Hot Fun in the Summertime

Our long cold winter turned into a blazing hot summer overnight here, so we are trying hard to keep cool. This helps- Popsicles!And a new swimming pool!

GOOOOOAAAALLLLL!

Yeah for Park & Rec soccer! Matt & Isaac are having a great time coaching/ playing soccer. The kids on the team are all really great and the parents are all very relaxed, so it's making everything fun. Here are pics from their first game:

Go...

Tigers!Getting tips from Coach...Good hustle...

Isaac scoring his first goal!!

Number One Fan watching the game...

Herding Cats

Woo hoo! Isaac has finally started soccer. We have been waiting for this for years. The kid has way too much energy to not play soccer. He had his first practice this week with his coach- Pop! Matt said the first practice went well- that "coaching" 4 year olds is like herding cats. We'll see how the first game goes tomorrow!Here is Isaac ready to go to practice... new shoes, shin guards, socks, shorts, and water bottle. He was SO excited he couldn't wait to leave. He had to practice in the front yard before going to meet his team.

Hotel Fun

Last weekend we spent the night in Albuquerque for a tiny vacation. I didn't feel great, but I didn't throw up (yeah!!). The kids both got new shoes that they desperately needed and had fun swimming in the pool. This was the major fun in our hotel room- watching Toy Story on the DVD player.

Little Girl Growing Up

Delia has been hitting some milestones... I am missing them with all the constant couch surfing I've been doing- it is bumming me out! Matt and I had been dreading getting rid of her pacifiers since she seemed so attached. One night Matt couldn't find any when putting her to bed, so she had to go without. She fell asleep w/o a pacifier w/o much fuss and hasn't mentioned them again. Hurray! We were so worried for nothing.

She is not only pacifier free but sleeping in her big girl bed, too. No more crib! Matt said she was excited to make the switch and went to sleep that first night pretty easily. She does a great job staying in her bed- another success! If only we could get both of the kids to SLEEP ALL NIGHT. Maybe someday.

As I start to feel better I want to do some serious potty training with Delia. I wasn't in a rush with Isaac- he figured things about eventually and was diaper free w/o much effort on my part. Delia produces a LOT of diapers (esp. as a 2 year old) so it is time to get her on that potty! Hopefully with warmer weather we can be outside a bunch and it won't be too bad.

I miss my tiny baby, but I'm so proud of my little girl growing up!

Here she is in her big girl bed...

Delia is excited about potty training... especially getting to wear skivvies! This is how she likes to wear them...

No Dice

Pregnancy update!

At 18 weeks I am finally, finally, finally feeling better. Yeah! I can eat some foods sometimes and have gotten off the couch everyday for the last week. I still feel very nauseous at night and I think it might be some time before I am totally back to normal, but I am so grateful for any time spent feeling good.

Today I had my mid-pregnancy ultrasound. Unfortunately Matt had to work, but my mom and the kids came to take a peek at the baby. Thankfully the baby looks very healthy and normal and is growing well. This was a huge relief since I have not fed this baby ANYTHING for the past 2 1/2 months, not even prenatal vitamins! I feel very relieved. However... the baby was stubborn and "it's" gender is still a mystery! He/she was NOT budging. The kids and I did the Bong Family Dance to get baby to move it's legs, but the kid wouldn't go for it. Hopefully we'll get another look at some point, but for now we are glad to have a healthy baby growing in there and a mommy who is on the mend!

Easter 2010

Easter this year was not what we were hoping for... Matt & I were both very sick with bad colds/ sore throats and barely made it through the day. The kids, however, were getting over their colds and had enough energy to hunt eggs and enjoy their new treats from the Easter Bunny. They hated the special breakfast of crepes that I made (more for me I guess) and we skipped church to spare the rest of Durango all our germs. We managed to drag ourselves down the street to have dinner with Fishers at my parents- it was good to see family.

Even though our circumstances were not ideal, we were glad to celebrate Jesus's Resurrection (!) and all that God has done for us. He is so good to us!

Eggs

This year's egg dying fun...

Christmas Trees for Easter and Mountain Lions, Oh My!

