Happy Valentines Day!

Lots of love on Valentines this year! The night before, John took just the girls out on a special Daddy date...a mexican restuarant with cheese dip and then yogurt...the girls couldn't have been happier! On Valentines Day, we started off the morning with a breakfast of the girls' favorites--monkey bread (made in heart shaped muffin tins), rice krispies and "pink" milk! The kids got new beach towels for the special day, so they got to enjoy their breakfast as a little picnic on the new towels! Ella enjoyed her Valentines party at school and had a blast going through all of her sweet cards from her friends when she got home. Audrey's was the week before so she brought hers back out to check hers out too! We ended the evening with a heart shaped pizza and some ice cream!

Walker at 4 Months!

Happy 4 months Walker! He is just the happiest little thing and has really turned out to be my most "go with the flow" child. Everyone says the third has to be that way, but I truly believe that is the nature of his personality and I hope he is always as laid back as he is most of the time. He continues to grow right on schedule, despite the fact that everyone has to comment on how big he is. It is one thing for me to call him my "chunky monkey" but for other people to make comments like "Wow, he is huge" or "What are you feeding him" drives me crazy. I mean really, would you say those things to another person?

His stats at 4 months...
16 lbs., 5 oz (67%)
25 1/4 inches (57%)

At 4 months...

• Walker smiles...all the time. It melts my heart and I can't get enough of them.
• He has found his fist and tries to get the whole thing in his mouth to chew on it.
• He rolls from side to side but can't flip himself over all the way. I'm thinking it is only a matter of time.
• He loves riding in the Baby Bjorn which makes it fun to have him more a part of the action now.
• He is still a horrible sleeper at night.
• He squeals with excitement everytime his sisters come in to his sight.
• He loves to kick his legs.
• He'll spend quite a bit of time in the exersaucer which is a nice change to having to either be held or laying flat on the floor.
• Still no luck on trying to get this one to take a pacifier. I know that I will be glad when I don't have to wean him from it, but it sure would be nice in the middle of the night to have something to soothe him!

Can't believe how fast it is going and I can't imagine life without our little dude!

Duck Derby

The city has an annual duck derby where you can purchase little rubber duckies and decorate them and then race them through the lazy river at the Natatorium. It was our first year to participate, so we got two ducks for the girls to decorate. They had a blast "bedazzling" their ducks. We didn't win the best decorated (some people must have spent DAYS working on theirs), but we got a ribbbon for participating which made the girls happy! We can't wait until next year so Walker can participate too!

Audrey's Princess Peacock trying to take the lead...we came in second in her heat.

Ella's "Cutesy Patootsy" is the one in the center with the big pink feather.

Cutesy Patootsy...we tried to give her the Rapunzel look

Princess Peacock!

Spreading the Love

Our Sunday School class decided for our February Outreach event we would bring Valentines to a local Assisted Living center. The girls worked hard creating some homemade ones and then worked on a few coloring sheets too. We had an amazing turnout with 45 people (kids included) bringing all different valentines and goodies for the residents. They were so appreciative and loved seeing the kids. John and I were especially proud of Ella who was very excited about handing the valentines and sugar free candy out and was eager to make sure every single person received one! Only an hour of our time, but it was such a treat for us to get to spread a little Valentines love and teach our kids about serving. We can't wait to go back to visit again!

Ice Storm 2011 - Take 2

Another day off from school with the ice storm, but the girls had fun being explorers. Thankfully, the Valentines box from Mimi and Papa J arrived early, so the girls had fun with their headlights exploring the house in the dark and wearing their new summer pajamas (yes, it was 10 degrees outside). It is fun to have snow every once in a while, but today Ella started crying when she saw it because she really wanted to be able to go to school and dance!

What John Has Feared

Our house is filled with pink...and purple. We have Barbie dolls, baby dolls, purses and dress up clothes. We own every princess item they make and it is clear when we go into Target that Ella and Audrey have no interest in the "boy aisles."

When we found out we were having a boy, John envisioned the future of Walker's existence in a house full of big sisters. He would be dressed as Cinderella, be the guinea pig when the girls were practicing their makeup and would be forced to play with all the Barbie dolls that clutter the game room.

Today, it began. Ella found some pink pipe cleaners and fashioned them into a crown and placed them on Walker's head. You can see from his expression, it didn't phase him a bit. Poor guy.

Daddy and Kiddos

We had to get some pictures for the girls' upcoming Donuts with Daddy events at school and could not find many with just John and Audrey. It seems like when Audrey came along, John always ended up on the side of the table with Ella and I was with Audrey. Of course, Ella couldn't stand to not have her own picture with Daddy, so we made the rounds with all the kiddos!

