A Very Proud Mama

See that boy right there?  I love him.  He makes me SO proud.  That boy right there is my baby boy, the first of my children to venture out into the world beyond our home by himself.  That first day of kindergarten, I bawled....a lot.  I watched him walk up to school, a bit nervous, pause a moment and then take those steps into the big brick building where he would be spending his days, and my heart went with him.  He looked so little next to all the other kids, but I was SO proud of that little boy.

Then, I started volunteering in his classroom.  I help out with "centers" on Wednesday mornings....basically I help out with learning activities and the kids rotate centers and I get to help them out and spend some time with Peder.  I watch him and listen to him when he doesn't realize that anyone else is paying attention, and the things I hear him say make me even more proud of him.  He will walk past someone in his class and say something like, "I really like how you colored your monster." or "Your letter M looks really good."  He reaches out to his classmates and is extremely kind to them, and the fact that he does that when no one is watching, with no expectations, makes me SO proud.  It melts my heart and brings tears to my eyes because I can see the person he is becoming, and I love who he is becoming.

Yes, I'm bragging.  I'm proud.  SO PROUD!  And let's just add another thing on there to be proud.  Today when I picked him up from school he had a sucker in his hand.  I asked him why he got the sucker and he told me that he got it for counting to 100 with the principal.  The principal, Mr. Bretoi, goes to the classrooms and sits with the kids and does things with them to track progress and see where kids are in their skills.  Today Peder was one of only 2 students in his class that was able to count to 100.  Another thing to make this Mama proud.

I am SO happy and excited about the boy Peder is turning into.  I just had to share this with all of you....I'm just so proud of him.

The proof is in the dancing

Here is a video of one of the happenings in our house this morning.  If you listen closely you'll hear her singing....and a bit of my singing too.  :)  The reason you hear me telling her to keep going is because I stopped dancing because the camera was starting to shake.  And she wouldn't take a bow because another song came on and she proceeded to dance to that one too.

The video is wider then my screen on my blog, so if you want to see the full width and Emmy actually centered in it, click on the video and the youtube page will open up.  Enjoy!

Someone stole my baby boy....

and put a big boy in his place!  Peder lost his first tooth today while eating popcorn at preschool.  I didn't even know it was loose!  We are pretty sure he swallowed it.  Apparently he looked at his teachers and asked, "Did I lose my tooth?"  They searched high and low for it and couldn't find it anywhere.  We'll be leaving a note for the tooth fairy to explain what happened.

In the meantime, I'm going to go mourn the loss of my baby boy, who I swear just got those teeth in yesterday!

First Haircuts

My baby girls are now 3 and a half, which means I have finally given in to giving them haircuts.  They look SO cute and like such big girls.  And for those of you who have a hard time telling them apart....Emmy now has much shorter hair then Mari.

Emmy Before:

Emmy After:

Mari Before:

Mari After:

The Christmas Season is Here

I took this picture on Sunday after we had decorated our tree.  The wonder of Christmas has filled my children's hearts and I'm SO happy and proud that they are mine.

My baby boy is 5!

Can you believe it?  Peder is 5 years old today.  FIVE!  Seriously, how did that happen.  He was snuggling with me this afternoon and overflows all over the place when he sits on my lap.  Was it really 5 years ago that I could hold him in one arm  and he would sit so easily in the crook of my arm.

Look at him now.  Isn't he just an adorable little boy?  My gosh that smile can totally light up my day.  Look at how happy he is with his 24 mini-cupcakes he picked out for his birthday cake (he'll get a fancy Scooby Doo one for his birthday party in a couple weeks).  We were singing happy birthday to him and he just looked at me with that sweet smile of his. 

Here he is with all of his presents from our little family.  He got a cowboy hat and Sheriff badge from me and Jake, a lasso from Mari and a pair of chaps from Emmy.  He is all ready to be a cowboy.

When he was all done opening his gifts he said, "Thank you so much you guys!  I LOVE IT!  Everything is so cute."  That made me tear up.  Oh my gosh!  I am SO proud to be his mommy.  Happy Birthday to my little Sweet P.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

We headed out to a local ball field and flew kites tonight.  WAY TOO MUCH FUN!

Peder getting ready to fly his Spiderman kite.

Mari loving her kite.  Look at that smile!  She couldn't stop talking about it afterwards.

Emmy was ecstatic.  I loved all the smiles on the kiddos' faces and the giggles.

This is Mari and me getting her kite out of a tree.  I was SO impressed that I got the kite out without snapping the line or ruining the kite.

Daddy helping the kids get their kites up.

A Peek at our Night

Tonight we went to run some errands.  We headed over to Woodbury to check out Michael's and I made a trip into Archiver's.  On our way back to Target in West St. Paul, the following scene happened.