It's been a LONG, cold, snowy winter here in Durango, but the snow is finally melting! Yeah! There are sad looking Christmas trees on the side of the road all over our neighborhood- we've had so much snow they have been buried since the first of the year. Embarrassingly, our north facing front yard snow melt has uncovered rotting pumpkins from Halloween. Yuck!
I thought it was warm enough to send the kids to the park this weekend- still kind of snowy but they had a great time. Then we found out there have been mountain lions in our neighborhood... stalking people at our park! Yikes! Looks like we will been hanging inside until the snow and the mountain lions are totally gone.

taco, taco

This morning after finishing breakfast Isaac jumped out of his seat and shouted,

"Sister! Let's go upstairs. I need to play a new song on my keyboard. It's called 'Taco, Taco, Who You Are!'"
I think he gets this from Matt.

Expansion

How many of our kids can you count in this picture?

Did you count three? That's right, our third little one is on his/her way and should be here around the end of August. We are all very excited- the kids are looking forward to outnumbering us. Isaac thinks I am having a boy for him and a girl for Delia. We have been trying to explain that there is only ONE baby in there so he won't be disappointed. Delia likes to point to my belly button and says, "Mommy baby," with a silly grin. Matt and I were pretty surprised at the news, as we were told it was highly unlikely I'd be able to get pregnant again, and we had started the process of adopting from overseas last year. We are thrilled to be having another baby and will resume the adoption process after this baby is born.

On the downside, this pregnancy has been difficult for me (but good for the baby which is GREAT news.) I have hyperemesis- an extreme sensitivity to pregnancy hormones that causes severe and constant nausea. It is much worse than with my previous pregnancies, but this time around I have a doctor who is helping a lot. My medication doesn't make me feel better (unfortunately) but is curbing some of the dehydration and weight loss. I am hoping I'm in the final weeks of feeling awful, and I look forward to getting back to normal as soon as possible.

We are so excited and grateful that our little family is growing!

Sing It Sister

I was watching the Grammies with the kids awhile ago when during one of the performances Delia announced, "Phone!" (which means microphone in Delia-ese.) She took off upstairs and joined us shortly with her giant microphone and serenaded us for quite some time. The girl loves to sing. All of her songs are in completely made up words in her (surprisingly) VERY low voice. There is no lack of entertainment in the Bong house these days!

Super faces

Matt and the kids headed across the street to my brother's house to watch the Superbowl this year (I was feeling poorly.) Before they left Isaac was telling me who were the good guys and who were the bad guys and what you do for each "guys."

This is the face he would make for the bad guys... And the face he would make for the good guys....

In the end I believe that Isaac's team won. He was happy.

Snowdown '10

Overdue blogging coming up...

The end of January always brings Snowdown, Durango's annual winter festival. This year the Fisher family had a float in the parade so we brought the kids downtown for the festivities.

Here we are watching the parade- the kids really seemed to enjoy it (even though they don't look like it in the pictures...)

Of course my camera stopped working as soon as the Armadillo/Skyridge/IKE'S float finally came by. Sadly, this is the best shot I got. It is a giant smoking metal armadillo surfing a big wave of snow. You can't miss Uncle Ben, though!

Christmas '09

This year Christmas was a bit of a whirlwind again, but we all had lots of fun! We spent our pre-Christmas time at Matt's mom's. The kids loved hanging out with Grandma and running around with Bong cousins...Then on Christmas we headed back to Durango to celebrate with the Fishers. Here is Delia giving cousin Jackson a big holiday hug...

Post-Christmas time was spent just the four of us, and Santa finally came to visit our house! The kids loved leaving cookies out, unloading stockings, the whole bit. Isaac got what he REALLY wanted- a Dinoco Lightning McQueen ( I hope that every year he asks Santa for a $4 toy), and Delia was thrilled with her plastic cups and spoons. Both kids got guitars from Santa and have been enjoying making more noise than normal.

Bong Family Christmas '09

Gingerbread House

Part of our annual Christmas traditions- decorating a gingerbread house. Delia is finally old enough to get into the action- mainly eating the candy.
Sticky hands!

Finished project...