Experimenting...

We've been on the house hunt lately- can't remember if I ever made the announcement, but we sold our house! Yay! But in about 60 days or less we will be homeless. Boo! Needless to say, we are feeling that it is crunch time on finding a house but we're just having a bit of trouble finding the one that's just right. I figured I needed a project to take my mind off of the stress of not knowing where we will live, so I decided that I wanted to make a quilt. And of course, you can't just start with a small baby quilt or anything...that would be too easy. I want to make a twin size quilt for when Jackson transitions to a big boy bed when we move and before the Deuce comes. I've been collecting fabric and trying to figure out what I want it to look like, but I haven't quite gotten that narrowed down yet. Today I decided I should maybe practice and see if I even have a clue what I'm doing, so I went through my scraps and cut some squares and pieced a little block together.

I purposely did it in a random pattern so there really isn't any rhyme or reason to it, but maybe some day it will become part of something fun. How did I do Mom? I showed it to Todd and in a horrified voice he said, "That's not for Jackson is it???" and then he said, "You do know we're having another boy, don't you?" Always has to be a smart alec.

Easter in STL

We spent Easter weekend in STL with the Perkins and Tim Vogel contingents. Again, Jackson had a ball playing with his cousins and it was nice to hang with family again. So here's a few pictures from that weekend. We did have some nicer weather so Linds and I took the kiddos to the park for a picnic one afternoon- here's our siamese twins Jackson and Shepherd.


Shepherd started getting sick over the weekend and he becomes even more of a cuddler when he's not feeling well. He was being so sweet this morning with his mommy on the couch I just couldn't resist documenting it.We spent Easter Sunday with Tim and Lizzie and Lizzie's family, so Jackson got to Easter egg hunt with Lilly! They both scored quite a bit of candy that we are still working our way through here!And just to end with a few pictures that were too cute to pass up of Jackson. I can't help it that he's so stinking cute!

Easter at Grandma V's House

We had an early Easter at Grandma V's house since we were going to be in STL for the actual day. The kiddos all were very excited about the Easter Egg hunt, although we had to do it inside since it was too cold out. Here's Grandma V and her little chickens, Ella, Max, and Jackson with all of their booty from the hunt. Ella and Max while they were opening their eggs.

And my little sweetie concentrating very hard on getting his eggs open.

Always so much fun for these cousins to play together. Then the fun got to continue in STL where he got to see the rest of this cousins, Lilly, Eva, and Shepherd! Pictures to come in the next post.

Ultrasound Day!

Here we are already about halfway through this pregnancy and we're happy to report that the Deuce is doing great. The ultrasound showed a wonderfully healthy baby and it looks like we're having another BOY!! We are so happy that Jackson will have a brother closer in age, and I'm happy to say that my plan for having two boys first and then two girls is working out stunningly so far!

Thought I'd share a little (or not so little) belly shot so you can see just how large and in charge I am already. The picture cracks me up too because it looks like someone is standing on a chair taking it, but it's really just my tall stud of a husband!

Sweet Scarlet

We had to say goodbye to our sweet dog, Scarlet, on Monday. We knew that she was getting old and had some health issues, but she seemed to be getting increasingly uncomfortable and when we took her to the vet, they said that she had a number of terminal issues that would continue to deteriorate so we had to put her to sleep. We didn't want her to suffer, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be to make the decision. The house seems very quiet without the clickety clack of her nails on the hardwood floors. She really was the sweetest dog. I got her as a rescue about 6 or 7 years ago and from day one, she was the most gentle, low-maintenance, grateful dog I've ever seen. She was so tolerant of Jackson and never once showed even the slightest bit of aggression towards him, even when he was torturing her. She will never be replaced. This picture is just an example of her tolerance- a toddler and a Superman costume all at the same time! Sweet Scarlet, we miss you!

Quickie Update

We haven't fallen off the face of the earth...really. I just really can't seem to get my act together to get much of anything accomplished lately, including blogging. Lots going on though, so here's a quick update:
*We're contemplating a move- just a different house, not a different place. We'll put our house on the market this month and see what happens and go from there. Scary, considering we've been looking at houses and there is nothing that we are really excited about so far. Hopefully we won't be homeless!
*Todd's birthday was last week, so he's another year older and another year wiser- or as he says, "just fatter and balder". Either way, I still love him to death!
*Jackson is doing great and talking LIKE CRAZY...notice the all caps. He sort of reminds me of my Dad- never met a stranger. He will talk to anyone, anywhere. It seems like he's understanding the whole idea of having a sibling a little more these days and he says he wants a brother sister.
*Baby Vogel is doing well and I've been feeling him/her move a bunch lately. We have our next appointment and ultrasound on March 26 so if baby cooperates, we should know the sex of the baby then and we'll let you know. I keep thinking it's another boy as this pregnancy seems very similar to my pregnancy with Jackson, but my mom says it's a girl- and she was right with her guess with Jackson. So we're taking guesses if you'd like to make one. Just leave a comment and let us know your guess!

AZ hike

Here's a few pictures from the hike that Todd, Jeremy, and I took one afternoon while in AZ. I think the name of the mountain was Thunderbird Mountain, but not sure...is that right, Mom or John??? Anyway, at the beginning there was a split with a sign that said H1 one way and H3 the other. Novice hikers that we were, we had no idea what it meant so we took H3- and figured out towards the end that it meant 3 mile hike or 1 mile hike. Duh. But it was still fun, although a bit longer than we were expecting.
Here are a couple pictures from the top when we finally got there.

It was really fun to see all the cacti along the way. Such different landscaping than we're used to here in Iowa!