35.2 Weeks - Pictures

I didn't have a picture to post for 35 weeks so I had Cory take a couple pictures this morning before my check up with my doctor.  All is looking well according to the doctor.  We are talking about a possible induction date of June 30th.  My doctor will be on call that day for deliveries.  Otherwise if I wait until the 4th of July weekend I may end up with whatever doctor happens to be on call.  We'll make a decision over the next couple weeks.  :-)

35.2 weeks - looking in to the sun

 ...and with the sun to my back...

 ...and Ethan and the dogs getting in on the picture action...

Crazy little man!  xoxo

SPRING!

We had an amazing weekend!  The weather was absolutely beautiful and we got to spend a lot of much needed time outdoors!  We celebrated Easter on Saturday and had a wonderful Easter egg hunt with the kids.  This is the first year in a long time that we could stand outside during the egg hunt and not freeze!  Amazing!  Then we had 80+ degree temps on Sunday!  We did some landscaping, put up the dog kennel, fixed the garage door opener, and opened up the house.  The fresh air and nice breeze through the house was long overdue. 

Ethan posing for his Easter picture.

Charlotte and Ethan

Charlotte and Ethan

 Alannah, Ethan, and Leah

Mariah, Alannah, and Leah 

The dogs in their KENNEL!  

 Ethan teasing Mongo

Ethan pretending to throw a rock at me... boys.  

We also spent some nice time with friends this weekend.  On Friday night we watched our friend's little guy, Liam, while his parents and older brother went to see the movie HOP.  Liam and Ethan had a great time together and managed to dump out every toy in the living room closet within about 5 minutes. 

Little drummer boys

On Saturday Ethan went to swim class where he and Lucas continue to do better week by week.  Miranda and I will be signing the boys up again for the next session.  It's great friend chat time and also a great experience for Ethan and Lucas. 

After swim class, Miranda and family came over and Miranda took some great pictures of Mariah.  She also snuck in a couple family pictures for us!  They turned out amazing!  Now I have to pick my favorite and have it printed to include in Mariah's confirmation invitations.  I have no idea how I will ever choose just one.

Little Bit of This... Little Bit of That

This was another busy and fast weekend.  We took on a couple projects this weekend.  The main project was giving Mariah's closet a make-over.  A couple years ago we put shelves and some metal clothing poles in her closet to give her lots of storage room.  She had a lot of baskets and things to keep on shelves and wasn't in to clothes the way she is now.  Well for the past year or longer this set up has not been working for her.  So we went to Menards and bought all new shelving.  The nicest thing about this shelving is that it's adjustable and can change with her needs! 

Step 1: Cory and Mariah removing the old shelving.

 Step 2: The bare closet.

 Step 3: The new shelving system!

There is another shelf up higher but you cannot see it from this picture.

 Another project we tackled was clearing out the play room and making it a workout/playroom.  Cory bought an elliptical so now we have "his and hers" for working out together in the mornings.  These machines are huge and were no longer allowed in the downstairs family room.  So I had Cory move them to the playroom.  I think they look really nice in here.  We also bought some more bins for the kids toys and got rid of some old stuff. 

 Here is a little glimpse of Ethan at swim lessons.  He only has two more weeks left.  In this picture he is learning to float on his back.  Yes.. his eyes are closed. 

 Another one of Ethan's favorite times... story time!

 And finally... a nice way to end my weekend blog post... a picture of our furbabies. 

This is how they relax on the weekend.  LOL 

Do they look comfortable?! 

As Always, Busy Days

St. Patrick's Day isn't strongly celebrated in our house, but it's still fun to do a little something out of the ordinary. 

Here are treats that I bought the family for dessert. 

It was more like a cake than a cookie!

On Friday night Cory and I went out for appetizers and drinks ~ well, water for me ~ with some friends for a 30th birthday celebration.  We had a really nice time and forgot how wonderful it is to get out without the kids.  Yes, we love them dearly, but adult time is much needed also! 

On Saturday morning Ethan had his second class for swim lessons.  He did SO much better than last time.  I think it helped that we all knew what to expect.  I think he really enjoyed class! 

Saturday evening we had a nice little birthday celebration for James and Linda.  Cory made fajitas for everyone and they turned out fabulously!  I think we'll actually be eating the leftovers for dinner tonight.

Grandma Linda with Charlotte and Ethan

 James, Charlotte, and Linda

Sunday was a relaxing yet accomplishing day.  We went to church in the morning and then came home and started painting the doggy, mud room, laundry room area.  The new color looks great, but the naughty pups already managed to scratch up the walls...

