Happy 150th Birthday Kansas!

Did you know that Friday, January 29th is Kansas' birthday? I love Kansas day. Maybe because I love sunflowers. But there is a lot going on around Kansas this week and for the rest of the year to celebrate the 150th birthday.

But if you would like to do some cool activities or visit some places that are holding birthday events, check out the State of Kansas website Here. We are going to have some birthday fun on Friday to celebrate! Any reason to have cake is a good one right?

Happy Birthday!!

Love, Amy

FINALLY!!

I have been so frustrated and even started working on setting up a new blog on WordPress this afternoon. I haven't been able to even get to this website all week. Even though I haven't been able to keep up with timely posts, the thought of not having it and not being able to look back and read about what we have been doing was a scary thought. So, FINALLY when the website loaded tonight (after trying off and on all day) I better get something written. It might be weeks before I can get back on.

There really hasn't been a lot going on this month. It's been cold and snowy and we have spent a lot of time at home just doing our thing.

A week ago Friday, Evan had his checkup for his ears again. All is cleared up and well, FINALLY!!) After battling fluid and infections over and over since November, we FINALLY got it all knocked out. No more worries and stressing if surgery is going to be the next step. Of course, I'm probably the only one that stressed and worried about this. But I just don't want him to have the problems that I continue to have with my ears. It is not fun and is painful and I just can't stand the thought of him having to deal with that pain. Along with the good news checkup, Evan has also FINALLY started sleeping through the night again this last week. (I probably just jinxed myself!) But between the ears, colds, and being sick off and on, it has been a very long time since I have had an uninterrupted night of sleep. I was joking with my mom that I just better get used to it. By the time they start sleeping all night, they will be old enough to be out with friends and I'll still be up waiting on them. I'll sleep in 18 years, it'll be here before I know it :)

Yesterday we had a nice surprise from Chris. He came home at 10 am and said he took the day off to spend with us! What a treat! Madi has been wanting to go to the Sternberg Museum in Hays (the dinosaur museum). She calls it "The Museum of Natural History." Since that is what they call it on PBS. It's quite cute when she says it. She is just totally fascinated by dinosaurs and everything she does and talks about is dinosaurs. So we took off for Hays. None of us have been before so it was a treat for all of us. It was a little smaller than I thought it was. I'm glad we went but I wouldn't make a special trip there to go to it again. At least while the kids are so young. They just practically run through museums. They look at half of what is there and then it's only a quick glance while I try and keep up and try and read at least what the object is before they are off to the next thing. The first floor that we went too had large motorized replicas of a t-rex and a corynthisaurus (I'm just going to pretend that I know how to spell that). They made growling noises and their mouths and heads moved. Totally freaked out both of the kids!! Madi was hiding behind Chris and Evan was trying to run in the opposite direction. I picked him up and he had a death grip on me while we hurried past them, while Madi had her face buried into Chris' backside on the verge of tears. I couldn't help but laugh, it was pretty funny! We had a nice time and Madi thought it was the best museum ever!! (Despite the scary parts, now that she knows they aren't real!)

This week Madi has a field trip to the Salina Art Center. Should be another interesting trip to yet another museum type place. This time with 24 four year olds. Yikes, maybe I should be more selective on the field trips I volunteer for. No, it will be fun and I wouldn't miss a single field trip for anything. One of the job perks!! I am also still working on getting the house organized and purging some (a lot) of the things that we really don't need to be hanging onto anymore just because we are too lazy to get rid of things. I may have to steal the truck soon to get it loaded up and make a trip to the dump. I'm pretty sure I could probably fill most of the wheat truck, if it was running :( By the end of the month, I should have my Christmas present here FINALLY!! I'll share pics later!

Love, Amy

Happy New Year!

It's the last day of 2010. Hello 2011! We have had a great year and looking forward to another wonderful year together. Here's the kids in 2010.


January


February




March


April


April


May


May 25--Happy Birthday Madi!


June


July


August


September 11--Happy 1st Birthday Evan!


September


October


October


November

I love these two munchkins!! Most days are filled with screaming, laughing, crying, singing and some fights, but everyday is filled with love and thanks to God for having them with me. I wouldn't trade my wonderful job for anything in the world. I love you Madi and Evan!!
Mama

Wrapping It Up

It's almost the end of the year. Christmas is over :( All the decorations are down and put away again. Madi was not happy to see the tree go. She thought if the tree was still up we could still have another Christmas. But it just doesn't work that way.

