Updates

Here's the latest:

Steve is starting his 2nd year working on his master's. Hopefully around this time next year he will be done! I think he'll be a rockin' elementary principal. :) He seems to be enjoying his new class of 2nd graders and is his school's tech guru again. Apparently some days it's not worth the stipend. :) He went to the Boise State/Toledo game last night with Eben and got to sit in the middle of Kellen Moore's (quarterback for Boise State) family.

Grace is loving preschool and is especially excited because she gets to go 3 days a week this year. She had her first field trip on Friday and Steve took a personal day to go with her. They went to Mrs. DeNoi's dad's house and picked apples, pumpkins and gourds and made applesauce. They also played a bunch of games outside. I wish I would've been there but I had testing that I had to do at school. I'm glad Steve got to go! Here are a few pics:

Here is her class playing "Mrs. Fox." You'll have to ask Grace how to play it sometime. :)

Cutting up apples for applesauce.

Picking apples

I had to include this picture Grace drew of her family. She had to make a book as a project for her first show and tell. This is one of the pages. It makes me giggle to see that she drew toes on the feet. She attempted to draw Maggie underneath Sam in the bottom left but decided it was too hard. :)

Samuel is changing so much. He is repeating everything we say and talking in 3 word phrases often. He is wearing little boxer briefs while we are home now. They are too stinking cute. When we go out he still wears a pull-up. He is adamantly trying to do things on his own: zip his coat, put on his socks and shoes, buckle himself into his car seat, brush his teeth, pee etc. I often hear "I do" or "I do it" followed shortly by "help!" :)

Samuel and Steve spend lots of time putting around our living room and dining room together. I need to get a better picture of Sam mimicking Steve putting. He bends over and has the exact same form that Steve has. It's pretty cute.

Loving bath time! I think he'd stay in there for hours if we let him.

I am really enjoying my lovely class of 1st graders this year. We've had tons of changes at our school which makes this year challenging but the kids are great! On Monday we are celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Yes it really exists. Google it. I'll try to get some pictures of us dressed up. It's one of my favorite days of the year. The kids love it! The countdown to meet this little one is officially on. I've hit the end of pregnancy and am now in survival mode. :)

I try to not have pictures of me in the third trimester because it's not great for the ego. That being said I know it's all part of it and I wanted at least 1 of the kids and my big belly.

Dinner Conversation

Here's a conversation from tonight's dinner - I made chicken stir-fry:

Me: How do you like it?

Steve: It's really good except my potatoes are a little crunchy.

Me: Those are water chestnuts.

Steve: Oh (pause)...well how am I supposed to know that?

Me: (fighting back laughter) You're 27. How do you not know that?

Steve: Grace, what are water chestnuts?

Grace: (pointing) These white crunchy things.

Steve: Well crap.

And he thinks he could be on Iron Chef. Battle hot dog maybe. :)

High-Five Sambam!

Mark this day down...Samuel pooped in the potty for the first time! He's been peeing in the potty for the past couple of months usually a few times a day. Starting a couple of weeks ago he became way more interested and started peeing in the potty more often than not. He's only having a couple of wet pull ups a day! Right before nap time today I asked him if he had to go to the bathroom and he went and pulled his pants down and sat on his little potty. He farted (which is always hilarious to a little boy for some reason) and so Steve asked him if he had to poop. Samuel said "poop" and then instead of the dozens of false alarms we've had he actually went! The only motivation he seems to need is a high-five after he goes. I am so excited and proud of my little man! :) Here's a G-rated toilet photo:

Grace is 4!

Grace at 4

Blowing out her candle

Reading a bedtime story with dad

S'more cookies we made to take to the sitter's for her birthday treat (I'm back teaching summer school for half days for the next 2 weeks). They were pretty awesome if you like s'mores.

My first attempt at working with chocolate. Grace and I melted chocolate and made the flowers and then used a letter mold for her letters. I thought it turned out pretty cute for a first attempt! Grace and Samuel loved that the flowers were edible. Samuel almost wouldn't believe me but I convinced him by taking a bite first. Then he proceeded to eat 2. My little tank. :)

The wait is finally over. Grace is officially 4. She's been waiting for this day for months. She's been wanting to be 4 because all of her friends at school have already turned 4 and she thinks that as soon as she is 4 she doesn't need to take naps anymore. I'll let you know how that works out for her. :)

At 4 G. Marie:

likes books and to be read to

loves coloring, painting, drawing etc.

