Happy Birthday Teagan Rose!

Teagan's 2!! Not sure what we are doing today...spending a nice day together as a family, then a party on Saturday!


Here is a quick little slideshow!

Wow! what a christmas!!!!!

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday! we are in the process of still digging out of our living room!!! Right now Daddy is trying to get the new bounce house pumped-up!! wahoo!

Here are some pics from our holiday!

Counting down 'til Christmas!

 

some tidbits and other ramblings.......

Things have been crazy around our household! November flew by in a flash, I swear last week was Halloween...guess not. I have a feeling that December will go by even faster.
After 5 yrs of staying at home, I have taken a part time job. I start back to work tomorrow. I will be working 3 nights a week, making the already chaotic lifestyle, even crazier. I am hoping that it will be a smooth transition, although it will be quite a change for all of us. My husband will now be responsible for feeding, bathing and getting the kids to bed 3 nights a week! He has never given the children a bath, so this could be interesting!
I finally started my Christmas shopping last week! I am getting close to being done..wahoo!
I got an early Christmas present.....a new video camera! I love it! Hopefully I will be able to document Teagan and Mason's young lives more now. I feel horrible that I didnt video Teagan near as much as I did with Mason. I have some video of Alexis when she was young, but it is all on VHS tapes,so I need to transfer those to DVD.
Well must get off the computer to get some stuff done around the house......

sneakpeak......

 

We had our 1st attempt at taking Christmas photos today......didnt go as smoothly as I like, but I did get a few cute pics!

is there anything cuter?

 

Have you ever seen a cuter Pebbles Flintstone?

Family pic

We got in a quick snapshot of all of us before our Marriage Blessing ceremony on Saturday. It was very windy and chilly!

Have you seen my new countdown sign?

Located on the far right......ummm as of today 57 days until Christmas! hard to believe!!! Time to get shopping!!!

6 great years!

On Oct 25th, 2002 I married my best friend. On our 6th anniversary, we are doing it all over again(sort of). We had our wedding ceremony performed by a retired judge, it has been one of my dreams to have the marriage blessed by the Church. We took classes several months ago but never completed the process. In Sept, I had an emergency appendectomy and while in the hospital, my Priest came to visit (not me specifically, he visits Catholic patients). While he was visiting we talked about the classes and I realized that our anniversary would be the perfect day to have the marriage blessed! We spoke to the Deacon and filled out all the paperwork! As much as I would have loved to make a HUGE deal out of this, we decided to keep it small(extremely small)and private. Cannot wait to repeat my vows to the man I love, the one I am meant to be with for the rest of my life!
Love you honey! Thanks for doing this for me (and with me)

1st haircut!

Well at almost 22mos, the time has come to have the ceremonial 1st haircut. Teagan's hair is "wild" to say the least and I have been unable to do anything with it.....decided that if we even it up a bit, maybe we can get some sort of style out of it!

Here is how the day went:

what a good looking crew!

 

Eversince Alexis was little, we have done a "GRANDKIDS" picture each year for my Dad and step-mom. It started out with 6 cute little kids and umm, we have grown to 12! Ages ranging from 17 (the 2 oldest, one being mine will be 18 this year!) to 7mos old! An actual photographer was taking the "real" pictures, but I was squeezing in, trying to get a little practise in....Here is one of my favorites from the day.

Pictures as promised!

October = Pumpkin patch!!!

We spent most of Sunday morning at the pumpkin patch/farm! Kids had a lot of fun! I took a ton of pics but I am on hubbys work laptop (I am waiting for a new ac adaptor for mine)so I can't upload/edit them! I will have them on here as soon as I can!!

Who is reading this?

Hey everyone! I know we have some lurkers out there. There is a spot to check in as a "follower" at the very bottom of the blog.....check it out!! Would love to see who is following us!!! (Thanks Chelle for showing me this!!)

Our little star

 

Mason was "Star of the week" last week. He was so proud. They had a little ceremony and we were able to attend ( I was still recovering from my appendectomy from the week before).

