Siblings and Conversations

As much as the kids can pester and bother each other they love each other so much!  When the boys are at school Cecilia usually asks when they are coming home several times a day.  When they get home she is so excited to see them and runs and gives them hugs.  When we pick Vincent up from school both Joel and Cecilia say “What did you do at school today Vincent?” and they seriously want an answer. 

Joel and Cecilia have been interacting and playing together more and more.  If Joel is ignoring Cecilia she will literally get in his face, make eye contact and say “Want to play with me?”  If he doesn’t answer she says “I play with you.  What we play?”  If that doesn’t work she will take whatever toy he has and take off running until he catches her and tackles her down.  If you ask her why she does that she will say “I want Joel to wrestle me” or “I want Joel play with me.”  80% of the time she does get him to play with her or let her join him in playing with his toys.

The conversations with and between the kids make me laugh almost daily:

Joel:  Where my car?

Cecilia: It’s probably in your bed!

Joel: Where’s Vince?

Cecilia: Joel, Vince is at school.

J: Where’s Vince

C: He at school!

J: Where Vincent?

C: He at school Joel-e

(she was progressively getting more firm and annoyed with him)

Common Phrases from Joel:

No.  No thanks! or, No, not gonna do it!

Both of which Brad and I find hilarious because he is expressing himself, but at the same time he actually thinks it is going to get him out of doing something like going to school, getting dressed etc.

Common Phrases from Vincent:

“Wanna hear this?”

Common Phrases from Cecilia

“No”,

“I do it myself!”,

 “I want to be naked!” 


She has attempted to take all her clothes off in the lobby of an office and my work.  At home is one thing, but out in public I don’t think so!

Cecilia was hitting Joel one day and I said “Stop hitting Joel.”  She replied with “I not hitting.  I knocking on him.”  Yes, because that is so much better!


I love listening to them talk to each other!

Prayers

Every night we say prayers.  For so long we sang a little prayer song “Oh the Lord is good to me and so I thank the Lord for giving me the things I need the sun and the rain and the apple seed.  Oh the Lord is good to me Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.”  The kids knew it and liked it and then Vincent would thank God for something.  This winter Joel started following the song with “Thank you God for this wonderful day and for…..” and then he would add something.  At first I was surprised and then Brad said he had been doing that for him for a while. 

Now each of the kids says “Thank you God for this wonderful day and for ….”  Sometimes it is something they did that day, or something they are going to do the next day, or a person they saw recently.  For a long time Joel thanked God for playing in the basement with Vincent and Cecilia.  Then one day he so sweetly said “Dear God, Thank you for today.  Thank you see grandma, Ellie, Brett, Luke and Keith.”  One night he even thanked God for his teacher!  It is so cute to hear him say his prayers.

Cecilia gets in on the act too.  After her birthday party she prayed “Amen. Amen. Amen.  Thank you God for my birthday!”  For three weeks straight she prayed for my niece Ellie.  Then it was Ellie and the Vincent’s friend Tyler.    Other times it is for playing in the basement.  Then on morning Karoline and Keith babysat the kids and that night she thanked God for “Kar-o-line and Keif”

Vincent says sweet things too, and it is generally about something he did that day.  Lately he isn’t wanting to pray out loud with his brother and sister and we don’t always push him to do so.

A Crazy Idea!

Sundays after church there is usually coffee hour with food in the fellowship hall.  There are very few weekends when there is not coffee hour.   Our kids love going to coffee hour and who can blame them, there are good treat and lots of people to visit with.  I used to try to leave without going to coffee hour, but I gave up on that idea.  For starters Brad and I are both on different committees for church and need to talk to people and check on things after church and it is much easier when the kids are happy eating food.  Plus I quickly figured out that kids didn’t need lunch on Sunday afternoons and were perfectly happy to eat an early dinner.

