"Bobbie!"

My mom came to visit this weekend which was great with Eric on the road. The highlight of her weekend was EJ calling her "Bobbie." The way he says it is super cute...sounds like, "Bah-Bee." He hasn't said, "Grandma" yet but surely he will soon. He is calling me "mommy" more and now he only calls me "honey" when he needs help.




Mom took EJ to the Train Event at Toys-R-Us on Saturday while I was throwing the Sip-N-See for Andrea. They had a great time and played trains for the rest of the weekend.



My mom and I were able to refinish our deck on the one nice day we had while she was here. It rained the rest of the weekend but thankfully the deck dried before the rain started. EJ was glad we put the water seal on the deck so there were "puddles" for him to play in with his rainboots.


Before we took mom to the airport we had lunch with Kelly, Sammi and Nana Kay. Kelly and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of having our moms in town at the same time. Kelly offered Sammi a lemon and you can see the adorable pucker face she made after trying it.




All in all, a very fun and eventful weekend that went by way too fast! Thanks for everything mom!

Welcome Baby Karis!

Today I hosted a "Sip-n-See" party for my friend, Andrea. I learned about Sip-n-See parties when I lived in the south. They are like baby showers but you wait until the baby is born so everyone can come "sip" coffee or tea and "see" the baby. It's great for second and third babies when the mom has what she needs but you still want to celebrate. Baby Karis is super sweet and smiles a lot! Everyone had fun holding her and playing with her big sister, Erin





I didn't get a picture of the cake but it had brown frosting with pink polka dots. When we picked it up EJ was very interested in it and called it "gook." He wanted "gook" all the way home and I kept having to tell him that the cake wasn't for him! He's not used to that!! :-)

A big thanks to my mom for helping me get ready for the party and to Katy for sharing her Devonshire cream recipe with me. It was a hit!

Spring!

We had the most beautiful Nebraska day today! It was in the low 80's so Kelly and I took the kids for a walk to soak in the sun (with sunscreen, of course!) I also found a plant blooming in the backyard that I thought I killed off last year with my not-so-green thumb. And, I found one loan tulip...a sure sign of spring! The hydrangeas that my friend, Kaye, lovingly planted for me last summer are also blooming. Eric mowed the lawn and while the lawnmower was very scary to EJ, he was intrigued by the whole thing!


This is the plant I thought I had single handedly killed. Welcome back pretty flower!!! Note: Shortly after posting this picture Kaye emailed me and told me it's a Bleeding Heart. She also sent a link to the garden.com page that tells me how to take care of it. Thanks Kaye!

Boots & Language

The rainboots we got in Texas continue to be a hit. This morning EJ found the boots and put them on all by himself. As you can see he even wore them to breakfast and there wasn't a cloud in the sky!

I've also being meaning to post on his language development. He has learned the word "no" but in his world it means "yes." When I ask if he wants a snack he will say, "no nacks" and come take the snack out of my hand. Today I asked if he wanted to go to the park and he said, "no" as he grabbed the door handle. Once I figured out that he had confused the two terms I had fun asking him "yes" questions and getting the "no" answer. He also uses the same word for bird and bat which comes up every day. I'm getting better at using the context of the situation to know what he's talking about. That's important because the kid talks about bats, balls and birds all day long. Those are all fun but my favorite is that he is now calling me "honey." When he does say "Mommy" it comes out "ommy" and is super cute too.

Weekend in College Station

EJ and I hopped on a plane to meet Eric and Grandma Carol in College Station for the weekend. It rained most of the weekend which warrented a trip to Target to get EJ some rainboots. I had only brought one pair of shoes for him which would've been ruined in the rain. He LOVES his rainboots and can even put them on himself. There was a huge puddle in the hotel parking lot and he spent lots of time stomping around much to his delight.



We also found a mall with a kids area for EJ to play in while we waited for the rain to stop. EJ was fond of the race car (pictured) and the tree house and slide in play area, not pictured because the mall cop warned us that picture taking was a mall rule violation. I'm not sure who would take covert action based on pictures of the College Station Mall. Seriously.


Nicole came for the game on Saturday. When the rain finally stopped, we were able to find a patch of Bluebonnets to take some pictures in. It was muddy but we managed to get some fun pictures. It was really neat to be back in Texas during the height of Bluebonnet season. They are so beautiful! For years I saw families pulled off the side of the road taking pictures of their kids and I always wondered if I would ever get that chance. Then we moved to a place that doesn't have bluebonnets so I will treasure these pictures forever!







EJ mananged to stay up late for both of the night games which is a first. He slept in my arms for part of the first game but didn't nap at all during the Saturday night game. I was really proud of him because he tends to fall apart by 7 pm most days.




We lost all three games which has been happening a lot lately (we are 17-21) so we are just trying to weather the storm. The draft took all of pitching last year which has made Eric's job really hard this year. We hold firm to the Bible verse (Romans 5) that says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." So, we are persevering and not giving up hope. God will meet us in all our struggles and make it all good again somehow...even in baseball.

Happy Easter!

We hope you had a nice holiday with those special to you. We were fortunate to have Tricia here for a fun visit. We spent time hanging out with EJ and going to baseball games. A highlight for EJ was "driving" with Trish at Red Robin.



On Saturday we dyed Easter eggs and went to meet the Easter bunny at the outdoor mall near our house. As you can see, EJ did not take too well to the bunny but we warmed up at the end and even waved to him.





On Easter Sunday it was the three of us for a quiet day. After church I made all my mom's holiday recipes and while I still need practice, the boys were very sweet about my efforts. EJ had fun with his Easter basket from Grandma Bobbie and we were all in bed by 8pm!

Our Easter Bunnies

We found baby bunnies in the front yard this week. We've seen the momma run through the backyard a few times but today the babies were out and about. They are about 6 inches in length and they've already shed their first coat of fur. It's almost time for them to leave the "nest" or more correctly, hole in the ground, which we also found on the side of our house! EJ was very intersted in our "guests" and I had to keep him back by telling him the bunnies were sleeping. All day he ran to window and said, "uny nigh-nigh, uny nigh-nigh." It's just about as cute as the bunnies themselves.

First Oreo Cookie

EJ tried his first Oreo and as you can imagine, he loved it! Here's the sequence of events:

The curiosity:



The first taste:


Could this be real???


I'll have more, please:


There is just something special about the good ole Double Stuff Oreo. It's a classic.

We had a very eventful weekend. In addition to three baseball games, we hosted a neighborhood party for our neighbors, the Christiansens who recently adopted little Isabelle from China. We welcomed Isabelle with a BBQ (inside because it was pouring rain with snow flurries!!) and lots of new friends. Isn't she just precious!!



The Clarks live on the other side of us and they have a new addition too! Cluny is a schnauzer and is quite the sweet little puppy!


The Sorenson's were also in town and we had lots of fun with them while we waiting for the snow to pass so I-80 could open again for them to return home. The kids had an Easter egg hunt and Ryan got his first baseball lesson with Eric. EJ didn't quite understand the hunting for Easter Eggs game but he loved following Ryan and Dana around with his basket and egg.

Bring on Spring!

It was so warm today that we were able to go outside right after breakfast. EJ LOVES being outside and asks to go "ow-sigh" multiple times each day. I finally got to say "Yes" today. I hustled to the basement and found his sand and water table, got it set up and we played "ow-sigh" until naptime. Our fun will be short-lived as we are expecting snow tomorrow.