Projects.....

Our house is crazy with projects right now. I have so much to do and so little time. Please stick with me and one of these days (keeping my fingers crossed) things will start to slow down. And hopefully I can start blogging again like I want to.

But here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks. My kids are so darn cute!!! (I'm biased though!)

Have a great rest of the week and weekend! Happy Birthday to my equally cute nephew Jaxson on Sunday!!
Love, Amy


Gymnastics day 1. She had so much fun and loves it!! She is doing summer sessions of gymnastics also.


At the Circus. This is all the further she got. She totally freaked out when the elephant started moving and they were still just standing there waiting for more passengers to get on.


My cutie bug and his wonderful smile!! I've never seen a baby smile as much as he does, I love him so much!!


I melted when I saw this! :) He was playing one minute and the next minute I turn around and see this, how darling! He truly can sleep through anything and anywhere.


Hanging out with Nana watching Madi's gymnastics.


Day 2. And you can't tell, but she actually has a pony tail!!! She is so cute with her hair up and she never lets me do it. But she wanted to be like the big girls at gymnastics and have her hair in a pony tail too! :)


School field trip to the zoo. She walked almost the whole time with her boyfriend Trenten. Who, she has informed me, she will marry when she turns 6. Because (according to Kenley) you can't get married until you are 6. 3 year olds say some of the funniest things, especially when riding together in the backseat of a car and carrying on a conversation like an adult!!


At the zoo.

7 Months

Wow, Evan is 7 months old!! It is so hard to believe, next thing you know we will be celebrating his first birthday!

Evan is sitting up really well now, for all of 10 seconds, when he immediately goes to his tummy and off moving. Still no crawling, but he is really good at army crawling. He gets where he wants to and fast. He is even venturing off of the rug and out of the living room. He doesn't get too far though because he gets quite the drool puddle in front of him and then he just slips and slides around. But when he does get moving, he does a nice job of mopping up!!

Last Friday (16th), he got his second tooth in, YAY!! Bottom right side. He was very fussy the couple days before so I am sure he was happy to get that pushed through (as was I!) He also made his first trip to the lake house this last weekend. Madi, Evan and I went out with my Mom and Dad to get the yard cleaned up of all the leaves. This is always a major chore every year. It took us about 5 hours to get it done. Madi was a big help. She would help a little and then go and entertain herself for awhile. And Evan was a trooper. We set up his pack and play on the deck and he watched us and played. He did a great job as well. Turned out much better than I had hoped. Now we just need to help get the inside cleaned up and we will be ready for some lake time. Madi wants to get in the boat so bad! And Uncle Jason, she wants to go swimming in the lake with you!!

Evan has gone through all the vegetables and fruits and seems to like them all. Next up is the meats and then we can start on the combos. He's a great eater and it's starting to show! He's filling out really well now. And he loves watching us eat also, he wants at our food so badly. Last night, Chris was plowing a section of the field back by the trees, we went out and brought supper and had a nice little picnic. But we all had to eat fast because Evan was clawing at our food. He did manage to get a large handful of Madi's sandwich. And once we were done he found the grass and dirt and got a nice mouthful of that, YUCK!!!

I'm going to have another water baby on my hands. He started out slow in liking baths but he loves them now. If I get Madi's bath started first he gets really excited and tries to launch himself out of my arms to get in. Then when we walk away, he gives me this sad look. Very cute!! He likes playing or maybe just chewing, on the tub letters and toys. And he has started splashing around. I love that my kids like taking baths, one less thing to fuss and fight about! Half the time Madi's begging to get into the tub, but 4:00 in the afternoon just isn't a great time of day for a bath!

This may sound funny but Evan reminds me of a dog :)!! You know how you get home after a crappy day at work and you walk in the front door and your dog is jumping at you to greet you and it makes you feel like you are the greatest thing ever? That's what Evan does for me. He is always smiling and he has the greatest smiles ever!! And if he is playing on the floor and I leave the room for a couple minutes and come back, he immediately stops what he was playing with and gives me that big smile and starts crawling towards me as fast as he can. Such a great feeling. I love that little guy more than I can say!! Madi's a little charmer too, but she can flip the switch in a second and be a little pill. But that's a 3 year old. I know Evan's time will come too, it's a part of growing up.

