Christmas and Photos!

Lets see..........last week was kind of a blur since I wasn't feeling tip top, but it was a lot of fun. It was almost a story book Christmas except my brother was out under the ocean somewhere and it was the first Christmas I didn't "hear" from him and his wife was alone in RI at their place. Also, Jason's family wasn't around. But it was sure a beautiful sight. From Christmas Eve til Christmas Day, it snowed and snowed and snowed. Not once did the wind blow and the flakes were huge, definitely the White Christmas you dream and sing about! All in all I think we got about 16 inches. It was even warm, 34 degrees, perfect for being out and playing in it (if you are feeling up to it)! My parents came back from Nebraska early so they wouldn't get stuck there and it's a good thing because they had blizzard like conditions in Nebraska and Iowa the next day after they headed back to MN. They decided to come to our place early too as it was supposed to just dump on us and we all wanted to be together, so they came to our house on Wednesday evening (they got here and then it started to snow). I had to work on Christmas Eve until 4 pm. Jason and my dad took Ryleigh sledding while I was at work. They had a lot of fun, but you know how guys are...............that's right, they didn't take pictures :( Anyways, they all had a great time, especially after Ryleigh got over her fear of going down the BIG hill on the sled, as usual it only took her one time down the hill to realize she was having a blast! We had our traditional oyster stew on Christmas Eve, which is a tradition that my family has done since I can remember. And you should have seen the girls chow that stuff down....even my picky Ryleigh!! LOL!! We made it to the children's mass that evening and then when we got home, we opened gifts. It was a fun time. The girls got the movies, Up and Snow White. They got books, some toys, clothes, bed sheets, and we got lots of practical things too, a Wii game. I got my watch and a necklace. Jason got some stuff for the basement, a Twins banner and framed picture of the Nebraska Husker Stadium (night view)!! Mom got these two pairs of "feetie" jammies from my dad, so all of us girls dressed up in them, see the pictures below. I also have some pictures of mom and I riding the rocking horse in the feetie jammies, but decided they would be better posted if absolutely necessary as they turned out pretty funny, so you will have to use your imagination on those. Jason and I got up and made Christmas dinner together, while my mom played with the girls and my dad sat there and laughed and teased us. I guess Jason and I are pretty cute in the kitchen cooking together (wink, that's what my dad said anyways). We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and just relaxed together the whole day. We had lots of good food and dips and of course Jason's sweets that he baked: sugar cookies, haystack cookies and chocolate covered pretzels. YUM! I think the guys shoveled the driveway about three times just to keep it cleared. And we had fun watching movies and playing the Wii!! Saturday, before my parents headed home, my mom, Ryleigh and I went to the movie squeakwel: Alvin and the Chipmunks, courtesy of my dad! It was Ryleigh's first movie in the movie theatre and she didn't know what to think at first. It was in her words, "the biggest TV she'd ever seen"!! She was so good watching the movie and eating popcorn (she wasn't a big fan of pop, as it's only been the second time she's ever tried it)! At one point in the movie it says, shake what your mama gave ya, and she was dancing in her seat. She said some other funny things after the movie that I can't quite remember because Saturday was a long time ago, but it was a lot of fun. Saturday got really cold, too cold to play outside, so that was a bummer as I would have loved to take the girls sledding, but I am sure we will get some warmth again soon??!! (fingers crossed). I almost forgot to mention, Santa. He came to our house this year (amazingly as we have been bribing Ryleigh with Santa for a few weeks). Ryleigh got all that she asked for: a horse and Snow White Barbie doll as well as a slinky, ABC & 123 flashcards, farm animals and earrings for her newly pierced ears. Landree got the fisher price farm, a stuffed kitten and some farm animals as well. Of course, they were both up at 6 am on Christmas, but made up for it on Saturday when they both slept til about 8am!!

Just wanted to give an update also on baby Ryley: she was taken off the ventilator and her feeding tube was removed today. She is moving her arms and legs and cooing, but her one arm isn't moving to good, so therapy is going to see her tomorrow. So far, no more seizures. It is going to be a long road for her and her family. So please keep praying for her. She went a long time with oxygen deprivation to her brain. She hasn't opened her eyes as of yet, but she is awake and breathing on her own, which is another good sign. Today was the first day her mama got to hold her since Saturday, and she was so excited, I cried hearing the good news. Oh, be thankful this Christmas season to be able to hold your babies.....I have been squeezing mine so much, I think they are sick of me, but I don't care!! :) Keep praying for a miracle!!

And, a big Happy Birthday to Jason's grandpa Ralph today!! Hope it's been a good one!
Enjoy the pictures below!!

Requesting Prayers!

Hi ya'll. It's been a sad few days here, but a miracle is what we're hoping for, so I need all the prayers to go out for a little baby girl named Ryley! She is the five month old daughter of my friend and co-worker. Ryley has been quite sick for a few weeks, but never really getting pinpointed what might actually be wrong. I will try to tell the story to the best of my ability and am hoping I don't have dates messed up, but here goes. She had a rotten Christmas eve and they had her at the Dr. on that day who diagnosed her with double ear infections. Well, she wasn't sleeping real well, so her daddy took duty and when my friend went to check on her in the morning, she was blue and her hands were trembling. They called the ambulance who took her to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. There, she had a 40 minutes seizure with some issues with brain activity and oxygen deprivation. She has been diagnosed with encephalitis and now today pneumonia. She is on a ventilator in an induced coma. She has not had any more seizure activity in the past 24 hours and is being fed via tube feedings. They may possibly take her off the vent tomorrow and see how she does. It was a rough day at work with lots of tears, in fact I can't stop thinking about baby Ryley and her family. I got a message from my friend, Wendy who said to keep the prayers coming. She is longing to hold her baby girl and hopefully she will get to do so tomorrow. When you are with your family's tonight, give your kiddos big hugs and kisses and be thankful, I just held my girls tonight when I got home. Please, PRAY hard for little baby Ryley, they need all the help they can get.

Landree's 1st Birthday Photos!

Well, we canceled Landree's 1st Birthday Party on the 19th as she and Ryleigh had been sick all week with some virus. The grandparents did come by for some cake that couldn't be returned. Thank you to Grandpa Danny, Gramma Terri, Grandpa Kev, and Grandma Pam for taking time out of your day to come spend with the birthday girl. Landree wasn't in her best mood but I am glad we celebrated then, because on her actual birthday (Monday), mama was feeling like crap! We also have some video of us singing to her, but it cannot be accessed at this time due some space issues on our hard drive. We introduced our favorite ice cream to Danny and Terri, introduced to us by my parents. It was fabulous with her cake and if you ever want to try it (don't know if you can outside of MN as it is made here.....Kemps itti bitz cotton candy--best stuff ever)!! Ryleigh and Landree act like hungry little baby birds with their mouths open and standing at our feet when we eat it, it's hilarious how much they like it. Let's see, what did she get you ask? Well, from daddy, mommy and Ryleigh she got her very own (huge) piggy bank personalized with her name on it. We had already been saving some $ to feed her pig all week. Then she got an adorable outfit and a cute baby doll with blankie. Of course, Ryleigh had a hard time accepting the fact that these were all Landree's gifts, but luckily and unlike Ryleigh, Landree shares very well. In fact, she loves her big sister so much, she wants to do everything just like her. This new doll has been the life of our house and had all the girls hovering over it when it was opened (not only the little girls, but grandmas and mama alike). It is so life like. And it is still very popular even after all the Christmas and Santa gifts. Landree loves to feed it and touch it's eyes. Well, I have other 1 year photos I'd like to share this coming week as well as Christmas stories, so stay tuned. Right now, I am going to go hit the hay. I lost my voice this morning due to being sick all week, so pray that my voice comes back tomorrow, please!! Have a great week.

