Kids and their antics!

Jonathan and Annisia enjoyed some ice cream and frozen yogurt after Bible Study. Then they enjoyed some regular yogurt too. Do you think they were hungry? Don't you just love their little table and chairs?
Jonathan loaded my mums into his loader bucket and hauled them to the flower bed. Then he even dug the holes with his backhoe! What a helper!


Jonathan and Annisia were both sitting in the go-go car. Jonathan told Annisia she had to get up on the top of the car. Silly kids!


The kids were hamming it up for me one day. Do you like Annisia's Crocs? She does!
Uncle Bret brought the lawn mower by one morning. Jonathan played out by and on the mower ALL DAY...from about 9:30am to 6pm minus 1 hour we went to have lunch with Daddy. Obviously, I had taken the key from the mower. I went out to check on him at one time and he informed me, "Mommy, there's no key. I am just pretending. And you push this lever for those wheels to go down, and these levers to make it go forward and go like this to go backwards, etc." He was on and off the trailer adjusting things too. At one point, he had the go-go car up on the trailer and had it strapped down just like Daddy does!
He wanted Snuggly with him after lunch, so we used a climbing sling to make a front pack for him. It was a windy day...ugh. He said, "Mommy, can you please make the wind stop?"
Last Sunday, while Annisia napped, Jonathan had some quiet time with his baby. He wrapped him up in a blanket to keep him warm then read him a book, "Elephant's Big Ride".

Jonathan likes Thomas the train. We got a video at the library and I think he'd watch it all day. One day, I made the kids a train after they had watched the movie awhile.

Flat Stanley!

Well, our friend Rachel, whom we met in Auckland, NZ, and now lives in Malaysia, sent us Flat Stanley. I fear I have had him in my home too long and must get him sent on. Here are a few things he did with us while he was here in WY.
The kids took him outside one fine day. He got to ride on Jonathan's backhoe loader and Annisia held him for awhile. We have some gorgeous days in the spring. But today, May 2nd, it's snowing and blowing again. We have a couple 3 foot drifts around the house.
Jonathan and Annisia enjoy painting. Flat Stanley wasn't so sure about that as he didn't have a paint shirt along. But he enjoyed watching.

We go to the local YMCA nearly every day. The kids play in the daycare and I work out. Flat Stanley enjoyed the daycare but I didn't take a picture in there for confidentiality reasons. But here is the outside of our great gym.
And then we went to Pizza Hut for lunch. I think Flat Stanley is on a diet, because he refused lunch!
THEN! The best thing happened! Flat Stanley got to go to Gramma and Papa's ranch with the kids. Jonathan gets to ride in the tractor with Papa sometimes. They brought bales of hay to the horses this day.
And Annisia was with Gramma by Bud, the horse Jonathan has already ridden on, (even trotted!), and Annisia will soon be on if I know her grandparents! You may be able to see the Big Horn Mountains behind the tree.
Then Flat Stanley got an outfit worthy of Wyoming. Blue jeans, a handkerchief patterned shirt and boots. Thanks for coming, Flat Stanley!

More Snowy Days

How dreadful! The go go car is stuck in the big snow drift. Never fear, the kids are on the job!

Daddy is good at building tunnels. We get a great drift over our front walk. This time it was a little icy, so Michael named it the "Icenhower Tunnel". Annisia thought it was cool to crawl through.
Then she got her first taste of snow. She likes it! Now she grabs pieces of snow every time we're outside playing.

Jonathan thinks it's good too, but he's likely to stop sooner. Annisia, on the other hand, is thrilled when I get crushed ice from the refrigerator and hopes some falls to the floor!

Jonathan has a lot of work to do, doesn't he? This backhoe loader gets put to work many times a week.

I'm still here...

OK, OK, so I am still here. Things just got busy, busy. How do parents of more than 2 kids get anything done? That is the biggest question on my mind nearly every day. Since my last post, we have survived Halloween, Thanksgiving and several days of snow. Here is a look at some events since I last posted...


