Love My Monkeys

Well, I only have 5 more days until my due date and still no signs of labor coming any time soon. Maybe he wants to wait until Oct. 4th so he can fit in with Zane being on July 4th and Emmy on May 4th. I'll post some of my enormous belly pics soon!

I wanted to get all caught up on our recent pictures and videos since life may feel a little crazier soon!!

I feel so lucky that Zane and Emerson have wanted to play with each other more lately. Overall, they've been getting along so much better and I LOVE it. They crack each other up and actually take turns and share better too. Hopefully this will come in very handy when I need to give attention to our new little guy.

I love having my three mornings a week with just Emmy while Zane goes to school. She enjoys is so much too. She talks non-stop the entire time we're together since she doesn't have to compete with Zane. We went to the mall playplace this day that there no other kids there - she almost didn't know what to do with herself being the only kid. Here, she was coloring on the chalk table.

Silly family pictures that we took in the bathroom. Emmy got a little cut off but they're still cute.


Emerson and I get to go to a gym class for her once a week while Zane's in preschool. She basically isn't happier anywhere else. She wants to do most things by herself and is literally fearless when it comes to jumping off, climbing, balancing, hanging, etc. Luckily, my mom came with me the last two times to help me because it's hard to keep up with Emerson and all her fast energy!
She was jumping, arms straight out, into this foam pit from that mat (which is actually really high) and yelling, "Super Girl to the Rescue!!" She did it a few times without me catching her and then I decided I should get in an grab her - it was a little crazy for me. Getting out of there was so hard, especially being so pregnant. I'm sure people were just laughing at this huge pregnant lady trying to climb out of the pit.




The kids and I have spent so much time out front playing in the yard and writing with chalk. Here's Zane showing me his new belt...
Showing me their grumpy faces...

Chalk

Last week, the weather got cool enough to actually bundle a little bit - they were so excited to wear their vests. I wish it would have stayed cool.
My silly girl singing and playing the "drums"





This past weekend, I took the kids to their friends' pirate birthday party. All the kids dressed up like pirates and had so much fun playing on a big playground. Emmy was yelling, "Aarrrggg maties" in this picture.

Zane and Emmy gave themselves the names "Brown Beard" and "Pink Beard."
Here they are with the birthday boy and his little sister. Thanks for such a fun time, guys!
Here are just some silly, random pictures we took outside yesterday

Videos!!

Zack sings all the time - and so does Zane. He sings this new Blink 182 song all the time and asks to listen to his "favorite song."

Untitled from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

We ordered caterpillars a while ago and got to watch them turn into chrysalises and then butterflies. We only had two butterflies make it. We fed them fruit and sugar water and we loved having them around. We finally decided they would be better off outside so we let them go.


Zane's obsession with writing is contagious. Emerson has started asking me how to spell things too and "writes" each letter as I say it. (In the video, she's saying, "How do you spell...") She also tells me what she's drawing as she's drawing it and is very specific about it. They also love playing with chalk outside - we did this for an hour.


Here's Zane imitating characters from Winnie the Pooh. When he's Eyore, he's saying, "Thanks for noticing me." Then, he's quoting from other shows and books.

Pumpkin Cookies

Here's our family pumpkin cookie recipe
Trust me - it's worth it - they are soooo good!!

wet ingredients:
3/4 c shortening/Crisco
1 1/2 c sugar
1 egg beaten
1 c pumpkin
1/4 c milk
1 c nuts (optional)

dry ingredients:
3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cloves powder
1 tsp cinammon

Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg and pumpkin. Add dry ingredients. Add milk and then nuts. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 min. I recommend closer to 10 for softer, less cooked goodness!

Frosting:
Mix together:
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/4 c butter
1/2 tsp cinammon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp milk or cream

Skatepark

Friday night, we drove up to Greeley to visit "The Farm" an indoor skatepark for kids to skate for free. The reason it means so much to us is because Zack and his friend Jeff built this skatepark 10 years ago and worked there as a ministry to kids. It was pretty awesome to see that 10 years later, kids are still enjoying skating there and it's also cool that Zack and Jeff are still such good friends.


Zane and Emerson watching the skateboarders and loving each other...

RANDOM

Have I mentioned that my kids love to dress up? The simplest props, accessories, etc can help entertain them for hours.
Here they are as Woody and Jesse or just a cowboy and cowgirl depending on their game at the moment. Notice their matching boots - Emmy's were a gift to Zane when he wore her size and his are a hand-me-down. Sweet!
During the first Charger's game of the season, we had to find a way to entertain ourselves while Zack stressed himself out on the couch. So, the three of us made pumpkin cookies. It took a while, but they were so patient and followed directions really well. It helped that they knew they would be allowed to lick the beaters at the end. They love dough - my great-grandma wouldn't have approved. ;)

Zane's obsession right now is art work. Basically he just wants to draw, write, or color all day long. Recently he's become a little OCD about coloring thing the correct color. For example, if he's coloring Captain America, he has to have a real picture of him in front of him so he colors each detail correctly. He takes his time and is so careful about getting every single part right. He also loves to try to draw characters or other things.

Not only does he want to create all the time, but has wanted to tape all his art work up everywhere. On walls, windows, etc. So we bought these cool wires from Ikea to clip some artwork up in the hallway. The kids love seeing their work hung up.

These pictures are randomly taped up in the kids' room.
Zane was telling Emerson to chase him and spray him. She didn't waste a second on that opportunity! They both got soaked.

37 weeks!!

Is this baby really going to come sometime in the next three weeks? Where did the time go? I can actually say we're ready for our new little guy to join us, even though a few more weeks with Zane and Emerson (and sleep) sounds good too.
Emmy loves her new baby brother already and is getting excited to help me take care of him.

Kisses...

New Room and New Beds

Emmy is now sleeping in a big girl bed!! I swore that I would keep her in a crib as long as possible, because when we switched Zane, we had a hard time keeping him in his bed. But she's definitely ready and I think she's going to do fine. Plus, we figured if we move her out of her room now, she'll have some time to adjust before the baby comes instead of right smack in the middle of the hard part.

This weekend, we got to bring the kids to my mom and Dave's house for a few days while we stayed home and organized our basement, moved and organized clothes and baby stuff, and switched rooms around. We also put together the new bunk beds that Zack's parents got for the kids. It felt so amazing to have time to prepare everything and also to relax and spend time together. I even finished reading a book that I've been reading for a while.

We surprised the kids yesterday with their new room and they loved it to say the least. Zane was going crazy, saying how much he loved it and that it was the "best room ever!"

They actually did pretty well for their first night in a room together. While in their beds, trying to get to sleep, they read books, wrote in their journals, told each other they loved each other lot's of times, snuck out of bed once (this was ZANE's idea and he told Emmy to be quiet and she told on him when they got busted), chanted in unison they were hungry and wanted a snack, chatted and laughed a bunch, and then Emerson tried to climb up her safety rail and hit her mouth and got a bloody lip. It was pretty eventful, but luckily they were both so tired that they fell asleep by 9:00. Not too bad.

Here's a video of them getting in their bed - they had already seen it by now so it wasn't a surprise at this point. When we went through clothes, we got out a few sets of fall pajamas, so they're both wearing really warm pj's.

Untitled from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Here's their room
They love playing Angry Birds on the ipad. LOL.

They got to spend some time writing in their notebooks before they fell asleep.

My big girl!
Zane reads for at least 15 minutes every night by himself before he falls asleep.

Here are some pictures of the new baby's room...