Happy Birthday Gramma!!

Grandmas hold our tiny hands for just a little while, but our hearts forever. ~Author Unknown

Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild. ~Welsh Proverb

There's no place like home except Grandma's. ~Author Unknown

Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day and now the day was complete. ~Marcy DeMaree

The Greatest gift God gave us for being a Mom was becoming a Grandmother. ~Mary Kappes

The simplest toy, one which even the youngest child can operate, is called a grandparent. ~Sam Levenson

A garden of Love grows in a Grandmother's heart. ~Author Unknown

If your baby is "beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time," you're the grandma. ~Teresa Bloomingdale

Grandmother - a wonderful mother with lots of practice. ~Author Unknown

Grandmas never run out of hugs or cookies. ~Author Unknown

Happy Birthday Gramma!!
We love you!!

Love,
Alexa & Braden
xoxoxo

Hanging Out With Cousins

My Wordless Wednesday last week was Alexa feeding my sweet little nephew. Nope, it wasn't Braden. The giveaway was the bottle. My adorably stubborn little man would never take one. When we thought I was going to go back to work when he was 3 months old we would go a whole day trying to give him a bottle and he just wouldn't eat. All.Day.Long. I guess it was a good thing I didn't end up going back! Anyway, here are a few more pictures from that day. My mom and I got a feel for what it would be like to have 4 kids ages 3 and under. Crazy...that's what it was. But we had a blast hanging out with my niece and nephew for the day at my Mom's house.

I don't think it's possible to get a decent picture of four little kids, but it was fun trying.

Look at those eyes, what a handsome little peanut he is.

Braden took the chance to tell his little buddy all about balls.

And this is how the bottle session ended.
Hard work. :)

Random Thoughts

*Remember when gas was under a dollar? I have only been driving for 12 years but I can totally remember paying 86 cents a gallon back in the day.

*I made chicken fajitas on Wednesday night for supper and I can still smell it in my house. Gross.

*Matt and Alexa went outside the other night to play in the snow. They had so much fun sledding, making snow angels, throwing snowballs and just being silly. I am sad I wasn't out there taking pictures of it.

*Braden went down for a nap a couple days ago completely fine and woke up with a full blown cold. How is that even possible? He has been kind of miserable and up a lot the last couple of nights coughing so much. I hate when kids are sick.

*The sun is out today...this is like the 10th day in a row it has made an appearance and it's wonderful! You can definitely notice a difference in people when the sun is out, people are much happier. I am much happier! :)

*Why can't people use their blinkers? It's not like it takes a lot of effort, all you need is just one finger to flip it on.

*How big are Perkins flags? They're huge.

*How come sometimes my kids don't even notice I exist until I am on the phone? Payback. I totally remember doing that to my mom as a kid!

*Braden my ex-kisser who now only wants to give fist bumps will so graciously all the sudden want to give me lots of kisses when he is eating and his face is full of food.

*I have had the same solicitor call my phone about 4 times a day for the past 5 days. They won't get the hint I don't want to talk to them and they won't leave a message either. Annoying.

*Why does Kleenex make their boxes so ugly?

*I have been doing a study of Daniel by Beth Moore. It is really good, I would definitely recommend it.

*Redbox is the best invention ever.

*The second best invention ever is the free cookies for kids at CUB.

* I gave up chocolate for Lent. It's a miracle I have not craved any yet. Only 38 days left.

*Why must my kids hide my deodorant on me?

*I am very excited for a movie night with Matt tonight.

*I am also super excited about a girls night out tomorrow. Dinner and bowling, FUN!

*Alexa has been extra sweet to Braden lately, I think because she knows he's not feeling good. She has been giving him lots of kisses and rubbing his back and even sang him Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman the other day while trying to make him dance. Those moments make a Mom forget everything else going on in the world.

*I have been obsessed with watching the Olympics. My recent favorite was the snowboarding...Shaun White rocks!

*There's only 29 days until Spring is officially here. I know that doesn't mean much living in the Midwest because we will still get snow after that, but it's a start.

*Have a great weekend everyone!! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Midwest Kids Fest

On Saturday we got up and headed out for a day at Midwest Kids Fest. We have never been there before but it sounded like a good time, anything with the word Fest in it has to be fun right!? Yeah, we had a blast. Especially Alexa. It was cool because there was tons of booths where parents could get free samples and info about all kinds of kid related things and then there was a bunch of stuff for the kids to do too.

I was totally floored at how 'big' Alexa acted the whole day. Like doing this...

She would have never tried that a couple of months ago but she told me she wanted to go jumping and didn't even look back when I left her to get all strapped in. She about died laughing and had so much fun. I think the guy next to me thought I was a little nutso because I was laughing so hard too. Part was out of shock that she was doing it and part was because she was having so much fun. Isn't it the best seeing your kids have so much fun!?

Here she is petting a crocodile.

And a snake. Again...totally new for her.
She even told me to 'come pet the snake because she was really nice.'
Ummm, no thanks.

She also got her face painted like a butterfly. She sat so good as the girl did it and then wanted me to take pictures of how cool she looked.

Pretty cool! :)

Braden found a stand with balloons at it and sweet talked the lady into one.
That was all he needed, he was good the rest of the day! :)

Too bad they don't do this every weekend!

Sunday Funday

We had a pretty productive day today, which is kind of amazing for us.

First of all...we (finally) joined a gym!!
I am super pumped about it.
The obvious reason of course is that I am hoping this helps get my butt in gear with getting healthier and working out regularly. Losing 20 pounds would be a huge bonus. :)

Also, I think it will be really good for Braden. He is majorly attached to me (which I love!!) but sometimes he just freaks if I'm not around or holding him. He has never had to be in daycare and basically is with me all day every day which could be part of the problem. So I'm hoping that spending some time with other adults and kids will help that out a little bit.

