Once Fred was a Snowman

Friday morning we woke up to find the driveway and the grass covered with snow! Normally this wouldn't really make me happy, but today I didn't mind because Joe took the day off from work. He was supposed to have President's Day off (Monday), however there were some things he needed to get done at work, so he went in that day after all. Actually, he spent a lot of time at work this week. By the time Friday rolled around he had already put in his 40 hours for the week in the previous 4 days!

So it was nice to have Joe home on Friday. First Daddy and the boys went outside to shovel the driveway. Check out our great helpers!

I think the boys are so cute with their hats and snow shovels! They do a pretty good job too.

It is a good thing that Daddy has such great helpers, because I am definitely no help at all at this point!

It was funny because I was trying to get action shots of the boys shoveling and Jacob kept stopping and smiling for me to take his picture. What a little poser. You can see that is what he is doing behind Ephraim in the above photo.

I love that the boys are such good helpers for their Daddy!

After they finished shoveling, Daddy helped the boys make a snowman. They really wanted to make one, and the snow was pretty wet and sticky. I couldn't help but laugh at the lineup of shovels that sat in the carport while they were making their snowmen.

Here is a cute photo of Jacob and Ephraim rolling their snowballs. Jacob had the middle one and Ephraim got to roll out the head.

They did a pretty good job if you ask me!

I only managed to get these few pictures of them working on their snowman because then my camera battery died! So I got out the video camera and took a movie instead. I will have to work on getting that posted later.

The snowman that the boys made with Daddy turned out great! He was about as tall as Jacob, and the boys decided to name him Fred. Here is Jacob and Ephraim with Fred the snowman.

I helped the boys make Fred's face, and I think it turned out so cute! The hat was a little bit small, but I don't think Fred really cared.

Jacob and Ephraim both instantly fell in love with Fred. Ephraim even wanted to give Fred a hug. What a pair of cuties!

Of course this time of year the snow rarely lasts long. After building the snowman we all ran to Orem to do a little shopping. By the time we got home before 2 p.m., Fred's head had already fallen off and he was melting quickly. The boys were SO sad.

Jacob got all sad and teary-eyed and Ephraim told me "I sad Fred is melting. I'll never see Fred again." Luckily I could tell the boys that they could see Fred whenever they wanted because I took lots of pictures of him that morning. That cheered them both up quite a bit. I also told them that if we get another good snowstorm we can always build another snowman!

This morning the lawn does not have any snow on it except for a little ball that was Fred's body. I can't believe how quickly all that snow melted!

Kindergarten Here We Come!

When did Jacob get so big?

Can you believe that today I took Jacob over to Mount Mahogany to register him for Kindergarten?! My little boy will be five years old in May and in the fall he will go to school.

We turned Jacob's registration papers in and then walked around the school. I showed Jacob where the Kindergarten classrooms are, and we peeked at the kids in the rooms. Then we went and looked at the playground. Jacob is SO excited to go to school! He can't wait!

Jacob is going to love school. I think preschool this year has been really great in helping Jacob be ready to go to school. He already knows his alphabet and the sounds that they make, and he is well on his way to being able to read. He can count past 20 and knows how to write his name. What a smart boy!

Pink Clothes = Pink Lint

I have so much to do before my baby daughter comes in three weeks that the time seems to be slipping away from me! I mentioned that yesterday (and today) I did tons of laundry. I have washed and folded so many cute pink things that it makes me want to giggle with delight. What a change it will be to have a little girl at our house!

Aahh! Clean laundry.
The baby's dresser is full of the cutest little pink and white clothes! 

I also washed all the bedding for my new little daughter. I have all the sheets, blankets, and burp cloths washed and ready. Whew!

As a side effect of all this laundry I discovered something that I have never seen around here before. Did you know that washing a ton of girly stuff may make your dryer lint pink and purple?! I didn't know that!

Usually our dryer lint is blue or gray, so it made me laugh to see the pink and purple lint!

My Boys are Puzzled

I love it when I go to check on the boys (because it is TOO quiet for once) and they are actually doing something that they should be doing! This morning as I was cleaning up in the kitchen I went to check on the boys and found them in the living room doing a puzzle together.

