Thanksgiving/Christmas 2010

We made it through the holidays. It was really hard with my Dad not being here, but we made the most of it. We celebrated Thanksgiving at my sister's house. The kids had a blast playing with each other, and we ate lots! The month of December seems like it flew by! Kaylee had her first music program. She was so cute! She was the child that walked up on stage and yelled, "Hi Mommy! Hi Mommmy!". I was so proud! We did lots of light seeing! We went to two different tree lighting's. Drove around and looked at lights and went on two hayrides. We also attended lots of birthday parties! Having 3 nephews, a niece, myself, and Dan's dad all having birthdays in December calls for lots of partying! Christmas Eve we celebrated with Dan's family and had a great time. We had a special treat this year because Grandpa Bos was here! Christmas day was spent with my family, and I have to say the highlight of the day was playing minute to win it! So fun!
Kaylee is officially pacifier free!!! YAHOO!!! It went a lot smoother then I expected!! Kenzie has been growing like a weed! She is really starting to "talk" and smile! Hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season!

Daddy

It's hard to believe that it has almost been three weeks since my Dad went to heaven. He passed away on November 1st. I can not explain the sadness in my heart. My dad was one of my biggest heros. There was not one time that my Dad let me down, he was always there to help me in whatever case it may have been. He taught me so much about life and how to do things for myself. I truly was a Daddy's little girl! I remember trips to breakfast on Saturday mornings and then shopping afterwards. Of course I always got things that I didn't need, but my dad would always say yes! He was there for every recital, school function, graduations, and most importantly he was there to walk me down the aisle. Around the time of my wedding is when my Dad's sickness really started to get worse. I remember my fear of him not actually being able to walk me down the aisle, but there again he did not let me down and walked me down that aisle proudly. I was also able to have that father/daughter dance with him. I remember holding on to him and thanking God that I was able to have that dance with him. Yes I know that my Dad is not in anymore pain and that he is in heaven, but it still hurts like crazy. Yes I have lost people that I love dearly, but it is a totally different feeling when it is your parent. The one who raised me and wanted everything for me. Although I know he is not here and I can not see him I know he is watching over me and my family. I also knew I had faith, but I really didn't know how much I had until the day that I lost my Dad. God showed me that day and in the week to follow how strong it really was. In all the sadness and heart break I knew that last time I saw him or even talked to him wouldn't really be the last time. Yes he is not here but I believe that I will see and talk to him again. God was just ready to take my Dad home. God does have a plan and a time for everyone. I can not wait to share all the stories and tell my girls about their Papa. I am so thankful for all the trips we made down to the valley with Kaylee to see my parents. I am glad that my Dad was able to see Kaylee grow, and then of course tell me that she was just like me when I was little. Kaylee made my Dad smile and laugh so much in the last two years. Yes it bothers me that my Dad was never able to hold Kenzie and I don't have a picture of them together, but he knew she was here. He was able to see her over the computer and see pictures of her. I hope that I continue to make my Dad proud, and that I teach my children all the things that he taught me. Thank you God for blessing me with the greatest Dad!

Loving Two

I found this beautiful poem awhile back on one of the blogs I read. It really touched my heart and of course made me cry! Thank you Kathryn for sharing this, and now I will share it with my readers....






Loving Two


I walk along holding your 2-year-old hand, basking in the glow of our magical relationship. Suddenly I feel a kick from within, as if to remind me that our time alone is limited. And I wonder: how could I ever love another child as I love you?


Then she is born, and I watch you. I watch the pain you feel at having to share me as you’ve never shared me before.


I hear you telling me in your own way, “Please love only me”. And I hear myself telling you in mine, “I can’t”, knowing, in fact, that I never can again.


You cry. I cry with you. I almost see our new baby as an intruder on the precious relationship we once shared. A relationship we can never quite have again.

But then, barely noticing, I find myself attached to that new being, and feeling almost guilty. I’m afraid to let you see me enjoying her—as though I am betraying you.


But then I notice your resentment change, first to curiosity, then to protectiveness, finally to genuine affection.


More days pass, and we are settling into a new routine. The memory of days with just the two of us is fading fast.


But something else is replacing those wonderful times we shared, just we two. There are new times – only now, we are three. I watch the love between you grow, the way you look at each other, touch each other.


I watch how she adores you — as I have for so long. I see how excited you are by each of her new accomplishments. And I begin to realize that I haven’t taken something from you, I’ve given something to you. I notice that I am no longer afraid to share my love openly with both of you.


I find that my love for each of you is as different as you are, but equally strong. And my question is finally answered, to my amazement. Yes, I can love another child as much as I love you—only differently.


And although I realize that you may have to share my time, I now know you’ll never share my love. There’s enough of that for both of you – you each have your own supply.


