Riverway

This past Tuesday we went to Riverway Sports Park with some friends. They have a splash park area so the kiddos got to play in the water. We took our lunch and then they got to run like crazy. Surely a fun place to go! Can you tell?

The two big kids posing for a pic!

I had the most fun watching Elijah. Last year he was very apprehensive about the water...mostly watching from the sidelines. But this time he was all for it! My favorite was when he was putting his face right in the stream of the water and laughing his head off! I realized that he didn't have any swim trunks so I put these orange shorts on him...the are 18 month shorts and are STILL falling off him! He ran around most of the time with his shorts falling off. I'm glad he had a swim diaper to cover his little cheeks. :)

Full of bows!

So I have volunteered (and been accepted) as next year's MOPS creative activities coordinator (AKA crafts coordinator). This means that a friend and I will figure out about 9 crafts to have our group do over next year's MOPS. We have a tight budget and probably will average about 60-70 people to plan for. I am super duper excited about doing this, and also a bit anxious-mostly because not everyone is a "crafty" person and people have different likes when it comes to craft projects. Anyways, I am ready for this challenge, and this step up in leadership. I have really missed being in a leadership role and being part of a team.

Over the past few weeks (an into the next few months) we're going to be planning the crafts for the next year. So I've been hunting and gathering craft ideas. If you have any good ideas or links please pass them my way!

This ribbon bow wreath is one of the ideas I saw in a book. I decided to make one using patriotic ribbon so I could use it for the 4th of July/Labor Day/Memorial Day. I made it Sunday night and I LOVE IT!!! I just think it's so darn cute!! Imagine the possibilities...Halloween ribbon, valentine's ribbon, Christmas ribbon...the list goes on!

It's really easy-all you need to know how to do is tie a bow! And if you can tie your shoe, you can tie a bow! Fabulous, isn't it?

Here's a close up of the bows!

The final product...isn't she cute?

Please excuse the white ribbon sticking out at the bottom...I apparently missed that one when I was trimming the ribbon. :)

Just some pics.

Jason took the 2 big kids to a Visalia Rawhide baseball game last week. They had a blast! A preschool friend of Alia's was there too...so the three of them basically ran around the stadium the whole time. They were wiped out by the end of the game!



Here's a little project I did for teacher appreciation week last week. I made these candles with my young women's Bible study and it was so fun. I then added the little cards that say "For all you are, for all you do, thank you". Alia gave them to her teachers on Friday. Note the beautiful sweet pea flowers in the background...my FAVORITE flowers-they smell so dreamy.

And here is my mother's day treat. I used candy melts (my new favorite thing!) and made candy lollipops. It's funny because I totally remember my mom making lollipops out of candy melts too. I guess I am my mom's daughter. :) I made a bunch of these and passed them out at church and then this afternoon we drove around to some friends homes and I dropped them off. It was fun-that was one thing I wanted to do on mother's day...bless my friends.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Easter!

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Hallelujiah!

This is an Easter Egg Alia decorated earlier in the week. I was washing dishes and I looked over and this is what I saw! She drew this picture all by herself...then explained to me that it was Jesus on the cross and the cross was red because of Jesus' blood. I didn't really know what to say because it touched my heart. She gets it. At 4 years old, she gets it.





We had an Easter Egg hunt after church today. Here's Elijah gathering his eggs.

And Alia...

A silly picture of little Ethan this afternoon.

Happy Easter from the Backlunds!!

Spring Break!

This past week Alia has been on spring break. I've been busy trying to keep us busy and I think we've had a pretty good week (with the exception of a few migraines). As you read this it will go backwards...from Saturday to Tuesday. Sorry about that. But...enjoy reading about our week.


SATURDAY morning we decided that we'd do some house cleaning. We started in the back of the house-with the kids room/laundry area....then moved into our bedroom/bathroom. And that's where it stopped. I ended up getting another migraine so Jason took the kids to do some errands while I slept.


On FRIDAY afternoon Jason and I took the kids on a train ride to Fresno. We piled onto the Amtrak train, leaving from Hanford, and took the 34 minute ride to Fresno. Because of Easter weekend the train was packed both ways...so we didn't even get to sit next to each other. But the kids had a blast-especially Elijah. After we got back to Hanford we had pizza at a local pizzaria then went to Superior Dairy for some yummy ice cream. It was a special day indeed for our kids!





