Update!

Wow - time has flown!  Here is the latest...  We finally sold the Newberg house after 2 years on the market.  It was a bittersweet goodbye, but we needed a bit more space and yard for two rapidly growing boys.  Problem was we didn't have a new house chosen yet, so we ended up in a tough situation looking for a rental with an unknown timeline of renting which makes it tough to sign a lease...  Very lucky for us, Andy's grandfather's house was vacant as he and Claudia moved in to an assisted living facility recently.  So, as of 2 weeks ago we are now Lake Oswego residents.  This is a great neighborhood with several parks nearby and very friendly neighbors with lots of kids.  The moving process has taken over our lives for several weeks (we still have some boxes that are not unpacked yet).  We couldn't have made the move without the assistance of Grandma Jeanne, Papa Doug, Aaron (and Rhonda for sacrificing her husband for several days) and Adam - they were sure troopers dealing with all of our "stuff".  We do have an offer in on a short sale in a town called Dundee (near Newberg) on a cool house with a half acre of property, but these type of sales can take anywhere from 2-10 months to hear back from the bank, so we will keep our eyes out for another house, but are crossing our fingers that this house will work out (quickly!). 

Here are the boys in their new MN Twins shirts from grandma and grandpa!  I took  over 10 pictures of 2 squirrely boys and these were the best I could muster...

Today, we picked some raspberries at a local farm.  Initally, Eli tried a raspberry and was not impressed, but later tried them again and we had a hard time stopping him from eating all of the berries from our buckets!  Ben, of course, had a belly full of berries by the time we left.

Here are the boys doing their"Friday dance"...

And a few weeks ago, I put a Nemo shirt on Eli and declared "Look, Eli, it's a Nemo shirt".  He responded with Emmi, mimmi, mo and finger wagging...  I think he made have misunderstood Nemo for something else...  See video for explanation (kind of.).

We have a 4 year old!

Ben turned 4 this weekend and we celebrated with an Airplane Birthday Party!  We had airplane cake, made and threw paper airplanes, as well as a big foam airplane.  The kids had a great time (and by kids I mean Andy and his brothers... ha!).  Ben received some very nice things (including the original birthday outfit - Adidas soccer outfit from Boy, that was temporarily replaced by a sweet garage sale find from Grandma of a Dallas Stars hockey jersey - see picture below).  I didn't get many other pictures because we were too busy having fun. 

So far, 4 has been great.  Ben woke up by himself today, went potty, got clothes and shoes on completely ON HIS OWN.  This is a big step for him!  He went to the dentist today and did an amazing job sitting still and even tried a few x-rays of the front of his mouth.  I remember Danielle telling me that 4 year olds are her favorite stage in kids.  I feel like that could be the case with Ben, too...

This last week, Ben finally "got" pedaling a bike (with training wheels).  He his not been able to coordinate his little legs to go forward with the pedals until lately.  In one week he went from very apprehensive on the bike to flying down the sidewalk at breakneck speeds, even honking his little horn at some slow goers on a path at the park. 

Eli - has been hit with yet another cold.  Man, this kid will have one sweet immune system come Kindergarten...  His poor raw nose.  Even putting A&D cream on it several times a day is not helping...  Anyway - here is one of the cutest videos I have ever seen: Eli singing Happy Birthday! (listen carefully to his 'words')

House status: playing a stressful waiting game... Arg.

Nice Mother's Day

As is tradition now, we met up with Andy's family at a park for a picnic on Mother's Day.  Great way to spend my Mother's Day!

 We stopped by for a visit with Great Grandpa Glenn and Claudia in their new place.

 And the boys spend as much time as possible outdoors, playing with trikes, scooters, soccer balls (Ben is loving to wear his soccer cleats and shin guards every excuse he gets), baseballs, basketballs, golf balls, as well as watering cans, sidewalk chalk, lawn mower (na-no) and sticks and walnuts.  Both are very much ALL BOY!

Eli just started with a few 3 words phrases, but mostly uses 2 word combos...  Daddy's home!  Here mommy, move please.  He loves singing action songs like Itsy-bitsy spider, baby bumble bee, etc.  He has gone thru a rough stage of falling and getting banged up lately - fell head first off the front step, tripped over the back door threshold, and fell off the front porch into a Japanese Maple.  He gets up pretty quick and doesn't want to go inside for a band-aid, for fear he might miss something outside...  Trying his darndest to keep up with big brother...

