My Biggest Blog "Fan"

My biggest blog "fan", Grandma Vicki, and the kids and I had a lunch date today. Guess where we went? CHINESE again, yes our favorite! The kids were SO excited to go eat with Great Grandma Vicki, they could hardly wait.  

I call Grandma Vicki my biggest blog "fan" because she checks my blog at least 3 times a day if not more:) I always call her after I blog because she wants to run to the computer and read it right away, thanks Grandma Vicki for supporting me on my blog, sometimes I think you are the only one reading:) Ha Ha, but I know that's not true!  


Here are some pictures from today........

My princess Alivia:)

Cheese!

Alivia has always been into shoes, well now she tells me which shoes she wants to wear, the fun has just began, ha ha!

Mommy and Alivia photo shoot

Lunch date take #1- notice Brandt being silly

Lunch date take #2- they LOVE Grandma Vicki

(I love the way Grandma Vicki is looking at Alivia, pure love)

What a fun morning, thanks Grandma Vicki for going to lunch with us, the kids and I enjoyed it!

Hope all of you have just as big as a blog "fan" as I do:)

Till next time......

"I Show You"

Lately Alivia's favorite thing to say is "I show you".  She always says "Mommy come here, I show you", it's so cute that she says that.  Alivia is quite the little talker, she says a lot of things Brandt says.  Last night after Brett came home, he was sitting in the recliner and Alivia comes up to him and says "Daddy come here, I show you", so Brett gets up out of the recliner and Alivia takes him halfway down the hallway, and before you know it Alivia was turned around and running back into the living room, she then goes and jumps on the recliner so Brett can't sit down, hilarious! Brett and I couldn't believe she did that, we couldn't stop laughing.  Brett said, "Alivia did you take my chair?" She didn't answer but proudly sat there giggling and jumping on the chair:) Question is where did she learn that?  Funny thing is she probably thought of it herself, and the even funnier part about it is, we are going to have our hands full with her:)  


This is what we are doing today......

Brandt calls this his "spaceship", looks a little crowded, Don't you think?

Alivia is making some food for Brandt, he was telling her what he wanted to eat

Starting her young, then when she's older she can cook for me, ha!

Brandt found a new way to take a nap, in his NOW broken spaceship, lol!

And I am trying to get over a bad cold right now, yuck, no fun!  I can't breathe very well, hope it passes soon, don't want it for Easter.

Have a good Wednesday!

Till next time............

"Gotta Get Up and Try, Try, Try"

Yesterday in the truck the song "Try" by Pink came on the radio and I thought I heard Alivia singing it but I was thinking, no way does she know this song, sure enough I turn around and she is singing "You've Gotta Get Up and Try, Try, Try."  First of all, where did my baby girl go? She is growing up way too fast for her to being doing all these things.  Second of all this song and her singing it really made me think.

If you don't know the song, the singer "Pink" wrote it about her and her husband and how things aren't always perfect but they get up and "try", they make it work.  No matter the circumstances with your husband/wife/partner/friend or anything you should always "try".  That really made me think, lots of times I just want to give up on things but that's not what you should do.  I can't give up on being a Mom when my kids aren't acting their best one day, what would they do?  I don't want to give up on my husband because of some silly argument or disagreement we may have had one day, this song really relates to anything and anybody, always "try." Also, God wants you to "try" too.  We all have sinned and even though we aren't perfect like he is, he wants us to "try" to be the best we can, everyday.  

This also made me think of Alivia.  For days she has tried to climb up on the barstool in the kitchen, she didn't give up, she just kept "trying" until one day she figured it out.  It's so fun to even see your kids "try" and not give up.

If you are having a bad day and feel like you can't go on.. do me a favor and think of this song "Try".


Here are the lyrics to the song, I tried to put the music video up on here but I couldn't get it....