Speaking of growing up, Madi starts gymnastics tonight!! I don't know who is more excited, me or her. Probably me right now because she doesn't really know what gymnastics is. But I think she is really going to like it. I'm looking forward to see how she does and interacts with others. She must be doing really well in school because the teachers haven't said anything. But I can sit in the bleachers and spy on her tonight. I can't do that at school. ;)

Madi has a busy month coming up until the end of school. She has the "Happy Bear" program tomorrow. A zoo field trip on the 27th. A class picnic on the 4th. Graduation is on the 11th and then the last day of school is the 13th. She has gymnastics for the next five weeks which takes her up to the same week as school is over. Then I need to find her some more activities for the summer to do!

I've already started planning her 4th Birthday Party!! Yikes, talk about time flying! We are going to celebrate her birthday on the 22nd of May (save the date!) It's going to be a fun party!!! We didn't do a kids birthday party for her last year because I felt funny about having a birthday party every year and didn't want people to feel like they have to come and bring gifts. But it was just not as fun. Plus it left all of us adults to entertain when we really just wanted to sit and watch the kids play. And Madi would much rather have kids to play with. So, this year we are doing a party again. Please don't feel obligated to bring presents just come and have fun!!

I will update (hopefully) with pictures tomorrow of the big gymnastics night!! I will leave you with some pictures from the last couple of weeks, Enjoy!

Love, Amy



Evan gets so excited watching Madi ride her bike, so we got the wagon out and he had his first wagon ride. Of course, it wasn't a solo ride for long and Sissy jumped in to ride.


Easter egg hunt!! She had a hunt at Dan and Jane's that morning and then she had a hunt at Mom and Dad's. She had so much fun that Mom and I and Madi took turns hiding eggs about a gazillion times and finding them again. But she couldn't resist telling us where they were hidden, no matter how many times we told her to be quiet and let the other person find them!!


Evan enjoying his Easter basket.


Playing in the field and woods last night.


Picnic supper! So much fun, but a little windy.

Lake Trip and a Tractor

Why am I sitting here?


What is this?


I need a closer look....


Can I eat this?


Ewww, this is fun!!


Big sissy love!! She's going to knock me over, MOM!

We love going out to Kanopolis Lake and spending a couple hours together. We built a fire, roasted some hot dogs and had supper. Then we cruised around and looked for deer. This is our favorite thing to do on a Sunday evening. And since the official start of the lake season begins next weekend, it was probably our last trip to make when no one is around and able to see over one hundred deer. Lots of good times together and I hope it is memorable for our kids.



My new tractor!!!! I don't know much about it, need to do some research. But it is in really good shape, it's fast (I don't really need that but Chris likes it), and it's short with the wide front end. Exactly what I was wanting! Thank you Chris, I love you!!!

**Added*** Evan got his first tooth Saturday (bottom left)!! He has been a drooling machine for months now and chewing on anything he can get. My fingers are quite painful. And it hurts even more when he gets that sharp little toother on them. Way to go Evan, one step closer to being able to have some snacky foods!!

Have a great week!
Amy

6 Month Checkup

Evan had his 6 month well-check today. He is doing really well. He is now 27.5 in. long (82%) and 17 lbs. 14 oz. (56%). So he is growing like a weed. He is also right on target with his motor development. His left ear is red and has fluid built up so he has to start an antibiotic and goes back in two weeks to make sure the ear infection has cleared up. Hopefully he doesn't have ear problems like I did, still do. I don't want him to have to go through that. She said it may have just come on from when he was sick last month.

