2019 :: 13/52

Tova: she's so smart, she'll grab her hat and then pat her head to say she wants it on, I say "you wanna take a bath?" and she'll go right in the bathroom to the bathtub, her favorite plaything right now is a small bucket full of little people farm animals, she waves to everyone we pass when out and about, in the morning when I bring her out to the living room she'll wave to trevor before she even sees him,

Trevor: loves to tell jokes, his favorites are why did the chicken cross the road ones, he comes up with/remembers some funny phrases and says them at the right time like "that's interesting,"

the weather was so nice this week! it was also trevor and the whole eau Claire school district's spring break. Monday morning after breakfast and after we got dressed, we drove over and picked up Camdyn to come play at our house all day. it was wonderful having him; cam and trevor played a ton of games, we played outside twice, and Camdyn was very patient with trevor! the boys played hard all day long! they dug a snow tunnel, made a snowman, and shoveled more of our snow trying to get the big piles to melt. Matt came to pick up cam about 445p, we rested for a bit (tova was napping) then the kids and I went to matt & Jodi's for supper. Al ended up coming home early from work about 9ish getting a migraine so he went down and went to bed right away.

Tuesday morning we did the same thing except we picked up chloe instead of Camdyn. trevor and chloe did some crafts, played dress up, played some other things. after lunch and some more play, the 3 kids and I walked over to Jodi's to play with the daycare kids and drop off chloe. we walked back home about 4ish for tova's 2nd nap. Al worked at 1pm but ended up coming home about 6ish not feeling well: weak and chills. he slept the whole night.

Wednesday morning we were all supposed to head to the north shore (MN) and stay at superior shores that we go to every spring, but Al still wasn't feeling well. he had a fever off and on and was on the pot a lot. so the kids and I went on our own. it was a beautiful day! we grabbed lunch in superior, stopped at the beach in Duluth (which had ice shards over the whole lake, kinda cool!) where only trevor and I got out since tova had just fallen asleep. then we headed up to silver bay (past our condo in two harbors since tova was still sleeping! she actually slept in the car!! and it was an hour!) we tried to see my grama in silver bay but she was napping. so we went to the thrift store we like there, went to the beach up there to pick rocks (the lake was completely open there) then went back to see grama but didn't get to see her then either. we headed back towards two harbors with a stop at gooseberry falls to see the waterfalls. check in at the condo was exhausting with just me and two kids; I had tova in the carrier. had to check in, grab a cart, load all our stuff on it, up to the room, unload our stuff, cart back down, move the car to the parking lot, then back in, all with both kids in tow. :) we had supper and hung out in the condo the rest of the night; tova had an early bedtime due to just one, hour long nap. trevor and I played some uno while looking at the beautiful view/lake.

Thursday morning, we had breakfast, I packed up most of our stuff, we went swimming at the pool. tova liked the water but mostly just wanted to climb the stairs and then she'd slip at the top. there was a little kid pool and a big pool, we spent time in both. trevor had his lifejacket on so he swam in the big pool by himself (with his water frisbee he picked out) for a bit and then would jump in when tova and I were in the pool with him. it was fun but we didn't last too long. then back to the room for baths, dressed, a snack, and a little down time before we packed up and headed out. tova again slept for an hour on the drive so we made it to rice lake (an hour from home) before we had to stop! we stopped for lunch and bathroom breaks then headed home. Al was feeling a little better but was napping when we got home. after supper, trevor and I ran to the library quick to get some more books.

Friday Al was supposed to work but was still on the pot a bunch so he called in sick. the kids and I were going to head to mom's house but put that off until Saturday morning so we could spend time with Al. after lunch, trevor and I ran to the playground to play for a bit. after that we had some much needed dada time.

Saturday morning, bright and early, the kids and I drove up to the cities to my cousin maren's house. mom was already there; we were watching tula and etta for the day while maren and uncle jimmy went to the hospital to be with nick, again. nick had heart surgery on march 22nd and the surgery went well but his body has not been recovering well. he's been sedated to some form or another since then but is slowly making progress. maren has been going to the hospital every day, almost all day since then. her brother kai was here from California watching the girls until Friday, so we got them on Saturday. the kids had fun and mom and I cleaned maren's house and did little things like laundry, washed sheets, vacuumed, etc. Tyler came about lunch time and brought us all dairy queen, tova and etta played, and trevor and tula played. maren and jimmy got home about 5; the kids helped mom make homemade pizza, then we gave tova & etta a bath, followed by trevor & tula. we left for mom's about 7p. it was a long but great day!

