Pictures!!

So excited to share a couple pictures that Bree took this past weekend. Here's a sampling, and what I'm planning to use this year for Nece's 3 year, Franny's 1 year and our family pictures. I've uploaded all of them onto DotPhoto and will be ordering... Enjoy!

What else did we do this weekend?

Took the girls to the waterpark. What a great time, with a great kids area- think park in the middle of 1 1/2 feet of water. Nece had a blast, and we even went down the big waterslides a couple times. Franny, that child has NO fear. She was right in there crawling arond, and splashing.

Got stuck inside for a some of the weekend due to LOTS of rain Friday, overnight and Saturday for awhile. Luckily, we were just south (by 5 miles) of one of the areas that had really bad storms.

Started cleaning through stuff, and getting stuff into donation piles. I know, fun stuff!

And of course, Friday night had a bonfire! One of our favorite weekend past-times... kids love the fire, eating marshmallows and running around.

AND... Kara took 4 steps on Sunday evening. This was the 2nd time we've seen her take steps in the past week, so it's just around the corner... she can taste the freedom that's about to come her way!

The Garden...

Earlier this summer, we posted about the garden that we had planted. Here is a quick update- we don't have enough sun, so we aren't getting the crops we had hoped for. We've gotten a few squash, broccoli, onions the pumpkins are taking over. Our tomato plants have taken off, as have the green beans, and peppers, but we're seeing very little budding. Here's picture of the before and current state.

YES, there are weeds in there... but seriously, trust me... there are many plants too.

Next year, we have a new spot for the garden... with much more sun and we hope to have more success.

I guess we'll see what happens... there's a first for everything!

The Wedding...

Marc and Cindy got married on July 18... they couldn't have requested a better weekend. Granted, there were a couple showers, but it didn't get in the way of any of the festivities and the temperature was absolutely beautiful. Just look at the happy bride and groom! Pure joy and love on their faces! We love you guys!!!

There was some concern from the getgo that Nece was going to push Franny down the aisle in the wagon. Well, Cindy got a 'training' American Flyer and gave it to the girls on Friday night. From the looks of this picture, Franny could have pushed Nece down the aisle.

But of course, we know kids... and we know that kids don't always cooperate when it's their turn to shine. On Saturday the wagon was pulled out and Nece couldn't wait for Franny to sit in the wagon and push her. She got about four pews up, realized there was loud music playing and she had approximately 200 people staring at her. She turned back, and looked at me with the 'deer in headlights' stare... and this is what happened.

It was really okay though... you never know what to expect from a three and almost one year old. Cindy was prepared for whatever was about to happen that day, and she wasn't going to let it ruin it... only add a bit of character to it!

After the wedding, the girls went back with Emmie and Shauni (our babysitters for the weekend) and had a fun filled evening at the hotel. They went swimming, played with Arial, ordered pizza, ate lots of snacks and just enjoyed staying in the hotel. As I called up around 9P to see if the girls wanted to come down... I was informed they were both out cold. They were tuckered out from their big weekend, and it gave mommy and daddy some time to relax, cut loose and enjoy some adult time, with quite a few cocktails! Indeed a good time was had by all.

It was a very fast weekend, but one with memories to last a lifetime. One of the most very special things for me about the weekend, was the privlege my girls had to wear their flower girl dresses made by their 90 year old great grandma (my grandma). Those are true keepsakes that I will treasure forever, and know my girls will also appreciate as they get older.

Thank you grandma... something we will be able to treasure forever! We love you.

I know...

I've been missing for an entire month now! Please know that I've thought about this many times, and had updates, just haven't gotten around to it. We've been busy this last month with a trip to Winona to get my hair all pretty for Cindy and Marc's wedding on July 18. The week before (actually two) the wedding, there was lots of running around, coordinating and getting final details in place.

Wedding weekend... pictures to come and detailed blog to come. A good time was had by all.

After the big weekend... it sure has been hard to get overly-motivated. I think that is probably what happens after a VERY busy close to three months. We've enjoyed some down-time these last couple weekends and are getting ready for a couple busy ones beginning August 15.

More to come on what we've been up to for the last month... very shortly.

OK- I'll commit. I'll have this blog updated by the end of the week with pictures and all! If I don't you can come after me!

So... if you've been gone. Please come back, and tell your whoever else too... I promise more to come soon!

Happy Birthday my little darlin

What a great day Nece had! Some (okay all) of mom's birthday excitement IS going to rub off on my girls! It's so much fun to have your special day and I want to make sure both girls know that!

