Our New Van

This is a picture I found online of what our new van looks like. I still haven't taken a picture of our actual van but wanted to get it blogged about! I don't know that it will ever actually happen so I opted for the easy route :)



Random Pictures

Kayla was painting Heather's fingernails while we were all home for Christmas. Dylan wanted to paint someone's fingernails so I let him paint mine! He actually did a really good job.



This is one of my favorite sights at my parent's house. It isn't uncommon for the boys to be cuddle up with Grandpa!



Asher fell asleep on the ottoman. It was so cute!

Sean teaching Brayden how to ride a bike. He still doesn't get that his feet go in circles :)

We took the kids to the park on a sunny day in January. They had a blast!!

What our car looked like after the accident. Not really all that bad, but enough to total it!

Just inside the trunk, under the carpet. You can see how much it crumpled in. We were SO blessed that we weren't injured more seriously!

Swimming Lessons

For Christmas, my parents paid for swimming lessons for the boys. Considering they are both terrified of water, we enrolled them both in the "Toddler and Me" swimming class. That means that all 4 of us got to be in the pool! The kids loved it, and we were so surprised at how well they did and how much they looked forward to it. We decided that since Brayden was old enough to be in the next class up without a parent that we'd enroll him in the next session as well. (Being this far along in my pregnancy we decided to wait until Asher was old enough that we didn't have to be in the pool with him.) Brayden has come SO far in this new class. I think the fact that someone isn't holding him the entire time, and the fact that it's not his parents telling him what to do he has really grown a ton. When we started swimming lessons, both boys were terrified to even shower or bathe. It was worse than pulling teeth. Now, they both jump into the pool (into our arms) fearlessly. We have 2 more sessions of Brayden's 2nd session and he can put his face in the water and has even held it in for about 4 seconds. He can jump into the pool without having someone catch him (of course, his teacher grabs him as soon as he's under water). And he can swim unassisted on his back, while holding the kickboard. The most exciting part for me honestly is the fact that showers are no longer torture. He uses the hosed shower-head to get his own hair wet and there are no more tears! Yay!! It has been so exciting to watch the transformation of these two young children and their feelings about water. We even took them to the pool on Saturday afternoon just because they like it so much! It was fun to play with them in the pool for an hour and just let them lead the way on what we did.

I've only gotten one or 2 of Brayden in the pool but have shot tons of video. I hope to put together a composite of them and get it up soon. It's on my list of things to do!

Time to Play Catch Up

I haven't blogged in forever. I'm not sure why. I really haven't had the drive or energy to. However, I have LOTS to blog about! So, I should probably get started :)

January 15th, on our drive up to Enumclaw (actually about 60 seconds from my parent's house) we were rear-ended. LOOONNG story short, we were all fine, our car was totaled, and we ended up getting a minivan. We had planned to get one with our tax return this year, since we need one with the third baby on the way but this allowed it to happen sooner rather than later. We were looking forward to having 2 vehicles, but we.)will definitely survive with the one. We ended up getting a 2001 Toyota Sienna with 88,000 miles on it from a family about 20 minutes from us. We were able to pay cash, which was a HUGE blessing. That definitely would not have been a possibility without the accident, so it really was a blessing in disguise. We are hoping that after our Tax Return this year that we can be debt free... Fingers crossed!!! Still a huge "hope" but one that I hope comes true.

I am 30 weeks pregnant today! This pregnancy has been so extremely different than the other two. This one has been going by so fast, but that's probably due to the fact that I'm chasing after two young kids! This pregnancy has been way more emotional for me...but physically (minus the chronic exhaustion) has been my favorite. I am not uncomfortable in any way yet, and I am not *super* anxious for him to get here. I'm okay with the fact that I still have 10 weeks!  He (who is still unnamed) isn't really a kicker, but he is a roller. In fact today, I felt a little bit seasick today because he was rolling around so much! The boys absolutely adore their little brother. They come up to me about 5 times a day and say "I wanna say hi to my brother." So I lift my shirt and they pat, kiss, hug, and talk to my belly. Asher always says "The baby is hungry" or "the baby is crying" and then he says "I'll fix it." He brings imaginary food and puts it on my belly, or he rocks the "baby" in his arms (signing the word baby). They can't wait to meet him! We still haven't figured out a name...at all... and we don't seem to be getting any closer. Brayden wants to call him "Rone-ster" but that probably won't happen :)  

I've sucked at taking pictures this pregnancy. So unfortunately I don't have any to post, but I hope to get some soon!

Brayden is thriving in preschool. He loves going and has grown so much socially, emotionally, and artistically since he started in September. His imagination is expanding, and he is so interactive with the kids. I get to parent help twice a month in his class and I'm thrilled that he doesn't cling to me the entire time. He is getting to be an independent boy and it is exciting to witness. He is very kind to all of his classmates, and is respectful of those around him. He doesn't mind sharing his toys (most of the time) and he raises his hand to answer questions instead of shouting out the answers. I'm not sure how long that will last but I am very proud of him and the boy he is growing into.

Asher is our little comic. He loves to pull faces, make jokes, and laugh hysterically. His favorite question to ask is "Are you happy?" and the answer better be yes because if it isn't, he'll ask you 100 times until you say yes. Then he smiles and wanders off to play with whatever toy he is interested in for the day. He tends to pick a toy in the morning and have that be his sidekick all day. It changes every day though, which is entertaining. We are in the throes of the "Terrible Twos" with tantrums, defiance, and testing the limits which has been exhausting for us all but hopefully we'll make it through successfully. He loves to read books, and he loves to move! He is still super active and loves climbing, jumping, dancing, and anything else that requires energy.

They both love to read, and they are best of friends, worst of enemies. It is amazing how quickly it can go between the two, but I remember oh so well that it's all a part of having siblings that you are close in age to. I hope they survive each other :)

In Asher's current world

Mr. Incredible and Monkey are playing together. Monkey says "By Mr. Incredible! I love you!" Mr. Incredible replies by saying "By Monkey! I'll be back soon, okay?" Mr. Incredible flies away "whoooooaaa whooooaaa vrooooom!!" Mr. I comes back to Monkey and says "I saved it. You ready? Yeah? Okay." Monkey says "By Mr. Incredible. Thank you for coming back!"  Monkey, Tiger, and Parrot fly over to the piano and all sit on the keys. "Good job at sitting!" says Asher. "Oh, let me help you" he says to the plane. The plane then flies over to the animals on the piano and says "Whoo! That was fun!"