Catching up...again....

Okay, so my plan is to write one post each day until I'm caught up. We'll see if I can do it. BUT, I will probably schedule them to post a few days apart. A new post every day for you guys would be spoiling you. No way, I could keep that pace up forever. ;-) So here we go...jumping back in the time machine all the way until Easter!

Quick note....

Soooo, yeah, remember when I said I was going to update the blog this past weekend. Yeah, well, it didn't happen. We went up north to the Gull Lake area and we didn't have wi-fi in the part of the resort we were in. We had Kellan with us and he wasn't super cooperative and patient while Mommy blogged (I don't blame him...I'd be bored watching Mommy type away too!). So, he and I enjoyed walks around the resort and napping instead. :-) But never fear, I will get it updated....soon....someday. Not sure anyone is still out there anymore reading this because I'm such a slacker. But, I am really hoping to get it caught up soon.

As for now...gotta run. It's Lily's Spring Sing and preschool graduation(again...she graduates every year...next year for real) this morning!

Where in the World is Andrew?

A couple weeks ago, Andrew headed down to St. Louis for a couple days to do a shoot with the St. Louis Rams for their opening video. He got to work with the quarterback, Sam Bradford and running back, Steven Jackson. Here's a few shots from the shoot:

Updates will be here soon...

Hi there! Sooo, I don't feel like life in general is that much more crazy since adding Kellan to the family, we've always been busy and running around. However, I never sit down for more than two minutes now. I sit down and read my email or the news headlines online, or click "like" on your Facebook status and photos. BUT, if you've been waiting on a response from me for something, I'm sorry if you're still waiting. It's all I can do to keep up on my photo business stuff (and I've even been a little behind on that). So even though I don't really feel anymore stressed out with Kellan, if I sit down, it's to feed him. Otherwise, I'm running to the store or Ella's soccer practice or Lily's Outdoor Center class. All things I did before Kellan was born. He just comes along for the ride now. When I'm not doing that, I'm picking up the house, doing my umpteenth load of laundry, folding the laundry or editing photos or cooking dinner.

So I guess all that is a long-winded apology for not updating this blog and getting fun stuff posted on here more often. I meant to do a Kellan 3-month post, but now we'll just wait for the 4-month check up. And I'm sincerely hoping sometime soon I'll have time to do some updating on here. But in the meantime, thanks for checking in on us! And I hope all the mothers out there who read this have an absolutely wonderful weekend! I plan to stop and sit down for just a little longer than two minutes this weekend. And who knows, maybe I'll get some updates done! :-)

(Funny sidenote: Ella asked me yesterday why there isn't a "Kid's Day" like there is a Mother's Day and a Father's Day? I just laughed and told her that every day is Kid's Day!)

Will Lily be the next Tiger?

Andrew wanted to go hit golf balls this morning. He's been itching to get out because the weather has been so beautiful. Well, Lily overheard him and said she wanted to go too! So we got Kellan's golf clubs out of the box and she tried them out. Too cute!!

After the driving range, Andrew asked the starter if it would be okay if they just played the first hole. :-)

More New Photos

A while back, I took some new photos of the kids! You can see them here and here. I was very happy with how they turned out! :-)

March Randomness

Spring has finally arrived around here. We've traded our snow boots and shovels for rain boots and umbrellas. Though, honestly, (knock of wood) we haven't had much rain yet. We've actually had quite a few gorgeous spring days. We went for our first walk of the year in the neighborhood around the second week of March. We biked/walked to the park nearby. Too bad it was flooded from all the snow melting. But the girls still enjoyed getting out.

I also cleaned out all the dead plants from the landscape bed out front. I usually do it late in the fall, but didn't get around to it last year with my pregnant belly. It was nice to get in there again and clean it up. Lily played outside in the sandbox while Kellan lounged in his bouncy chair. I also got some of the Christmas lights off our bushes (About time, right?)





Kellan REALLY likes being outside! Even though he was in the shade, it was still bright out so it was hard to get a photo of him with his eyes open. He kept squinting.


Just a random morning photo. Click to make this bigger and take a look at Kellan's face. I laughed so hard when I saw this one! :-)


We had Bubba and Grand Pat come for a visit the third weekend in March. As always the girls enjoyed decorating cookies and hanging out with them.




Kellan having some Bubba time.



And we also got to spend an afternoon with good griend Molly visiting us from Cedar Rapids at the end of the month. Unfortunately, I'm a loser and completely spaced about her visit, even though I had thought of it the day before. Our house was a total disaster and completely embarrassing. But, luckily, Molly's a good enough friend she didn't care! ;-)

More school fun!

As my last volunteer hurrah before Kellan was born, I helped out in Ella's class for their Winter Party. I was able to bring Lily along too, which was fun for her because she got a chance to see what Kindergarten was all about. Of course, she probably thinks it's all fun and games since we were there for a party. When we left, she told me, "I LIKE Ella's school!" I bet she does!

