Spring....please come soon!

Seriously....that about sums up things around here lately. Life is fairly boring, aside from the burst pipe in the basement, the 3 year old that draws with markers on people's clothing and the wall, and the little boy that now gets into everything! Once again it has been forever since I've posted. 2 1/2 weeks ago I heard a loud boom in the basement and shortly there after found water seeping into the basement bedroom. I frantically tried to call Ryan and 10 minutes later got the water shut off. A pipe to an outside spicket had burst and in a short amount of time ruined the carpet in the bedroom and hallway. The carpet has now been ripped out and the pipe has been repaired. Now we're waiting for someone to come fix the drywall, paint, and replace the carpet. I am starting to get impatient. It's too cold to send the kids outside and now I can't send them downstairs. Our fairly large house is now seeming terribly small!
Reagan has been trying my nerves quite a bit lately. She seems to think it's funny to write on people with markers and is anti-nap, which makes the 5:00 hour even worse than normal. She is quite the character though. We have a water tower right by our house that the kids always look for. Today she replied that there should be an "r" written on the side of it. I was confused about why that would be and tried to explain to her that there is no letter "r" in West Des Moines. She then stated that there should be one, because it is Our (r) water tower. On Monday on our car ride, she told me she is going to be a mommy when she grows up. She then decided that that would not work because I am the mommy and we don't want two. She told me that she would be a daddy then. I said that only boys are daddy's, so she decided that she would switch heads with little Abbey's daddy, Barry, and he could have her head. Slightly odd...but how she comes up with those things, I don't know. It made me chuckle though.
Drew is all over the place. If anything is on the floor, it's fair game. I've been warning the older two kids for months, but I think they finally are getting what I'm talking about. One of his favorite things to get into is the container of diapers I have downstairs. I keep moving him away, but there's something about them he can't resist. Now if he could only change himself, I would be all set! I took Lauren into the pediatrician on Friday to make sure she isn't having any trouble with her muscles. She still isn't sitting up on her own or rolling over anymore, and the doctor thought it would be a good idea for her to come in. We were going there anyway for their flu shots, so I didn't have to make a special trip. He says she looks fine though and is just a stinker...but a cute one.:) We'll just keep working with her. Luke is doing great at school. It's his 5th birthday next week, which he is super excited about. We also get to sign him up for kindergarten soon, which I can hardly believe! Our little boy is definitely growing up, but we're having a great time with him.
I just thought I'd fill you in on what's been going on here. I don't have any new pictures to post, because I can't get them off the camera. I'll post some as soon as things are back in order here. Keep warm!

7 months old

Drew was laying part way on top of Lauren before I got this picture taken. She didn't seem to mind.

Drew scoots and rolls himself under the couch in the playroom frequently. It's fun for a little while and then he gets mad because he can't get out. Luke used to always do the same thing!

Lauren always sits in the little seat with her ankles crossed. She loves to relax and lounge.

Drew got himself into trouble the other day. He rolled and scooted himself over to this phone line and was playing with it when I came into the room. He looks sorry, doesn't he?:)

Drew does great at sitting up by himself. I love it because I can stick the bucket of toys by him and he keeps himself entertained!

It's been forever since I've posted. Sorry about that to all of you faithful followers of the Noteboom household!:) We've been sick with the stomach flu around here and busy with gatherings, so it seems like time is flying by! Drew & Lauren will be 7 months old in a few days. As you can see from the pictures Drew is sitting up on his own and is so close to crawling. He gets up on his hands & knees and rocks back and forth. He's plenty able to get into trouble just by rolling though, so I'm in no hurry! Lauren is still content to lay on her back and just hang out. I'm trying to work with her on sitting up, so I put her in a special little seat all the time which she likes. She's able to roll over if she really wants to. I told her she better get moving or Drew is going to be able to steal toys from her and she won't be able to do anything about it! They started eating some cereal puffs recently and have tried sippy cups with apple juice in them. They don't quite have the sucking thing down on those yet. I'm actually ready for the day when they can eat more table food, so I don't have to take as much time feeding them their baby food. Of course, all of that extra time will be used to clean up the messes they'll make from feeding themselves.:)

The next Van Gogh?

Reagan got a new easel for Christmas. She has had a great time drawing and creating all sorts of pictures. The other day she drew a portrait of Ryan. She told him she was giving him one mean eye and one nice eye because sometimes we have a mean eye when they don't pick up their toys.:) She drew pictures of Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Marilyn and even added their glasses. She'll draw your portrait too....for a small fee that is! Maybe she'll end up being an artist like her Oma Elli.

Snow much fun!

The kids went sledding at my parent's house on Christmas Day. There was just the right amount of snow and they had a great time. It was really cold out that day, so they had some rosy cheeks when they came in!