Merry Christmas!!

Hope all of our family and friends are having a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! It has almost been a "storybook" Christmas here. I will post more stories later!!

Happy 1st Birthday to our niece, Emeryn!

Happy first Birthday to Emeryn! Hope you have a wonderful day. Hope we get to meet you soon! We love you.

Happy Birthday Uncle Jeremy!

Happy Birthday to Jason's little brother, Jeremy! Hope you have a great day and hope we get to see you soon. Take care!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Landree!!

I can't believe Landree has been in our lives for an entire year already. The past year has gone by so fast and we have been so blessed to have her in our lives. She definitely knows how to make us all smile, especially her big sister. She is such a fun loving little joy to be around and I am excited to have many more years watching her grow. I have lots of other pictures to share, as well as a slide show of her birthday, but I ran out of time, so I will get them posted soon. Thanks to her Godmother Ana, for the wonderful photos she took of my baby. My baby. My baby is 1.....................:)

Why you don't go Christmas shopping with your 3 year old!

Today, Jason and I tried finishing up the Christmas shopping. We have had the girls done, however, neither of us had gone for each other. Jason and I split up and he took the girls because I knew what I wanted to get him and I needed to get it out to the car (which is not a fast task when you have two little munchkins that need to be bundled up when it's 22 degrees outside). I didn't realize until we were leaving that there was a gift for me in the bottom of the stroller. Not only did Jason and I go Christmas shopping today, we also decided to do some Christmas baking as well. Ryleigh got to stay up and help as it got a little later than what we were expecting. We still have to finish up tomorrow evening. Anyways, we were putting Ryleigh to bed and giving her kisses goodnight when she said, "mommy, we got you a surprise watch for your present!!!!" HAHA!! OOPS!! Well, the box is bigger than a watch, so either he got me two gifts, or he's tricking me. He said, just because she said that doesn't mean that's what I got you. TRICKY!! Anyhow, that is why you don't go shopping with your 3 year old. Just when we thought she was starting to know the meaning of "secret"!!

This weekend went super fast. We were going to have a First birthday party for Landree on Saturday, however with her spiking temps of 104 on both Thursday and Friday mornings we decided to cancel it. Of course, her fever finally broke on Friday at 1 pm and was gone all day Saturday. We just didn't want any other little kiddos getting whatever virus the girls had this past week. And, who knows, maybe her temp was more related to her three other molars that are trying to break through. Landree's grandparents did come however as we had a cake that was unable to be returned. So, thank you Papa Danny, Grandma Terri, Papa Kev and Gramma Pam for coming and eating cake and celebrating with crabby, snotty nosed Landree!! (None of the grandparents will be in town on her actual birthday so they wanted to come see her despite the cancellation)! Thank you to all grandparents, including Nana Peggy for the birthday presents.

Jason and I got to go to my works "Holiday Party" last evening while my parents watched the girls. It was a lot of fun and the first time we've ever had one. I was on the committee and thought it went really well. Of course, you have those who want to crab about everything, but I think I set 'em straight (at my table anyways). And, let me tell you all about my luck!!!!!!!!! (I think someone was looking down on me and making up for my week)!! Anyhow, all the employees got a gift and they were nice gifts (I actually went shopping for them with the other committee members). I was totally joking when the massage/heat chair for your auto came up and I was chanting, "Heather"......and guess who's name I drew.........yep, mine!! Then we had this 50/50 drawing. You got a free ticket when you walked in the door and then you could buy more for a dollar a piece. Not that many people were buying them so I went around and mingled at every table and got about $120 in the pot. Wouldn't you know, when it came time for the drawing, my number won and I won $150!!!! I was in shock...I NEVER win anything (that's usually my brother)!! Then they had a hula hoop contest for a $10 gas card. It must have been my "lucky" night because I won the hula hoop contest too!! A lot of people thought it was rigged (especially the 50/50 drawing...they said I wrote my name on all the tickets I sold, which I honestly didn't)!! HAHA! It didn't even dawn on us until we got home and were telling my parents about it and my dad said, "did you go buy a lottery ticket." Well, no and it was too late.

Well, that's all for now, I am going to go hit the hay. Hope ya'll have a great week. And, it's my favorite holiday this week........CHRISTMAS, yay!!!!!!!! I have more photos from the past week and weekend, and will get them on here soon. I just loved the ones with me and my girls, so I added them.

I REALLY miss Jason!!

Wow, this has not been the greatest week I've ever had or the girls for that matter. They have both been "under the weather" here and it's not been fun. Landree was so clingy today, poor kid. All I know is wow, I am amazed and have so much respect for single parents. I am always thankful for Jason when he is gone from me for a few days, but this week has proven to be a week I never want to go through alone again. I don't think it would have been bad if the girls weren't feeling so crappy. Jason is supposed to return from Chicago tomorrow and neither the girls or I can wait to see him, he is greatly missed. Ryleigh said to me tonight as she was crawling in bed, "I am so excited to see daddy tomorrow" and Landree yelled "dada" about twenty times in the car on the way to the grocery store this evening!! Thank you so much to my mom who came and watched the girls for 6 hours yesterday so that I could finish some work at work that needed to be done by today. It has been the only 6 hours I have not been one on one with the girls all by myself in the house since Monday evening....and trust me when I say, it actually would've been awesome if they weren't feeling icky. In fact, I had so much planned for us this week. I had to get the girls out of the house tonight as they have seen the same stuff continuously since Monday and I think they enjoyed it. We drove around for a little bit and then went to the grocery store. Enough about the boring details and sob stories, I am finished, and I only cried once this whole week!! There I feel better. I finally got some pics/videos downloaded to the computer too. Amazing how I thought I took more pictures than I actually have so far this month....oops, I am slipping. Hopefully Landree's First Birthday Party on Saturday won't get cancelled because of her feeling under the weather, we will see how she is feeling tomorrow and go from there. Jason and I also have plans on Saturday evening, we are going to my "Holiday Party" for work. My parents are going to watch the girls rain or shine (sick or well)!!

HERE IS LANDREE SIGNING "MORE":

HERE IS LANDREE WALKING 11/27/09:


That video is almost a month ago, so you can imagine how well she is walking now!! She's even ran a few steps with Ryleigh chasing her and fell a few steps after as she was not used to the new speed. I also have a video of Ryleigh singing that I will get posted another time.

UPDATES!

Wow, has it really been a whole week?? Can you tell that graveyard shift messed me up? LOL! I had last Friday off as a personal day since we didn't have daycare. The girls and I headed up to see our friends Ana and little Lila (and the bump)on Friday. Landree had her 1 year pix done and the girls had some pictures done in their Christmas dresses! It was a lot of fun to hang out and visit in addition to the pictures taken! I was getting frustrated with Ryleigh too because she wouldn't smile for the life of me, but I got to see the pictures today and they look FABULOUS!! (Thank you Ana)! Ryleigh had gymnastics twice last week on Thursday and Friday. Grandpa Kev and Gramma Pam got to see her in action, it was so cute to see her do a flip on the "rings" and then Jason got to see her on the rings as well on Friday! She always loves going on Friday to see her friend Grace! Saturday we went to our friends Jerhod, Nicole, Grace and Evelyn to have supper for Jerhods birthday. It was wonderful and as always we had a great time hanging out with them. Ryleigh and Grace always have so much fun and Landree just loves baby Evelyn (a little too much, always trying to touch her face). Also, Saturday Jason built me some storage shelves for all of my holiday's decorations. We got them all organized and put in there totes and I even got rid of about two totes worth of stuff, go me! HAHA!