THURSDAY'S fun was a bit different. The big activity was a trip to the dentist for Alia and I! :) I hadn't been to the dentist since we lived in Chicago and Jason's uncle graciously took care of our teeth. But we now have dental insurance so we made appts. Jason went a few weeks ago to check it out for us. :) Since it's been so long I ended up having a pretty good cleaning done and Alia was so patient through it all! I didn't hear a peep out of her the whole time. I do have to go back for a small filing. Poopy I say!
Alia did a great job! She was so big and brave and she laughed a lot, too! Of course "fishy" had to come with her, just in case she needed her. So here's a picture of Alia and fishy.



Yes, I am a silly mom! :) I took a picture of Alia's first teeth x-ray's. :) It's actually pretty cool because you can see her adult teeth already there...waiting to pop through. They are right behind the main teeth. :) Her teeth were in good shape! Hooray! We left with another date to the dentist in 6 months!

On WEDNESDAY we went to Boingo's. It's a warehouse full of bounce houses, and they have this rock wall. Obviously Alia liked the climbing wall. :) We spent about an hour and a half there then went to McDonalds for mini meals. I was sure they would nap...and they did!! The day ended with me getting a migraine.

TUESDAY brought us to a friends park for a MOMS Club Easter Egg Hunt. It was a nice day to be at a park. Alia and Elijah had a fun time playing with friends and getting eggs. Ethan enjoyed being outside. I have been putting him in the stroller more lately because he likes it so much better than being cramped into an infant car seat.

Arizona!

The last weekend in March we made the drive to Phoenix to visit my brother and his family! It was a long trip there and back (especially back) but it was worth it. The kids had a blast playing together and it was fun to be with Jeff and Mary! Thanks so much for having us!



Avery had her 5th birthday party while we were there. It was a beautiful sunny day for a park party! Here are the "best cousins" on a rock together at the party.




The Backlund boys!

We also were able to fly kites one day because it was so windy. Elijah enjoyed this the most. :)

And here are 4 of the 5 cousins playing in another park. Ethan was asleep in the stroller. Someday he'll be able to join in the pictures. :)

Did you miss me?

Yes...I've neglected you all. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me.

I must admit the reason why. One word.

Facebook.

I am now on Facebook and have become addicted and forgotten my first love, the Backlund Brief.

We've had a tough last month and a half. The kids have been sick a couple times and Jason and I have been struggling with getting some good sleep. So the days are a bit of a blurr...but we're coming out of it I think. The kids are healthy and we're hopeful for some good sleep to come. The pictures below share some of our highlights.

Another "highlight" for me personally is that I've started to run. Yes, run, as in outside. :) It's not really a run but more a jog. I've gotten up every morning the past week and have jogged a mile. I don't think I've ever run a mile-ever! Sad, huh? It's gotten easier that's for sure but it's still a challenge. I feel pretty good for the rest of the day after the mile. It's quite an accomplishment for me. I'm hoping to add to the ONE mile...but we'll see.

Well, I've spent the last few hours being intimate with my blog...so now it's time for me to hit the pillow. Thanks for sticking with me...and enjoy the many pictures.

Getting Bigger!

Ethan has been doing real well! He is such a happy baby...smiling all the time and wanting to play. He's begun to roll over all the time from both his back and his belly. Elijah and Alia think this is great. I can't wait for him to sit! Now that Ethan is more interactive Elijah is much more interested. My favorite is when we go to Target. I put Ethan's car seat in the basket and Elijah in the seat of the shopping cart. As Ethan has gotten bigger his little feet hit Elijah in the back. Elijah tells me all the time "Mommy, Ethan's kicking me!" So funny. :)
I took Ethan in for a weight check (he'd only gained 1 pound from 2mo to 4mo) and he now weight 14 pounds 9 ounces. He's gained almost 3/4 of a pound. It was exactly what the Dr wanted to see but he's not overly concerned. It seems Ethan is falling into the same growth pattern as the other two kiddos. We just have small kids, that's all. :) Good things come in small packages, right?


Tonight we gave Ethan his first rice cereal. This face says it all! :) Really though...he did have this face but he kept eating! We're hoping for a good sleep night! Teeheehee.

Can you see the little smile he's giving me behind the toys? Ethan loves his little high chair. He sits in it all the time-every time we eat a meal. It's like he's at the table with us. So fun.

Here's a little video of Ethan eating his yummy dinner.

Random Pics

Here's the final product of my wall. Despite the minor issue...I am very pleased.