Jonathan still just loves his backhoe loader. It is used for everything; digging dirt, scooping snow, towing a variety of vehicles, planting trees, and giving Annisia a "ride to Uncle Bret's house"!

Jonathan is potty trained! Big YAYS! Here he is on potty training day running away from me in his big boy underwear! We did the Toilet Training in a Day method...sort of. He trained the dolly, got the major kudo treatment every time he went potty in the toilet, and still has accidents. Sometimes he's just too lazy. Yesterday, he wet his pants right beside the toilet. When asked why, he said, "I just didn't want to pull my pants down." ???WHAT???

These are the kids Halloween outfits...Bob the Builder (or Jonathan the Builder, as he demanded to be called!) and my little ladybug. (Year of the Pig? I think not...in our house it's the Year of the Ladybug!)
We were encouraged by a friend to go to the nursing home with the kids to trick or treat. It was nice, a chance to wear their costumes a little and cheer up some old folks.

Daddy with his ladybug.

This is what you get when you give the kids a bath, let your 3 year old convince you spikes would be fun to do with his wet hair, and then let him sleep on them! Yikes! He's still pretty cute, isn't he?!

Playing Together

We've finally reached an age where some playing together is occuring. Usually, Jonathan expects Annisia to do something complicated like he is like riding his trike, or pedaling his loader, but occasionally he is OK with...

sharing his go-go car,

...or his motorcycle...

...or his backhoe loader.

But, that's occasionally, mind you!

Jonathan got a backhoe!

Here is Jonathan. He got this great backhoe loader from Grandma and Papa...I think they spoil him, don't you?!

Time to catch up!

Whoa! I haven't posted anything for a long time. We got kind of busy I guess. My Mom and Dad came for a visit from April 19 to April 27, so the few days before that I was CLEANING! Ha! Just kidding, Mom! I did spend some time cleaning, but that's just so I wouldn't have to do any while they were here. I also did a little blurb on scrapbooking for our MOPS meeting, so I was preparing that too. What were the kids doing during all that?

Well, Annisia took her first "big bath" with Daddy and Jonathan. She loved it! She splashed and squealed and watched her big brother play. Jonathan and Daddy love the big bath too. It has lots of jets on both sides so you can't help but get clean! When I get a chance, I love it too.

Jonathan loaded up his loader tractor into his trailer and we hooked it up to his bike. He's quite enthralled with all the hooking up he sees his Papa, uncles and Daddy doing. Jonathan has quite an imagination. It is so fun to watch him play.


Who's who?! Here's our sweet kiddles. One is Jonathan, one is Annisia. Who is who? Really not a tough question, but fun nonetheless. Jonathan was wearing this sleeper when he was 14 months old in the pic. Annisia is only 9 months old.

Kids and their toys

Here is Jonathan with his loader tractor he got from Aunty Janice and Uncle Paul. He loves it! He is so proud of Uno (the monkey...story in a minute), because he is able to sit on the loader. He says, "Good boy, Uno! You're sitting on the loader. Good job!"

OK, Uno is a character in a Graeme Base book called "Uno's Garden". Uno is a little man who goes to a rain forest and decides to live there and the result of that. Lame description, very neat book full of things like sneaky snagglebites, lumpybums, and snortlepigs. Graeme Base is a great author...any of his books are a must. Anyways, it's actually amazing the resemblance between this monkey and GB Uno character...Jonathan amazes me sometimes with his comparisons.

Annisia enjoying the Wall Street Journal personal journal. Ah yes, I do remember this stage with Jonathan. Finally mobile and into everything...

Jonathan with his "pull". A pretty neat horse trailer, if you know what I mean!

Here he has his manure spreader hooked up too. What an imagination! Can you tell he loves to be out to Gramma and Papa's?!

One day, he was playing on the deck. Daddy moved one of Jonathan's many vehicles so Jonathan could "maneuver better". I said, "Whoa! New word, Jonathan. Can you say "maneuver"?" He was quiet for a minute then said, "Mom! Teo pooped. And Thunder pooped too!" These are two of Gramma & Papa's horses. We laughed so hard, then had to tell him "maneuver", not "manure"!