Jason left for Chicago today and he got there safely this evening. Wouldn't you know, it was quite the morning in the Quint household. Ryleigh is sick with a fever and Landree decided somehow to climb and fall out of her crib. Scared the heck out of me that's for sure. So, I stayed home with the girls today as no fevers are allowed at daycare. I am hoping Ryleigh is feeling better tomorrow, but we will see what the morning brings.

Ryleigh, other than being sick, is doing well. Continues to sing her little heart out here and is learning to write her name. She can do the R, Y, and L really good. She is pretty good also about picking out letters. We have those letters for bath time and she has been asking what letter is what the past few months. Today we had chicken noodle soup with lettered noodles and she kept picking one up with her spoon and saying, "look mama, its the letter R (etc)". There are some she is still learning, but I thought she did a great job. She is also been practicing her cutting skills with these cool pairs of scissors my mom found her. I have to get the picture she drew of me on here, I love how she gave me tons of long eyelashes.

Landree is good. Walking all over the place. She was a little fussy today and I don't know if it was because she fell a pretty good fall from her crib or because all of her molars are coming in........yep, one is through and the others are making their grand entrance. Poor thing. She also has been signing "more" really well and trying "drink" and "please". She knows where our noses are too, but can't quite find hers on her face. It's pretty cute when we ask her where her nose is and she tries finding it, she can sure touch ours for us though. And, she is such a sweetie giving Jason, Ryleigh and I tons of kisses. She's a big wet kisser, but it's so sweet.

Maybe if the girls are feeling better tomorrow I will get more stories on here, I still have that funny one to tell of the girls in the bathtub that I can't forget. Also, some pictures and video. Take care, have a good week.

Let it Snow, let is snow, let it snow!!

Well, I have been up since 2 am this morning. I was going to work a night shift, but a very nice nurse picked up the first half and I worked the second half and then the first half of my normal shift, all in all I worked from 3 am til Noon today. I was fretting about when I was going to sleep and and now looking at things I just added up that I've only gotten about 5 hours of sleep in the last 31 hours, it's almost like having a newborn again, without the newborn!! LOL!!

It is snowing here right now and just started after 5 am. Looks like we are forecasted to receive a total of 9-12 inches after this storm is all said and done. The roads aren't too bad yet, however there is some news that due to the poor economy, the roads will not get plowed after hours, on weekends or holidays and only the main roads will get a good plowing.........scary (this is just in Mankato, so the rest of the state should hopefully be okay)!! It will feel like we're back in KS when they get a good storm, only this won't melt the next day!! In fact, looks like its supposed to get windy later and blizzard. Jason and I were wishing we had a snow blower for the driveway. I wish I had some boots, so I could go help him scoop the driveway tonight after the girls go to bed. Apparently, I gave my boots to the salvation army a few years ago (I was looking for them this past weekend and Jason informed me of that)?? Hmmmm. Scooping the driveway just sounds like an awesome exercise program...don't ya think? The snow is really beautiful coming down right now. Maybe the forecast will be wrong....about the wind, anyways??!! I am really worried because I don't really want Jason going to Chicago tomorrow in this (they will be driving). I think they are trying to postpone the trip again. Keep your fingers crossed.

Landree had her 9th tooth erupt yesterday, her left lower first year molar. No wonder she's been gnawing on everything, guarding her mouth, having nasty diapers, etc., etc, etc. And, maybe she didn't have a cold at all, maybe her snotty nose and cough was because of that tooth. The right one feels like it might erupt any minute as well and her gums are still pearly white where her top "eye" teeth are! So, she might be getting four new teeth all at the same time. Hers tend to come in bunches so far.

I took a short break and went and napped, now I am finishing my post before I hit the hay for the night. The wind has picked up and we will see what the morning looks like. Jason's trip to Chicago was postponed again due to the "blizzard" like conditions. He will now be going next Tuesday until Friday or something along those lines. Back to Landree, she waved to Jason this evening and said, "hi dada" while we were all playing. It sounded pretty clear, but Jason and I also now what her sounds mean. She is a jabberbox lately ( I think I mentioned that already, so I'll move on)! Ryleigh is doing good too. She amazes me every day at the questions she comes up with to ask Jason and I about everything going on in her little world. Either I don't know much about 3 year olds or she is just intelligent, but I didn't think some of these questions would be asked until she was at least closer to 5. Some of them I look at Jason with a look like "help me"!! Her latest question is why does Santa come down the chimney and how (as shes looking up the fireplace that is obviously covered with glass)? Aghhh!! LOL! Some kids just can't be tricked and she's one of them. I remembered another couple of words I've heard her use when she's playing with her dollhouse that shes using in the right context. First she was talking with her dolls about traveling in their van and then she asked one of them if they received her "impitation" to the party. I corrected her and said invitation and then she used it correctly. I guess one of her dolls was having a party, was asking about invitations and wanted to know how they were traveling to get to the party. Pretty imaginative. I was talking about her coloring today at work. My mom has said I need to get her into a coloring contest, but I think they'd probably think I helped her or something. Another thing I didn't think a 3 year old could do was keep within the lines with coloring. The only thing that does show her age with that, is the colors aren't the colors of what the picture actually is. For example, she colors a turtle all different colors instead of green, etc. Well, I am going to get to bed. Hope everyone is having a great week. PS...I was going to add some photos but apparently I haven't gotten the new ones downloaded from the camera, so you will all have to wait.

Happy 3rd Birthday to our niece, Havyn!!!

Hope you had a wonderful day, Havyn and sorry we missed you when we tried calling back and forth. At least I got to talk to her yesterday for a few minutes!! What a week it's been. Early last week I thought I was going to be alone with the girls for a few days, Jason was supposed to go to Chicago for work, but it got postponed and he is now heading there this Wednesday and will be gone until Friday late. Even though I dread him going on these work trips it is so nice when he comes home. It's nice to have a small break to realize how great of a hubby and daddy he is and I am so thankful it's just for a few days......we are lucky, it could be 6 months or longer when compared to those in the military (like my brother who has 4 more months to go until he gets to hang out with his bride again)!! Speaking of my brother, I haven't heard from him in a while, so I should email him when I am finished. He had said in the beginning that he might get all of his emails in a lump and then the same might happen on our end, depending on what's going on. Too bad I couldn't have emailed him a nice email about the Husker game, but I guess, if you really look at things, Texas isn't all that great, especially if they barely win and they are ranked #3. Too bad our offense isn't half as good as our defense, but I still think our defense ROCKED the Longhorns. And, we are still PROUD of our team.

Jason and I got all the Christmas gifts wrapped and most of them under the tree tonight. It was fun to hang out and watch National Lampoons Christmas. I headed out to the mall, kid free today, and thank goodness as it was a mad house. People were rude, but I just kept up the peppiness and used my manners never taking the smile off my face.....ugh, lets get in the Christmas spirit and remember the real reason for the season people!!! So, I was at this little shop in the mall and this lady comes and stands a little to close to me, I was definitely feeling invaded, so I slowly inched away from her. I felt like no matter how nicely I moved away from her she kept hovering and coming closer and closer to me. Finally, I looked up to see what was going on when guess who it was.................my mom!! We just laughed. Since they were in town shopping they stopped by the house for a little while later and we had supper together. I had no idea they were even coming to Mankato, so it was a nice surprise. We also played a few games of bowling and golf on the Wii. It was fun.