And we plan on spending some major time in the pool there. One of my biggest fears is kids around water so I am big on swimming lessons...early and often. Today we already went and all hung out in the pool for awhile. Alexa could pretty much live there, she even calls herself Ariel. I totally think she could pull it off. :)

Tonight we went to my brother and SIL's house and all got hair cuts.

I didn't leave crying, but I could have.

You see I have this major problem of letting things go. Old jeans that are full of holes, all the pictures and scribbles my kids make, a broken frame I swear I will someday fix and now apparently my kids hair is on the list too. Alexa has never had her hair cut. Every time we go I say, okay maybe this time we can just do it, chop it off and give her a cute bob. Nope.

I'm clearly the same way about Braden's hair too. He has had one haircut and I actually did cry that time!

So lately we have noticed little things like his hair in his eyes, the starting of a mullet and people calling him a girl.
Ugh. Fine. I get it.

Let me remind you of Braden's hair before...

I personally love it long. I think he looks cute. And young. And Hip. :)
Notice how soft it looks and how blonde it is.

This is what it looks like now...

GASP..he's a big boy. With dark hair!!

I do think it looks good and it's starting to grow on me but I am way super sad about the blonde being gone. And the fact that he looks like months older now. {sigh} I guess I'll have to get over it, I can't let it grow out forever.

Next thing you know he's going to be dating.
HA! Just kidding, that's a good 35 years away. :)

I hope every had a great Valentine's Day!!
We are spending a romantic night sitting on the couch eating pizza and watching Cops.
Don't be jealous. :)

My Favorite Things

Alexa got this little princess table for her birthday.
She loves it.
Braden loves it.
They eat breakfast and lunch at it almost every day.

I can't get over how adorable they look sitting there chowing away.

This...not so cute.
(Okay it actually is, but no so much when I need to scrub the floor 3 times a day.)

This...super cute.

I love when Braden sits with his legs crossed.
And his bed head, way too adorable.

I know...poor little guy sitting at a pink princess table drinking out of a pink sippy cup.
Maybe I should at least cut his hair? :)

Black and White Wednesday

Join in on Black and White Wednesday at The Long Road To China.

Hello World

We're still alive and well, just busy with life lately.

Last week we went to a friends house to see their new {tiny} baby girl and now I don't know who has baby fever more...me or Alexa! Seriously, she wanted to hold her the entire time we were there and couldn't stop talking in a super high baby voice the whole way home. Adorable!

On Sunday we had some friends over to watch the Super Bowl...it was a blast! Didn't actually watch much of the game but, ya know. :) Matt dressed the kids in their Packers shirts. Yup, he did. They looked adorable but I am pretty sure {and by pretty sure I mean I don't know anything about fooball and don't really care much} that they weren't even playing...they were cute anyway. Matt even taught Braden to yell "Packers!" Maybe he can use that next year. :)

After having class every weekend during the month of January, Matt took yesterday off to relax a little bit and spend some times with us. We didn't even do anything. It was great. Now the countdown is on...May will be here before you know it and Matt will never have to step foot into a class again. He's ecstatic to say the least. {FYI: we are planning on having a graduation party sometime in June, everyone is welcome, invite to come.}

Other than that we're just hanging out, patiently waiting for all the snow to melt. Alexa is loving school, every day she asks if she has school and if I tell her no she asks how many days until she does...she loves going, I hope that's last forever. Well okay, realistically, how about until 5th grade. :) This month they have their Valentine's Party and a pajama party, she already has her perfect pjs picked out. Braden is turning 18 months on Saturday and I don't even need a calendar to tell you that. This week a little switch flipped and our baby has turned into a pre-2 year old. I remember the exact same thing happening with Alexa the day she woke up at 18 months, so we knew it was coming. He's still the funniest little guy ever but now he realizes that he has a voice in things, and that voice likes the word NO all the sudden. It's his response to everything. Braden, are you hungry? NO Braden, can I have a kiss? NO Braden, do you want to read books? NO Braden, are you a boy. NO You get the idea. Even with all the NOs he's still so polite...he tells me please, thank you and excuse me...very cute.

Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!
Have a wonderful day!! :)

Why Mommy's Head Hurts

My little rock stars.
Notice the change of clothes?
Yeah, we do this on a daily basis.

But...if you can't beat them, join them.
We're still thinking of a band name.
We're going places, I can see it already! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Valentine's Crafts

It's been cold here for way too long and we've been trapped inside. So as we patiently (yeah right) wait for Spring to creep in we have been busy doing lots of crafts around here. I thought I would share a couple of things we have done.

Of course you can't go wrong with good ole tissue paper and glue.

Can we just take a minute and look at that belly.
HA, look at that thing...how cute!
Seriously, the girl wakes up without it then eats a few pancakes and BAM there it is.
I love that belly.

Anyway, we painted and stuck and painted and stuck and then did it some more. After that we cleaned up a big sticky glue mess, and when they were dry we cute them into hearts that now are hanging on our cupboards.

I found this one by googling 'Kids Valentine's Crafts'
First I made the branches out of some rope twiney stuff.
Glued it down and let it sit over night.

Then we traced and cut out a whole bunch of little hearts.

Then Alexa glued the hearts to the tree.

And voila...a heart tree. Alexa wanted to put names of some of the people she loved on her hearts. How sweet is that!?

And then there's just plain painting, which I honestly think was Alexa's favorite thing out of all them. We were going to try to do some heart hand prints that I also found online but we never got around to it.


We have one festive house over here, good thing we love Valentine's Day!!

Anybody else do any fun Valentine's stuff?
Let me know....it's snowing right now so it looks like we will still have time to make more. :)