Two Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed

The above pictures are from the other day. Yes, the "dress" Alex is wearing is my tank top. She insisted that it was her dress. The look on Eric's face when he is laying on the bed shows what I miss about being a kid. Its just so much fun jumping and being wild and free. When is the last time I jumped on a bed?? Way too long ago! (I'd probably break the bed!-Maybe that's why we grow out of jumping on beds!?!?!)

*UPDATES ON THE KIDS!!*

Ryleigh girl is getting so big! She is a very serious girl and doesn't smile as much as the other kids did. I thought it was because she was sick for so long with her cold but I think she is just serious! She does her fair share of smiling though and we take what we can get! The kids love to make her smile and giggle! There is nothing better than all of them giggling together! Everything goes into her mouth and she drools ALL THE TIME but so far no teeth. She loves her cereal and is not a big fan of applesauce (the only fruit we've introduced to her so far). We are slowly starting her on the fruits and vegetables. She rolls from back to belly and belly to back. Can get herself across the room if there is something she wants bad enough! She is still an awesome sleeper!! I love putting her to bed, having time with Andy before we go to bed, and waking up before she wakes up in the morning! It's pretty nice! She is also at the shy...reaching for us when someone else has her...stage. She is so much fun and her personality is really coming out!!

Princess Alex! What a doll! I cannot believe how big she is getting!! She is always telling Eric that she loves him which makes him a little squeamish but she usually doesn't care! Sometimes she insists that he tell her that he loves her too!(When he thinks its just the two of them he doesn't hesitate to say it back. SUCH A BOY!) The two of them have so much fun together!! She knows how to get her way...especially with her daddy! She flashes those baby blue eyes and pouts her lips...NO JOKE!...he falls for it every time! (I am also guilty of giving in but I am better at standing my ground!) She still loves her dresses and makeup and jewelery. There are days you MUST call her Princess Alex or she'll just keep saying, "NO, I'm PRINCESS Alex"! But she is our princess and she is very much adored by all of us!

Here is our Tom Cruise! Eric was trying on his new church outfit but the pants didn't fit so he just had the shirt on. It was pretty cute with his little legs!! We've been going through a "fun" little something with him. I don't know if you'd call it a stage or just "itstimeforsummersowecanplayoutside-itis"...I'm ready for summer so I can send them outside! He is still sweet and my big helper but the arguing...begging...jumping from EVERYTHING HE CAN CLIMB...making his sister yell...stuff is getting frustrating! But I'm SO not ready to send him off to Kindergarten and push the thought of it to the back of my mind as quickly as possible! It's not fun to think about! I'll miss him so much! I think its a bum deal that he has to go all day everyday. What happened to every other day like when we were kids?? (tears!!)

We are looking for a new car...not fun! I'm so tired of looking at cars and mileage and years and all that stuff. BLAH! We both REALLY REALLY love one that we drove though! It might not be the BEST buy but we love it! It's an 04 Mitsubishi Galant (sp??). It has 60,000 miles on it and they want $11,xxx but went down a bit. Its pricey for the year and mileage and there isn't a garage here that can fix them that we know of but if we can get them to go down more we might buy it! It has lots of power and is super fun to drive! Plus it would fit all of the kids in the back if we needed and its pretty! We'll see...

Newest Additions To Our Family!

There is one thing that me and Andy completely and entirely agree on...we ARE NOT pet people. We both like animals and would love to someday have a dog but right now living in town we don't feel its fair to the dog. That and its not another responsibility either one of us want. Neither of us like rodents (rats, mice, gerbils etc...) and we are allergic to and strongly dislike cats. But we've felt like its not fair to the kids to not have pets. When I was growing up we always had some sort of pet...dogs, wounded pigeons, stray cats and kittens, chickens, calves, cows that were once bottle fed calves...whatever you can find out in the country. So since every kid needs some sort of pet we are trying FISH. I explained to the kids that fish are sensitive little creatures and that some day we might have to flush them down the toilet so they can go to the river which will bring them back to the ocean (THANK YOU FINDING NEMO FOR THE EASY WAY TO SAY GOODBYE!). So meet Eric's fish, Tank Marlin (Tank is the first name, Marlin the last name) and Alex's fish, Nemo.

Yes, we are very creative in picking out names! How do you change the minds of a 2 and 4 year old after they are already made up?? They love watching their fish and are very excited when its time to feed them! I think we made a wise decision going with fish for pets. They are pretty easy to take care of! I just hope neither of them go belly up any time soon!

All grown up...

The kids were practicing their ABC's and counting today while I was fixing lunch. Alex isn't so great at the ABC's so Eric was helping her. He'd say the letter and she'd repeat it.

My conversation with Eric after they got done with the alphabet:

Me: You guys are so smart! That's so nice of you to help Alex. You can teach her all the things that you learn.

Eric: Yeah, I have lots of people who teach me things. My teachers at church Sister Strege and Sister Jensen, my speech teacher, you and daddy, and my teacher at school.

Me: Eric you don't have a teacher at school because you haven't started Kindergarten yet.

Eric: Yeah, but when I get all grown up and turn 5 I will!

TOO CUTE!! Its SO funny to me that he thinks 5 is all grown up! I'm 26 and there are days I don't feel "all grown up"!! I love being a mommy and hearing the things my kids say and learning the way their little minds think!!

GETTING SO BIG!!

It's been a while so just wanted to post some pictures of the kids. They are growing up way too fast. Tuesday night we took Eric to Kindergarten Round-Up...can't believe he will be starting school this fall. :( We think he really enjoyed it and will love school! He especially loved riding on the school bus! ...Still has the same smell as when we were kids!
Both Eric and Ryleigh have a pretty bad cold so they look extra cute in these pictures! You can see around Eric's nose and cheeks that he has a cold! And Ryleigh just snots everywhere! She is always blowing bubbles out of her nose! She drools A LOT too! We don't know if she's teething or if its part of the cold??? She sure is cranky...but she's had this cold for well over a month now and we are considering taking her in for the 3rd time. They just keep telling us it takes babies a while to get rid of colds but this is a nasty one and she is miserable. (The original cold was going away but is back and really nasty.)
Anyway...Enjoy the many many pics.!

She really loves Eric and Alex!

I can't believe she is getting so big!

She wears these cute little outfits almost everyday!

He posed this way...guess its his "stud" look??

SO BIG!

Loves her "chew toys"!!