I am on the Christmas Party planning committee at work and we went shopping on Friday together for gifts we are giving away at the Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. Our Christmas Party is December 19th off site and I am so excited, of course it is the same day of Landree's first birthday party, but what do you do..........go with the flow!! Yes, the birthday party was arranged first.

Speaking of Landree turning one, I just can't believe it's right around the corner. This year has gone by faster than the last 4 put together. Landree is doing so good walking and talking. She no longer crawls and is walking everywhere she goes. She can turn and at times practically runs. She is so fun to watch and is so tiny especially compared to Ryleigh at this age. I just love watching her walk on the wood floors in her socks, it is so funny to see her slip and slide, in fact I think that is what has helped her balance otherwise. She usually needs to crawl to something that can help her stand back up and start again if she does fall, but today was the first day she ever got back up from sitting and went to standing to walk again. I too, thought she was going to let Ryleigh do all the talking but I was wrong. She talks just as much. She says dada, mama, ba (bath), hey, hi, ba ba (bye), and then just jibbers, always getting a word in edge wise. She is a fabulous eater as well, much better than Ryleigh. She will eat ANYTHING we put in front of her, I haven't found anything she doesn't like yet, which is a completely different story than her sister. She is very determined as well and I think she is just as ornery as Ryleigh. You should see the things she carries while she's walking. Huge, heavy things for her and she just grunts and breaths heavy the whole time.

Ryleigh is doing good as well. Both girls are getting over colds that they've had for about a week now. I have the stuffy nose part and am hoping it goes away soon. Ryleigh got an entire garbage bag full of hand-me-down clothes from her friend Addison on Friday. She is such a girl sometimes as she wanted to try every article of clothing on and she did, it was an entertaining fashion show, that was for sure. I got all the clothes washed and some are for next summer, so they are packed away in her closet. I have a list somewhere of some big words she has been using appropriately in the right context lately but I think the list is out in my car. The only ones I can think of at this time are comfortable and uncomfortable. She is also becoming quite the colorer. She hardly goes out of the lines and really does a great job for a three year old. The thing I love the most lately is her drawings of people. I love how they think, a big head with arms and legs coming out of it. The best part is the detail that she adds in, like the picture of me had eyelashes. Then while drawing a picture of Jason, she asks me, "does daddy have eyelashes too?" I told her yes he does, just as thick and long as mine...........and hers (and Landree's too)! Just reminds me, she must have heard someone talking about eyelashes, but didn't really know how they said it because she asked me the other day if she had eyeflashes (this was before the pictures of us with eyelashes)!!! LOL!! Now she's got it right though.

I am going to go to sleep now as I have a long week ahead of me, so I am just going to write this next thing so I don't forget to tell you a funny story at a later date. It involves the girls and their baths. Stay tuned.........and goodnight. Happy Monday!

I elfed us!

Okay Ana, yours was way to cute so I had to copy you!!!! Love ya and see ya next week...........oh and thanks for the idea??!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanksgiving weekend photos!

More pictures of the Thanksgiving weekend!! This week is going by so fast. Someone asked me how old Landree was today and I almost cried when I told them she was going to be one on the 21st. Only 19 more days. CRAZY! I cannot believe how quickly the past year went. Well, enjoy the pictures!

Disney Playhouse Live

So here are the pictures of the Disney Playhouse Live show that Ryleigh and I went to on Sunday!! We had a good time as mentioned previously. Ryleigh was quite entertained (as you can see from her pictures, she had that icky cold yet on Sunday)! The show was about Mickey having a music party at the Disney Playhouse. He invited the Little Einsteins, Handy Manny and his tools and Winnie the Pooh, Darby and Tigger as well as his friends Goofy, Minnie and Donald Duck. The all brought music to the music party. As you can see the Little einstiens brought back music from all over the world, I only captured two countries on film. Winnie the Pooh and his gang had us making natures noises from birds (tweet, tweet), frogs (ribbit) bees (buzz, buzz) and the wind (woohoo). It was very interactive singing and dancing along. Enjoy the pictures!

Thanksgiving Week!

Where do I begin. This past week has been a blur! It was a fun filled holiday, until the girls caught colds, but we still had ourselves a good time and enjoyed seeing everyone. My fast five days off started on Wednesday when I had a vacation day. I decided to spend the day focusing on cleaning and organizing. The girls went to daycare for a little while and I went and got them early. I got all three bathrooms cleaned (I can't believe we are actually adding another bathroom in the basement, I DISLIKE cleaning bathrooms the most)! That's about all I got done by the time I had to go to my hair appt., which was so relaxing and I got my fix of reading the magazines about the "stars"!! After my appt, I came back home and picked up the entire house while the girls napped and then went and got them early. We came back home, I got the girls dressed in there Christmas dresses and we went and visited Santa. Now, Ryleigh saw Santa last weekend at the mall when she got her ears pierced, but I didn't have the girls in their dresses and Landree's hair was a mess, so I told Ryleigh if she was good we would get to come back and see him again. On Sunday when she saw him from afar, she started running and yelling, "there's Santa!!" So, Ryleigh actually got to sit on Santa's lap twice this year. Ryleigh's Santa wish list: a horse (which I told Santa, not a real one!!) and a snow white Barbie doll, and last, but not the least by any means, a chipmunk (also hopefully not real)!! Now on Wednesday, before I sat Landree down on Santa's lap, I had a little pow wow with the teenage girls running the camera. I told them that Landree is afraid of most men except her two Grandpa's and of course, her daddy. I told them as soon as I set her down to start taking photos otherwise it would be nothing but tears. So, I set her down and her and Ryleigh were giggling and having a good ole time (which no pictures were taken at this point) and then Landree looks up at me, smiles and then slowly looks from me to Santa behind her. Lets just say the four pictures before the above one didn't look so good and that was the best one I got of Landree. And why is it the best one of Landree was the only one where Ryleigh wasn't smiling. Oh the joys of trying to take pictures of two people under the age of 3. The four pictures before this were of Landree crying, tears rolling down and the brightest red face you ever did see. All in all, I think it looks adorable (but I am a little biased)!! Wednesday evening we headed to my parents house once Jason was done deer hunting and stayed there until Friday morning, which was the day both girls woke up sneezing, stuffy noses and watery eyes. We had a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving meal made by my mom. I only made the pumpkin dessert.....very relaxing, thank you mom and dad!! We really just hung out, watched movies and I took a nap!!

Friday, Ryleigh also woke up with a sore throat. She was eating oatmeal and telling me that it was starting to feel better. I told her if she was that sick we probably wouldn't get to see Lila as we had plans to see Ryan, Ana, Lila and the "baby bump". Ryleigh then said, "Get me another bowl of oatmeal, it will make my sore throat go away!" She was bummed and we ended up not seeing them to try and keep the germs at bay. Sorry guys, we missed you. We did get to see the Nebraska Cornhuskers beat Colorado!! GO BIG RED!! Two good games in a row, first K-State then Colorado!!

