Things that make me smile

First of all, I never took the time to put a happy birthday wish to my hubby on my blog. The day of his birthday (thursday the 26th), neither girl took a nap. Plus Emily and I were sick so not a whole lot of "extra" stuff like blogging got done. We did manage to make dad his favorite thing for breakfast (biscuits and gravy), plus a nice steak dinner that night and his favorite dessert Mississippi Mud (see below). I believe there is one piece still left if anyone wants to hurry over. So anyway, happy belated birthday, honey. I love you!

I titled the blog, "Things that make me smile." We've been a little stressed around here so I am counting my blessings, and we have a lot of them. A perfect example is the other day I was getting lunch ready and of course worrying a little in my head (which probably happens quite often), when all of a sudden Emily started singing, "God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me." It totally caught me off guard because I have never sang this song with her. She has it on a CD that's in the van so once in awhile she hears it playing, but not even that often. God can even speak through a 2-year-old, what a blessing she is.

Then there's this little thing (Bri) who has the cheesiest grin lately. She is so silly and is talking so much.
Here's a funny story about Bri. Last weekend our friends Mike and Em were here (who live in Moorhead, by the way, so pray for them with the flooding). On Sunday Em and I ran to Starbucks to get coffee for her and Mike. When we got back, Bri kept saying, "Grandma, Grandma." I kept telling her, No, grandma's not here. Finally I realized she associated the Starbucks cup with grandma. What a smart little thing! Either she's smart or grandma has a Starbucks addiction!

She's also been working on riding the tricycle lately. She can get going pretty good backwards, but still can't quite get her feet around the pedals to go very far forwards.

There's nothing like the sound of your kids playing together. They have been playing better together all the time -- Bri still hits Emily a fair amount but I think it's decreasing.

We are all looking forward to some warmer weather around here so we can hit the parks DAILY! We had a few nice days but I think they were just here to taunt us, and now the freezing cold has returned. But hopefully not for long!

Chickadee Peeps

Grandma Susanne calls the girls her Chickadee Peeps. So in honor of my new Easter background, here are the girls eating the Peeps that grandma sent them.

Jeremy thought these outfits were a little crazy (we can blame grandpa and grandma for getting them) but I thought they were kind of cute!

Singin' in the Rain

Jeremy woke up all bummed this morning to see there was new snow on the ground. The golf course was opening today and he was hoping to get in his first round of the year. Well, it must not have been too bad (the snow melted fairly quickly) and he did manage to squeeze in 9 holes this afternoon.

By later afternoon it was raining, and although it was chilly, Emily kept asking to go outside in the rain. She even got some pants on (yes, she prefers to go without pants most of the day if possible) and some crocs (not a good choice for rain), hoping mom would let her go out. I told her after dinner I'd take her out and play in the rain with her, umbrella and all. She got a special personalized umbrella from her grandpa Don and grandma Cheryl a couple years ago and is finally old enough to really hold it herself. So here we are:

Ha ha

I just saw this on a friend's blog and had a good laugh.




Hopefully I will get to posting some more news sometime soon. In the meantime, I will let you all know that we are officially "pacifier-free" at our house as of Saturday. So far, it hasn't been too bad!

Life

It's been over a week, I should probably put a new post on here. Let's see, what's been going on? I don't really have many new pictures, so that's out. I am always thinking of little things throughout the day that I could talk about, but of course now when I sit down to do it, nothing comes to mind.

The girls are doing well, we've had a fun week together. I think Bri's bad habit of hitting Emily MIGHT be decreasing, but I don't want to speak too soon. Emily's potty training, well, it's still going slowly but surely. Could be better, could be worse. Some days are better than others.

I have scrapbooking at church this weekend so I am really looking forward to that. I volunteered (AKA - mom was desperate) to make a scrapbook for my sister's graduation party so I need to get busy on that. I only have 2 months as she graduates fairly early, the middle of May, in Nebraska.

The weather has been less than ideal here. It's like spring just taunted us for a few days, and then we had another snow/ice storm, not to mention the bitter cold. I start to wonder if it'll EVER warm up. Jer and I are both getting the golf itch, but so far the Golf Channel is as close as we've gotten. It might be time for another trip to the indoor golf dome. Jer did got to golf a couple times in Vegas two weeks ago, but that probably just gave him the itch even more.

I hear a Bri-Bri calling "MOMMY, MOMMY", up from nap time, so I better go!

Here are a couple pictures my mom took a few months ago that I thought were neat:

Mailboxes

I wrote yesterday about being home in Nebraska this past weekend. One day I went to put some mail in my parents' mailbox when I realized Jeremy was right all along. Ever since he first came to my house in 1995 he always joked about our giant mailbox. I never thought it was that big or weird, it was the mailbox I grew up with and probably the only mailbox I'd ever really known. But after spending the last 10 years opening a "city mailbox" I finally realized Jeremy is right, our mailbox IS huge!

Last time Jeremy and I were both at my house in Nebraska over Thanksgiving, Jeremy wanted to prove his point and show that our mailbox was so big, you could fit a small child in it. Sure enough, Emily fit right in!

I just got these pictures from my mom; she took them last November. So here's to crazy country mailboxes!

Back from Cornhusker land

Some of you know I was in Nebraska this past weekend. Some of you don't, that's ok. I always feel weird about broadcasting on my blog that I'm going to be out of town, it's like I never know if there's some random people reading my blog that I don't really want to know our house is empty (empty except for a very large and threatening-looking but not acting St. Bernard. And a crabby cat with a large lump on her back.)

Anyway, I left at 5:30 am last Thursday for Nebraska, hoping to beat the impending snowstorm. I did beat the storm and the girls were great in the car (there and back), thanks for your prayers. It was a nice relaxing weekend with my parents and sister. I believe my sister has decided upon North Central University in downtown Minneapolis for next year. Can't wait 'til she is up here!

My parents and I took the girls to the indoor playground on Friday, which they always love. Emily was obsessed with riding a tricycle around and around, and Bri constantly roamed from one area to the next. Here are my only pictures of the weekend (dead camera battery, charger not brought.)

It was a fun weekend and a good chance to get away for a bit, as Jer was gone as well (he was at the Nascar race in Las Vegas). I was amazed how well the girls did in the car; we only stopped once in 8 hours. I found a great McDonald's playland in Ankeny, Iowa if you ever need a good place to stop!