I Love You As Much As....

this morning ely and i were telling secrets to each other. her secrets are along the lines of " josiah is a silly boy" and "i love eggs."

ely: (whispering) josiah is a silly boy.
me: (whispering)i think that's because he has a silly sister!
ely: (out loud) that 's not a secret!
me: ok, here's secret: i love you as much as an elephant! no, i love you as much as a t-rex!
ely: wow! that's big.... i love you as much as a butterfly.

i try not to be offended by what comes out of the mouths of 3 year olds, but sometimes it's kinda tough! :0)


here's ely's song she didn't learn but didn't make up either. to the tune of brother john

i am strong! i am strong!

where did you get your strength from?

because i am so strong, that's why i'm strong.

and that's why god loves me so much so strong.

How Many Are in There?

twins don't run in my family so this was not just a shock it was earth shattering. we're getting used to the idea still. hopefully in the next couple of days will be able to start the preparing for two more blessings in our family to join us in february!

My Mommy and Me!

ely and i had a mommy ely date last weekend. preston kept josiah and let us hang out alone for a couple of hours. we went to lunch and then to paint and glaze. ely was so excited about painting a bowl, but i had to stop myself (my perfectionist self) and let her paint the way a three year old paints. it didn't come out too bad either and she's so proud!

outside her favorite place, taco bell!

waiting for our food and pretending to eat a bean burrito.

painting her her bowl.

A Baby,Really? Boy or Girl?

here are to of the converstaions i had with ely today:

Ely: mommy! why is your tummy so full?

Me: because there's a baby in there!

Ely: (thought for a second) right now there is?

Me: Yup!

Ely: (another second of thought) you mean you're pregnant?!

we've talked to her about the new baby, but apparently it was all hypothetical until now. after her nap today i asked her about the baby again.

Me: what do you want the baby to be?

Ely: a girl.

me: but what if it's a boy?

Ely: that's ok. i will still love him.

my sweet girl!

Learning to Spell...

can you read it?

My Sweet Josiah

i know that i missed his birthday, but i wanted to share some memories of the sweetest little redhead. he has been such a great and energetic addition to our family. preston and i remember back to his birth and first couple of months and are amazed at the transforamtion he's gone through. i thought that we were in trouble! he came out screaming and finicky! his first two months were spent by us praying that god would calm this baby down! it was a tough adjustment because we had it pretty easy with ely htat we weren't prepared for anything else. it took him a couple of months to realize that life outside the womb wasn't too bad and now he is a happy, curious , vocal little mover. if you've spent much time with him you can just hear the screaming (usually ahppy screaming, but screaming none the less:)). we are so blessed to have him in our lives. he's a great little brother to a wonderful big sister and a great joy to his mom and dad. here's to josiah!

happy 365 days son!

Our Trip-Now Complete

i decided to just post pictures of our trip and explain as i go! there are alot of pictures, so make sure you have the time to look! you're a hard core nesper fan if you can get through them all! enjoy!

Kansas

spinning and...

falling and crying at LAX

our second flight was a rinky dink little plane that bumped and rocked the whole time! cool part was that we unloaded right on the tarmac. we were the last flight to land at the tulsa airport that night. the airport was actually closing!

stopping for lunch and play on the drive to belleville

ely's first tractor!

ely and kansas grandpa. he looks a little gruff, but he's big old farming teddy bear!

josiah and kansas grandpa

my aunt barb made birthday blankets for all her nieces and nephews. it has their name, weight, birth day and time they were born. i still have mine! i'm so happy that my kids will be able to have theirs and cherish them as well. aunt barb is pretty handy on the sewing machine!


kansas grandma and ely making noodles. we ate well while we were there! lots of good old country food!
rolling the noodles

her favorite part! kansas grandma let her use a knife. i guess that's what grandma's are for, letting you do what you know your parents would never let you do!


my great uncle lives in an old farm house
way outside of town and we went visiting. this is ely in front of his weather vain.
sitting on his tractor. it hasn't been used in a long time!


josiah and unlce red (allen). kindred spirits! the only red heads in the family!

blowing bubbles with kansas grandma

grandma has a beautiful garden filled with lilies (?). she and ely picked some to bring back to aunt judy's house.

one of the coolest things ely got to do was ride a real horse! unlce red works on the family farm and has a friend that owns a horse. he was willing the let a 3 year old city girl ride it! here ely is being introduced to roan.
unlce red just led the horse in a small circle, but ely thought she was a real cowgirl. i said cowboy and she was sure to correct me, "mommy, i not a cowboy, i a cowgirl!"

josiah waiting for his turn.

mommy and josiah riding roan

to top it off, red took ely out into the cow pasture to see a cows and a bull up close.

this is the sign that welcomes to you to belleville. i have always loved kansas and have such wonderful memories of it. now i love making new memories with my kids and hubby!

IOWA

ely and annika playing before the wedding
aren't they beautiful?!

they are too! i don't have many pictures of the ceremony or reception because josiah got sick that day of all days!
dancing at the reception. ely was a dancing machine! i couldn't get her off the dance floor.
a park in orange city. it was a very dutch community! :)

it was the week after the tulip festival. the tulips were beautiful!

we actually met another red headed josiah!

at the best ice cream shop ever! the sundaes were so big! ely and preston were so happy! we stopped here on our way to chicago.

Chicago

out first day, we took a bus ride through the city. it rained on us and the wind just about killed me! i was not prepared for how cold it was!

he was supposed to be sleeping but he wasn't really cooperating!

ely actually took this picture outside the art museum. pretty good!

dot dot seurat

the coffee bean magma ball totally reminded me of fight of the navigator!

ely thought this was pretty cool. she asked for her picture to be taken with mickey and the police man.

these were crazy spitting foutains! it was freezing but we couldn't keep ely from running through the water! there were two faces on each stone wall making silly faces and every 15 minutes they would spit water out! we had to buy ely new pants becuase it was so cold and she was shivering after her romp.

josiah at the hershey store

ely at the hereshy store. she's holding a 5 pound chocolate bar! preston wouldn't let me buy it.:(

the field museum

ely running up the steps of the feild museum

they had a kid's section athe feild museum. ely learned al about corn and it's role in ancient civilizations. she could pick it, grind it and cook it at this exihbit.

ely and sue

we spluged and let ely ride one ride. there were some older ladies behind us that couldn't believe that the parents of that little girl would let her ride all by herself. ely looked really upset! i knew she would love it!

navy peir

the children's museum at navy peir

the lincoln park zoo

looking at the gorrillas.

wrigley feild for a cubbies game. one of the highlights of our trip.

josiah was cheering...i think

almost 1900 miles with two kids in two weeks! both kids did great!

overall, it was an amazing trip! not very relaxing, but great! we have to start taking real vacations. where can you go with kids that's a vaction though? there's always a tushie to wipe, a mouth to feed or a cheek to kiss. i wouldn't have it any other way!