Halloween 2011

 We had a very nice Halloween this year.  On Sunday evening we went to the Bison Sports Arena and trick-or-treated with the Bison.  They had a ton of fun little games set up for the kids to play.  Landon had an absolute riot playing the games and getting candy afterwards.  Kadence played about half the games.  She had fun, but was sporting some serious 'tude; it must have been the costume.

 Love this picture of Kadence being silly.  The kids had "black/orange" day at school and did a lot of fun Halloween activities.  We trick-or-treated around our neighborhood at about 6pm.  It was a good way for us to meet a few of our neighbors and the kids loved it.  I was amazed by the amount of small children that live right around us.  It will be fun in the spring when it warms up and everyone gets back outside.  After trick-or-treating we came back home and watched the "Shrek" Halloween special on tv and Landon and Kadence handed out candy.  I think they had just as much fun doing that.

I can't believe it is November already! We are counting down sleeps to the big 5th birthday!  Just 4 sleeps until my boy turns 5 and then shortly after that we will be celebrating Kenzie's FIRST birthday! Wow.  Happy November!  I am anticipating a first snowfall soon...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  We enjoyed trick-or-treating with the Bison last night and the kids are very excited to go trick-or-treating around our new neighborhood tonight!  Love my little "Frankenstyle," (as Landon says) Princess, and Strawberry.  Hope everyone has a safe halloween!

Feeling like Friday!

I love Friday.  When I was working as an RN I never experienced the true love of a Friday.  When you work 3 12 hour shifts a week and every 3rd weekend there was really no such thing as a normal work week or weekend.  This was actually both good and bad.  It was awesome those weeks that your week ended Wednesday and you had at least Thursday-Sunday off and sometimes even longer.  It was awful when it was Friday night and your work was starting while most normal people were ready to celebrate their weekend.  With my staying at home with the kids and Ryan working mostly Monday-Friday, I have discovered the love for Fridays.  It means we get to wake up with Daddy here the next two mornings and can plan family time for Saturday and Sunday (scheduled around the Vikings).  It is great!  With that said, I love waking up Friday morning and knowing after work today, Ryan will be ours for the next 2 days!

On a side note, our girls are definitely adjusting to sharing a room together.  They are doing very well for the most part.  They don't always go to bed/nap at the same time and often wake up without waking one another...until the past couple of days.  The girls were napping the other day and I heard Kenzie for just a second and then didn't hear her anymore, so I assumed (wishfully thinking perhaps) that she had fallen back asleep.  Pretty soon Landon informed me that he heard the girls laughing.  So, I stood by the door and heard them, too.  When I entered their room, this is what I found. They were playing and as happy as could be.

 I think Landon felt left out, he hopped in for some fun, too.  I didn't really think too much of these events since they were during the day.  Well...last night about 3:30 I heard Kenzie (not uncommon this is normal for her).  I was going to get up and get her when all of a sudden I heard nothing.  Again, I was assuming she fell back asleep on her own.  Had I not been half asleep myself I would have realized the likelihood of her falling back to sleep once she wakes up in the night is not good.  So, about 15 minutes later or so I hear, "Mommy, mommy."  I went in to the girls' room and the light was on and Kadence and Kenzie were in the crib again.  They thought it was play time at 3:30 am.  Kadence called me in because she had to go potty and she is afraid to get out of the crib by herself.    This is the girl who never crawled out of her crib, we just took her out a few months before she turned 2 when she was potty trained.  Kadence went potty and back to sleep pretty easily.  Kenzie...not so much.  She had been up and playing and thought it was time to be up!  I fed her and put her back to bed and I don't think she went back to sleep for at least 45 minutes.  Little stinker.  Don't worry though, she still woke us all up before 7 this morning!

*I think we probably will only need one bed for the girls when Kenzie outgrows her crib.  I have a feeling they will be sleeping together most nights.

Any other day, I would probably be tired and cranky, but it's Friday!  The kids are at school and my baby girl is taking a nap (can't imagine why she'd be tired) and I am taking a few moments to myself...drinking my coffee and blogging.  Life is good!  Happy Friday to you all!

11 months?

I can not believe this little munchkin is 11+ months.  That is almost a year.  Where has my little baby gone?  Why do kids grow up so fast?  She is such a sweet, loving little girl who is showing her independence and stubbornness more each day.  This little peanut has known what she wants and does not want since she was teeny tiny and it is showing through even more now.  She has crazy blonde hair and a big bright smile than could brighten even the darkest day.

 Getting a great picture of Kenzie has been a challenge lately.  She does not sit still.  The one above was me attempting to get a picture and she was crawling toward me wanting to sit on my lap.  Love her!

