The Algeras

That's what Sara asked me today - "Is it warm time yet, Mom? I have my sunhat, we need to go to beach and swim. I will get Mommy's sunhat too!" So here we are, wearing our sun hats and ready for the beach. Except that it is 20 degrees outside, definitly not warm time yet. My hat is the one I wore paddling the Upper Delaware River and hiking through the Grand Canyon and I get the urge to wander adventurously whenever I put it on.


We had a good Saturday even though David is still coughing and sneezing. Sara has learned how to wipe his nose with a Kleenex. "You sneezy, Davey, I clean your nose!" He prefers my gentle wipe to Sara's face scrubbing. We had to ask her to just wipe her dolly's nose for now.

Dave officially has a tooth now! It is just poking out on his bottom gum. He doesn't really like people sticking their fingers in there to check it out, but he doesn't have enough teeth to bite back yet! It's time for me to start buying Tylenol in bulk again. I'll try to get a picture sometime soon when he's in a better mood. He still looks pretty miserable and just needed to cuddle today. However, he did sleep ALL NIGHT LONG!!! last night! I woke up at 6:30 feeling far to rested. I'm 95% sure he slept all night, I have a nagging feeling that I did get up and just don't remember. Ben thinks I'm losing it, but I have perfected the art of feeding David without really becoming concious. It is a little scary now that I think about it. But how else can you survive the sleepless baby days?

Both kids went to bed early tonight and Ben is out playing broomball. I'm sitting in an unnaturally quiet house sipping my hot chocolate and blogging. What a nice break. Just typing that sentence made me feel relaxed. I'm internet planning some wishful thinking vacations - Grand Canyon hikes, canoe trips, tropical locations... I can dream! This may be related to the hat coming out of the closet today! Hopefully the kids will be good outdoors loving troopers and we can haul them all over the National Parks. Ben will promise to read the maps correctly and I will promise not to spill the food. It will be fun!

David was a sick toot today. Look at that drooly, snotty, teary face! He tried hard to play and be happy but really just wanted to be held and cuddled. He's also cutting his first tooth and not to happy about it. After lots of love and Tylenol he's finally sleeping. Of course, its thundering so hard that the windows are shaking so that may not last so long. I'm just waiting to hear "Mommy, Mommy!" or "wah wah wah!"

We had a laid back day since neither Ben or I had to work. I got the grocery shopping done and Ben and Sara got to Menards. Sara loves riding with Daddy in his truck to do errands. And when she got back she yelled "Mommy, I'm home!" I quoted some Princess Bride to her the other day and now she likes to say "Have fun storming the castle!" when ever Ben or I leave. Oops!

We're really proud of Sara tonight, though! She went on the potty again and got a toy ice cream cone for telling me she had to go! Way to go Sara!

Sara had a "super fun!" day today! Ben is home for his week of "vacation" so we decided to do something fun this morning. We got off to a leisurely start and then headed out to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. I was afraid Sara might be a little too young to appreciate it but she had a great time exploring the place. Her favorite thing was the big whale skeleton, or "big fish bones." It brought back memories for me of the old museam on Jefferson! They even kept some of the "Michigan habitat" dioramas - remember those from school field trip days? Sara loved driving the little tractor, trying to lift the big rock, seeing the old GR street and riding the bicycle and the streetcar. She got a bookmark from the print shop and cards from the furniture exhibit. David rode in the stroller and was happy for over two hours, so he must have enjoyed it too. He giggled and looked around. Both kids loved their carousel ride and were ready for a nap by the time we left.

We had a relaxing afternoon and Ben did laundry for me! It was necessary because of the huge blowout David achieved while sitting on my lap. Ben heard it from across the room. Sara giggled "David tooted out loud!" And I got to clean up the smears of poop and the diaper full of poop in a blast pattern. Ben was so proud of his little man.

We went to 8th St Grille to round out this red letter day. We decided to make this the fun day since I'm working much of the rest of the week. Sara enjoyed her grilled cheese and sneaking sips of my iced tea. "Mommy's juice" was so much better than her water!

Nate and Ellen and the kids came over to return Ben's bike tonight. Sara jumped up and down on the couch when she saw Allison and Andrew getting out of the truck. The kids enjoyed ripping around and then having a cookie snack. It was good to see you all! You can go visit Ellen's new blog by clicking on the link for "The Pastoors" Maybe my advertising here will get her to start posting!

The kids are sleeping now and Ben is getting ready to watch 24. I'm enjoying my clean kitchen and messing around on the computer. It's been fun! I hope you enjoy my slideshow that I set up ALL BY MYSELF. No Ben instructions needed. I feel like a big girl now :)

Yes, reason 462 to have kids -the excuse to play Nerf football in the living room. Sara needs to gain a little weight before she'll be an effective blocker. But she knows how to do a touchdown dance!

Do you still recognize these cuties? It's been so long since I last posted. We've been pretty busy and worn out from lack of sleep. Fortunatly we have all been healthy and happy and just hanging out through the cold and gray days of late January and early February. Maybe I'm feeling more communicative because the last few days have been sunny and warmer. As Sara said "The sun came out to make me happy!"

This picture of Sara is her spring dress and shoes. Ellen found it for her last year, and guessed the size about right. She calls it her dancing dress and pretty shoes. She is such a girl! Even at two she likes shoes, dresses, hair bows and makeup. She got to watch Grandma and Mom try out Mary Kay makeup last week. She sat in her chair for 45 minutes with her own brushes making herself beautiful. She's still talking about it. Ben just shakes his head and is glad that David is a boy.

David has been a happy drooler. He soaks his clothes and bibs! When is that tooth going to show? His newest favorite trick is grabbing at faces and giving hugs. If he's hungry he'll chew at my chin. And of course, this is all accompanied by huge belly laughs. He loves sitting on Sara's bed listening to her read books and loves when she pats his back and tickles his tummy. I've given him some bath books to chew on and he flips the pages like he really knows what he's doing.

I took Sara to the library on Saturday. She was so excited to see the turtles and fish that live on the children's floor. But when she got up there she saw all the books and the turtles were forgotton. "So many books! Whose books?" When I told her she could pick two books to borrow she headed right for the shelf and started choosing. I'm already sick of reading "Stuck in the Mud". She already has it memorized! I hope she will understand that these books have to go back.

Sara has been feeding us such delicious dishes such as pancakes with special butter, pizza with "all the fixings", alphabet soup (David's favorite according to her) and happy birthday cake with peanut butter frosting. That kitchen was the best gift for her! What an imagination she has!

I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of small happenings. I'll try to stay a little more caught up!