Almost Summer!

It’s almost June already?! Summer is almost here! The kids celebrated by both getting double ear infections (Kellen’s third since February), and Kellen added in a viral eye infection for some extra fun. He is finally starting to look like himself again, after about a week of looking very sad and squinty-eyed.

Ellison has been keeping busy playing school with her buddies (hopefully getting excited for starting 3K in a few months!) and making “cards” with paper and stickers. She just had her first field trip (to the zoo)! She didn't tell us too much about it, but from what little she said, it sounded like she had fun. E loves playing outside, and is starting to master riding her tricycle. She had some issues with steering in the past and that seems to be improving! She loved giving herself her medicine for her ear infection and kept asking if she could draw it up herself. Future nurse?! She's got 3 zoo classes this summer and starts her first dance class in July!

First field trip!

At Seal & Sea Lion zoo class

"Sticker Girl"...she's been here daily lately! 

With her baby monkey

Ready for church!

Snoozing :)

Even though he wasn't feeling his best, Kellen’s walking has improved a lot over the past few weeks and he walks about as much as he crawls now (maybe he even walks a little more than he crawls). In the past week or so he has started standing up without holding onto something for support. He is getting his third molar; with the fourth one coming soon, judging by his swollen gums! He’s getting so big – he is working on using a spoon and fork, he stands on the stool in the bathroom to wash his hands and have his teeth brushed, and he throws a mean tantrum when he doesn’t get his way. He thinks Ellison is the greatest thing on Earth and follows her everywhere - if she’s asleep he will go in her room and stand by the bed, or bang on her door. He knows where his feet are, blows his nose when we hold a Kleenex up to it, and is constantly dropping things and saying “uh oh!”. He also loves “singing” along with musical toys, particularly Ellison’s Elsa doll that sings Let It Go…he will yell “GO!” with her.

Big boy brushing his teeth!

LOVES the water table!

Already!?!? No phones at the dinner table!

SO NAUGHTY!!! Haha

Jay's weekend commitment at work is getting reduced this summer, which is awesome! Unfortunately that is not something that Children's does, so I will still be working every third one...but it will be great for the kids to have one of us home almost every weekend!

I recently hosted an Usborne books party and got the kids TONS of new books - for free! I absolutely love everything I learned about the company and have decided to become a consultant. I am so excited!!! Lots of my co-workers sell various products as a side job, but until I learned more about this company, none of that interested me at all. I am so thrilled about the idea of helping other people get awesome books for the kids in their lives, and can't wait to get started! I will most likely be hosting Facebook parties only, which means I can help anyone, anywhere, host a party!

All of our freebies! So awesome!!!

We've been trying to get outside...the weather has not made this easy!!! Neither has the kids being sick...but we are doing our best!

Feeding the ducks and geese at Scout Lake

Konkel Park

Here's a couple pics from the Kite Festival!

 Hanging out in the backyard...eating S'mores!

Happy May!

Happy May! Praying the nice weather is here to stay!!! It’s hard to plan all the things we want to do outside for the one nice day we have every couple of weeks, especially with work schedules needing to be figured in. The kids and I did make it to the zoo last week, and they have finally been getting outside to play most days!

The last month has been a big one for Kellen. He is now 14 months old! He’s been very slow to start walking, but has finally started taking more steps. He’s spending a lot more time standing unsupported.  I’m thinking we will have an “official” walker soon! It will definitely make things easier if we don’t have to carry him everywhere. He’s also starting to say more words – car, uh oh, and “tickle tickle tickle” are his newest ones. He will also copy sounds Ellison makes sometimes, which is pretty funny, unless it’s happening when they’re supposed to be eating!

We have been so lucky to be able to slowly transition Kellen to whole milk. We are on our last gallon bag of pumped milk now, but at 14 months he is still getting some breast milk in every sippy cup! Very proud we were able to keep it up this long!

Ellison seems to be enjoying her new “school” (daycare). She gets to do art every day and play outside, so she is happy! It sounds like she is also making some new little friends. I’m happy it is working out so far, and I hope we have finally found a place they will stay until they are in school full-time!

Still working with both kids on 1000 Books Before Kindergarten. Ellison just passed the 500 book mark; Kellen is hanging out around 150. He only likes to sit still for Little Blue Truck books, and even though it’s ok according the program, we don’t double count when we read the same book more than once. I also don’t count a book unless they sit through the whole thing. Kellen’s got a long way to go before kindergarten and I’m hoping he will start to like being read to soon! We’ve been making lots of library trips and finding tons of good books. I recently discovered that I can request books online and have them held for me at whatever library I want, so that made this bookworm very happy. Looking forward to doing a summer reading program with them this year, too!

Ells is finishing up gymnastics in the next couple of weeks. We plan to enroll her at a different gym if she decides she wants to keep going with it – we haven’t been overly thrilled with the staff at the one she’s at now. We are planning to have her skip the summer session so she can do dance and possibly swimming lessons, and we’ll see what she wants to keep doing once fall gets closer. Hoping to get Kellen into swimming very soon too, he absolutely loves to be in the water! Between all of that and zoo class every month for Ellison, the kids are keeping busy!!!

We celebrated Jay’s 30^th birthday with a surprise party a couple weekends ago. He really had no idea it was coming, and it was so awesome to have so many people come together for the party! We had the Millers over before, and everyone "left" so we could go have cake with my mom and Ron...and then surprise, they were all over there when we arrived (plus about 30 more people). It was a great time - my mom and Ron are great party hosts!

That's what's new with us! Excited for a long stretch of days off coming up after these next few nights of work - hopefully lots of nice weather while I'm not working!!!