Saturday morning, after a VERY long night (with Ryleigh) we headed to Danny and Terri's to have a Thanksgiving with them. We ended up playing the wii all afternoon until Shea got home from work (and then even played a little more after that). Now, I have been trying to talk Jason into getting a wii for almost a year. He's been wanting a PS3 since it plays blue ray movies as well. Well, after having so much fun at his dad and Terri's house, we went yesterday looking at what games all come with the wii. Let's just say thank you to Cabela's big game hunter for being a game and also to Shea for having her wii at Jason's dads house. So, we splurged and bought ourselves a big Christmas gift. Of course, we couldn't wait til Christmas to open it, so I am wrapping the empty box for under the tree!! We also listened and danced to some old records of Terri's and I got some great footage of Danny and Ryleigh dancing away! We headed home later in the evening after getting the girls ready for bed as we left Remy at home and since both girls were not feeling up to par and of course to hang out a little with Shea (and Danny and Terri)! :) The girls were out after being in the car for 5 minutes and slept good. So, if anyone is wondering what to get us for Christmas????..........any wii game (we only have the one it came with (sports)!!!!!!

Sunday, we put up all the Christmas decorations and tree. Even though I'd rather it be hot outside, I do really LOVE Christmas and snow on Christmas is even better!! As long as it's not freezing, I really do think the snow is beautiful when it's falling. And by freezing, I mean below zero, not just 32!! Sunday, Ryleigh and I also went to Disney Playhouse Live. It was really cool and part of her Christmas gift. She was so excited to see the Little Einsteins, Winnie the Pooh, Darby and Tigger, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Handy Manny. She did ask me where Daisy was. I took lots of photos and will get them added next. She did some dancing and sang to all the songs. I think she was in awe. She gave me about 5 hugs throughout the show and was grinning from ear to ear. At first I think she thought we were just going to go watch them on TV until she saw them for real. I couldn't believe what a rip off it was for anything to eat, toys or pictures. For just cotton candy with this silly hat it was $10 and this cup with lemonade in it was $10. Luckily, Ryleigh was happy with drinking out of the water fountain and I deferred her several times when she wanted this spinny toy for $20. I about fell over (it didn't help that every other kid in the audience had this toy). I bet I can find a lot cheaper one at Target or Walmart.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and very glad that Jason's brother Jeremy, wife Andie and daughters Havyn and Emeryn made it safely on their move from Atlanta to Ohio!! Check back for the photos.

Pictures as promised!

Finally got the pictures downloaded to the computer. These are of the girls swimming on Saturday and of Ryleigh's pierced ears that she was so proud of. Ryleigh is really used to me taking lots of pictures, so when I didn't have my camera on me when she got her ears pierced she asked me about it. She told me on the way home that I forgot to take her picture while getting her ears pierced. Oops, I told her and said we'd take on of her when she got home. Well, when we stepped foot in the house the first thing she said was, "get your camera mama and take a picture of me and my earrings!" HAHA! So here is the slide show:

11 months old and BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

Busy, Busy Busy, doesn't just refer to Landree even though she is pretty "busy", but to life in general.

Landree turned 11 months old on Saturday, and how did we celebrate??? Well, we went swimming!! The girls and I were at home, Landree was "trying" to take a nap, Ryleigh was having quiet time and Jason had just left to go hunting, when I got a text from my friend Laci. It was 2:30 and she asked if the girls and I wanted to go swimming. "When?", I asked her, thinking she would say Sunday when she texted back, "3:00??" Ok, what the heck, so off we headed to hang out and go swimming. She has a little girl that turns 4 in December and a little boy who was born in April! The older girls had lots of fun, which is a given, but the babies had a blast to. It was both Landree and Carson's debut for swimming. Friday, Laci and I had planned on going to the movie New Moon on Saturday evening after the kids were in bed. My other friend texted me around 6 saying that the movie was sold out the rest of the night. So, that pretty much ruined our Saturday evening plans. We decided to stay home and luckily so. Landree had a rough night and I think she initially woke up because Ryleigh stood screaming in her doorway at midnight saying she had to pee. Well, Ryleigh went right back to sleep after using the bathroom, but Landree was awake from midnight until around 2am, crying and crying. She seriously hasn't woke up during the night since around 2 months old and I couldn't get her to stop crying for the life of me. I changed diapers, fed her, changed her jammies and socks (thinking something was poking her or string wrapped around her toe). She had no fever but seemed irritated by something so I finally gave her some Tylenol and cuddled her and she finally went to sleep around 2. It was a long night and she was up and at em by 8 am. I think her top "eye" teeth are coming. She is biting everything and she puts up a good fight when I try to feel inside her mouth. Her gums are very white and hard and swollen, so I am thinking that might be her issue. So on this 11 month mark, she is walking, mimicking sounds and words that we say (tonight she said bath, which sounded like bahhh and papa), signing "more", waving, doing "how big", has eight teeth and weighs 17.3 pounds. A little PEANUT!

Ryleigh is doing good, too! She got her ears peirced on Sunday. I put it off for as long as I could since Jason has been wanting to do it since she was a baby. She has been asking me for the last two weeks if she could get them pierced so she could have earrings just like mama, gramma, Cindy, Hala, and every other person who has earrings!! She did so good and didn't even cry. She looked like she might, but after looking at them in the mirror, she got a huge grin and looked at Jason and I and said, "well, that wasn't so bad." I'd been trying to tell her that it felt like a little pinch for just a little bit and then it would be over and she'd have pretty earrings. We decided to add it in as part of a Christmas gift. Ryleigh and I also have a date on Sunday as part of her Christmas gift, we are going to go see Playhouse Disney Live. She doesn't know it yet, but I am so excited!!!

This week is going to be so short and busy. I have vacation on Wed and Friday. It was supposed to be one of Jason's vacation/furlough weeks, but it got changed. I decided to keep my Wednesday vacation day to clean house, organize and get holiday decorations ready. The girls will go to daycare for awhile so that I can get some of it done and then I am going to go pick them up early to visit Santa!! We have plans to see my parents, Jason's dad and Terri and our friends Ryan, Ana and Lila! It should be lots of fun!! I can't wait.

Well, I will get pictures of swimming and pierced ears up soon. Jason has the nice computer for homework tonight, so I get the crappy stone age laptop which is so old you can't download pictures onto it, for blogging. Hope everyone is having a great week.

TGIF!

Finally, the week is over. I am so looking forward to my short week next week! We've been staying busy here with homework, working on the bathroom basement, deer hunting, gymnastics, working, keeping the house clean and just plain 'ol having fun!

Other than that, I don't have much to add except to say that Ryleigh had gymnastics tonight with her friend Grace, so I've added some pictures of that. And Landree is walking, walking, walking. She has no fear (just like someone else we know)! She just started walking without thinking Sunday and has been going farther and farther, even stopping in the middle to turn and smile her huge grin at us! She is so petite, it's just so cute seeing this tiny little thing waddling all over the place. I'm going to technically count this as walking because she is walking to destinations (instead of crawling) and can walk clear across a room without needing assistance. She did have almost a bad accident on Sunday. She was walking from the couch to the coffee table and got a little excited as she was getting close. She leaned forward a little early and fell. She missed her face on the table by about an inch. She just laid her head on the ground panting, like, "WOW, that was really close!" There was really nothing Jason or I could have done, so we braced ourselves for the worst when we saw what was happening. I just laid my head down next to hers and said to her, "Holy cow, you almost lost your two front teeth!" We both just stared at each other, then she smiled and started giggling. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

THE BIG 3-0!!

