Candles and Carrot Cake

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO
MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND!!!!

Yesterday was Joe's Birthday and he turned the ripe old age of 27, yes...I am a cradle robber. While I am savoring every last day of my 20's, my "younger man" is in the midst of them!! Its actually quite funny however.... I get mistaken for someone in my teens..yes teens, I know a little ridiculous right??? and Joe, well people think he's in his 30's...sooo HA!! We had a pretty low key day I let Joe sleep in while I took the kids to school, ran errands, and then picked them up. The kids and I went to the park with the puppy (there is a funny story to come about THAT whole fiasco...good lord, never again) anyway, we went to the park came home and I finished icing the cake and I made dinner. We had a "Mexican fiesta" Yum yum!!! We had tacos, burritos, re fried beans, and Spanish rice...the kids and I had 1 taco each....Joe had 6 tacos AND 2 burritos. The only people who will believe that statement who will be reading this are Joes parents, they will vouch for me!!
Before when we were dating, Joe would be telling me one of his stories...he's a BIG story teller, as those of you who have spent more than 5 minutes with him know he is a TALKER, but thats why I love him...anyway he's telling about the time him and his childhood friend had a mini pizza eating contest and he ate 27 .....well, I TOTALLY thought he was embellishing, so he made me call his parents and ask them, so I did, and the story was confirmed..believe it or not. Just a side note...there were probably at least 5 other instances that I had to call "to check his story out"!! Hey what can I say...he has some pretty crazy stories!!!
I must also take a quick second to thank Joe's wonderful parents for raising such a wonderful man. Mom and Pop you two are WONDERFUL! I am so thankful for your son AND thankful for being apart of your family!!!
Alright on to the pictures.......

Joe's carrot cake

he looks frightened...I know I'm not the best cake decorator!!: )

He looks mischievous here

Blowing out the candles...with a little help

Kara helping take the candles out...and being what else but...silly

HAPPY BIRTHDAY baby! I love you SOOOOOOOO very much!!! I am so happy to spend the rest of your birthdays with you!!!

Monkey Bar Mishap

Well, the first day was a success!!! I survived ... AND they LOVE school!! Kaden's teacher is Mrs.Creech, and she is GREAT!! He has his own locker and cubby and is already making friends. Kara's teacher is Mrs. Lezueski and she is equally great! She gets to play play dough and play on the new school playground, she has music class and even goes to the computer lab!!! I'm so happy...even though I do miss them when they are there!!
On another note.......Tuesday we had Kaden's curriculum night at school, the kids were able to attend and play on the playground with the school principle while we stayed for the meeting. WELL...... we met the kids when we went down to the classroom and instead of my happy new kindergartner showing me around the classroom like he was supposed to..... I was consoling his foot!!! It turned out he slipped off the monkey bars and landed on his foot wrong. I took one look at it and knew he needed to go to the doctor, it was already bruising and swelling up......soooooo..... after running errands all day, going to Kara's first gymnastics lesson (which went really well...and I will post pictures and tell you about soon) then we had to run and get dinner and go straight to the meeting, and now at 7:45 we were on our way to the Emergency room to get his foot looked at.
3 hours later.....I am happy to report we had NO broken bones. The doctor did put a splint on however that he had to wear all yesterday and today... which he protested to no avail. He made me DRAG him kicking and screaming to school today...it was quite fun let me tell you, all because he didn't want to wear the splint...it was just great!!!
Anyway, long story short...here's the pictures from the hospital....and when he still thought the splint was kinda "cool"!! : )

Kaden and his boo-boo

The dreaded splint

First day of school

Well....I made it.... Kaden is safely at Kindergarten and Kara at preschool.
They have officially started their school journey. No more babies, no more toddlers.... I was wrong when I said I wasn't sad... I am sad...they are growing up and I can't stop it. It seems like yesterday I was bringing Kaden home from the hospital after his month long stay in the NICU, he was so tiny, so fragile. Learning to roll over, sit up, taking him to physcial therapy to learn to crawl, becoming a brother at 11 months old before he could even walk. He was my Chunky monkey, with rolls everywhere a roll could be. He was a GREAT baby! He was very attentive and loving, he LOVED to cuddle. Sissy was born..and what a little princess she was! Going through the same milestones that went just went through with Kaden. She was such a smiley baby. So happy! She WAS however very demanding, always knew what she wanted... and was very determined till she got it. They have grown up so fast, sometimes I look at them and see the little adults they are going to be. Don't you wish you could just freeze time??? Okay..I'm totally working myself up...

