Sweet! I got a picture of Katie smiling AND looking at the camera... all at the same time!! This is a rare kind of picture these days. She was obviously happy to be playing outside :)

After doing errands this morning, I sent the kids outside to play. The weather was so beautiful! Tys is at a great age now where he can play outside by himself. Casey "kid proofed" the front yard so I don't have to constantly watch them ~ although I do check on them quite often :)

His favorite thing to do is dump rocks in Jesse's water dish and they both like to play with the toys in their "outside toy bin". With them outside, I can get lots done inside..... ahhhh, yes, it's going to be a great summer!

Trent got his first lesson in Tax Preparation 101 this morning. He didn't last long and wanted a nap instead ~ I don't blame him!

Katie couldn't fall asleep at her regular nap time yesterday afternoon.... so I let her get up and play for a while. Around 5 o'clock I found her asleep on the couch!

Katie's 3yr check up

We took Katie to Elko yesterday for her 3 yr check up. We recently switched to a new pediatrician and this was her first time to meet Dr Dinwiddie (we tried getting her to say his name but she was too shy!) This new doctor is SO much better than our old one and his interaction with us and Katie was awesome. She liked him right away and happily did whatever he asked her to do (something she had been having trouble doing for her parents all day long!) And, when Trent decided to projectile vomit his whole last meal all over the floor, the doctor was kind enough to stop and ask if we were o.k. :) Katie weighs 33 lbs and is in the 75% range for her height and weight. Luckily, this year she gets out of having any shots!

Thankfully, all three kids are feeling much better today! Katie and Tys' antibiotics are kicking in and even Trent doesn't seem to be so congested. He still has a little cold and cough left but, is doing much better now. My parents stopped by on their way out of town this morning (they're going to Reno for a few days) Trent had just woke up and was in a very happy mood ~ he was all smiles for us! Oh, and have you noticed that Trent is slowly losing his dark baby hair?

I began working out today.... something that I haven't done in a VERY LONG TIME!! It felt great (even if I'm already sore!) For now I'm going over to my parent's place and using their treadmill & stationary bike. Casey is in the process of buying us a used treadmill from a guy at his work and I'm pretty excited about that :) The big question is where are we going to put it in our already cramped place!!

Tys and Katie were feeling half way healthy yesterday so I sent them outside for a little fresh air. After about an hour they were "begging" to come in.... along with their little friend :)

Tys all dressed up and ready for church! He wore this suit for Trent's baptism and I thought he was SO handsome :) The size of the suit is 3T. That fit him perfect in the top but, was SO long in the bottoms (since he wears size 24 months in the bottom) I had to hem the bottom pant legs up quite a bit! Tys and Katie both are still fighting ear infections and colds. They've been pretty miserable and grumpy! Katie woke up at 5am this morning with a 103 fever; I was able to get her into the clinic today and she is now on antibiotics. Tys has been taking antibiotics all this week but it hasn't done anything for him. So I also took him back to the doctor and he's now on something different. Hopefully this helps them both and we're over the worse!! Also, Trent now has a little runny nose and a cough but, that's about it so far. I'm trying to keep him away from the other two so he doesn't get it any worse. It's been a long week and, thankfully Casey has been home this week to help me out (he begins night shifts tonight) I was able to "get out" yesterday and have lunch with my two friends, Zhanna and Sharla. That was lots of fun! Also, on Tuesday night Casey and I went on a dinner date for our anniversary/Valentines. Then, we went back to the same Mexican restaurant for dessert with friends ( we were all supposed to go to parenting class at church but, the DVD couldn't be found anywhere. So, we all skipped the class and went out for dessert!! ) It was a fun evening and hard to believe that we've already been married for 4 years... how fast time flies! I am so thankful to have such a wonderful, caring husband!!

sickness

It seems that 'the crud' is going around our house... Casey started it two weeks ago then, gave it to Tys. He ended up with double ear infections and has been on antibiotics since last weekend. Now, Katie woke up with a fever and cold yesterday and has been pretty miserable. And, I noticed this morning that Trent was coughing... sigh...I'm pretty sure I'll be next :)
I took Trent into the hospital this morning to see my mom. I wanted her to listen to his cough (which isn't too concerning at this point) We weighed him and he is 14 lbs 10 oz!!! Two pounds more than I thought.

