Christmas Pictures!

So I wasn't going to upload pictures until later on but got kind of antsy so here they are! :)

Our tree!

My three kiddos opening presents on the 23rd...we did our family presents plus the presents from my parents before we left for Des Moines!

Kate just wasn't sure what to make of this paper you rip off of toys! :) She had such a fantastic first Christmas!!!!

Yummy!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!!! I love my piano!

I LOVE my gator golf Grandma and Grandpa!!!!!

Grandma and Grandpa....my robot is AWESOME!

Helping their sister out! She was still fascinated with the paper!

Santa came to Des Moines! :)

The Optimus Prime Chris has been asking Santa for since LAST year!

Daniel got his own Tag! Santa is so smart! :)

Kate's first stocking was full of stuff!!!!!!

Love Little People!

What did Santa bring???

The cousins! :)

Takes after her mommy!

Making cookies with Grandma!

Kate with Uncle Bill!

We went to a reception for a friend of Greg's who got married out of town and this is what Kate wore! :) She looked ADORABLE!!!!!

Well, that is just a few of the hundreds of pictures we took over Christmas!!!!! :) There will be more to come later on! I have TONS more of Des Moines....I will get those up tomorrow!

Happy Holidays!

I know this post is a little slow in coming but I really hope that everyone had a very magical Christmas! :)

Our Christmas was great! We spent the time in Des Moines with Greg's family and the cousins had a blast playing together! :) Kate spent a lot of time trying to crawl...she can't quite do it but she manages to get around slowly in some mysterious way! :)

The kids had fun opening all of their presents and most of them were out of the packaging by the end of the day! It was actually easier to take things home that way! :)

We are now at home and I'm hoping to get the pictures off of the camera sometime soon. This season always reminds me of how blessed we are as a family...the five of us have a great extended family and phenomenal friends...we really couldn't ask for anything more!

We are spending the rest of Christmas break here in Kirksville and this weekend will get to spend 4 days together since we are out of school and Greg will be off of work! :) Who knows what we will do but I'm sure we will have fun doing it! :)

Hope this post finds everyone healthy and happy and here's to a brand New Year!!!!

Pictures from the last month....

So I've become very bad about updating the blog with pictures! These are pics from the last month...I just took them off of my camera today! :) Enjoy!

My three munchkins!

My dad and John messing with Chris!

A sweet picture of my middle man!

Someone CATCH!!!!
My sweet little sleeping girl! :)

Chris learning to tie his shoes! :) He can do it!!!!

Our first big snowfall of the year! Daniel wanted to go out and eat snow like Charlie Brown...he said it was yummy! :)

Chris tried clearing off the driveway but it proved to be a little much for him! But he sure gave it a good try!This is as far as we've gotten in the crawling department!

The Rubik's cube is the new big thing at our house! :) Daniel likes to mess it up so Greg has to fix it! Thank goodness they put the directions in with the cube these days!

Our first ice storm of the year....hopefully our last!

Kate wants to play Mario Kart! :)

Daniel got so many great things for his birthday and his reaction to each was exactly like this! :) This is the only one I managed to catch on the camera though...go figure! I need to work on that!

I think the thing that he looked forward to the most was blowing out his candles...he didn't really eat any of his cake but he liked the way it looked and LOVED the candles on it! :)

There we go! A great hodge-podge of pictures all from the last month! I took more off of my camera but these were some of the best ones! :) Have a great night!

Happy Birthday Daniel (posted a day late!)

So my little man is now THREE!!!! I just can't believe it!

We had a great day yesterday celebrating his birthday and tonight is going to be special as well when we celebrate with friends! :) Our schools even let out a couple of hours early due to an ice storm that was headed our way so I got to have a couple of extra hours with my birthday boy! :)

I sat last night and looked through my photos of Daniel when he was born and the three years since then and I just am amazed at how time flies...it seems like just yesterday I was swaddling him, changing his diapers, trying to figure out what in the world it was that the kiddo wanted! And who can ever forget that cleaning the garage is what threw me into labor...I don't think Greg will ever let me live that one down! :)

Now he is three and we are out of diapers, he is fully capable of telling us what he wants (and he doesn't hesitate to do so!) and when I watch him, I realize what a big boy he's become!

Love you my little man! Your daddy and I are so proud of you and love you more than I think you could ever know!!!! :)

Hours old....

A year old...

Two years old...

Three years old...how much you've changed!!!! :)

Christmastime is Here!

So it has taken me a little longer than usual to get fully into the Christmas spirit...not sure why but it just has. I am the type of person who has her house decorated the weekend right after Thanksgiving...lights outside start getting turned on, the tree decorated, cookies baked, and presents bought!

