Another Road Trip

Well, we are back from another road trip and boy was it lots of fun!! We headed to Raeville, Neb to hang out with my mom's family for a late get together. We usually do this every year since we don't all get to get together around Christmas. Some of the family didn't get to make it because there was some sickness going around, but we got to see most everyone. We stay in this old rectory which is actually really nice. It's like your own personal mansion with tons of bedrooms, a kitchen, dining area with a couple of huge tables, living rooms. It's really cool because we all get to be together and stay there for only $20 a night (per room). So Jason and I and the girls stay in one room, set up the pack-n-play for Landree and Ryleigh sleeps in the sleeping bag. Every year we do the main meal on Saturday night a little different. (in the past we've had chili cook offs, soup buffet, etc) This year we had pizza's from Pizza Hut, lots of dips/appetizers, and then egg bakes this morning for breakfast. We also do a white elephant gift exchange (which is basically some fun stuff that we find lying around our houses or some canned/baked foods, etc.) for the adults and then the little ones do a gift exchange as well. Ryleigh added another Barbie to her growing collection and Landree a stuffed animal and play "cell phone". Ryleigh had a blast with her cousins, Payton and Jena. Its pretty cool because all their birthdays are in July but they are each a year apart. Ryleigh is 3, Payton, 4 and Jena, 5! Landree just enjoyed roaming the large rectory, following the big sisters, as did Paytons little sister, Brooklyn (who turned one in June). The highlights of the weekend for me was to see all of my grandparents! We brought my Grandma over from the nursing home for a couple of hours and it was so good to see her and her and Grandpa together. On Saturday morning, we brought over my dad's mom and had brunch with her. We also played Apples to Apples Saturday night for a few hours. It's been a while since I've stayed up until 2:30 am...I can definitely count on 1 hand how many times that has happened in the past couple of years and the funny thing, it mostly happens when I am with this family :) Nothing like your kids getting you up at 7 am when you go to bed at 2:30, and that my friends, is exactly why I can count the number of times on one hand!! LOL! I think we are done with road trips for awhile now. I can't believe how well the girls did on both trips, what a pair of troopers! And, no car problems this time around!! Phew! Well, hope everyone has a great week, it's going to be a busy one for sure!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Terri

Happy Birthday to you, Terri. Hope your day is very special. Thanks for being a special part in our lives, we love you! For some reason, every picture I have of you, you aren't looking at me. And, for some reason, I don't have any of you and Ryleigh (I know I do, but I can't find the one that I like) and I have a really good one of you and Danny on New Year's Eve, but I still haven't been able to make space on the computer yet to get the pictures off of my camera. I have an entire month on the camera now and only have space for 39 more pictures. If Jason can't fix it before the weekend, I might have to go get a new memory card! Well, again, hope you have a fab day.

Happy 21st Birthday, Brittany Ann!!

I say it every year and I will say it again.......I can't believe you are 21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously can remember the day you were born. I can't wait to see you next weekend, hand you a beer, and it will be "legal"! HAHA! I stole this picture from facebook, hope you don't mind! Isn't she a beauty?! So, just pretend I am singing this to you: Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy 21st birthday dear Brittany, Happy Birthday to you. I love you like your my sister.....thanks for being the closest thing to me that I can call a sister (besides your two sisters-haha)! Hope you have a great day and please be safe!! See you in less than a week! **Lisa, can you believe you have a 21 year old??? I can't!**

