snow storm weekend

This weekend we spent up at my Grandparents house in Henning. My Grandma planned a family gathering (since November) with her mom, her siblings and her nieces and nephews. She did this last year and those who came had a great time. Well due to the fact of the "biggest snow storm in years" that we had over the weekend, no one came. It was kind of a disappointment, however we still had a great time our own family! My Great Grandma called right away yesterday morning stating that she wasn't coming because they got 5 inches of snow in Fergus Falls and really, who can blame a 80+ year old women for not wanting to drive in the snow?! Amelia had a GREAT time and really enjoyed herself! We went sledding and she got her first snowmobile ride! She wasn't real sure what to think of that!
Here is a picture of her at the end of her ride!

We spent about 2 hours outside, playing in the snow. Ron took us over to the farm to go sledding, Amelia really liked that. All of us who went sledding (Kevin, me, Amelia, Amber, Courtney, Britta, Papa, My dad, Terri and Ron) all had a great time. I think us "adults" had a better time than the kiddos! We were competing to see who could go the farthest on the snow tubes! I had the record and then Ron beat me on the last run! Oh well...better luck next year, right?!
Here is Miss Amelia sledding:

It was nice to get away for a weekend! I have to say, my grandma is one of the BEST hostesses I know! She always has everything so well planned and always makes it comfortable for us to stay there! They are so accommodating for us and it's great! We get our own bedroom, our own bathroom and they have a crib set up in "Our Room" so we only have to bring one pack and play, which is WONDERFUL! And soon Amelia will be big enough she can sleep on her Ready Bed (sleeping bag attached to a kids sized air mattress), and we won't have to even bring a pack and play! Like always...our weekend revolved around food! Yesterday morning we had scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and bran muffins. Then we had shredded turkey sandwiches, cheesey potatoes (Terri makes the best potatoes!) veggies, veggie pizza, chips. And for dinner we had Granny's homemade spaghetti with salad and garlic bread. This morning (pre-brunch) we had fruit and butter braid. And then for Brunch we had homemade buttermilk pancakes (Granny and Papa's specialty!) ham and eggs. As you can tell...we never go hungry! Courtney, Britta, Kevin and I played a challenging game of Sorry! this morning...I won! I don't remember the last time I won playing Sorry!. It was a lot of fun!
Amber brought the kids' Christmas gifts for them this weekend (we haven't seen her since Paul's Baptism), they got lots of great things! Amelia got some really cute boots (they kind of resemble UGG boots.) As soon as she saw them, she wanted them on and then she headed for the four season porch and wanted to go outside. So her Papa let her out for a few minutes onto the deck...doesn't she look cute with these boots on?!

All in all it was a great weekend! Our drive home was good. The roads were cleaned off well and we made it to the cities in 3 hours (which is pretty normal!) The kids did great on the way home. Paul must have been beat from the weekend from everyone playing with him and passing him around, as he slept the WHOLE way home! Amelia watched the movie Cars for a little while and slept for a short time. We brought Cindy home with us, so my dad could stay and work with Papa for a few days, she helped in entertaining Amelia on the way home, reading books and such. The biggest surprise was when we got home...our drive way had been cleaned out! WooHoo! Kevin thought he was going to spend a long time having to clean it out. Low and behold, Jeff (Amelia's Godfather) had come over and cleaned it out for us while we were gone. He brought the bobcat by and cleaned it out. Kevin just had to use the snow blower by the mailboxes, the sidewalk and right by the garage. It was so nice to not have to worry about that when we got home! Part of Dad and Cindy's drive way was cleaned out for them as well, one of their neighbors must have done it for them. So we all had nice surprises when we got home!
I better head to bed! I have a long day ahead of me, doing laundry and such!
Here are the kiddos, snuggling together in the chair, Amelia covered both of them up!

this and that...

I don't have a particular subject for my blog this week, so it'll be a little of everything, hence this and that! It's been another fun and exciting week at our house! Amelia is showing interest in potty training again and has pooped on it several times in the last week. She has even been carrying it into the living room...not where we really want it! But hey, at least she's showing interest! It's never a dull moment around here with Amelia!

Yesterday, I got a dose of what it it is like to have a daycare...well kind of. I watched Logan for Matt and Kelly for a few hours yesterday. Their daycare was closed yesterday for her "Paid Holiday", since when do daycare providers get paid holidays?! And Matt is on the night shift and got home at 7 am yesterday, so Kel asked if I'd mind watching him for a while, so Matt could get some sleep. He was fun to have around and him and Paul played together on the floor for a little while. As much as I enjoyed him, I definitely am not cut out to do daycare! I have a new found respect for daycare providers. It's tough taking care of two kids the same age and a toddler!