Ever wonder about what he's doingHow it all turned to liesSometimes I think that it's betterto never ask why
Where there is desireThere is gonna be a flameWhere there is a flameSomeone's bound to get burnedBut just because it burnsDoesn't mean you're gonna dieYou gotta get up and try and try and tryYou gotta get up and try and try and tryYou gotta get up and try and try and try
Eh, eh, eh
Funny how the heart can be deceivingMore than just a couple timesWhy do we fall in love so easyEven when it's not right
Where there is desireThere is gonna be a flameWhere there is a flameSomeone's bound to get burnedBut just because it burns
Doesn't mean you're gonna dieYou gotta get up and try and try and tryYou gotta get up and try and try and tryYou gotta get up and try and try and try
Ever worried that it might be ruinedAnd does it make you wanna cry?When you're out there doing what you're doingAre you just getting by?Tell me are you just getting by by by
Where there is desireThere is gonna be a flameWhere there is a flameSomeone's bound to get burnedBut just because it burnsDoesn't mean you're gonna dieYou gotta get up and try try tryYou gotta get up and try and try and tryYou gotta get up and try and try and try
You gotta get up and try and try and tryYou gotta get up and try and try and try

Have a great day today and don't forget to get up and try, try, try!

Till next time.....

Girl's Hair and the Carwash

When I found I was pregnant for the 2nd time I wanted to know if it was a Girl so bad.  We didn't find out the 1st time with Brandt, so this time I just had to know.  When I found out I was having a little Girl I was SO excited, all I could think of was all kinds of pink and bows, bows, bows! 

Fast forward till now... I always try so hard to do Alivia's hair so cute, do you think it stays in though? Nope, Alivia is at the stage where she doesn't care if her hair is done or not.  Every time I put pigtails or a ponytail in her hair it's out in about 5 minutes... grrrr... and it's so cute too, lol!  Anyways, that was suppose to be the fun part about having a girl, doing her hair.. dressing her pretty(she actually likes this part though)... but I guess her hair might have to wait till she is older, hopefully then she will keep her hair in, but I am still going to keep trying:)  I wanted to add that she knows it drives me crazy when she pulls her hair out, I will have it pretty when we get in the truck and when I start to drive she gives me that "look" and starts to pull it out... what a little stinker!  Do any of you Mom's have the same problem? 

Today we went to the car wash, my truck is so filthy from all the salt the snow plows have put out, it was long overdue. Alivia still doesn't know what to think of the car wash, she starts to cry and wonders what all the noise is.  Are your kids afraid of the car wash?  I don't blame her one bit, when I was little I used to be scared as well.  I will never forget the big blue dryers they used to have, scared my brother and I all the time. My brother and I would get in the back of the vehicle and hide from the big blue scary dryers.. lol, while my Mom laughed at us! I was so traumatized from my childhood, jeesh, ha ha... just kidding:)


They kinda looked like this.........

They probably still have some around somewhere

(you won't find me in one though, lol)

Anyways, call me strange because I was scared of those things, but I bet Alivia would really hate those too, thank goodness our car wash doesn't have these, I just might want to jump in the back again and hide, ha ha!

Well have a great day today, the sun is shining here today, it's going to be a GREAT day!

Till next time.......

Chicken and Flamingos

Today I dropped Brandt off at Preschool and Alivia and I went grocery shopping.  It's always a experience or something always happens when I take Alivia, never fails.  Sure enough we were at the meat counter and I saw a rotisserie chicken cooking away, and thought that sounded good and "easy" for dinner tonight.  So after I picked up my other meat and chicken off we went to keep shopping, sure enough, Alivia starting yelling "CHICKEN!!!!!"  At this point I thought she was just expressing to me that it was chicken and so I said, "yes, your right Alivia, that is chicken".  I continued to keep pushing her down the aisles and before you know it she started to SHRIEK that word again... "CHICKEN!" At this point, I caught on and knew that she wanted me to feed her chicken in the store "RIGHT NOW"!  I was thinking this is a disaster, I can't feed her chicken, first of all it's 9:30 a.m., second of all what a greasy mess that would be, third of all could you imagine the looks I would get if I started to give her the chicken, ha! Anyways I told her nicely "no Alivia, we can't have chicken until dinner tonight."  You won't believe what happened next, to my surprise she took that "no" like a champ and we went on our way.  This usually doesn't happen at all, she usually has her mind set and doesn't let it go, I think this is a sign that she is no longer a baby but a "BIG GIRL".  Phew, thank goodness she took that like a champ, I HATE being the Mom with the screaming kid in the grocery store, but when that happens we run to the aisle with the fruit snacks, ha ha(not kidding!) and all is good as long as her mouth is full of sugar!