Sins of the past

Well it seems that my behavior as a teen has come back to haunt me. LOL. We live in a different world now, things that we did as teens in the 1980's (yeah, I am that old)have total different consequences in 2008. It is not OK to let your teen get away with something, just because you did the same exact behavior 20-some years ago. It is easier to understand them, knowing what is thrown at them and hopefully as good parents we can help them learn by our/their mistakes. I cannot understand that in today's world, that there are still parents out there that believe that kids drinking in their home is ok. Not only do they allow the behavior, they provide the alcohol and encourage the behavior; going as far as giving more wine to already drunk teens. The consequences for that behavior (the adults)is criminal now. When we were growing up, the parents that allowed parties at their home would never get in trouble for anything that ocurred at the event....now the parents are LEGALLY responsible. Why risk that? to be a cool parent? My definition of the cool parent is the one who was standing outside with the police waiting for his child to come out, the one that got out of bed when the police called at 2am, the ONE that showed up. My husband was that parent last night. It is sad, but no matter how "good" your child is, the peer pressure is out there. No matter how trust-worthy your child is, one bad decision usually snowballs into a bunch of bad decisions. This is what happened to us. She made one bad decision followed by another, by another then another....then ended up arrested at 17yrs old...for one bad night. I am furious at the "parents" that allowed this behavior in their home and have some pleasure in knowing that they were arrested too. They now have 14 counts of contributing to the delinquency of minors charges, hopefully other charges as well. Serves them right. We are THANKING GOD that the 2am phonecall was about this and not that our child had been in an accident. Thank God she had the sense not to even attempt to drive. That 2am phone call does make ones heart stop...I never want the phone to ring at that time again.

Oh yeah.....In 13yrs I will have another 17yr old....cant wait. ;)

Playing with photoshop

Still trying to learn editing, way too much to absorb but I am having fun with some photos.



Here is Teagan hugging cousin Eli

I'm lost!

I left my camera at my dad's on Sunday, then it was mistakenly taken to my brothers house, so I have been without my camera all week... I am lost without it! cant wait to get it back!

Patriots Day

 

Can't let this day pass without honoring our troops! My brother left for his 2nd tour of duty in Iraq about 2 weeks ago. I am so proud of him and of all our troops! Today is also a day to honor our 1st responders, they were the greatest heros on that horrible day. May God Bless our Troops, our police officers, our firefighters and all other 1st responders out there!

It was 7 yrs ago that our country was attacked. I remember that day vividly. I was driving to work, listening to the radio when they broke in with the news that the 1st tower had been hit. It was mass confusion and at first they were talking as if it were some freak accident. Once I got to work, we found the nearest television. Several of us huddled in a small room and watched the horror. I was emailing people frantically, trying to figure out what was happening. I finally decided that I needed to be at home. My first instinct was to go to Alexis school and pick her up but I changed my mind. I think I watched non-stop coverage for 3 days. It was such a sad time.
I have to say though, that day helped catapult my relationship. Jeff and I had been dating pretty casually for about 2 yrs. It was after that day that we became seriously involved, decided that we were wasting our lives away by not being more aggressive with our relationship. We moved in together in Feb 2002, married that October.

Pre-K

 

My "baby" started a new preschool this week! He is a big boy now!!!

Freeport Flag Ladies

Freeport Flag Ladies

Wow! These ladies take time out of their lives to make our troops feel loved! My brother was deployed to Iraq on Aug. 29th...it is nice to know that he and his fellow troops were greeted at the Bangor airport with so much love and support before leaving. Wonderful people in this country!!! God Bless America!!

Funny!

 

Teagan was crying this morning, not her usual wake up routine. I went in there and this is what I saw!! Being the super mom that I am, I decided to run and grab the camera instead of helping my poor girl!! LOL! Aren't you glad I did?

Sneak Peek of Alexis senior pics.....

check out some of her pics:
Alexis Senior pics

Easy like Sunday morning.......

  It is moments like this that make my heart melt. This morning I went out to get the paper, both kids followed me out and proceeded to play with each other.

Anatomy of snacktime!

