House Time in St Louis

It felt weird to experience cold again.  But cold with toddlers was something I have never done before.  I felt like I was constantly looking for new ways to entertain the kids on cold and rainy days.  We spent tons of time going on walks, feeding the ducks and throwing rocks in the water before it got cold.  But once winter settled in, the plans had to change.  Here are a few things we had fun doing that filled our days.  One day after I had stripped the bed to wash the sheets, Vanessa wrapped herself up in the mattress cover.  I have no idea why, but she just wanted to lay there.  I left her there and about five minutes later, she was out cold.  And out cold for about three hours.

 We tried making "moon sand" as seen on pinterest.  It didn't work for us.  Too many weird divisions in the fractions just didn't come up with the right proportions I guess.  But, the kids still had a blast playing in our "kitchen sand box."

Sometimes while Benson napped, Vanessa and I would work on making ornamnets for our "Christmas Tree."  It was actually brown paper bags I cut up and spray painted green.  But we had lots of fun decorating and getting covered in glitter.  Benson helped us put stickers all over the bottom when he was awake.

I swear my daughter really does wear clothes most of the time.

We bought the kids some hats and gloves and went out for a walk one day after a couple days of rain.  It was nice to get out of the house after several days of rain and gloom.  Vanessa was pretty excited to wear her boots in the puddles.  And Benson chilled in the stroller and enjoyed the fresh air.

Don't you love her outfit?!

Finger painting is absolute joy to toddlers.  My kids don't actually paint much.  Vanessa at least smears it on the paper.  Benson mostly smears it on himself.  But they absolutely loved it.  From the kitchen, we went straight to the bathtub, but even then there were several places that managed to be bumped with fingerprints.  Luckily, it all came out with no problems.

Farewell to St Louis

There is no question my blogging has slacked off really bad lately.  We have done a lot of really fun things, as well as had the usual bummer days, as well as really fun days at home, basically life.  Full of its good days and bad, its ups and downs and everything inbetween.  While things have been slow and just a basic life with two kids for me, regular clinicals for Jon, it has also had this crazy chaos to it.  It feels fitting being right next to the Mississippi.  Apparently no one swims in the Mississippi (other than how dirty and gross looking it is) because there are crazy undercurrents.  You would never guess that from looking at the surface.  I kind of feel like that is our life right now.  It's slow and normal but then just crazy as well.  I imagine this is life for a lot of people and it will most likely be life from here on out, part of having kids I guess.
So how about some of the fun stuff. Back in November, the St Charles ward, which is our friend's ward, had a daddy/daughter dance. My friend was in charge of taking pictures so I tagged along as well and took some pictures of Jon and Vanessa.  They had so much fun and it was so cute watching them teach each other some dance moves.  Vanessa doesn't look too happy in this first pic, but she was just exhausted by this time. 

I had a really hard time deciding the settings I liked.  The lights were out, in a gym, the most un-ideal picture taking scenario possible.  Needless to say, this are less than ideal pictures.  And, we have no photoshop.  What do you do?

For Thanksgiving, we drove down to Oklahoma City to spend it with my sister's family. My parents also flew out and it was total blast. It was an 8 hour drive and getting there was no big deal. We mostly drove through the night :) We did fun things while there, like another hot chocolate taste test, went to the Science Museum, played with NEW toys (new to Vanessa and Benson that is), rode bikes, and made a fabulous dinner (props to my sister who made the best turkey I have ever had). It was mostly just really nice to be with family. It's kind of lonely (during the days, I'm lucky to have Jon around at night!) being on the road so much. Family has a way of making it all better though.

So apparently that is all the blogging that is going to happen for now.  Benson woke up from his random power nap and Vanessa is hungry.  So, I will get back to this in a few days.  Probably after we are in UTAH!  Woot woot!

Baby's Still There

A long story short, I haven't had any prenatal appointments in MO.  You may think that's completely crazy, but I am completely comfortable with that.  Let's be honest, most of the appointments are a waste of time anyway.  I feel fine, my belly is getting ginormous and there is nothing out of the ordinary.  I do have appointments when I get back to Utah though.  So, here is my belly at 22 weeks.

 when I was pregnant with Vanessa.  Oh, I wish it were that small this time.  Haha.

Here I am this go round at 23 weeks.  Nevermind my weird face.  Ha.  But yep, the belly is definitely there and things are going fine.  We are excited to have an ultrasound back in Utah, especially since Jon hasn't been able to hear this baby's heartbeat yet.  We are still holding strong on our plan not to find out the gender though.