One Sunday in the middle of February there was no coffee hour.  Joel was distraught.  He walked in and out of the fellowship hall so many times saying “where the food?” or “No food!”  We ended up going to Culver’s and let the kids get chocolate milk and ice cream with their kids meals.  Then as we are eating all this food at home Joel kept saying “I go to Disney.  I got to see Mickey Mouse.”  He was serious and really thought he had to see Mickey, it was like he had something urgent to tell him.  Then Brad tells me, why don’t you and Joel go to Disney.  I couldn’t believe my ears.  I asked him if he was serious and he was.  Brad’s plan was that I could use my Southwest miles, we could stay with his parents and then drive back with his parents in the motorhome.  He said and I quote “I can take care of things around here.  Plus I want some time alone with Cecilia.”  He went on to say that Joel and I really needed to get away and neither one of us had been very happy lately.  It was true!  I quickly called his parents to see when they were driving home and to see if Joel and I could go visit them.

By the end of the day we had plane tickets , a plan, and a babysitter for Cecilia during the days that I was gone!  Explaining to Vincent that he didn’t get to go was a little bit harder, but bless his heart he took it like a champ.  We told him that since Joel didn’t like Disney before and now he was asking to go that I was going to take him and see if he liked it better and if he did we would all go back when everyone was tall enough to ride all the rides.  I also told him that since I was pregnant and Joel was too short we weren’t going to ride any of the roller coasters or really fun rides he liked anyway.  There was no complaining!  He just asked for either a pirate sword or a goofy hat.  We rarely get souvenirs but I was making an exception this time around!

Super Bowl Sunday

We usually don’t do anything for the Super Bowl, but this year we went to my dad’s to watch it with him, Azra, Aunt Carol, Andrew, Alyse, Brandon, Joe and Jill.  Vincent was excited because we told him he could bring the Wii with and play it in Nanno’s basement.  My dad doesn’t have a lot of things in his house that the kids find entertaining for very long, so bringing the wii was a big hit!  I think Brad enjoyed watching the game with other people who actually like football, as opposed to me.

On the way home from my dad’s our conversation with Vincent went like this:

V: What does pregnant mean?

Me: That I have a baby growing in my belly.

V: You don’t look pregnant.

Me: My belly is still little because the baby is little, but it will get bigger.

V: Yeah, it was huge when Cecilia was in it!  It’s a girl, but if it isn’t then I want twin girls next!

Me: Why?

V: So there will be the same number of girls as there are boys in the family and it will be even

The kids, other than Cecilia, didn’t find out they were getting a new brother or sister until Cecilia’s birthday party.  They were really too busy playing with their cousins and having fun to care or comprehend the announcement.   It took a day to process and it was the next day Vincent was asking us about the baby after the Super Bowl.  He was so excited he went to school on Monday and told his whole class, his teacher, the classroom aides and anyone else that would listen and was sure to tell them that my belly wasn’t big yet because the baby was too small still.  For the next two weeks he came home from school with pictures for the baby, name suggestions he and his friends thought of and everything was baby, baby, baby.  It was really cute that he was so excited!

Cecilia's Birthday

For Cecilia's actual birthday we ended up having dinner and cake and swimming at Diane and Craig's house.  They were leaving the next day for Florida and had invited us over for a goodbye dinner/Cecilia's birthday.  Grandma had made a heart shaped cake and it had pink frosting so Cecilia was in heaven!

The birthday girl!

Birthday girl eating breakfast.

Cecilia and Vincent eating goldfish in a box.

Giant icicle.

Lots of snow!

Joel swimming.

Vincent swimming.

Grandma Diane and Cecilia.

Cecilia and her cake!

Cecilia saying "cheese"

Later that night after the kids were in bed I found out that my grandfather passed away that evening.  I was sad, but knew he was no longer in pain and that he was in a better place.  I was trying to have Vincent's outlook on it, because when he found out he was so happy that Papa got to go to Heaven.

Cecilia's birthday and Exciting Announcements

Cecilia’s birthday party was the first weekend in February and we were ready to have a little fun in our life.  Brad and I were super excited because we bought a shirt for Cecilia that said “Every super hero needs a side kick.  Mine arrives 8/14!”  We were going to finally tell everyone we were expecting.   Diane knew I had a few things to do for the party and her and Keith asked if the kids could play at her house early in the day.  Brad took my vehicle, so I had no car seats.  Diane and Keith walked over through all the snow, I got snow clothes on the kids and I helped them walk the kids back to her house.  We used the sled as a way to haul the two little kids over.  Keith and Vincent spent time playing in the snow at Grandma’s and the little two went to play in the house.  I walked back and started cleaning and cooking for the party.  Later in the afternoon Keith and Vincent wanted to come play the Wii, so Diane sent them over by themselves.  She could see them until they were halfway, and then I went and watched them from the window the second half of their journey.  The happily played Skylanders for hours on the Wii while I got ready for the party.