Above: The kids were making their own jars of hot chocolate mix.


March 9th we visited Ella's class again, this time with the whole family in tow to help Ella celebrate her "Super Duper" status (each kid is the Super Duper Kid for one week during the year)! She got to bring in a bunch of photos to share with the class as well as a little interview sheet about her favorite things.



Above: Ella's two photo pages we put together.

March 13th, the elementary school held their annual carnival which is a HUGE fundraiser for the school. The previous year they made $45,000! They had different games and stations set up throughout the classrooms, a silent auction in the library, and a live auction in the cafeteria. Carnival-style games could be found in the gym. Leading up to the carnival, the kids had different theme days at school. For example, Monday was Dress Fancy Day, Tuesday was Crazy Hair Day, Wednesday Backward Shirt day and so forth. Ella was sooo excited for it all! Ella's classroom was transformed into a nail salon and we got to see her Super Duper stuff up on the wall.


The last photo shows the crazy hair Ella got at the carnival.

April 2nd was Pajama Day! Parents were invited to join in if they were able, so Andrew volunteered his time and enjoyed fun snacks and reading time with a few of the kids in Ella's class. She was so proud to have him there and share some of her favorite books with friends.

Kellan--2 Months!

Sooo, this post is a little late in coming since Kellan is 11 weeks old and almost three months already. He's doing great! He's quite a bit different baby than either of the girls were. Although he definitely has his happy moments and can be super smiley, he also has cranky/fussy moments during the day. And if he's hungry, he certainly doesn't have a problem letting you know! I would say he's more fussy than the girls were overall, and he's more particular about how he's held or how he sleeps or whatever. The girls were a little more laid back.

He's doing very well with holding his head up and he's been sleeping 6-7 hours for one stretch during the night. I definitely can't complain about that. Depending on when he goes down for the night, he will get up once anytime between 2:45 and 4:30, and then he will go back to sleep for a few more hours. Bliss compared to the three times a night he was getting up in the beginning!

Here's his 2-month stats:
11lbs, 15 oz. (50th percentile)
23 1/2 inches (75th percentile)

If you're curious how Kellan matches up to the girls when they were 2 months old, click here. :-)

Miss Lily in a nutshell

Andrew's Aunt Sue sent this card to us a while ago and Lily found it a week or so ago and has been playing with it ever since.

The Lily Report

I'm not sure where to start with Miss Lily. She will be 4 1/2 years old on Sunday this week. I really cannot believe she's going to be five years old in September. She's my little Lily. Even though we have Kellan now, Lily will always be my baby girl. She is sooo sweet to me. She is always telling me, "I love you Mama" and giving me hugs. She says things to me like, "You are so lovely Mama." and "You are the best mom in the whole world." Okay, how could I not love all that! :-)

As far as school, she's in the Koalas preschool class at Partners Preschool (the school district preschool) this year in the mornings on Tues, Wed and Thurs. She has three little best friends in the class: Ivy, Mary Rose, and Elizabeth. Their teacher calls them the "flower girls", even though Elizabeth isn't a flower name. And the coolest thing about all these girls is that Mary Rose is blind and the three other girls play with her as if she's just like them. They include her in their games. They've learned to talk to her in a way where they describe things more. Lily even walks around sometimes with her eyes closed feeling the wall to move so she can see a little of what Mary Rose's world is like. I think their compassion and patience is amazing for four year olds! And all of these girls as well as a few other kids from her class will all move together to the Zebras class in the fall (M-Th in the afternoons) with the same teacher.

Lily has really blossomed (no pun intended) this year in school. Last year she was tentative and shy. She only spoke when she was directly asked a question and she really only played with two other kids in her class. This year she is outspoken and a leader! Her teacher says she's always surprised that Lily never gets to the bossy stage with the other kids because she is always telling people "we should do [this]" or "How about [that]". But she is always nice about it and lets other people decide things too, so she never gets to the point of being bossy. Which I think is great to hear. I'd hate for her to be bossy to the other kids.

As far as all the academic stuff, she's right where she should be at with colors, numbers, letters, writing her name, etc. I'm not so concerned about that stuff. She has a whole nother year before kindergarten which is plenty of time for her to learn that stuff. I'm just so pleased with her social progress this year. And she's not even really that shy anymore. Just a bit. But now, even when we're out shopping or running errands, if a lady stranger asks her a question, she'll answer instead of shrinking behind me. She's still scared of strange male figures. But you know what, I'm totally okay with that. She even has a male teacher at swim lessons and she will NOT let him touch her or go near her. She HAS to have the "girl teacher". Andrew and I are totally fine with her being scared of boys. She can be scared of boys for as long as she wants. ;-)

Other than swim lessons, Lily's only other activity is Mrs. M's weekly class on Friday mornings at the Staring Lake Outdoor Center. Each week they focus on a different letter of the alphabet and learn about animals that go with that letter. I LOVE Mrs. M's. It's educational and fun for Lily and each class is ONLY $6!! You can't beat that!

