Tis the Season to be Thankful

Hello again! Its been a while, a long while since I've wrote. What can I say, I've been busy enjoying life. I've come to the conclusion that life never really settles down or is slow and steady or boring either! Which is fine, everything that we do or will do is something I want our family as well as myself to experience. Sometimes it would just be nice to have a a few days to do nothing and stay in our pajamas all day.....someday soon! (Maybe I should put it in my daily planner!)

Well racing is obviously over and ended up being a very good year! Kevin finished 2nd in national points and won track championships at Rice Lake and Eagle Valley Speedways. A couple of weeks ago Kevin, my dad and Cory Crapser went to Batesville, Ak to pick up Kevin and Cory's new cars. Kevin even debuted a new look for his car last weekend at the expo, its now black and yellow. Blake loves the color yellow, its his favorite so he wanted daddy's car to be yellow, (Blake used to say "lellow") which Kevin happily made yellow for him! I wasn't too sure on the idea, but wow I love it! Such a nice change and I think Kevs did an awesome job! Its pretty sharp! Last weekend we also had the Wissota National Banquet in St. Cloud, we had a great time with great friends and enjoyed every minute!

Kevin and I before the banquet.

Kevin getting his trophy, I'm so proud of him!

I remember a while ago writing about my hopes for a riding arena for my horses, hoping this fall would FINALLY be the fall I would get one, I've only been waiting 6 years..... Instead we are building a new race shop at our house! How in the heck did I get so lucky, just what I always wanted!!! All joking aside it will be really nice for Kevin, he's ready for his own space and to just have some more room. He will continue working out of the other shop with his  graphics business  during the day and will be home at night to work on the cars. It will be nice having him around more at night, we're all looking forward to this change!

 ***This spring I will be making plans for my arena, I have no idea who I have to get a hold of to do it but I will figure it out!!

In October we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! We celebrated by going away for the weekend. We went to St. Paul Friday night and downtown Minneapolis Saturday night, we ate at some amazing restaurants, shopped, we went to a play at the Orpheum (The Beauty and the Beast), and most all we enjoyed each other's company! It was one of the best weekends! I wish we could have a weekend like that once a month :-)

So my great idea of painting and redecorating a few rooms has turned into a huge pain in the butt! Mostly because I thought "oh this should be easy, how hard can it be to paint?" Well for someone who doesn't have much patience its a lot harder! I wanted all of these changes done yesterday! LOL I have great ideas but no time or patience to get them done! So far out of the 3 rooms I wanted painted, we have one painted, the kids bathroom which is a fun Tiffany blue color and the theme is safari, the kids love it and I think its really cute! It was very time consuming tho, first never paint the day after you've gone out the night before, and  second make sure you actually like the color! Needless to say we did NOT like the first color we painted it and ended up re-painting it less then 24 hours later. Our quick little project to make the kids bathroom more kid friendly completely ruined any chance of either Kevin or I to paint any other rooms in our house. We will hire! Next to be painted will be our bathroom which I'm leaving all the decor I have, the color in there will be a soft/pale green, its a very soothing color, and our laundry room which is also our garage entry way, will be painted silver fox, its a grey that I fell in love with but doesn't look good anywhere else. I've found some really cute decorations for my boring laundry room......now it just needs to get done already!

All about our kids now!

Blake seems to have grown so much since summer! He's still the same sweet little boy full of attitude and energy! He's all boy. In October he started swimming lessons and he did great, he really enjoyed them, he had a lot of fun and got to see 3 of his daycare friends there. About a month ago he watched an episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and now they are his favorite toys, he knows all the characters and loves acting out the scenes and playing ninja turtles with dad. Blake really enjoys coloring and drawing, he's getting very good at drawing people and of course ninja turtles! In September we started going to church and he is in the Sunday school program, he loves all the songs and seeing his friend Brylee! Blake also loves to tell jokes and can be just so silly sometimes, I don't know where he comes up with things but he sure can make us laugh!  We are currently working on writing his name and using scissors  and we are still working on being a better listener!

Blake was a pirate again for Halloween!!

At the pumpkin patch!