Road Trip

Well, we took a short road trip on Friday and Saturday. What was supposed to be short turned into a much longer trip. Jason, my parents, the girls and I headed to La Crosse, WI to visit with our newest family member, my SIL, Kelli. She was home for a week with her family and they brought her to La Crosse to see us. It's usually about a 3 hour drive, but about 30 minutes from La Crosse, our car started "sputtering" on the freeway. We took the next exit we could and at the top of the off ramp, the car died. Luckily my parents have AAA services and we had a tow truck pick us up an our after we had been sitting on the side of the road. Unfortunately, the tow truck couldn't haul two car seats, but the fortunate thing was that we were only 30 minutes from La Crosse, so Kelli's dad came and got the girls, mom and I and the guys went with the tow truck to get a rental car. So, we got to the hotel a little quicker than the guys and had pizza. The FUNNY thing, Landree ate two pieces of a regular sliced pizza and then carried around Ryleigh's piece and ate about 1/2 of that one. Yeah, she's an oinker!! In the mean time, the tow truck took my dad and Jason to Winona where they found all the car rental places in town closed (and it was only 6 pm on a Friday night). Luckily, there are still some nice people on this planet and they came in off hours and rented a car out to my dad. Since it was a smaller vehicle, not all 6 of us could fit in it though, so the guys did a lot of driving on Saturday. And, when we most likely would have been home around 1 or so, we didn't arrive in Mankato until about 7 pm last evening. The problem: we didn't find out until Saturday morning that our fuel pump went out. NOT COOL! But it's all fixed now, and in the 5 years we've had the car, that's the only thing that we've ever had to fix. **Knock on wood** Oh, and I finally bought myself something with my Christmas money, a purse. Mom and I and the girls spent Saturday from around noon until 4 pm at the mall in La Crosse waiting for the guys to come back and get us with the vehicle, since we couldn't all fit in the smaller one. All in all, it could have been much worse. The hardest part was trying to keep the girls entertained on the side of the road in the dark, but they did fabulous in spite of everything. The best part: we got to hang out with my SIL, Kelli and her family. They are the nicest people and we had a lot of fun. It was nice to see Kelli too, since we haven't seen her since her and my brother tied the knot in July. I just wish my brother could have been there. Oh, and we did get to take the girls swimming on Friday evening and Saturday morning.

Last Thursday was a toughie. A PA-C that I worked with for several years, 18 year old daughter was killed in a head on collision last Monday as was the 16 year old driver in the other vehicle. I went to the girls visitation and just cried my eyes out, it was so sad. I am still in shock. The mom, Karie, told me three times to go home and hug my girls. When I got home, Jason just held me while I cried about everything and my conversation with Karie. He told me he thought Ryleigh was still awake. I went up to just take a look at her precious face and memorize her at this moment in time. She was just drifting to sleep when I walked into her room and she said dazed, "hey mama". I went and planted a big one on her cheek and she could tell I was sniffling. She asked my if I had a "drippy nose" like Landree. I told her no, I was just sad and she asked why. I told her someone got taken away too early from us and she just wrapped her little arms around me and said, " I love you, mama". When she finally let go, she was asleep and I just stared at her beautiful sleeping face for a few minutes and thanked God for giving her and Landree to me. I can't imagine losing a child.....so, I know I have been asking for many prayers lately, but please pray for Julia and her family, pray that they can find peace in this tragedy.

Well, all I can say is this next week has to be better than last week. So, I hope everyone has a good week. We are heading to Nebraska on Friday to celebrate Christmas with my mom's family. I can't wait.

Busy

I've been bad about blogging, but we've been busy (as always-so I shouldn't use this as an excuse)!

This past Saturday, the girls and I met up with my friend Emily and her son, Colin (3) and daughter, Hailey (8 months), friend Laci and her daughter, Addi (4) and friend Amy and daughter, Abby (2) and headed to THE AMAZING CASTLE! The Amazing Castle is a traveling exhibit from the St. Paul Children's Museum. It was brought to the Mankato area by the Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota from November 2009-May 2010! The girls had a blast, in fact I think all the kids had a blast and from who I've talked to all of our kids slept fantastic after two hours of hard playing time at the castle. The amazing castle has eight themed areas with seven storybook characters, part of a castle community. There were two Royal workshops, tailoring and carpentry. There was a garden to pick and plant veggies, a great hall (kitchen) to make a royal feast. There was a place to dress up into role-play lords and ladies, with two royal thrones, as well as a puppet and doll show. There were chickens laying eggs and a blacksmith workshop as well. They also had a play castle area (like a dollhouse) as well as good sized blocks to make a castle. And the best for last, of course, the tower where you matched items/puzzles and woke up the sleeping dragon, "Herold". The girls could have played there for hours and two hours seriously seemed like 5 minutes. I think we might go back as it was lots of fun for a very cheap price. I took a bunch of pictures, but still have no space on my computer, so as soon as we get our computer cleaned up again, I will get them posted.