Anyway, our morning started at 7:30, both the kids were SUPER excited and woke up on their own. They got themselves dressed and teeth brushed. I gave Kara the options for her hair style and she picked a side bun...so cute!!! They ate breakfast, a muffin and fruit with chocolate milk. Then we had a little first day photo session

My big kindergartener

She's a school-girl now

Showin' off the backpacks

Kaden by his locker... "it's so cool"

Putting his supplies in his cubby..while mommy had to watch from afar : (

Kara in her class...this is before the minor melt down when I left

Drawing a picture for her teacher Mrs. L

Playing puzzles

Only a couple more hours and I can go pick them up, I will give you the FULL report about their day when they get home!!!
For all those mothers going through the same thing right now... I feel your pain!!!!
For all those first days of school that I got annoyed with you mom...I'm sorry!!!! I totally get it now!!

Puppy Power!!!

We have a "new" puppy...we've actually had her for almost 2 months...her name is Bella and she is an American Pit Bull Terrier. YES, I said Pit Bull.....YES we let her around the kids, and NO, we wouldn't even consider getting another kind of dog!!
Joe has been a pit bull lover for years, he bred and raised them..me on the other hand took a little convincing! I too had the same thoughts as many do about the misrepresentation of pits... its really sad because they are the SWEETEST dogs ever! I found this website that goes into detail about pits that I found very interesting in case you are interested its: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/americanpitbull.htm
This is just a short excerpt from the site that I think sums it up:
"The American Pit Bull Terrier has a strong pleasure to please. The APBT has evoked more human emotional, rational, and irrational response than any other breed that exists today. By no means are these dogs people-haters or people-eaters. Their natural aggressive tendencies are toward other dogs and animals, not people. However if they are properly socialized they will not even be aggressive with them. These are truly quality companions for quality owners only! " We love our little Bella and are soooo happy to have her as a new addition to the family!!
Here are some pics...some are from the phone camera, so they aren't quite as good.....

First day home (12 weeks)

Look at that little face

Bella with her rope..that lasted all of about a week

Kaden and his puppy

Kara and her puppy

Bella at 19 weeks...already getting big!! 31lbs

Her favorite thing to do...sunbathe on the deck

Joe loves this one cause she looks like a "real" pit!!

Sibling Love...

So, its Saturday morning and I am the only one up besides the puppy, actually, she is the one who woke me up! : ) Darn puppies!! Anyway, school is starting in just mere days and I can't help but be emotional. My babies are growing up! I'm not sad, at least I don't think, but just plain old emotional...so when I get emotional, I find my self look at old pictures. And one reoccurring picture that I found over and over...and not just because I tell them to pose...was Kaden and Kara truly showing their "sibling love".
Kaden is starting kindergarten on Wednesday and already has the boy mentality that girls are "gross"! So, from time to time you'll see Kara chasing Kaden around trying to give him kisses and he is NOT havin' it! Its pretty funny!
And fight...oh boy do they fight...over everything!! From who sits in the middle, to who stirs the brownies...who gets to use the red crayon first, to who is the oldest! Its funny actually..Kara told me the other day she wished she was 4 (which she is) and that Kaden was one so she could be the boss, then she proceeded to tell me that ONE day, she WOULD be older, that she would pass him! I tried to explain, but...she insisited it was possible!
But still through all the tatling and yelling, and slaming of doors..which my daughter has recently started (sigh) they have a GREAT friendship and love for eachother!
The other day the kids were in the garage and Kara came running in the house exclaiming "my brother got hurt, momma my brother needs you" So I went out side and Kara was standing over him being a little "mother" telling him "awww, Kaden, you'll be ok" in her sweet little voice. It was so cute.

