Loving Vesper

Big Brother Ezra LOVES to hold his little baby sister. This is extra special since his younger brother is being put to bed and he gets to stay up a little bit later since he's older. So funny how Ezra is so aware that he's the oldest. I can only imagine how this is going to play out over the years. I just don't see Theo going along with this his entire life. Anyway, here is big brother Ezra holding his little baby sister. Doesn't this just melt your heart?

Here are all my grand babies getting clean. Or as we sometimes refer to them, Swenson Version 1.0, 2.0, & now 3.0!

Vesper was very happy in the warm water and didn't mind those two big boys hanging around. Good, because those two big boys are not going away any time soon.

Vesper's First Family Dinner

Tonight was Vesper's very first Family Dinner. Ezra was so happy. He likes to have everyone together. He's asked several times if his baby sister was going to come to Family Dinner. He really missed her not being in attendance last week. 

Dinner was very simple this week, with it being our busy season and all. We had spaghetti with meat sauce, Caesar salad, and bread. The bread was good, and very funny story. We were both in the kitchen trying to get it on the table. Dave decided to help out with the bread. The plan was to put butter and garlic on the bread, when Dave grabbed my one-half cup of crust that I had set aside. Granted, I did have the cup sitting very near the bread prep area. The bread actually tasted good. Sweet, but good.

This is Ezra "cutting" his food. First he announced that he was cutting his own food. Then he called out to each individual to watch him. Waiting until he heard "good job" until he moved on to the next person. He even invited his brother to watch. Theo was not the least bit interested. He was playing peek-a-boo and that takes precedence.

Even without the full crust, the dessert was fabulous. Then again, with enough sugar and ice cream added, everything is fabulous! Here's a photo of yet another snag off of Pinterest, Peach Cobbler.

Zero Birthday and Counting

How do you celebrate the birth of your new baby sister? With a Birth Day Party of course!!!!!

Cake? check. Party Hats? check. Candles? check. Oh wait, no candles because she's ZERO!!!!!

Three's the Charm and We are Charmed

We now have THREE grandchildren! So hard to believe. It's just like our daughter to overwhelm us. Everyone is healthy, happy, and exhausted. Dare I saw the exhausted part is the "new normal"?

After two boys we now have a girl. She's fitting the stereotype too, she was due on the 20th and made us all wait...until the following month! She does have a cool birthdate of 3.1.13.

The birth of #1 was filled with drama and #2 was so fast we didn't have time to fret. W & J birth the babies at home. This adds a whole new dimension for us. We think of all the horrible things that can go wrong and require technical medical intervention. Then there's always the fielding of questions and comments from people. We did receive periodic texts and photos as the labor progressed. We were tethered to our phones. We received the text that #3 had arrived while Dave was meeting with a client. Dave's client was as excited as we were when we received the photo and passed around our phones so they could see too.

We brought the boys to meet their new baby sister the next day. W & J had presents for them from their sister. E didn't really understand that and asked questions.

Please pay no attention to the fact that E has not combed his hair and his sweater is hopelessly wrinkled. I think we earn medals since he's alive, clean, and fed. That is my new gold standard.

Here's Ezra filled with glee at the sight of his brand new baby sister

And of course he had to touch her

I'm certain he hasn't washed his hands in the last hour and I have no idea where his hand has been. Forgetting all that, is this not the cutest image of Big Brother's hand, Papa's hand (that looks as if the first finger is half missing), and sweet baby girl's tiny little precious hand?

So now it's Theo's turn to meet his new little sister. It is exactly 18 months and his position as the baby of the family has been usurped. Guess how he's going to take this. Go ahead and guess. He was busy exploring and touching everything while we were all distracted and here's how he looked when we all said "Theo, come meet your new baby sister"

He took one look at her, turned to J and began to cry for his Mama. Actually it was more like wailing. This broke Dave's heart and he swooped in to comfort Theo.

Jessica assures us, she even sent a photo as proof, that after a two hour nap he woke up and cuddled with his new baby sister.

