Nate's 1-Year Birthday Pics...

We had these pics taken at Sears on February 5th (just roughly two weeks after Nate's birthday). For the first time, Nate did not do so well during the photo session. He instantly got upset and shy, and wanted nothing to do with it. It took a lot of time, and much convincing to even get him to pry away from Jay or myself long enough to get a picture of him alone. Because of this, we have no smiling shot...matter of fact, we have no smiles and a few screams. We set him in his diaper and gave him a cake. He looked at it for just a moment, and then threw a GIANT temper tantrum - the pics don't even do it justice. I guess the silver lining was that we didn't spend as much money as we normally do. There were just not that many pics to choose from.

A Lego fire truck...

ET and his friend D, made this fire truck from Legos the other day. D's mom is also a fellow blogger, and so I knew she wouldn't mind if I posted this picture of the two of them. They were just so incredibly proud of themselves; as was I. It's moments like these, when my work doesn't even remotely feel like a job.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Being that Valentine's Day ended up landing on a Monday this year, nothing really exciting happened here for us. I spent some time this weekend baking goodies for the kids and that is really about it.
I was pretty proud of ET because for the first time he was able to write out his Valentine's for his friends. He wrote his friend's name's and his name on all of the cards.

He chose monster truck Valentine's for his friends.


I packaged up goody bags filled with cookies for ET to give to his friends.


The kids played with balloons, completed a few Valentine projects, and played outside. They decorated their own chocolate heart shaped cookie after lunch and ate cupcakes for snack. A lot of sweets, but they had a very healthy breakfast and lunch.


After all of the kids went home, ET and Nate ate dinner and then ET had his first ice skating lesson for the spring session. Luckily ET passed his last class, and can now take ice skating lessons on Monday evenings rather than Saturday afternoons.

When ET returned home he was pretty exhausted. So Jay and I sent both the kids to bed 15 minutes early and had ourselves a Valentine's day dinner date...a little late, but totally worth it! Today was our 10th Valentine's Day together!


HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Grandma's Brownies

So many of you probably don't know this, but Jay's mom has been making some pretty special brownies for years now. The brownies are made from scratch and have a layer of fudge on the top. They are amazing! When I first married Jay, he said he really doesn't care for any brownie unless it is his mom's.

Well over the years Grandma D has continued to make these brownies for the all the grand-kids. I cannot even begin to tell you how special these brownies have become for them. Grandma D will bring the brownies to almost all of the get togethers because she knows how much everyone looks forward to them. Matter of fact, I know that she will even make them up ahead of time and freeze them, just so she has them in case of any last minute occasions. She is so sweet! These along with a a few different types of cookies, have become her signature item. ET in particular L-O-V-E-S these brownies. His eyes light up when we ask him if he wants one.

Well because Grandma D is so in love with her grandchildren, she will often watch the kids at our house and bring over a container of brownies just for us to have throughout the week. She brought some over recently for Nate's birthday party. When I gave Nate his first brownie from Grandma, I knew I had to grab the camera.
This is her last grandchild, eating his first brownie. It just meant something to me.



A happy little guy! I think he liked it. :)


Chasing it down with some cold milk...perfect!


Not a piece left.


We hope there will be many great grandchildren for Grandma D to hand out brownies to!
We love you Grandma D!!!!

Super Bowl XLV

We started out Sunday kind of to a rough start. ET woke crying, and saying his tummy hurt. I had him eat a banana and drink some milk, and he threw it up within the hour. I felt so bad for the guy, but was also very proud of him because he made it to the bathroom in time. :) I told him he was going to have to rest or play in his bedroom today, which he didn't object to until later on (I needed to keep him separated from Nate). He was content playing with his toys and putting together puzzles. He seemed okay, and said his tummy no longer hurt, and he never had a fever. Around noon, Jay came home from church and went in his bedroom to play with him a bit. He came out and said ET said he wanted to lay down now. I was shocked because he hadn't eaten anything all day at this point (being that he threw up the little bit that he had), and he seemed to be perking up just a bit. ET slept, then woke up to go potty and then slept some more, for a total of 3 1/2 hours. ET has never woken up from a nap to go potty and then gone back to bed. Well, shockingly when he finally woke up he seemed to be back to his regular self again and VERY hungry. We made him a PB & J sandwich, but he kept asking for more and more food. He ate well, never complained the rest of the night and had a lot of energy during the big game.

We were worried about ET and sad because we had to cancel plans for friends to come over, but it turned out to be a nice time just on our own. I made a make-your-own quesadilla bar, and we had chips, cheese and salsa. I also made football themed sugar cookies.

Here is ET after he had gone back to bed after having to go potty. Poor guy!




Jay gave the boys a few Packer toys he has had for years.

Eating good food, and watching a GREAT game!

Gotta have the chips and CHEESE for the Packer game! :) We were a little nervous to let him eat anything, but it seemed he did a complete 180.


I was really hoping these cookies would bring us good luck!

ET watched a lot of the game. Nate was in bed by 8pm.

Here they are near the end 28-25. All in all, it was an intense game. Both Steelers and Packers gave it their best. The Packers had the ball and marched down the field to score a final field goal, making it 31-25. This gave the Steelers 2 minutes left to try and score a touchdown, in which they failed to do.
It was pretty exciting here at the house, but also pretty calm. Jay was just in a lot of shock and I was so completely thrilled for him.

A great game, and a few battle wounds to show for it...Jay jumped up and hit the ceiling with his knuckles when the Packer's scored their second touchdown. Four knuckles were completely skinned and bled pretty bad. I laughed because I can remember my dad doing the exact same thing when I was little, during a Vikings game. :)

More and more puzzles!

I just want to blog how very proud of ET we are for how much he has improved on puzzles over the last month or so. I know I already posted about this, but since then he has continued to put together EVERY puzzle in the house, and work on them nearly everyday. He is becoming such a whiz at them to. I have two puzzles in the daycare that have 63 pieces in each and are meant for 5-year-olds. He had put them together again and again all on his own! He loves to say that he is doing 5-year-old puzzles! :)

Here he is last night, after completing one of the puzzles. It was bed-time and he cried because we said he would have to finish it tomorrow. I don't usually give in to crying, but I could see how upset he really was. So I gave in...what is the harm in staying up a few extra minutes to put together a puzzle? Hopefully, in the future he will want to stay up late to finish a book. :)

Care Bears...not a very boyish puzzle, but it is the hardest one we have (63 pieces).

Out with the straps, and in with the inserts...

A couple of weeks ago, ET had to be seen by the orthopedist again to have his foot situation reviewed. Apparently, the straps have improved his feet slightly (I beg to differ, but that's a sore note in this family right now). Now the doctors feel his feet need a custom made mold to lift his inner part of his feet up, which will in turn help bring his feet out. Sorry, but that is the best way I can describe it for you. Sounds confusing, but we just have to trust the doctor's involved. I am more optimistic about the inserts, than I was about the straps. With the straps, I had a hard time keeping them on him all day. He needed to remove them to go to the bathroom or to go outside. When he did remove them, I didn't always put them back on him right away. ET complained about them A LOT. He said the strap around his stomach made him sweat and itch - poor guy! With the inserts, they really don't get in the way of anything. I am pretty sure we will have a better outcome with these. It just stinks, that we are dishing out hundreds of dollars on a "hope."


It is hard to see, but they are painted with the Green Bay Packer logo!


He has to wear shoes over the inserts. We just had to buy a bigger pair so the inserts could fit in them.

What an awesome kid! Look at that adorable dimple! :)