Memories

The girls and I had a night up while Tyler was doing a 24 shift. We watched "Flipper". This started a conversation that lasted throughout the whole movie so just to sum it up for you:

Annie: Mom, I want to go to Ohhiee.
Mom: Where is that Annie?
Annie: you know, where the ocean is.
Mom: Oh, do you mean Hawaii?
Annie: That is what I said mom, Ohhiee.
Mom: Maybe when Dad is all done with school and actually makes money we can go.
Hallie: Like when I am 12 or something?
Mom: Yep
Hallie: Good cause I am not ready to go swim with the fish yet.

The rest of the night was figuring out what fish and sharks where in the water and if it was safe for little girls to go there. Hallie is our little worrier so of course she doesn't want to go until knows it is safe for her to be in the water.

I love having little moments like these with my kids. And I love that they are old enough now to hang out with me while Tyler is working. Such a fun time right now.

In the end

It always turns out better than we hope for. We somehow learn things that we didn't know we needed to learn and when we look back we smile! Well, at least I did for yesterday. We had a great day. We played, watched movies, danced, and even wrote letters to Santa. And at 5 Dad came home! (the schedules got mixed up, not a 24 hr shift)
I loved having my kids home with me. It even made me want to keep Hallie home all the time. It is always more fun when she is with us. She was very good at entertaining us most of the day. I think she was a little giddy from skipping school. I think every kid needs a break from that every once in awhile.

Thanksgiving and Christmas found our house!

For Thanksgiving we had our awesome friends drive out from Kirksville. They must really love us to make the 13 hour drive! Plus, Aimee was 25 weeks prego with TWINS! Thanks for making the trip, we absolutely loved having you here!
We had 13 adults and 7 children. Pretty full house but it was a blast! The kids loved having there own little table!
Somehow I didn't get a picture of the food but believe me it was awesome! And can't forget the 2 dozen donuts we ate the day before! We found an amazing bakery that has mouth watering donuts that you can't just eat one!
Everyone hanging out with stuffed belly's
Tyler and Aimee Smith! Love you guys.
Ryan and Jack Jack chillin on the couch
It was one eternal sleepover for the kids. They loved sharing a room and waking up to each other. You should have heard the giggles every morning!
First off, this was at 1:45 a.m. so we are probably looking a little tired! Me, Aimee, and Christine! Of course we did the black friday shopping. Aimee and I drove to target at 4:50, saw the line and drove right back home. No stopping or nothing. Christine on the other hand was in line and waiting for us! She is such a trooper. Thanks for the great Thanksgiving Gals! Hope we get to do it again next year.


Christmas is the best time of year! We set up our tree and decorations and it feels Magical somehow. I really love this time of year, not to mention it also includes my birthday so that makes it all the better!
Where's Barry?

My morning

I know it is only 6:50 in the morning but I have been up since 3:30 so I thought "why not blog?" I have 2 children throwing up, one full of gas, and one excited that she doesn't have to go to school cause Mom doesn't want to spread what we have! Oh and did I mention that Tyler left at 4 this morning and won't be back til 8 tomorrow morning (stupid surgery rotation).

How is that for a morning so far?

2 months old

Natalie turned 2 months last month and I am just documenting it so I have it on record! She is now 12 lbs and 231/2 inches. Which puts her in the 75% for height. Hooray! She is so much fun right now. She smiles so much and talks to you like she is having a full on conversation. She is starting to become more of a Mommy's girl and Dad is not to happy about it! But what can I say, I have all day to convince her of my ways!


Here is Dad trying to win her back to being a Daddy's girl but it didn't work!

Remember that awesome quilt I won a while back? Annie loves it and decided to snuggle Natalie up in it one morning. This is how I found them! Annie said " I just sang her a lullaby until she fell asleep." So sweet.
Isn't she so precious?

She really is an angel baby and has made me realize how fun the newborn stage is. She is sleeping most of the night all ready and wakes up super happy and ready to play.

Hello December

But what happened to November? I can't believe a whole month went by without me posting, especially cause my cute little boy turned 2 on November 12th. Well, here goes to making up for it. Sit back and enjoy the ride cause it might be long.

Happy Birthday Barry! You weren"t too happy about us singing to you and making you open presents. Who would be though? But once you opened them and found that they contained balls, you were beyond thrilled!
Your face when you saw the awesome cake
Just to sum up what you have been up to lately:
You learned to fold your arms during prayer (even manage to still eat while folding the arms)
You developed a love for balls and is one of the 4 words that you can say!
We found that you love chocolate cake just as much as the rest of us. Also, you eat your dinner better when at the little table with the girls. You really want to be big now that Nat is here.
Not only chocolate cake but any kind of chocolate will make you smile!
You love to pretend you are a dog and crawl around and even lick us.
You love to watch movies. Some favorites are: Toy Story, Cars, How to train your Dragon, Up...ok, pretty much any movie will make you happy. And notice the blanket, you picked it to be your favorite. Yes it has hearts on it. I did make you an awesome green blanket but you will have nothing to do with it.
You do scream and cry a lot lately but I think it is because you have so many girls around you all day and have to let out the boy in you somehow! Screaming is much better than hitting, oh wait, you have started to do that too!

WE LOVE YOU Buddy!!!