Evan is still doing great with his eating. He started squash this week and so far has liked the vegetables he has had. We'll start the green vegetables this weekend and then fruits in a week or so. I'm going to start him on three meals a day and hopefully he will get on a good feeding schedule. At times (especially at night) he will eat his solids and drink a 6 oz bottle and then want another whole bottle not more than two hours later. The baby is going to explode!!

Here are some more pics from this week. We are enjoying our spring break but wishing it was feeling a bit more spring like. The sun has been behind the clouds quite a bit and the wind has been terrible. It makes it hard to get outside. Even though the temp says 50s, the wind doesn't make it feel that warm. Have a great spring break and Happy St. Patrick's Day!


Sitting up by himself!! He can sit longer and safer with his boppy behind him. Practice, practice.


It's hard getting just an Evan picture anymore.


And even harder when she jumps in front of him while I am taking his picture!! Camera hog!


But they are so cute together. Just this week Evan has started to laugh out loud if Madi is sitting in front of him and laughing. It is so fun to watch!


Bath time! First time in the big bath and Sissy was a great help!

Monthly Update

Wow, this is getting harder and harder every month to keep up with. February was a busy month with the sickies around here. Everyone caught something at different times during the month. But we are finally all better and ready for spring. We got a good taste of it last week and were able to go outside and enjoy the sun. Evan had his first outside swing ride. He liked it as long as it was soft and the wind wasn't blowing in his face. And Madi loved that he was outside and "playing" with her on the swing set. I'm looking forward to being able to go outside and play this spring with lots of trips to the park! And Madi finally got to go out and play Playdoh. She has been bugging me for months to play playdoh but I hate having it in the house. It gets every where. So she was excited for that.




Madi helping push! I love his smiles :)




"What are you doing down there Madi?" Evan looks so tiny.


Evan has had a lot of change in the last month since I wrote last. On February 24 he started rice cereal. He really did not like it. The first night was okay but once he figured out what we were doing the rest of the nights were a struggle. He would clamp his lips tight and didn't want anything to do with it. I started him on solids a couple weeks early because it just seemed like I was feeding him every two hours and he just was not content. He still seems to be eating a lot but during the day he can go longer in between feedings. Evenings he still wants to eat every 3 hours and is still getting up at least once a night to eat. It will be interesting to see how much he weighs next week. He doesn't look chunky at all, but I just feel like I am over feeding him.

We did five nights of rice cereal and then switched to oatmeal. He still didn't like the oatmeal either. So, last Thursday I tried sweet potatoes hoping that something with more taste would appeal to him. He had no troubles at all with the sweet potatoes. This weekend he was even getting mad at me and fussing because I wasn't getting it into his mouth fast enough. I have to hold the bowl under his chin and shovel it in. And last night he had carrots and is doing great.




First cereal night.


Evan is also sitting up really well. I still have to be right there, he is still wobbly. But he loves sitting up and playing. He can even catch himself at times before falling over. But he is getting there. Last Wednesday he even scooted forward 3 times to get to me. It was very exciting. He hasn't done much moving forward since but he does really good going in circles and getting toys to him that are a bit out of his reach. Maybe he's going to be a race car driver, they only travel in circles?!! :)

Evan is still a really happy baby. It's a little sad that he is moving on to new things but I'm almost ready for it. I'm ready for him to be able to sit and play on his own and be a little (very little) mobile.


Smilies!!



Madi is still totally in love with her little brother. She can't get enough of him sometimes and gets excited and a little rough. But she better watch out, he's already pulling her hair!!

She is doing really well in school and is constantly singing us new songs and running around dancing. She likes to perform for us. We watched Mamma Mia the movie for the first time two weeks ago and she fell in love with it. I think we have watched at least parts of it every day since. We went to Wal-Mart Monday night and bought it. When she found it she started singing the songs while walking through the store. We stopped in the baby food aisle and she was belting it out and this lady looks over and chuckles and says now she has that song stuck in her head. It was really funny and Daddy was totally embarrassed!!!

I have her signed up for gymnastics starting in mid April. I'm really looking forward to seeing what she thinks about it. I also got a gift certificate for The Dance Academy for one month of dance lessons at the CAPS auction. I need to get that scheduled too.