After we had lunch and I was putting groceries away I came upon some flamingos in my pantry, flamingo sugar cookies that is.  I had forgotten that I had them in there and I needed to make them since they have been in the pantry since last fall.  Who doesn't want flamingo cookies in Spring, which is still kinda winter because mother nature thinks we need all of the snow now that it's suppose to be Spring:)  


Anyways.. here are my flamingo cookies, too bad I don't have a beach to go with them......

Cute right? Well let me tell you that today I have decided to retire from making sugar cookies with shapes.  As long as they aren't shapes I am good.  I have the hardest time making the dough work for me and keeping the shape all together before I even bake them, call me crazy, but it just doesn't work well for me. Can you tell? lol... look at the flamingo in the lower right corner, he looks like he has a "butt" problem, don't you think?  Well actually quite a few of them look like that, ha ha!  Anyways... I will leave the sugar cookie making to my Mother-in-Law and my kids, they love to help her make them and she makes them all the time:)

This is what was going on this afternoon after nap time.....

Where's Brandt? Can you find him?

And here is what was going on tonight.......

My boys watching TV

Alivia says "cheese" as she keeps her eye on the TV:)

Mr. Brandt before bedtime:)

Have a good rest of the night, and just wanted to add, Alivia enjoyed her chicken a lot tonight!

Till next time.......

Sophisticated Tastes

It's amazing what my kids will eat at their age Brandt(4), Alivia (20 months).  I would say that they have very sophisticated tastes to things.  
One thing they always love is Chinese.  We have a Chinese restaurant in town that they just love.  They like numerous of things there, and are willing to try just about anything.  The kids favorite thing to eat there is crab rangoon's( they are filled with cream cheese that they love), we always order those when we go there, it's a must for them.(ha)  
Also, here are some other items they like to get... sesame chicken, orange chicken, sweet and sour chicken, and last but not least moo shoo pork, yep that's right.  Doesn't the name moo shoo pork sound funny? It's actually really good and that's been their favorite lately.  It's pork with onions and all sorts of vegetables with it and they put it in a tortilla shell and serve it with brown sauce to put over the top, delicious:) 

I am really surprised on how well my kids take to trying new foods and not being too picky, it makes it easier for us Mama's. Don't get me wrong my kids still love the basic foods too.  Brandt has been on a peanut butter and jelly kick lately for lunch, I can't argue with that, it's so easy.  He also appreciates the classic turkey sandwich for lunch a lot too.  Alivia, she will eat just about anything I put in front of her (not kidding) and she can't tell me what she wants for lunch yet, so we will see what her favorite is when she is older.  

Do your kids have sophisticated tastes as well? Or are they just basic eaters?  Please comment and share.  Meanwhile I will be in the kitchen fixing some lovely sophisticated food for my kids(ha, just kidding). I will save the fancy, yet different stuff for the restaurants! (laugh out loud)

Till next time........

Busy.. Busy... Busy....

Hi all,

We have had something every night going on since the last time I have posted, yikes! I looked back at the last blog I posted and said, where did the time go?  So, I just wanted to write a quick blog to tell you that I am still here, and hopefully this week will be better for blogging:) Have a good rest of the night!

P.S. We are in another winter advisory right now(ugh).  I just want SPRING now! They are talking little snow but then 25 mph winds.. so that could cause whiteout conditions with the snow, and they are saying it could possibly cause electrical (power outage) problems too, ugh!  I LOVE IOWA! (totally sarcastic)

Anyways... Goodnight!


Till next time.........

Funky Lunch and Silly Putty

Today for lunch I made my favorite, mac and cheese and hot dogs.  Brandt has decided he is not a huge fan of hot dogs anymore so he wanted his lunchable that he picked out the other day at the store, with mac and cheese on the side.  Yum, right?! Alivia likes hot dogs and mac and cheese too, so we were eating away and I look over at Brandt and this is what I see.........