 

Brooke is running and climbing everywhere! She is into everything and anything, she is busy! She is still just as sweet as pie and very loving and sweet but she has some sass too. She does NOT like to be told no and will throw a fit. She loves to dance and be silly, her favorite songs are on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, she loves Mickey and calls him "he" for "MickEEEEy" Brooke loves anything girlie, her shoes, purse, baby doll and blankie, if she has those she's good to go! Brooke is trying very hard to talk, she can say "hi, mama, dad, ma for more, kitty, is for this, oh oh is for uh oh, see for horSEEEy, juice and she tries to say yes but I don't know how to explain what it sounds like! She understands a lot, and will somewhat listen to us and do as she's told. If she has a wet or dirty diaper she is really good about bringing the diaper and wipes to me and then laying down, I'm hoping this will be a sign of easy potty training! Brooke loves to play peek a boo and lay her head on her shoulder and smile, some days I can not get over how sweet she is!

Brooke was Minnie Mouse for Halloween!!

She is so silly!!

Our happiness!

Winter is coming too fast but with that we have some fun things planned! December will be full getting ready for Christmas and Kevin's birthday :-) January will be full of: going to Florida with the kids, Blake's birthday, hopefully some Monster Jam and a shopping trip for me and my mom :-) Once Kevin's new shop is done we'd like to have a racing party sometime too! Other than that anything to keep warm!

I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Summer Fun

Summer is flying by and we're trying to enjoy every minute! I've been trying to take as much advantage of Monday's off as I can, I wish I could take Monday's off all year :-)

In June, Kevin, the kids and I went to the Dells for a night and we stayed at the Kalahari or as Blake called the Kalihari. We had a blast! Both kids loved all the slides and things to play on. They both loved the wave pool, which was great for me as that's one of my favorites! Brooke even fell asleep on the lazy river. We enjoyed most everything the hotel had to offer from the water park to the room service, ice cream, gift shop, candy shop, restaurant and the adorable baby tigers! So much to do and see we will be planning a long weekend there this winter. We also went on the duck boats, Blake loved it and Brooke was very well behaved, thank goodness. At night we went for a drive around town and we ended up driving around Lake Delton and found the mansion that belongs to the man that owns Mount Olympus. All I can say is wow!!!! The place was amazing and sure enough I forgot my camera!

 

One Sunday in June the kids and I packed up and headed north to visit my family. Blake and I went to Proctor Speedway (Blake calls it Practor) to watch my dad race, it was a lot of fun and very relaxing to be at my old stomping grounds, I haven't been in there about 4 or 5 years! My dad was sure happy to have us there as I think he liked having his best bud aka Blake there! Blake's favorite part of the night was the green station wagon pure stock! He still has the picture! The next day Blake had a grandpa Tim day, while my mom, Brooke and I had a girls day full of shopping and good eats!! I wish I could be in Duluth once a week, I love where I live now, but I do miss my family and "home". I love seeing all the new things Duluth has since I moved and sadly enough I'm a tourist when I'm there, I always want to do/see all the attractions Duluth offers that I never did while I lived there. And of course we had to make a stop at Cookie Temptations before we headed home, the cookies there are sinful there so good.....I may have to order some :-)

Blake and I also went on a day trip to Wild Mountain in Taylors Falls, just the two of us. It was nice having some mommy/Blake time. We had a blast, the water park isn't very big, but big enough to have fun! I remember going there when I was little with my family, so it was neat to go back there. I have to say that I was impressed with how well kept it was, its old but very clean and the kids that work there are some of the most polite teenagers I've ever met! Needless to say Blake and I would go back in a heartbeat!!

A couple of weeks ago we were in Hayward, for our yearly camping trip to the KOA. I just love it up there, its so relaxing and there's so much to do! I brought both kids with me and met my family there, we rented a really nice cabin with lots of room. Blake and Brooke enjoyed swimming, the wagon ride, riding bike, the jumping pillow, the playgrounds, the water slide, mini golf, nightly ice cream, go carts, Wilderness Walk and camp fires! Blake said his favorite parts of camping are marshmallows and the wagon ride with the clown/swamp monster who throws water and marshmallows at the people on the wagon ride! I had to send Brooke home with Kevin on Wednesday night at she isn't quite a camper yet. She had a very hard time sleeping and was very crabby, come to find out she had 3 teeth popping through, poor baby. I enjoyed every minute of my vacation, the weather was beautiful, the drinks were cold and the not having to wake up to an alarm was perfect! Too bad it went by so fast. Kevin and I plan on taking a date night up there some Wednesday so I can check out all the shops that I couldn't browse through with the kids in tow.