Vesper Wren Swenson has arrived and we will never be the same.

Imitating Jesus

Tuesday night family dinner wouldn't be complete without a bath for the boys. This gives the adults time to chat and brings calming for the wee ones before dessert. The water is filling in the tub and E is ready to jump in. I say "hey, you can't get in the water with your clothes on" and he tells me "Jesus gets in the water with his clothes on". I then have to break it to this sweet child..."yeah, but you're not Jesus, so take your clothes off before you hop in the tub".  He's always good for a chuckle.

We Have A Winner

We continue to have Family Night...aren't you proud of us? We're keeping this up and I 'm having a great time.  I'm enjoying searching the internet to find tasty recipes. My rules are something that can feed a group, is tasty, and I can prepare and get on the table while still being able to visit with everyone. I still need to get some work done during the day too.

Most of my searching is done on Pinterest......hello, my name is Edie and I am a Pinaholic. My Food Boards are very full and I've actually prepared many of them. There's a whole lot of crappy websites, and so many people think they explain things well and they don't. The reason Pioneer Woman has so many followers, well, she is fabulous. Decades ago I found new recipes in the Wednesday edition of the local paper. Things change some, but not that much.

I think I've found a new favorite website to checkout, DeepSouthDish.com. With the cold and dark days, I was looking for comfort food and found a winner......Hamburger Steak with Creamy Onion Gravy. This is fabulous! My SIL told me to double the recipe the next time I prepare this.....this will appear on my table again....and again....(So sorry Jessica that there weren't enough leftovers for your next meal).

Here it is while cooking.....please notice the camera trouble continues. I'm wondering if the mirror is not lifting up quickly enough because it seems like the first photo has the blackness and then the other frame taken right after does not....I think I need to find a camera shop.

Here it is on the table....

and here's my youngest grandchild....now I'm just showing off....

and yes, that is an owie on his forehead.....he face plants in the same spot so much that I think he's rubbing his skin down and bleeding....he'll learn.

After dinner we clean up, have dessert, and then bathe the grandchildren. Honestly, I ask you, does it get any better than this? No it does not!!!!  I'm leaving out the parts where Lucky is dragged in and furniture is rearranged, the boys make a huge mess, balls are hurled down the hall, little hands are dragged along the white walls, snuggles are handed out freely, books are read (and tossed and gnawed on), the lights are turned on and off when the switch can be reached, and so many other activities all crammed in to two plus hours.

Too Much Fun?

If you've been reading this for any length of time you remember that after so many years of marriage and being uber responsible, we're trying to take a little time each week to have fun. This is such a challenge. Seriously. We struggle to think of fun activities. Please feel free to leave any ideas for fun below in the comment section.

It has come to our attention that we may be the only people who have NEVER been to a Dollar Store. Yep, that's right, never been. We hear about it, never went. We figured it was full of junk. Now a new store has opened up right here in town.  Since we're in our very busy season and do not have much time for fun, we thought we'd grab an hour and visit the Dollar Store. If nothing else, we'd have something to giggle about.  Well, call us pathetic, we had a blast!

We had not been to this area of town in ages, so now we're up-to-date on everything there. It's a little sad because what once was a vibrant center is now dull. Plenty of empty store fronts too. We did find a parking spot right up front. It may look odd to some people to pull up to the Dollar Store in a Mercedes.

As soon as we walk in, we notice several women shopping and talking VERY loudly on their cell phones. And the clerk? He is a hoot! So cheerful, joking with all the shoppers. We were very entertained.  We grabbed a little shopping cart and started walking up every aisle just to see what we could possibly want to buy.

We did find plenty of junk, things that we are not interested in, etc. Then we found a few items that were fabulous deals. You need to know prices, but there were enough finds that we spent $19.35! We forgot our bags in the car and had to carry everything out and then put it in the bags in the trunk. We're not yet trained with the new bag law.

The fun didn't stop yet.......we went to Starbucks and bought lattes. Fun? Yeah, we can do fun!

Stay tuned for the next installment of fun...........