Sunday, it was nice. At 5pm it was 34 degrees, so I am sure it was even warmer when we took the girls out to play earlier in the day. We should have built a snowman, but Jason wanted to get the driveway cleared off and Landree was dressed in "snow stuff" two sizes to big and couldn't move to well, so I had a hold of her for the majority of the time. Maybe next time it is warm, we will build one as we have almost two feet of snow in the yard and more on the way! I think it was nice to get some fresh air, not only for the girls, but for me as well. I got some pictures of them playing in the snow too, will get them posted soon as well.

This Friday, we are heading a couple of hours east to LaCrosse, WI to hang out with my SIL, Kelli and her family (with my parents). It will be nice to see her, as we haven't seen her since her and my brother got married on the 4th of July. Wish my brother could be there, but he's still under the ocean somewhere! A couple of weeks ago he was in Spain and then last week he was in Greece!

Did ya all see the Vikings beat the Cowboys!! What a good game, hopefully the Vikings can play that good this Sunday and make it to the Superbowl! We will see, it's been many years from what I've gathered. The group that I work with is really into the Vikings, so my boss made it "show your purple pride day" at work on Friday. So, we get to wear Vikings gear and jeans to work. Should be fun!

What's up with Ryleigh you ask? Well, she continues to learn lots of new things. She can spell her entire name and wrote Ryleigh perfect for me on Saturday. She is kind of ornery, though. She does things when she wants, not when you want her to. Jason and I still think we will have troubles with her someday....we can see her report cards already. She knows her letters pretty good (in and out of order), capitals and lower case. Her number flash cards are a breeze for her, too. It's amazing the things these kids can memorize in a day. She cracks us up for sure. Tonight when we were singing, I thought I came up with a song she hadn't heard, so I started singing........"oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day"............the little turkey finished it and said, "I know that one, mama, Grandma Pam sings it to me!!!" I should have known my mom would've sang that one to her, my mom loves show tunes! She also told us tonight that her Christmas tree (yes, she still has one up in her room...it's little and has princess stuff all over it, fits perfect in her room & it's a good night lite), anyways, she told us her Christmas tree was "buckwild"!! Where did she hear that?????? Good question!! She has been requesting I do her hair a lot lately, but with the rush in the mornings, Jason usually gets to comb her hair. Well, last week, she told Cindy (daycare) that she "taught daddy how to put bows in her hair." She had three bows in her hair that Jason put in.....it was pretty cute, I should have taken a picture of his masterpiece!

What about Landree??? She's doing good too! She has a total of 10 teeth now. Tonight, we brushed them with a toothbrush for the first time and she loved it. I think she liked the massaging of her sore gums. I felt bad though, because I went over the molar that just came up last week and she started bleeding. She didn't care though, she just kept opening her mouth and wanting me to brush. Ryleigh was being such a good big sister too, showing her how to brush....and spit :)! She lets Ryleigh do a lot of talking for her too. She will say.."mmmm" and point to something and Ryleigh will tell us what she wants, even though we are trying to get her to say it or sign it. Those two have a language all their own that we don't understand. Tonight they chased each other around the "island" over and over, giggling and giggling. Ryleigh has been playing hide-&-seek with Landree, which she just loves. That and peek-a-boo! She is so much more into dolls than Ryleigh was at this age. She carries them around, feeds them their bottle, holds them, etc. She got a doll for her birthday that seems just as big as her and she gets mad when she can't get that thing just how she wants it, but boy does she love it! She said bath again tonight after taking a hiatus from talking and signing. You should see this girl eat (just like me in this category). She eats non-stop, everything in site. She had two glasses of milk with supper tonight. In fact, she has gained almost two pounds since her first birthday. I am still nursing her twice a day, too! It's like she has a bottomless pit! You should see her run too, it's cute and scary at the same time. She fell on Sunday and hit her cheek on the corner of a drawer. I thought she was going to bruise pretty bad, but she let me put some ice on it for awhile and there is just a little purple mark...phew.