Well, I'm finally 29+1!!!!! And it's not all that bad. I can honestly say that the last few weeks have been pretty rough, I just wasn't embracing 30 the way I thought I would a year ago, but as promised to my friend Ana, I said I would find something great about being 30! Even though I thought I would be in my 20's forever, I knew what I wanted by the age of 30 and not only do I have what I wanted, but I have MORE! I have the most precious and beautiful daughters in the whole world, a wonderful husband who treats me well (and puts up with me), a nice home, great family and friends and a respectable career....what else could a woman ask for??!! I told my good friend Ana earlier last week that 30 sounded so old (don't be mad, I am sure you were once there or will be there someday and trust me, where I work, I truly now what old is and yes, I know, I don't look a day over 21 but....). Now, I know 30 is the new 20, but I found my first two gray hairs ever on Tuesday. Bless Jason's little heart, he told me they weren't gray, but just highlighted hairs. HAHA, my highlights are out an inch from my scalp. My friend at work was the one to ask me, "Do you want to hear what Jason told you or do you want the truth?".......sob, sob, sob!! Well, I immediately pulled them out and another good thing to mention, they aren't the drab gray that so many people have.........someday, I am going to have beautiful silver hair like my dads!!! :) Enough about that, lets get to my week and then move on to more important things............the girls!! Jason was such a trooper this past week (I got to go out both Friday and Saturday)!! Friday the 13th (how ironic, right?) was pretty fun. I went out to eat lunch with some friends from work, then went to a Lia Sophia party in the evening with most of the same friends. Friday at work, another friend made plans for Saturday night. My parents came into town Friday to watch Ryleigh at gymnastics, then my dad spent the night as him and Jason went hunting on Saturday. My mom went back home Friday evening as she had to work on Saturday but came back after work on Saturday. My dad got a deer on Saturday late afternoon and then after him and Jason hung it in the garage, Jason and I headed out on the town while my parents took the girls back to St James as my dad had to work on Sunday. It was my first night away from Landree ever and it was much easier then the first night I spent away from Ryleigh. They were perfect for my parents. Now, Jason and I were going to go see a band play on Saturday night but before the rest of my friends got there, they were sold out and the place was at capacity. NOT COOL, but we headed downtown anyways and had a good time. Since the other guy that was coming out got sick, Jason headed home. The girls and I on the other hand went clubbing and dancing and had a good ole time. I got home around 2 and was up by 8:30 the next morning (so much for sleeping in)! I woke up three times hearing the girls cry, but when I woke, realized they weren't even at the house. My parents didn't get back to town until 4 pm on Sunday with the girls, so Jason and I cleaned the entire house and went Christmas shopping. We are pretty much done except one thing Ryleigh asked Santa for and awaiting the things we ordered that are being mailed.....................yay.....I have never been done this early and it feels great and it was so awesome to hang out with Jason!! Santa comes to town this Saturday and Ryleigh is excited to see him. I received the best birthday present ever when I got a phone call yesterday morning and it was my little Ryleigh singing Happy Birthday to me. I seriously shed a few tears and then she told me they had a surprise for me (I thought she was going to spill the beans b/c she's the reason why my mom found out about my brother coming last Christmas........yep, she told mom the secret)!! OOPS. But she kept this secret.....................she helped my mom make a birthday cake for me. I have never seen her so excited about anything and she clung to me when she got home, kissing and hugging me and wishing me a happy birthday. SO SWEET!! She pretty much helped my mom with every step and my mom took pictures so I could see and have them for Ryleigh someday. She even picked out the cake in the store and got me the pretty confetti cake, the candles to match (as she told my mom) and the frosting. IT WAS GOOD. Even Landree got her first taste of cake before her first birthday....I can't wait to see her dig into her own!!!

The cow on my desk at work was put there as an inside joke (because I have over 300 bags of milk in the freezer), but it was actually intended for a baby shower for my friends sister who works for Kemps...........she wanted to get pictures of me with it though and then we wanted to go set it on our friend Laci's desk as she has quite a few bags of milk in her freezer, too!!! My desk is usually not that messy, but when I go to lunch with it clean, when I come back there are always tons of papers put there from therapy, etc. HAHA!

Ryleigh is doing well. Growing up so fast, it's hard to believe. I love the things that come out of preschool mouths, I wish I could remember them all, but there are so many. I do keep pen and paper around to catch them and here is what I have so far this week. Jason asked Ryleigh to please close the door to the garage while they were butchering the deer (she wanted to watch) and Ryleigh shouted, "NO Problem!". She also told Jason at the parking lot at Home Depot that the cars facing each other were talking, she then said to the truck across from them, "hi truck, hows it going?" And yesterday she was being silly trying to toot.........her face became real red and I told her if she wasn't careful she might have an accident in her pants which totally turned into a 3 minute laugh attack. Silly kid.

Landree is doing great, too! She is walking all over the place, her balance is getting much better, she will be 11 months old on Saturday (that is when Ryleigh took off with no more help), so I am thinking the same might be true for her. She walks good and then realizes what she's doing and then slowly sits on her bottom. She walks better in our basement and mom and I were wondering if it's because the carpet is so soft. She used to pull herself up and then sit back down and crawl to where she wanted to go, but the last couple of days, she will let go and walk back and forth to objects, tonight she even turned while walking to me and made it about 15 steps. She is such a good baby and I can't believe in a month she will be 1 already. Crazy how time flies. As you can see from the picture of her at my moms house, she loves to get into the tupperware drawer, she does the same thing at our house. I have all the plastic containers and lids in a drawer that she loves to empty and then put everything back in it. She does that with her toys in her room too, she will pull them all out of the tote and then put them all back in. At least she picks up after herself.

Well, I am going to go hit the hay. Hope everyone has a great week. Thanks for all the birthday wishes from everyone!!

Pretty Sunset!

I thought I'd post a little something as I will probably be pretty busy the rest of the day. Forgot all about Jason's dad having surgery this past week (there goes the momnesia bit again). Jason got an update last evening and he is recovering well. Good thing I pray for our family all the time..... ;) Thinking about you and hope you get up and at 'em soon! This past week was, well, maybe I'll blog about that tomorrow!! I forgot a funny thing Ryleigh said last weekend, that I just remembered this morning when we were all eating our oatmeal. A few months ago Jason used this line out of a movie when he asked Ryleigh (momnesia again, for the life of me, I can't remember the movie right now), "what'd you say, Willis?" Well, last weekend, Ryleigh used it with us and then she used it on my mom and said, "What'd you say Gramma Willis?" It was so funny, I couldn't stop laughing. I attached a few photos of the beautiful sunset here Thursday night, these pictures don't do it justice. In fact a lot can change in the sky in 10 minutes, that's how long it took me to drive home, find my camera and run out there to still try and catch the pink. Ryleigh's words, "Oh, mommy, the sky is soooooooooooooooooo beautiful!" My thoughts, "why does it have to get dark at 5 pm, do we really have to do daylight savings, I'd rather it be darker in the morning!!" Oh, well, it was really pretty. Jason and I are going out tonight. YAY!! We are going to go see a band called Hairball and they play 80's music. A few of my friends are going as well. This will be my FIRST night away from Landree, and although it's taken me to this point to be alright with it, it's not at all like it felt the first time I spent the night away from Ryleigh. I think because I know with my second one, that its okay, that it's not only good for her, but for Jason and I too. So, I have plans to sleep in tomorrow.............and have fun tonight!! Oh, the girls are staying with my parents. Thanks mom and dad!! An update on Landree: She had a pretty good fall last week while trying to walk from the chair to Jason. She hit her cheek on the leg of the table and still has a bruise. She was not much into walking after that, but this week she has been walking farther and has been walking from one object to another........getting braver and steadier. AGHHH!

