17 weeks

 

I am 17 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good. I am not nearly as sick as I have been and although I still sleep a lot, I am feeling a bit more alive. This pregnancy continues to be different from any other pregnancy. Although my stomach is quite big, I have only gained about 2 pounds. I have also felt very minimal movement. (With both boys, I could feel lots of movement beginning around 16 weeks). I am hoping the reason for all these changes is that the baby is a petite little girl. :) We will go for another gender check next Friday. Hopefully they can tell this time! Girl or boy, regardless, we are excited to welcome a new baby to our household!

Easter 2014

 

The Easter bunny came to our house! The boys were very pleased with their basket, but somehow I didn't manage to get one single decent picture of them opening their baskets. After looking in the basket, the boys hunted for eggs.

Kris and I discovered we do Easter egg hunts very different. He puts his eggs in the house and I grew up hiding eggs in the yard. He wanted the eggs hid in the house before the boys woke up (as if the Easter bunny had planted them).

We compromised and hid Easter eggs in the house in the morning and outside in the yard in the afternoon.

Kale was quite adept at hunting for eggs this year. Liam just wanted to eat the candy.

These two just melt my heart. They look like such big boys! I loved their Easter outfits this year.

They are such characters.

My mom came for a visit for Easter and Kale's birthday party. She was here for 6 days and the days went way too fast! It was so nice to have an extra set of hands to help entertain the boys.  

Our attempt at a family photo...

My mom and I actually had very similar dresses picked out to wear to church on Easter Sunday, but I had to find something different so we didn't match too much.

 

We enjoyed a special church service at the Carpenter Center (the local theater). Over 4,000 people attended the 3 services held there. Our church is big, but not nearly that big!! We came home to a prime rib dinner with our family and some of my closest girlfriends and their families.

Kale's birthday party

We held Kale's first official "friend" birthday party on April 19th. I was worried we wouldn't have many attend because of Easter weekend, but we had 14 three and four years old there. That's a lot!

The day before we made cupcakes and dyed eggs. We knew we wouldn't have time the day of the party. The boys loved dying eggs this year, but could've been a bit gentler with the eggs.

We had Kale's party at a place called Romp 'n Roll. It's like a little gym for kids. It had all kinds of fun activities. Plus, I don't take the boys there often (because of the expense), so it was an extra special treat to get to go there.

I am quite sure 14 little ones slept very good Saturday night!

Kale is a complete and total monkey. His climbing, hanging, balancing skills never cease to amaze me!

The instructors were great! They appeared to be having a blast even when the kids weren't paying a bit of attention to them. They led the children of one of Kale's favorite rhymes, " Going on a Bear Hunt."

We had a large moon bounce as well.

Kale's best buddy Bryce was there. Bryce told me, "I really LOVE Kale." Four year old boys are still so sweet.

Liam had been sick all week, but luckily pulled it together for the party. RSV is so rough. He had it as a 2 month old and now has issues everytime he gets the smallest cold. He is a pro at breathing treatments though.

At the end, they turned on the bubble machine, turned off the lights, let down the disco ball and had a bubble dance party.

Kale's 4th Birthday

Kale turned 4 on April 15th. I just cannot believe that he is already 4. It literally feels like I was just pregnant with him. This time next year we will be enrolling him in kindergarten...surreal!

 

He really understood "birthday" this year and had been talking about his birthday for a least a month. He had specific items that he asked for and knew the exact date of his birthday (he told everyone about it).

He received lots of neat gifts from family on his birthday. He got several minion shirts (this of course, was on his list), a camera, a toy boat, some board games, puzzles, planes characters, and stock (from us--he was not too excited about that, but maybe one day he will be).

Liam did not understand why he couldn't open presents, but Kale was a good sport and let Liam open one of his. 

 

I tried to get one good picture of Kale to document him as an official four year old...but four year olds don't like to sit still for the camera.

He had a great birthday. We opened presents, had chocolate chip pancakes, went to Monkey Joe's, met friends for lunch, and then went to see Rio 2 as a family. He and Liam gorged themselves on candy and popcorn. A four year old's dream day!!!

 

 

At four, Kale

• can pump his legs to swing
• identify all of his letters and sounds
• is getting pretty good at coloring in the lines
• loves the movie, Planes
• has a rather sophisticated vocabulary at times
• is convinced that Kris plays with toys at work and has a swimming pool on the roof of his office (when Kris gets home from work, he will often ask, "Dad, did you play with your toys today?")
• loves peanut butter sandwiches (no jelly)
• is still a picky eater, but is branching out a bit
• can swim
• is great a gross motor activities such a climbing, pedaling, running, playing sports, etc.
• is still rather reserved in big groups
• loves to say his prayers at night (he always says, "thank you God for Jesus." Love it!)
• favorite activity is going to the movie (and eating popcorn and candy while there)
• still naps occasionally, but always has quiet time
• sleeps for roughly 10-11 hours at night.
• is still such a sweet boy! He loves to cuddle and gives hugs and kisses. I hope that never goes away.



A Visit from Grandma Marilyn

Grandma Marilyn managed to stop by for a quick visit a few weekends ago. It was a quick visit, but the boys were excited to see her.

The each received early Easter presents from Grandma and Grandpa. Of course, they are at the age where they love presents!

Kale got a Disney Memory game and he immediately engaged Grandma in a game.

Marilyn and Kale decided to make Kris a special birthday cake--red velvet! Kris' favorite.

Making a red velvet cake takes a long time, so Kale and grandma slaved away in the kitchen all afternoon. Kale got out of nap time and had to tell Liam that he didn't have to take a nap multiple times.

Kale got to open his birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa--a remote control boat! He loves his boat. We have a small pond in the subdivision that he can drive it in.

Kale also received a United States puzzle and I must say, he is awesome at it! He can already tell us where we live and where each set of his grandparents live.

The boys also got to go fly kites. This something they have been asking to do forever.

They haven't stopped asking to fly kites since!

Weekend Projects

We have had a beautiful weekend here. We were able to get a few projects done outside.

 

Kris (and the boys) mowed the lawn. The boys are so excited Kris is mowing again. They just love to "help." The house we had been leasing for our first year here had all lawn work included as part of the HOA. The boys loved to watch the guys mow the lawn, but were sad they couldn't help.

 

I got several flowers for our deck and front porch this weekend. I thought this gerber daisy was so unique. Too buds fused into one.

Flowers are expensive! I sure hope I can keep these alive.

We planted these purple flowers in the front bed. We also pulled up an ugly bush and want to find a few flowering bushes to place in front of the hedge.