How cute is that? The boys were cooperating and having fun together. I love it!

Ephraim is especially into puzzles right now. Most of the time he does not want Jacob to help him because he can do it by himself! So it was nice to see them doing this together.

Ephraim is actually really good at puzzles. Especially for a two year old. He can put together this 60 piece "firetruck" puzzle by himself. He will put a puzzle together and then take it apart and do it all over again ("Let's do it again!"). I am constantly going downstairs to our pile of puzzles to get him a different puzzle to work on!

I actually really enjoy puzzles too. Maybe one day in the near future we can all do some larger puzzles together!

Today we were a bit off our routine. It was President's  Day, so we didn't have preschool. Daddy was supposed to have the day off, but he had some stuff he needed to get done at work. So he went to work and the boys and I just hung out at home. I think I did about 4 loads of laundry today. It was crazy.

I tried to keep the boys amused during the day as well, which is no small task. Sometimes we break out games or even my camera. Here is Ephraim after insisting that I take his picture. I like that he is sitting on the couch with his "rocket blanket", which is definitely his favorite one.

Here is Jacob showing you his fish face. What a silly boy!

Then when Daddy came home we spent a relaxed evening together in the family room. One thing that I think is hilarious is when the boys watch Daddy play games on his phone. They especially like to watch him play "Angry Birds".

I have to admit that we actually all enjoy playing Angry Birds. We have it on our Mac and the boys like to watch us play and beg us to let them play too. :o)

Maybe I am Nesting After All

Lately I have been working on a number of projects to get ready for our little daughter's arrival. One of the things that I have really wanted to make was a car seat canopy. I have seen them around and they are really nice because they keep your baby covered up and away from bad weather and people who tend to be too hands-on when the baby is little. I think it will be great if the baby is napping as well to keep them covered up so there are less distractions.

So here is the canopy that I ended up making for our daughter. Isn't it cute?

It attaches to the handle, but you can always flip the front backwards if you need access to the baby. I really like the fabric that I ended up with. Isn't it nice?

The funny thing is that this is the second canopy that I have made this month. When I made the first one, Joe didn't really love the fabric that I chose. He said it was fine, but I could tell he didn't like it at all. Even though I still think it is cute, I decided to give it to a good friend (who is also having a girl) and make one that Joe would like better, since he will be carrying around the carseat too. Here is the original canopy I made:

Cute, huh?

I have also been on a crocheting kick lately. I have been making hats and diaper covers for our daughter as well as to give away as gifts. I will admit that our daughter will not really need to wear a lot of these hats on a regular basis, but they will look great in pictures! I guess my Dad had me pegged when he said that I was really making "photo props"!

Here is a cute pom-pom hat. I wish you could feel the yarn! It is SO soft and fluffy.

I also used this yarn to make a hat similar to the one picture below, which I think turned out way cute. This one is not hard to make and I will definitely be making some of these as gifts.

Here is one of my favorite girly hats. I can make it in tons of sizes and put different colored flowers on it. So cute!

Here is some more of that funky, soft yarn. They were discontinuing this yarn at Roberts, so I got it for $1 a skein instead of $4! I probably should not admit that I ended up buying close to 20 skeins of yarn to make hats and diaper covers with!

One of my favorite types of hats is the bear hats that I have made. This pattern is easy, works up quickly and is so adorable! I have made a brown set, a white set, this black bear set (which I will probably give away). Since I took this picture I have decided to add a pom-pom to the back of the diaper cover, which makes it even more adorable!

These are just the hats I have made recently! Over Christmas I made several hats as well. Bear hats, cloche hats, hats with long tails and pom-poms. They are all so cute! I like to make hats because they don't take too long and I can feel like I've actually made something cute. I guess I will either have to start giving a bunch away, or start up an online shop and sell them. It is amazing what people will buy hats like these for! Either that or I could "rent" the hats out to photographers or use them if I ever get around to taking babies pictures myself. I guess time will tell! In the meantime, at least I am enjoying myself... and expect to see lots of pictures of my daughter wearing cute hats!