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veterans Day to all those who have fought and are still fighting for our freedom! Especially big thanks to my Grandpa Ray, both of Jason's grandpa's, Ralph and Ray and to my brother Ryan (who is out to sea)!

I don't even know where to begin this post as we have been SO busy this past week. I guess I will start off with last week when the State Health Dept. showed up on Monday at 12:30 pm. This is the first time in a long time where I actually felt prepared and caught up on my work. They left on Friday at 12:30 and we did great. The average number of deficiencies in the state of MN with the new survey process is 11-13 and we got 10 really, easily fixable ones!! I was so happy, however with all the weeks events, I was super exhausted last weekend. We were having United Way fundraising at work last week, but extended it into this week due to the State being at work. We are having a chili cook off tomorrow for United Way and Jason just helped me make the chili, our house smells excellent. I was excited that Nebraska beat Oklahoma last weekend as well, even though it wasn't the greatest I have ever seen my team play, but like I have been saying all year, a win is a win!! Mom and Dad came over on Friday evening, spent the night Friday and Saturday as it was opener weekend for deer hunting. Dad and Jason spent most of the weekend hunting but didn't see much as there are still tons of cornfields not plowed yet. Mom and I and the girls went shopping on Saturday, Santa's not at our mall yet, I looked, but we had fun starting our Christmas window shopping. I have a few ideas and Ryleigh showed us what she was going to ask Santa for. I even got to shop for myself since I found a gift card in my wallet that I received last Christmas to AE!! You can tell it's been a long time that you bought yourself something when your 3 year old says, "mommy, you got new gloves?" LOL. Sunday, while the guys were home yet and Landree napped, my mom and I went back out for an hour. We also took the girls to the petting/feeding farm/zoo here on Sunday after the guys went back out. The weather was beautiful here all weekend, got up to 69 degrees both days (poor deer hunters)! I had a lot of fun with my mom and glad she was around as by Sunday evening, I was still exhausted. I had so much other stuff to blog about, however I honestly lost everything and gave all my brainpower to work last week, really the best part of last week will be my paycheck on Friday as I will have about 8 hours of overtime (all of which will be going towards Christmas)!!! I came home Monday to the "roofers" replacing our shingles. It's finally been nice for them to work on it. Today it is finally finished and looks awesome. Thank goodness for wind damage and insurance????!!!!!

Ryleigh-ism: Ryleigh was up in our bathroom earlier this week getting ready for bed, brushing her teeth, when she handed me my contact case and said, "Here you go mama, here's your tomcacts!" I think this girl also knows all the words by heart to "Party in the USA" and "single ladies"!! Too funny.

Also, please keep in your thoughts and prayers, Jason's mom. She is in the hospital right now, probably going into surgery tomorrow. Hope you get well soon, Peggy.

THE WIENERMOBILE!!

So, one fun thing Ryleigh and I did get to do last week, despite my long days at work, was a ride on the wiener mobile!! The "midwestern" wiener mobile pulled into Mankato from Kansas the weekend before last. They actually made a stop at Oaklawn (where I work) the Sunday before last, but we spent the day with my parents in St. James and missed it. Ryleigh had seen it driving around Mankato and I thought she would enjoy a little ride on it, so I did some calling around and found out that it was giving free rides at a nearby park last Wednesday from 4-7! I actually called the radio station that I had heard about it on and I think I was on live radio.....FUNNY! I hope I didn't sound too funny, but it's hard not to laugh when talking about a wiener mobile. Anyways, this wiener mobile did a bunch of things for the area from Saturday to Thursday and then left for Madison, WI, then back to the cities. On Tuesday it delivered meals on wheels to people in the cities of Mankato and North Mankato. Anyways, Ryleigh had eaten her entire plate of spaghetti and broccoli just to get a ride on this thing. We stood in line, for an hour, in 36 degree weather just to get a ride. About 5 rides until our turn Ryleigh said, "I wanna ride it, but I just wanna go home, mama!" I was thinking, here I am standing out in this cold and she wants to go home NOW? LOL! Funny thing was, we were the last two in line and the "wiener mobile guy" said that if Ryleigh stayed, she'd get a surprise for being the last one. Some of the workers actually let us sit in their van until it was our turn because it was so cold. It was pretty neat inside and Ryleigh actually had a good time. While standing in line we got to sing some songs and pretend we were sizzling on a grill (I think to keep warm)! The funniest part was when we finally did get on the wiener mobile, Ryleigh asked for a hotdog to eat. Well, they didn't have hotdogs, so I told her we would eat one when we got home......then I get home and no hotdogs at home either! Ryleigh did get some stickers and wiener whistles and brought one to daycare for her buddy, Colin. And, for standing in line she got this beanie bag stuffed wiener mobile. She was so cute though, because she talked about it as soon as I dropped her off the next day at daycare and then again when my parents came over for the weekend. She thought she was pretty special!

1st song Ryleigh has learned: Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener, for that is what I'd truly like to be. And, if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener, everyone would be in love with me!

2nd song Ryleigh has learned: "My bologna has a first name, its O-S-C-A-R! My bologna has a second name, it's M-A-Y-E-R! I like to eat it everyday, and if you ask me why I'll say, Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A!!!

The "wiener mobile guy" could sing both songs in Spanish as well!

Check out this blog: http://hotdoggerblog.com/

A Favorite Photo!

It's been a long week and I am tired so I just wanted to say I have lots to blog about, but not tonight!! It was a busy week and I have lots of fun stories, so, stay tuned! My mom took this photo of me and the girls walking today at the park and I thought it turned out very cute, so I just wanted to post it quick! Good night, have a great week.

Landree Getting Her Groove On!

The girls love to dance and I am pretty sure we get our groove on every day. It is pretty funny lately because whenever Landree hears the word dance or a song with a good beat ..........she starts movin' it!! Check out these dance moves from Friday! I posted two entries today, so be sure to check out the pictures below of Halloween!!

AAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!!

