Julia Phrases

Due to some hormonal pregnancy crabbiness Jeremy has taken the kids on an adventure to a place called Boingz! It has a bunch of those inflatable bouncers, mazes and slides for the kids to play on. 3-12 year olds are $7 and as far as we could tell from the website 12 and over are free because they aren't allowed in the bouncers, 2 and under are free too. Lynn and Logan were going to meet them there for some extra adult supervision, so 6 people for $14 seems like a great deal! Anyway, I got ungrumped at a holy hour (well, I tried to pray and ended up dozing a little, but God seemed to have worked it out for me anyway, wasn't that great of Him?), cleaned the bathroom (including using the pumice stone!) and am going to wash all the windows when I'm done with this. I don't think Jeremy has taken all three of them on an adventure before, Julia's always been too little.
Anyway I'm upgrading Julia from words to phrases because even though some are only one word they mean a whole sentence.
bye back- I'll be right back
Sama bus- Samuel and/or Thomas went to school on the bus (she calls them both Sama now even though she knows they are two different brothers).
mine!- she has just this week really entered the "mine" stage, fun
my turn- I was telling her it was Thomas' turn to play with his birthday presents and she very quickly figured out how to tell us she didn't agree
picures- I want to take pictures with Thomas' camera
Cheese!- I'm going to take a picture now!
stop!- quit singing that song you always sing right before you put me in bed, I'm not ready to lay down! Also means just plain stop.
ni-ni- good night
seep- sleep
shhh!- someone is sleeping
nope!- she loves to answer all questions this way
pacorn- popcorn, one of her favorite snacks
milk- any drink
kekes- cookies
vee-vee- tv
zjorge!- (the pronunciation of this is hard to spell phonetically) I want to watch Curious George
memote- remote
ashes- the only part of ring around the rosy she knows (she refused to fall down at the end at first, she just laughed when everyone else did, but lately she's given in and fallen)
elfant- elephant (courtesy of Thomas' obsession with elephants)
buckle- buckle me in!
I'm sure there's more...
I also think she told me her first joke. She was very crabby and hungry but it was only 10:45 so I was trying to hold off feeding her for 15 more minutes and started asking her questions about where our family memebers were. She answered all the questions "nope!" whether it made sense or not until we got to Jeremy.
"Where's Daddy?"
"Bus!"
"Did Daddy go on the bus?!"
Then she giggled.

Odds and Ends

Just a bunch of stuff from the last few days.

Dinosaur Helicopter!

Julia's first pictures. Thomas' birthday gifts.
I'm not sure Successful Farming is on Samuel's reading list (but he read it!).Julia is such a cute dinosaur!

Baby News

I just barely passed my blood sugar test today. I was three points under where they would be concerned I have gestational diabetes. Dr. H said it was okay, they set the minimum where they do for a reason, and that it means I'm not metabolizing my sugar as quickly as normal, which is not unusual in pregnancy. But because that can up your "risk" for a big baby, plus the fact that Thomas and Julia were both 8lbs 12 oz Dr. H said we will do an ultrasound at 36 weeks (I'm 30 weeks now) and based on how big that says the baby is I will probably be induced early. He did ask how I felt about being induced but I'm fine with it. I was induced with Thomas and Julia and didn't even need Petocin last time so it really wasn't a big deal. We have an hour drive to the hospital, and honestly, if I can do that drive not in labor that's fine with me. Plus knowing ahead of time will be so much easier with the big kids, especially since Samuel has kindergarten to take into account. Looks like we'll be able to enjoy the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) at home with a brand new baby!

Elephant Party!

Thomas had a great elephant party yesterday. All the grandparents, aunts and uncles came plus a few friends. We dug out all the elephant toys we have and used them for decorations and my mom made a cute elephant cake. He got all sorts of fun presents too. I think the elephant theme is going to rate high on his favorite birthday party list. He told me next year he wants a rhinoceros party because they are his favorite after elephants. Rhinos sound harder maybe he'll change his mind...

Elephant Thomas and his cake.

All the little elephants.

Plus a big daddy elephant!

Opening gifts.

The little kid digital camera was a big hit. I'm excited too, now I don't have to share the real (expensive) one!

He got lots of dinosaur things, including this cute costume. This is his dinosaur face.

Now on to Julia's birthday!

Birthday Boy

Here is the happy 5 year old. He had a nice day. We took lunch over to Jeremy's work and got to eat with him, we made strawberry cupcakes with blue frosting (per Thomas' request) for dessert and to take to school for treats on Wednesday, we went to Dairy Queen for dinner and he got lots of phone calls from people he loves. What more could a five year old want? He surprisingly decided to wait until his party to open his present from us so he didn't open any presents but I'm sure he'll have plenty this weekend.

Happy Birthday Thomas!

I can hardly believe Thomas is turning five today. He's so much more mature today than yesterday! ;) He keeps telling us what he will do now that he's five, open the gate, buckle himself even when he's wearing his winter coat, things like that. He's our Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, completely sweet and lovable and helpful one minute and throwing a big old fit the next, but we love him. He makes our home a more imaginative and entertaining place! Here's a look at his little life: (No digital camera until he was 2!)

Two days old

16 months old

Two years oldThree years oldFour years old

Just about 5 years old

We love you Thomas Leonard!

Snowy Interviews

I asked Samuel and Thomas some questions about all the snow we have. Samuel is in yellow and Thomas is in green.
How much snow do we have right now?
A lot. More than 15 cows...
I know we have, I'd say we have about 6 or 5 feet.
How did we get all the snow?
It fell from the sky for 9 or 10 days in a group but they were spread apart.
From a blizzard we had. It lasted 3 or 4 days.
How cold is it outside?
Brr! It's below zero.
420.0. Now I'll see for sure (looks at thermometer) it's really 4 negative point 2 (-4.2)
What is the best thing about the snow?
Going to play with it. Sometimes I eat that snow and sometimes I play football snow. You get a snowball, put it in a place that looks good. Then you kick it and try to make it break.
Cutting out shapes with sticks. Climbing piles, then I say "I am king of the mountain!" Then I sometimes slide and sometimes walk down.
How will we get rid of the snow?
By scooping and scooping or wait until summer when it melts. It will melt really slow.
Scoop and scoop and scoop and scoop. Then we'll have to wait until spring. It will take days and days, 20 days.
What don't you like about the snow?
Sinking in the snow.
I like everything except one thing, that I can't blow all the snow off the van!
Should we get more snow?
A little more, 20 inches
Yes, 20 gas stations stacked up!