Happy Anniversary Jeremy and Andie!

Happy 3rd Anniversary guys!! We love ya! Hope you had a great day!

More to come.................keep checking back and I finally posted my Sunday story, so check it out

6 months old, Father's Day & Summers here!

Landree turned 6 months old today, it amazes me every day at how quickly this is going the second time around. I think it's because she is the "easiest" baby I have ever known! She's a happy one! She is weighing in around 15 pounds, a pound less than Ryleigh at this age, and she is 26 inches long! She is doing so good sitting! Still falls over every once in awhile, but I can leave her and come back and she's still sitting there playing or watching her big sister be silly! Funny thing I noticed..........Landree was born on the first day of winter and now her half birthday is on the first day of summer! Cool huh?

Along with Landree being six months old we also celebrated Father's day with daddy and the first day of summer! Since Jason always gets up with Ryleigh on the weekends, I decided I would let him sleep in today. It turned out really nice though because Landree slept until 7:30 and Ryleigh slept until 8:15!!! But, we still let him sleep in. Ryleigh kept asking for him but I said lets let him sleep for a little longer. We made him pancakes and french vanilla coffee and then when I asked Ryleigh to go wake him at 9, she was so excited! Then we had breakfast together and just hung out.

There is this celebration called Summer Solstice here in Mankato with live bands and art attractions to bring in summer. We headed to that this afternoon with the girls and met up with some friends of ours. There was a guy that Jason works with (whom he also bought his guitar from) who has a band and they played at 3 pm. They were the best that I had heard today, but when it started down pouring on us around 5 pm we decided to get Landree out of it. Ryleigh was enjoying it, but Landree was getting tired of sitting on my lap under an umbrella! She was the only dry one once we reached the car, but it was fun anyhow! Ryleigh got her face painted and between the giraffe and pig, she finally picked the pig. We also enjoyed gyros while there and some beer. It was fun, but different, almost like we were at Woodstock! HAHA! It was definitely fun to people watch. OH, and I met a little girl about 5 years old named Landree only they spelled it Landry. That was pretty cool as I only know one other little girl with the name, so now I have met 3!

Saturday was nice and warm, so we invited some friends and their kids over for a little pool party and grill out and then later had a bonfire (with Jasons fathers day gift--a fire pit bowl)! This week has been steamy, and literally it has been so humid and hot..........it's awesome actually. Today was 96 degrees, but with the humidity felt 114!!!!! Finally, summer is here! We are heading to Nebraska on Thursday for our annual family reunion camping trip! I am so excited, all I have left to do is pack myself and Landree, Ryleigh is done! Groceries are bought! House is clean! Found a dog sitter! Laundry is done! We will get back on Sunday early and then it's laundry and re-packing as we head to Wisconsin on Tuesday the 30th for the wedding festivities!! Should be a blast and not much blogging unless I get bored (which I doubt I will)!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!! All I have left for that is to make sure my dress fits one last time as well as Ryleigh's and get my hair colored! I have had to make a list for the next two weeks with each day written down and the things we need to do and get done in that day. It has always been crazy working right up until we leave for our Ponca trip, but this one right after the other is quite a different and CRAZY experience, and different now that we have two little ones instead of 1. They are definitely going to be traveling pros! Work has been so stressful and it is even worse at the end of the month because we have lots of paperwork to finish up, but I am going to try and forget about it all until I get back from the wedding. Sometimes, you just need a break. I know, I just had three months off, but it has been crazy busy there since I have been back. But, it is so much fun and all to soon it will all be over and then up next is our little bash for Ryleigh! 3 years old--oh my gosh!

Ryleigh is a hoot! Her new favorite saying is "IT COULD BE WORSE!!" She says that to Jason and I about everything and you know, she has a good point! I have a couple of funny stories to go with that saying that I will share at a later date, as well as other things that have come out of her mouth that are just hilarious! I will also get those pictures up that I promised, I am just going to go hit the sack now! If you don't hear from me for awhile, don't worry, I will be back soon!

TGIF

.........that's all I've got to say!! TGIF!! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Guess who's sitting??!!!

