The Simple Life

Life's been crazy lately, especially our weekends...and I haven't kept up on my newly started tradition of Friday Flashbacks. So here's this week's!

This flashback stems from some thoughts I've been having lately, especially after reading my friend Kendall's blog, about how she hates to clean. I've been thinking lately how it's so hard for me to keep up with the house we are in now, but yet I continue to dream of my "dream house" and always ask Dave..."when can we start building???" That seems funny...b/c my dream house would proably have a room or 2 more, maybe an extra bathroom and a bigger kitchen, dining and living area...that would mean MORE to clean! I would NEVER be able to keep up!

So that got me thinking back to our first house.....ahhhh, when life was simple. Just the 2 of us in our little cozy house! I won't say that I prefer life back then...b/c nothing beats life with our 2 little angels...but it was definitely the SIMPLE life! So that led me to thinking what a fun flashback this would be!! Especially since many of our friends now, didn't know us when we were in our first house.

I have to start with the story of our house....

This was Dave's grandma and grandpa's house. No one had lived there in MANY years, but it was still owned by the family, so it was a perfect and VERY special first home! During our engagement, when I was finishing my last semester at K-State and Dave was living back at home with his folks, Dave and his dad spent many hours making this house OURS! It was a cute little 2 bedroom house....we didn't know we'd love it so much until we moved to our current house and we both spent the first days in our new house wondering if we had made a HUGE mistake in buying our first house...b/c we missed our little house SO much!

Here's our house BEFORE the city mistakenly cut down the tree in the front yard..

after...
bathroom before...

after... before...

after... before...

after...before...

after...

before...
after...

before...

after...

before...

after...

This is Dave's Grandma. She went to be with Jesus a few years ago. I know she loved that we were living in her house, even though she didn't really understand. Every time we went to visit her, she always asked us if we were gonna take her home. She never got to see her home after all of our changes, but I know once she got to heaven she saw it, and hopefully liked it! We miss that home. We miss her.
A coworker of Dave's is now renting the house....I sure hope it looks as cute!

Getting Crafty

I've had a little bit of a crafty itch lately...which is VERY rare for me! So I thought I'd share the cute birthday present I put together for our neice who turned 2 yesterday! This idea is TOTALLY copyrighted from another friend's blog...but it was too cute and easy not to duplicate!

Rather than a ordinary gift bag, here's what her present was hidden in...I got this cute lunch pail at Michael's...adorable huh?

And here's what was inside:

I am so excited that I can now make Taylor's hairbows! My sister-in-law had been buying the girls' hairbows for $3 each. After losing WAY too many of them and getting stressed out every time one dissappears, I decided I would try to make them! Here are my first 7...

And no, I did not make the hat...I'm not getting THAT crafty! I found this DARLING beanie hat from an awesome website etsy.com , it's a website of all things handmade...I LOVE it! If you're looking for some cute, unique gifts, this is a perfect place to shop! We got our neice a brown one with a pinkish flower, but of course I had to get Taylor one too...hers is this pink one.

I've got lots more bow-making to do! I don't have any made for Taylor yet, and another neice's bday coming up!

Forget losing the weight...just lose the clothes!

So what do you do with what seems like a whole wardrobe of clothes that you haven't touched for about 2 years or more, stuff in which will NEVER fit again after going through 2 pregnancies??? Thank goodness for garage sales!

This weekend we joined about 13 other couples/families from our Sunday School class for a big garage sale! We didn't have much around the house this time that we really needed to get rid of, just my clothes! It was sad going through things that seemed like I only wore for a short time before getting pregnant. And yes, I even found some things with the price tags still on. But I guess being pregant for 18 out of the last 29 months would be why so many of my clothes are now garage sale worthy (not to mention all the other months after the babies, that I STILL did not fit into most of my wardrobe). And it's amazing how fast things just seem so outdated...there were some things that I LOVED 2 years ago that I could never wear now. And you thought technology was bad!

So anyway, 2 babies later....I have now had to say goodbye to LOTS of clothes...with the realization that the work involved in trying to fit back into them is just not worth it!
Typically, I don't think adult clothes sell well at garage sales, but I had great luck! I made $130 with mostly everything priced at either 1 or 2 dollars! Let's see how far that goes in getting me some new clothes! Or....we may just save it for one of the toys on our wish list!