I love you—-both. And I thank you both for blessing my life. —Author Unknown

Kenzie Jo

Kenzie is here! What a wonderful blessing! God is SO good! All is well with our family of four. Big Sister is doing such an amazing job with her!

Born: October 15th
Weight: 8 pounds 7 ounces
Length: 20 inches

Well Hello There!

Has it really been almost two months since my last post???!!!! Well things have been pretty busy around here! I will start with Kaylee. She has definitely hit the two stage! It is a very fun stage, BUT there are some very frustrating times as well! Kaylee has started Mother's Day out and loves going. She has awesome teachers! I get so excited when I pick her up so she can tell me what she has done and learned that day. I first ask her what she did and her reply is always, "played". I then ask her what letter she learned. The first week it was letter A, and this week was letter B. We have gotten great reports from her teachers everyday! The past two times the teacher has written that she has been very chatty! I am glad she is using that voice of hers! You go girl! While at home we have been playing outside with the water table. We are finally starting to see some fall weather. Woohooo! This is heat has been horrible! We have also been painting, playing with playdoh, reading books (Kaylee's favorite!), and playing in her room. We of course have to watch her show, Barney. Why the kid loves that purple dinosaur, I will never know! We also have been doing some educational stuff....letters...numbers...and colors. Although that doesn't last long with me, I think she does better for her teachers with that! Her newest thing that she loves to do is act like a baby. She will tell me that she is a baby and I have to hold her and give her her sippy cup like a baby. I wonder where all this is coming from??? hehehehe!!! She also likes to play doctor. She will put her socks on her hands and get out her doctor kit and come to me to check on the baby. It is to cute! We can totally tell that she senses the baby will be here soon, but who could blame her! Her whole world is about to change! She is going to be a great big sister, but at first I think she might not like her that much. =)

Kenzie is GROWING GROWING GROWING! Before we know it she will be here! We are so ready, and the house is actually ready for her as well. With Kaylee I went into early labor, so this time I was determined to be prepared! You never know when she will make her appearance! Kaylee and I are even going to stay at Dan's parents this month on the nights that he has to work. This way I won't be alone in case I go into labor during the night, and Kaylee can continue to sleep and not be bothered. They also live about three minutes away from the hospital! Extra bonus there! I am at the uncomfortable point now and am so ready for her to be here! When the swelling starts that's when I know it is time!!!! If she does not come early will be having a scheduled C-section on October 15th!

It is officially hunting season, so you know where Dan is spending his mornings off! I told him he better get it all in now because later in the season we will have a newborn!! He is definitely listening to that. He has hunted every day this week and plans on hunting this weekend as well. Very serious when it comes to this hunting business!

I am in the nesting period of the pregnancy so you can find me doing things around the house. I never got to that nesting point with Kaylee, so this is all new to me! My MOMS groups has also started back this month, so I go every other Friday to that. Love sharing that time with other Moms! I still have tons of pictures that I need to post. I will get to that one day! Just consider yourself lucky that you got an updated post from me now!

Room Letters

Here are the letters for Kaylee and Kenzie's rooms!!! My friend Katie and I made them this morning. They are super cute!!!!

Update on Baby Kenzie!

When we went to our ultrasound to determine what we were having they found that I had complete placenta privea. With lots of prayers and taking it easy the placenta moved completely out of the way! WOOHOOO!!! I had another ultrasound on Monday which I was told it moved but the fluid that Kenzie is in was low. BOOOOO!!!! Not critical but still lower what it needed to be. I was sent home and told to drink water every hour until Wednesday. I went back yesterday and the levels went up!!! WOOHOOO! On Monday it was 8.6 and it had raised to 10.8. I am now having to go every week to get an ultrasound to check fluid levels. Bummer I have to do this but I get to see Kenzie every week! On Monday she was sucking her thumb and on Wednesday she was still sucking her thumb! I see Ba-Ba's (that's what Kaylee calls her paci) still hanging around our house! Whatever makes them happy! =) We will be 28 weeks on Monday! Time is really going by fast! Even though we are keeping the nursery the same we still have lots to do!!!! Let the washing begin!

Tonight's Dinner

Beef Taco Bake



1 pound ground beef (i use lean)
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 cup picante sauce (i use hot)
1/2 cup milk
6 flour tortillas...cut into 1" pieces
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cook beef in skillet. Add soup, salsa, milk, tortillas and half the cheese. Spoon into 2qt. baking dish. Cover. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese when done.

Serves 4

Lazy dog

I guess Spec was cold last night and decided to use the curtain as her blanket. This is how I found her this morning....

SCORE!

