Who's The Boss???????

I had a good chuckle when I read Matt and Laura's website about how Julianna likes to be a boss over Lydia. I chuckle, because I had planned on telling you about how bossy Kaelynn can be before I read about Julianna. It must be a two-year old thing. Kaelynn is a little more bold in that she is trying to boss around her BIG brothers. Right now they are pretty patient with her, but I have a feeling there will come a day when it might backfire on her and she will be put in her place. The funniest times is when she gets in their faces and says, " Listen to me boys." Hmmmm, I wonder where she has heard that???!!!!!!! She loves to repeat what I say, especially when I am having a "bad mother" moment and don't want her to repeat what I say or the tone I say it in. God is using her to help me watch the volume and tone of my voice!!!! :) It's amazing how He does that!!!!!

Fishing, fishing, and more fishing

It seems that Andy's passion for fishing and hunting has definetly rubbed off on the boys. At least 3 times a day there is some sort of fishing or hunting expedition. Today's first expedition was ice fishing- The picture shows Connor with his gas-powered ice auger (the black CD tower) and his ice fishing rod (the broom) rigged up with a lure to catch crappies. (You'll have to excuse the mess in the background. Our downstairs storage area has gotten a bit out of control. Cleaning it up is one of my projects when the kids are in North Dakota with Grandpa and Grandma :) The fish pillows they got for Valentine's Day have provided hours of entertainment. They've been catching the biggest fish of their lives for the past week.

Kaelynn's newest phrases are "I do", "I will", or "I'll get it". She's into singing all 10+ verses of The Wheels On The Bus and we have to read every book she picks out at least twice if not 3-4 times. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The anticipation of this day has been great in the Kvernen house. It started when the Cabela's package arrived two weeks ago. It came when they were home and it had Cabela's plastered all over it. Of course I had to tell them it was their Valentine's gifts and that we couldn't open them. Since that day the speculation has taken us to many places- a deer truck and trailer, a shark pillow, a fishing video, a gun, and a bow and arrow. They did guess the right one- of course I didn't let them know it at the time. They were pleasantly surprised when they opened it this morning. I could tell by the way Connor was dancing around the room singing, "I love my shark pillow, I love my shark pillow. " Carson's is a Northern Pike and he loves his as well.

The boys has a blast making Valentine's cards for all of their friends at school this week. They got a lot of practice writing their names. They had a party at school and were so excited to show me all of the Valentine's they received.

Kaelynn received a Boz video which she has already watched. In case you were not aware, Boz is Kaelynn's absolute favorite character. She asks to watch the video at least 5 times a day even though she knows she can only watch it once. I am looking forward to learning some new songs as the old ones are great- but I've heard them a few too many times :) Kaelynn loves the chocolate Grandma from Mpls. sent. Here she is letting mommy know that I was not allowed to have a bite.

Andy and I are going out for Mexican food and a movie tonight. The kids are eating a heart-shaped pepperoni pizza with the babysitter. We hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day. We love you!!

When will it end?

The boys are out of school again today!!!!! This is the 5th time since the middle of January. We got 3 inches of snow last night and the world has come to a stand still in Ames. It's crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, I've vented enough :) It has put a little damper in my day as I am having a Pampered Chef cooking show tonight and was hoping to keep the house picked up for at least half the day. The boys and Andy are going to go to the Veggie Tales movie "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" at the dollar theater tonight. They are so excited. There are three very exciting events for them in the next two weeks and they have been trying to keep them all straight. Going to the movie, Valentine's Day, and a visit to both Grandma and Grandpa's houses. I'm not sure how many times a day I hear "Today we're going to Minneapolis and North Dakota mommy?" or "Tomorrow is Valentine's mommy?" A lot of thinking going on these days. We hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day. We love you!

Update

Sorry it's been so long. I don't have a good excuse- just the busyness of life. Actually things have been pretty calm around here the past week or so. We have gotten a lot of snow and are getting more in the next couple of days. I am definetly ready for spring!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait until we can get outside for a long period of time.


Connor and Carson have been playing the long winter days away. Carson's favorite toy is the pirate ship he got for Christmas. He plays with it most of the day- every day! Anytime he moves to a different room it goes with him. It carries all kinds of cargo including Legos, My Little Ponies, Little People, pirates, and sea creatures. As if that isn't enough he has also created a large Lego boat that accompanies the pirate ship everywhere!! I always know where Carson has played by the large pile of toys and stuffed animals that he accumulates and moves with him. If any of our children will have problems with clutter- it will be him. He is very imaginative though and can entertain himself for a very long time!
Here's a picture of Carson with some pipe cleaner glasses and a necklace we made last week.

Connor tends to be a little more global. He is really liking his Leapster and games and is now starting to actually complete some of the games. He has enough dexterity now to use the arrows and buttons the way they were intended to be used. He is very much a thinker and loves creating geometric shapes with the magnets he got for Christmas. He also loves crafts and is often asking to make something- today we worked on Valentines projects- he was in heaven!

Kaelynn has started to develop her "mommy" instinct and loves taking care of her dolls. Her favorite things are taking them for a walk in the shopping cart and changing their diapers. She is artistic in many ways- loves to color, (Thank you Anutie Krisanne for the WASHABLE markers!!!!), play with play-doh, sing, and dance. She is a sponge soaking up information like crazy. She is now counting to ten and is close on numbers 11-20. She loves to have fun and she and Carson love to tickle each other. She got to go on her first date with daddy on Saturday. They got ice cream and went to the mall to ride on the rides. Daddy was defintely the favorite parent that day!!!

I'll try not to wait so long for the next blog. Sorry again!!!

Our fearless daughter

Our bedtime routine includes reading three books, brushing teeth, (We have a new trick to get them to brush long enough- we sing the alphabet song through twice. They can't spit it out until we are done and if someone stops brushing, the song stops too until the brushing is resumed. It's worked well so far :) ), and for Kaelynn climbing the ladder onto the top bunk of Connor and Carson's bunkbed (all by herself). As she gets done brushing, she runs to the boys' room yelling "climb da ladder, climb da ladder!!!" Here's a video of it:

We've had a good weekend, Andy took the kids sledding yesterday with a friend and his two kids from church. It was Kaelynn's first time and she loved it. She even went down by herself a couple times. Another example of how she has no fear.

I got pampered yesterday. Our church had a "simple pleasures" day for women. We listened to a nationally known speaker talk about organization for our hearts and our homes. We also got to go to break out sessions of which one was spa treatments- I got a paraphin wax hand treatment and my makeup done. I even won two door prizes and got some very expensive eye lotion from the spa that did the treatments. We had lots of great food and had a great time connecting with women I don't normally connect with. It was wonderful!

We are looking forward to a normal week :) Hope you have a good week too!!

I have been redeemed!!!

Yes, we got the cookies done. Not without one tired mommy and two messy boys. I think the finished product will meet the approval of the hungry 3 and 4 year olds tomorrow and will give Connor and Carson a wonderful 1/2 birthday celebration with their friends. It's all worth it for that!!!

The boys got to go to a Cyclone basketball game with daddy on Saturday afternoon. They were interested for a while, then the bribes had to come out- cotton candy and ice cream. The Cyclones won and they did have fun!

The boys have loved the dress up clothes they got for Christmas. Connor loves writing tickets and getting the bad guys in his police officer uniform. Carson likes putting out fires- mostly on boats. It's fun to watch them role play.

Ever wonder how much damage two four year olds and an almost two year old can do in just a few minustes?

Thankfully it doesn't look like that anymore :)