Trent 2 months

Trent will be 2 months old tomorrow! He is more generous with his smiles these days and, is happy to hang out in his bouncy and listen to Katie and Tys play. I have found out that he DOES NOT like it when I eat chocolate (although, I can get away with a teeny, tiny bit!) and has a more sensitive tummy than Katie or Tys ever had. It's difficult to give up my chocolate but, something I don't mind doing for my sweet little guy :) For the first time last night Trent only woke up once and slept from 9 - 6:30. I'm hoping he'll keep that up!!

I'm not sure how much he weighs right now but am guessing from the clothes that he's wearing he weighs about 12 lbs. Check out those chubby cheeks!

A few more pictures from the weekend.... Tys and James had a great time playing together! Here they are having fun on the air mattress

Nate and Jerry ~ talking about the good 'ole days!

Tys and Uncle Nate

The guys ~ minus Tys. James is such a happy little guy!

Aunt Bernice and Trent

Bernice getting practice holding two kiddos! After May she'll be doing this more often :)

Our future musicians!

The only picture of Katie from the weekend ~ she is in the phase of NOT liking the camera. Her friend Caulin got to come over Sunday afternoon for lunch and to play.

Jerry, Bernice and James arrived on Saturday evening and, it was SO wonderful having them here for 2 days! With Nate and Joe here until Sunday afternoon as well, it was almost like old times (we were missing Marie!) It was so good to hear the guys sit around telling their old adventure stories and to see the kids having a fun time playing with their cousin, James. Too bad Tys was sick and not completely himself... on Monday morning my mom watched the kids and Casey took us on a tour of the chemical plant where he works. I've been to Dyno Nobel before but never on a tour so, it was great to see what Casey actually does at work (besides surf the internet and hang out with the guys in the control room!!) Here are a few pictures from our tour and I'll post more of the weekend soon.... Casey and Jerry in the Ammonia Nitrate plant

Casey explaining something to Jerry and Bernice... it was REALLY loud in there :)

This is the tower where the chemical is combined and showers down from the top. At the top of the tower you can see a plat form that goes all the way around the tower. He took us up there and we walked around... the view was amazing!

The elevator to the top of the tower was VERY old, small and rickety. I looked up and was surprised to see a section of the roof gone on the elevator. I asked Casey what happened and he said something broke so he took the section of roof off to reach up and fix it... "Um, I really didn't need to know that!" This was looking up to the top of the tower.

J & B inside the small elevator

This is Jerry and Bernice at the top.. you could see for miles!

Casey and I... I admit I was a little freaked out about walking around on a metal grate and being that high up. You could look down and see everything below!

This looks like snow or hail but it's really the prell... the finished product! It's the explosive part of the dynomite that's used in the mines.

They hold all of the prell in an igloo type building ~ this is ALOT of explosive!!

Just when you think things can't get any worse in your day, God decides to throw in a little more!

After a week long stay, my cousin Rebekah and Aria left this morning for home. That was at 6am and it left me just 12 hours to prepare for the arrival of Casey's brother and his family: Jerry, Bernice and James from Chicago (who are actually driving over from CA today) And, our good friend, Nate from Boise. Unfortunately, Tys began getting sick yesterday and was up half the night crying (add a nursing baby into the equation and I had approx 3 hours of sleep!) So, my day hasn't started off very well to begin with.... I had 12 hours to clean, do laundry and wash sheets, make a dessert, bath the kids and deal with a very sick little boy! Thanks to my awesome, helpful hubby I DID get a little nap too :) It was all going pretty well until about noon when I had to take Tys to the E.R. and had my mom/doc check his ears. Yes, he has double ear infections and is now on antibiotics. I then added a trip to the pharmacy in the afternoon... Anyhow, around 3 o'clock the kids were ALL down for naps (and Trent even got a bath!) I had dessert in the oven and had finished mopping the floor. Nate, Joe and Casey took off to do some errands and I was washing dishes when all of a sudden I heard a POP and then, there was no water pressure. "uh-oh" I thought, that can only mean one thing. I went to the bathroom and saw water gushing from the wall where the water tank was. Uggh!! A broken water pipe! Do you ever have one of those days when you just can't believe what is happening? I stood there in my soggy socks for a split second and thought "why Lord? why today"?? I called Casey, who was back home in 5-10 mins. but, in the mean time a huge pond began forming in the bathroom and was pouring down the heater vents. I used all our bathroom towels to make a barricade in the bathroom and hallway carpet (since this has happened before and the carpet had to be replaced throughout the whole house) The guys are shop-vaccing up all the water and I'll re-clean the bathroom... just in time for Jerry, Bernice and James to arrive!!

