Happy Valentine's Day

Every Valentine's Day I am reminded of our first Valentine's Day as parents. Jack was exactly 6 weeks old and we went to the Weber Grill for dinner with my parents. Jack was so good! He was our little valentine. Last year we added Cole to the mix. And he is our spark! In a good mood, Cole will light up a room. He has a spunky attitude (which might be a challenge later), and he LOVES to wrestle with his brother. We had a great day yesterday. Tessa was over during the day, and then we made Chicken pot pie for super. I was going to make red jello heart jigglers, only to discover we only had orange jello. So we put it in a red pan and made a heart out of marshmallows on top. Daddy got home from his first day at work with dessert from cheesecake factory for me!! And honestly, we were all in bed by 8:45 pm.

Embroidery Fun

I have recently gotten new software to be able to expand my embroidery for blankets and burp cloths. I even made my neice Tessa a Valentine's shirt and matching bow. We are hoping to expand our business some with our new products. Here are a few pics of some new things we have.

Times are Changing!

Wow, what a crazy week! So much has happened in the last week. Chris getting a new job has been the focus of our week. Amazing how the Lord opened a door and within 4 days we had a verbal offer. We feel blessed that it has worked out like this and are very excited about this new opportunity. On Monday Chris gave his resignation for his current job and it was a bittersweet ending. We have been thankful that he has had a job for the past almost 6 years, but can't wait to see what this new job brings. After resigning, he realized that he would have all this week off, and since we aren't 100% on vacations for this summer, we decided at 3pm on monday to head to KC in case we don't make it down in the spring. I quickly washed some clothes, got the bags packed, and waited for Chris to get home at 6. We left about 7pm, and got in to KC around 3:30am. The boys were AWESOME!!! Jack probably didn't say more than 2 words, and Cole fussed for about 1 minute until I got his blankie adjusted just right for him. It was much more pleasant than our previous road trips. I think Cole being a little older has helped.

If I have learned anything about Cole this trip, it is his love for animals. Grandpa Gerald and Grandma Linda have a couple of cats. Caspian used to be Aunt Megan's cat until they got pregnant, then they gave her to away. But we get to see him whenever we come down to visit. Cole has been chasing him around all over. Below are a couple of pictures of him trying to get the kitty. Cole even at one point got under the bed and got stuck trying to catch the kitty. Then we headed over to Uncle Joe's house to see their cousins and found a little doggie that Cole couldn't leave alone. Sorry Cole, your mommy isn't much for animals and it will be a long time before you might ever have one of your own.

I don't think Jack could be any happier to be playing with Grandpa G.

Stats

Went in for Jack's 4 year check up and Cole's 18 month appt. Both boys are doing great. Here are their stats.

Jack at 4:
38 lbs.
41 3/4 in.

Cole at 18 months:
22lbs (finally up to the 6th percentile for weight)
32.5 in.

When the weather outside is frightful......

....and inside we're so delightful! :) Happy February 1st! We are right smack dab in the middle of the biggest storm in years! We are expected to get up to 24 in. of snow. I've had a lot of snow plowers in my family and they don't really rejoice in a big snow forecast, but I've got to admit, I still get excited for snow!!! Jack really wanted to go out and play in the snow this morning, so I bundled him up and let him got out for about 10 minutes. Of course he went right to the shovel and started trying to clear the back deck. But here is a picture of him before the snow storm hits.

Then as promised...we made snowflake cupcakes. Well, that was the plan, until I realized I had no cupcake papers, so a round cake it was. Cake batter, frosting, and sprinkles, what more could a kid want. We decorated a big snowflake on top in honor of the "big storm" that Jack couldn't wait for. Cole on the other hand just kept roaming around and then finally found a comfy spot on the floor of the kitchen while we baked. Hot plating was next on our agenda. Jack LOVED it!!! He loved how the crayons just melted right on his picture. He didn't want to stop. But we did a snowman, rainbow, heart, and snowflake. Our windows look so pretty now. I used to love doing this with my students. We pretty much did a picture for each little holiday or season to decorate our classroom windows. I was a little worried about Jack burning his hand or arm, but he did really well. I think only once or twice did he bump the hot plate, but didn't get hurt. We will definitely be doing more of this.

Once again, Cole just roamed around and snacked on Cheetos! Jack is exploding with numbers. We have been doing number flashcards (actually the cards from the game Sorry), and he is noticing numbers all around him. He is so excited when we drive down the road and he sees numbers we know, and at the grocery store. Its so fun to see his little mind going all the time.

Well, the snowstorm is in full swing. We are in for the next day or two. I am hoping to be able to Jack up and do a little snowplowing with my dad. Jack LOVES to ride in the plow trucks at church. He can't wait to get out and shovel the driveway with daddy tomorrow. :)

Oh My Cherrios!

It's been a lovely snowy day here today. The kids and I have been playing, they have been eating LOTS, I've been working on hats and blankets. I took the boys to the garage while I pinned some blankies. We were out there about an hour and in that time they completely trashed grandma and grandpas room. I got out a box of cheerios for Cole to snack on, and he thought it was much more fun to throw them all over than eat them. Jack then got the novel idea to just dump the whole (brand new) bag of them out. WOW! Can that entertain 2 kids for quite a while.Jack of course went right over and got grandpa's tractor and wagon and started loading it up with cheerios. Cole just continued to eat one, and throw 100. :) So much easier to make a mess, then to clean it up. Jack isn't very good about cleaning/putting away his stuff. It is a real battle! I've tried singing songs, making it fun....no such luck. :( But they did get cleaned up. Thank you vacuum cleaner! Here is a picture of the Cheerio fun, and a few others from today. Jack loves to make silly faces when the camera comes out.

ER

Well, what a way to end the weekend. Chris was the Steelers playoff game, my parents had Jack in MO with them for Karissa's birthday, and Cole and I hung out with Megan and Tess all weekend. Last night everyone came home, and Jack wasn't feeling too well, so he went to bed early. At midnight, Chris heard one of the boys coughing so he went up and thought it was Jack, but as we was coming down the stairs Cole screamed like never before, so we went racing into his room only to have him not breathing well and "barking" up a storm. It was awful to listen him. Chris ran to get my mom, and she tried to give him a breathing treatment while we got dressed to take him to the ER. Of course after being outside in the cold, by the time we got seen by a doctor he was doing much better. They gave him a steroid, and sent us home. Today is just really tired, but his breathing sounds better.