Chillin'

I think it was probably raining this day but since he's obsessed with going outside, we usually let him sit on the porch and play with his trucks!

March is a Lion???

Whatever that saying is holds nothing true to this town. We haven't "seen" spring with the change of the month. We haven't seen tulips, beautiful spring days into the 60's, baby animals, birds, green on trees, etc. The ground is still frozen and the grass is still dead. Everything looks has the winter hangover look...blah! I don't think spring arrives here for awhile...but I'll keep you posted :)

Uh-oh...BUSTED! (repeated messes daily)

Celebrating the big B-Day with Dad


Celebrating Auntie Jenn's birthday as well!!

Make-over time!

"They"....

People with kids always talk about their kids! It's hard not to do. I remember when all my friends had kids and I hadn't yet, and we would hang out and that was all the conversation involved. I don't remember it ever bothering me though, or being totally bored by it. And now, I am one of those. I guess part of the reason of blogging is just to bore people with talks about your kids right?!
So let's talk about "She". She is insanely creative, loving, infectious, and outspoken. She is also mostly bossy, very opinionated, sassy, and silly. She loves her "kids", reading books, playing tea parties, coloring, drawing, playing dress up, and school. She loves "sparkly shoes", flip-flops, wearing headbands, & skirts. She constantly says "I Love You". She is so much like myself, and so much like her father. At times that's hard, at times, that's adorable.
She isn't really a morning person (like her mother). It's takes her a while to get motivated to dress or eat breakfast. She does not like being told what to wear, definately has an opinion about what looks good, her clothes, shoes, hair, and DEFINATELY knows buttons to push. She immediately shuts her door in the morning so "He" won't go in there. He has had numerous doors shut in his face. But she loves to make him laugh and is always concerned with what he is doing and if it might be dangerous or inflict pain. She argues until she thinks she is proven right, and she is convinced she rules the roost.
She is insanely beautiful when she is sleeping....and of course, when she is awake :)
And, not a day goes by where I don't thank God for allowing us to raise "Her"....pray we don't screw it up! We love that girl!!


Should I talk about "He"? Man, that little man just makes your heart melt. "He" is insanely adorable. His beautiful blue eyes and enormous grin cause compliments each and every day we are out. Our neighbor said they other day we don't know "how good we have it with his great personality and smile that lights up his face". He will act like he's shy but have a smile while his head is tucked away. It's all part of his game. He loves games! He loves to be chased, do the chasing, and hide-and-seek. He insists on feeding himself and although it's a HUGE mess, why not! He loves trucks, making messes, "fixing" things, breaking things, and hiding things. He LOVES books, singing, and most of all dancing. He hardly says a word but I understand him perfectly :) He loves, loves to be outside. And throws, throws, throws a fit when he has to come inside. He likes everyone who comes over. He refused to come to me when Mike's cousin sat last week. Hanging onto her for dear life as not to come to me. He begged the Schwan's Man yesterday until he too, picked him up and he wasn't too thrilled to be given to me. My parents were up for a visit this week and my dad said "He's going to have to be hidden away until he's grown". So true, because he is so bloody cute! And again, I pay thanks and pray that I as a parent will do what's right.


So "they" are our kids. Our lovable, cute, challenging, heart-warming kids. They are the reason we live, the reason we forgive, are forgiven, eat, breathe, work and love. But the best thing in all of this....I know that when they are grown, when they begin to have kids of their own, I have "their" wonderful father to grow old with!!

Pic overload

Warning: Picture Overload...sorry, there is a lot :) And I have to apologize...I cannot figure out why my camera is taking crappy pictures lately. Maybe if I sat down for a minute I could realize what it is!
KADE'S PART-AY
My first attempt at "cake pops"...they are "Monsters" in case you can't tell



Kids making their Monster Masks


Monster getting ready to eat

We played "Pin the nose on the Monster...cute eh?! And...Mike painted that puppy freehand...he missed his calling in life :)



I just love his little face you can see in this picture




Start em' early right?