So here are a few pictures of my babies and the close relationship I hope they keep forever:

The most recent..just taken on Wednesday

This is Kara's "I love you sooo much face" ... which she usually says as she hugs you

She caught him!

My little water babies, I love this one

Just precious!

They play together

They are silly together

They even get bored together

Okay, so every now and then Kaden has to chase after Kara too

THERE..that's better!

There are a TON more pictures I could post, but I will end for now.
Kaden and Kara, my wish is that you will always have a strong bond and loving friendship with one another, take care of eachother, and maintain your sibling LOVE!!!

Summer!!!

Remember summers as a kid?? So carefree, not a care in the world, filled with lazy days, and lots of sunshine. Where days are filled with an agenda, but a fun one..like riding your bike for HOURS, going on fun adventures in the woods with your friends ( i use to have a friend named Michael and we had marsh land behind our houses in our neighborhood and we would go out there for hours pretending we were on a safari..or that we were on a treasure hunt and bad guys were chasing us), and LOTS and LOTS of swimming!!! Remember the country time lemonade commercials? Those to me are the appitomy of summer...walking barefoot in a big open field, swinging on a tire swing
My childhood is filled with so many great memories of summer. A lot of those have to do with the annual family reunions we use to have! They were SO fun! Some years we would all stay at a hotel, one year we went to a resort..that was pretty fun, but the two places with the most memories were the beach house in Galveston TX, and when we stayed at a ranch outside of San Antonio...both places we did a couple years in a row. At the beach the house was AWESOME! It had a few levels if I remember correctly, with two levels of decks. We spent so much time at the beach playing in the sand.. I remember one year my aunt made the totally AMAZING mermaid sand sculpture..even to this day I remember exactly what it looked like. My cousins and I use to try and see who could catch the most crawdads...my cousin Jarrett ALWAYS won! At the ranch we would ride horses and swim and tube in the river. We had all these contests for the adults and the kids..like a potato peeling contest, or donut on string contest where you have to eat it before it falls!! So fun! There was a main gathering area where the kitchen was and then cabins for each of our families...I remember one night all the kid cousins got our sleeping bags and all slept on the porch and told ghost stories and scared ourselves to death!!!
Ahhhhhh.....good times!!!
I hope Kaden and Kara will be able to look back in 20 years with the same fondness of summers as I have been able to do, with their own memories and stories.... I can't wait to hear the tales!!!

Here are a couple pictures of our summer this year...

So pretty!!

My handsome little man

Watermelon anyone???

My daughter WILL be the class clown..I'm predicting it NOW!!

Family fun at Greenfield Village on the train

Gettin' tickled!!

Doing "cartwheels" down the hill in our backyard

Lemonade Anyone???

So it all started when we got new patio furniture... we had this giant box waiting to be thrown out on garbage day, when the 11 year old next door saw it and protested that I could not "throw that beautiful box away!" That's when the idea for a clubhouse emerged... The next day I got out all my craft paints and brushes and the kids and Taylor started creating their master piece! Before you knew it we had 6 kids over helping with what was now the "neighborhood club house" and had the dual purpose of a "selling stand" The kids were SO cute working so diligently on their project. I cut out the windows and we even made curtains.They decided that they would sell pictures, as in pictures that they would draw, which all the kids came over and worked on. They would sell cards, like greeting cards, which the big kids did. Crafts were also on the list of goods, but we didn't get to finish those up, and last but not least...snacks (whatever I feel like making basically) and LEMONADE! We made double fudge chocolate chip brownies and fresh raspberry peach lemonade...yummy!!
We set up shop on the corner coming into our neighborhood and all the kids helped! It was too cute!! They did pretty well..about 8 dollars and change. They ended up lowering their prices a little and even offering package deals.... quite the little entrepreneurs I tell ya! They want to make it a weekly sale and put up flyers and everything....
oh lord...what did I get myself into???

Here are the pictures ....

All the kids gathered at our house

The Clubhouse side
Setting up shop
Every good shop owner has to "test" their product!!

The kids had a TON of fun! ......Remember when you use to have enough imagination to see the potential of a patio furniture box!!!!!