Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

Amie is one week old today.  While she could be sleeping better at night, at least she doesn't eat quite as often as Brady did.  If this keeps up, we may not have to threaten her with one night feeding of formula per day (of course we did this with Brady for a week or so and then he decided to cut out that feeding :) Today was the first time that Brady wanted to hold Amie-- so of course I had to get a picture!  While Amie definitely has some of Natalee's appearance characteristics, such as hair color and skin tone, I am starting to see some of Brady's appearance characteristics, too.  Perhaps it is her chin?  Or her eyes/forehead?  I'm not sure. (Little Brady pics here, March/April 2009 and little Natalee pics here, July 2007 .) Amie obviously adores her sister Natalee. We were fortunate to have my Mom come over for a few days.  The kids really enjoyed her being here.  It was a big help to me, too!

 We welcomed Amie into the world at 10:04PM, Monday, February 20th.  I went to my scheduled doctors appointment in the afternoon.  They discovered I was already 5cm dilated and made me go to the hospital immediately.  Apparently I had been in labor for days. Natalee is a really proud big sister.  She wants to hold Amie all of the time.  I'm sure that won't last forever, but it makes me smile.  I think she will be a big "helper". Brady on the other hand, does not want to hold her.  He did want to get in the pictures, though.   Brady was peppering the nurse with all kinds of questions when she was changing Amie's diaper. Here, you can see her pretty red hair. Amie Belle After overhearing a conversation-- Natalee:  "Mom, how did your water break?" Brady:  "You broke a glass of water?" I guess my birthday present was that I got to leave the hospital this morning!

No, our newest little blessing has not arrived yet.  She (?) was supposed to arrive on Valentines Day.  Alas, it is almost a week past that and still no arrival.  Sorry I haven't updated in a while.  I was really miserable and grumpy, so I decided not to.  There is definitely not room for this child to move around inside me anymore.  I'm feeling a bit better since the sinus infection has cleared up.  And, I'm a bit less grumpy at the moment. Friday, Dad came up and helped me out by pruning my apple tree.  Hopefully we have apples that are a bit bigger this year.  We had a TON of tasty apples last year, but they were all really small. Yes, there is an extra dog here.  We were dog sitting two dogs this week.  Josie is pictured.  Plus, there is an extra child from next door :)  Natalee was extremely thrilled with that! The kids were actually a big help.  They put a lot of the pruned off branches onto the tra...

They were both proud as peacocks to be all dressed up in princess outfits.  Right after this picture was taken Brady went and put on earrings and a necklace, too......  I really hope this is not going to damage him for life!  (He just likes to do what his sister does sometimes)  I tried to explain to him that boys are princes, not princesses. We have made a concerted effort to not always make gender stereotype decisions and options with the kids.  We do tell Brady that boys don't usually paint their toe nails.  Brady's bike has a bit of pink on it.  Natalee's scooter is not pink, but red.  We did put some girlie stickers on it, though.  We've always wanted some of their toys to be gender neutral or close to it, so that both of them can use it.  Those toys that are not gender neutral we have tried to not point out gender specific comments.  They may slightly understand that people associate pink with girls and blue with boys, but...

 While we are not typically big on a huge Valentines Day celebration, the kids definitely enjoy the holiday and the crafts and baking involved.  Let's face it-- I'd rather have the big celebration be my upcoming birthday!  I did want to take the opportunity to teach/show the kids more about the concept of love during our pre-school time.  We created this heart stamp out of a paper towel center.  I liked this craft because both kids enjoyed it and it was easy for them both to do.  Natalee stamped the pink hearts and Brady stamped the red hearts.  I got the idea from Rust and Sunshine .  I liked the result so much that I decided to display it in a frame.  Then, we did these heart hand print pictures from The Idea Room .  I thought these turned out to be really adorable.  So, I had to put it in a frame, too!  I accidentally put them on upside down.  I did change one other thing, though.  I picked to Bible vers...

One day we are dreaming of spring with 50 degree temps.... riding scooter, playing with dirt, stones, and sticks, and lounging in the grass while enjoying the sunshine.  Two days later, we wake up to a winter wonderland.... We did build some mini snowmen.  The big snowman that we tried to build would not stick together.  So, Natalee used my partial snowman head in her snow castle.  We also got to sled ride again.

 This morning, we cut out and decorated valentine cookies with Will and Kelly.  We learned from our last experience making Christmas cookies .  This time was not nearly as chaotic.  And, it was MUCH more fun for kids and adults! First, we cut out the cookies.  We only had 3 cookie cutters this time, so they had to share. Then, we took a little break while the cookies were baking.  The kids ran around like crazy.  I'm not kidding, either.  They really did not get out any toys.  They just ran! **Notice:  This time, we made them wait to decorate until ALL the cookies were baked and cooled.** When the cookies were cool, we started to decorate.  This time, we returned to what we did last year-- paint on a glaze icing.  We have paint brushes that I have saved just for this purpose. After they painted some glaze on, they could use their fingers to get a pinch of sprinkles or a few M&M's.  As a counting exerc...

In January, we consumed 12 1/2 gallons of milk.  Imagine if the kids consumed more!  That equals about 14% of our grocery budget.  I can't imagine if I would include cheese and yogurt in this statistic.  I would bet we spend more on milk every month than we do on meat. We have now been married just over 9 years -- 4 1/2 years with kids and 4 1/2 years without kids. Jesse has lived in 7 states (Washington twice, Idaho twice, Virginia, Missouri, Colorado twice, Pennsylvania, Illinois).  Lindsay has only lived in 3 states (temporarily in Colorado) and two countries (a semester in England). Lindsay has lived in 5 HOUSES, not counting all of the temporary college living locations.  Jesse moved 17 times before graduating from high school. The longest Jesse has ever lived in one house was 4 3/4 years-- which was our house in Port Orchard.  Give him less than two more years in this house and he will surpass that time span. Lindsay detests Peanut Butt...