This is how it's done folks...you walk and your kids work

And this is how it is NOT done...recipe for some stitches!

Beautiful day = fun at the park around the corner



And fun in the back yard



I'll post too many video clips tomorrow :)

And here it is March!

I am a "stay-at-home Mom", you would think, doing this, that I sit around all day. That I would have all this time to sew, craft, read, keep my house spotless, laundry caught up, kids well behaved, 3 meals prepared, and THE BLOG CAUGHT UP!! However, I spend most of my days sitting on the floor playing with Kade, or reading books to Reagan or trying to do fun things so she doesn't say she never does fun things (smile). Most of the time my house is a little cluttered...I am NEVER caught up on laundry, I have patterns cut out but nothing sewed, and rarely do I wake in time to get breakfast for the kids (I know, I suck, I just am not a morning person!). I do cook dinner most every night though so that's something right! It seems that as time would pass we would have all sorts of pictures to post about. I guess it's that we never do anything out of the ordinary of what others would do so our pictures consist of the kids eating, sleeping, playing, or maybe a video of them dancing, singing, and lately, of KADE WALKING! He will cross the room in no time at all but leave it up to him and he prefers to crawl or at the least have all sorts of attention if he is going to attempt the walk. He's insanely cute and we love him.

The past month has consisted of him turning one, a party at my parents for him with cousin fun, and best of all, I got to leave him at my mom's for a few days and painted my cute craft room, the bathroom, all sorts of random furniture, and spend some one on one with my not so little girl! Best news of the month would be FINALLY selling our home. The realtor was awesome and we didn't have to settle for a price to just dump it. She went for what we wanted, we did a few changes in the kitchen, pictures weren't even online for 3 days and we had 2 offers. Huge huge relief and on to living - without 2 house payments!

The weather is still very cold here. I ventured out this morning and it was 10 degrees with the wind chill dropping that to below I am sure. We don't get a whole lot of snow but what we have stays and stays because of the cold. We rarely venture into the snow because it is way too cold to "play" outside. Yes, we are excited for spring and summer here and for all that offers us.

Business has remained steady profitable, and Mike has proven that he can "keep up with the so-called big dogs". We have loyal customers and Mike has done all the right things to promote the business, but ultimately, carry product people want and they will shop anywhere right! It's fun to hear people talk about him and how nice the store is.

I promise...pictures will be posted soon! Happy March everyone!

Kade Turns ONE!!!!

Wow!!! Is it even POSSIBLE that it has been an ENTIRE year since that insane day? The one where I woke up at 11 p.m. thinking "this cannot be happening!". The one where I drove to the Women's Center crying and feeling like an idiot as I walked in and said "I'm in labor" :( That was one for the books. The year was crazy, and here we are at Kade's #1 birthday!
I wish everyone had the chance to spend time with this little guy like I do. Adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom has had some very difficult times, yet amazingly rewarding times as well. And, through it all, I have loved, loved, loved my time with this sweet boy. He is generally a super content and happy kid. He's had his moments and I am sure will have more but we just love his guts!
Kade's smile will seriously light up the darkest room, and cheer even the saddest heart. When he smiles, its with his entire body, especially face, and his eyes get the sweetest little twinkle in them. He is going to have the craziest most fun personality. He watches Reagan so intently (that's not always a good thing!), but has learned from her cute, playful, joking personality as well.
He loves to have his hands and feet nibbled on, his back rubbed, his cheeks kissed, but does NOT like to wear his diaper. He likes anything that makes noise and especially music. He's a great dancer be-boppin' up and down and swingin' his left arm all around. He goes down easy, takes good naps, finally sleeps through (most) nights, loves loves to be read to, loves to brush his teeth, LOVES soft blankies, and has turned into such a lover. He loves to put his head anywhere on you and says "aaahhhh". As sweet as he is, he is also insanely true to the BOY personality. ALready tries to "fix" things, gets into anything and everything at ALL times (yeah, never leave him alone!) and uses both his right and left hand to eat, put balls in places, etc.
Don't praise him or make a big deal about him trying to walk or stand, because he will immediately not do it. Of course he is spoiled and loves to be carried around, held, and shown everything saying "dis". He doesn't say much but has some pretty demanding traits already. He will crawl over to you, throw his hands straight in the air and says "up". He is known to say "dis'" and "dat" and today, in such a sweet voice, put my cell phone to his ear and said "hello". He does do all done, more, and milk in sign language but he basically gets what he wants with his million dollar smile. Oh how we love him. So blessed to have him choose us as his parents! Happy First Birthday my sweet little boy. You are insanely loved by everyone!
(here are a few pictures taken by Kim)