We had a nice two days of Christmas festivities. Christmas Eve day we spent at my parents' house with my brother and his family. The kids had fun playing together and we all enjoyed eating lots of good food. We opened presents. Of course the kids got lots of new toys and fun things to play with. Mom and Dad got each family a Wii!! So exciting and totally unexpected. We hooked it up and played some bowling before Jason and Tabatha and Jaxson took off for home. Chris and I then ran out to Wal-Mart before they closed to stock up on controllers and some more games. When we got back to Mom and Dad's, Dad was enjoying a round of bowling with Madi! Might have to get them one for their anniversary, but don't tell! ;)


Our love bugs!! Such cuties!

Christmas Day we (Chris and I) woke up early and got food started for lunch. We then went and woke up the kids. We all opened our gifts. Cleaned up the mess so we could get all messy again. Madi and Evan played with their toys while Chris and I continued to get lunch ready and table set. Chris' parents and brother came out and we opened our gifts from them and then ate lunch. We then spent the rest of the day playing Wii and munching.

Sunday was clean up day. And the rest of the week so far has been clean up and organize. Nothing like bringing a bunch of stuff in the house and being forced to get rid of stuff and rearrange to make it all fit. I've gotten all the bed rooms done, kitchen and living room done. The rest of the week will be spent downstairs getting it reorganized and things put away. I have been terrible about putting things where they belong and just stacking them in the room they are supposed to be in.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with loved ones and joy!
Love, Amy

15 Months

Evan had his well check today. Dr. said he is growing great and is right where he is supposed to be both physically and developmentally. He is 32.8 in. in height (90%) and 24 lbs 15 oz (56%). She checked his ears again. Still has fluid in both but no infection. Just need to keep up with the Zyrtec to get the fluid taken care of. He doesn't need tubes yet but she wants to keep a close eye on it. We go back in a month to get them checked again. He also had three shots. He did very well and had stopped screaming before the nurses even left the room. Then I made the mistake of laying him back down on the table to change his diaper. He was not happy with me. He got the flu shot today and he has to get the booster shot when we go back in a month.


Evan is getting around really good. Even trying to run to keep up with Madi. Still not talking a lot. He says bye and go, go and that's about it. But he understands well, he just doesn't want to say the words. Bath time is still his favorite thing. And riding his car around the house and anything that Madi is doing.

We have seen Santa a couple times and he isn't really in to that. But he is shy around anyone he doesn't know and throw in a beard and being plopped down in his lap and it isn't good. But at least he will get to open his gifts this year. We are looking forward to Christmas and spending time with family.

Love, Amy

The Hunting Saga

Chris came home from deer camp with his back out. That was quite the adventure and I tease him that he just didn't want to drag his deer out or tear down camp!! Saturday morning he walked out to his little hill and valley he sits and shot a little dog deer. He bent over to get his bag and gun, straightened up and "crack." He couldn't walk, he couldn't move (picture the old lady on the floor "I've fallen and I can't get up!") Luckily, he had his phone. Luckily, they put up more cell phone towers so that his phone would work. Luckily, his cousin Bobby answered his luckily dialed phone call. As Bobby (the super hero) is making his way to rescue the injured Chris, he flags down a game warden who was nice enough to drive into the area that Chris was. I guess he was easy to find since he was the big orange spot laying in the field. He loaded Chris up and took him back to camp. While poor super hero Bobby had to field dress the dog deer and load it up and take it back to camp. Needless to say, Chris will never be able to live this one down. I mean, at least he could have hurt himself on some monster buck that he single handedly dragged out of the field for two miles all up hill! Instead he got this:



Now Chris is famous and they renamed the tragic hunting spot after him. So next time you visit Wilson Lake, check out the Pumpkin Patch right next to Brokeback Mountain!!

Chris is feeling better now and bounced back rather quickly this time. Which we are all happy about. He even went out back to hunt a couple times this last week and weekend. Didn't end up with anything (maybe a cold). No antlers this year. But he's going to go out during the second season and try and get some more meat for our freezer.

Amy (the loving wife of a hunter!)

The Christmas Spirit

Christmas has officially exploded at my house!! I love decorating for Christmas and I went a little crazy this year. Lots of lights inside since we don't do lights outside. We have had fun decorating and gives us something to do in the evening while Daddy is gone. Something new this year is our advent calendar. We did the simple Santa with cotton balls last year and I have been wanting do one that gives them a treat every day. So, I came up with this year's calendar and I am super excited with how it came out. Plus, as the stockings come down, I can clip our Christmas cards on and have them displayed as well.