It's been one of those weeks where I am happy to say, it's almost over! I have been on call which hasn't been bad, but it finally ends at midnight tonight, yay! It's been a busy week with many meetings, CPR renewal class today and finally tomorrow, we will find out who our new DON will be. I can't wait to have my old job title back, although the experience of being the IDON has been an eye opener! Next week, I only have a three day work week and the week after that it is only a two day work week!!! I can't believe my little brother is getting married in 2 WEEKS!!!! I can't wait either, it's going to be so much fun! Tonight, Jason went golfing with some friends and I got the girls to bed about an hour ago. I have just finished putting my pampers points in, I added 75 points!!! I have also been coming up with some ideas for Ryleigh's 3rd birthday and I think I am set on how we are going to celebrate! I am so excited the warm weather is here, but with that has brought us two days of tornado watches and warnings. Yesterday, it was so humid that there was a thin layer of moisture on the garage floor which made it very slippery and the minute I walked outside from work, there was a thin layer of sweat on my face, I felt like I needed to take a shower! Ryleigh was so hot she got in the swimming pool in her underwear! It is so sticky we decided to finally turn on the AC! I was hoping we wouldn't have to, but it was miserable!

Landree is finally sitting!!!!! I've been counting it because we can walk away from her and she'll still be sitting when we come back and it's been long intervals. A couple of days ago she sat for two 20 min stretches before we picked her up! I've got lots of good pictures that I will have to get posted soon. She is also liking her baby foods, especially peas. We have found that rice cereal constipates her a little, which doesn't make her too happy! She melted my heart the other morning. When I went into her room to wake her up she was peacefully laying there and heard me come in. I went over to her crib and she was wearing the biggest grin, that is one of the best things to start my day. When I went to pick her up she lifted her head up as if to say, hurry up mama. I gave her a big ol squeeze in which she wrapped her little arms around my neck and giggled. Then when I held her out in front of me to see her, she got so excited and was grabbing at my face! What a little sweetie! And she still just loves her big sister to pieces!

Ryleigh is in love with her little sister as well, always loving her up with hugs and kisses. They make each other so happy and I am glad they get to spend their days together (I know all too soon, they will be in their teens fighting!) Ryleigh is growing up so fast, it's hard to believe here in a few weeks she will be 3. I don't know what I'd do without the little turkey. She loves to talk, talk, talk your ear off, so beware!!! We have been trying to teach her patience and taking turns with talking, otherwise at the supper table it is like whoever can talk the loudest gets heard, and at times it has felt like we are all yelling. However, now when we tell her to wait her turn because mama and daddy are talking, she then interrupts every few seconds with a, "is it my turn to talk, yet?" And then, when we tell her it is her turn, she simple states, "I love you mama and daddy!" She is really into telling secrets, too. Mostly, her secrets consist of the same, "I love you, mama/daddy!"

Oh, it's crazy to think of all the things we need to do before our camping trip next weekend and then my brother's wedding the week after that. I have lots of laundry and packing to do this weekend, plus I think we might go to this festival with some friends here in town called summer solstice. I love summer!

A whole lot!

