Halloween Fun!

Halloween was so much fun this year. My mother-in-law Nancy and I had so much fun putting Laura and David's costumes together. Ever since David was a baby, Laura has loved the movie Mary Poppins. As a little 2 year old she would sing and dance around as she watched it. It was so much fun to watch her because Mary Poppins was one of my favorite movies to watch when I was growing up. As they have gotten older David has really enjoyed watching it too. So when they were trying to decide what to be for Halloween, I threw out the idea of Mary Poppins & Bert (as the chimney sweep). They were so excited. So all through Ocotber we were constantly quoting lines from the movie and singing the songs. We all had so much fun.

Jacob's face lights up every time we sit down to read a Winnie the Pooh book, so I thought that was the perfect costume for him. Looks like Winnie the Pooh had too much honey that night.

This year we went to the pumpkin patch at night, which was much cooler. The kids had a great time as always.

One of David's favorite things is tractors, so he really loves getting to sit on a REAL one. I love how excited he gets

And of course it doesn't seem like Halloween until you've made a jack-o-lantern.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

My baby turned 1 on Sept. 25! What a year it's been. This age is so fun to watch his little personality grow. Especially watching him become more independent. I love to watch him play trucks and trains on the floor with Laura and David. He'll push a car along in each hand while he crawls around and makes a motor sound with his mouth. So funny. It's all the little things that make motherhood such a joy.

My sweet baby boy.

Mommy made a homemade carrot cake. Super yummy!

He looks like he's not so sure of it. He got into it eventually.

I think all the siblings and cousins have more fun opening presents at a 1 year olds party, because the 1 year old doesn't know what's going on and that everyone else is taking off to go play with their new toys.

1st Day of Preschool!

Well it's official, both of the kids have now started the school year. David was so anxious for preschool to start. His first day was Monday and he was so excited all morning. When we got there he was so eager to get inside. I'm sure it was because of all the toys he remembered seeing there last week. It was kind of sad to drop him off, I'm used to him always being with me. Hopefully I'll adjust. He just grew up so fast! He's my little sweethart.

1st Day of Kindergarten!

Yesterday was Laura's first day of Kindergarten! She has been waiting for this day for so long. She had been counting down the days for the last week, looking at the calendar everyday. She said she had a good day and liked everything about it, so that's a relief. She did say it seemed a little long. I guess it's a good thing she's only in 1/2 day! Anyway, today when I pulled up to drop her off, she asked if she could just go by herself. She's already ready to cut me off from the classroom drop off! So I said, how about tomorrow you can, mostly because I still wanted to be involved and walk her to class. What can I say, she's my first. It's fun to see her grow and become more independent. She seemed so confident and sure of herself yesterday. I think that helped me not to feel too sad or worried about her. I hope it continues and she has a great year.

Preschool Graduation

The one field trip I was able to go on with Laura's preschool class was to the fire station. Laura's teacher said I could bring David along. I think Daid was more excited about going than Laura was.

You can tell David (on the far right) is a little youger than the rest of the kids.

David was so excited when they got to spray the hose and get inside the fire truck. I'm really glad he got to go.

When I told David he was going to come with me to Laura's preschool gradutaion, he got all excited and went to grab his backpack. I think all he heard was that he was going to school. So when we got there he walked right up to the front with the rest of the class, as though he was in the program. Miss Renay said he was fine to sit up there with the class, so he just sat up there the whole time, singing when he knew the songs. It was so cute.

One of the parts in the program was where they acted out the book, Caps for Sale. Laura knows that book really well, so she had fun being one of the monkeys.

Laura had a really fun year with Miss Renay. I know she loves her and will miss her.

Happy Anniversary Mike!

Me and Mike celebrated our 7th anniversary on April 13th. Seven years really doesn't seem like that many years, but when I think back at everything that's happened, all the fun times, great memories (especially from our 3 week super trip) and 3 wonderful children, our wedding day does seem like it was so long ago. I'm so glad we've gotten to share it all together.