Playing in the snow!

Joel.

Diane, Cecilia, Keith.

Cecilia had the shirt on from the time everyone arrived.  She was running around the house, playing with her aunts, sitting on a stool by everyone and no one ever bothered to read her shirt.  Finally my mom asked when we were going to tell everyone and I said that there was a sign running around already and no one saw it.  My mom then made Jill read Cecilia’s shirt, I showed Keith the shirt and he instantly understood what it meant.  An hour later still no one had noticed the shirt so my mom asked my dad to read it for her.  He started by making up words, then we said no really read it and he read half of it.  After reading it for the 5^th time he finally read all of it and realized what it meant!  As the night went on and other people arrived we had to encourage them to read Cecilia’s shirt.  Surprisingly it took people a few seconds to figure out what it meant.  I think they were all in disbelief that we were having 4 kids.  My sister in law Sarah, Kristine and Karoline couldn’t make it to the party, but I figured Bob and Keith would tell them so I never called her or sent her a text to tell her.  It turns out that Bob and Keith didn’t tell her on Sunday when she got home and she didn’t find out until Monday.   I now know I need to tell her all important things myself!

Cecilia's t-shirt.

Birthday cake!

Grandma Dawn and Joel.

Mommy and Cecilia.

Kristy and Cecilia.

Nanno and Cecilia and her birthday pez.

The other surprise at Cecilia’s birthday was that Alyse and Brandon announced they were engaged!  Very exciting news!  Family wedding are so much fun!

Nanno reading Cecilia's shirt.

Cecilia opening a gift from Grandma Diane.

Cecilia with her blanket sleeping bag from Aunt Michelle.

Reading her new books in her sleeping bag.

Random Pictures from January 2014

On New Year's Day we went sledding on the toboggan.  It was a little cold, but Joel and Vincent had a great time.

We went sledding in January several times and Cecilia hated every second of it.  We made her go anyways and she was mad at us.

Vincent

Cecilia

Daddy and Vincent

Daddy and Cecilia

Cecilia hating life.

Joel, Tally and Bristol

Cecilia.  Angry that she was getting pulled up the hill.

Joel.

One day in January Cecilia and I took the Beetle to a doctor appointment.  While we were gone our drive way drifted over with snow.  We tried to make it up anyway, but got stuck half way.  We had to call Uncle Bob to save us!

Beautiful snow.

Our driveway.

The beetle stuck in the driveway.

Uncle Bob saving the day!

We went on a trip with Brad to pick up parts for something and all three kids fell asleep with hats on.  Joel happened to be wearing a pirate hat.

Joel in a pirate hat.  Vincent in Brad's hat.

Cecilia wearing her hat backwards, because she wanted to.

Cecilia was sick again in January and had to do breathing treatments, which went well as long as she got to play with the ipad at the same time.

Two minutes before this picture was taken she told me "I not sick!  Joel-e sick!"

Vincent and Cecilia got an itch to clean one day and used almost a whole package of wipes wiping down the baseboards and woodwork in the living room.  Unfortunately for me it only lasted that day.

Vincent showing off his muscles!

Joel riding the bull he stole from Grandma's house.

Picnics in the living room.

Swimming in the not so hot tub at Grandma and Grandpas.

Watching the carpet cleaner work.

This happens almost every time I get the carpet cleaner out.  I don't understand.

Vincent and his pile of blankets and lovies.

Playing on the scooters in the basement.

Vincent

Cecilia

Making the scooter train more comfy.

Cecilia wouldn't let anyone have her purple scooter.

Joel and Vincent built this.  They thought it was a good idea.

I pushed them around the basement on it.

Joel is sitting in a bucket of stuffed animals.

Cecilia joined in on the fun and no one fell off while I was pushing them!

Playing dress up!

Joel.

Cecilia.

Vincent.

Ninja Vincent