Madi playing with the camera.

5 Months

Evan is 5 months old today!! Time sure does fly. Some of his new things this month:
He found his voice. He started making this really deep growling sound and now he just screams! He is trying to be heard over his big sister. :)
He is starting to roll over from back to tummy and still rolling over tummy to back. Still not going far, but he's trying.
He loves playing with his feet. But it makes it very hard to change diapers and put clothes on when his toes are in his mouth!

Evan is so aware of his surroundings. He is constantly taking everything in and loves watching everyone moving around. He tries to watch Madi running around the house but he can't quite keep up with her. He is also very grabby. Grabs everything, hair, glasses, drinks, phones, nothing is safe within arms length of him. And of course, once he has it in his hands, it's in his mouth. He also thinks he is ready for food. He watches us so closely when we are eating and tries to grab at it. It won't be too much longer though.

We have to be very careful now where we set him. If he is propped up on our bed he will pull himself to sitting up but keeps going until he is on his tummy. Madi likes to sit with him on the couch or in the recliner, but I don't know if we can do that too much longer. I don't think she would be quick enough or paying close attention to grab him if he suddenly starts moving. I have set him up on the floor several times and he will sit for a little bit and start to lean to one side and then catches himself and sits back up. But it doesn't last long. That's okay though. I don't want him growing up so fast anyways :(

He is such a happy baby and so fun to spend time with. I am so lucky to be able to stay home!


Still loves the exersaucer. Of course, he spends most of the time with the toys he can move towards him, in his mouth!


2-11-10 Bath time! Starting to sit up pretty good on his own and is starting to look around and play instead of hyperventilating the whole time :)




Smell my toes, they're clean!! (As Madi would say!)

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We've had some fun outings this last month. Madi got to go bowling with Mayci, Carly and Kenley. They had such a blast. It was fun to watch them.






Then after bowling, each of the Mama's took the three older girls to Central High's play of The Beauty and the Beast. Madi was a little whinny before it started. She was concerned that she wasn't going to be able to see over the top of the people sitting in front of us. But once it started and she figured out where she was supposed to be watching, she was fine. She did sit on my lap for the first half and then sat with Kenley for the last part. Foldable seats are just not very friendly for three year olds. But all three loved the play and afterwards we went down to the stage and was able to get their pictures taken with Belle.




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I have been busy with craft projects this last month. I am planning Chris' cousin Meranda's baby shower and have been working on the invitations during any spare moments. I'm glad I started this task two months before the shower, because my free time is very short and I was starting to worry that I wasn't going to get them done. But I did and they are finally in the mail! I'll share pics of all the shower stuff later because Meranda hasn't seen everything and I want to keep some of it a surprise.

And Madi and I made her Valentines for school. They turned out so cute. I got the idea from Skip to my Lou. I love that website, so many neat craft ideas there.





Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Love, Amy

Family Updates

Evan had his 4 month well checkup on Wednesday. Everything is going well and he is growing like crazy. He is now 25.3 inches long in the 62% up from the 23% only 2 months ago. He is going to be tall. He is going to put Uncle Jason down with the rest of us!! He weighs 14 lbs. 10 oz. in the 45%. She was really pleased with his growth and is right on track. I guess all the eating is going towards all that energy at growing taller! Developmentally he is at age level. I have noticed a big change in the last week with his motor control. He isn't as jerky when trying to reach for things. And he is actually trying to reach and pick things up. He plays with everything on his exersaucer and was even getting mad today when he couldn't get to something he wanted. He recognizes his bottle and is even trying to grab it and pull it to his mouth. Very cute. This morning (Sunday 1-17) he found his toes while sitting in my lap. He was able to get to his left toes no problem but had a little trouble getting his hands to his right toes. He is such a doll and such a smiley little guy. I just can't get enough of him!