enjoys puzzles

loves the movie Tangled

loves balloons

enjoys helping me in the kitchen

would live outside if we let her

likes to swim and play in the sand

is very excited about the baby and thinks it's going to be a baby sister

always wants to hug and kiss Sam-bam

loves music and dancing

likes showers more than baths and requests them often

is obsessed with jumping and running, "look how fast I can run/high I can jump!"

loves the fireman pole on her swing set

talks nonstop to the point of almost driving me nuts some days "but mom, I neeeed to talk."

asks about her cousins on a daily basis

is outgrowing naps and often takes an hour nap or just has an hour of quiet time up in her room

goes to bed at 8 and gets up at 7 (soon to be down at 7:30 to be up at 6:15 again...yuck)

loves to play pretend - favorites being teacher, doctor, hairdresser and mom

goes up for a nap by herself, dresses herself, picks out her own outfit (it sometimes needs editing) :), brushes her teeth (and is insulted when I insist on going over them one more time), tries to rinse her own hair, tries to do her own hair and sometimes will ask when she gets to stay home by herself - ahhh! I tell her not for a long time and find the need to give her another hug because she is growing up way too quickly

is completely pumped about starting preschool at the end of the month again; her teacher called and left her a message on my phone today wishing her a happy birthday...so nice!

There is so much more I could write about Grace. She is loving, sensitive, stubborn, independent, funny...I could go on and on. :) Happy Birthday Marie!

Swim Pictures

Action shot - Grace jumped off the diving board twice and went down the twisty slide 3 times today. She did so well this week!

Action shot - Sam jumped off the diving board 3 times and went down the twisty slide twice today! He holds the teacher's hand to walk out to the end of the board and then just leaps. Such a little daredevil. :)

Cheeeeeeese!

Swim Lessons

For the past 3 weeks the kids have been having swim lessons. The first 2 weeks were group lessons where Grace was with about 10 kids roughly her age and several teachers. Samuel was in the toddler class where he got to do a lot of 1 on 1 stuff with Steve. They both had a lot of fun with that. This week they have private lessons. Grace has come a long way. I'm so impressed to see how she's changed from last summer and even from a month ago to now. She's going under to get rings, going down the massive twisty slide, floating on her back and learning how to use her arms and legs properly. She's even jumping off the diving board all by herself (into the arms of her teacher below). I took a picture of her jumping in today but a little boy walked right in front of me at the exact wrong moment. I'll get one tomorrow and add it on here. Samuel is doing awesome too. He usually is nervous and cries for the first couple of minutes but then does fine. Today he cried for about the first 30 seconds and then was laughing and giggling the rest of the time. He has been going under, jumping off the side, reaching under to get rings, blowing bubbles, using a kick board, going down the twisty slide and jumping off the diving board! When his teacher asked me if it was okay if he jumped off I said sure and then immediately thought holy crap...what did I just do?! I'm sending my 20 month old off a cliff into 8 feet of water. :) He loved it and today he walked out on the diving board holding a teacher's hand and jumped off all by himself to his teacher below.

Samuel at 18 months

Samuel is still a pretty easy little boy. Of course he has to be reminded often of what he is allowed to do and what he is not allowed to do but is learning very fast. A threat of a timeout is usually all it takes to get him to straighten out. :) He continues to eat like a grown man. Some favorites include: meat of any kind, grapes, bananas, oranges, peaches, broccoli, peas, green beans, cereal, popcorn, chips, crackers...pretty much anything! He continues to love balls and throwing. He also loves being outside and would spend the whole day outside playing on the swing set, in the sand or with the water table if he could.

He enjoys being read to and is very interested in farm animals. He also likes listening to music and still loves to sing "E-I-E-I-O." He still takes a nap after lunch for 2-3 hours. He goes to bed around 7:15 and wakes up around 6:15. He likes to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Super Why with Grace. He is always into coloring, especially with markers. He also likes pushing cars and trucks around saying "vroooooom." He loves Maggie and plays with her often. She can't get enough and it helps tire them both out. :)

He has all of his teeth except for his 2 year molars although I think he's been working on those for the past couple of weeks. He loves his flip-flops and gets ticked off because he can't quite get them on by himself yet. He had his first "big boy" haircut a couple of weeks ago. My cousin used the clippers and he screamed bloody murder the whole time. As soon as the clippers went off he stopped and was fine. What a little stinker. He's still ornery as ever and we love every minute of it. Love you Sambam!