Eloise is One

Eloise turned one year old on the 19th. This has been the fastest year of my life.

She is a doll... almost all of the time.
She wakes up most days with a huge cheesy grin on her face.
She loves to give me hugs-I love her hugs.
She tolerates hugs and kisses from Jordan.
She is okay with hugs from Cedrik.
She screams when Fred approaches her (he's out to prove that she is tougher than she looks by being a little rougher than most would probably be with her).
She has discovered food is amazing.
She even eats lettuce.
But, she loves carbs.
Eloise snuggles while nursing.
She loves when Jordan rubs her back.
I think she has healing hands, like Freddie and Jordan. Just touching them makes you feel better inside. :)
Her eyelashes are long and curl naturally.
She seems to be growing curly hair, that is the exact same color as mine.
She also got my ears and chin.
I love that she got Jordan's doe eyes.
She scooted backwards down the stairs on her own yesterday.
She is quick!
She has started talking: mama, dada, amen, hi, ni-night, signing thank you (her version anyway) and she loves to say "gu" from the back of her throat. Freddie did too. We are convinced that she and Fred were almost going to be twins.

We all love her.

Vikings

We studied Vikings (not in g great detail because, come on, a 4 and 2 year old don't need to know the gritty details!).

We learned about their ships and that they stole things sometimes... And sometimes fought. Cedrik is very into swords right now. But, I've been trying very hard to turn that into a positive. We pretended to be Vikings on opposing ships ("not friends ") and after fighting for a minute I would surrender. Then he'd let us go and help my men that had fallen into the ocean back onto the ship-because he didn't want to hurt them if he didn't have to protect himself or his ship. It kind of worked.

They loved the viking helmets. Freddie loved his so much that as soon as I made it, he went into the bathroom and filled it with water. So, it was ruined. Although we sat around the fire and I told them a viking tale, it didn't dry in time. That didn't stop him from sword fighting with us. Oh, and for letting my men live, we have him bracelets.

He also loved the brooch. So much so, that he insisted on wearing the cape and brooch to the library. He was severely disappointed when no one commented on it. Maybe next time. :)

We read Yo, Vikings!, and Viking Ships at Sunrise (a short chapter book that they had me read in basically one sitting).  We made viking ships and they battled with those too.

The last few weeks

The past few weeks have been full.

We found out I'm going to have another baby in May. So, that's exciting. Everyone already had their guess on the sex. Mostly, they want another girl. I had a few weeks of pretty sad nausea, but that seems to be gone. Now, the lingering no-appetite. :)

I haven't been able to do much school. We did manage to paint with marbles last week which the boys love. Tip: do this activity outside. There's no way they won't fly off the tray!

We also reviewed boats. We learned about rafts and they pretended to go river rafting, with life vests and all. YouTube is such an amazing tool. I pulled up some river rafting videos and taught the boys how to paddle. They loved it.

We had a friend over from Cedriks primary class to play. The boys had fun.

I made Jordan pumpkin cookies.

We are trying to buy a house. This week should be the inspection. It's about a mile north of us off Maple Grove. We're pretty excited. The boys love the backyard (I do too). Jordan is making his own "honey-do" list, or whatever that's called.

Freddie loves creating "hairstyles." They have been playing so well together... It's awesome. And then they pass out together, usually on the floor. 

Family photos 2014

We had our pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. We haven't gotten the cd yet, but some of them are posted on the photographers blog.

The couple that did it are in our ward and were so nice. They turned out super cute!

http://mnmphotographyidaho.blogspot.com/2014/10/family-pictures-boise-photographer.html?m=1