May so far (AKA waiting not-so-patiently for this baby!!!)

I realized that I do have some pictures I need to get up here before I have a baby post to do!  Since this is our family's journal, there are also just some random kid things I want to remember, so it might get pretty wordy...just a heads up.  And if you're reading this and haven't heard any baby news, you can pray that labor starts soon!  I'm not very good at waiting!!! :)

Two weeks ago, Max's preschool class had their end of the year field trip to the Fondulac Farm Park.  Siblings were invited, so Mom Rassi thankfully came along and we took all 3 kids.  Of course, everyone wanted an ice cream cone full of feed for the animals.

Nora didn't like the idea of holding out her hand to the goat, so she just held out her cone.  He seemed to like it just fine!

I think he was the most fun animal to feed for them.

Nora and Max both took a turn milking the fake cow.

Max and Nora both LOVED the big slide in the barn...I didn't get any good pictures of them, unfortunately.  Max also had fun climbing the straw bales, even if he did need a little help getting back down!

Can you guess who loved feeding the animals the most? :)  I am sure she was on Max or Tirzah's cone by this time!

Sometimes before bed the kids all get this huge burst of energy and are completely crazy.  This night they were putting stickers ALL over their faces (especially their noses, like Nora) and calling themselves clowns!  I couldn't help but agree!  (Tirzah's face is my favorite part of this picture!)

That Friday night, we called up Paul and Beth for an impromptu supper/evening together.  I was so glad they didn't have any plans! :)  The kids played pretty well together, the adults got to talk, and the dress up clothes were a BIG hit!

Silly face!

I think that the kids have totally thrived having Greg home/around more since tax season is done.  Many nights before bed they will all wrestle on the floor.  The cutest thing ever is to see Tirzah jump on Greg and say, "Wessle!" I think this night he was showing them what a 'pin' really means!  Usually they just knock each other over and yell, "Pin!"  (Nora's face is my favorite part of this picture!)

Speaking of Tirzah, we have tried to get her ready for a new baby in the house, but sometimes she is pretty resistant to our efforts!  Until yesterday, every time Greg asked if she was excited for Mommy to have a baby, she would give a pretty emphatic, "No!"  Granted, she doesn't say yes to many things very often, but we kind of had a feeling she knew what she was saying this time!  Yesterday I put the baby car seat in the van so she will get used to it.  The past few weeks Greg has noticed that she is super cuddly with him, nearly all the time.  Even before we started asking her about Baby Jr. all the time, we think we could tell that she just knew some big change was coming.  It will be interesting, that's for sure! :)

The first Saturday in May we had nothing planned and I had a list of things I wanted to get done before Jr. arrived.  Greg and Max totally rearranged his room to make it more 'his,' and it totally worked.  They moved the bed, took all of mine and Greg's stuff off of the bookshelves to make room for his stuff, rearranged the furniture to make more floor space, and just in general spiffed it up.  (It was so cute...none of us girls were allowed in the basement until they were finished with the room makeover!)  Max LOVES it!  And ever since that day, he has been sleeping in his room by himself, which was the ultimate goal.  Three kids in one room didn't work that well since Max doesn't always nap and many times would sleep in later than the girls...if they let him. I feel like this is a good step towards Kindergarten this fall, when he will need to be up earlier than them.  It's just been amazing to see Max take ownership of his room.  I never asked him to, but he makes his bed every time he gets out of it and quite frequently picks up his room so the toys are all put away.  He keeps all of his markers/pencils neat on his desk and has really just been taking great care of things.  I'm a little proud of him, to be honest! :)  Another big Max step is that he got his 14 Xs on our whiteboard, signifying 2 full weeks of not having a #2 bathroom accident.  His reward is a trip to Chicago with Greg sometime this summer.  He's pretty excited!  (Greg was going to take him anyway for some Daddy/Max time before Kindergarten...but we told Max it wasn't happening until he got all of his Xs!)

And then there are the girls. :)  We moved things around in their room, too, though I don't have a good picture.  The entertainment center came out, as you can see, plus a dresser got moved out of their closet so I actually have room to hang their clothes.  We also moved all of the toys downstairs from Tirzah's (soon to be the baby's room), in the hopes that future messes will STAY downstairs.  So far, it's been pretty successful!  However, for the record, the girls are NOT so fastidious about their room as Max is about his! :) I was so glad for everything we got done that day...it made me feel much more ready for Jr.!

And speaking of getting ready for Jr., that weekend was the first for Tirzah without ANY paci at all.  It was a little rough at first, but I'm very glad to say that she's DONE!  She's also sleeping at night downstairs with Nora, which was a goal of mine.  I'm still working on them napping in the same room...at this exact moment, I think they are both asleep.  It doesn't work every day, though, so the crib is still a toddler bed in Tirzah's room.  Jr. will sleep in a rock n play for a while (which is totally portable), so it's not a big deal.

With the days counting down to Baby Jr.'s arrival, we haven't really had plans on the calendar and have been trying to do things with the kids before our lives change drastically.  A week ago we took them to Pekin Park to walk around the lagoon and play on the playground.  We tried to get a picture of all 3 kids, but Tirzah was just done at this point, and this is the best one of Max and Nora!

On Mother's Day, Greg made a DELICIOUS breakfast casserole and Nora helped him make some very yummy monkey bread (recipe at that link).  She cut up the biscuits and was quite proud of it!

She did a great job!

Last picture here is of Max and Nora's newest thing to play in the basement...I think they just call it 'FEAST!'  :)  They get out every piece of toy food we own and spread it out on the table.  This is from last night, and they even had 5 chairs around the table to eat!  One time when they did it, Max told me, "Mom, we make food more gooder than you!"  Given my lack of motivation in the kitchen lately, I think he's probably right! :)  Which reminds me...I should probably figure out what we're going to have for supper tonight!  Unless I go into labor first... :P

Hopefully the next post will have some baby news!