10 Great Daddy Moments!

Well, no cute picture today. I wanted a good picture of Dave and the kids, but I NEVER get good pictures when I want them! I just wanted to do a Father's Day post in honor of the man that I love and the father of my 2 little angels! Today as we were driving to Wichita I was thinking about how truly amazing of a father Dave is, and what a blessing to our family he is. What makes him so amazing?
I was thinking back on all of the best "daddy" memories I could think of, and I thought I'd compile a Top 10 list of "Our Great Daddy Moments":

1. When our baby girl was born, Dave carried her in his arms, out of the operating room. As I continued to lay there on my back, all cut open, the doctor doing my surgery made sure to let me know that he noticed tears dripping down Dave's face as he carried Taylor out.

2. The tears came again the morning we dropped Taylor off at day care for the first time. We went together for moral support and both shared tears in the parking lot, after leaving her inside. Tears from me was pretty much a given and completely expected...but even Dave will admit that he NEVER knew it would be THAT hard!

3. Bath time is always his joy (giving me a much needed break after being home with the kids all day)....I love sitting in the kitchen and listening to all the chattering and giggling coming from the bathroom.

4. You'd think that his garage would be his "get-away", but it is amazing that he is just as happy with a little girl running around and riding her princess car and a baby sitting in his bouncy seat, as he is when he is alone, watching sports, and bangin his tools around (well, that's my opinion of what goes on out there, I'm SURE he is much more productive).

5. Playing outside is his speciality!! On good-weathered days, this is typically a given as soon as he gets home from work!

6. Speaking of work....with the hard labor that he puts in every day for 10 hours, you'd think he would come home from work hot, tired, and just ready to sit and do nothing. Instead, Taylor and Mason are greeted by a dad who gives them his full attention! In fact, most days he is even talking to Taylor as he's taking a shower, peaking his head out every few minutes as she sits in the bathroom and waits for him to finish.

7. When it comes to packing a diaper bag, putting a hair bow in, eating dinner with one hand while holding a crying baby in the other...he makes for tough competition!

8. I feel so privileged that I can leave the house, for an evening, a day, or even a weekend, and know that he is PERFECTLY fine with the kids. He has never once complained or given any impression that he is not completely willing to do this. It's nice to leave without even having to write ANYTHING down on paper or call every hour to make sure everyone is surviving. He is SO "with it"!

9. I am not the greatest "morning mother"....although I am forced to be during the week. But on the weekends, Dave is wonderful about being the first one out of bed with whichever child wakes up first!

10. Last, but certainly not really the last, nor the least.....I love that our children are being raised by a dad who loves the Lord! No moment can compare to the moments that I witness in which Dave shows his compassion and unconditional love to ALL of us, no matter how tough we can be on him some days!

Happy Father's Day, Dave! We love you and thank God for you every day! You are the best dad and husband we could ever dream of!

Tornado Hits Manhattan!

I'm sure most of you have heard by now about the tornado that hit Manhattan last night. I've seen so many pictures today on different facebook accounts and we ran across this one! This was Dave's fraternity house, where he lived for a few years in college! The roof is GONE!

If you were wondering where the roof ended up...here it is! Across the street on campus.KState campus had lots of damage...just in time for freshman orientation! I asked Dave tonight "I wonder what all the students in the dorms did...I don't remember them ever telling us what to do in case of a tornado"...then he reminded me it was summer time. Oh yeah!

Thankfully there were no deaths. Our prayers are with all the people who have lost their homes and businesses in Manhattan as well as the other areas in Kansas that were hit.

Summer time fun!

I'm back tracking a little bit to get caught up with some pictures from a few weeks back. The last week in May, my younger sister, Rebekah, came to stay with us! We had so much fun with her and she ALWAYS helps so much with the kids! It was a great first week of summer...I'd have to admit I got a little spoiled and was sad to see her go!

Aunt Rebekah painting Taylor's toenails. This is the 2nd time she's had this done and she LOVES it! She now has to check everyone's toes to see if they have paint...including daddy's!

We've had lots of fun this summer at the new playground at Athletic Park...we've been numerous times. Every Monday morning we have a play date there with lots of moms from our Sunday School class and their kids. Here are pictures of our FIRST visit to the park with Aunt Rebekah.

When we ask for a smile, this is what we normally get...

We got the pool out a few weeks ago and it has already seen LOTS of use...almost daily! Most days we don't even waste time putting a swim suit or swim diaper on.....or for that matter, sometimes we don't even waste time taking clothes off!! Even Anni has gotten some good use out of the pool! In fact, Anni may be just as bad as Taylor as far as ALWAYS wanting in the pool!

We are having a great summer so far! We try to stay busy and get out and about, but sometimes just staying at home and not having to get dressed all day is fun too! Mondays (as I said) we have a play date at the park, Tuesdays we have story time at the library and a swimming play date in the afternoons, if we can ever make it after naptime, Wednesdays and Thursdays we go on walks, play in the backyard, water the garden, swim, watch Barney, read books, dance, build towers, knock them over, watch Mason try to roll over, and many other things...and Fridays we get daddy!! I am just so excited that this is my first summer that does not have an end!! Well, the summer weather will end, but my days at home will not end! Now, that is a relief!!!