Okay, so as long as I still have my computer and it lets me get onto the Internet, I will keep getting some pics posted, I'm just not going to save them to my computer!! We had a pretty good weekend. We didn't have daycare on Friday, so I stayed home with the girls. But, since I am on call this week, I went in and worked today to get my hours in. It would have been awesome if it wouldn't have rained the entire day on Friday, but hey, at least I got to spend the day with my girls! We had a good time just hanging out and playing (and getting the laundry done!) Jason and I rented another movie (I just love the $1 rental station at the local grocery store....they have really good and just released movies). It was slumdog millionaire, by the way, and I thought that it was really good. I have been fake baking (something I don't normally do, but since the weather has been crappy and I need a tan by my brother's wedding, I am doing it)! However, just that small amount of relaxation, getting some Vitamin D, listening to the radio with my eyes closed with no interruptions has somehow made me more awake, rejuvenated and happy. Crazy isn't it?!? But, Jason and I both were impressed with myself since I have made it through two whole movies without falling asleep!!!! LOL!!! Finally yesterday and today it got to about 80 degrees! And, for the third time (third times a charm) we have our pool up and filled with water.......now, if it only gets warm enough to use it! To make a long story short we had to put sand down and level the yard so that the pool wasn't lopsided. Good job Jason and Ryleigh! Last evening we hung out with some friends and had a bonfire, smores and beverages. The girls slept well this time at their house and we cut the night short since I had to work today. It was so cute though, Amy got pictures of Osbourn and Landree playing with each other and then of Axel and Ryleigh playing.........got some cute pictures of them holding hands, but when Axel went in for a kiss, Ryleigh elbowed him right on his kisser. That's my girl.....boys have cooties (at least until they are 25)! Hopefully I will get those pictures emailed to me and get them posted because they turned out so cute! Jason and the girls had a fun day.......they went to the park and then surprised me by bringing lunch to my work. It was great to get to spend my lunch break with my family and then I got to "cuddle" with Landree before they left! The girls had a few accidents this weekend. No, not piddle accidents.......we haven't had one of those for many months! Ryleigh took a tumble down the stairs and smacked the back of her head on the hard wood floors at the bottom. I was just going to tell her to be careful b/c I felt she was going awfully fast, but I held back so I wouldn't be "nagging" at her again. I was sitting "indian style" on the floor and couldn't get myself untangled and to her quick enough. It's awful when you feel like there is nothing you can do. She only cried for about two minutes, then "shook" it off, and today you can't even feel the bump anymore. Poor thing. And Landree got her thigh caught in the seat belt of the stroller this morning and then her little finger in the seat belt of her car seat. Those little fingers move so quickly. (Jason caused the first accident, I caused the second, but no bruises yet).

Yesterday, was the annual Mankato Road Race stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. It's a pretty big thing here and is one of the top pro bicycle races in the U.S. This year the course went right by our house on the main drive and Landree and I went and watched and cheered them on. Ryleigh and Jason were napping and just missed it. They have a men's and women's race. We were going to try and get to the women's but got ready to go to our friends instead. According to the newspaper, the Mankato Road Race is the longest stage of the Grand Prix featuring a 90 mile race, that begins in Mankato, goes through several towns and finishes back in Mankato. Our neighbors were telling us that the finish is going up the main street hill four times. I will tell you it's such a steep hill that they often close the road in the winter when it has snowed or ice covers it as people who try to go up it often end up sliding back down (backwards) AGGHHHHH! It's a crazy hill as it flattens at intersections, and gets steeper at the top. Some of cyclists include Kristen Armstrong (from Boise, Idaho) who won the gold medal in women's time trial at the Olympics in Beijing, and Floyd Lundis who won the Tour de France in 2006! Two bicyclists stopped to talk to us. They didn't make the time trials for yesterdays race. One was from WI and the other from Chicago. They were telling us all about the time trials, their bicycles and so forth. I sure learned a lot. Here are some pictures! Congratulations, also, to my cousin Jon and his wife Kara on the birth of their 2nd daughter, Anna Rae, born on Friday, June 12th! I also added the site for my slide shows on the side bar under other websites if you ever want to check them out. Hope everyone has a great week!

Happy Birthday Papa Kev!!

Just wanted to wish the best dad in the whole world a happy birthday (that would be my dad by the way)! Thanks for always being there for me whenever I have needed you! You are one of the neatest men I have ever known. You have been a wonderful daddy, dad, and now Grandpa! Thanks for all the wonderful memories, being patient, being proud of me for all my accomplishments, being there for me even if you didn't think I was making the best decisions at the time. Your support has always meant a lot and it always will. I LOVE YOU! PS......I can't download it right now, but Ryleigh is singing happy birthday to Papa Kev!!!! Maybe later she will sing it to you over the phone. Hope you are having a wonderful day (even though you are at work)!!

Oh, and we found out it just might not be the rabbits eating our plants. Take a look at what we found out in our front yard this morning. Jason opened the blinds and when he looked out this is what he saw. He said he thought he was just seeing things for a minute. He grabbed Ryleigh, who was especially excited about it, while I grabbed the camera and started taking pictures! I think she ran off because, although she was inside, Remy was growling at her. It was pretty neat until she reached her head up and ate some leaves off of "Ryleigh's" tree! Ryleigh has been talking about the "mama deer" all morning now!