I had to post some tub pictures.  She usually loves her tub.  I usually tub all 3 at the same time which she loves.  I found out the other morning she also likes tubbing by herself!  She doesn't ever want to sit down which gets very frustrating!  Although, I must say she is pretty good at standing and sitting and walking around without falling.  I don't know if that's a good thing or bad.

Happy last month of your first year of life baby girl.  We are so blessed to have you in our lives.  You sure keep us tired and on our toes!

Home!

We are finally home!  We are officially moved in and settled into our new home.  We are so lucky to have such a great family that has pained through our 5 moves in 5 years and offered their help moving, unpacking, and decorating.  I am not quite sure we would have been able to do it with out all of the love, help, and support.

We  closed on the house Friday the 14th.  Ryan and I moved a few things over that evening but moved most of our things the next day.  With the help of Sue, Jack, Holly, and Ryan's work buddy Nate, we loaded, moved, and unloaded all of our things Saturday.  Then Arin arrived and started helping us unpack, organize, and decorate.  Sue painted Landon's room Saturday night and Sue, Arin, and Holly painted Kadence and Kenzie's room on Sunday.  Then Monday Sue, Ryan, and I (mostly Sue and Ryan) painted the living room and kitchen.  Sue and Arin helped pick our paint colors and I absolutely love how it all turned out!  Sue left early Tuesday am and Arin and I finished all the decorating.  Arin is so talented at decorating and I just love everything!  So, in less than a week we were all moved in situated and decorated.

My parents arrived the next Friday afternoon and Ryan and I headed over to the town house to finish up cleaning.  They watched the kids for us Saturday night so we could go out to some friends' of ours wedding reception.  It was much needed after the month we had!

So, finally we can say "Home Sweet Home" and feel like we will be here for awhile.  There are just some minimal things we will be doing over the next year to make some improvements to our home.  The home is a 5 bedroom 3 bathroom rambler with a triple stall attached garage built in 2008.  The main level is extremely open with vaulted ceilings.  There are 3 bedrooms on the main level so the kids are all right across from us.  We have finally regained our own room as we moved Kenzie in with Kadence.  Kenzie is still waking up once or twice a night and thankfully big sister is sleeping right through it.  Kadence didn't want her own room and was excited to share her new pink room with her baby sister.  Landon is loving having his own room.  It is the cutest boy room ever decorated with football, baseball, soccer, and basketball.  They all seem to be sleeping in a little bit longer in the morning.  Landon has been sleeping a half hour to hour longer; it is just great!  The downstairs was just finished prior to us buying the house, so it is brand new.  The downstairs family room is gigantic with plenty of room to play and run.  The kids have already spent a lot more time down there than I expected!  There is a large very nice laundry room which is home to my new washer and dryer (finally!).  The 2 bedrooms downstairs are large and I am so happy we finally have a spare bedroom (with a bed) for our family to stay in when they visit!  And the best part...we are sharing a wall with NO ONE (although if I had to choose a family to share a wall with I'd pick the Carlson's for sure).  So here's to home ownership and all it entails!  We are very excited and absolutely love our new home.


Thank you thank you thank you to everyone that helped us.  We appreciate it so much!!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!

These two handsome guys already share a love for football.  Landon loves playing football with Ryan and has even shown some interest in watching it, too!  When I took out Landon's jersey for him to wear he was so excited!  He's too young to know that the Vikings are actually terrible.

So tough!

Here's Landon after he came in from playing football outside with Ryan.  Too cute.

Ryan and Landon even went and watched Jack play football in the Fargodome.

Aunty Holly and Landon.  Ryan said Landon actually watched the game for awhile.  This is impressive for a busy body almost 5 year old.

So...we were busted.  This is what Kadence and I did during the Vikings game.  I fell asleep on the couch and she crawled up next to me to snuggle and fell fast asleep. Actually, the outcome of my nap was much better than the outcome of the game!

Sneak Peek at the Ballerina.

This week was parent observation week at dance.  I have been eagerly awaiting this day since Kadence started dancing.  It was so fun to finally be able to watch her dance with her class.  There is something just absolutely adorable about a bunch of 3-4 year olds in their dance outfits.  They did ballet first and then put their tap shoes on to practice for their "sugar plum" dance for the December holiday recital.

Practicing ballet.  I love that she's using the wrong foot!

Pretty girl!

Time for tap!  I think Kadence enjoys tap the most.

There's lots of love in dance class...

It was so much fun to watch the little dance girl!  I was pleasantly surprised that she wasn't shy at all. Can't wait for their holiday recital!!