Sleepless Nights and Early Mornings

Not that I want to rant and rave about my "poor condition", but being pregnant is hard work. The 3rd trimester is treacherous! Sure, you're in the home stretch, but MAN! Can't I just get a little sleep. With the constant poking of whatever body parts are poking me, I just can't seem to get comfortable. Just when you think all is quiet and you're eye lids start to sink, BAM! She gives you a jab.

She also knows when daddy goes to work. About 45 minutes before daddy's alarm goes off, she wakes up and rolls, and jabs, and kicks! It's like this every morning. You know, it's bad enough when you have to wake up at 1am for your routine bathroom time, and then 15 minutes later, add a howling mother dog, who wants to escape the clutches of her own brood. (Yep! About 2 weeks ago, Bennett up and decides to have 6 puppies--something that caught everyone off guard. We didn't even know she was expecting.)

So now, I wait! Wait for the day I can reclaim what's left of my body, and it's bruised innards. Wait for the day we can sell the puppies--which will actually be in less time than my pregnancy's ending. And wait for the day that I can wake up from a well rested night--oh wait! I won't be having one of those ever again. That's something they should warn you about when you sign up for the "Mommy Card". You'll never sleep again!

It's Time for Springtime!

Be prepared for a ton of photos!
I love Spring! All the beautiful flowers and birds chirping is just heavenly!
We went to Botanica Garden and took a few "Spring/Easter" pictures. Here's what we ended up with.Clara looked really pretty in her yellow dress.
James was so much fun.
James was also very cooperative, which is hard for a 2 year old. It helped that he could run around. The tulips were starting to bloom, perfect for pictures. Squirrels were out. They were fun to watch. My cute kids! They discovered the water. James was still distracted by the water. Dale loves this picture. This is the picture I like. It shows James' personality! Moving on to the next shot. I love this area at Botanica. There is a lovely waterfall. It's actually kinda small, but such a lovely place. James loves water! He was too cute pointing to it. Pretty Girl! Dale wasn't feeling too good, but he still smiled for the camera. He also had a little fun with the kids. Who doesn't love "Ring around the Rosies"--especially when daddy does it?! Their turn! James loved it! More pictures with tulips! James discovered that flowers are soft and can be easily crushed. Poor tulip! Didn't see it coming!More fun with daddy.Clara likes to climb on dad. James came running up with a "What about me?" look.This just says "Spring!" James tried to climb up on daddy, but couldn't figure it out. Daddy ended up just giving him a hug! What a huggable boy! There he goes again--destroying flowers. It's okay though. I don't think they'll notice.

Update on Outdoor Life

Okay, so I still need to update these pictures even more because Dale has completed the coop. However, this is what everything looked like a month ago.My girls are thrilled to be outside!James likes them outside too.My garden's beginning. With all the cold weather, my poor broccoli almost died. My tomatoes weren't too happy either.Six out of eight peas died, but Dale quickly replanted some more and they are growing a lot better now.Clara's flowers have had some bad times too.Kansas better decide pretty soon what season we are in and stick with it. This cold stuff is for the birds!

Hair Cut Time!

How do you distract a 2 year old while he's getting a hair cut?
You give him his tooth brush. I had to give Clara's bangs a trim and decided to attack Jame's hair as well. I thought it was too short after I finished.But everyone else liked it. They thought I took him to the barber.I don't think I'm ready for that.

More Presents!

As if James didn't get enough presents, Great Grandma Barbara sent a gift to Grandpa's house, and Grandpa's gift for James had come in the mail too. James was so excited to be opening up more presents.He received a lovely book from Great Grandma Barbara.It was so appropriate!And he received a Santa Fe brio train from Grandpa.He is such a "Choo-Choo Boy"!Here he is playing with his new train set.He is Grandpa's Santa Fe Man!What a fun kid!

James' 2nd Birthday!

Playing catch up isn't much fun, especially when you have big events with lots of pictures to post. But that is okay because this event is special. My little man turned "2" on March 20th. I can't believe the time that has flown by. James has been such a joy in our life, and finally coming into his own.

We celebrated like any other birthday, that falls on a Sunday, at my Grandpa Choo-Choo and Memee's house. This year we were complete with Thomas the Tank Engine decor.And yes! I had to make another train cake. His first birthday, I made him a blue train, but this year, I went all out on the frosting. He knew what it was when I brought it out but was more intrigued with the fire from the candle. As we were taking pictures, he actually blew it out before any of us could get it on film. So, we had to relight it a couple of times to see if he'd do it again. Uh nope! He is a one-time type of guy. He really liked the frosting, as all kids do, not so much the carrot cake part.And he wasn't as messy as he was his first year, which was an easy clean-up.Clara enjoyed the cake, several pieces to be exact.She also liked to help out passing James his presents. She is such a BIG helper. We couldn't live without her!James received some Thomas outfits.He lit up for the Thomas quilt that memee put together for him.He got a singing Thomas book, complete with a button that he can push anytime he wants to hear the Thomas theme song.More clothes!He got the starter set for Chuggington. He was so excited that he needed help with not ripping the box open.Clara helped James put it together and they enjoyed many hours playing trains.It was a very nice, train birthday! I wonder what he'll want next year.