And, we will see if this rash that showed up on Landree a few days ago (and disappeared within hours) was because of heat, her tie died onesie or because of bananas. She had bananas and peas for lunch, and boy does she love her peas today....yum, yum! So, today we are ruling out the bananas. Jason and I watched a movie together for the first time in a while, last evening. It was called Gran Torino and was very good....a Clint Eastwood film. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Oh yeah, I added a post late with picutures, so be sure to read below!

May be awhile!

Jason and I are currently saving all of the items we want, off of our PC. I have been saving pictures from the past 5 years onto discs as we are going to clean out our computer and get whatever bugs it has out and fixed. So, I will still be able to blog, you just might not see some pictures for awhile until our other computer is fixed......I still don't know, besides using our other computer first, how to get pictures onto this dinosaur laptop! The weather continues to be crappy here with lots of rain......it looks as though Saturday might get to 75 degrees, yeah. June is supposed to be warm, right? Hmmmm. So, there this morning, on the front page of the Mankato Free Press is a story about this plane that landed on a highway in Kennesaw, GA! I left a message on Andie's phone to see if her and Jeremy and the kids live close to that highway (for those of you who don't know this is Jasons brother, his wife and their girls). Crazy! I just thought it was so funny to see that headline today. Of all the places, it's where some of our family actually live! Maybe there will be a story in her blog later telling all about it??? Got an email from my brother. He is out to sea...........hopefully he gets back in time for his wedding. J/K! Sounds like he got to go to the Budweiser plant down in FL (I think) and got some fun souvenirs! I can't wait to see him! The girls are doing well. They were supposed to be swimming all week, however the weather has changed those plans. It's funny though cuz just with the two days Ryleigh has been outside, she already has turned a nice olive tan color. NO FAIR! I put together a slide show. Ryleigh and Landree have these matching dresses that are for colder weather, but since it's been cool, I put them in them the other day....they are still a little big, so they fit this coming fall and winter!! I have a picture of Landrees teeth, her saliva makes it hard to see as does her trying to get my finger out of her mouth with her tongue...and my finger is on top of one of them. Her newest thing is pulling hair, which I think is funny because she always gets Ryleighs, but Ryleigh is not to fond of it. Oh, and I found Landree a cute swimsuit for $1 at the dollar store and thought it was so cute, might go back and get the other one (I thought that was a steal for how often she'll wear it)!!

Can't think of a Title

Another weekend gone............oh, how I dislike Sunday evenings. I wish there were more days during a "weekend" and less during the "work week"!! Besides the crappy weather (rain and 50 degrees) it was a nice weekend. Although we didn't spend it outside it was still good. Since I have momnesia and some stressful news, I forgot about a graduation party we were invited to for our old neighbor whom graduated from high school. Her party was Friday night and I just knew Friday when I got home from work, that there was something I was forgetting. Well, I remembered this afternoon. Oops! Luckily, I remembered that Saturday morning, Ryleigh and I had an appt with my mom to get our "wedding" dresses altered. We made it a fun little girls morning and then mom took us out to lunch. The girls took a much needed nap all the way back to Mankato and when I got home I didn't want to get out because I knew the car doors shutting and the car going off would wake them both up. And it did.......so much for Jason or I getting a nap in! But, Jason did clean the entire house while I was gone...THANK YOU! My parents then came to Mankato to hang out on Sat evening. We had a good time reminiscing and telling stories....in fact I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard, I cried. It all started out when Jason and I argued about the computer and TV and decided to turn both off and instead visit, and boy was it a great idea. It does scare me when my dad laughs so hard, that his entire face turns bright red and you can't hear him laugh. Ever since a few years ago when my brother saw him do this and thought he was having a heart attack, he always makes me nervous!! The stories involved a few other family members not present so thank you to all of them. Today was a lazy day, but we had our usual pancake breakfast, headed to church and then just hung out. In fact, I fed Landree in bed and took a nap with her...we slept for a couple of hours. It was great. Ryleigh decided that she wasn't tired however she fell asleep on the couch around 5pm and then was SUPER crabby when we woke her up for supper, which she refused to eat. I have never seen her act the way she acted before, so I think that next weekend we will enforce a nap! I tried taking some shots of Landree's teeth for all of you, so when I get it posted you will have to look hard...........she is very territorial of her teeth right now and to get a picture was very interesting. LOL! These teeth are really taking their toll on her. There have been a few nights where she just wakes up and cries for awhile, which is wierd because she has been sleeping through the night for months now. Finally tonight she only cried for about 5 minutes and didn't need any other interventions and put herself back to sleep. And she is gnawing on everything in site. Ryleigh said some funny things to that I wrote down, but do you think I can remember them or where I put the paper??? If I think of them, I will share. Hope everyone has a great week!