Well, that's about it for the girls and updates. I will get pictures on here soon. Jason and I are doing good, too. Working hard.

Good news and sad news: Good news: baby Ryley is doing good. She is eating like a pro and is moving her right arm and leg, she is just having trouble grasping things with her right hand, but she seems to be healing well. We are having a bowl-a-thon benefit lunch for the family on 2-21-10. It should be a good time, while raising money for them. I work with a good bunch of people, that's for sure! Sad news: a past (young) patient of mine, who we rahabed and sent home after a near death car accident, suffered a loss yesterday. Her husband and daughter were murdered yesterday by the daughters ex-boyfriend, who then shot himself. Very tragic and always hits home when you know the people personally. Please keep both families in your prayers and be thankful for all that you have and each minute you have, it can be taken away so suddenly.

On that note, hope everyone has a great and blessed week. I am going to go watch "hoarders" with Jason....it's a new favorite!

The Weekend

I hear a heat wave is in store..............I am looking forward to the 30's, as that is what it is supposed to reach mid-week! Too bad Jason and I have jobs, or else we'd probably get some good playing time in with the girls, maybe it will stay light enough outside to play for a few minutes before it gets dark and hopefully it will still be that warm by the weekend. Ryleigh has been asking since Jason and dad took her, to go sledding again! Plus, this being cooped up is getting old. The sun was shining brightly this morning, so the four of us sat in the window, playing and getting some Vitamin D!!

We've had a good weekend. Friday, Ryleigh had gymnastics and Jason hung out with a buddy and then Saturday, our good friends Ryan and Ana and their little girl, Lila came over for supper and to hang out. As always, it was a great time. Thanks so much guys, for the cute gifts for the girls, we read Landree's book about 50 times today!! Today we didn't do much except run around. Headed to church this morning and then went to look all over town for a car seat for Ryleigh. Soon, Landree will get to sit in Ryleigh's now and then Ryleigh will get a new car seat that switches to a booster when she gains a few more pounds. We found one, but it was sold out. Now, I've been looking for it online and I found it!!! Landree must of been a tired little thing this morning because she fell asleep on the way to the store and then stayed asleep in my arms while shopping and then finally woke up when we headed back out into the frigid cold! Ryleigh got the movie UP for Christmas as well as Snow White. Snow White was very popular for awhile, but more recently she is into UP. I finally today, watched the entire movie from start to finish. She was hilarious when she was taking a bath. She told us she was Charles Munse (sp). For some reason (maybe it's because she's her father's daughter) she was very ornery today. Right in front of me she hit Landree on the top of her head with 3 markers. She didn't even argue or cry when I put her in a time-out. Then, Landree and I left the room and when I came to check on her, she had tears rolling down her face. She told me exactly what she had done and why and then went and apologized to Landree and gave her a hug and kiss. Sometimes, I don't know what overcomes her because she and Landree, for the most part, get along very good.

We have a few crazy weeks ahead of us. On the 22, we are heading to La Crosse, WI to hang out with my SIL, Kelli and her family with my parents. It should be lots of fun and not to far of a drive, thank heavens! Then, the weekend after that, we are heading to Nebraska to celebrate Christmas with my mom's family and to also see my other grandma (my dad's mom)! I am so excited and already have our white elephant gifts picked out this year!! Then I don't think we have another thing on the calendar until June (so far)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And, wouldn't you know, our computer is acting up again, so I have been unable to download any photos onto it. As soon as we get it some free disc space, I will get some posted, but for now, you just have to read my boring posts!!