Due Date Discovery

Hooray for good Doctor's appointments! On Tuesday I went to the doctor again and was all prepared with a record of how my blood pressure has been over the last couple of days. There wasn't even a need to show it to the doctor because my blood pressure was fine the first time they took it. Phew! That means no hospital visit or stress test for me this week!

That made it a lot easier for me to relax and have fun with preschool on Wednesday. I had the letter R, so we read books about robots and made some fun robots as our craft. Of course I was so busy that I did not get any pictures taken, but Jacob and Ephraim have been in love with a book I read called "Wendell's Workshop" ever since. I guess choosing "robots" as a topic was a good choice!

Ephraim's playgroup was cancelled (again!), which isn't unusual lately as everyone has been getting ill. Luckily Karyn offered to let Ephraim play at her house with Clara while I did preschool, which makes it a bit easier.

Speaking of Ephraim, I have been thinking about trying to get ready for his birthday as well as the day the baby will be born. As my due date creeps closer, I have been thinking about what day our daughter might actually be born.

Even though my blood pressure was good this week, I know that if my blood pressure goes up, they will want to induce me two weeks early. This isn't a huge problem, except for the fact that I am due on March 22nd. So my 38th week starts on March 8th.... and Ephraim's birthday is March 10th. It's not that having birthdays close is a huge problem, but I don't particularly want to be in the hospital on Ephraim's birthday, you know?

So as I was thinking about when my daughter would be born and about how I was induced early with both my boys I realized something.... I had to go back and look at some older blog posts to confirm it, but there is was! Three years ago Ephraim was due to be born on March 22nd!

So Ephraim and his sister share the same due date! How funny is that?

I wonder what else they will have in common?

p.s. Wasn't Ephraim a cutie?

Blanket Boy

Lately it has become more of a challenge to get Ephraim to take a nap. He tells me that he is not tired, but I don't believe him for one second. Mostly because he is usually only in his room for about 10 minutes before he is fast asleep, and he still sleeps for nearly 2 hours in the afternoon.

So when Ephraim told me he didn't want to take a nap this afternoon, I knew he needed to, especially since he had been sick. When I went to check on him to make sure he was asleep, this is what I found.

Ephraim had fallen asleep on the floor with his blankets and pillow. What a silly boy! I thought it was so cute that I had to go get my camera and take his picture.

Ephraim's cough is getting better, as is Jacob's. Hopefully we will all be healthy when the baby arrives next month!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a really fun Valentine's Day at our house this year.

Since the boys were both coughing, on Sunday we decided to only take them to sacrament meeting. That way they would not catch anything else or get anyone else sick. When the boys and I came home from sacrament meeting I put Ephraim to bed and then Jacob and I started working on his Valentine's. Here is what we made:

Jacob really enjoyed making rockets with me and I think they turned out pretty well!

Then I finished my preparations for preschool. Yep! We had preschool at our house on Valentine's Day, which was so much fun. I read books about Valentine's and we played some fun games. In an effort to stay relaxed and keep my blood pressure low, I had Karyn come over and help me. Turns out it was a good thing she did because Ephraim had an accident just as we were about to get started. Ugh! So I got to clean him up. But after that everything went just fine.

One thing that we did was decorate and eat heart-shaped sugar cookies. Of course I was so busy that I didn't get a lot of pictures. I did manage to catch Ephraim eating his cookie. What a cutie!

The kids had all brought Valentine's to exchange, so for our craft I made some cute heart shaped baskets/holders out of paper plates and let the kids decorate them and write their names on them. I thought they turned out really well.

We let them each give out their Valentines one at a time, which was fun. Then we even had the presence of mind to take these pictures. So here is Jacob's preschool class:

From left: Micah, Jacob, Ephraim, Stephen, Sofi, Katelynn and Clara (Ephraim's friend).

I think the kids all had a fun day at preschool.

Besides preschool, we had a good Valentine's Day. First of all, while I was at work on Thursday night something appeared on the wall of my bedroom:

Isn't that the sweetest thing ever? The sign says "I will always keep falling in love with you". I did not notice it on Thursday night, but when I woke up on Friday I spotted it right away. When I asked Jacob about it he told me, "yeah. Daddy put it up while you were gone last night but we aren't supposed to tell you about it." How funny.