Soul Searching

I can't believe it's June already....where does the time go??? The older I get the less time I have, oh how I wish I wouldn't have wished my childhood away so quickly....I want it back, especially during the summer! These past two weeks have been chaotic with many ups and downs. I don't want to dwell on it to much cuz I like to update more on the girls than us, but I just need to say a little something about work. Two weeks ago now, our DON (Director of Nursing) resigned. I was flattered to be asked to be the interim DON until the position was filled, then for about a week, I thought maybe I wanted to apply for the position. Now that I have decided against that, I said I would be the interim until they found a replacement. I thought about things a lot, did some soul searching and prayed a lot and finally came up with my decision Monday. So, as of yesterday, I am the interim DON. Some of you may think I am crazy and trust me I've heard it all from my friends and family, but at this point in my life, my family is the MOST important thing to me. I know 29 and that on my resume would look great, but maybe when the girls are a little older....it's such a great responsibility. For once, though, in the past two weeks, my stomach and mind are at ease. Enough about me, if you want details, you all know my phone number or my email.

Our Miss Grace is growing up into a little lady. Besides her occasional temper tantrums or forgetfulness of manners, she really is a good kid. I can expect those things out of a (almost) 3 year old. It makes me want to cry that she is going to be 3 in July. We have been trying to instill a little patience in the kid as she (I guess) has my temper. That's what Jason says anyways. I am reading this fabulous book that I received from a special someone called "What kids need most in a mom", by Patricia Rushford! I have learned some wonderful things about myself (some things I feel I am good at and other things I need to work on as a mom). There is even a chapter dedicated to working moms and one to stay at home moms. Makes us all feel worthwhile as being mothers and that we all have a full time job of being a mother. Back to Ryleigh though.....last night we had hamburgers on the grill and she begged Jason and I to eat in the screen house. It was so cute as we were all sitting in a circle eating (except Landree who was in her walker) and Ryleigh grabbed her pickle spear and said, "look, the pickle has goosebumps!" It was so "ADORDABLE"!! It's amazing to me, how much of a little sponge she is.

Our Miss Izz is also growing like a weed. She weighed in at 15 pounds yesterday. Her two little teeth are so cute, but her poor gums are a little red and swollen around them. She has really been gnawing on things good this past week, sometimes my finger!! I almost forgot how sharp those brand new little teeth are!! And yes, I got bit while nursing. Jason said I jinxed myself because it was the very next day after I blogged about my worry of it happening. This is how pathetic my hormones and emotions are right now, I screamed, tapped her mouth, she looked at me with this terrified look, her big bottom lip stuck out, she started crying, then I started crying. But guess what............she hasn't done it again and that was on Monday. (I should probably find some wood to knock on)! She is almost rolling from her back to her tummy and she is sitting pretty good, shes figured out the balance from side to side, but still throws her head back. It's coming.She has also been cranky these past few nights around 6 until bedtime. Tonight she was finally back to her happy self, so I am thinking it was those teeth. Jason went golfing tonight, so the girls and I hung out outside for awhile and played. I was thinking about skipping baths until Ryleigh got into some dirt and was pretty dirty, and I am glad I didn't because the girls had so much fun together in the tub. Ryleigh had Landree laughing as she was being goofy. It was nice too, because I got to give Ryleigh some much needed one on one mommy time!! I have been wanting to do something with just her for awhile and well, tonight we read books and sang together after Landree went to bed. It was good.

Well, I think Ryleigh and I are going to go with mom on Saturday morning to get our dresses for Ryan's wedding altered. I am glad as I was starting to get anxious since his wedding is in a month, but the lady that is altering them was doing prom dresses first. I got Ryleigh some shoes to go with her dress, so I think we are all set. Landree has her dress and Jason has his tux and is working on the speech and the bachelor party. I can't wait for the wedding, it is going to be so fun!!!

TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!