Went to Old Navy to check sales.....LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!!!
Regular price...9.99
Clearance price....5.99
Checkout price with discounts...2.44

GO ME!!!!!!

New Dinner Meal!

Cooked something different one night this week! It was liked by all! It did need a little more spice to it, so I will know that for next time. So this is what the meal consist of......

4 boneless pork chops
1 can of mushroom soup
2 cups of frozen peas or fresh
1/2 cup of milk
3T of Italian dressing
2 cups of white rice
Parmesan cheese

Before you place chops on stove put about 2T of oil in the skillet. You will cook the pork chops on the stove at a medium level until done. Mix in a bowl all other ingredients except rice. Cook rice as directed on box.
When pork chops are done pour in the mixture in bowl. Let this simmer for about 10 minutes.




I had taken a photo of Daddy's plate and of course the Princess needed a photo of hers. This is the kid version!

Big Girl!

We have finished the big girl room!!! Well except for one wall that is bare, but I am still thinking of what to put there. I am really happy with it, and Kaylee loves it! She loves it so much that she will no longer change her diapers or clothes in the nursery room! Bedtime and naptime have not changed! WOOHOOOO!!!! The girl does not mess around with her sleep!!!

4th of July

We had a great fourth of July! Had some amazing BBQ and family fun at my sisters, and ended the night with amazing fireworks with the Schwartz clan!

Party Time!

We had a great celebration for Kaylee's birthday! We talked about her party the whole week, and she was so excited that day had finally come! She had a blast with all of the kids. Thanks to all that came and celebrated with us!

Our Little Bug is TWO!!!!!

It is hard to believe that two years has past since Kaylee came into our lives. What a blessing she has been! She keeps us laughing daily! Yesterday we celebrated her birthday at the Children's Museum with Mommy Kimmy, Nana, Aunt Ashley, Aunt Katie, Aaron, Allison, and Trevor. The kids had a blast, but I think Ashley and Katie had even more fun! We had a birthday lunch at Wendy's. For dinner we celebrated at a local pizza place with Daddy, Grandma Nana, and Pops. Then we went to Mommy Kimmy's for dessert! Brownies!!! Yummy!!!! Kaylee is super excited about her "Happy" (birthday party) tomorrow! We are going Barney style! Can't wait to celebrate with all our friends and family! We are going to have a super-d-duper time!

It's a....

This post should have been posted about TWO WEEKS ago! Sorry!!!! We are having another GIRL!!!!!!! We are so excited and can't wait to meet Kenzie Jo!!!!! We decided on Kenzie because Dan has always liked the name. He actually wanted to name Kaylee that, but I had my heart on Kaylee. It took us awhile to figure out what middle name we would use. Dan and I were in the car one day and I told him okay we need to pick a middle name in case this baby is a girl! It was silent for awhile and he said, "What about Jo after your sister?" I said Kenzie Jo out loud, and thought it had a cute little ring to it. Jo is my sisters middle name and a family name. So it was set! I know many of you are asking if Dan was upset, and the answer is NO! He had a feeling that it was a girl and kept saying it was a girl. He is excited because he does not have to repaint the nursery and we have about 8 tubs of girl clothing up in the attic! We can not wait to meet little miss Kenzie. We have asked are really good friends Matt and Jenn to be Kenzie's Godparents. Kenzie will truly be blessed with these two in her life! Please pray for Kenzie and I because we also found out the I have placenta privea. We were already scheduled for a csection so that will not change, but depending on what my doctor says we might go ahead and do the csection at 37 weeks depending if the placenta moves or not. I will keep you posted!

Oneta Wood

I got the news this morning that my grandmother passed away. She lived an amazing 92 years here on earth. She was the best grandma ever! She lived not even five minutes away from me growing up so needless to say we were very close. If I was "sick" I knew grandma would come and pick me up from school and make me some of her amazing homemade macaroni and cheese! I loved having sleepovers at her house! I was the youngest grandchild and spoiled! She was an amazing wife, mother, and friend. She always put others before her self and always had a smile on her face. She taught me so many things and I am so thankful that she was in my life for 27 years. She was able to meet my first daughter and see her often. I can't wait to tell my children how wonderful their great grandmother was. There are so many stories I have to share with them! I know she is with Jesus now and in a wonderful place. I love her dearly and will miss her so much!

This was the very first time Kaylee met her great-grandma!

No pictures!

=( There are no updated pictures at the moment becasue I have misplaced the cord! BOOOOOOO! So sorry! Hope to find it soon because I have a million pictures to share!

Big News!