Then on Monday morning before preschool there were several Valentine's gifts on the table. The first of which were some yummy chocolates from Grandpa Devereaux. He got a box for all of us, which the boys thought was pretty cool!

There were also some surprises on the table, like this little green clean machine. We have wanted one for a while to spot clean our carpets, and Joe found a good deal on one at Costco. Thanks Love!

There was also a rice cooker for me. We have been meaning to get one so we can buy all different kinds of rice instead of just instant (like brown rice, jasmine rice, long grain rice, etc). It is cheaper to buy plain rice, and it won't be hard to cook because the rice cooker knows just how long to cook it. It will even delay cook the rice for me so I can tell it when I want it to be done. Too cool!

The only thing that was a bummer about Valentine's Day was that Joe was teaching his class at UVU, since it was Monday night. So he didn't get home until late. But I did get to talk to him and text him throughout the day, which was fun.

We had a good day. I can't wait to try out my rice cooker and the carpet cleaner! I am sure that we will eat up our yummy chocolate in no time as well!

Ephraim's Pneumonia (and Bath Time)

For the past couple of days I have been trying to eat right and do everything I can to keep my blood pressure low. This includes eating a little dark chocolate each day, squeezing my "stress zebra" and trying to eat right and rest enough. I also have borrowed a blood pressure cuff from Brenda so I can take my blood pressure at home. That way I can show the doctor that my blood pressure is actually lower at home. Hopefully this will all help me stay away from the hospital until it is time for the baby to come!

In the meantime, I have actually been back to the doctor's office, but not for me! As I mentioned earlier, Ephraim has had a cough since last Sunday night. We were treating his symptoms and he seemed to be doing ok. Then on Thursday I noticed that he seemed a little warmer to me and quite a bit more tired.

So Friday morning when he woke up and told me he just wanted to lay down on the couch, I knew something was wrong. Ephraim is not a sit-down kind of boy! So I decided to take his temperature and was more than a little concerned when I got a reading of 102.2 degrees. So I called my pediatrician's office to talk to a nurse. There is so much illness going around that I ended up waiting over 1/2 hour to talk to a nurse, but I didn't want to go to the doctor's only to have them tell me "it's just a virus, there's nothing we can do" and then send me home.

This time they told me to bring him in because a fever is an indication of a possible infection on top of the cold virus. So I dropped Jacob off at the Randalls (thank you Melinda!) and took Ephraim to the doctor. He was actually quite funny at first and told the receptionist and everyone he saw that he did not want to get a shot. It cracked me up! But he quickly lost steam. They were so busy that even though our appointment was at 10 am, we didn't see the doctor until sometime after 10:40 am. I know this because Ephraim actually fell asleep cuddled up on my lap in the exam room. Poor guy.

They took his temperature and it was 102.6 degrees, which is pretty scary if you ask me. Then when he got checked out they told me that it appeared that Ephraim had pneumonia. That scared me even more! Luckily he was breathing fine and seemed to be doing ok. I got a prescription for antibiotics and ran to Wal*Mart to get it filled. I ended up waiting for about 1/2 hour to get the prescription as well. What a long morning!

By the time I got Ephraim and Jacob home on Friday, it was lunchtime. Ephraim didn't really want to eat, but I did get him to take his medicine and some milk. Then all he wanted to do was sleep! Poor boy.

The antibiotics worked wonders though and by Saturday evening Ephraim seemed a lot better. He still has a cough, but no more fever. Jacob actually has a cough now as well, but we are watching him to make sure he doesn't get a fever and he seems fine so far.

Today we decided just to take the boys to sacrament meeting. The doctor told me that Ephraim was only contagious when he had a fever and he really wanted to go to his "big class" as he calls it, but we didn't want him catching anything else. It is especially hard to keep the kids from catching viruses in nursery where they play with toys and have their hands on everything. So after sacrament meeting this morning I brought the boys home and we all lay down to rest.

Since we have church in the afternoon, sometimes we give the boys baths on Sunday morning. They enjoy playing in the water and it helps pass the time for them so they don't get too restless. Here are some cute pictures I took of them in the tub.

Ephraim kept telling me he didn't want me to take his picture, and then asking me to show him the pictures I took. What a character!

