Monica's big girl bed

This past week we decided that Monica was old enough to be moved out of her crib into a toddler bed. At first when she saw daddy taking down her crib she was very concerned. She kept coming into the living room to report in her gibberish language what daddy was doing. Then when we brought up the toddler bed her eyes lit up and she got very excited. She is growing up so fast! The first nap time was a little rough as she tried to test the boundaries but she has been doing great since then. She loves that she can get in and out of bed by herself, just like big brother. Oh sweet daughter of mine, another mile stone has been reached.

Sweet Monica Marie

Which do you like better?


Movie Star Monica... or

Rock Star Monica??? Cast your vote in the comment section.

Out for a Stroll

It is finally warming up here. It is going to be 50 degrees tomorrow, I am so excited. On Saturday I took the kids out of a stroll around campus. It was such a nice night. I took the camera along and snapped a few shots of the kids.

Monica the observer

I started watching Eva and Zachary again at the beginning of January. Monica has been very curious about the new baby. Today she took the bumbo (which she knows she is to big for but is now interested in it because of the baby) and sat it right in front of Eva and just stared at her until Eva woke up. It was really funny to see Eva's reaction to this person just staring at her. Monica has also made sure to be right behind me every time I am tending to the baby and watching my every move. It is cute to see her so intrigued by the baby.

For those of you who do not live in Michigan...

...this is the kind of weather we are dealing with. I am thinking of going into hibernation.

The Trio

Who needs to be scared when you have super heroes around?

Daniel Sledding

Here is a video of Daniel sledding down a set of stairs outside our apartment building. This was after one of those big snow storms we had. This gives a little bit of an idea of how much snow we have had so far this winter.

Monica dancing and playing

Monica loves her fridge phonics toy she got for Christmas this year. Here is a video of her playing with it. She loves the push the button and then dance to the music. Enjoy!

Monica learning to use chop sticks

Random Pictures from the past 2 weeks

Well here I am trying to update what has been going on here for the past couple of week. We had a wonderful Christmas day. We got to share Christmas with my parents via Skype. I really enjoyed being able to share our Christmas morning with them. Then after we skyped with my parents we got on with Brandon's parents as well. The kids got a lot of fun presents. Thanks to all who helped spoil my kids this Christmas.

Daniel got two superhero outfits. He got Iron Man from my parents and Batman from Uncle Randall. He also got batmobile from Aunt Andrea and family, which he says is "really super cool" and is his favorite Christmas gift. Daniel was looking for a superhero sidekick so we put Monica in the Iron man costume. She looked so cute!

Daniel as Iron Man. In the background is Monica's favorite toy, her "Melmo" (Elmo)
Monica got a shopping cart from Babu and ShoSho. She and Daniel both have loved playing with this.
We did a lot of cookie decorating this Christmas. Monica wanted to help decorate the cookies, actually she just wanted to help eat the cookies!
Daniel did a great job decorating. He is getting so big!
Daniel wanted the empty wrapping paper rolls, and this is what he did when them. He wanted "super long arms." Just a note here with Daniel these days everything is "super" something. "Really super cool," "really super sorry," "really super hungry," "really super mad," you get my drift. It is "really super funny" listening to him say "really super" all the time.
This was our porch a couple of weeks ago after a big snow storm.
Monica and Daniel eating snow.

Daniel made an "igloo" out of snow.


Daniel visiting Santa before Christmas. Monica was not a happy camper and refused to sit on Santas lap so she is not in the picture. Maybe next year she would do better. More decorating! Here is Daniel with the neighbor kids decorating cookies.
Monica decided to put on her daddy's hat and she looked so darn cute!

My big boy

The last few days we have been pummelled with snow. We are going to have 10 more inches in the next couple of days. Today I told Daniel that I would give him a quarter if he would go out and shovel the porch. He was so excited, he went out and did his very best and earned his quarter. What a sweet kid!

Winter Weather

This morning we woke up and looked outside to see near blizzard conditions. The wind is blowing 40 MPH with a wind chill of -10, as you can imagine it is blowing snow causing major snow drifts and 0 visibility. We found out a few minutes ago that our church services have been cancelled because of the travel conditions. I thought I would share a few pictures of what our major highways look like right now.

