Help Wanted

My cousin, Scott, will be in the Sterling area this summer with his horses!! He will be doing horsemanship classes and would really like to do mentorship programs with boys and girls. He already has one for boys started in Great Bend. I'm working on setting up (I'm using that term loosely!) one for girls. Go check out his website: Healing Hearts Ranch and let me know if you're interested in helping with any of the programs this summer!

Snowman...In March

While we were in Iowa for spring break, we got about 6" of snow. It was perfect for snowman-building, so Papa & Anna built one! Papa is the best snowman-builder :)

Anna says the ears were Papa's idea...

Gotta have a hat!

Ta-da! Papa unearthed some rocks for his mouth, but they fell out. I scrounged up some radishes for the eyes and pretzel sticks for his buttons! :) It didn't last long--Binga kept us updated on his demise!
"Morning" sickness has hit full force (who named it that anyway?? Must have been a man!!) so I don't promise many blog posts for a while. I was just telling Seth that the worst part about being pregnant for me right now is that I am hungry and sick and NOTHING sounds good. And not eating, of course, makes everything worse! Sprite and Jolly Ranchers have been my friend the past couple days.

Horses

Tuesday morning, we headed to Scott & Amy's so I could pick up my maternity clothes from her and get some groceries. The kids (plus Anna's friend Makenna) had a blast playing and riding horses! Amy graciously kept the kids while I ran to Walmart (THANKS!!)

This boy doesn't like me ;) And he looks EXACTLY like his daddy & Papa!! Good grief!

Makenna playing on the trampoline.

Daniel had no trouble keeping up with the big girls! That boy is a bouncing pro!

Jacob was more interested in playing in the sand pile than jumping on the trampoline.

For some odd reason, Anna did NOT want to stay and ride horses while I ran to the store. I couldn't believe it! That was all she talked about all morning. Amy said Makenna loved it and even got to "go fast" :)

I'm tellin' ya...this boy was born for country life! :)

Contrary to the looks of this picture, Jacob reportedly loved riding. Last time, he hated it.

Thanks, again Scott & Amy for letting us invade for a morning! The kids loved it (so did I!).

The Grandparents Don't Catch on Quickly

Video of when we told the grandparents about the new baby. Neither set caught on very quickly!! I made the kids' shirts (seen in the last post) and they were wearing them both times! My parents didn't even notice the shirts and when they read their card (this will be their 7th grandchild) Mom didn't know if it was me or Cassie! ha Aaron's mom even READ Jacob's shirt several times and the meaning didn't sink in!! Too funny. Oh--I was trying not to be obvious about filming when Aaron's parents got here, so sorry it's a little bumpy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm...

Hmmmm....

Hmmmmmm....

HMMMMMMMM!!!

Evaluation Outcome

Jacob's speech evaluation was yesterday afternoon. He did SO good!! I was a little surprised, but once he saw those ladies had bags of goodies (toys), he went right to them and tried taking stuff out! :) He was very cooperative and did such a great job. I was surprised at some of the cognitive things he was able to do. They had to "test" all areas, not just the speech. Their conclusion is that he is one smart little boy but he basically just can't pronounce the words he's trying to say yet. He understands everything you say to him and he has his own words, he just can't enunciate. Sooo, they will do speech therapy with him twice a month until he turns 3 (end of August) and then they'll turn it over to the school district for speech therapy. I've noticed the last couple of days he's started saying a few more things a little more clearly. Not sure anyone else would recognize them as words, but I notice a bit of a difference.
I'm really glad he liked the ladies so much (one that came will be the one doing the therapy). He actually tried to go home with them!! I was holding him in the yard because he tried to get in their car (not entirely unusual--the boy loves cars!) and he held his arms out to one of the ladies to take him!!
Anyway, I just wanted to update! Thanks for praying!!

Spring Break, Iowa Style

This week, we've been at my parents' for spring break! The kids were beyond excited to come up. I even had to make a count down for Anna so she would stop asking "Are we going to Papa's house tomorrow?!?!" :) We picked up a few hitch hikers along the way. hehe Aunt Cara, Cassie & Hudson came with us!!! It was a full van, but we had fun (well, Cassie might not have...she's the skinny one so she got stuck in the back seat between Anna & Hudson! Sorry Cassie!).
The last two days the weather has been perfect! Yesterday, we headed to the park...

Wait for me Jakie!!!

What kind of trouble can I cause???

Oh Hudson. He is so inquisitive! He wants to know what everything is! Papa told him that big wheel thing behind him is a piston. :)

Jacob hates having crumbs (or sand) on his hands. Which is odd because he will sit and dig in the dirt and sand for hours. Anyway, every time he got sand on his hands at the park he would stand up and hold his hands out, waiting for someone to come brush the sand off! So Aunt Cara showed him how to just wipe them off on his pants. :)

Anna loved playing on the digger.

Hudson enjoying the sand, too.

You talkin' ta ME, Mama?!

Da Boys

Jacob wasn't big enough to run the digger, but he didn't want any help either! :)

Aaron earns reward points for all his hotel stays with all his travels for his job. He had enough for a free night's stay, so I talked him into using it for a night this week! Our room is on the top floor of a new Holiday Inn!

After last night (when we were invaded by BOTH kids!) and how little sleep we got, I can't wait to get plenty of uninterrupted sleep!!!