Today: Bake a special treat with Mommy! Madi picked chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting. We will take some out to deer camp tomorrow night along with supper for the guys. They should enjoy the pink frosting!!

Madi spent the night at deer camp with Daddy, Bob and Bobby Sunday. Chris said she did good. They drove around and looked for deer, watched a movie (Quigley Down Under) that Madi did not like because a baby was crying because it was scared of the wolves (I've never seen it, but I'll take her word), and she said she didn't hear any coyotes howling during the night and she only got a little cold. They had breakfast in the tent and at 10am Monday she called me and said she was ready to go home. I think she was bored. The guys said they hadn't even left the tent Monday morning yet. When we got there she was playing under the cots, must have been boring! :) But she said she liked it and she would stay again. She terrorized Bob with her Barbie doll and Tinker Bell chair. She's ready to go see Daddy though. She misses him terribly. We will go out tomorrow night with hot food.


Sunday while setting up. We had to make our way to the toys to play. Evan discovered the slide and I couldn't get him away from it. Madi wanted to go over and play Monday when I got there, but it was 30 degrees and 30 mph winds. It was cold!


The three of us playing while decorating last night.

We decorated the tree last night. I had Madi put all the wood and cloth ornaments along the bottom so Evan can't break anything. He likes to go look and occasionally has pulled off an ornament. But so far, nothing broken (knock on wood!) He was really excited when we got the snow globes out and wanted to touch and shake and carry them around. So while we were at Lowes the other night, I bought him a plastic one that lights up and sings and he can turn it on and off himself. He's forgotten about my glass ones, so far my plan is working!! And he really likes all the lights. Madi will turn the tree off during the day and after nap when it starts getting darker, we turn it back on and each time he sees it, he gets excited, "ewwww," and big grins. I love it!!

Monday morning I took Evan back to the doctor for his follow up check after the ear and eye infection. His eyes are all better and one ear has cleared up, but the left ear is still infected. She put him on Augmenten, a stronger antibiotic to hopefully clear it up. The bad news is, that stuff can make him sick. So I have to be careful and make sure his tummy is full before taking it. He is on day 2 of it and so far no tummy aches and throwing up. But his diaper is getting pretty runny quite a few times during the day. No fun for my little guy.

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Thanksgiving

We had a wonderfully lazy Thanksgiving. Evan and I were still trying to get over our yucks. So plans changed all weekend. Thursday we spent with Chris' family. That afternoon, Madi and I and her cousins Jackie and Taylor went to see the movie Tangled. Such a cute movie. One of the best Disney's in awhile. But it was 3D. I've never seen a 3D movie. It made my head hurt and upset my stomach (not the best type of movie to watch when you have been sick). We then made our way to my parents. Madi was going to spend the night with them while we went shopping for Black Friday. Evan was going to stay with Chris' parents. But by the time we got back to Chris' parents to drop Evan off, my ears and sinus infection were killing me and I just wanted to go home and go to bed. So Evan came home with us after all. At about 2am, Madi was standing beside me waking me up. I thought I was dreaming. Her legs were hurting and she was missing me. They tried to call but I didn't even think about taking my phone to bed with me. So when she couldn't talk to me on the phone, she got even more upset. Mom ended up driving her all the way home in the middle of the night.

We did end up going to Wal-Mart Friday morning about 9am. I've never seen Wal-Mart so empty on a major shopping day. It was crazy. They still had some of the stuff that was on sale and the rest we could live without. Friday we spent the day with my parents and my brother and his family. Another great day! The kids had so much fun playing together.

It was even nice enough to go outside and get some pictures.


Of course Evan loved it, he loves being outside


The three grands. Yikes, that was hard getting a good picture with them all looking in the same direction and smiling! One good one out of probably a dozen!


And then the Grandparents with the kids. Such a great picture!! Also, one out of a dozen! I'm sure I have a couple of Jaxson pulling Madi's hair :)

I hope everyone is getting into the Holiday Spirit as well. So many craft projects so little time. Hopefully we will share some more! HO HO HO!

Love, Amy

Sickos

This week didn't get any better than last week. Evan is still battling his cold and infections. Every day it gets harder and harder to get drops into his eyes. He hates it and knows what is coming when he sees the little white bottle. I have to do it and it just breaks my heart having to hold him down and listen to him scream bloody murder. But I know it isn't hurting and it's for the best. I was afraid we were going to have to go back to the doctor early because it just wasn't getting any better. But the last two days have finally started showing some improvement. So I hope we can make it through the holiday.

