Jesus' House

This past week one of Jason's Uncle's passed away. It was sudden and we really thought about him this last week. On Friday Jason went to the visitation alone. Nicholas and Celia were asking where Daddy was going so we explained that someone had died. Jason also explained that when you die, you go to heaven where Jesus lives. Fittingly, this past week there was an episode of 'Little Bear' (their fav cartoon these days) where the doll, Lucy, died so the animals did a mock-funeral. Which is weird for a kids cartoon, but it certainly gave N&C a context for what we were talking about.
Well, later that evening when they were getting ready for bed and Jason was not home yet, this was the conversation:

Nicholas: "Where's Daddy?"
Me: "Remember that someone died. Well Daddy went to the funeral where everyone gets to say Goodbye to the person who died and sometimes people cry and give hugs to each other"
Nicholas: "When people die they go to heaven, right mommy?"
Celia: "They go to Jesus' house, right mommy?"
Me: "Yes they go to Jesus' house in heaven"
Celia: "There's lots of suckers and candy at Jesus' house!"
Nicholas: "And lots of toys too!"

Children are just so simple and sweet. And our prayers are with Uncle John up in heaven. Uncle John always seemed like a happy person, so I bet he's loving all the candy and toys up at Jesus' house. :)

To the Dentist!

Nicholas and Celia had their first trip to the dentist a couple weeks ago. We read books about it and even watched some blog videos of our friends Zack and Jake when they went to their dentist visit (thanks Jenny! I think it helped). The morning we left for the Dentist, Nicholas was scared. He didn't want to go at all, but after hugs and kisses and telling him we would be right there with him, he got in the car. Celia was pumped to go to the dentist, but she has always been our adventure girl. :)
Two different hygenists took them back at the same time - so they were in different rooms, but close enough that we could walk back and forth into each room. I had Aaron with me and Jason was able to be with Celia (but I popped in to see Celia doing awesome too). Each room has a TV mounted high so they were able to put on a cartoon to help relax them.
Soon after the video of Nicholas (looking so brave) she must've poked his gums to make him uncomfortable and he blasted out of his seat and ran to me. After some tears, he calmed down and laid back down for the rest of the cleaning. I think it helped that they both brought their security blankets (froggy and kitty) for the trip.
Once they were done they got a little prize, a toothbrush, floss, toothpaste and a sticker. Celia loved it so much that I think she'd like to go weekly. Nicholas admitted it wasn't that bad afterwards. :)
And the dentist said they both had healthy teeth!


Celia getting her teeth cleaned


Nicholas getting his teeth cleaned

More videos

Aaron CAN put shapes on these pegs and on those plastic ring pegs. So I tried to get it on video, but he wasn't so interested. I think he puts one on, but he's just being silly the rest of the time. :)


and a video from a couple weeks ago of N&C just being silly in their pajamas before bed. I was snacking on smoked salmon and I was surprised that N&C both liked it - especially Celia since she isn't a big fan of meat. And can you tell they've been watching me do yoga? lol



Today I took the 3 kids to the grocery store and as we were returning to the van I clicked the 'unlock' button and the car beeped.
Nicholas said "What did the car say mommy?
I said "IT said open me"
Nicholas: "Thats silly mommy! Cars don't talk. [Pause] Only race cars talk!"

I laughed! So does he really think race cars talk!? He is a fan of the kid's movie "Cars" and those race cars do talk in the movie, but who knows if he really thinks they talk in reality? HA HA!

Crawling videos

Some video of Aaron learning to crawl on February 1st


And him yesterday!

When I get bigger....

Lately Celia talks a lot about 'when i get bigger'. She talks about how when she is bigger she will be a really good cook. She and Nicholas like to sit on the counter and watch me cook dinner. They *help* me cook a lot of things. I think they both even know how to use a garlic press.
So today when we were getting ready to go to the park to go sledding I had them both go pee so they wouldn't have to go at the park.
Celia had just finished peeing and she plucked 2 sheets of toilet paper from the roll.
She looked at me and said, "Mommy, I only need a little bit of paper cause I have a little butt"
Me: "Yes, you're right. You only need a little paper"
Celia: "When I get bigger I will have a biiiiig butt like you mommy"
Me: "Well yes (me trying not to laugh) you will have a big butt someday like me"
Celia: "And daddy has a biiiig butt too!"
And then she ran out to go get her snowpants. Oh dear daughter, you crack me up! :)

Interesting

This morning all 3 kids were playing downstairs and N&C were playing 'car road' with the matchbox cars. Aaron crawled over to them, and right OVER the car road to get to Nicholas. Nicholas initially wanted Aaron to go away, but when I picked Aaron up he crawled right back to Nicholas. So when I went to get Aaron a 2nd time Aaron whined and reached for Nicholas. Aaron only smiled when Nicholas hugged him and smiled/talked to him. I think Nicholas has a 9 month old Groupie. :)

Last night at bath time Nicholas reached over the bathtub and picked up his underwear off the floor with one hand, held them up in the air and said "interesting". I burst out laughing and he quick dropped the underwear and hid behind the shower curtain. He didn't know I was watching him. Nicholas and Celia love the cartoon 'Little Bear' and Little Bear always says "interesting". ha ha

I have a bunch of snapshots and some videos to load. I have been so busy editing photo session pictures and I've neglected my blog! I promise to add them as soon as I can.

Goodbye Pictures

My brother, Matthew, and his wife, Lydia, are leaving in March for the Dominican Republic. This is a Peace Corp placement which will last for 2 years. While, we're all excited for them, we'll miss them so much. A couple weekends ago they came to West Bend, WI for one last visit before they leave. I was able to take pictures of our family before they left. So, we got some of our Maus Family and of Matt & Lydia. Then as an after-thought I did some of mom and Dad and of Papa and our kids. The ones with Papa turned out cute - we'll need to do some with Grandma and also of my sister's kids. So, these qualified as practice for me as well, but they are fun memories. :)

A fun bunch

As of this week, we have a crawler.I really thought Aaron would fool us and drag it on and on with the almost-crawling, but on monday night (Feb 1st) he actually began to crawl. He skipped the army-crawling and went right to traditional crawling. In the last few days he has gotten smoother with his motions and has purpose to get somewhere. We find him in precarious situations now though.
Most mornings I pull myself out of bed saying 'shhhh. don't you want to sleep more?" to my kids as they bound from their room with all the energy in the world. Well, thats because, like tonight, I'm up at almost 1 AM reading about photography and editing pictures and posting on my blog. It's an obsession, this photography. I know what I want to become and I know in time I'll get there, but I know I'll only get there with practice and knowledge and the house is pretty silent in the middle of the night.
So, as I was saying, I pull myself from bed and after the kids watch some morning cartoons and have breakfast, get dressed, etc. I really try to turn off the TV and have them do something worthwhile. This particular morning the kids painted. Celia spent about 45 minutes painting. She's really getting into this art lately - which is pretty cool in my book. She had some specks of purple paint on her little face when she looked up at me.
And after some painting, Nicholas thought it would be fun to try to fix our 2 broken flashlights. He's loving to fix things. Our friends, Erica & Pete, bought him a toy tool set for his birthday and he adores it. Although, there is nothing like real tools.

I better pull the plug on this computer and head to bed, cause in about an hour or so Aaron will want to nurse and in a few hours after that I'll be shushing the kids at 7:30am and begging them to give me 5 more minutes. :)