Yearly Update :)

Wow, its been a over a year since I've updated! The kids have grown and changed so much, its amazing how quickly a year slips away in the life of a busy mom :/

Mieka has been in preschool now half a year and loves it, for the most part. She just goes 2 days a week. She's also been taking ballet/tap dancing since the summer. Its right up her alley of being "girly" which is her current phase. That is just one day a week. Between the 2 however, I feel like I'm constantly running around! I can only imagine what it must be like for families with several older children!!!

So, I won Nook from Dr. Oz about a week ago and yesterday it came. After messing around with it today, I have to say, it's pretty cool :D I can tell Ned is jealous......I wanted to get him a Kindle awhile back and he had poo-pooed the idea, telling me he likes *real* books. I think he has changed his mind however :) If he's good, he may get one for Father's Day, we'll see. Did you know there's over 1 million FREE books available for a Nook?! I think I may just find the time to read a few of them now!

Mieka and Lila

They definitely have a love/hate relationship, but they do get quite a bit of enjoyment playing with each other :)

Mieka singing Old McDonald in the "round" ;)

Funny Henry video clip from Thanksgiving

Took this after we had eaten our Thanksgiving meal......Henry's such a funny baby :)

Where did January go?!

Here it is the last day of January 2010 already! This holiday season has FLOWN by. Its been a month already since my dear Grandma passed away on Christmas Eve :( Miss her, even though we didn't live close to her. Just the thought that we can never visit her again when we go up to MN makes me sad. I know she's probably happier now, but I can't help but be a little selfish and wish her back here on earth with us. Miss you Grandma!

Another cool giveaway!

LINK to giveaway These seem too good to be true, but it would be nice to not have to buy laundry detergent anymore! Check it out!

Great give away at Focusing on the Bible, family and the Great Deals!

A baby set from Natures Paradise Organics will be given away June 11th, 2009, so be sure to sign up to win! Would make a great gift even if you don't have a little one running around.

Click Here

Henry came and here I am announcing it 2 months later!

I guess that's what having a second child means....things get put off :) Most everyone knows Henry is here, he'd have to be or I'd be mighty pregnant, lol! He came 2 weeks early and ruined all my plans for last minute before-the-baby-projects. But, it was ok of course, babies come when they're ready to. Henry's a wonderful little guy, loves to eat and sleep and goes with the flow. Mieka thinks he's great and brings him her toys and kisses him when he cries and fusses. She has even tried to nurse him via her belly button :D

Baby #2 will soon be here!

This pregnancy has gone by too fast! Only 4-5 weeks left and then we'll have 2 children, yikes! Here's a photo of my big belly from a few weeks ago.........



Mieka is also getting big! She is so smart and talks so much; we are amazed everyday at the funny things she thinks of :)

Karma Babydoll Sling -48 Hour Giveaway at the Thrifty Mama

Doll Sling Giveaway

Check this out! If you know of a little girl who likes to carry her babies around, enter this contest! The Thrifty Mama is giving away one adorable baby doll sling. Sign up through the link........

www.modmum.com is giving away 3 baby slings a week throughout December, you can see the mechanics on how to join on their blog section. Thought I'd share it.

My favorite sling is called Sadie-check them out!

Baby brother for Mieka on the way.......

Well, as you all probably know, we're expecting an addition to our little family; a baby boy due Easter weekend this April. We're excited! So far, everything looks good and I'm feeling good now that the morning sickness has passed :) Here a few u/s photos from the 20 week scan......
Profile

Foot

Arm and placenta in front of his face

Win an Ergo Baby Carrier!!!

Just go to: Win a Free Organic Embroidered Ergo Baby Carrier Hands Free System from Along for the Ride

and enter before Dec 15th; good luck!

Trip to WI!

Just got back from a whirlwind 24 hour trip to WI to visit friends! They also have a 1 year old who's about a month younger than Mieka, a boy named Brett. We had a great time riding on the 4 wheeler, playing outside and in (all those different toys!) and visiting the apple orchards. Mieka LOVES apples and helped herself to a couple and actually did a fair job of eating one :) We wish we lived closer!



Want a bite of my apple?


Wee!!!


You need a basket?

Enough hair for a ponytail and hair clips!

Mieka finally has long enough hair for a small ponytail :) It's still very fine and thin, but it's getting longer! She did NOT enjoy me putting the ponytail in, by the way........



We also got a few hair clips in; these she didn't mind so much.

Where has August gone?!

Well, we've been gone part of every week in August, so not much time to update the blog! I'll try and start to catch up though........the second week of August we went camping at a local state park. We rent a cabin that has electricity, a/c, a mini fridge and a microwave :) Not really roughing it, but with a little one around, life's rough enough ;) Besides, August in Iowa can get awfully hot and humid, so it's nice to have some a/c for Mieka's sake, if not ours. My brother Chris from MN joined us and we had a really nice time grilling, making camp fires, boating, hiking and playing at the beach. The weather was really nice, except for a few rain showers. Best of all, NO bugs! Here are a few pictures:

Our cabin:

Mieka climbing:

Sitting in one of the chairs on the deck:


with daddy:

Night time visitors left their tracks:

Uncle Chris in a boat:

Mieka at the beach:

NOT afraid of the water!

Another summer week has flown by! Mieka is a little chatterbox these days :) She's saying new words almost every day and I really think it was the sign language that kick started her language explosion. We've pretty much lost track of all the words she can say and sign! One of her recent words is "show" which is what I call her dvd I put in when I make dinner or need her occupied for a few minutes. She also knows that the remote operates the "show" and she has a fake remote to play with. So now she comes up to us and with a very serious look on her face says "show" and points the remote at us :) She will try and try to get the remote to work, pressing very hard on the buttons, it's sort of cute, but I'm a little worried I've created a couch potato at the tender age of 13 mo.



We also got a new "skirtie" in the mail the other day. It's a wool diaper cover crocheted into a skirt/shorts and I think it's adorable :)

Still more jelly!

So I just made my 3rd batch of jam/jelly last night :) I think it's safe to say we won't run of of jelly for Ned's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches this year! This batch was a recipe I created myself using mulberries and gooseberries and it turned out really yummy! I think Ned and I agree this is the best batch so far.........

We also have been growing sweetcorn and tomatoes in our garden. We plan on trying to make and can salsa this year; we'll see if it works or not. The corn didn't get very tall for some reason. But it's producing ears........ we also have potatoes that should be ready to be dug up in a few weeks.


and here's some purple sage I planted around our birdbath-I just thought it looked pretty and it smells so nice too :)

Boy, time slips away from me quickly! This week we went to one of the local county fairs with Mieka. We saw bunnies, poultry, pigs, goats and sheep. I think Mieka was most impressed with the pigs because it was near their feeding time and they were very noisy! They also had some rides there, although most of the rides had definitely seen better days, Mieka didn't seem to mind :) When she was on the carousel with daddy, she didn't want him to have both hands on her-she thinks she can ride it by herself already, lol.

Mmmmmm, watermelon!

Sorry this is sideways, I forgot to record it the other way and haven't found any way to turn it the right way yet :(