Happy Easter

Hope that all of you readers had a happy Easter weekend! We started the celebrating the weekend before Easter. We took the boys to see "Hop" which they both enjoyed. It had some pretty good music & I think they both liked Easter Island (which is where all the CANDY is made for Easter :). We let the boys open their Easter baskets from both of their sets of grandparents. Our children don't want for anything~ if anything I would call them slightly spoiled! Then I worked Easter weekend, but luckily it was a quiet weekend. I was blessed with the day off on Sunday so we got to spend the day together. The boys & I dyed Easter eggs together. Here's Tristan learning how to dye Easter eggs. He didn't care for the egg holder, it just went right into his mouth. Notice the yellow-green fingers, and lips~ silly boy! He must think vinegar tastes good, because he tried to taste a few of the colors. He would roll the egg with his fingers, dip them in the color and then look around before licking them off. He thought he was pretty funny!


William is an egg dying pro. He strongly believes that he should get as much color on each egg as possible. He did a great job, and had a great time doing so. William is wearing his favorite outfit in these pictures. He is totally a three year old boy and prefers to wear as little as possible. Of course we have the weather on our side now, as he loves to be outside, and obviously has to wear clothes to be outdoors.


The end result: Eight beautiful eggs!

We had blueberry pancakes and ham for Easter brunch. Of course there were a few pancake bunnies after I asked if that was what he was making us! We were very lucky to be able to have breakfast all together~ and to have Jeremy cook for us!

Then the boys got to search for their easter eggs in the backyard, they had a blast! This was Tristan's first year finding eggs, but he caught on pretty quickly. He was very interested in what was in each egg so he had alot less eggs in his basket than William. He was really proud & happy when he found the last few eggs though. Tristan got the biggest smile for the egg that looked like a soccer ball, and he put it right down to kick it. William remembered what to do and after some encouragement was helping Tristan pick up eggs. William was really proud of all the eggs he crawled around to find! And really excited for CANDY!!






We spent the afternoon hiking at WhiteWater State Park. It was a beautiful day. Finally it may be springtime!!





Before bed the boys found their Easter baskets, making that #4 for each of them. Oh yeah there was plenty of candy, toys and books to be had for all. They were both excited about their new superhero t-shirts and videos, turns out the Easter bunny has good taste!
So all in all it was a lovely day that we weren't expecting to be spending together which made it even more special. Hope you also had a blessed Easter.

Hiking Fun

We took our first hiking trip out at WhiteWater State Park this spring. We had a great trip. Now if Spring would only come to stay! This time Tristan was very interested in everything & enjoyed running around and exploring after he was released from the backpack. He loves the ride & doesn't complain at all, but has finally decided it is fun to move around on his own. William is alot more daring this year & thought we should take the "shortcut" down the hill, which is basically a ravine you could fall down. You would quickly get to the bottom, but I'm pretty sure that's not a preferred trail there! He was not so easily convinced otherwise. He also likes to walk a few steps and then jump, so I nearly had a million heart attacks. Jeremy would probably say I was over reacting, but I really prefer none of us take the "shortcuts" down the hill!
A hike down memory lane



I thought the last time we had been hiking at WhiteWater State Park was last fall, but apparently it was the beginning of May 2010. It doesn't seem that long ago but here are two pics from almost a year ago! I don't usually post pics where I look so terrible, but I guess at least I can say it was a year ago. This was our first time hiking with both boys. My crazy husband carried Tristan in the Bjorn & William in the backpack. I did end up carrying William because he had fallen asleep & I didn't want to wake him to put him in the pack. It was a short nap and he was back to running along with us. What a difference a year makes!

Obviously I can't believe how quickly time goes by! A few words about the kids for those of you wondering:
Tristan is now 15monts old. I don't think that's even possible but we were in for his checkup so I guess it's for real! He weighs 28lbs, but has been that heavy for the past 4 months. He's a great eater, but is becoming a toddler and doesn't eat everything in front of him. If he likes what he's offered, he can eat as much as his Mamma(and usually way more than his brother) but if he doesn't, the plate will promptly be dumped on the floor. He can say a few words, Mamma, Dadda, All done, NONONO. Sometimes it feels like I am saying the last word continuously between him & his brother, I have to try to say it in other words. He's really taken off walking this month & can even stagger a run. Tristan aka"the terror" loves to empty everything, take things apart, and pick things up again. He is happy and always laughing. He may have gotten my sarcasm though because he laughs at some bizarre things. He is going to be our super villian and loves the movie Despicable Me....he just can't stop laughing, it's too cute.

William is three and a half already.....crazy! He's very three years old. Any of you with 3yr olds know exactly what I mean! His vocabulary has bloomed this year. He doesn't hesitate to tell you exactly what he wants, even though it's unlikely that he's going to get it. This month he LOVES the toystore, but is still upset that we forgot Captain America's sisters (aka fellow superheroes) there. Even when I explain we left them there on purpose, it's not the end of it. He is going to be Spiderman, Iron Man or a PowerRanger when he grows up. Only when he's not using his superhero powers he's going to be wearing a stethoscope? I'm not sure about that, he doesn't truly understand what I do when I go to work, and he does NOT like the doctor (even though the nurses give the shots :). His favorite color is green, but don't buy him anything green because that really means he LOVES red. William is excited for spring so he can play tball & soccer in the backyard.

