Christmas 2013

I am sitting at work today. At least I am only here until 3:00. Then I can go home and open presents with my sweeties! I can't wait! Last night was a lot of fun. Kate was hilarious in Krista and Stephen's church. When the pastor said you may be seated she said "yeah". It was so cute, and everyone started laughing. Then after a solo she started clapping and said "yeah" again. once again everyone started laughing and then they clapped too. I heard another baby start to join in with another yeah. I was laughing so hard I thought I might cry! After that Steve had to take her out. At least she lasted 10 minutes or so! We got home late and got the girls down late. I think it was around 8:30 or 9:00, which is very late for Kate. She also only had a cheesestick for dinner. Then she woke up around 11:30 and didn't fall asleep until 5:00! Needless to say mommy is tired today! I fed her a piece of bread and butter at 4am which seemed to help. She gobbled it up! Only 3 more hours!

Friday, November 22nd

I was so excited to find an RSVP this afternoon when I got home from work! John was the first one to RSVP! I was so worried no one would come on such short notice. Hopefully all of Lauren's friends will come, and she will have a great party! We had a great evening! The weather was beautiful! 70 degrees in November! Steve and Kate played while I fixed pizza. I love how she likes for us to "bite" her fingers so cute!

11/10/13

I love my baby monitors. I can’t imagine not having them, and I wonder how long we will use them. Probably until the girls are 5 years old? Today I was napping (since I worked 12 hours the night before). Steve and Lauren were watching TV getting ready for her nap, and I had just put Kate down for her nap. As I drifted off to sleep I listened to the sweet sounds Kate was making. I just smiled as I listened to her sucking her little thumb. She is at such a sweet, adorable age right now and has been for a long time-ever since she was born! On the other hand I think we can see some light at the end of the tunnel with the terrible 3’s with Lauren. As she gets closer to 4 it definitely is getting easier! Lauren ended up napping with me, and I think we both got a decent nap! Then we all went out back to play after naps. It was a beautiful day! Warm and sunny! Steve planted the pansies that we bought earlier in the day while I drank coffee and watched the girls frolicking in the backyard! (I had to load up on caffeine to prepare for my second and last 12 hour night shift!) Kate can climb up the ladder and go down the slide all by herself! Of course we supervise her very closely!

 

 

 

 

 On a side note we went out earlier in the day to get the flowers from Home Depot. I also got some goodies at Michaels! (I had to pick up some yarn for pom poms which worked! Also had to get some mini clothespins for my chicken wire photo board.) Then we picked up lunch at Arbys. Steve and I are really digging their new Beef Brisket smokehouse sandwich. They are expensive but SO good! The girls also seem to like their roast beef sandwiches. It makes for a fun and easy meal! I am excited because I am over halfway through my shift and off for the next two days!

Saturday Night!

I love that my awesome hubby is doing this on his Saturday night!

Yep, we are making a Frankenstein jar on November the 2nd! At least we will have it for next year. Occupational Therapy was one of the best things that ever happened for us!

10/27/13

Steve had to work yesterday, and I had a great day with the girls. Such a tremendous difference from about a month ago! In the evening we went to the mall to take some pictures with my new tripod in hopes of getting a good family picture. I think this was the winner! If we don't get any better ones this will be our Christmas card picture this year. Here is the before and after.

This morning I heard Kate getting into something in the pantry. When I got in there I realized it was the cat food, and she was eating it. Then I heard her say "Mmmmm". Ha, only my Kate!

Action fun!

During naptime today I had a little time to play with some actions from PW. I am really enjoying CS6 and am looking forward to seeing what I can do with it. Here are some edited action pics!

Actions are a lot of fun, but I could also waste a lot of time with them. Hopefully I will have more time to really learn CS6 and do my own editing. Of course I would love to buy some actions from paint the moon, but they are so expensive. We shall see!

I'm finally going to do it!

I have been working on getting back on track this week. I have done pretty well, and today I decided to get serious! I am really excited and looking forward to looking and feeling great! I plan to have a goal of 12 weeks, which will put me right at thanksgiving! Perfect just like back in 2005 when Steve and I both got in great shape! I made some protein carrot bars tonight, and I am making turkey muffins this weekend! So excited about being super serious again! My mini goal right now is to get down to 180. Then I think my long term goal would be 170 and reevaluate at that point-leaner more muscle?? Here we go!

Sunday July 14th

Today after church we had an impromptu photo shoot! After doing a little editing I realized that we need to do these much more frequently! I think I got some pretty good pics!

I really enjoyed this Saturday morning! I got up at 6am with Kate, and started fixing breakfast. I cooked my first frittata along with a quiche. I used my new fry pan, and of course burned my fingers when I tried to cut it. I'll have to get used to that! The frittata was very yummy! I will be making many in the future.

Lauren dresses daddy up as a bird! We had lots of fun! Daddy is out picking up rocks right now, and later he will finish the playset with stephen's help!