Here is one of the walls before.  I have cleaned it so many times that we were down to the drywall. 

Here is one of the walls after! 

Cory was still painting when I took this picture.  

 Another after paint picture.  We only have one coat of paint on the walls so far. 

Hopefully we'll get to the next coat this weekend. 

Fall Walks, Ethan's Room, and John Deere John Deere!

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately and we have been spending as much time as possible outside!  This weekend Ethan and I went for walks around the yard with the dogs and looked at all the pretty colors of the leaves.  Ethan loved shouting out the names of all of the colors. 

Ethan giving Oscar loves: 

 Finding the tall grass and yellow leaves:

 Showing mommy a leaf (oops... his eyes were closed...):

 Enjoying the beautiful day:

Another thing we did this weekend was re-build Ethan's bed (again).  For those of you that don't know the entire story... Ethan's full bed used to be his crib which converted to a toddler bed and then a full size bed.  I bought the fancy conversion rails and we tried them out for a couple months but constantly had to reinforce them!  It was extremely frustrating and didn't feel safe at all.  This past weekend I went to Menards and bought a metal bed frame for $30 and Cory and I attached Ethan's headboard to it.  His bed is extremely sturdy now and we love that he no longer has a foot board!  Definitely a great buy! 

I had to put Ethan on his changing table in order to get a picture of his room while it was clean:

 I removed Ethan 'AKA the tornado' from the changing table and seconds later....

 Such a happy little guy :-)

Now for Ethan's favorite project that Cory and I have been working on (mainly Cory)... Ethan's John Deere tractor Halloween costume!  This thing is going to be awesome!!! It's about half finished, but it's already looking cool!  Ethan absolutely loves it.  :-)

Cory and Ethan taping the boxes together:

  Ethan eyeing up the green tape and wondering what daddy plans to do with it:

 Ethan realizing that daddy's building him a John Deere tractor... "I Love You DAD": 

 Cory adding the yellow stripes:

and... the WORKING headlights!!  (how cool is that?!)

Way to go Cory!!!  Ethan will remember this forever. :-)

Projects and Play time :-)

The kids playing in a GIANT chair in Menards

Landscaping before..... (just old mulch and lots of weeds with no black paper to block the weeds)

Picked out red granite stone...

had it loaded in to dad's gravity wagon...

Section 1 completed!!!  Only 6 or 7 more areas to go...

Ethan enjoying summer grilling... mmmmmm corn on the cob :-)

after dinner he went for a little climb on Mongo

Family Filled Weekend

This was definitely a weekend filled with family gatherings.  It started with a very nice visit to see my Grandma and Grandpa Kolbow on Friday.  Unfortunately, the visit up to see them was brought on by the passing of my (step) aunts husband, Palmer Draeger. Palmer passed on Thursday morning after a very short battle with cancer.  Palmer and Judy live in the other half of my grandma and grandpa's house.  Judy is my grandma's daughter (step-grandma).  They took care of my grandma and grandpa for many years.  A big reception was held on Sunday to celebrate Palmer's life.  What a beautiful way to celebrate a wonderful life. 

Grandma and Grandpa seem to be doing very well.  Grandpa is 98 years old now and still VERY smart.  He loves to tell stories from his childhood and share his knowledge with us.  He also loved seeing how much Ethan has grown.  When we left, Cory was holding Ethan and asked Ethan to give grandma and grandpa kisses.  Ethan leaned in and gave them both a kiss on the cheak.  Truly a heart warming moment! :-) 

Here are some pictures from our time spent at grandma and grandpa's. 

On Saturday we hung out around the house and spent lots of time playing outside.  The kids found a frog and named it Little Foot (every frog they find is now named Little Foot).  Ethan was scared of the frog at first so big sister Mariah had to pick it up and show him that there is nothing to be scared of. 

(sorry the pic is sideways...)

On Sunday we went to Scotty and Shannon's for fresh salmon on the grill.  Scotty and Cory went on a charter boat on Saturday with a couple other friends.  The boat was chartered by Cory's good friend Anthony and Anthony's dad.  The weather was nice, the water was calm and the guys had a great time. 

Sunday night Shannon made a honey mustard recipe and Cory made a mango salsa recipe and they grilled up the fish.  I actually tried the mango salsa fish and I liked it, but that doesn't mean I'll be eating seafood again any time soon...

We also went to Pug Fest on Sunday!  Pug Fest is a big vendor/fair/show that helps raise money for rescuing pugs.  We took Oscar with us and were surprised with how well he got along with the other dogs!  It was so fun to see all of those smooshy faced dogs in the same place!