When Ephraim sat up he had a bunch of bubbles on his head. I thought it was really cute. This is the only picture I got before...

he touched his hair with his hands. Oh well! He's still cute.

Jacob did the same thing and we were all laughing at the bubbles on his head.

I love my boys and I sure hope we can get them healthy before their little sister is born next month! It is not fun for them to be coughing and tired, and it is definitely not fun for their mommy either. Luckily I am feeling fine and hopefully that keeps up as well!

Silly boys

This morning I gave both the boys baths. When Jacob got out of the tub I told him to go get dressed. I figured there would be no problem because he basically gets dressed by himself every morning. Then after lunchtime Jacob went to the bathroom. He came up to me with a funny look and his face and told me, "Mommy! When I got dressed this morning I forgot to put on underwear! I haven't had any underwear on all day!" Apparently he had gone commando all morning! Silly boy. So I told him to go put some underwear on!

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Last week we had playgroup, and Ephraim had a great time at his friend's house. When it was time to leave he really did not want to go home. As we were going out to the van he was throwing a bit of a fit. Teasingly I said to him, "Poor Ephraim, your life is over!" To which he replied, "No. My life is boring." That made me laugh so hard!

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As I walked past Jacob and Ephraim's room I overheard the two of them telling each other knock-knock jokes.
Jacob: "Knock-knock. Now you say, 'who's there?'"
Ephraim: "Who's there?"
Jacob: "Garbage truck"
Ephraim: "Garbage truck, who?"
Jacob: "Garbage truck eats your banana peels!"
To which they both laughed like it was the funniest joke they had ever heard! What a pair of nuts.

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Whenever we are at the church and Ephraim is thirsty, he tells me, "Mommy, I need a drink at the drinking mountain." This never fails to make me smile!

Hello Snow, Goodbye Doctor!

This morning we woke to find a couple of inches of snow on the ground. Luckily Joe was planning to take the morning off to watch the boys while I went to my doctor's appointment. He waited to shovel the snow until after the boys were up and ready. Needless to say the boys were excited to go out and help shovel. Good thing too, because at 8 months pregnant, I am definitely not very helpful!

Jacob loves to shovel and be Daddy's helper. He does a pretty good job. Ephraim on the other hand is a little bit more of a wanderer. He wants to help too... for a little while.

It probably didn't help that Ephraim has had a bit of a cough and a runny nose ever since Sunday night/Monday morning. So far he doesn't have any croup symptoms, so hopefully it is just a cold that will go away quickly.

Aren't my boys so cute all bundled up? In the picture of Jacob below you can even see Daddy shoveling the sidewalks in the background.

The boys got tired of helping after a little while and wanted to play in the back yard. Here is Jacob making a snow angel.

It was actually cold enough that the boys didn't last long outside. By the time I was ready to leave for my appointment, they both were ready to come inside. Even Mount Timpanogos was looking chilly this morning!

This week my doctor's appointment was a little disappointing. They took my blood pressure twice. The first time my top number was a little high and the second time my bottom number was a little high. Bummer!

The doctor wanted to send me to the hospital for a non-stress test, but I told him I didn't really want to go. I am convinced that my blood pressure is fine when I am not at the doctor's office, and besides which this was my first "high" blood pressure of this pregnancy (and it was just barely too high).

So the doctor told me that I could come back in a week and if my blood pressure is high at that appointment, then they will send me to the AF hospital for a non-stress test. I said that would be fine with me. The doctor also said that if I have another high blood pressure, chances are they will want to induce me at 38 weeks instead of 39 weeks. So I sincerely hope I can lower my blood pressure by next week because my 38th week starts on March 8th and Ephraim's birthday is the 10th! I don't especially want to be in the hospital for Ephraim's birthday!

So hopefully we can wait until March 15th for the baby to come, which is when my 39th week starts. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens! In the meantime I am supposed to try to "take it easy" or as Joe suggested, "slow down a little bit". I guess we'll see if I can figure out how to do that with two boys, laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, preschool, chauffeuring, and all the other stuff I usually do.

Who knew being a mom was so much work? (actually, I did!) I guess my house may not be as clean as I would like and I may have to let some things slide for a while.