Jeremy and I are doing well. Mostly working & living the life with the kids. We are so blessed. We are excited for spring so we won't be cooped up in the house all day long, everyday! Maybe sometime soon! Hopefully it won't be so long before the next update but I can't promise anything.

Icefishing

IMG_3091, originally uploaded by annette_dauner.

January 2011. That's crazy. Here's my three favorite boys out for our first icefishing trip. The boys were good, the fishing not so much. Good times! Good thing it hasn't been more than half of a year since I have been here. There obviously isn't enough time to update you on everything that's gone on. At least not in this update! Hopefully this year I will be visiting here much more frequently. And you all too! Thanks for continuing to check in on us! I will be back again to tell you more :)

Time flies when you're having fun!!

Well I would start with, oh my gosh is it April already? But it looks like I used something too similiar for February! I can't believe that was two months ago already. It's true, time definitely does pass faster the older you get!

What can I say about William?? He's TOTALLY TWO. That's for sure. We've been working on potty training and he has his good and bad days. When he decides he wants too, it will be done like that. So far we spend alot of time and energy trying to convince him it's a good idea, but he's usually not so sure. Unless it gets him out of going to bed, or timeout and then he's totally potty trained. Haha if only that wasn't totally true!! It's amazing how quickly children learn how to use things to their benefit. William is enjoying the warm weather....we've taken a few walks, and he's had his trike out a few times. He loves it outside and it really wears him out to play so hard. William's had kind of a rough winter with the respiratory flu bugs. He is just recovering with his third episode of febrile respiratory bugs. This last one ended up as an ear infection....his first one ever. Thankfully some antibiotics are helping to make him feel like a new man. He's still a pretty good eater but has his days. Sometimes he'll eat as much as I do and sometimes he'll get up in his chair, look at his plate, and say "Um, NO!" and get back down. He has a new friend in our house....it's the time out chair. It can be any chair in any room of the house depending on where he's throwing things or hitting people. It's hard because he looks so pitiful sitting down in it but we really only give him timeout for purposefully doing something we've told him not to, which could usually cause harm to somebody else. This last few weeks have been especially trying as I went back to work, and then we all got sick, so nobody had much patience. He is typically a very active, fun, happy little boy. When did my oldest baby turn into a boy? I must have blinked!

Tristan is turning into our little chunk. He weighed 16lb 9 oz at the Dr last week, and he's only 3 months old! I said "At this rate pretty soon he'll weigh as much as William!" and the nurse said that actually isn't uncommon by the time the baby's a year old! Crazy. Tristan is: an awesome eater, obviously. If I had posted this last week he would also be an awesome sleeper, but that's on vacation this week as he's caught Will's respiratory bug. I swear our dr thinks I'm stalking her as often as we've been in the past 10 days! He's got bronchiolitis, which makes babies breathe faster and harder than normal. He has a terrible cough with this round, which makes it even worse. He can't keep his paci in his mouth coughing until he's retching. I think he's finally turning the corner, and will be breathing easy again soon. Tristan is a very HAPPY baby. He's full of smiles and laughs. He loves to look at his brother and almost always ends up giving a heart breaking smile to him. They sure love each other! Tristan has found his hands. He likes to chew on the top of his left hand. He's often found watching people with his hands held together across his big round tummy. He also enjoys watching our new big TV....it's terrible, they shouldn't learn our habits quite so fast! Tristan is turning into quite the little chatterbox...cooing, and making sounds, it's lots of fun having chats with him. Just for grandma~ NO he is not eating pizza & cake yet...sorry! Don't leave him on any flat surface on his tummy because he'll roll over, or off in about five seconds....he does NOT love tummytime :) Tristan is generally a very happy pleasant baby, and a beautiful addition to the family!

I myself have almost been back to work for a month. That doesn't even seem possible! It doesn't even feel possible either, but mostly because I did miss a whole week sick with the boy's illness. That was most unpleasant to say the least. I was nervous to be back at work, but it was alot like coming home. I fit right back in, and some days it doesn't feel like I was even gone. I sure enjoy my job caring for other people's sick kids. I hope that my husband isn't going crazy as this was my first week of night shifts since coming back, and both of the boys have been awakening alot at night since they're not really feeling well. I love my children dearly but have to admit it was good to get out of the house. And for those of you who know me, that's how much fun it was being trapped at home with them (or at the dr) all last week....I'm excited to go to work on a night shift. That is how much fun it was. Anyways thankfully we're all starting to feel better!

Jeremy is doing well. I'm not sure how he managed to miss the flu bug, but I think it's totally unfair. But I guess one of us had to be well & continue working. He was a little sad to see the ice melting on the lakes, but has already commented on taking the canoe out fishing. I'm not sure what I think about that. I just commented back how much fun it will be to take the two boys out & be trapped on a lake with them....priceless I'm sure!

I hope that everybody is enjoying this spring weather, it's been such a bizarre year! Sending happy Easter wishes out to everyone. I hope you get to spend some quality time with your families! Thank you for continuing to check in on us! Sorry it takes me so long to update! Maybe next time it won't be as long, but I can't make any promises....Hugs to you all!