Sharing a room

We have been planning to move Annika back down to 'her' room with Kaarin in the Fall, before school starts again. I have had mixed feelings about this, mostly because I feel like Kellen will really miss her when she is gone. They have been sharing a room for 2 years now! Anyway, I am rethinking the plan after this conversation with Kellen a couple days ago: Mommy: "O.K., 5 more minutes & then I'm going to get Kaarin ready for nap, & then after her will be your turn." Kellen: "Why do you always put Kaarin down for a nap first, & then us?" Mommy: "Because Kaarin is littler & needs more sleep that you do. When she gets bigger she will go to bed at the same time as you." Kellen: "YEAH! And then she can come sleep with us, because it would be sad to have to sleep all alone!" Kellen also said this: "I have lots of friends: Gideon is my friend, Markus is my friend, Drew is my friend, & Annika is my friend AND my sister!" So my new plan is this: to move Kaarin into Annika & Kellen's room, get bunk beds for the older 2 & let Kaarin sleep in the crib/day bed that is in there, & make Kaarin's room the play room! I think they will enjoy sharing a room all together (for few years) & bedtime should go fine since Kellen & Annika will probably not take naps starting in the fall (Kellen will be at school in the afternoons). Also, Kaarin's nap will be ealier because we will have to pick Kellen up by 3:00. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this...:)

Spring

Look how sunny it is!:) Well, for one day, anyway.

Kaarin was carrying around one of Erik's broken golf clubs. She looked like a blind person!

We got a new table (on loan) to use with our kitchen set. They love to play food!

Putting on makeup.:)

It was so nice we had a picnic outside!

Raw Food

I recently when to a free seminar with a friend. There were 2 speakers: one was Green Smoothie Girl (greensmoothiegirl.com) & the other was David Wolfe, who I had never heard of but apparently he is really big in the area of raw food. It was very interesting to hear them speak. We have been a fan of green smoothies for a little while, but have really needed to make some other dietary changes as well. Erik has several health issues that could become potentially serious if we don't make some changes. One thing I have been trying to do is add in more fruits & veggies to our diet. We do pretty well, since on the days we make smoothies (almost every day) we get at least 5 servings in a glass. But we can do better. One thing I did that I am totally excited about is we joined a Community Share through a local organic farm. This helps the farm be able to plant their crops, since they don't get any federal subsidies, & in turn gives us a very fun experience. Every week we get to go to Terry's Berries in Puyallup (yesterday was our first one!) & get a box full of produce. Yesterday we got potatoes, carrots, radishes, beets, spinach, salad greens, kale, collard greens, pears & apples. We also signed up to get farm eggs (since I haven't been able to convince Erik that we should have our own chickens!). The kids got to help weigh out the food & put it in our box. They LOVED it. Afterward they got to feed the pigs, pet the farm kitty (who was too friendly), see the chickens, & some ducks even came for a visit. It was pouring down rain the whole time, & they didn't care. AND - guess what they wanted to eat on the way home? Carrots & apples!:) We will still be planting our own garden, if it ever stops raining...;) The peas are ready to go into the ground now, & we also have lettuce & spinach that could go in, plus a few other things. Then I will do tomato starts in the house, & plant most everything else in June or so. We have rhubarb & strawberries that should come back from last year. Sometimes eating raw foods is pretty easy.:)

Organizing

I have been trying to get our house more organized, as well as get rid of things that we really don't need or use anymore. I have a friend who has come over a couple of times to help, & I had also bought a 2 hour organizing time by a 'professional' organizer at our MOPS auction. She came out one day & we (together) spent 5 HOURS organizing my kitchen, & still really didn't get done...needless to say, I think I got my $$s worth out of that one!!! Part of the problem, obviously, is that I can't spend 5 hrs. very often getting things done, as my poor kids were watching a movie during part of that time (we started during nap time). I am going through all the baby stuff that I don't need anymore & will sell a lot of it at a big consignment sale at the Puyallup Fairgrounds the first weekend of April.

One thing that I recently bought to help organize the kids' shoes is the pictured shoe box. I was tired of their shoes always being a pile under the entry way table, or Kaarin putting them on & wandering off with matches to 2 different shoes, or the kids not being able to find their shoes when it was time to leave in the morning. So this shoe organizer has been GREAT for several reasons:
1) It has completely taken care of the mess under the table,
2) The kids can always find their shoes,
3) They are TOTALLY into putting their shoes in the 'box' since this is the kind of thing they put their shoes in at McDs, Charlie's Safari, Pump It Up, etc. - so they think it's cool,
4) Even Kaarin can do it,
5) It gives me little giggles when I look in & see Kellen's shoes, Annika's shoes, Kaarin's shoes...AND....Kaarin's socks, LOL!!!! Check out the picture again & see if you too let out a little giggle.;)

My face was so red from laughing...