Madi started showing signs of goopy eyes too this week. But hers cleared up on their own. But Friday night, while we were at a benefit supper for a friend, she puked all over the floor, right in the middle of everything. I felt so bad and couldn't do anything but hold her head over a trashcan. Terrible. We came home, took baths and she was fine. Asking for candy two hours later, go figure.

And then last night, Evan started throwing up right at bedtime. By 6:30 this morning we both had gone through 5 sets of clothes each and half a dozen towels. He was up and down throughout the night and is feeling better today.

I have also been battling my own cold this week. But with the kids not sleeping well at night, I am not sleeping well either. And I am afraid to take NyQuil at night thinking I won't hear Evan or wake up when they need me. So it isn't getting any better either. Chris was wonderful this afternoon and I actually took a two hour nap. So needed. We all need to get feeling better with the holiday this week and then Chris leaves for deer camp next Sunday, which leaves me all alone for the week.

Luckily (knock on wood, cross fingers, etc, etc) Chris hasn't gotten sick. He would be pretty upset if he missed Deer Camp!

We did have some fun Saturday night before all the throwing up started. We went downtown for the Festival of Lights Parade. We LOVE parades. And this one is so much fun to watch all the Christmas lights decorated on the floats and vehicles. Madi liked the dancing groups and they had some really cute Christmas outfits this year. And of course we brought home a Dillons bag completely full of candy. Evan liked the horses, the dogs, and the firetrucks. He waved and had a lot of fun. This was his first year to watch this parade. Last year he slept through the whole thing in the warm, toasty car. Then we waved to Santa at the end and Madi cheered for the street sweepers following behind.

Pics of the kids at the parade. It was cold last night. But we went home after and had popcorn, hot chocolate and watched a Christmas movie.





Madi has her Thanksgiving feast at school tomorrow and then she is done for the week. Thursday we will spend the day at Chris' parents house. Madi is going to spend the night with Nana and Papa, Uncle Jason, Aunt Tabatha, and Jaxson on Thursday night. Evan may stay with Chris' parents and Chris and I will get up dark and early and hit the Black Friday sales. It's so much easier and safer to do this without the kids. I don't know what they have for sale this year, but I am sure we can find something that we just CAN"T live without and just HAVE to brave the crowds at 4:00 in the morning. We do tend to get the bulk of our Christmas shopping done this day. Then the rest of the day we will spend at my parents having Thanksgiving with my family.


Madi's favorite food, chocolate cupcakes.
But we added a Thanksgiving treat on top.




Evan's play spot while we were decorating, goofy boy!

I hope everyone has a wonderful short week and blessed Thanksgiving Day with family and loved ones.
Love, Amy

14 Months

It has not been a very good week for my little guy. He has caught a cold and hasn't been sleeping well. When he got up this morning his eye was swollen and slimy. Did not look good at all. Of course it's Saturday and the doctors office is closed so we went to Stat Care. 2 1/2 hours later we finally got to see a doctor, get a prescription and get out of there. The doctor said his eye is infected and both ears are extremely infected. 10 days of antibiotics and eye drops until they clear up. I am hoping he did not inherit my lovely ear problems :( We will see what his doctor says in 2 weeks when we go back.

Other new stuff for Evan..happier new things :). He is getting really good at walking. He falls down and gets right back up. Some nights he gets so goofy and just starts doing laps around the kitchen island. It's pretty funny to watch. He has even tried a couple of times to run to catch Madi. We have a very loud house again. It used to be Madi and Oliver running around the house barking and yelling, now it's just the two kids but just as loud as before! But Madi is loving it. She takes him by the hand and leads him where ever SHE wants him to go. And they have been playing really well together and entertaining themselves while I cook supper or get the house picked up.

Evan's still only saying a couple of words. Uh, oh is his favorite, milk, and go. He is getting quite vocal when he wants something and he is starting to perfect his temper tantrum, which is always nice when kids learn that. He gets so upset when someone goes outside without him or he wants something he can't have.