On a side note: Trent is on his third outfit of the day. When are they going to make diapers that ACTUALLY HOLD SOMETHING!!!!

To My Love

To: Lisa

My Desire

.

With sound words from my mouth

And, thy face beside another hand in hand,

I have loved thee.

.

When thy sweet voice and thy warm hand

Was far from me,

I have loved thee.

.

When land and time and man

Was against you and I,

I have loved thee.

.

As thy sweet lips first came to mine

Surrounded by His majesty,

I have loved thee.

.

While the devil has come to play

To make for him his own way,

I have loved thee.

.

In the strength of my body, the

Touch of my hand and the taste of my lips

I pray you know,

I do love the.

.

By the words that I speak and the

Walk that I take, I pray you know,

I do love thee.

.

With the gold on thy hand

And the jewels that glitter,

I do love thee.

.

When the children have come and

Your heart is tired,

I will love thee.

.

As the years have passed, the grey has come

And our body has fallen,

I will love thee.

.

This love to which I speak, I have, I do, I will,

All comes from one thing,

I desire love for thee.

From: Casey

It's a Snow Day!

My cousin, Rebekah and her little girl, Aria (1 yr) have been visiting us from Phoenix all this week. Rebekah's only wish for her visit was to see snow and have little Aria experience it for the first time. Well, she got her wish when we woke up Monday morning to lots of snow and, it snowed for most of the day! Rebekah was SO excited and took Aria out first thing in the morning to see it (Aria really wasn't interested in the snow but, was more concerned about the dog instead!) Later that day my mom and I took the kids and Rebekah to Judy & Ken's house to let them play in their big front yard. The snow was still coming down but, they had a great time anyways. Katie and my mom made snowmen and snowballs while, Tys and Aria tried their hardest to get around in the snow with their short little legs!

Nana and Katie had fun making snowmen!

Aria in the snow for the first time! I don't think she was very happy about it but, stayed outside in it for a while.

Trent and I got to hang out inside the warm, cozy house :)

Trent was baptised over the weekend and quite a bit of our family came for the special occassion. Mom and Dad Haveman, Marie and Meredith arrived Saturday around lunch time; and more of my family from Boise (aunts, uncles and cousins) arrived either Friday night or Saturday morning. We spent Saturday visiting with everyone, hanging out at the house, celebrating Ri's and my birthday and, having dinner with everyone at Judy & Ken's house that evening. We enjoyed having our loved ones here and were sad to see them go! Although the weekend went too quickly, we had lots of fun and the kids got spoiled by their Oma, Grandpa and Auntie :) Oma and Katie playing on the couch

Auntie Ri and Trent

Grandpa and Trent

Oma and Trent

Trent's cousin, William, was born just a week ago. I love this picture of the boys... Trent looks like he's sticking his tongue out at the camera!

My Aunt Debbie and Trent

Baptism

Our little angel waiting to go to church Our family with Grandpa, Oma and Auntie Marie

Our family with Nana and Papa

6 weeks

Trent is now 6 weeks old! He is smiling at us more (especially in the mornings) and trying to "coo". I have to admit that he's a bit spoiled and likes to be held when not sleeping :) Mostly, he's a happy and content baby and, is always trying to figure out what his noisy siblings are doing. He is sleeping from 9p-9a and wakes up around 1am and 5am to eat. These last few nights he hasn't gone back to sleep very easily after the 5 am feeding.. which leaves me tired during the day. I then keep my fingers crossed for a nap (which I've gotten!) We are looking forward to this weekend when he'll get to meet his Oma, Grandpa, Auntie Ri and, my aunts and uncles for the first time!

Katie and Trent snuggled on the couch this morning while Katie watched a cartoon... Trent obviously got bored with it and fell back asleep!