Mommy heard Teagan busy in the kitchen....decided to grab the camera, and this is what mommy caught:

How we beat the heat....

Finally some pics

A whole week without pics?

I just realized this morning that I havent taken any pictures of the children in over a week!! How did that happen??? I will try to do better this week....promise!

Proud owner of the iphone 3G!

Well not only did I buy my new Iphone this week, we bought the hubby one too!! so we are a 2 iphone family!! wahoo!! I am very happy to have it, it is AWESOME! Unfortunately it was not an easy process to get my new phone. I really dont want to go into the whole ordeal, because it was quite stressful......LONG story that involved me spending 4.5 hrs inside the apple store on Tuesday. Not waiting in line, but rather fighting with the At&t people and trying to work out communication between the apple computer system with my At & t account. I ended up sending the apple guys a thank you note for helping me throughout the entire process. In the end, I walked out of the store with 2 working iphones....YIPPEE!!!

And even better, I put my old iphone up on EBAY....and it sold for over $300!! YEP, that's right!!!!!!! So very exciting! It has been a good week!

To upgrade or not to upgrade.....

Ever since July 11th (the day Apple launched the new Iphone 3G)I have been waffling about weather it is worth an upgrade or not. I got my iphone in September...paid $299 for a 4GB version .....of course the version they dont even make anymore. Luckily I actually didnt pay that much for my phone, I had a ton of giftcards that went towards my phone so I think $80 was the total i paid. The entire 4GB is just about used up.....all thanks to the Blues Clues episodes and the full version of Finding Nemo (along with a few songs, and tons of pictures) Luckily, with the new 2.0 update, I can take all my pics off of the phone and have access to my Picasa web albums at a touch of a button!!!!! Hubby has been wanting an iphone ever since I got mine....it is an awesome phone, so I cant blame him for wanting one too! His company provides his current sucky phone, the contract isnt up until December. I of course have done my research, read all the reports and even went to the At&t store to check out the new phones. They are pretty cool, love the 3G aspect, sometimes downloading a webpage is painfully slow on my iphone....but do I really NEED it? not really, but I really, really want one!!!! We did the numbers crunch....if hubby took over my iphone,it would be about $50 extra a month, plus taxes oh, yeah and the extra $200 for the new phone........ugh. Then there is the availability thing.... cant find them anywhere! Apple store gets them in, and out they go.....FAST!(not good when one is so indecisive). AT&T are doing direct phone orders....taking up to 21days to get your new phone..that is way too long!! I am an instant gratification girl..no way could I wait that long! Who are these people getting my iphone???? I have mine with me at all times and only have run into a few people who have an iphone...where are the millions that are buying up the new phones, they arent in the same places that I frequent. Are they just buying them to re-sell on ebay or something? hmmm.... well lucky for husband, Apple store does not have any to sell today.....
(I forgot to mention that hubby said that if I sold his xbox360, i could use some of the cash to buy my new phone....while he was canoeing over the weekend, ummm....I sold the xbox!)

single mommyhood

not quite, but hubby is gone for the weekend. He is going canoeing with some guys from work. Funny that he is frazzled after I leave him with the kids for a few hours,yet he gets to desert me for a whole weekend! I told him that I should get a weekend away too, he says "sure, anytime.....as long as you take the kids"..yes, he thinks he is funny.

Champs!

 
Div 4 Softball champs!!

WTG girls!!!

Go Mason Go!!

Mason had his final swim lessons for the summer (at least as of now I dont plan on scheduling anymore). He did awesome, he swam the whole length of the pool,and can now do the backstroke! I made Alexis go with me so she could shoot some video while I was able to snap some photos. Not only is mason an amazing swimmer, he also is beginning to read! We picked up Go Dog Go last night to read before bed. Although we have had the book for awhile now (years infact)He has never chosen that book to be read to him, so it has sat on the shelf.(It is possible that grandma may have read it before once or twice). I was amazed at the amount of words that Mason can "sight" read. He was practically reading the whole book to me! I knew he could sight read some words....but when he could go through an entire book and "read" about 90% of it, I was shocked!!! Go Dog Go is our new favorite!!(well mine anyway!) Needless to say I am extremely proud of my 4yr old!!!