Here is a story about my daughter, Annika, age 3, above...one of her funniest to date, I think:

She chose to wear her Dora dress today, & it has snaps in the front up to the top of the dress. Tonight we were eating dinner & she discovered that she could pull from the top & all the snaps would unsnap in a row, & it was pretty funny. So she did this, then had me snap them back up & would do it again. One time she did this, then, with her shirt wide open (as above) she put her pointer finger from each hand on both of her nipples, turns to me & says, "Mommy, when these going to get big?!" HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
It was so unexpected & that made it THAT MUCH FUNNIER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just had to share.

Pictures

Catching snowflakes.:)

Green smoothie, trying to lick out her cup

Annika wrote my name - look carefully & you'll see the A-N-G-I-E!

This is a picture that Kellen drew of Mookie, then wrote his (Mookie's) name.:)

This is a picture of Grandpa - note his glasses.:) Love it.

On the potty.

Our best attempt at a snowman!

Fat lip.:( She fell down some stairs.

Toothbrushing gang.:)

Happy Stories

I have a few stories to share on this post:

On March 1st, we had come home from MOPS & were having lunch at the table. Kellen looked at me & said, "Mommy, I want Jesus to live in my heart!" So I told him that all he needed to do was ask Jesus to live there, & he would! Kellen said, "I want you to do it." Ha. I told him that Mommy could not do it for him, but that I could tell him the words to say & he could say them after me. So we did! I know that he does not fully understand the absolute magnitude of this decision (but who of us really does?) & yet I also know that children have amazing intuition when it comes to God, & the questions that Kellen asks reflect this. I also believe that God puts the desire for Him into our hearts, & that Kellen has responded to that. We have talked about it for a long time as we read our Bible, pray, & just talk in general about all that God has done. At MOPS that day they learned about Zaccheus & how his life changed when he met Jesus. We can still meet Jesus today, & our lives will be changed.

After church last Sunday we went to the pet store to get some new fish!:) We had a little chat with the pet store employee, who reminded us how to take care of fish (Um, no petting them, keep them in the water, etc.). Annika picked out a new Ella, & Kellen decided to name his Frosty again. I think he has since changed his to Markus again, even after he was telling Annika that she should have chosen a new name for her fish since the last one was Ella.:) So far, the fish are still alive! Woohoo!:) Sunday afternoon Kellen decided to teach us all how to play "Duck, Duck, Goose", & this had to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen.:) My description will not do it justice, & I really wish I had videotaped it! So picture the 5 of us, sitting in a circle: Kellen goes first, & goes around the circle several times, "Duck, duck...." You get the picture. He finally picks Daddy & yells "Goose!" So Daddy gets up & chases him around the very small circle...so then it's Daddy's turn, & he picks Annika. So she gets up & chases Daddy. Annika goes, & she picks Kellen & they run & run & run in the circle....meanwhile, Kaarin has picked up on things, so every time someone gets picked, she also gets up & starts running around the circle.:) Then somebody does pick her, so she starts patting people on the head, "Guck, guck, guck, GO!" So. Funny. Eventually, all this running around the small circle catches up to them & they are dizzy & start running into things. So the game is over. Next time I will have to video tape.:)

Tonight we were having dinner (Erik was not there). This was our conversation:
Annika: "Who's your mommy?"
Mommy: "Grandma is my mommy."
Annika: "And Grandpa is your daddy!"
Mommy: "Right!"
Kellen: "And Daddy's daddy is Papa, & his mommy is Bestemor! I think he misses them."


Kaarin's vocabulary has really exploded over the last month, & she is starting to put 2 & 3 words together to make small sentences. Some of her new favorite words include: flush, grandpa, pee pee (which she usually says as she is running to the potty - YES! She has yet to go, but hey - I'll take what I can get!!), help me, me first, and....WHY. Oh yes. She has discovered the never-ending cycle of 'WHY.' I really think she has learned this word earlier than the other 2, but I could be wrong...it is really cute, the way she says it, the first couple of times...;)

Today was class pictures for Kellen, & he did awesome. We had been discussing it for the last couple of days, preparing for it, & all along he told me he would not take the picture unless he was sitting on my lap. I was doing my best to remind him that mommy is not in his class.:) Kaarin, Annika & I hid in the hall today just in case I needed to go help out, but he did awesome. Yay! See? Happy stories!:)