Mac and Cheese lunchable? Really?

Don't forget the top cracker

(this Mama is thinking yuck)

Kid's get the craziest ideas sometimes and quite frankly I think most of his ideas are great, but this one just didn't appeal to me.

On another note.. I can't get Alivia away from potato chips, she would eat a whole bag if I let her:) I better try to break the habit now while I still can.. lol!

Enjoying every bite of that potato chip

Today we have also been playing with silly putty, they were only a $1 at Target so I couldn't resist because I like to play with it too.

Cowboy Brandt and his "silly putty" long tongue

He is entertaining, that's for sure:)

Today is for sure another silly Wednesday, we will see what tomorrow brings....

Till next time......

Little House on the Prairie

Last night we got a lot of snow and it was heavy, just kept coming down.  At about 8:00 is when the power at our house kept flicking on and off... it did that for about 15 minutes, so I just knew we probably would end up with no power one of those times.  The first time the power shut off, Alivia started screaming, she didn't know what to think, that continued every time, but by the time it went off for good I was prepared and had a candle lit with a flashlight so she was ok then.  Brandt told me that Jesus was shutting off the power, what a cute comment from him:) I just smiled and said you are right, I'm so happy that he is thinking about Jesus, makes my heart happy:)

Anyways, our power went off for good about 8:30ish last night and it stayed off till 11:00 p.m.  You really don't know how much you depend on power until you don't have it, let me tell you. Some of you may have water still when your power goes off, but we do not, no water, the joys of living in the country on a well:) Thankfully I had the bath full of warm water for the kids before it went off, so they still got their bath.  

After their bath was bedtime for the kiddos, I made sure they were plenty warm before we attempted to put them to bed, attempted- key word.  Let me just start by saying we got Brandt addicted to sleeping with a fan like us, and now he can't sleep without it.  We should have never done this because when it came to bedtime last night he wanted his fan and its a fan that you can't put batteries into it, ugh, do you know how well that went over with him? Not so much, it took forever to convince him that the power will turn back on and the fan will come back on. Finally Brandt settled down and now it was Alivia's turn.  She didn't go to bed so easy either, she must have known something wasn't right, I put her in the crib and she started to cry.  We have a humidifier on in the hallway at night in the winter so I think maybe she is use to that sound, and again, we couldn't have that either, so it was dead quiet and I don't think she liked that. Finally, she settled down and went to sleep.

Brett and I were in the living room in the pitch dark talking about how this made us feel like " Little House on the Prairie" with NO power, ha!  My it's amazing how much power we use all the time, so I am very thankful we are able to have power each day, thanks to my Hubby for working so hard to make that happen.  I don't know how people use to live without all the technology we have today?:)


Here is pictures of the snow we got.......

Aren't the trees pretty?

Here are a few random pictures.. 

Brett took me out for a date on Saturday night to a nice restaurant.

It was nice to get away from the kids for a bit for a nice dinner:)

The Hubs and I before we went into the restaurant:)

And today the kids are being their goofy, and fun selves........

I got Alivia that hat and gloves from Target for only a $1 for maybe Easter

(She looks like she is ready for tea time with some ladies)

And Daddy just bought those John Deere boots for Brandt yesterday and now he has to wear them all the time

(Pretty stylish bunch their huh?)

I am so thankful the power is on now and we aren't living like "Little House on the Prairie" anymore.  At least we all survived:)

Till next time......

This is What Happens.....When.........

This is what happens when you try to workout out with a 1 and 1/2 year old .........

(I told Brett to grab my ipad quick to capture this lovely moment)

Yep, she is sitting on my head, no big deal right?

She's really trying to help

Now she is going in for a kiss:)

Anybody help? 

At least after the pictures Brett took her away to play so I could actually get my true workout in!(laugh)  

The thing I am using in the picture is GREAT, I just bought it Thursday night at Tj Max and I love it.  It's a resistance thing and it came with a DVD, and you do pilate's moves with it, I really like it.  We will see how long it lasts in my routine, I am always changing up my workouts, I get bored with the same thing over and over sometimes, like running:) Although, I am trying to pick up running again, on my off days from Zumba.  