Grandma Jan's gold star laundering services were dearly missed tonight

1. I had my first day of giant 6th grade field trip today... went just fine. Kids were well behaved and had fun.
2. We countered an offer on our house - should hear back by Friday noon
3. We are going to look at a house on Saturday - cautiously optimistic - Bank owned.
4. Our Open House on Sunday may be cancelled if offer is negotiated before then
5. Andy went with me to pick up kids from daycare since he worked from home
6. Good thing Andy went with me to pick up kids. Ben told us his tummy hurt when we picked him up. This often means he will need to go poop as soon as we are home.
7. Nope. Not poop. Vomit. In the car.  All over the himself and the carseat.
8. Pulled over and used about a pack of wipes to 'clean' him and the carseat enough to get him to sit back in it for the remainder of the drive.
8.5 Andy entertained Eli for those 15 minutes so he would stop screaming.
9. Ben barfed again on the rest of the trip back home.
10. Bath and movie were in order.
11. And then 4 more barfs - I paused Cars 2 each time he would barf so he wouldn't miss any.  At least he is old enough to make it in the bucket now.
12. I cleaned carseat, clothes (including Ben's and mine) and towels and rags, boiled some noodles for spaghetti for Eli and us.
13. Ben finally got a cracker down before he went to bed with a bucket next to him.
14. Eli woke up 30 minutes after he went down - threw up all over the crib - I'm now regretting that spaghetti decision for dinner. Whole noodles.  Gross.
15. Spent 45 minutes changing sheets, bathing Eli and getting him back down.
16. I set up the pack-n-play in Eli's room so the next barf wouldn't be so bad to clean up...
17. Now, had to clean Eli's sheet, waterproof sheet, bumper, crib toy thing, jammies and various towels and rags.
18. When I went to change laundry loads realized that I had (AGAIN!!!) left my cell phone in my pocket of my jeans and found it on permanent vibrate mode in the bottom of the washing machine. Ironically, the old one that originally got washed and was put in a drawer because the 5 wouldn't work - Now works!!
18. Then, Eli barfed again, and Andy made it in in time to get the bucket out and catch most of it.
19. Not looking forward to the rest of the night.
20. Andy will have to stay home again tomorrow in the AM with the kids (has to miss a dentist appt because I am leading the field trip again in the AM tomorrow and can't miss work) - then he'll go to work for the 30th birthday party for his company at 3:00 after I come home after noon...
21. Grandma and her gold star laundering services were missed tonight...
22. I have a car seat cover, my jacket, Ben's jacket, the crib bumper, and crib mirror toy thing all hanging to dry overnight.
23. The last time we got a somewhat legitimate offer on our hosue, we all had the flu also (X-mas time in MN). Hoping this has a better outcome...

A few pictures from Spring Break that I haven't posted yet...

 

Easter fun!

These first two are from the park Saturday.

The next ones from Easter at our place...

The next ones are from the family gathering on the most gorgeous day of the year so far at Carol and Doug's. Very fun!

The cutest "No"...

We had a spectacular Spring Break visit from grandma and grandpa. Andy and I were able to get away to the beach (overnight, even!), and a lot got crossed off my 'list'. The kids really enjoyed time with the grandparents, and I got to do a bunch of kid-free shopping and other errands, too. We celebrated Andy's birthday with my folks and Andy's family, too.

I'm down to the 4th quarter at school, house is still on the market, and kids are still growing up fast!

Eli...

Calls vitamins "chew chews" because I always make him sit down and chew, chew, chew his gummy vitamin.

New words: lunch (yunch), started saying mitch for milk (used to be meh), and has sooo many more - diaper, chair, table, door, monkey, vacuum (ba-choom), hee-go (here you go), animal, click beetle (ki-beeta), napkin, jacket, ba-time (bathtime!), shoe are words that come to mind.

Knows: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, diamond, heart shapes, and some letters - O, M - maybe more...

Loves: the moon, airplanes, magna-tiles, outside, cheese, ravioli, yogurt and pretty much any food that he capable of eating.

Nope, not a light socket...

Sour cream. Yup, the newest trend in toddler hair styling - sour cream. No assistance from mom and dad, here folks - just the little man and his food.

The video is long and quiet (turn up the volume) but so sweet. Ben reading a book called Yummy Yucky to Eli.

Eli was diagnosed with strep in his throat and ear last week (another burst eardrum!!!) - amoxicillin to the rescue... So we thought. Poor kid broke out in serious hives today - most likely allergic to the antibiotic, so we switched to a different one - hope this clears it up! Other than that not much new on the home front here. Can't wait for the real spring to arrive!