Update:talked to Grandma and she stated that she has never read Go Dog Go to Mason either.....so Wow, he really did read most of it!!

Want some nuggets with that ketchup?

 
Mistake: Left 18mos old at table with brother's empty (except ketchup)plate

Patriotic

 

What could be more patriotic than bombpops on the 4th of July? Kids had a blast participating in our neighborhood Popsicle Parade. We decorated their "vehicles" with flags and they cruised around our little block, ending up at the pool for a nice cold treat. It was a lot of fun. After that, we spent the afternoon on Papa's boat with my brother and his wife. The kids were exhausted, Teagan didnt make it long enough to see the neighbors incredible fireworks display (we just sat on our front step and watched a few of our neighbors set off TONS of fireworks). Even more incredible, the noise didnt wake her up.

It's a redhead thing....you wouldnt understand

 
My brother (Uncle Joel) came to visit from Colorado Springs, Teagan hasnt seen him since Christmas but boy you wouldnt have known it! She was crazy for him!! She is usually shy and reserved around people she hasnt seen for awhile but not with Uncle Joel. It was sweet to watch them bond.

How did that happen?

My baby turned 18mos old yesterday!! As of today she is officially closer to age 2 than to 1! So hard to believe, but guess it has to happen!! We just got back from her 18mos appt. Teagan got 2 shots and had to have her blood drawn( check lead levels and for anemia). She didnt flinch, whimper or cry while they were drawing her blood...she just sat there and watched them intently while the two nurses did their work. A little different story for the shots though, as soon as I laid her down, she knew it was coming.....but only cried for a minute or two.

Here are her stats:
24lbs 10oz
32 inches tall

Grow baby grow!!

I had to share this......

The funniest thing happened this morning! Teagan followed Mason into the bathroom when he had to pee. She then started to copy him...I about died laughing! He pulled up his shirt, down his pants and proceeded to do his business....she pulled up her shirt and tried to take off her diaper! I sprinted to get my camera..but by the time I got back, Mason had finished and wouldnt keep up the pose. I did get pics of Teagan though!! (who wants to be the one to explain to her that she doesnt have a penis?)

Here she is (still holding up her shirt)getting some toilet paper


Here she is watching the toilet paper go down,down,down....

Maybe we should have named her Ariel

I am beginning to think that Teagan is part fish. The girl is a maniac when it comes to the pool. I cannot even begin to describe how crazy she is when it comes to swimming. Other mom's were in awe of her lack of fear, her ability to go under the water, and her sheer enthusiasm. Today she was actually trying to swim to me. I put her on the steps and she would lunge out to me, going under the water as if she were swimming to me, she would kick and fight her way to me, then i grab her lift her up and she was all smiles....asking to do it over and over again. I really wish I could show everyone but there is no way I will ever get pictures or video because I am having to keep my eye on her every second, literally. We would be in the baby pool, then up she goes, runs over to the big pool....ready to dive in. I did at least get her stop when she would run over and sit on the edge until mommy got into the pool......the girl wears me out!!!!! It is pretty wonderful though to see her so excited/passionate about an activity.

only one trick up my sleeve

As I posted previously, I am taking a photoshop class on tuesday nights. I really had no idea how to do anything with the program before the first class last week. I always wanted to learn how to make the black and white photos with just a touch of color..well we learned that first thing....so I am jumping for joy and using that trick on every picture I can!!! I have 3 more classes ahead of me, so yes...I will do other things but this is my favorite right now! (we did learn a few other things in the first class but honestly I cant remember what...LOL)

 

Loving my photoshop class!

Family Vacation!

We took a short vacation over the weekend! Tons of fun for the kids! We went with friends to Table Rock Lake in Branson, MO...had a great place with lots of space and lots to do for everyone!!! Too bad it was so short, next time I think we will do at least one more day!
Here are a few pics!

Not sure I am ready for this....