This year though I've been moving through all this a little slower....we do have our tree up and decorated and the house has various Christmas decorations up. Several batches of cookies have been made but not the stockpile that I usually have going by now. The lights are on the house but half of them aren't working right so they have yet to be turned on at night. A lot of presents are bought and some are even wrapped but I'm still struggling with what to get several people so I'm not done with my shopping yet!

However, this is all slowly changing! We had an amazing time at a Christmas party Friday night with all of our friends and seeing the kids' joy at opening presents and the friendships that have been formed over the years really made me realize how blessed we are.

We have family and friends who love us and who we adore....we have so much love in our lives. We are truly lucky. Everything else is just icing on the cake! :)

Have a wonderful day and stop back by soon!

Update on us!

I have some pictures to post later on but here is a quick update on what we've been up to!

* The flu has run through our whole house...it started the day after Thanksgiving and by Tuesday, we had all had it. Then to top the whole thing off, poor Chris also got strep throat. To say the least it's been an odd week of working partial days and keeping random combinations of kiddos at home! Thankfully though, everyone is now healthy and we are hoping to stay that way!!!!

* We finally have our Christmas tree up and decorated! :) Not much else is decorated but we are taking it one day at a time! :)

* Kate has cut two teeth!!!!!! FINALLY! She's been working on them for what seems like months and they have just barely cut through! Whew!

* Chris learned to tie his shoes on Monday (right before he got sick!) and he is thrilled with his new skill! There is still some frustration with it when it doesn't work quite right for him but we are working on it and he's doing a great job with it!

* Daniel went and got his hair cut...still screamed but the process went faster than it usually does AND he let them get around his ears and the back of his neck. Definitely have a long way to go before we are happy with haircuts...man oh man....

Other than all of that things are pretty status quo around here! :)

The kiddos are anxiously awaiting Christmas as are we! :) Have a fantastic Holiday Season and check back soon for pictures!

Here is a picture of my little barrette girl! :) I was better at it this morning! Although she apparently kept pulling it out and it is currently missing! :(

Pretty cute!

A very sad moment....sort of....

So it was just a moment ago when I heard the following:

Chris: "Mom?"

Me: "Yes?"

Chris: "ummm....Never mind...I forgot...."

Yup...he said "forgot" the right way....the days of "freegot" I believe are over....

Very sad moment indeed....

EXCITING!!!!

So tonight after the boys went to bed I did something very exciting (ok...you have to keep in mind that I'm a dork at times!)

I got to put a BARRETTE in Kate's hair and it stayed!!!!! :) I took pictures but I can't find the cord to save my life! :)


She looked so cute! Being the dork that I am I've been waiting for this day...I have bought several types of barrettes and have tried many of the ones that my friends gave me but none have worked...until tonight!!!!! :) I can't wait...this is so very exciting for me! :)


As soon as I find the camera cord...I will post a picture!


Have a good one!

A Time to Be Thankful....

I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has touched our lives this year...our family and our friends who have made such a difference to us. We love you and wish you all the love of the upcoming Holiday Season!!!! :)

Have a great short week and a wonderful, yummy Thanksgiving on Thursday! :)

Random...

So here are some random pictures for anyone who is still out there reading! :) Enjoy!

My two Tiger boys getting ready in the morning!

Daniel and Kate just hangin' out!
Just playing....check out Kate's face!

This toy is going to be in quite a few of her pictures...we'll call it her "bead toy phase" when she's older! She LOVES that thing!

Kate and her beads....

Snuggling Daddy....

My two little men...snuggled up on the couch today after school...couldn't resist the pic. They haven't been this still since!

Hope you are having a good one!

Update!

So this will probably be a very random post as there has been tons of random stuff going on in our lives! :) Here it goes!

* Kate has learned how to sit up! She still topples over and everything at times but she has some pretty good control when it comes to sitting! :) I'm impressed daily by her smiles and her happiness...she's only really moody when it comes to being hungry or tired! Who wouldn't be cranky then?

* Daniel has decided that he is ready to go to school! :) He loves going to Nettie's and talks about her constantly but then has asked the last couple of days when he can go to "tool" like "Tis!" :) Poor guy! Still needs to wait till the fall...but it'll be here before I know it! Kind of a happy thought and kind of a sad thought all rolled into one!