His likes right now--tractors still, music and dancing, bath time, climbing on and into everything, and messing up whatever Madi is doing. If she is building something, he knocks it down. If she is coloring, he is grabbing at the colors. If she climbs up into my lap, all of sudden he wants in my lap and pushes her out of the way. And our biggest problem right now is pulling hair. He gets mad at Madi or she won't give him something he wants, he just reaches up and yanks with both hands. Very traumatic for Madi. But Evan is very attentive and copies everything she does. He tries to get a cup of water from the refrigerator door. I brush Madi's hair in the morning and several times this week he will get the hairbrush first and try and brush her hair while she is brushing teeth. At lunch he insisted that he dip his chicken and fries into the ketchup because I was doing it also. Very smart boy.


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Madi had a fun day today. She got to go on her very first pheasant hunt. She was so excited. We spent part of the morning running around getting her new hunting clothes. I had bought snow boots and hunting pants and snow pants last year for her and got them big so we could hopefully get two seasons out of them. But she has grown so much this last year that they weren't even close to being able to be worn again. So after lunch, the guys came to walk a couple of fields around our house and she got to go along. It was extremely muddy and Chris had to rescue her and her boots a couple of times. So the last field she decided she would rather block than walk. She liked that much better. After they were all done hunting (and they didn't get anything, bummer) we had a little get together at our house. Had supper and sat around and visited. It was nice. Madi said she definitely wants to go again.


My little hunter!

Getting ready to go back out.

Madi's next adventure is Deer Camp. Last year she was going to stay a night with the guys but she ended up being sick and couldn't stay. So, this year we are going to try it again. She is very excited and unfortunately Chris told her she could stay a month ahead of time so she has been talking about it and asking a lot of questions. Last week she asked if Daddy was going to have a princess bed for her!! I'd like to see her pink and princess stuff mixed in with all those guys at deer camp!! Should be a great experience for them all. Especially when Chris has to get up in the middle of the night in the freezing cold and trek up to the bath house so she can go potty :)!! Maybe the first and last time she gets to go.



Have a great week!!
Love, Amy

Halloween Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend!! And the weather was just gorgeous, especially for the last two days of October. Couldn't have asked for better.

Saturday we went to Wichita and spent the day with my parents and my brother and his family. Chris went to the John Deere Swap Meet for a couple of hours while the rest of us went to the zoo. The kids had a blast riding in the wagons and spending time together. It really is a great zoo and I think spending the day at any zoo together is a great way to spend the day. Chris met back up with us about half way through and that was a nice treat.

After the zoo we went out to eat at Olive Garden. YUM!!! Chris and I have not eaten there before and boy have we been missing out! Awesome food and awesome service. They have the most delicious Pumpkin Cheesecake ever!! I need to figure out how to make it. And we learned the secret to eating out in Wichita on a Saturday night. Take a big group and they can seat you immediately!! No date night eating out in Wichita on a weekend. There was a line of people waiting outside the whole time we were there for just groups of 2-4 people to be seated. We didn't have to wait at all, it was great!

We made it home about 10 pm and the kids were exhausted. Just a wonderful day. Thank you Jason and Tabatha and Mom and Dad for everything Saturday!!


Evan walking!! He wanted to check out the geese that came over to see what we were eating.


The grizzly bears were just getting their food. Who knew that grizzly bears ate lettuce, celery, sweet potatoes, carrots and apples? Maybe that was just the first course. I was waiting to see a fish come flying in there, but didn't happen.

The kids were pretty amazed by those big bears!






It looks like that bear is looking straight into Madi's face.


As close as we could get to all three somewhat looking in the direction of the camera!

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We had a lazy day Sunday. It took most of the day to recoop from all the walking Saturday. We slept in and skipped church (oops!), kids played and Chris went out and finished discing (?) the field and getting it all ready for spring. Then we all took long naps. Woke up all recharged and ready for some trick or treating!

We stopped at 6 different places and saw some friends and family. This was the first year that we actually walked a couple blocks with Madi. She loved it!! We left Evan with my parents while we took Madi out to a couple of blocks around Mom and Dad's house. Madi was so cute, when they would answer the door and couple people would say "Oh, you are so cute!" and that just made her day. She came running back to the sidewalk, "Mama, they liked me!" She is at such a fun age anymore, it just gets better and better.

We had another late night, getting home at 10:30 and quickly taking baths and in bed. School time came awfully early this morning! I don't really care for Halloween falling on a school night. :( But, it's once a year. Now I'll spend the rest of the week hiding and rationing candy out until she forgets all about it!!


Madi was a K-State cheerleader and Evan was the football player.

Hope everyone had a Spooktacular Halloween!!
Love, Amy