Sleepy Time

When I pick up Johnny and tell him it's time to go night-night, he looks me right in the eye and says, "No nap," and shakes his head. He kicks his legs and wiggles his body as I lay him down in his crib. I hand him his soft blanket and whatever toy he loves the most that day (today was his baseball mitt), and give him a kiss. He looks up at me and says, "Mom hand," and holds me tight, and asks me to sing to him. Every little develish thing he does fades from my memory as I look down and see his sweet smiling face. After a song or two I say good-night and leave his room, feeling so lucky to be his mom.

Love These Kids

The other day I caught Johnny sneaking into the fridge because I'd forgotten to lock it. Yes, we do keep our fridge locked. He looked so cute that I let him have the rice pudding instead of making him put it back.

I was talking to my sister Melinda on the phone and called for Johnny to come and talk to Henry. He usually jumps at the chance to talk to his cousin, so I found it strange he didn't come running. I went into the kitchen and found him in the high chair. He'd climbed in and put the tray on himself. When he saw me he said "Help, stuck!" because he didn't know how to take the tray off.

He pointed at me and said, "Stop!" because he got mad I took a picture before helping him out.

My sweet baby with her sippy cup.

She is so grown up and will be 8 months soon!

I love these kids so much and am so grateful I get to be their mom.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Last Thursday Brad had a softball game. We weren't planning on going because it was so cold and windy. When Brad was literally walking out the door, Johnny just burst into tears completely devastated he couldn't come with him, so we decided to bundle up and tag along.

Love that guy in the green shirt

this is how Johnny opens most every container, with his mouth. Juice bottles, milk cartons, powerade, you name it. He's perfected the method quite well, and can pretty much open anything.

Sister wondering why her crazy mom took her out in the cold

We couldn't even stay for the entire game because Brad had to leave for scouts, but Johnny enjoyed every minute of it.

Grandma Comes To Visit

My mom came for a quick visit this last week. We met up at Ikea on Thursday with Melinda and Henry for a little fun.

Baby Bela in her "I love Grandma" shirt

Melinda taking great care of the kids

Johnny was so excited to see Grandma that he actually didn't want to eat breakfast before we left, he just wanted to get going! So we grabbed some breakfast for him at Ikea.

Henry munching on a little bacon

Sister trying out the birthday hat

Johnny of course had to try it out too

These two could have spent all day playing here

We miss you already Mom!

Nap Time

The other day I laid Bela down for a nap. A little while later I heard giggles and laughter so I went to investigate. This is what I found:

aren't they just adorable?

I love how he makes her laugh

Enjoying the Sunshine

We took a walk last Monday and headed on over to the park so we could enjoy the sunshine. And so Johnny could say hello to his friend Mr. Horse that he'd missed so much while we were on vacation.

He enjoyed getting dirty

Sister took a little nap

Johnny ran over to make friends with the little kid playing soccer across the field. This kid can run surprisingly fast.

He took a water break under the tree

He is just so cute and fun!

Bye-Bye Uncle Stephen

Stephen didn't stay for very long, but we had a lot of fun while he was here.

We discovered he's very good at baby-sitting from the couch

He put on a movie for Johnny

He multi-tasked while taking care of Isabela

and he helped give Johnny a taste of his own medicine.

We miss you Uncle Stevie, come back again soon!