Updates and stuff!

Just a few updates:

I talked with my SIL, Kelli this evening. My brother was docked somewhere in Spain and got to call her. It sounds like he's doing good. Only a few more months and then he gets to come home. I think it helped her spirits and probably his too, to hear from each other. Hopefully Spain is a lot warmer than it is here. I couldn't believe it the other morning when I was heading into work (at 2:30 am) and looked at the temperature and it was -26 degrees outside. Luckily the wind wasn't blowing or it would have been much worse. January for me is the coldest and longest month of the whole year, so hopefully it goes by quickly! The cold weather has been reeking havoc on the vehicles. This morning, Jason's truck wouldn't start, so he had to catch a ride to work. Fortunately, mine was parked in the garage so it started right up. Once I got to work it seemed like everyone had issues with cars starting with at least themselves or their kids. Crazy.

Baby Ryley is doing better. She was a little agitated the past few days, but was happier today. She passed her video swallow study and the tube feeding was removed for the third time (she pulled it out the second time it was put in). The agitation is a good sign as it shows she is waking up! They brought her in a bottle today and she smiled and drank it all!! YAY!! This means she gets to go home tomorrow. She is still not moving her right arm, hand or foot, but she is in therapy. The young brain is so resilient, so it will be hard to see if she has any long term deficits for awhile, especially since she is only 5 months old, but so far she has been a little miracle. Please keep her in her prayers as it will be a long road ahead.

Ryleigh and Landree are doing well. I remembered tonight that I forgot I was going to tell a funny story. The only reason why I am remembering now is because Landree did it again in the bath tonight. A few weeks ago, she was blowing raspberries on Ryleigh's back in the tub. It was funny because at first we thought she was going to try and bite her but when her wet lips hit Ryleigh's wet skin and she blew the loudest raspberry ever, all 4 of us were laughing so hard. At first we thought Ryleigh had tooted, but soon realized that is was Landree blowing raspberries, now it is fun for them both to blow raspberries on each other and the giggling is so fun to hear. I especially thought it was funny when Landree blew that first one and then her little belly just jiggled. Jason and I were actually laughing so hard that we were silent and tears were coming down. I have it on video but since the girls are exposed, I am not posting it. Sorry!

Finally, Landree has learned somewhat how to go down the stairs. I have been trying to teach her, otherwise she climbs up them, sits on the middle one and wails until one of us comes to get her. She also said "bath" the other night and ran toward the bathroom when we asked her and Ryleigh if they were ready for a bath. We tried it again tonight just to see if she really comprehends what we were telling her and sure enough we said bath and she went running towards it. She also didn't take any bottles at daycare last week. All sippie cup. Sad and exciting times for us both. I am still nursing her in the morning and evening, otherwise she is becoming less of my baby and more of my toddler. Jason and I did some measurements on her on her first birthday that I forgot to post until I saw Emeryns. She is weighing in at 17 pounds and is 28 inches long. (Funny when compared to Ryleigh at 1 year, Landree weighs 4 pounds less and is an inch and a half shorter) If I thought Ryleigh was my petite one, I was wrong!! LOL!!

Well, I am so tired. My schedule gets so messed up when I work those odd hours at night when I am used to sleeping. I don't know how people do that on a regular basis. I still feel like I haven't caught up on all my sleep. I have posted this picture of Jason and I in our HUSKER gear. It was fun to see them win the Holiday Bowl 33-0!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO BIG RED!!! I am hoping they look that good every game next year. We will miss you, Suh!

Happy New Year, from our home to yours!

Hope everyone had fun bringing in the new year! We had a good time with Jason's dad, Danny and Terri! We celebrated a few hours early so the girls could help celebrate, Ryleigh sure had a hoot, but I think Landree thought we were all crazy!! Anyhow, will add more pictures later. I have to work tomorrow morning from 3-7am so I will be going to bed immediately after the girls tonight!