Taking Mason and Teagan to summer program at Parents Day out today. Mason will do fine (since he has been attending the school for the past 2 yrs) but I have never left Teagan anywhere (well once at a friends house for a WHOLE hour)..this is a 5hr day for the kids! Teagan is officially the youngest child enrolled...The thought of 5 hours to myself sounds heavenly but at the same time I am terrified that Teagan will be crying the entire time. I am also afraid to go very far incase the school needs me to come get her... well guess we wont know until we try. Hoping this will be a good warm up for her, I am considering enrolling her 1 day a week in the fall, plus I am doing MOPS (mothers of preschoolers), 2x a month she would have to be in childcare for 2.5 hrs. Wish us luck!(Mommy and Teagan)


Update: Teagan and mommy both survived the day!!!! Looking forward to next week now!!

Photo editing

I received a copy of photoshop elements 6 for Mother's Day, problem is, I have no idea how to use it. I also have Lightroom by adobe (another editing program to compliment PS)...I am going to be taking a class in the next few weeks. I cannot wait. I cannot believe the difference that you can make in photos. Here is an example. The top photo is the original. The latter photo is an example of me just messing around with one element.

Too much of a good thing...

We have been incredibly busy this week. Mason has been attending VBS (vacation bible school) every morning from 9-12, then we hurry home, gobble some lunch and run up to the pool for swim lessons at 12:30. He also has Tae Kwon Do on Tues and Thurs nights and we have been going to watch Alexis play softball a few evenings. Today after dropping Mason off at VBS, Teagan and I headed to Walmart for some much needed supplies (we were down to 1 diaper in the house). I was leisurely strolling through the store because we never go to Walmart (it is clear across town). I enjoy seeing ALL the stuff there. We had only made it partway through the store when the youth director from church called stating that Mason was crying and they needed me to come get him....I grabbed the cart and ran up to check out, it was going to take at least 20 min to get back over there. Somehow I managed to spend about $100 and didnt even get diapers or a new pair of shoes for Teagan (both the reason for the trip). I finally got over there and Mason was standing at the door waiting for me. He had stopped crying but had his "quivering" voice when speaking to me. He said "I just missed you mom." Of course that melted my heart but I knew that this poor boy must just be exhausted from all the activity over the past 4 days. We headed home, he and Teagan both were down for a nap by 11am. I woke him up a little after 12 to head up to swim lessons..and though he was still a little tired, he did really really well. Tomorrow is Friday, thank goodness...Last day of VBS and swim lessons...the boy will be able to get more rest next week.

Private is the way to go....

Mason had his 1st private swim lesson today.....WHOA, it was awesome!! 30 minutes of 1 on 1 swimtime! The swim instructor had him swimming from the steps all the way over to the other side of the pool...a good 10-15( i am horrible at estimating length!) feet all on his own!!! this is just after 1 lesson!! I think he got more out of this session than he has out of the 6 weeks of the other lessons. The other lessons are ok, but they dont challenge him to see what he can really do. His private instructor was challenging him every step of the way.....if he swam 3 ft by himself, she moved it to 6ft the next time. I was quite impressed.Cannot wait to see what the end of the week brings!!!
BTW~ Teagan and I hung out in the pool while Mason was having his lesson.....she was doing great too!! Gotta love waterbabies!!! wahoo!!

Farmfest = funfest!

Jeff's company purchased tickets to a family charity event. It was held at the local petting zoo. It was an evening filled with tons of fun!!! The kids had a blast!! Here are a few pics

Swim Lessons

I can't remember if I have posted about swim lessons or not, so if this is repetitive....sorry. I enrolled Mason at the end of April. I found a little place in Blue Springs (yes, home of newest American Idol, David Cook)...the place is actually a gymnastics center (also known for producing 2 olympic athletes....Terrin Humphrey and Courtney McCool). They offer weekly swim lessons in a covered pool with water that is about 90 degrees. I wanted to get lessons in before "pool season" was here, so that we could be ready. Mason of course is doing great....although he just hasnt gotten to the point where he can actually swim without floaties yet. I am hoping he would learn to at least swim small distances and be able to get to the side. After a few weeks, I decided that Teagan would probably enjoy it too. She started around the 2nd week of May. Teagan has been more hesitant. The first class she clung to me the whole time and shocked me. (The girl lives for bathtime!) Eventually by the 3rd week, she was jumping in and really enjoying herself. Today both kids did pretty well. The problem with these lessons are that they are about a 25min drive away.......for a 30 minute lesson, and with gas at $3.77 (today) per gallon....not very economical.