This is a good example why you should wait (if you have kids) till the kids are napping or in bed for the night before you attempt a workout, I learned my lesson yet again. 

Till next time...... 

Sunny, Beautiful Day with a Lunch Date

Today is a Sunny, Beautiful Day out.  I just love to see the sun, and the trees this morning were absolutely gorgeous... 

My tree out front.. 

What's a sunny day without sunglasses?

Alivia said "CUTE" when I put them on her:)

They are stylin'

Today at Preschool Brandt got to go to the eye doctors office for a field trip, he had a lot of fun trying on glasses:) After Preschool I decided to take him and Alivia out for Chinese, they love it, so we called up GiGi(my Mom) and she came too.

Here are my lunch dates today.. minus my Mom.. she doesn't like her picture taken.. one of these days I will get her:)

So sweet....

I told them to say "Cheese" look at Alivia saying it.. ha!

Brandt wanted to take a picture of Mommy and Alivia

Alivia having some of Mommy's pop..wonder who taught her to like pop? Hmmmm... GiGi:)

We had a great lunch.  Now the kids are taking a nap, and later Mommy and Alivia might go shopping while Brandt rides with Daddy in the semi!  

Have a sunny fun day!

Till next time........

Cotton Eye Joe

Today I turned on my "Zumba" music and the song Cotton Eye Joe came on and Alivia and Brandt knew exactly what to do with their feet , I guess you can say they caught on quickly from watching me do it:)


Here they are dancing away..... Enjoy!








They sure know how to bust a move!  I'm happy to say they got their dance moves from their Mommy, not Daddy:)

I LOVE this song, it's a flashback of my teenage years, I just had to have it in my Zumba play list, it's just so catchy and makes you want to dance!

Have a good rest of the night!

Till next time.............

Crazy Night

Last night, well, was CRAZY in my words!  My good friend is in the hospital right now, (31 weeks pregnant) in Des Moines trying to get her contractions under control, she went into labor early and had to be sent to a bigger hospital to get it under control.  Her husband was coming home with a semi that needed worked on and he needed a ride back, so we thought that would give us a good opportunity to go see her.  I called my Mom and she said she would watch Brandt, then we called Brett's parents to see if they would watch Alivia since having one kid at a time is always easier:) After I got that all figured out Brett told me he would meet me at his parents house after they get the tires changed on this semi they were working on and we would go from there.  I got to Brett's parents house and thought we would be leaving shortly after that, nope, an hour passed and still no sign of the guys(let me add that when men say they won't be long, that usually means an hour if not more) lol!  After an hour passed Brett texted me to tell me they were on there way, this was already 8:30 at night and we were still to be going to Des Moines, an hour away.  When the guys arrived I was pretty sure I was just going to go home since it was so late, something was telling me to just go home, but they somehow convinced me that it would be ok and its not a big deal.  So, 10 minutes later, off we went, we hadn't had supper yet  so we were thinking about stopping somewhere.  We were driving right along passing Ames and this is where it got CRAZY, freezing rain/sleet started to come down.  I was freaking out and wanted to turn around but again I was reminded by the guys that it will be ok so keep going(men, ugh, ha ha).  The good thing about the sleet was it wasn't sticking to the ground, the snow plows were already out so the roads were wet and staying wet, this is where my mind was just running in circles thinking what are we doing? I kept saying to the guys I just knew something was telling me to stay home(motherly instincts).  Anyways, we got to Ankeny and they wanted to eat, at a sit down restaurant, again I would've been fine with just fast food at the time since I was really worried about the weather and getting home safe, but the guys won again. We got to "Old Chicago" and took about 40 minutes to eat, yes by that time it was like 10:15 or so.  After that we got outside and realized it had snowed quite a bit, again, I was like what are we doing? Off to the hospital we went, got checked in by the security guy, went up and saw my friend for like 20 minutes or so, let me add she was sleeping when we got there because it was late, so visited a little bit and Brett and I were on our way for the long ride home (she was happy we brought her hubby back to her though) and i'm glad we got to see her, so that part was worth it.

