DAY 1 OF TURNING MY 2 BED 2 BATH

HOUSE INTO A 3 BED 2 BATH!

Dad and James worked on Saturday to begin putting up a wall where the old front room and formal dinning room were. So far they have gotten all the framing done.
Joshua and Eliza both did their share of the work too.

NEW PICTURES!
I got to watch my niece and nephew this last week and while they were here I took a few picture of them with my kids. From oldest to youngest there is Joshua (3), Eliza (23 mo), Evelyn (21 mo), Aubrey (5 mo), and Preston (1 mo). We had a lot of fun that day.

THE CREATIVITY BEGINS:
Joshua and Eliza love to draw, color, paint and do all sorts of art projects but there favorite is play dough. Everyday during art time when I ask them what they want to do they yell for play dough. Its only after I remind them that there are other things that they can pick from that they may or may not change their minds to do something else. Here are a few pictures of their latest creation. Joshua decided he wanted to make a snake family. There is a Mommy snake, a Daddy snake and a bunch of baby snakes. Take a look!

WHO NEEDS PAPER?
No matter where I hide the pens in this house there is always one that is left undiscovered by me that is soon discovered by one of my kids. Even though my kids are great at finding the pens they can never seem to find the paper to draw on. Actually, I just think that they find it more fun to draw on other thing besides what they are supposed to use.

So I think I jinxed myself. Not long after I sat down to write this blog did I find Eliza using her little sister, Aubrey, as a piece of paper. The whole time Aubrey was just laughing away. Just goes to show that Eliza will color on just about anything.

AUBREY IS ON THE MOVE!

She started pulling her knees up underneath her about two weeks ago and now that is usually how she sleeps. Like a stink bug! Yesterday, September 9, she got up on both her hands and her knees and even got a little froggy hop going. Here are some pictures and even video that I was able to get today. She is 4 1/2 months.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
KORY

AND

JAMES



Hope that both of you enjoyed your birthday party last Sunday!!
Here are a few pictures that were taken there.

OUR FIRST WATERMELON

At the beginning of SUMMER James and I decided that we wanted to plant a garden in the little area we had beside our house. After calling around for advice on how to get a garden started and going to the local Home Depot for some seeds we were ready to plant. First we had to pick up all the rock that was currently occupying the space, take out the black tarp stuff underneath, and pull out the broken pipe line that we found in the process. Luckily it was only for a very old sprinkler system that was no longer being used. In that small area we planted peas, corn, berries, and watermelon. We also had strawberries and cucumbers in pots that we planted earlier. The STRAWBERRIES had produced a nice little batch but the cucumbers only produce one little thing that you could hardly call a cucumber. After all that hard work we finally got a WATERMELON from our patch. It was very large and was very tasty. We soon discovered that we had about 6 more coming in that hopefully we will get to pick soon. The only problem was we never thought that our watermelon patch would become so big. It has taken over the whole area and more. Once we pick the watermelon that are currently growing we will probably rethink what we grow in the garden. On the bright side we learned a lot about gardening and in the mean time get to enjoy some YUMMY WATERMELON.

Just wanted to send a Happy Birthday wish to my cousin Lindsey.   
Everyone here at the Mansius home loves you!   
Have a Fabulous Day!

!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY !!!!

Tales of a STAY AT HOME MOM!!!

Well my sister, Amber, says I need to post more and she is right. So I have been trying to think of what to post. Even though my life seems sort of uneventful it is actually full of lots of interesting tales. Sunday, August 12 we got our first official flat tire. We were all in the car headed to church when we noticed that something was wrong. Sure enough, the front right tire was as flat as can be. Luckily we were still in the driveway. James had a little trouble getting the tire off at first but soon he was able to get the spare on and we headed off to church. Believe it or not we only missed an hour of church.
Later on that week Joshua was trying to figure out ways to hide his veggies from us. We had told him in order to get dessert he had to eat all his veggies. He hid them in all sorts of places. Under the table, under his chair, down his shirt, in Eliza's bowl, and yes even in his nose. Even though it was easy to get out he got scared when he realize that it was stuck and he could not get it out by himself.
Joshua is not the only one known for getting himself into trouble. Eliza likes to hide in cabinets throughout the house. So one day she thought it would be fun to hide with the dishes. She successfully got up in the cabinet only to have big brother Joshua pull the chair away from the counter. She was now stuck. We easily got her down but she was laughing the entire time.
To most of you these may seem like sillylittle events but with three kids all three and under these are regular occurrences. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Without these silly occurrences life as a stay at home mom would be rather boring. So all of you who think being a stay at home mom is easy think again. BUT I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!

MY LATEST CRAFT PROJECTS:




Furry shoes I created for a girl at chruch for a secret sister activity.

Aubrey Fern's Blessing Dress

A Dress Pattern I found and wanted to try out


WHAT DO YOU THINK?

POSTING PICS

Okay I didn't have time to figure out how to post a pic to make my post look nice.  Thats what happens when you have 3 kids but I promise that I will get some in later.  

HAWAII

ALOHA!!! In the middle of July we got to visit Aunt Joan and Uncle Russle in Hilo. The best way to tour Hawaii is with a Kamaaina (someone who has lived in Hawaii for a long time) We did all sorts of things while we were there. We got to see downtown Hilo, were there was a statue of King Kamehameha, outrigger practices, beatiful parks, and a tree that showed how high some of the tsunamies had been. The Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory was interesting and we got to try different kinds of ice cream with macadamia nuts. YUMMMMMY!!!! On Saturday we got a little lost trying to find a place near the Captain Cook monument and ended up finding a guy rending out kayaks for real cheap so we ended up kayaking over to the monument and then snorkeling for a while. We saw many colorful fish and sea anemones. I even was a puffer fish. One day we toured Volcano National Park and although we never got to see any actual lava we saw very large crators and steam vents and even walked through a few lava tubes. Throughout the week we also swam in the Warm Pots (swimming area heated by lava further underground), saw sea turtles, went to a zoo, saw a few waterfalls, and helped my Aunt and Uncle take pictures for the speck home. We also sampled a variety of local types of fruit. We had Pineapple, papaya, mangoes, lychee, poha berries, and few others I can't think of at the moment. What a trip!!! We even got lucky enough to fly first class on our way home. The only downfall was that we were only able to bring Aubrey and not the other two kiddos with us. They got to stay at Grandma Fitzgerald's for the week. By the time we got home we were having so much fun going on all these vacations that we were not ready to return to work when we got back. James said it was the longest day of his life.

VACATIONS

Wow! Life has been one big vacation here at the Mansius home. At the beginning of June my parents took all four of us kids and their families to Puerto Vallarta for a week. The next week after that James went to a real estate conference in Arizona so the kids and I decided to tag along. While we were there we got to visit Grandma and Grandpa Nelson, Aunt Kristy and Uncle Lorrin, Cressa, Uncle Danny and Aunt Lynn, and Cousin Cris and Kristen and their 3 kids. We got back on a Sunday and the following day James' mother came out to visit for a week to see Baby Aubrey along with Aunt Joan. During that week we went to Disneyland and Calico Ghost Town. Aunt Joan also offered to fly us out to her house for a week later that month. Her house just happens to be in Hawaii so we got to enjoy the beautiful view of Hilo, Hawaii for a week while spending time with her and her husband Russell. But I will save that trip for another post.

I have had this account for a while now and have never posted anything.  So here I go.  I should have  posted a long time ago but I'm not very ggod at keeping these types of things up.  Its not easy with three kids.  This is going to be fun!  Wish me luck!