 We also hit up the Barron County Fair last week/weekend, the kids loved it, Blake was super excited to see the pigs and go on rides and Brooklyn was scared of the cows and thought the goats were "kitty's"! She loved the merry go round and cried when we took her off!

We attempted to go to the zoo on Monday but when we got to the cities it was already 92* and humid, so we opted to MOA and ride the rides and eat good! It was a wonderful family day!

We still have plans of going to the zoo with the kids and going to Valley Fair :-)

Family Update!

Blake Blake Blake..... he is quite the handful! He is as sweet and funny as ever and quite the little stinker! Blake is becoming quite independent and boy does he like things his way, he's become very difficult in the listening and doing as he's told department! His biggest complaint is "this isn't any fun" or "that's not very fun" when asked to do something, makes me laugh and drives me crazy at the same time because it will take him FOREVER to complete what is asked of him. Underneath all of his stubbornness and downright willfulness he still is a sweetheart, he loves the snuggle up with his babies aka his stuffed animals, he loves bedtime stories and always asks to snuggle before bed. Blake will randomly come up to me or Kevin and give hugs and kisses and tell us that he loves us. Love it!!  He has been pretty good with Brooke, she gets into his toys and his stuff all the time, Blake gets so frustrated and mad but is usually pretty good about coming to Kevin and I about it. Other than that he's been up to his normal routine, playing with cars, animals, trains, playing outside and getting dirty!  He learned how to ride his bike (with training wheels) which was great since he usually would drive his power wheels truck or tractor around and not even attempt the bike. Now he rides it all the time! Last weekend we had kids bike races at the RLS and Blake did great!! He didn't win but I was proud of him that he did it, last year I had to push him!

Brooklyn is 1! She turned 1 on July 6th, my baby is getting big! She is growing and changing so much, she talks or babbles all the time now, she says Mama, Dada, kitty, hi and this. She waves hi and bye, gives kisses and hugs, claps, does "so big", plays peek a boo and she likes to dance! Brooke isn't walking yet but cruises and uses her push/walker thing and she climbs up everything, drives me crazy! (slides, onto the tables, ugh!) She's into EVERYTHING And is always moving.  Our sweet little princess is constantly into mischief she loves the cat, Blake's toys, the toilets, the DVDs, pulling up the rugs, dumping clothes baskets, etc. Brooke has 13 teeth now and uses them well, cause she is a great eater. I had her in for her 1 year appt. last week and she weighs 25lbs and is 31.25 inches tall, she's perfect and healthy! Brooke has also found a little sass, she either thinks its funny when she's told no or she will throw a temper tantrum and throw herself on the floor. Most of the time she is happy playing and babbling and following her brother :-) She is very much a daddy's girl and momma's girl, when she is tired she loves to snuggle, we love it! When Kevin comes home he will be on the floor playing with her and she will constantly hug and kiss him, she's got her daddy wrapped around her little finger!  We had her birthday party on July 7th and she got lots of fun toys and cute clothes, she loves her cozy coupe car, doll house and horse and carriage the most. She still amazes us at how happy and sweet she is, she is such an easy baby!!

Kevin has been up to the same old same old: work and racing! Racing has been pretty good for the most part, some ups and some downs. Last weekend was a great weekend as Kevin swept on Saturday and Sunday, although he didn't sweep the bike races! ha ha ha Kevin rode a 2 seater bike with Mariah and I rode a 2 seater bike with Shane Kisling and wow it was a lot harder then I thought! (Kevs and Mariah did beat Shane and I...however they had previous experience from last years race!!) Tonight we are off to Menomonie, we have double features, hopefully it will go good!

I've been busy doing my usual stuff, work, kids, housework etc! I've been working on getting a ridiculous amount of pictures put in albums (such a time consuming task!), organizing and tossing out things we don't need and shopping! I've been looking at paint colors and trying to decide what direction I want to go in with a  few rooms, its a work in progress but I'm finally ready to add some color.  I haven't had much time for my horses this summer, but there fat, happy and healthy! Hopefully this fall I will have more time for them. (By then I hope to have an arena...hint hint Kevin!)

Have a great weekend!

I'm back!

Holy moly, where has the time gone?! My last post was in February! Pretty bad when Kevin checks the blog and asks me if I quit blogging :-) No I haven't quit, I just haven't found the time, I've been so busy with work and our kids that I keep putting this off.