I know it has been way to long since I have posted anything. I apologize! It might be because I have been running around after an almost two year old or that I have had no energy do to the little one growing in my tummy! That's right I am PREGNANT!!!!! I am 18weeks along and we find out in early June if it is a boy or girl! We are very excited! Kaylee has been carrying her baby doll all around and taking great care of it. She is going to be an awesome big sister! There are a lot of things coming up before the baby arrives in early October. We have a Schwartz family trip planned for this weekend, a Wood family trip planned for middle June, Kaylee's second birthday, a free trip to Vegas for Dan and I, getting Kaylee's big girl room ready, and depending on what the baby is we might have to change the nursery. We are going to be keeping pretty busy and by the time we know it baby will be here! WOOOHOOOO!!!!!

Fort Building with Daddy!

The fort building begins! Kaylee had a blast with Daddy building their fort!







I also had some REALLY cute photos of Kaylee painting, but some how they were lost on the camera!!!! Very sad about that! She loved painting! We are going to have to paint again really soon!!!!

Flying by in February!

Before I know it the month of February will be over. Where has the time gone and why haven't I been keeping up with the blog. No reason really! Just been lazy I suppose or wait a minute it might be because we are in full force two year old mode!!! Yes I believe are sweet almost 20 month old is entering that stage! I think some people may call it the terrible twos! I on the other had find it really funny to see what she will come up with next and how can she get in trouble this time. She is definitely testing Dan and I! Funny at times yes....but not so much funny after about the third time! Oh the joys of parenting!

Happenings this month:
-visited Nana and Papa
-went to the Brownsville Zoo
-valentines day!
-moms group
-home teams (having a great time and learning lots...will have to post about this in another post!)
-lunch dates with friends
-toddler time at the library
-lots of playdoh
-finally some outside play!..well maybe three days but we will take that!

If you haven't checked out our photo site I updated that a couple of weeks ago!

The Hole in Our Gospel

Wednesday was the kick off to our new hometeam group! We will miss our old group! We really made some great friendships but some moved away, others have some family things going on, and times to meet were not good for some. We found ourselves signing up for a new group! There were about nine couples that attended. We hit it off really well with everyone. Some have small children, are teachers, stay at home moms, and some share a love for the outdoors just like Dan! We are very grateful because the mom and dad of the couple hosting come over and watch all of the kids. Such a blessing! Our study for the next seven weeks will be to the book, "The Hole is Our Gospel"! The whole church was encouraged to get connected in a hometeam and do this study. People listened and hometeams have doubled! I am very excited to see what this study has in store for us individually and has a whole church!



I will get back to you on how next week hometeam goes! We will be discussing Chapter 1 and 2!

Movie Time!

Dan and I took Kaylee to her first movie at the theater! We made it through the WHOLE movie! WOOOHOOOO Kaylee!!! The movie choice was Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakuel! We had some yummy popcorn which Kaylee loved and of course some skittles. It was a cute movie with some adult humor. Thankfully Kaylee is to young to get it!

And she finds it....

The lovely kid cart at Krogers! It is amazing it took her this long! I needed a few items so I knew the trip would not take that long so I gave in and let her "drive" the cart. Of course while the cart was in movement she attempted to get out a few times. All it took was me saying sit on your bottom or your out! So does this mean she is going to remember this cart the next we go to the store? We shall see!

My very happy child saying, "CHEEEEESSSSSEE!"

Happy New Year!

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season! We sure did! Lots of family time and way to much food! We had an amazing Christmas Eve service at church. Kaylee made it through the whole service! We had to take her into the worship building because there was no childcare. She loved the music and the candle lighting, and when she got antsy out came the snacks! When then had a wonderful Christmas eve with the Schwartz family. Kaylee had a lot of fun playing with cousin Curtis, and I had a blast holding sweet baby Nicholas. We had some yummy Chicago pizza (Dan's favorite)! After a fun evening we came home and prepared for Santa's arrival. Christmas morning was spent with just our little family. After opening presents we headed to my sister's to spend Christmas day with the Wood family! Fun was had by all! Thanks to cousin Aaron getting so many nerf guns for Christmas we were able to have a nerf gun war! Very fun! The next few days were spent resting up and more family time(Thanks Heather and Stephen for coming into town for a visit!). unfortunately my mom and I had to fly down to the valley for a night to attend two funerals. A very close friend of mine mother's passed away and my great aunt. It was a very long and sad day. Luckily Dan was off so Kaylee and him stayed home and had some great father/daughter time. They went and fed the ducks together. Kaylee decided she needed to taste the bread before she gave it to the ducks. Oh that girl! She is definitely keeping us busy. She comes up with something new everyday! We had her 18th month check up today. She is doing wonderful and growing like a weed. Well I hope you all have gotten back your normal routine. We sure have! We will start up with MOMS group again on Friday. So excited! Have a wonderful rest of your week!