Luckily, a young college girl is offering private lessons at our neighborhood pool (we just have to walk around the corner :) ) Mason will have 4 lessons with her this coming week. Yippee!

Just some friday night rambling....

Today was a good day (for the most part). Jeff took a rare day off of work (although we did do a work related errand), we spent the day together, minus Alexis who went on a small shopping spree (thanks to a nice unexpected bonus from Jeff's work). We sent Alexis to the mall with $200 to do some summer clothes shopping. (she didnt complain!) She did pretty well, she got several tops, a pair of shorts (I cant believe she bought white shorts.....oh my!!)and a bra. After all the turmoil we have had over the past 2 months with her, it was nice to be able to reward her for all the hard work that she has done. While she was out shopping, the rest of us headed out to run the "work" errand. When that was done, Mason and daddy played some disc golf. I stayed in the car with Teagan as she fell asleep just as we pulled into the parking lot of the disc golf park. I cannot believe that I forgot to bring my camera....it was so wonderful to watch Daddy and Mason throwing the disc's together. Mason felt like such a big guy!!! Teagan woke up while the guys were still busy on the 2nd hole, so she and I played at the playground. The boys ended up quitting after 4 holes.....Jeff had thrown the disc probably 10-12 times compared to masons 40+ throws. After that we headed into Costco....ate tons of samples, shared the best ice cream bar ever and managed to walk out of there without buying a thing (this has happened only 2x in the past year!) When we got home, the kids were so tired that they were "wired" (if you have kids you know what I mean.....sometimes they get so tired that something "clicks" and they turn into berserk maniacs). I took them up to the pool at 6:30pm. Felt great too, our house was miserably hot (I didnt want to turn the air on yet, but we caved tonight since the thermastat was reading 90 in our house). After an hour at the pool, it was time to come home. Mason had a slight meltdown as we walked in the door because I told him that he couldnt watch some TV show, thankfully that only lasted about 10min. After a late dinner.......both kids down for the count. Whew.....

Jeff and I tried to watch the movie Juno, but about 10min (really more like the first 2min) Jeff gave up on it. I will have to watch it on my own some day.
So for the most part, a pretty darn good day!

We had lots of fun!

I was able to get a few pics while we were at the pool today. This is Teagan, getting brave and walking in the baby pool for the first time....ever! The bad thing about our baby pool is that it slopes in the middle (right about where Teagan is getting ready to step)....right after I took the pic, she fell. She went under for a second or 2 and then I scooped her up. She did great!!!! She didnt venture out in the pool again, but she did hold onto the side and sit on the step. I think after a few more visits up there, she will be a pro!!! Oh and I just realized that today is Teagan's 17mos birthday.....my little girl is growing up so fast!!!!

Here is a pic of Mason having fun

Pool time!!

Summer is here and so is the warm weather. Kids and I plan on spending lots of time at the pool. We just have to coordinate activities and nap time. Unfortunately I am not sure that I will get to take many pictures since I have to be in the pool with Teagan and she is so mobile now. I will try to get a few when I can....soooo off we go!

Still not sure

I have messed with the layout of this new blog for hours now, and I am still not real happy with it's look. So expect it to change, possibly frequently until i figure out what I like.

A new beginning...

I decided to start a new blog, not really on purpose but just because I couldn't figure out how to change the old one. The old web address is completely obsolete anyways, so now I wont have to explain to everyone that I am not still wanting another baby.
I originally started the other blog when Jeff and I were trying to complete our family, now with Teagan in our lives; we feel complete. We are growing as a family, not in size, but in other ways. The old blog will still be there, hopefully I can eventually figure out how to transfer all the archives over to this one.