The bathroom in the basement is coming along nicely. Still in hopes it'll be done in time for St. Patty's day! Mary and Ron have come down the last two Sundays and Ron has been helping Kevin plumb the bathroom. It's nice to have people who know how to do this kind of handy work! Ron is a boilermaker. We're just putting a toilet and a laundry sink down there. Nothing fancy, it'll be nice to have another bathroom when we have parties and this way people don't have to walk upstairs (I haven't had a problem with this, but Kevin thinks it'll be easier! :) ) Men, Go figure!


Pauly rolled from his back to his tummy tonight. He has rolled from his tummy to his back several times, but tonight was the first time he went from back to tummy! Another exciting milestone for him. It's so fun to see the new things he's doing. He's changed so much, even so in the last week or two! He's so dang cute, of course I can say that because I'm his mommy! But him and Amelia make me smile everyday! The bring so much joy to my life! You really learn to appreciate your parents after becoming one. My parents were 19 when I was born and I have no idea how they managed. Even having my first when I was 22 sometimes seems so young, but I wouldn't change it for the world! Amelia and Paul are two of my Greatest gifts.

life with a toddler...

what we've learned raising a toddler...

...don't leave things on the counter that a toddler can reach...particularly cupcakes, especially of the chocolate variety...Sunday night we had cupcakes for dessert and Amelia had a half of a cupcake, which she only ate the frosting off of...so when she was done with it, Kevin put her plate on the counter, later on we were watching TV and I ran into the office for something and Kevin asks from the living room if I gave Amelia a cupcake..and I said no...you guessed it...she got it off the counter. half of her half was on the kitchen floor, the other half she carried on her plate into the living room and was sitting on the floor eating it...what they don't think of!

...everything is hers, even if it's not...last night she had something (can't think what it was at the moment) and Kevin asked her for it and she looked at him and said "No No mine!" That was the first time we had heard that and we had the hardest time not laughing, it was so funny!

...always leave the toilet seat down...when I was still on maternity leave, the kids and I were ready for the day and were getting ready to head downstairs and Amelia grabbed my socks off the bed and as we were walking down the hall, she marched right into her bathroom and tossed my socks into the toilet...we've learned our lesson and make sure we leave the toilet seat down, thankfully she doesn't know how to flush yet!

...always a helper...even when you don't need extra hands! Poor Paul,gets his nuk shoved in his mouth even when he doesn't need it...as she shoves it in, she says "Here go" and then she holds it in his mouth.

...every animal is a puppy...even if it's not! No matter how many times we point out what a cow, horse, pig, sheep, etc. etc. is, she still calls it a puppy...someday she'll learn what animal is what...hopefully before she graduates from high school!

There are many other toddler moments we've experienced, however I can't think of all of them right now and this is the second time I've typed all this out, because the first time it closed on me! Look for more Amelia moments to come in the future!

Thanks for reading...keep looking back for more!

my life as a mom...

It's been a few days since I've had time to blog, so I thought I better take advantage of both kids napping and write something on here! Well I'm onto my 3rd week back to work this week. Everything is going well so far, I survived the first two weeks with no problem and both kids are doing great at daycare. I have to admit, as much as I'd love to be home with my kids everyday, it sure is nice to have some adult interaction during the day.

I am truly enjoying motherhood. I think I can say that I'm embracing motherhood. My kids bring me such joy to my life and life seems even more complete with them. I can't remember life without kids and that was only 2 years ago.

Amelia truly changed our lives when she entered the world and has brought much joy and happiness to our lives. I can't imagine a day without her. I'm having a hard time believing that she is going to be two at the end of March, where does the time go? I do believe it when people say time goes faster the older you get....you could have told me that as a kid and I wouldn't have believed you. She is such a little person and her personality can light up any room. She is learning more and more everyday and you can tell this kid truly enjoys life! This morning she learned the word "Yellow" and it's so cute when she says it, now if I can get her to recognize it as a color, we'll be in good shape. She sometimes says "Meli" (her nickname, for those of you who don't know...pronounced "ME-LEE") And now she says "Me" and points to herself. She says Paul very well and will sit next to him and say "Paul. Paul. Paul." or sometimes "Paulpy" (which is a cross between Pauly and Puppy...to be in the mind of a toddler would be great!) She is growing up too quick! She has become very smitten with the phrase "No No" along with shaking her finger at us while doing it...often times when we haven't done anything wrong. We have to gently remind her that we don't tell Mommy and Daddy no no. And she occasionally tells Paul "No No" and why, who knows! She is quite the character. I love watching all the new things she is learning.

Paul is really coming into his own and we can already tell he's developing a sweet personality! He has such a nice demeanor to him. He is really starting to smile these days and giggling too. This morning when I brought him in to our bed, I laid him down next to me and he was giggling and I'm not sure what about (as I was half asleep). He giggled a little and then fell fast asleep. He's so nice to cuddle with. Amelia has no desire to cuddle these days, for if she did, she would fall asleep! His face just lights up when Amelia gets close to him. She makes him smile like crazy when she's near. I am so happy for the two of them that they have each other. What a great gift to have in life.

