It's been awhile!

Wow..I didn't realize how long it had been since I blogged! August was a crazy month! When we were at church on Saturday, I thought the same thing...we had only been home 2 weekends in August and for one of those, we had company.

So much has been going on, I don't even know where to start! I guess the most important is probably that our little squirrel started kindergarten last week. Where does the time go? I can't believe how adorable she looks in her little uniforms. She's so proud when she brings home her papers every day. They are learning to print their letters (the nice way!) , so last week she was busy showing me how to print I and U. So cute!

I hope she is always this excited about school!

We made the decision last spring that we were going to send her to Kindergarten where she has been going to daycare. They have a private Kindergarten that I have always heard rave reviews about. Here's the cool part: there are only 8 kids in her class! You sure couldn't get that in the public schools! I just think that K is the place where they lay the groundwork for everything, so the 1 on 1 attention is SO important. Plus, I didn't have to worry about where she would go after school. What a relief! Sure, it still costs money, but do does before/after school care. I figure she's worth it and so is the awesome start to her education!

Wow...that was my little soapbox for the day...other than that- life has been pretty much status quo. I am almost glad that it's fall because life seems to slow down a little after August. Winter, on the other hand....that can wait!

The empty house

It seems like the fam has been gone quite a bit this summer, leaving me to put back in place all that has come out of place, only to be in that state again in a few days. As much as I love my kids, it is always nice to get my wits back about me. I do feel for my wife who is stuck with them until I arrive at the lake on Thursday afternoon; they are always a handful, but from what I have heard so far, are starting to grow gills. I can't wait to see them though; life seems incomplete without them waking me up in the morning and the occasional cage match over toys.

He did it!!

I would just like to say that I had very little to do with it. I have tried so many different ways to make it happen and failed every time. I tried M&M's; I tried dollar spot treats; I tried "shoot the cheerio" and even used up a whole day of vacation to get it done. In the end, all it took was a teacher at school who had no idea that he didn't know how yet...and lo and behold....


HE WENT POTTY ON THE BIG BOY POTTY!!!!!!!

Yep, that's right. On July 1, 2009 Lukas went potty on the big boy potty for the first time! This is big news people! Like I said, we have tried so many different methods, I had almost given up! I figured he would be the first college freshman still wearing diapers (and riding a trike, but that's a whole other story!). The good news is I can rest easy now...ok, well not completely easy since we haven't figured out how to do #2 on the potty yet, but we are getting there!

Happy Birthday to my Squirrel!

I have been waiting all day to spend a little time reminiscing...my little squirrel is 5 today! I can't believe it...the time has gone so quickly. I still remember so clearly the night that she was born. It was such a scary experience and so amazing all at the same time. It didn't go exactly how I wanted it to go, but then, what in life does?


There she is...our beautiful baby! It's funny because she looks pretty round in this picture, but really she was just a peanut! I don't know if anyone else even remembers how she came to be known as squirrel. If my friend Mel ever reads this, she will probably be entertained. When I was pregnant, we were trying to decide whether or not to find out the gender of our baby and of course everyone wanted to think they knew what I was having- especially towards the end. Melanie had taken to asking if I thought the baby would be a boy or a squirrel :) It still makes me giggle! So, in my still drugged state, I decided to call and leave a voicemail for all the managers I worked with at MF to let them know that I had given birth to a baby squirrel. Thus, the squirrel name stuck!



Wasn't she a beautiful baby? Look at that blonde hair! That was the big news with her was all her hair! oh my goodness...she is still such a beautiful girl...and smart, and sweet...can you tell I miss her right now? I can't wait to see her tomorrow! She has been with "beste" for a whole week and I miss her like crazy! I really cannot believe it has been 5 years. I remember holding her the first time...nursing her the first time (not very well!)...our first night awake all night...
Mostly I remember the nights I used to rock her to sleep and the mornings when she would wake up and we would just sit in the rocking chair and snuggle. I miss that baby girl so much sometimes, but try now to enjoy the "big" girl she is becoming!

Princesses Galore!

We did it! We threw our first "real" birthday party...at home...and I survived!!! Now, I have to confess, it was a difficult decision for me. Maybe you haven't heard (ha ha ha!) but I am broke, so I can't afford to throw my child a birthday party at one of these places that costs 500 bucks! So, I decided we would do it at home.

The first challenge was coming up with the theme. This actually turned out to be easy since Annika is obsessed with princesses. Her thing lately is "mommy, tell me a story about princess Annika." So, then I just had to figure out what exactly we were going to do. This is where it got tough. You see, I am really great with concepts..it's just actually making it happen that I struggle with. Execution is not my forte (my former bosses could attest to this!).

Thank goodness I had some help! My sister and my mom are both angels in disguise I have decided. That's the other thing...I turn into a real crab apple when I am stressed out! I was so concerned that a mom was going to come into the house and judge me (remember...I am not rich!) or that the party was going to be a complete dud. Luckily neither of these tragedies occurred, the party was mostly successful, and most importantly my princess was happy!












Check out the cake!! I made it (with a little help from my mom and sister!)

Fits, fits and more fits!

Ok, so maybe my mother is right and it's payback! I remember Annika going through a bit of a fit-throwing phase, but not like the one we are dealing with right now! Lukas is a little out of hand! Now, I know that little kids like to be able to do things by themselves, but this is ridiculous! Anytime that he can't figure something out, he freaks out. Anytime that he isn't getting his way...again, freak out! We aren't just talkin' defiance here, we are talking full blown-laying on the floor-kicking and screeching fit. What to do? I can ignore him...what do the neighbors think? I can try to comfort him...doesn't work! He pushes and kicks me away! I can try to reason with him...again, there is no reasoning with a 3 year old! My only hope is that it's a short lived phase!

The Pit of Despair

Wow...I am not very good at keeping up with this!! I do my best, but it seems like time gets away from me! Good thing only a couple people seem to know it's here!

So I just had to share a funny from last night! Annika has been DYING to take a trip to IKEA. We have been so busy, however, that we haven't been able to go. We thought maybe Grandma and Grandpa H would take them over the weekend, but it sounds like they had plenty of other things to do! Anyway...

We arrived at IKEA for the sole purpose of letting Annika play in the "ball pit" (Smaaland is what it's actually called!). It is the first thing you see when you come in the door! So, we walk in and she runs towards the door of smaaland only to find out....IT'S CLOSED!!!! Seriously! How can that be? Now I have to try to find another time to take her....eek! It was actually pretty funny, though, since she freaked out and said she is sure that she will NEVER get to play in there!

Silly girl!!

On another note...my children love markers! Check out how HOT Lukey is with some nice black marker all over! No wonder the ladies love him!