* Chris is now getting over strep throat...poor guys spent from Thursday night until sometime yesterday afternoon in our room away from everyone and everything he could infect! :( He did get some deals out of it though...he was the first to look through the toy catalogs that have come in the mail, he got the TV/DVD player all to himself so movie choice was his alone, he got to play the DS on his own, and the boy took a good 4 hour nap Friday!!!!! Uninterrupted! He's feeling better today and I'm banking on him sleeping well tonight! He didn't wake up this morning until 10:30 so he's pretty well rested today!

* Chris is also a reading fiend these days! He has started trying to read every sign, every label, every truck, everything that has words on it he is starting to read...amazing. Sometimes he's completely off base but the fact that he tries is pretty impressive!

* Greg and I are just cruising along like we usually do! There just doesn't seem to be enough time during the week to get done what we would like to get done but that's the way it goes! :) Things are going smoothly in the morning with getting everyone out the door (when everyone is healthy that is!) and everyone has been where they need to be when they need to be there!

* Yesterday I went and had one of my wishes/goals taken care of! :) For my birthday, my two best friends told me they were setting me up to go to a salon here in town for some hair help! So yesterday was the day! :) I went and this fantastic lady helped me out by adding higlights to my hair and giving me a great cut that really brings the curls out in my hair! :) I LOVE IT! I got up and showered this morning, dried my hair a little, added some product and it actually worked! Never before have I EVER been able to duplicate what someone has done to my hair!!!! That's part of the frustration I've always had with my hair...someone does something really cute with it and then I can't duplicate it...so I finally gave up...but THIS! THIS is amazing! :) THANK YOU LADIES for the gift!!!! It's great to have something that works and that I love!

* I had the chance to go to the NKOTB concert last week and it was AMAZING!!!! I have pictures posted on my facebook account and I may post some here later on but let me tell you! Those New Kids might have been out of the circuit for 15 years but MAN they can dance and put on a show! They were on-stage (or some combination of the 5 of them) for a good 2 1/2 hours approximately! :) It was amazing. I wanted to go see them when I was younger but never had the chance...so this was kind of like getting a second chance! :) Add to that the fact that they sang a lot of the old numbers really made it neat! :) Nothing like looking out into a crowd of thousands of people who all are waving one hand in their air above their head to "Hangin' Tough!" So cool (I know...dorkish as it may seem...it is what it is and I'm proud of it!)! :)

Let's see...I think that about wraps it up! :) It's pretty much the same old, same old with some fun new twists. I just can't believe how big everyone is getting and how much time is really seeming to fly by at the moment. Time to take a deep breath and just enjoy it all!

Pictures to come! Thanks for stopping by!

Melt My Heart!

So I've had a rough couple of days...lots of highs and lows...just kind of a roller coaster if you will!

Anyway, tonight when I just needed something to boost me up...leave it to my two-year old to do the job! :) Without any warning this is the conversation that transpired while I was trying to watch the news tonight....

Daniel: Mommy?

Me: Yes Daniel? :)

Daniel: You make eryone appy (exactly how it sounded!)

Me: What?

Daniel: You make eryone appy!

Me: That is so sweet!!!!! Thank you!

Daniel: Mommy....I make you appy! :)

Why yes Daniel...you do! You made mommy very happy! :) What a sweetie....that man is going to make some lucky lady a very wonderful husband! :)

The Games Kids Play!!!!

In the car on the way home from Walmart tonight (we got Kate's 7 month pictures taken and Chris needed a hair trim, etc.) the boys were sitting in the back and this is what we hear!

Chris: Tag! You're it!

Daniel: No, tag! You're it!

Chris: Tag! YOU'RE it!

Daniel: You it! Tag!

And back and forth and back and forth until we got home! I must say though that I was impressed that no complete fist fight or anything broke out and they actually were playing very well together...granted they were playing tag in the back of the van about 2 feet apart from each other but you know...you take what you can get! :)

Our Little Author!

So Chris has been very excited to learn how to read and write since he has started kindergarten. While at the book fair at his school several weeks ago he caught sight of these "build-your-own-book" kits that they were selling. I told him if he wanted one he could buy it with his own money and so sure enough...that's exactly what he did! This kit came with this little book, a marker, glue, googly eyes, paper, foam shapes...everything you could possibly want to make your own book! :)

Well, tonight Chris was on a mission. He has been debating for a while what to do with this kit and has actually written several "stories" in the last couple of weeks. Tonight out of the blue, he declared that he was ready to write his book and then off he went. A man on a mission! :)

This is what we have as a result. He told me after I took the pictures and started uploading them that it is not quite done and he has some other things to do to it....he then told me I could post it anyway because he thought that people would like to see it! :) So here it is! Chris's first book (he actually told me that it is two books in one!). Enjoy!

(The silly book)

My little man...the author! :)