Where do I begin??? Maybe we should start with Friday!!?? Ryleigh wanted to wear her Snow White dress to daycare, I made a compromise and she wore Belle instead. Since I dressed her up, I thought I'd do the same for Landree, so I dressed her up as my "biker babe"!! It was pretty cute. Ryleigh of course wanted some princessy tattoos and since Jason was applying them, he added one to our "biker babe", so she had a heart tattoo on her ankle!! I also dressed up at work and was a Hippie!! It was fun to see my fellow coworkers dressed up too. I was going to be a nurse, but I thought that might be kind of boring!! That kicked off our week for raising money for United Way and we had "walking tacos" set up to help raise money. Remember the fever Landree had on Tuesday and Wednesday morning? Well, didn't find out until Saturday morning, but the poor kid had Roseola. Just thought she was teething with the fever because she was perfect even though she was a bit tired. Then Friday, mom was giving her a bath and said she had a rash on her chest. I just glanced at it, then we got her dressed and Saturday when she woke up this rash covered her entire trunk, and a little up her neck. I had been online Wednesday checking out rashes because she had had one under her armpits, but it went away. Well, when I saw her on Saturday, my first thought was it looked just like Roseola and sure enough that's what they think she had. We ruled out chicken pox and scarlet fever. I took pictures of the rash as it disappears within 24-48 hours and because very few kids get the rash but most kids do get Roseola. Most cases, since the rash doesn't always show, it is blamed on teething as they really have no other symptoms. Nothing serious, just a virus. Her rash, by the way, was gone by Sunday evening. CRAZY! Saturday was pretty fun filled. Ryleigh went to a Halloween party from 3-5 and painted and decorated pumpkins. They all dressed up and played. They had some fun foods, too. They had hot dogs rolled up in crescent rolls and called them "mummy dogs", they had cookies shaped in Halloween shapes, orange punch in a witches bowl, kitty litter cake with a black cat next to it, and cheetos that turned your mouth and fingers blue after you ate them. I think she had a good time. Spider man (an adult) was there and she was kind of leery about him at first, but quickly became his friend. Jason and Landree stayed home as Landree was still sleeping when we left, but Ryleigh and I went back and got them and then we took the girls to the nursing home. Ryleigh was hilarious going up to every person and saying "trick or treat"! Then we went back home and Ryleigh hit up the neighborhood. It was pretty chilly, so Landree and I handed out candy and met our new neighbors. They have two little boys, Henry is 2 and Owen was just born two weeks ago!! I am so excited they are younger and have younger kids!! Ryleigh had a great time and her bag was overflowing when she returned home. In addition to her bag being full, she was also cold and was sticking her cold hands on daddy's neck! She understood Halloween pretty well last year, but I think she had even more fun this year. Jason said she did good out trick or treating and said Thank you after each person gave her candy. Sunday we headed over to my parents house to watch the Vikings beat Greenbay AGAIN! Go VIKES!! Also YAY HUSKERS (it wasn't always pretty, but a win is a win)!! We had some yummy homemade broccoli and cheese soup with sandwiches, dad and Jason practiced their bow shooting skills at half time, and we just hung out til it was bedtime. We should be prepared at work because every time we have a fun week planned (this week is United Way fundraising) the Health Dept. shows up at work. So they walked in unannounced at 12:15pm on Monday. I have been there from sunrise to past sunset both yesterday and today and am just beat. It is so stressful there, but then I feel stressed out to because I feel like I haven't seen my girls since Sunday. That just hurts inside. I keep telling myself it's just one week and this is the life of being a manager, but it still sucks. At least I have been making it home in time to nurse Landree or I'd be a real mess. I know I am not the funnest wife to live with during this week, so thank you to Jason for being awesome and for being a wonderful Mr. Mom! He has a furlough week this week and has done so much for me. In addition to having a big test today, he has also managed to keep the house clean, do some laundry and cook meals for the girls! GO JASON! Hopefully, he gets to go hunting for himself?? I am sure that was more in his plans as well as working on the bathroom in the basement but sometimes you just have to go with the flow. I am hoping the Health Dept. leaves on Friday so I can head into an awesome last week of my 20's. Mom and Dad are coming over this next weekend so the guys can go hunting and the girls can go shopping. I am looking forward to that! I know there was lots else I was going to blog about, however my brain is FRIED (and it's only Tuesday)!! Have a great week. And, I can finally say Congrats to our good friends Ryan and Ana............they are expecting baby #2 in April!!!!!!! We are so EXKITED (as Ryleigh would say) for you. I am going to just say that since I have a 50/50 chance, I am going to go with a BOY this time around!! Love you guys!!

Happy Halloween!

We have a fun filled day today, so I'll have lots to post tomorrow hopefully. Landree has been fever free since Wednesday, but is gnawing on everything, so I am thinking she's got either her "eye" teeth or her first year molars coming in.....poor thing. Her gums are extremely bumpy and she is very territorial of her mouth and gums right now. She has been much happier and awake then she was on Wed. Along with learning how to walk also comes many bumps and bruises (to the head), but she continues on and keeps trying. Her balance is getting better and she is quicker along the furniture. Yesterday I dressed up for Halloween at work. I will add pictures tomorrow with stories, because I have a really good one related to my 101 y.o. patient!! I also dressed the girls up for daycare in some outfits other than what they will be wearing today, it was a hoot! Today we have planned, a visit to the nursing home (hopefully), a Halloween party for Ryleigh and trick-or-treating.

I also wanted to mention some belated birthday wishes to my long lost (but now found!!) friend Cami and to my friend Nicole. Hope you both had great days. Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!!

Uncle Ryan!!

I forgot to mention last week that my brother went out to sea for awhile.............180 days to be exact. Kelli, my newest SIL, came up with a great idea so he wouldn't miss her or any of us so much while gone (mostly her.....you know how it is to be newly married?) She made him this awesome care package and involved his and her family to participate. I spent a good week getting all the stuff for my portion ready because everything is slower when there are kids involved! Mom sent a bunch of stuff too. Now, Kelli got to put stuff for the second half of the 6 months in a box on the submarine, but mine didn't make it in time for that, so he got the first 3months of her care package and all of my stuff. He is supposed to be back sometime in April, so he got something for all the holidays up until then as well as for his birthday (in February). It was a lot of fun. Ryleigh colored about 30 pictures for him for each of the holidays and for Landree's 1st birthday. I got him a card for all the holidays and then stuck candy and pictures in there for him and then I got him two birthday cards, one from us and one from the girls. I think I put like 10 pictures of the girls in each card. of course, I couldn't find any cards for my favorite holiday (Christmas), so Ryleigh colored about 10 pictures just for Christmas alone. We just found out from Kelli about a week ago that Ryan is able to get email on the sub, so that will be nice as well. I emailed him and already got one back saying that he went ahead and opened a lot of the colored pages and has them hanging up all around his bunk....he loved them!! The email cannot have any attachments and is read before he even gets to see it and then his is read before it can be sent to us. He does not have any other Internet access so he cannot read the blog, but at least I will get to keep him posted on whats happening here in Mankato! Please pray that his journeys are safe!!

I am here at home today because Landree had a fever last night of 102.8 and 101 this morning early. I think she might be getting some teeth but daycare rules are rules and so I get to have the day at home with the girls. Right now Landree is napping and it is quiet time for Ryleigh (who knows if she'll fall asleep), so I thought I would write about my brother as I forgot last night as well as some other things. I forgot to mention that Landree is a kisser. She loves to give you a big wet open mouth when you ask her for a kiss, it's adorable (and wet)and she loves to plant them right on your mouth!! She is also a dog lover, she goes to Remy all the time and shrieks the minute they see each other when we are home!And her and Ryleigh love to play follow the leader, with Ryleigh being the leader. I love it because all you can hear is loud laughter from both of them when they play. And, I almost forgot the carving pumpkin pictures so attached is a slide show......don't forget to watch the videos I posted last night of Landree starting to walk!! Oh yeah, the picture of "Ryleigh's pumpkin" is actually all her work! She drew the face on there and then Jason just followed her lines for the eyes, nose and mouth. It turned out to be one of the cutest carved pumpkins I have ever seen (especially by a 3 year old)!! Oh, and I am trying to get my house more organized as it is driving me nuts. We got this cute little cube organizer for some of the toys and Ryleigh was so excited to help her daddy put it together, so the first couple of shots are of Ryleigh getting to use the tools. She did good, Jason on the other hand, on the last hammered nail, went through the backing and punctured it.....luckily the little pull out cloth drawers cover it ;)