sunday we were just kind of lazy at mom's all morning and left after tova's nap, after 2. we missed Al as he worked at 3 but we had a good night. I got everything unpacked, we had supper, played, watched a movie, then books and bed. Tova did one long nap both Saturday and sunday!!

playing star wars guys

trevor, cam, tova

tiny converse chucks

bucket of balls

ahhhh sunshine

digging a tunnel

snowman

picnic with chloe

lake superior had ice shards/covered in duluth

but open lake further north in silver bay

she loved playing with the rocks too!!!

gooseberry falls

trevor wanted a picture in front of this guy :)

lake superior sunrise!

tova's newest comfort thing is one thumb in mouth, other hand twirling her ponytail :)

 Etta and Tova :)

 helping nana decorate for easter

 so proud that she's in the rocking chair 

 she loves to brush her teeth

little bucket head

2019 :: 12/52

Al was off Monday and Tuesday and it was nice out, in the 40s! trevor had school but we went out early for his bus both days and shoveled some snow away from the house and into the driveway to melt while tova napped. although tova didn't nap long (we're trying to get her to one nap but with teething we're trying to also be flexible) due to coughing. she'd cough a bunch and eventually wake herself up and start talking and singing. I'm pretty sure the coughing is just due to the awful runny nose due to teething. we also all played outside after I picked up trevor from school. his bus goes by well after we're home and they always honk and wave when we're outside. trevor loves running through the puddles, shoveling and is back riding his bike although we had to raise his seat quite a bit. he's hoping to learn to ride without training wheels this summer but he's not ready yet. tova loves walking around outside and just being outside. she walks around holding her sweatshirt or jacket or snow pants, and if anyone is getting ready to leave, she'll grab her jacket and/or hat. Tuesday after school, once we were ready to go in, I finally let her walk through the puddle like brother and she was so proud even though her feet were frozen as she was only in her little leather walking shoes.

Monday night after the kids had dinner and I helped get them in pj's, I went to dinner with jodi, Kassie, and Jodi's mom Deb. we've done this girl's night Mexican dinner before and it was a good time again! Tuesday after trevor got on the bus I got to go pick out tova's first year pictures finally and they're so cute! i'll hopefully have them by Friday. then Tuesday night, once the kids were in bed I went over and helped jenny and kyle pack up their kitchen!

Wednesday morning, the kids and I went to the children's museum and the library before school. we had fun at the children's museum and made it quick at the library since tova was getting tired and hungry.

Thursday morning we went to Jodi's house to play before school. it was costume day at school so trevor wore his batman costume again and was pretty excited for it (he actually wore it all day.)

Friday Al was off work, then he worked Saturday (picked up a shift for someone) and the was off sunday. it was super nice out so we spent lots of time outside! we also shoveled a lot of snow trying to get our from-the-roof piles smaller and melting off my plants. even after multiple over 40 degree, sunny days we still have a lot of snow left.

Saturday morning the kids and I built a big fort over the table. then we ran to pick up a few things I bought from a lady. then home for snack before tova went down for nap. unknowingly, she ended up taking an almost 3 hour nap! her first day with just one, long nap instead of two! her 3rd molar also popped through (just one corner of it) this day. the 4th, bottom one is not far behind it so she was drooling and runny nose a lot. the kids and I got for a walk Saturday and sunday; we shoveled the back a bunch with Al both days too. Saturday after Al left for work, we tried to drive and find a playground to play at but they are all still so snow covered which is hard for tova to walk on, so we scratched that plan. we came home and played outside.

sunday once Al was up, tova was up and we'd had lunch, we all ran to menards. once home we went out back to shovel some more and play. tova loved going down the slide with trevor and I got out her baby swing which she giggled while swinging in.

 I was making lists so trevor wanted to make lists too.

his are food related and he sounded out the words himself.

"big mac & cheese, taco, rice, hamburger" and

"taco bell, Chinese, hangar 54"

 got our free ice cream cones from dairy queen

 sitting at the snack table with the big kids at Jodi's house :)

 she gives good, lips way out there kisses now

 little bear at Irvine park

 running on jenny & kyle's new deck

 trevor and klare

 batman and a fort

 batman at menards

 so much snow still even after working hard at it for 2 afternoons in a row plus melting temperatures...