April 2013

4/12/13

I was thinking this morning about how fast the past year went by. It has been one year now since I returned to work after my maternity leave with Kate. It is hard to believe just how fast this past year has gone. This time last year I was just getting into the groove of things here and pumping twice a day for 30 minutes each time. It makes me sad to think how fast time is going and how my girls are growing up. The baby phase is almost gone. Maybe it is gone, but to me it still feels like Kate is a baby. I realize that I have to embrace this time and cherish it. I know I will never get it back. I need to enjoy each stage with the girls being happy that they are here with us and healthy, not sad that they are no longer a baby or toddler. Wow will I ever miss the toddler years? I don’t know but my guess is yes! These are tough years, but so worth it!

Lauren came down with strep throat yesterday. She felt terrible, and when she got home from the doctor she just layed on the couch all night. When she woke up this morning (at Nana’s house) she said “Mom?” I said “yes sweetie?” she then said “I love you mommy”. Talk about melt your heart moment! I hate that she is sick, but she is so sweet when she is sick. This morning before going into work she wanted to sit in the chair with me and snuggle. Oh how I love my girls! They are the best!

 

 

4/17/13

Last night after putting the girls down Steve and I went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. We got up to go look at the gate that he had fixed, and then we walked through the yard. Mom called on my cell phone, so I was talking to her on the lower deck. After about 10 or 15 minutes we went back up to the deck. I thought I heard Lauren but it looked like she was coming from Kate’s monitor. I just shrugged and went on talking to mom, since it appeared to stop. So we are sitting there and all of the sudden I see Lauren out of the corner of my eye walking right by me in the dining room! It freaks me out for a second and I’m pointing to her telling Steve “Lauren!” I continue talking to Mom, and Steve goes to put Lauren back in bed. After he gets her down he tells me that she said she had to help Kate and she turned her music box on. He looked and both the gate and Kate’s room door were open. When I went to bed later that night I had no sheets or comforter. I remembered walking over something by Kate’s crib, so I looked with the light of my cell phone and sure enough there in a pile were my sheets and comforter! I woke sometime during the night and thought if she did all that I wonder what she put in Kate’s crib. When Kate woke up in the morning I saw the red toy nail (that she had been playing with after her bath, so that may have been my fault) and her blue elephant in the crib! I wish that I could have seen them the night before. I imagine it was so sweet, and it is so funny to think of Lauren in there “helping” Kate while Kate slept right through all of it. Oh what sweet memories!


4/28/13
I am trying to catch up a little on my blog while the girls are napping. Yesterday we finally moved Kate into her new bedroom. It was pretty exciting, but also a little sad for me. I have slept in the same room with her ever since she was born. She did great last night. She went to bed and never made a peep! Nap time has been a different story-I have had to rock her to sleep. Her room does have a lot of light during the day. Hopefully she will get used to it and start napping better! We are working on a lot of projects. Some crafts but mostly outdoor projects like plants, the steps for the deck and the girls play set. It is stressful but also exciting at the same time. I plan to start my diet tomorrow! I have to lose some weight...

I did a photo shoot with the girls on 4/19 before my foot surgery. Of course they were all over the place, and at first I didn't think I got any good pictures. After looking at them I saw some of both girls that I really liked!



Christmas 2012

I can't help but think that I was pregnant this time last year. We had never met our little sweetie, didn't know what she would look like, didn't know her personality, didn't even know yet we would call her Kate! Well here we are a year later with two beautiful girls. I get a little sad thinking about last year and missing her kicking around in my belly, but I have to smile and be so thankful both girls are healthy and here with us!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve yesterday. I was off since I had worked 3rd shift on Saturday night (the 22nd). I did some cooking in the morning. I cooked bacon and sausage for breakfast this morning, and I also put a roast in the crock pot for dinner. We had a great time together as a family. We planned to go to the 5:00 service, but both girls were still napping so we stayed home. (Kate was still napping and Lauren fell asleep on the living room floor as I was getting ready. I guess that's what happens when you don't take a nap!) Nana and Pop Pop came over early since we didn't make it to church. We had a great dinner, and then opened some stocking stuffers before they left to get ready for the candlelight service.

Poor sick baby who was diagnosed with pneumonia a few days prior!

Poor little Kate caught Lauren's nasty cold and started running a fever on Christmas day. After the girls went to bed I prepared the sausage and grit casserole for Christmas morning. Then Daddy and I watched Christmas vacation again!

On Christmas morning I got up and started working on breakfast. We had the casserole, bacon, and biscuits and gravy. Mom and Dad came over and we had a great breakfast. After breakfast we opened presents, although a few may have been opened before we ate...In the future we may be eating after presents! Mom and Dad went home to clean and we hung out at home until it was time to head to their house for the rest of the day. We had a great dinner at Mom and Dad's with Mark, Isabella, and the girls! We had beef tenderloin which tasted like prime rib. It was so good! Of course I had to break out the horseradish sauce and sour cream! After dinner we opened presents had dessert and then headed home. It was a great Christmas! I didn't even get down or depressed like I usually do-even with having to work the next day.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day!