pm to get me orange juice or almonds so I can make almond pretzels like Auntie Anne's... Yeah I know--I'M LUCKY.

Now if this new baby will just get with the program... IT'S DUE June 5, since you all keep asking. :-)

Now on to the next catch up blog... We went to Crescent City the day after Bandon--and saw their cute aquarium. Here are some shots.

Ouch! :P
Now really touching a starfish...

The guy asked for someone brave. Eli volunteered. Then when the guy explained he wanted someone to touch an anemone, Eli volunteered me. I said okay, and then when the guy said he needed someone to LICK an anemone for 20 seconds, I said NO WAY and volunteered POOR DAD! Here are some shots--HE DID IT. It shocks you when you lick it!

EWWWW!!

We all got to pet the sharks--they are TOTALLY sandpaper-y--NOT SMOOTH like a dolphin. Pretty neat, though.

Ahhh! We were being eaten by a shark!!

The sea lion show was fun!!