I have taken on a new love in life as well...photography! If I could go back to school and have a new career, it would be photography. I love taking pictures of the kids and taking pictures in general. It's one thing I'm really passionate about, I'm trying to perfect it and maybe someday we can get a really nice camera. But for now, the one we have works great. In fact, I took Paul's 3 month pictures myself, here is the link to see them on Snapfish... http://tinyurl.com/2zdlqx You should be able to just click on that link, sign into snapfish as yourself and then you can see the pictures. I had a great time taking them and they were so SIMPLE to take! I just bought some fabric at Walmart, cost me only $30 for 8 yards of fabric to make two back drops, bought a few props, Cupid wings, Cupid's bow and arrow, Tutu and Baby legs. The rest was things we already had at home. It was a lot of fun and Paul did so great and Amelia, normally a ham for the camera, just wanted to play in her tutu and play with the rose petals. The above photo is from our photo shoot! I must say, I have gotten many compliments on the pictures. In fact, Mary called me today to tell me she tried sending some of them to Walgreens to be printed and they wouldn't print them because they said they were professional and that they can't print them without a consent. Mary even tried to explain that they weren't professional, and they still didn't believe her! Oh well, I took it as a compliment anyway!

The month of February is going by quickly! Well, Amelia is waking up, so I better go get her! Enjoy the pictures!

first week back to the daily grind

Well, I survived my first week back to work and the kids survived at daycare. Tuesday morning was an emotional one for me. I didn't think I would cry, in fact I told myself it'd be a lot easier if I didn't cry. We were all getting ready to walk out the door at the same time, Amelia had her coat on, and I was kissing her goodbye and I lost it. Paul was sound asleep in his car seat and I continued to cry as I told him goodbye. And of course I bawled almost the entire drive to work. But once I got there and got into the groove of things, it was a lot easier, and I teared up only a couple of times.

Amelia loved returning to daycare and being able to play with all of her friends again. Paul did great at daycare as well and took a bottle like a champ! So that was a major relief. Amelia is a little mother hen to him. She watched out for her baby brother. When Kim was feeding him, she had to sit right next to her and stared at her as if to say "Hey Lady, I'm watching you" And there was a few times when the other kids got a little too close to him, Amelia said "NO!" and sat down next to Paul. She didn't want those other kids too close to him!

I worked all day Tuesday and Wednesday and then Thursday we didn't have daycare, so Grandma watched the kids in the AM (Kevin was the only one at work besides Gene, so he couldn't take the morning off), and then I took Thursday afternoon off to relieve Mary so she could go to work. And Friday I worked all day. It was a nice easy week and it made the transition back into work a lot easier!

Both kids must be getting worn out at daycare, because they are both sleeping really well at night. Paul especially is sleeping better. Last week we had a rough week with sleep, he'd sleep until about 2:30 or so and then eat, go back to sleep and would be up almost every hour after getting up the first time. So I was concerned he would do that this week, and thankfully he hasn't!

So my week went well and on Tuesday, I head back for week #2, and starting in February, I'm sure I'll start the countdown to our North Shore vacation with the kidlets. One of the girls from work is gone this coming week, her and her husband went to St. Thomas (Virgin Islands) and then in 2 weeks another one of the girls is going on a cruise with her husband. I do have to admit, I'm jealous! I wish I was going somewhere warm, especially now that it is 2 degrees outside! Wowza!

Anyway, I should head to bed and put Pauly in his bed, he's currently sound asleep in his moses basket! By the way, the picture of him is Tuesday night after his first day of daycare!

girly girl...

Just have to share a new picture of our "Girly Girl" Amelia Jayne! We bought her a tutu for Valentine pics and for her birthday party and we also bought these really neat things called baby legs. Which she is wearing both in this picture! She just looks too cute in this outfit that I had to give everyone a sneak peak of what she is wearing!

Currently she is wearing it around the house and playing with her toys in her playroom. We thought the tutu would be great dress up clothes for her and she LOVES it! She loves to grab ahold of it and dance around, it's super cute!

the price of children...

I received this in my e-mail inbox today...I've read this before, but it's been a while...thought I'd pass this on, it's very interesting and oh so true!

Enjoy!

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.

It translates into:
*$8,896.66 a year,
*$741.38 a month, or
*$171.08 a week.
*That's a mere $24.24 a day!
*Just over a dollar an hour.
Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich." Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140?

*Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
*Glimpses of God every day.
*Giggles under the covers every night.
*More love than your heart can hold.
*Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
*Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
*A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate. *A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
*Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up.

You get to:
*finger-paint,
*carve pumpkins,
*play hide-and-seek,
*catch lightning bugs, and
*never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
*keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
*watching Saturday morning cartoons,
*going to Disney movies, and
*wishing on stars.
*You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay or Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.

You get to be a hero just for:
*retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
*taking the training wheels off a bike,
*removing a splinter,
*filling a wading pool,
*coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
*coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the:
* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.


In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, So . one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren!!!!!!!

Feel free to copy this and pass it along to family and friends!