Our day started about 7 days ago (one day after mine) with a birthday countdown! We had to stop mid-week because Nece got ticked that it wasn't her birthday YET. Yesterday I sent Marc and Nece to the grocery to grab some pink frosting for her birthday cupcakes that she was taking to Sue's. What did they come home with...

• pink frosting



• princess sprinkles



• princess candles



• a '3' candle



• happy birthday cupcake liners

After getting home from camping, we made our princess cupcakes... and before bed we picked out our birthday outfit! Thanks Grandma Moger- this is the one she chose, and loved it!

No problem getting Nece up this morning (it's normally a struggle). She popped right up when I walked in her room and said "Good Morning birthday girl".

Off to Sue's for the day, while Mom ran around getting everything ready for this evening. 4PM rolled around, and I picked the girls up... Happy as a clam with her new Barbie and princess coloring set from Sue. Thanks Sue.

Then it was time for the birthday girl to choose her dinner. She proudly announced "I want to go out."

Okay, Nece... where do you want to go?

McDonalds. (yum, thank goodness for the Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad). Chicken Nuggets, french fries, chocolate milk, a happy toy and ranch/ketchup for dipping.

After dinner we came home and stalled about 20 minutes before going to the garage for the 'big reveal'. We've asked Nece for weeks what kind of cake she wants... Dora. Okay- Dora theme it is this year.

• Dora Cake



• Dora napkins



• Dora plates



• Dora balloon bouquet



• Dora wrapping paper

LOVE and overwhelm on her face as she took it all in. 6:30 arrives and our neighbors start arriving for the birthday party! Dairy Queen cake and we said no presents, but we opened presents.

Thanks to:

• Marjene- Dora bubbles and Color Wonder Kit
• Don and Alvina- Memory, Princess color set for the car and Dora puzzle
• Auntie Mona, Mya, and Emmie- Doctor Kit
• Mom, Dad and Kara- 5 Little Monkey's Puzzle, Handy Manny Puzzle and a cottage for the backyard
• Brian and Rene- came for the party and abided by our wishes, no presents and we LOVED having them celebrate with us
• Auntie Molly- a hand-made tutu and her first leotard
• Grandma, Grandpa M & Jon- A Nemo book/CD and Princess book/CD
• Erica, Casey, Tanner & Sam- Princess Tupperware and a shirt with a 'K' embroiderred on it
• Grandma and Grandpa B- money for the savings/college account
• Aunt Cindy and Uncle Marc- a cute outfit
• Great Aunt Julie- a couple outfits, a book and money
• Great Grandma M- money

A fabulous day she had, and one she may or may not remember... but she'll have this blog and all the pictures that we taken! Happy third birthday my little Nece! We LOVE you!

Life changing...

3 years ago today, my (our) life changed forever...

Due date had arrived and passed, another day passed, a third day passed and on the fourth day around 1:45AM... was something really starting to happen? Yep I think so... laying in front of the TV timing contractions it seemed to be pretty consistent and was pretty sure this was the real thing. By the time Marc got up at 5:00, I told him I think that today is the day.

Really? Do you think this is the real thing?

I do. You should call Jason and tell him you aren't gonna be at work.

I bit more time passed. 6AM, we called the doctor. Contractions are a couple minutes apart consistently. He told us to wait for another 30 minutes and call back.

7AM we were in the car for what was a very LONG drive to the hospital. You see the hospital is a good 25-30 minutes away... now lets add in rush hour, a mom in extreme pain every 3 minutes and a very nervous daddy.

Got to the hospital and checked in. By this time, the pain was ridiculous and there was no break between contractions... they were coming on top of eachother. I vaguely remember the doctor checking me and telling me that I was only a couple centimeters... I then remember him telling me that we were gonna break my water. At this point, I had a contraction, was grabbing the top of the hospital bed and in such pain that I literally kicked his hand away and told him NO WAY are you doing that to me right now.

Fast forward a couple LONG painful hours (I don't remember much.) But the one thing I do remember before the epidural arrived was Marc trying to do something with a switch on my hospital bed and the radio started to blare. All I could say was turn that f'ing thing off. He scrambled and couldn't figure out how. It probably didn't help that I was NOT a happy camper at this point so he finally pulled the plug. Thank God that terrible noise was over. Oops... in pulling the plug we (he) set the alarm off at the nurses station.

Finally, the epidural had arrived. Ahhh... the instantaneous relief. I can't believe I had to wait so long, but it was pure heaven when it did arrive. Once the epi was in... I was able to nap, watch TV, hold a coherent conversation with my husband and wait anxiously for the next step in this process that we'd never been through before.