Emmy:  Singing at the TOP of her lungs.  And I mean TOP.  She was joyously singing like she often does.

Peder:  Got kind of annoyed with the singing.  Told Emmy to stop.

Emmy:  Kept SINGING!  Sang so loud I couldn't hear Peder talking.

Peder:  Repeatedly:  EMMY STOP!

Me:  Started singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star at the top of my lungs.  MUCH louder and more annoying than Emmy was.

Peder:  "That's MUCH better!"

And that is a small snippet of our life.  Enjoy!

Year in Review - June 2009

We went to Grandpa and Grandma's cabin for the annual Pederson family reunion.  Peder and Zoey took a nap together.

Peder got his room redecorated into a Cars and Lightning McQueen theme.

Peder went to summer preschool.

Granpda Warren and Grandma Cindi came over to celebrate Father's Day.  The girls had mixed reactions to Grandma's singing.  :) They both wanted to dance, but Mari was a bit unsure of the noise level.  :)

Year in Review - May 2009

Remember to scroll down to see previous months!

Our annual Mother's Day slumber party.

My adorable kids sitting in our front porch.

We went to the West St. Paul Days parade near our house.

I celebrated my golden birthday, the big 2-9!

We celebrated my birthday by going to see UP at the drive in.  What a blast!

Year in Review - April 2009

April 2009 was a busy and fun month!

We went to an Easter egg hunt in Big Lake.

Mari won a prize, it was VERY exciting!

The first nephew of the year was born.  Nathan Andrew Trent the II with proud parents Nathan and Tina.

Grandpa Warren got a time out.

We dyed Easter Eggs.

The kids got all dressed up for Easter.  Mari, Peder and Emmy

Peder brought me flowers for the first time ever.  He picked them out himself and everything.

Emmy turned Daddy into a princess.

Year in Review - March 2009

March was filled with fun!  Some of my favorite pictures from the month are below.

Peder will probably kill me over this picture in years to come, but right now I love my Princess P.  :)

I love this picture of Emmy.  She is changing her imaginary colostomy bag.  We used to use this tube of powder to prep her skin before we put a new bag on.  She went through all the steps and this picture was just a moment in her steps.

This is Emmy after her endoscopy to make sure her intestinal bleed had healed completely.  It was the first time she'd ever gotten to go home after one of her procedures and I think she much preferred it to sitting in a hospital room.

Jake celebrated his 31st birthday.  Don't you love the kids' cake decorating job?

Peder on the couch tucked in with all his stuffed animals.  He loves taking care of his animals.

I got sick and all the kids decided to "take care" of me.  Aren't they sweet?

We had a tea party.

Year In Review - February 2009

Here are some pictures that show how February went.  To see pictures from January, scroll down.  Some of these are just favorites of mine because they crack me up and show you what our family is like during our free time.

Peder in all of the necessary gear so that he could visit Emmy while she was in PICU.  He "fixed" her and was SO happy when we told him that Emmy was getting better and he had helped.

Mari with a diaper on her head.  This is a tactic I use to cheer up grumpy kids.  I put a diaper on my head and dance around being a goof ball.  The child I am cheering up always ends up with the diaper on their heads and a smile on their faces.  Yep, it works!

This is how we spent our Valentine's Day.  We went to the Minnesota Zoo as a family.  We had planned a weekend away to Stillwater just Jake and me, but cancelled it so that we could get some normalcy back into our life.  We had a blast at the zoo looking at the animals and just spending time together again.

Peder and I had a slumber party once we were all home again.  We spent a lot of time giggling and snuggling.  He is my Sweet P.

Year In Review - January 2009

I decided to do a Year In Review in Pictures for 2009 and because of it, look for multiple posts in one day.  We'll start out with January, which was a big month for Emmy.  All of our pictures for this month are for Emmy and the roller coaster she went through.  This post will be difficult to look at, so if you do not want to see her how she was at her lowest point, please do not read any further.

Emmy had her last colostomy bag change ever.  We were ecstatic that she would no longer have to endure the bag changes, the increased susceptibility to illness and the periodic discomfort from the bags.

Emmy, free of her colostomy bag, before the down swing from the high of no longer having her bag.

This is Emmy on January 31st, 2009.  That morning she woke up vomiting blood and a diaper full of blood.  In the next 24 hours she would have four blood transfusions and one plasma infusion, a endoscopy and a fight for her life.  This is still the hardest thing I have ever seen and I am unashamed to admit that I cried a good cry when I saw these pictures again.  So here is my soapbox, once again:  Donate blood, Save a life like Emmy's.  Our church is having a blood drive at the end of January, if you would like to donate in honor of Emmy's life, let me know and I will get you the information you need.