Valentine's Day!

Two cuties!

I had a great time with the Will and his crazy friends at school at his Valentine's party on Friday. They had TONS of sugar and had a great time. Gotta love Fun DIP!

We spent lots of time Sunday afternoon making & frosting sugar cookies. I think the kids did a great job!

Crazy = Normal?

I think it does in our house! :) Here's Morgan 'helping' Eric play Madden 2010!

I swear that Will's going to be in school until mid-June, the way these snow days keep piling up. He had another one last Tuesday - this is the kids in one of their calmer moments that day!

His 1/2 birthday was last Sunday so he was able to take treats to celebrate, since celebrating with his class on August 7th is pretty much impossible. He and I went through PILES of clothes in his room on Tuesday (snow day) and the pile that didn't fit was much bigger than the one that did. He's great to help around the house and of all things, loves cleaning the bathrooms! Give him a Cl@rox wipe and he's off! He's doing great with his reading and spelling too. He's LOVED the winter Olympics so far, and has loved everything he's seen. We've had NBC on every night and that will probably continue through Feb 28th!

Morgan's going to give us far more grey hair that her brother ever will. She's 2 going on 21, with an attitude and sass to match. She's into everything and loves coloring. She's taking "nastics" (gymnastics) now and seems to enjoy it. We're going to start swimming lessons this summer in hopes that she'll enjoy the water more. One thing that cracks us up is that she LOVES soda. Will has always hated it - which Mommy thought was a GOOD thing! But Morgan always asks for a taste of Pepsi and has taken to calling Eric's Cherry Dr. Pepper "Pepper Pepsi". Here they are saying "CHEERS" with their Pepper Pepsi!

Eric & I are doing well too...it doesn't seem like we say cute things or have funny stories like the kids do! We're excited to have finally set a date for the wedding and are looking forward to that as well as a few short vacations this summer.

We're planning to head to Chicago for my birthday, as well as spend some time at the lake sometime in late July or early August. I got the kids' 2010-2011 school calendar in Will's take home folder on Friday and can't believe we're thinking about that already!

Cuddled up on a cold morning...

A Date!

For the last few weeks, Eric & I have been seriously talking about what we want for our wedding. We feel like we've stressed FAR MORE than we should have about this. We just want to be married, plain & simple. And so we will be! We've finally set a date and it's quickly approaching - Saturday May 1st, I will become Melissa Dobbins! The name change will take some getting used to, but I'm ready :). Once we got down to it, our wedding requirements were pretty simple. 1. Be married in a church, by a pastor. 2. Acknowledge and celebrate that this relationship is from God and place our relationship in His hands. ....and that's about it! We're relieved and excited to have a date and our special day to look forward to.

The Blizzard and The SUN!

I love Iowa, I love Iowa, I love Iowa :)

I really do...born & raised here, I've only ever lived in another state for less than 1 year. I love the seasons, I love the cool mornings and warm afternoons of the spring, when you can FEEL new life. I love pulling out shorts & tee shirts and NO MORE COATS! I love the steam heat in the summer, when nothing feels better than a cold Pepsi and a swimming pool. I love the changing colors and the crisp mornings in the fall. I love getting out the jeans & sweaters and feeling so cozy in the house. I love winter when it's so beautiful after the first snow and bundling up in layers.

I DO NOT, however, love 50 MPH winds whipping light fluffy snow all over the place so I can't see. I DO NOT love not seeing the sun for a full week and feeling pooooey because of it.

BUT, the SUN IS BACK!!! Thank you Lord for blessing us with SUN today!

3am

**Update:She actually had RSV - yuck. 3 days and nights of constant coughing, 103 degree fevers, and LOTS of whining. Finally her fever broke Tuesday night but she's been running a low grade one since then. I think we'll just erase the last week from our memory.**

UGH :) That's when Morgan and I were lying in my bed as she chattered away saying "Mommy, I see the stars" (a game on my phone) and "Mommy, we look at pictures?" (again on my phone). Morgie's sick - bronchitis this time and has a nasty cough, stuffy nose and obviously isn't sleeping well. We had a rough night after a no nap day so I think everyone but Will is dragging today.
We were able to celebrate Eric's 38th birthday Saturday night with John & Karen. We had dinner and birthday cake & ice cream. The kids and I gave Eric his birthday present Friday night (Will couldn't wait any longer!) - an new XBox 360 and several games. I think he's anxious for a day to himself so he can play without interruption! :)

Here's hoping we get some sleep tonight!

Quiet Weekend

The kiddos were with their dad this weekend so Eric & I got to enjoy lots of peace & quiet! I read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and LOVED it! It's been out for awhile and was a bestseller but I never picked it up until now. Wonderful book and now I can't wait to read her next book. I took several naps (NO MORE GLUTEN!!) and hope I'm finally getting over my cold. When the kids came home, they were obviously exhausted so it was early to bed last night and will be again tonight. It seemed this morning like they were both getting my cold, so I'm hoping that another good night's sleep and some relaxing will help them too. We've fallen behind already on our Read the Bible in a Year plan, so we'll start catching back up on that tonight as well. This coming weekend is my sweetie's 38th birthday! John & Karen are coming up for dinner on Saturday night and we'll have cake & ice cream as well....We'll just have to see what else we can cook up for a fun birthday :). That's it from here! Oh, it's going to warm up this week too! It's going to feel just balmy when it reaches 30!!

Lots of Pictures

Just because they're pretty cute :)

Nana & Morgan at Jethro's. Great BBQ before the Drake game!

The kids and I headed to Des Moines on Tuesday (Dec 29) to celebrate Christmas with my family. Eric was sick, so he stayed home and we missed him! Mom took the kids to a Drake basketball game on Tuesday night and the boys got to meet a former Drake player, Adam Emmenecker, at Jethro's before the game. They were very excited!

We had fun hanging out with Laura's family and playing with all of our new toys! Will & Max got all the same presents with a decidedly Drake flare...Drake blankets, Spike the bulldog stuffed animals and books!

We had a quiet New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with lots of football and yummy food. John & Karen came up on Saturday to watch the Arkansas game (BORING but they FINALLY pulled it out! GO HOGS!!) on our new Christmas present. The kids got hand knit mittens, hats & blankets from Grandma Karen. Thank GOODNESS because it's been below zero far too much in the last few days!We're loving the new TV and BluRay player. Sunday was church and the realization that we had to get back to normal soon. The tree is down and we moved some furniture around too!

Morgan's new dress from Nana