Madi is doing great at school. I think she just enjoys playing and being around all the other kids. I ask her what she did at school today and she will say, we didn't paint. What else did you do, I don't know. But she is doing a really good job at writing her name and she can tell you almost any letter in the alphabet and her numbers. Very pleased. She loves playing with all her new toys from Christmas and has even started going to her room and playing by herself for periods at a time.

On January 2, we went bowling with my parents and Jason and Tabatha and Jaxson. We had a great time. Madi has been asking to go bowling for a long time and was a great way to spend some time together. She has never been bowling but she knew exactly what to do. She was the first bowler, picked up her ball and threw it down the lane. First roll she got a strike!!! (With the aid of bumpers of course!) But we couldn't believe it. She did great on her own until about the 5th frame and she went out too far and hit that slick lane and went straight down on her back. We were so surprised the ball didn't fall on her. She was a little afraid to go back out and she sat out for a couple of frames and was nursed back to health with the help of nachos and a vending machine game!! But Daddy got her back out and she enjoyed the rest of the game and finished with a 125!! We will be going back and hopefully taking some little friends along next time.

Madi is still totally in love with Evan. She wants to do everything for him. Feed him, help give him his bath, she can't keep her hands off of him. And she gets the biggest smiles from her when she sings to him, so very cute!

Madi also loves to perform for us. We have to introduce her and then she comes and sings for us. It is quite funny to see. I will have to check into getting her signed up for acting and singing lessons this summer at the Community Theatre. I think she would love it.


Here she is from one of her latest performances with the beautiful and unseasonable ensemble she came out in!! I think she is ready for summer. She has been pulling out the swimsuits a lot lately!

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Chris has been busy with work the last couple of weeks. It seems that he gets a little break with not much to do and then everyone wants something done all at the same time and it takes a couple of really busy weeks to get caught back up. Which is a good thing right now. He is getting ready to hit his typically slow period from February to May. So we will see how it goes. With all the layoffs and closings around Salina in the last several months, we are afraid we might finally start feeling the effects. So far we have been lucky and have not experienced any of the down turns from the economy. Hopefully our luck will continue.

After our poor turnout with the Flywheel's Fall Show and some bad attitudes from some of the member's, we were going to walk away from our involvement with the Flywheel's. But after talking with some other members and a good friend of Chris' he decided to stick with it and ran for a board member spot to try and make things better. So, in November, he was elected as a board member. Our good friend Jerry May is now the president and we are all working together to try and get things turned around for the best. The best news of all is that the Flywheel's was finally able to buy the land that they have been leasing for many, many years and are able to move forward with bigger and better plans. They started construction of the Boys Scouts of America Museum which will be built on the same grounds. I'm not real sure how that is going to tie in together but will be a great addition.

Chris also found two International Harvester tractors for sale and bought one and got the other one to be donated to the Flywheel's. The donated tractor has some fixing up to be done and they have already lined up the diesel mechanics class at the Vo-Tech to donate their time at getting it running. Brian's Paint Shop is donating the labor to repaint it. So we are really excited about this. We are hoping to have it done and ready for the Farm Show coming up in March. The Flywheel's have a booth every year and we will have the tractor there on display and will be selling chances to win the tractor at our Fall Show. This should be a great money maker and if it works out like we want to, we will try and get a new tractor every year. The goal is to get the feature tractor for the year. This year's feature tractor is Minneapolis Moline but just not enough time to find one and get it done this year.

Chris has been busy with his hobbies this winter. He joined the Kansas Chapter of the International Harvesters Club this weekend. They had their annual meeting at the Flywheel's so he went over and spent Saturday there. He also joined a group of men through his accountant that get together and talk and learn about investments. He enjoys meeting with them once a month. He also got his stove going out in the shed so he spends a lot of time out there and Madi loves going out with him and playing and riding her bike. But he is ready for spring. It's already been a rough winter and having to juggle and push outside jobs around has not been fun.

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I have just been busy with the kids at home. I don't have a lot of free time to do anything. I do get away once a month on the first Monday for Truancy Review Board. I enjoy doing it. It does get a little depressing at times but we also have some families that make good turn arounds also. And I have a wonderful group of board members to work with.