Love you Mike. This was a day or two after our wedding up in Sedona. It is so beautiful up there. This was at the top of one of our hikes. You can't really tell from the picture, but I remember thinking we were going to get blown away because it was so windy up there. We had such good time that we decided to go back the next year for our 1st anniversary.

Happy Birthday Laura!

Laura's Birthday was March 24th and she turned the big 5! We had a party for her with all the family and cousins the Saturday before. We've had an Easter Egg hunt the last couple of years, which was alot of fun for the kids. We did it again this year even though Easter wasn't as close to her birthday this time. She told me she had alot of fun which I was happy to hear.

Laura had alot of fun with her presents.

Aunt Melanie, Emily and Jane were so nice to bring a present they knew that David would really enjoy. It's hard when your 3 and see your sibling get a bunch of new toys all on the same day, so he was excited for all the tools.

Laura had a great time playing with everyone. She is such a happy girl.

Jacob turned 6 months old the day after Laura's birthday. He sure keeps me busy all day. I'm really good at juggling him around from one thing to another. He doesn't really like to stay doing one thing for very long. Which, as any mom knows, makes it hard to get anything done. He is a happy little guy though and I love his sweet smile.

Uncle Dave was trying to steel Laura's thunder by bringing his new chuckwala, however you spell it.

We took Laura out to dinner on her actual birthday with grandma Bradshaw. We don't go out very often with all the kids, so it was fun to see them excited to go to a restaurant. We had a very nice evening. I'm glad Laura had fun birthday.

Daddy's little girl.

So, I guess it's pretty obvious that updating my blog hasn't been #1 on my priority list. I think I've pretty much been in survival mode these last few months. Me and Mike have been taking turns having strep throat, cold's and allergies while the kids have been dealing with having to do breathing treatments and having ear infections. I really thought that our family was pretty healthy overall, but after this last month I'm beginning to wonder. Even as I sit here and type, I can hardly breathe out my nose, so I wonder what I'm going to het this time! I'm a little baffled by this because I usually never get sick. I guess I should just accept the fact that this is how the winter months are going to be. ANYWAY...

about the picture...This is me and my sister Rhonda after we finished running the Turkey Trot 10k on Thanksgiving. I must say that I had no plans of running a a 10k just 2 months earlier right after I had Jacob. I actually did not have this plan until about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving when I was talking to Rhonda on the phone. She told me how she had just ran in a 10k the day before in Las Vegas (where she is living right now). I was very suprised because I had no idea she had been training for a race. Well it turns out she hadn't been training and had only gone out for a few runs before the race. She knew she wasn't even close to being in her best shape possible, but she did it anyway. Then that's when she said she was planning on running in the Turkey Trot when she came here for Thanksgivng and was totally convinced that I should run it with her. I shot that idea down right away. Now Rhonda was an awsome mid-distance runner in track and cross country in high school. I however, was a sprinter in track and had never even ran more than a mile at a time in my life. I always thought that I was never meant to be a distance runner. So I tried to give her every excuse I could, mostly how I was in the worst shape ever and hadn't moved faster than a catepillar in over a year. Well somehow after I got off the phone, those thoughts of doubt I was having turned into wanting to take on this challenge. I felt really curious to know how well I would do running 6 miles with only 2 weeks to train. I'll leave out alot of the details and just get to the race. I was so sure that I would'nt be able to keep up with her the whole time and that at some point she would take off without me and that I would end up walking half the time. Well to my suprise, we stayed together the whole race and we only stopped to walk at the 5 mile mark for about 2 minutes. I even ended up finishing about 15 minutes faster than I thought I would. I was so proud of myself! I learned a big lesson here, that is that I think alot of times we set limits for ourselves and don't even think we're capable of certain things. I'm just glad that I pushed myself to step out of my comfort zone (along with some pressure from Rhonda )and now have a great memory of me and my sister.