Monica Marie

Tonight at dinner Monica kept wanting food from off my plate. I decided to try bribing her by telling her that is she took one bite of her food I would give her a bite of mine. She thought about it and then took a bite of her food, and then reached out for a bite of mine. I handed her a piece off my plate and immediately she spit out what was in her mouth and began to eat what I gave her. I thought to myself, well my 16 month old outsmarted me, she will not do that again. So the next time she put a piece of food in her mouth I made sure she swallowed it before she got a piece of mine. A little later during the meal she was still struggling eating her food, and I had finished everything on my plate. I told her that she needed to finish what mommy gave her. She kept grabbing for my plate. I thought, well it is empty so there is no harm in letting her have it, then I pushed my plate over toward her. She then proceeded to put everything off her plate onto my plate. When her plate was empty she gave me back my plate. Yes, I was once again outsmarted by my 16 month old. She is so smart and I love seeing her thought processes. What a darling blessing from God our Monica is!

BLIZZARD!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Dear friends and family. I am sorry that I have neglected to update my blog for almost 2 full weeks. Right now I am sitting here at 7:40 in the morning with the smell of my morning coffee filling the air thankful for my warm house. We are having a blizzard outside and it looks HORRIBLE. I am feeling sorry for anyone who has to get out in this to go to work this morning. We are supposed to get about a foot of snow, with snowfall so heavy at times it could fall an inch an hour. I really do not plan on going anywhere today. Last night Brandon and Daniel went to the store for me so we can hide until the storm is over.

I thought it might be a good time to give brief updates on the kids. Daniel is 4 1/2 and goes to preschool part time. I would love it if you would pray with us as we decide what to do for him next year regarding school. It seems that his speech teacher does not think he is ready for a regular kindergarden and has suggested a program for those who have speech problems. In the program they teach the children how to read and write full sentences by the end of Kindergarden. This in impresses me since are able to do this in spite of the kids having these handicaps. Even though Daniel has this speech problem he has so smart. He is such a handsome loving child. He is a great big brother and is very kind an gentle with his sister. He is always helping her get drinks, finding her passy, and playing games with her. He has really gotten into super heros lately and all day he is pretending to be someone else whether is is Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Larryboy, whoever. And while he is pretending to be these characters I have to address him by the proper name. Usually I will call "Daniel" and he will say "excuse me mommy I am batman." What a sweet way to say it! I love this kid.

Monica 16 months and is growing bigger everyday. She has a lot of personality and is so much fun to play with. It is very easy to make her giggle and her giggle could melt a heart of stone. She is very persistent and knows exactly what it is that she wants. When we finally figure out her request she will start laughing in excitement. She is starting to love playing with baby dolls. She really loves her big brother and always wants to do everything he is doing. Thankfully he is gracious about having a shadow.

I am very blessed to have two healthy children. I praise the Lord for giving me the opportunity to be a mother. I do not take the fact that I was able to have two children for granted. I know I am blessed!

"While you were sleeping"

As we enter this week of Advent I thought I would post this video and these lyrics by "Casting Crowns."


Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you're lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save

Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we're lying in the dark
There's a shout heard 'cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night

America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night

Monica Pouting

Here is a funny video of Monica pouting because she is out of juice. Instead of coming to me and asking "more please" she decided to "play charades" and pout and see how long it took me to figure out what she wanted.

Monica's love for going to bed.

Monica is a silly child. When Monica gets tired she loves to go to bed and nothing excites her more than the possibility of being able to lay down in a dark quiet place. Now of course when she is not tired she throws fits and refuses to lay down. Here is a video of the Monica right before bed last night.

Let it snow!

Well even though Winter has not officially began it sure feels like it. We have had very cold weather and it has been snowing quite a bit. On Sunday it snowed around 5 inches. Daniel loves to go out and play in the snow. He waits all spring, summer and fall just for there to be snow again. We took him and Monica out to play in the snow on Sunday afternoon. Daniel had a blast, Monica was just not sure what to think.