Visit from Uncle Ryan

Daddy and Tobin over Memorial Day. Jessica had her 3rd round of chemo this last week and got pretty sick over Memorial Day. It is starting to get hard on her.

Fikrte, my crazy drama queen. She has been throwing huge fits when she is told no or if I do anything with Tobin (like changing his diaper). She is turning into a two year old a year early.

Tobin loves playing with an old camera. He calls it his "smile" and asks us all to smile when he puts it up to his eyes.

Uncle Ryan and Jessa Fikrte. She is very shy but warmed up to him right away. It is not the norm for her. Ryan is really good with kids!

Ryan is Clark's best friend from college and is the kids' official Uncle. Uncle Ryan (or as Tobin calls him "Guy") is one of Tobin's favorite people in the whole world. Tobin gets so expected when we tell him that Ryan is coming. Tobin wants Ryan to do everything with him. He was here for the whole long weekend and after he left Tobin said sadly at bedtime, "I want Guy!"

Dinner time with the kids. Tobin got covered in red sauce and even wanted his diaper off.

Last weekend we went to our first wedding with both kids. My sister was the maid of honor for her friend Courtney.

The wedding was outside at a golf course and the kids loved running around.

Abby, Jessa and Abby. The Abbys are Jessa's best friends and were visiting for the week. Tobin was so happy to have two more girls that would play with him.

Daddy, baby girl, and Grandpa

The kids with the grandparents. I think this was the first picture that we have gotten with both kids and their Ga Ga and Bobba.

New family pic

The beautiful girl.

Tobin looks so serious. He was walking to the car at this point and saying to himself "want to go in Ga Ga's car". Grandma's car has a DVD player in it and is the favorite car to ride in.

The Play is the Thing

I am the drama teacher for a small Christian school near my house. My brother Jared went there and my mom is the history teacher there for the middle and high school. A few weekends ago, I had my productions.

My older kids (7th-12th grade) performed Treasure Island and did an amazing job. This picture is the cast picture with the little kid extras that were in the first scene. I had to be in the first scene as well and had to dress up.

Tobin came dressed for the part and loved every minute of it. He sat in my lap for the whole play and loved every sword fight part.

Even though Jessica didn't feel good (chemo is rough on her) she managed to come to Treasure Island.

Baby Jessa was in costume too and was even in the first part of the play with me. She and Tobin were a hit and everyone thought they were so cute!

My younger kids performed their play a week later (yeah, I was super busy those two weeks and wanted to pull my hair out). The Wizard of Oz was so cute and they did such a good job. Tobin got to come to this play too and again loved to sit and watch it. He had better attention span than some of our audience. I was really surprised how well he sat there (he never sits anywhere quietly).

Babies Come On Planes

Some fun little tidbits about the kids:

- Anytime I read a story about an airplane, Tobin comments at the end of the book that the plane is going to go and get a baby. So that is where babies come from. People get on a plane and then they come back with a baby. That is the way it happened for him.

- Jessa is quite the biter now. If Tobin tries to push past her too often or makes her too mad she reaches out and grabs him and starts biting down. Tobin gets very upset. He hates it when someone breaks the rules and does something wrong. He gets so mad, but of course doesn't mind breaking the rules himself. So Jessa has been told "no" a lot and for once has been the one starting the trouble. She also hits, just some of that baby hitting that one year olds do. She is learning how to be gentle.

- Jessa knows how to clap now and loves to do it! She is so cute and her face lights up when she claps about something.

- Tobin has really started to talk more (this is a miracle because he has been a really slow talker). He can count to 3 or sometimes 4 and knows most of his colors. Every time we get into the car he wants to find a yellow car and looks and looks until he finds one.

- The kids have started to play together every once and a while, which makes Tobin so happy. Of course it often ends in tears, but it is a start.

- Jessa screams like murder when she wants me and if she knows that I am in the house she keeps screaming until she gets into my arms. She stops crying right away and gets the biggest smile on her face. She is very attached and I love it that she looks at me like I am her whole world. I think she is still afraid that I will up and leave one day because she won't let me out of her sight.

- We play outside most everyday and no one can seem to get dirtier than Jessa Fikrte. She also likes to stick her face into any type of water she can find (even a puddle). I am always afraid she will drown and watch her really carefully around any type of water. She does it in the bath too. Tobin loves to help water the garden, but gets mad when baby pulls up the plants ("no, no baby!").

- Tobin loves to repeat things over and over again like we don't hear him or understand him (He usually repeats statements not questions). Last night he said "Dada get me banana" over and over again without a breath in between until I finally yelled to Clark to just go get him the banana already. But, hey I am just glad that he is talking more.

Renaissance Festival

Warning: the following pictures could be construed as a little dorky/geeky, but we don't care because we have a lot of fun dressing up!

Every year our little family goes to the Renaissance Festival with Clark's parents. Last year we decided to dress up for the first time and it was a lot more fun. So we dressed up again this year with Tobin as Robin Hood again and Jessa in a cute dress I found for the occasion. They were the stars of the festival and everyone wanted to take their picture (no kidding).

The kids loved feeding the sheep at the petting zoo part.

Tobin watching the jousting, he loved it and if they ever stopped asked for them to fight again.

The kids, Grandpa and I.

All of us. We had so much fun even though it was quite hot for April.

Jessa fell asleep in the Ergo at the end and Tobin wouldn't be held by anyone but me (it was waaaaaayyyyyyyy past nap time).

Easter

Update

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post. Things are crazy around here and I never seem to have time to do anything.

My sister Jessa started her first round of chemo last Friday and is feeling tired and sick some (which is pretty normal). But, all and all she is doing pretty good considering. The doctor has said that this is the fastest that any patient of hers has gone from diagnosis to starting treatment. This is probably due to the fact that my dad is a research scientist and did a lot of cancer research back in the day. He at least knows what is going on and has stayed on the doctors' backs until they scheduled her for chemo.

We have been glad to have Aunt Jessa around more and the kids are crazy about her (especially Tobin). He gets super hyper and loud around her which is hard since she is tired a lot. The other day he was so excited to see her that he started running into walls (literally). That kid tires me out. He never stops throwing things, hitting, running, yelling, or messing with his sister. I am so tired all of the time.

Baby Jessa is doing so well on the attachment front and it seems like she was always with us even though it has only been 3 months. She is a huge Mama's girl and cries if I leave the room. I have to sleep right next to her and the crib has long been put up since she hated it so much. She has a toddler bed now and will stay in it for a few hours at the start of the night before waking up and wanting me.

She now seems so attached that she has started to act like the feisty one year old that she is. She has started to pick up things and hit Tobin with them (wonder where she learned that from) and does things over and over even though I keep saying no. She can be really easy going or really stubborn. She doesn't like being told no and will keep pushing and pushing or throw a fit.

She hates it when Tobin tries to get into my arms or sits in my lap. She will then start crying and climbing all over me which will set him off as well. They will both cry pushing each other trying to climb up me even though I am sitting right there. It is like they are trying to climb on my head or something. Times like that my sister just looks at me and asks how I make it through the day. God's grace I suppose. I defiantly do not have easy going children, but they are sure a lot of fun and I wouldn't change it (though it would be nice to take a shower or go to the bathroom by myself once and a while).