On our way home it was snowing pretty good and we had to drive pretty slow, SCARY, now this reminded me why I never drive in the snow if I don't have to. We passed 2 cars that had gone off the interstate, but we just kept driving our pace and eventually made it back, with me all stressed out I might add:) Also I want to make a point that my husband Brett drives a semi so nothing scares him, he could not understand why I was scared, he is fearless thats for sure! Anyways, we made it back to Brett's parents, I loaded up Alivia in the truck and drove home with her, this was like 2 in the morning now, and Brett went to get Brandt from my Mom's house.  

By 2:30 in the morning we had all made it home safely, thank goodness, and we all got into bed by 3 am.  That was one CRAZY night, but I'm glad we all made it home safe.  Please pray for my friend that she will keep that baby in longer so no complications happen.

Till next time.......  

Put Together

Today is a blog post brought to you by a Mother of 2..........


As a Mother I often struggle getting everyone put together before we are out the door.  Here is a prime example of what I mean.....

Every Sunday morning we go to Church and this is how it plays out... I get up, shower before I get Alivia out of the crib, Brandt wakes up, both are whining at me for breakfast, I go and get Brandt and Alivia situated for breakfast, I come back in my room finish getting ready while they are eating breakfast, Brett comes up from downstairs(he gets up really early(4:30 am) because he's used to it from work days so he goes downstairs and watches tv and kinda falls back asleep until we all get up) it's so nice he doesn't disturb me in the morning(ha), Brett eats breakfast with the kids, Brett goes and takes a shower and gets ready, I come back in the kitchen to get Brandt, we go get him dressed, brush his teeth, then I go get Alivia and get her dressed,(challenge because she always runs away from me) after she is dressed I go to my diaper bag/ purse make sure I have diapers, wipes, snacks, sippy cup and of course her blanket, Brett and Brandt usually leave so they aren't late for Sunday School since it's a challenge for me to get there on time, about 20 minutes later Alivia and I are ready to go, so I get our coats on and out the door we go, this is where I wonder if her and I are put together? I get in the truck and do a check list, Alivia do you have your blanket, sippy cup, 4 other things(toys) that you had to have in your hand, hair intact, shoes on, and do I have my diaper bag/purse? Most of those questions are yes since we are just leaving, and the final question for me is what do I look like? I look in the mirror to check that my hair is intact, I have my coat on right, and I look ok to go.. ha ha!

I know what you are thinking, how exhausting right? You don't even know:) lol! I wouldn't trade it for the world though, I love being a Mom and wife:)

So after we get home from Church and from eating dinner we come home for naps. This is what happens after you have been gone and out for a few hours or so......

A little girl that is NOT put together.. lol!

Yep, Alivia is very tired in this pic, half of her hair is still up from her pigtails this morning, and her coat is all messed up:)

Question of the day are you "put together"?

Till next time.......

Cousin Fun

Last night we went over to my Brother-in Law (Bart) and my Sister-in- Law's (Jackie) house to play and to check on the newest cousin of the bunch "Jack."  He was born on February 15th, so he is 2 weeks old today.  It's always fun to see all the cousins play together, let's just say, they are a wild bunch when they all get together:) Well, if they weren't wild together and having a good time then we would probably be worried! 


Here are the pics from our fun night..........

 Take 1- Barrett, Brandt, Alivia, and Marie

 Take 2- Having a blast

 The "girls" playing

Cuties

Marie posing

Baby Jack, so sweet

I took this to see the size difference

Jack is so tiny

Sweet, tired Barrett 

(this was the end of the night)

Brett, Brandt, and Jack

(Brett looks like he had a rough day, crazy hair, ha)

So sweet

We had a fun evening!  

Earlier in the day I told Brandt we were going to see Marie, Barrett, and Baby Jack that evening. 

After awhile I went to check on Brandt to see what he was doing and this is what I found.....

Brandt rocking his "baby"

So sweet

How sweet is that? He was preparing to see baby Jack.  I just know he will make a great father someday.  Is this a sign we need a new baby in the house? Ha, not yet I say:)  To be continued.......

Till next time........