I am still battling with my back pain since the middle of November. I have been seeing the Chiropractor twice a week for the last month and it is helping some. Usually it only takes two weeks to get it back to feeling good, but not this time. Hopefully soon, I am tired of the pain.

I have started planning for Chris' cousins baby shower that I will be hosting. I'm having fun finding some really cute ideas and look forward to getting my Cricut out and getting invitations done.

Well, we are headed to the library as soon as I get everyone up from naps and then Madi has a skating party tonight with her school. Chris doesn't really want to go, but I am ready to get out of the house and go do something fun. Plus, Madi has been asking to go skating every time we drive by there since a year ago September when we were there for Wyatt's birthday party. Hopefully she will do better this time. I'll have pics to share!!

Take care and for those of you with Monday off, hope you have a great three day weekend!
Love, Amy

4 Months

Where have the last 4 months gone? I can't believe how fast time goes and Evan is growing so much!! His next appointment is on Wednesday and I am anxious to see how big he has gotten.

Evan is eating great. Sometimes I think he is eating too much, it seems like I am always sitting down and feeding him. I have been trying to get him into a better routine of nap, eating and bed time. But it is so hard. With Madi, it was just us and I could do whatever I wanted or needed to without interruption. But poor Evan, it never fails, I sit down to feed him or get him settled in for a nap and Madi wants something or is out of bed when she is supposed to be sleeping. And then with school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, it throws off his morning nap because I have to get him up and loaded into the car to get her picked up. He is adapting well and it doesn't seem to bother him. I just need to take his approach and go with the flow :)

He is Mr. Smiles right now. It is so cute how his face just lights up. Especially after nap time, he is all grins. He is also very ticklish and lets out the cutest little chuckle when you hit just the right spot! Evan also loves it when Madi sings or dances for him.

Just this last weekend he has really started trying to grab things. He loves playing in his exersaucer and is finally getting some controlled arm movement to play with the toys on it. I was in the kitchen the other day and heard the wheels turning on the exersaucer and thought Madi was doing it when I realized she was in her room playing. He was really working at it!

Playing on his tummy is still not his favorite thing to do, but we do little short spells of it everyday. He does very well with pushing up and looking around. He hasn't done a lot of rolling over in the last couple weeks, but he will get there.

Evan started sleeping all night on December 18 and did well for about 2 weeks. But the last week or so, he has been getting up again. Sometimes it's 3:00 am sometimes he will sleep until 5:30, really depends on what time he goes to bed. I am hoping it is just because he has a cold and isn't sleeping as soundly. His little nose is just full of snot and we have to suck it out or otherwise he just has a terrible time breathing. So hopefully after that clears up, he can get back to sleeping all night.

We started using the Bumbo seat after Christmas. He sits in it pretty good. It is nice that we can put him up on the counter and he can sit with us while we eat supper. But it doesn't take long and he wiggles one leg in and he slumps over and chews on the side.

I keep looking for teeth to be showing up anytime now. He is a drooling machine. And he loves to chew and suck on his hand. He gets so many fingers and fist in his mouth he ends up choking himself. But, no sign of the teeth yet.

And unlike his big sister, he is still NOT loving bath time. He doesn't scream and fuss but when I get him out of the tub, his little hands are blue from clinching them so tight. I don't think he feels very comfortable or stable in the tub, so I am hoping that once he can sit on his own, he will like it better. For some reason I am just not loving our little baby tub either. I don't know what it is, but it seems so awkward and unnatural even for me. I've tried several different positions and places and something just isn't right. We'll get there!

Here are some pictures from this month so far.


January 1, Christmas at Nana and Papa's house. (I have more pics and another post I want to do from that weekend, but my pics won't upload, stay tuned!)




January 8. My little cowboy playing at home!


January 11. Sitting in the Bumbo!



I just couldn't be happier with our little family. I'm looking forward to this year and all of the changes for both kids.

Love,
Amy