After the doctors knew the epidural had taken effect, they broke my water. No problems this time... do whatever you need to. At this point, they figured out a couple things, I had minimal fluid left and the baby had pooped in me already. Because of these two things, they calmly explained to us there were going to be a couple extra NICU nurses in the room at delivery and it may be a little chaotic.

2:05 the nurse came in and woke me out of a dead sleep to check me (dad was sleeping too). It's time to call the doctor.

Are you serious? Okay. (and the tears started flowing. Why? I don't know, I suppose the hormones and being petrified of what was about to happen).

2:25 doctor arrived. As she put her scrubs on, I did a couple 'practice' pushes. Not having a clue what I was doing, the nurse just told me to push like I had to poop. Okay... that's fine, but I cannot feel a thing with the epidural. At this time, the doctor also explained to us that when the baby comes out, they are going to 'plug her' so she isn't able to breathe right away. They wanted to make sure the babies poop didn't end up in the lungs.

After a couple pushes, and now realizing the cord was wrapped around the neck, and knowing the baby had pooped... the doctor pulled the vacuum out. She didn't want that baby in any more distress than it needed to be in.

2:45PM life had changed forever.

What is it?

It's a girl!!! Kailee Denise was born into this world a whopping 5lbs 13 oz and I think there were three immediate reactions when seeing her, oh my gosh its a girl AND she's SO tiny AND is everything with her okay?!

13 hour labor from first contraction (that I felt) until the time she arrived. 20 minutes of pushing, the doctors preparing for the worst, but everything was perfect. Mom, dad, doctor and nurses were all in the room as Nece had arrived...

Why did I write this post? Well... to capture the birth day of Nece. I don't think I've ever written it down because you believe the details will stay with you forever. They don't and I found myself going back multiple times adding to this post as I remembered different things I had forgotten about that day. If another year had passed, more details would have been forgotten, unintentially.

Hiatus

By the look of things... I've been on hiatus for close to two weeks now. Not a great way to keep people interested in what we have to say. So, for those of you that still like to follow... thanks. Pass the word along that I'm back, though it may be sporadic for the next couple weeks until things slow down a bit after Cindy's wedding.

What are a couple funny things that I wanted to write about?!?! Well, Nece met a robot- sort of. We were in Walmart one day last week- Nece was walking and Franny was riding. A lady stopped and asked how old Franny was. This was a lady that had one of those microphones because her vocal cords were shot. I don't know what they are called, but regardless... kind of robotic.

I answered, 10 months.

Nece looked at me and asked 'mom, is that how she talks?'

I said, Yes, Nece... that helps her talk

The lady was very patient, and she also piped in "This helps me talk"

Nece seemed good with this explanation and off we went. Fast forward a couple minutes.

Mom, I want to see the robot again.

What?

I want to see the robot lady again.

Oh Nece, she isn't a robot, she just needs a microphone to help her speak.

Oh, okay.

And about five minutes later, we saw the nice robot lady again, and I just prayed Nece didn't announce 'there's the robot'.

She didn't. A good teaching moment for mom, Nece and how to think on my feet quickly to address what is appropriate and what isn't.

====

Marc wanted his haircut one Sunday night after a LONG weekend. Now that I think about it, it was Father's Day, so he played the card of 'it's still my day, you have to.'

Okay. Girls are bathed, but not in bed yet. And oh how interested they were. We finally gave in and let Nece help cut dad's hair.

But, why do you want/need to know about this?

As I was going to get the camera to take this picture- all I heard was "No Nece, not on your hair, only daddy's.'

Whew!!! That could have been a close one- Nece with a partially shaved head less than one month before Cindy's wedding. Disaster averted.

====

This past weekend, mom and dad went on a much-deserved (if I do say so myself) long weekend to Countryfest. Four days of camping, drinking and concerts... a good time was had by all! We always look forward to the annual trip and can't wait til the next year. The girls started out at home with Grandma M, but they ended up at grandma's for the remainder of the weekend. From what I understand, Reggie didn't do too well with the rain, so they packed up and headed 2 hours south where the sun was shining! I'm sure a good time was had by all the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins.

Looking forward... there may very well be an announcement coming from our household (NO, we're are NOT having another baby). Will keep you in limbo until details are finalized this weekend. Couple more weekends of traveling, and by the end of July, we should be able to enjoy our summer weekends relaxing!

Thanks for following, and will try to update more regularly. Just know, it's a crazy busy time for us right now!