visitors!

My sister Courtney and her youngest son Abram are visiting. It's been fun - crazy - but fun! We all played t-ball in the rain this afternoon - can you tell we needed to get outside??!! And tonight at dinner it was so loud I was quite sure the neighbors could hear us! But very fun and so worth all the chaos!

NEW!

NEW soccer season. All bundled up for a very cold early game.


NEW bunk bed in the boys' room. Liam will sleep on the bottom until Ethan is ready to move in with him.


NEW discoveries.

our little girl...

...is growing up! Audrey lost her first tooth today. She's very excited. I had to laugh though because a few days ago as she was dreaming about what the toothfairy would bring her, she was concerned about having money (which we've always told the kids is pretty dirty stuff) in her nice clean bed! Is she my kid or what??? I assured her the toothfairy would put it in an envelope. She was quite relieved.

fun day!

The kids and I had a fun day yesterday. Liam was invited to the birthday party of a little girl in his preschool. My first thought was - no way - sounds crazy. But after thinking it over, I decided it would be a great experience and one I didn't want them to miss. The party was held at the Skagit Children's Museum in Mt. Vernon. And the kids had a ball! After spending a couple hours at the museum, everyone (26 kids and 14 adults!) headed to Alfy's pizza for lunch and cake. It was a fun outing - or as Audrey called it - a great field trip! And I'm glad we did it.

a great deal!

Have I mentioned how much I love a great deal? Yes, I think I have. And here is an example. I saw these shorts for Audrey a couple months ago at Penney's. They go with a shirt my mom got her for her birthday. But they were $21.99. I'd be hard pressed to spend that much on shorts for me - let alone for her since she'll only be able to wear them one season before she grows out of them! But then last week Penney's sent me a $10 off coupon. So I thought I'd go in and look. And would you believe they were now on sale for $10.99??? Yep - I paid 99 cents. Now that's a great deal!

first day of spring

So here's how we celebrated the first day of spring....


Audrey and I painted our toes. We are very optimistic that we will be in sandals soon and want our toes to be ready for the big occasion!


I switched to my spring purse. Yes, I'm one of those very practical women who has just two purses. One for fall/winter and one for spring/summer. Audrey, on the other hand, has several depending on her outfit that day!


And we made "springy" rice krispie treats for snacks at craft club this afternoon.

Spring - we're ready for you. Come quickly please!!

happy st. patrick's day!

what's new....

Here are some quick news updates from the Oscarson home....

Audrey has a loose tooth. Her first one! She wiggles it constantly so we'll keep you posted on the progress.

Liam is starting to read. He pulled out the first set of BOB books and is doing a great job sounding words out.

Ethan started clapping today. So very cute! And he figured out how to empty the entire bottom row of the bookshelf. I can walk through the main floor of our home now and see little piles of where Ethan has been.

OH - and Patrick and I went on a date Saturday afternoon. We took Ethan but he's easy. Went out to lunch and bunk bed shopping - which may not sound exciting but was actually very fun. We hired our favorite sitter, Ashley, that we used to have over all the time but haven't since Ethan was born. Everyone had a great time. We've decided we'll do this on a regular basis!

the mover

Ethan made his way to the fridge today and discovered the magnets. I'm sure the cupboards and drawers will be next. Now where is that gate....???

cookies

Liam - "Mom, I don't think Dad should have any more cookies."
Mom - "Why is that?"
Liam - "Because every time he goes into the kitchen the pile on the plate gets smaller."

8, 52, 72

I was telling the kids this morning at breakfast that Ethan is 8 months old today. So Audrey wanted to know how many months old she is. We figured it out together that she's 72 months. And Liam is 52 months. They've decided that's how they want to refer to their ages from now on. So we're 8, 52, and 72 months old today!

colds

So the kids have colds. Relatively minor compared to what I hear is floating around out there - but colds nonetheless. Every time we get sick I'm just amazed at how their bodies handle them differently. I'm pretty sure Audrey brought this one home. Last week she complained a couple times about a sore throat, and one day had a little clear runny nose. That was it - I didn't think much of it. But now this week, both boys have super snotty noses and spend a good portion of the nights coughing. UGH! I'm beginning to think Audrey was born with some sort of rock-star immune system. And that the boys are going to have to work to earn theirs.

winter wonderland...again!

It's snowing - again! So what did my crazy kids do today to pass the time??

They put on their reindeer antlers and ran around the house to Christmas music...

...they had pillow-head pillow fights...

...and they built an indoor snowman. (Waaaay to cold and windy to make a real one!)

Just another day in the Oscarson home!

look who's crawling!

It's official. Ethan is crawling! And he was kind enough to do it for the first time today while the whole family was watching.

Child-proofing...here we come!

look ma - no training wheels!

Audrey has learned to ride her bike without training wheels! She's been wanting to for a long time so this is big for her! Woo-hoo!

liam the entertainer

Liam was a huge help the other day by entertaining Ethan for me while I got some work done. But truth be told - Liam loves an audience. And Ethan is a very enthusiastic listener. What a great pair!

our church home

For almost two years now we have been attending Northwest Baptist Church. We love the size, the warm people, and the sound Biblical teaching. Before that we had been at one of the very large B'ham churches and just longed for a smaller place where we could be part of a church family. This past Sunday during the brief meet-and-greet time, Audrey walked right up to the pastor who was mingling among the congregation and told him that she had accepted Jesus into her heart. She did this all on her own. Pastor Ryan told Patrick about it after the service. My first thought when I heard was - we're home. We have found a church our family can call home. And that feels really, really good.

Audrey took part in her first communion this Sunday. And she's going to be baptized soon. I feel so humbled to have a small part in this process in her life. God has truly captured her heart. I couldn't ask for more.