And just to be fair, here's some of Lily's artwork. Though, I'll be honest and say I don't think she shows the same aptitude for art as Ella, but it's fun to see her progress.

She has since started writing the letters of her name in the correct order. ;-)Abstract with watercolors.That's a space ship in the middle there and she "did a pattern" around the outside.This is Rin-too from the animated show Kai-lan. I couldn't believe she drew this herself. I had to ask her if Ella helped her and she told me very proudly, "No! I did it all by myself!"Just coloring in Handy Manny....one of her favorite characters. :-)

Well, I think that's it for the update on Lily. :-) Oh! Two more things! She's very proud that she can buckle her own seat belt in the car now (and so am I! Makes life so much easier that I don't have to climb in to buckle her into the "way back" of the car) and she is finally night-trained. That's right, no more diapers for Lily! Whoo hoo! Now, we just have Kellan in diapers.

Masterpiece Monday

Here are Ella's latest two art pieces from her after-school KidzArt class:

Do you see she named her tugboat "Bella"? Isn't that cute! The art teacher had drawn this image in black and white (so just the black outlines) on a whiteboard and the kids had to copy it and color it in. Ella LOVES using permanent marker to do her drawing, since she doesn't really get the chance to use those much at home. I also think its fun to see that she's drawn this without erasing anything.
Ella's parrots. They had a picture on the board of two full-color parrots. Again, Ella does all of this, including the outlining, on her own--no help from the teacher!

I can't wait to see what she brings home this Thursday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I still have to get that Lily update posted that I promised several weeks ago now. I'm hoping to do that later today. And Ella has a new artwork to feature as well. But for now I'll leave you with this adorable photo of the three kiddos dressed in their St. Paddy's green. :-)

Family Movie Night 2010

Now that our basement is finished and we have a 55-inch flat screen hanging on the wall. We can have Family Movie Night in true MOVIE fashion! We even have lights that dim down there, surround sound, and a Blu-ray player. What fun!

Here's the list for 2010:
Toy Story 3 (in theater)
Toy Story
Tooth Fairy
Mr. Troop Mom
Hotel for Dogs
Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey
High School Musical 3
Spongebob: Viking-Sized Adventure
The Princess and the Frog (DVD)
Garfield: Pet Force
Planet 51
The Hannah Montana Movie
High School Musical 2
Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian
Garfield: The Tale of Two Kitties
High School Musical
Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs (Blu-ray disc)
Monsters Inc. (Blu-ray disc)
Dennis the Menace
Eloise at the Plaza

The Pattern Fair Project

I wanted to sneak one more school/art thing in here with regard to Ella. Again, this happened at the beginning of November and I've been meaning to post about it since then.

Ella came home one day with an assignment sheet for a family project to create a pattern of some kind. There were no boundaries really. They gave suggestions like "make a beaded necklace" or "string popcorn and cranberries". Well, I didn't really want to give Ella the examples they had listed because I wanted her to be creative on her own and come up with something.

I gave her several pieces of different colored paper, crayons, scissors, and a glue stick and just let her be. I told her to just play around and see if she could come up with something. I came back several minutes later and asked her what she was working on. She'd created a strawberry, banana and some grapes and said she wanted to make a pattern out of them. So I worked with her and she came up with her fruit pattern. I asked her if she wanted to put her fruit pattern in a fruit bowl and she said yes. So I helped her make the fruit bowl and she actually came up with doing two MORE patterns on the fruit bowl. So her project had a total of three patterns on it. Then Andrew helped us mount it all on a piece of poster board.
Now, when I heard that they were having a "pattern fair" at school in the cafeteria. And parents were invited to come at a certain day/time to come see all the kids' projects. I pictured them hanging these things up for everyone to see on the wall. So we all had it in our minds that the project should be BIG. Well, ha ha, that wasn't exactly how it went.

The kids all sat at the lunch tables and the parents walked around to see everything. There were three kindergarten classes there. And the funniest thing was that they were supposed to sit in their class order...which is alphabetical by first name. Which means that Ella is #5 when they line up that way. BUT, she had to sit all the way at the end of the table because her project was soooo big! LOL! It worked out all right though because she got to sit next to her friend Vivian which was a special treat because they are never in line together.


I just have to point out that Lily dressed herself on this day and did so in patterns just for Ella, because she knew we were going to the Pattern Fair! Isn't that cute?! (you can't see them very well, but her leggings have a pattern on them as well)

You could tell, Ella was soooo proud that her project was the biggest and that she had to sit in a special place. I'm glad that she's not old enough to be embarrassed by that yet. :-) And I have to say, I do think hers was the most creative project there. ;-) Luckily, Ella didn't want to do a paper chain (what Andrew had suggested) because there were at least three other paper chains there. ;-)