We took this picture a few weeks ago. This is the mountains that are near our city. It's incredibly beautiful when we can see them. It looked even more amazing today.

Ohh..my little peanut! I thought he looked so cute holding this bottle. Makes mom a bit sad though :) He doesn't get a bottle too much-mostly on Fridays when I am working and occasionally when I go out. He mostly gets my milk but has had some bottles of formula. He takes the bottle with no problem, as you can see.

Happy Birthday daddy!!! I surprised Jason on his birthday by having a small party at our place. I baked him this cake. It was a fun time. We went to Big Bubba's earlier for dinner. Yum. Yep-he's the big 3-5!

St Patty's Day

We had a Build a Bear birthday to go to on St Patty's Day! It was so much fun!!!! Here's Alia deciding between which ear bow she wanted for her bear. Her's in the one on the right, with the pink robe on.

Elijah decided his bear needed another washing. He dressed his bear in a Spider Man outfit! Sooo cute! He sleeps with it every night now.

Our day started out with green pancakes. Please excuse Alia's hair in this picture. We hadn't brushed it yet :)

Cheese!

Disneyland!

After 3 tries we finally made it to Disneyland! We missed having Gramma and Grampa Jim with us but we had a fabulous time. It sure was a lot of work though. And we did learn that next time we need to take another stroller...our kids are just too little not to be able to sit when they want. We ended up carrying Ethan most of the time. Boy were we tired. :)




Since we went on a Monday Disneyland didn't have a parade. California Adventures did so we went over there for the parade there. It was great! The kids knew all of the characters and movies that came by us. Here's Elijah and Lightening McQueen! Ka Chow!



Handy Manny! So fun!

Alia was fascinated with the caracters this time. (Which means Elijah was too) We ended up getting them autograph books and they got autographs from Handy Manny, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy...hmm...I can't think of the rest. Here we are with Minnie in front of her house.

Yep. I went on the Orbiter with the kids. Boy...that's when I realized how old I am. Jason really missed out! :) We also went on Tea Cups (that was for you, Dad!), Alice in Wonderland, the Train, Buzz Lightyear, Finding Nemo...hmm. It was fun cause we went on rides we hadn't ever been on.

And of course, we stood in line to see Tinkerbell! Too cute! Elijah also got a pic with Tinkerbell. :)

You can't see it very well in this picture, but Elijah has a big shiner underneath his right eye. The day after this pic was taken it got worse...poor guy. Well, he fell off the toilet. Yep. :) He was sitting on the potty and he reached for a book. He lost his balance and went down to the floor-hitting his eye on the corner of the trash can. Jason was sitting right next to him but it all happened so fast that daddy couldn't save him. Needless to say our potty training efforts have come to a screeching halt. BUMMER! He even brought this even up at the breakfast table the other day. It sure made an impact on him.
Alia is signed up for Kindergarten!!! Is it possible that we can really have a grade schooler in our house? Man...time sure flies. This is the school she will go to. She is way excited but insists that she doesn't want to get shots. Anyways..I can't wait to take her to her first day of Kindergarten. She is going to be so proud. Mommy and Daddy probably will be too.

Potty Pride!

Watch out world!!!!!!!! Here comes Elijah!

SOMETHING HAS CLICKED!!! I can't believe it!!!!!!!!!!! Pinch me because it's too good to be true!!

The past 2 days Elijah has worn underwears with NO accidents!! We are still a bit weary but have no basis to be weary, really...just our unbelief. He's telling us throughout the day that he has "to go pee pee". We take him to the potty and pee he does! Today he went to the gym with Jason and they were gone for maybe 1.5 hours..he came home with a dry diaper and went straight to the potty and peed! We did put a diaper on him at naptime and night time.

But holy cow!! I just can't believe it. We are so excited and proud of him and he's definitely proud of himself. I think we're going to have him wear underwears to church tomorrow...just to see what happens. I'll take a change of clothes, of course.

Praise the Lord, I say...praise the Lord! :)

Just some pics

CUTE CUTE baby Ethan!! Puts a smile in my heart! How about yours??



I put on my EB down vest the other day and the kids insisted they wear their vests, too. So...here's a pic of us in our vests. Elijah was too enamored by his mommy to look at the camera :) teehee




The Backlund boys!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mommy and Ethank enjoying each other. I just love this little baby!


Here's a pic of our pancakes. Yum Yum.