Audrey has become one big Daddy's girl! She can not stand for him to go to work, leave the house, or get out of her sight at all!

Daddy's first girl

Superman with Super Daddy

Weekly Wrap up

It has been a fun time in Wedemeyer World lately! I feel like the routine of 3 kids is becoming more normal now, but it sure is much harder than I ever thought it would be! I am grateful though and every time I look at Walker, even at 2 in the morning when I haven't gotten much sleep at all, I can not imagine our family without him! Here's a few things that have been going on...

• John's vision of his "Man Cave" when we purchased this house has basically turned into a long lost dream for him. The media room has turned in to Game Room #2 for the girls and they love to build tents and have campouts in there. At the current moment is a gigantic Princess tent the girls got for Christmas from Gran-nan and Grandpa. The Man Cave has no look of manly in it right now.

"The Man Cave"

• The weather has gone from extremes of bitter cold to beautiful sunshine. I try to take advantage of the pretty days and let the girls get their energy out in the back yard. I can't wait for the day all three kids can be out there together having fun. On the sunny days, you will find Ella driving the Barbie Jeep with Audrey in the passenger seat. They will have both their umbrellas open as they fly around the backyard. I giggle every time I see them. They also love to practice with their jumpropes but can't figure out exactly how they work--it sure is fun though!

• The girls creativity still continues to amaze me. At church last week, Ella's teacher asked me "Who is the artist in your family?" I asked him what he meant and he said that Ella always drew the greatest pictures. She does and I am so proud of her. She has such a gift and really enjoys experimenting with the whole Crayola family of products...in her mind, the messier the better with her preferring markers and paint over crayons. Audrey is doing so great too and will copy almost any picture that Ella draws. Audrey is also starting to write her name and the other letters too...she wrote Walker on a piece of paper this week! They can turn a blanket into a superhero cape (see below) and a few chairs into a big schoolbus for their kids.

Princess Super Heroes!

• Walker is definitely becoming more a part of the action. He is sitting up more in his Bumbo seat and his exersaucer and will follow the girls around the room and laugh. In his mind, he has to be thinking, "Who dropped me off in this circus and how can I escape?" He smiles a lot more now and is still eating every three hours for the most part. A schedule, well, that is a different story. I just can't figure out how Kid #3 is supposed to be on a schedule when we've got 2 older siblings who have a bigger social life than me! :) I can't wait to see what his personality will be...I hope he will be a momma's boy since my two girls have all but abandoned me and only want their daddy!

Our happy boy!

• I had to share these pictures to prove the difference between my two girls. On one of the snow days, I got some paper plates out and let the girls paint. Ella's picture is on top and she said it was called "Caterpillar going to Visit a Friend on a Sunny Day." Audrey said her's on the bottom was called "Chicken and Rooster Fighting." It pretty much sums up their personalities if you don't know them well.

• I have tried to start reading more to get myself back into some sense of normalcy. My book club selected The Hunger Games - Yes, it is young fiction so basically I am reading something all those vampire loving teenagers like and as my friend Stacy mentioned, we can buy it at our kids' Scholastic book fair, but I will have to tell you, I loved the book. I loved it so much, that I read all three books in the trilogy within about 2 weeks and spent many hours that I should have been sleeping obsessed with finding out what would happen. So, if you need some fun reading...go to the "Young Adult Fiction" area and enjoy!
  
• Ella told us this week that she wanted to hug us so she could carry our love around with her. So sweet and such a real way to think about it. I need to hug my kids more. I need to hug my husband more. I need to hug my friends more so they can carry my love for them around with them.
• I'm looking forward to spring. I feel sorry for Northerners who have to live in cold for so much of the year. I guess they feel sorry for us in the summer, but that is what swimming pools are for!

Ice Storm 2011

We had another wild round of icy weather this week, this time keeping us in the house from Tuesday through Friday. The girls were getting over some coughs and an ear infection for Audrey, so it was probably the best for us to stay in and not spread the germs around town. The weather was too cold for the girls to even get out and play in the snow, so we had to think of lots of ideas to do around the house. We worked on our Valentines, did some crafts, watched some movies and pulled every toy out in the house!

We put together a fun castle and carriage made of cardboard that you could play inside and color all over. It was a lifesaver! The girls ate their meals in it, brought their baby dolls inside and had lots of fun drawing and coloring all over it! Ella asked me if I had something like this when I was a little girl and I told her "No, we used Refrigerator boxes instead." She looked at me like I was crazy.

The princesses enjoying their lunch in the castle!

Even Walker was allowed to enter the castle on his Bumbo throne.

We got out the exersaucer and Walker had a ball, despite his sisters being in his face all the time!

Mr. Blue Eyes