Sick Cronks All Around

This past month has been busy and difficult, partly due to the time of year (seemingly endless winter, busy tax season for Steve) and partly because we have all been sick!  We've had at least one family member sick for almost every day of the past about 6 weeks.  Austin was first, then Sarah, then Trevor, then Austin again, and then Mommy and Daddy.  Ugh!  It has been a month of sleepless nights, miserable, fussy children, and a LOT of high fevers!  Happily, we are all finally recovering, and we're hoping that spring brings better health.

In the mean time, there has been some fun and play time.

I attended 2 baby showers for Michelle and Brian.  They are getting close to welcoming their baby boy (due April 15th).

Mom and Michelle with the "hostess with the mostest" Joni, who hosted the first shower.

It was great to see family we hadn't seen in a while.  We look forward to celebrating Elizabeth's wedding in the fall.

After the first shower, we headed over to Michelle and Brian's to assemble the baby's crib.  I'm a pro at it by now, having assembled and unassembled our crib many times.

 Ta-da!

While I was at the baby shower, Steve took the kiddos to a magic show at my high school that was put on by an alum for the alumni children.  They had a blast and got to participate in one of the tricks.

Michelle's good friends Erica and Brenna hosted a shower for Michelle and Brian the next weekend.

In other fun...

The kids have really enjoyed coloring lately.  Sarah, of course, does so in full princess attire.  

Trevor wanted in on the action too, but he does occasionally bite the crayons.

 Trevor has discovered the huge ducky in the tub.

Austin has been REALLY excited about basketball lately and he has a nice hoop mounted on the back of the playroom closet door to practice on for now.  He is almost always playing with it if he is home. I knew he was finally feeling better from being sick when he started playing basketball again!

Not sure what possessed Sarah to act like a "monster" but here is her monster.  She then proceeded to fall over giggling.

 Goofball!

Trevor gets right in the thick of things playing with his big brother and big sister.  He also has been really enjoying playing with the play kitchen toys.  Here are Sarah and Trevor cooking together.

"Ball!"

Trevor also likes to hang out for a while in his crib after he wakes up from a nap.  If I come in the room before he is ready to get out of his crib, he'll point to books in his bookcase or request stuffed animals to play with.  He then plays happily in his crib for a while before he finally lets me get him out.

Lately, he is really in to monkeys.  He says "un-key" and has a little stuffed monkey that Austin gave him (that one is his favorite) and a bigger monkey whose hands velcro together and apart. The "Five Little Monkey" books are a hit, as is this "10 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" book.

We gathered at Michelle and Brian's last weekend to celebrate our March birthdays, Brian (3/17) and Mom (3/21).

 Baby's growing big!

Sarah had fun frosting the cupcakes.

Trevor decided to try Grandpa's beer.

Donut Saturday!  Grandpa often comes over on Saturday mornings with donuts.  This has been particularly helpful the last couple months, as Steve works on Saturdays and, if I've got Nanny and Grandpa to hang out at home with the boys, then I don't have to bring the boys to Sarah's dance lessons.  Here are the boys watching basketball for a few minutes before commencing their own game.(The ball rarely leaves Austin's side. He even was sleeping all curled up with it the other night.)

 After Sarah saw a photo of herself at Trevor's age helping stir up a batch of pudding, she begged to make pudding.  We did...and Trevor discovered he LOVES pudding.

Sarah is often dressed in one of her dress-up princess dresses (tiara, glass slippers, and all).  Here she is making some pretend toast and jam for Trevor.

I love it when they play so nicely together!

Austin made a bracket for the NCAA tournament and has, actually, done pretty well with his picks.  He likes to look at the bracket and then pick teams to play in his imaginary game in the playroom (Austin vs. himself).  Victory either way!

It has been overall a difficult and exhausting month simply due to the onslaught of illness over and over and over for my poor children (and finally the grown ups too).  We are happily looking forward to enjoying the warmer weather coming, working toward the end of busy season for Steve, and excitedly awaiting the arrival of our new nephew in the next few weeks. Hopefully, all that occurs with us being healthy!