Weekend in St. Louis

I just got back from a very FUN Premier business trip to the St. Louis area with my sister-in-law Stefanie. It was such a fun little (or shall I say 8 hour) road trip to see some of our Premier jewelers there! We had never met these girls before, they got started doing Premier with one of my friends who used to live there and has now moved away. Until this weekend, we had only known them through phone and email. They are doing amazing things with their businesses, and are all still so new, so we planned a weekend of training and treats for them! It was so fun meeting all 5 of them, getting to know all about them, training with them, and spoiling them with lots of recognition and dinner!

I say St. Louis, but we were really in a very small town called Breese, IL. We arrived Friday night at the Knotty Pine Motel....the only lodging option there was without staying in a nearby town. We decided we wouldn't be picky! We were a little worried when we found a sign that said "For room information, inquire at the bar". How funny! Luckily, the place was VERY clean...nothing special, but good enough to get a good night's sleep. ALTHOUGH, due to a scary guy staring out his window from a few rooms down, and watching us the entire time we unpacked our car, we did sleep with a table and chair in front of the door! Saturday we trained most of the day and then took the girls to dinner. We decided to cancel our room at the Knotty Pine for Saturday night and just start driving home as far as we could make it and then stop and get a room somewhere. Well, we kept going and going and after Kansas City we thought we'd just push ourselves all the way home! The final hour was the worst! I pulled into my driveway at 4:45am!!! It was definitely worth getting home and not having to drive all day today!

Thanks to my wonderful husband who let me sleep in this morning, I am somewhat recovered. I'm sure I'll pay for it the rest of the week though! Dave had a good weekend with the kids...they played outside a lot, Taylor swam in her pool, they went on a paddleboat ride and played with cousin Jaden at papa's house. I did arrive home to find Taylor's nose and lip quite scraped up from a fall off the front porch steps onto the cement. It's not so pretty looking, but she's fine! Mason on the other hand, decided to get much more vocal while I was gone. Before I left he was making very soft cooing sounds. But NOW, he is making lots of oooooing and aaaaaing sounds....maybe he was just excited to have me home today, but he was quite the loud little man!

Our 2 little SUNSHINES!!

We took the kids outside in the backyard the other day to see if we could snap some good pictures. I was quite impressed with both of them, these may be the best poses they've given us so far! Taylor decided to play in the bush which ended up making for perfect pictures!

Look at our little man!!

And here they are together....Taylor is such a proud big sister!We have some other fun photos to share soon...swimming and playing at the park!

For now, I'm off to bed.....I have TONS to do tomorrow before I leave for St. Louis with Dave's sister for the weekend. YES, daddy will be home with the kids all weekend by himself...I am SOO lucky to have a husband who can actually handle this AND be completely willing to do it...with absolutely no worries from me!!

3 months old!

This past week, Mason turned 3 months old. I wanted to post on the day of, but things have been crazy! He is getting SOOO big and has such a little personality....more so than we remember Taylor having at this age. He smiles SO big when we talk to him and especially when he's on his changing pad. The other morning I had my camera ready to take a video because I thought he was going to roll over...he was pulling those little legs up and leaning so far to one side, but he never did. I'm sure I won't be prepared with the camera when he does actually do it! This picture is not the best quality at all...in fact, it's a pretty horrible pic...but we forgot to take a picture of him on his 3 month bday earlier in the day....so right before bed was all we got! And here's one of the latest photos of our 2 little munchkins! They both cooperated fairly well for a fun little photo session on the couch....by request of Taylor (she points and tells me to go get the camera anytime we lay Mason by her!). Mason's face in this pic is just hilarious! Taylor is practicing pounding her chest like a monkey (or gorilla or whatever...we just say monkey).

Flashback Friday...a quick one but good one!

It has been a very busy week around here because my sister is visiting all week from Texas. Well, she just moved from California to Texas...so at least now she's within driving distance...which means more visits from her...YAY!!!

So due to our busy week and the fact that I have barely sat down to the computer all week, we'll keep this Friday's flashback short and simple.

Here is one of my absolute favorite pictures of Taylor. This was taken Thanksgiving 2006 when she was one month old! The overalls she's wearing were VERY hard to pack away when she outgrew them...one of my favorite pieces of clothing she had! Thanks to Jody for letting us borrow them!

I do see a little bit of Mason in that face! It's hard to believe she's 19 months old now!