Misc

We thought he would be 2 before he walked but this has brought us slight hope :)

The love of a lemon...he will, without a doubt, taste and retaste just for the fun of it!


Like all kids, Kade loves to sit on the counter while we get ready, brush teeth, fix hair, shave, etc. He apparently, also loves toothpaste.

Peek-a-bee
Reagan fell asleep in her tent one night, with this bee towel wrapped around her :)

Love this shocked face!

Preschool

Reagan's preschool is amazing. I absolutely love the teachers, the program, the place, etc. Ran by 2 retired teachers, the things they teach the kids are so cool. By the first few weeks Reagan could spell colors (associated with songs of course), and knew more about Martin Luther King Jr than I did, functions of the human body, etc. She has started using words like "illustrated, prototype, relatives, measurements, etc". She is so insanely curious right now. It's all about how this came about or how do they make this. Most of the time I feel dumb so I make things up as I go along. There was a "how do you make glue", I replied "from horse feet" :O) She was horrified and asked Mike later on. He being the nicer, creative one said "sticky trees...if they run into a tree and stick to it, it's the sticky tree to make glue". She gets a fabulous home made lunch and has productive learning, not just a few hours of "entertaining". She is more than ready to start kindergarten.
So that leads me into what Kade does while she is away :O) Crawls into her room and tears it apart playing with everything. What she doesn't know won't hurt her right!

Happy Family Days

Thus titled our mid-week family time we have. I put Reagan in preschool 3 days a week. She has Weds off, because this is a day that is slow at the store and Mike is able to have that day off...this is what we call our "Happy Family Days"! Now, it's not always as glamorous as it appears! Usually she is in trouble for doing something she isn't supposed to do and Kade is crying because he is tired...and this is usually prior to 10 a.m. :O)
But, if there is one thing we DON'T take advantage of, it's our time together as a family. Obviously, owning your own business is hard work, and you don't get to spend huge blocks of time with each other. Saturdays are spent at the store, and during the week we have 2 days where only one of us is home at night so the other can be at the store. There are many lessons we have learned throughout this whole process, things don't always happen "exactly" like you think or imagine or would like them too, stress "can" consume your life, it's not about "material" things but "heart" things, friends may not always be there, but being together as family really "IS" what "IT" is all about!!

Following are some "happy family day" moments.
Beautiful, sunny, snow covered day got us to the park around the corner. Kade wasn't too sure about being so clothed he couldn't move. Reagan was in heaven





Bowling on Weds not only is 1/2 price...but already dirt cheap! Makes it all the more better. This time we took the little neighbor girl Ashlee, who is 5. Very shy but the girls had fun...and even Kade got a little bowling in....is it sad that neither Mike or I broke 100....with bumpers :O)





Hopefully, like every other parent out there, Mike and I are so in love with our kids. Yes, Reagan may challenge us (but mostly it's because we forget she is 4 and think she should act like she's 12), and Kade may have a crying/fussy day (even though his smile lights up his entire face), but at the end of the day, when they are both asleep, and prior to going to bed, we always walk into both of their rooms, adjust blankets, stroke cheeks, and feel an extreme amount of gratitude that they are healthy, happy, amazingly wonderful kids. In the darkened rooms you feel the peace that envelopes a child while dreaming and we usually end up crawling into bed saying "How did we get so lucky".