We've had a busy and wonderful spring! Blake, Brooke and I have kept busy while Kevin worked endless hours at the shop. We went to the Children's Museum in Eau Claire with Randine, Braylynn and Kasen, we stayed at the water park in Duluth Easter weekend, we spent a rainy Sunday afternoon at the MOA going on rides and going to the aquarium (daddy even got to go with us!) and going to the circus with Keytun, Brylee and Jema. Racing started for us as well, in the middle of all of our fun!

Blake and Brooke cruising in the mud!

At the Eau Claire Children's Musuem, Blake loved it!

Enjoying the water park! We 're going to make it a yearly tradition :-)

Brooke at MOA!

Blake loved the horn!

Blake Finding Nemo!

Brooke enjoying the aquarium!

Blake at the circus!

Kids Update!

Blake is growing....fast! He's such a "little boy" now, the days of having a toddler boy running around are long gone. He loves anything to do with racing, cars, trains, four wheelers, animals, bugs, football, baseball etc. He loves driving his power wheels truck and tractor, and going for four wheeler rides and he's getting better at riding a bike now too! Blake also loves story time and doing any kind of project. Blake has a huge imagination, he is always asking questions and playing make believe, I love listening to what he comes up with! He continues to amaze us at how smart he is and what he comes up with and figures out, he knows his whole name and how to spell his first name, where he lives, how old he is, his birthday, his parents name, we are currently working on his phone number and starting to write out his name and use scissors. He is very friendly and out going, when we bring him to the park or to the races he always wants to go play with other kids, he asks them what their names are and he tells them his and asks if they wanna play! Blake can be so sweet and kind, that he makes my heart mush! Yet there is also the side of him that is full of vinegar! He can be so independent and willful at times, it frustrates the heck out of me! We are constantly working on having better listening ears and doing as mom says/asks (and dad, although he seems to listen better to dad, go figure!). This is a battle that I have a feeling we will be fighting for a long time! As trying as Blake can be, when he smiles his big "cheesy" smile and says "I love you mom" those frustrations fly out the window! Needless to say our little boy has his momma right where he wants her! And dad too!!!!

Brooklyn is almost 11 months already, my baby is growing way too quick!  She has changed so much since I last blogged, no longer is she an "infant baby" but a big baby girl! She has 7 teeth, she crawls, she can say Dada, mama (finally!), hi and kitty, she eats mostly table food, she goes to sleep all on her own and she's into EVERYTHING! Brooke also gives kisses and hugs! She loves our cat and will follow him around the house! She also enjoys books, she loves being read too.  Brooke is still very quiet and sweet but she's starting to show some sass, she will throw herself backwards if you set her down and she doesn't want to be set down, she thinks its so funny when you tell her no. She is very playful with her toys but Blake's toys and everything else she's not suppose to be into seem to interest her the most! Although she has this glow worm that is actually a seahorse that we call "Snuggle bug", she LOVES it and cuddles it and falls asleep, its sweet! Brooke enjoys being outside and loves to swing, she enjoys going on walks as long as we keep moving, if we stop she gets antsy. Brooke is very cautious of doing things at first, it took her a long time to crawl (which was fine with me, I miss the times when I could set her down and she stayed put!), she just started pulling herself up and seems to have no desire to walk, which is just fine with me! Brooke is very much a daddy's girl and gets so excited when she sees him, yet she's very much a mommy's girl too and doesn't like when I leave or she can't see me. Brooke isn't much of a snuggler anymore unless she's tired. She is very much our little princess and is as sweet as can be!

I  do have to say our house seems to have gotten louder and it usually involves our sweet princess bugging Blake! She wants to do whatever he's doing and play with all of his toys, which as you can imagine does not fly well at all, Blake is usually yelling for help or running with his toys and shutting his door as fast as he can! I think this is the just the beginning of the sibling bickering we get to look forward too! However when they do play together, Blake is very good with Brooke and can make her laugh like no one else.

Kevin survived his busy season of lettering race cars, it was a long few months but all went good and now he can enjoy some free time with me and the kids :-) Racing season is here full force...meaning 3 nights a week. This year has had a lot ups and a lot of downs, but that's just the way it goes. So far he has 4 feature wins and a roll over under his belt. He is fine, which is all that matters and so is the car, so we were beyond thankful and relieved. We still have a full summer of racing to go, so who knows what that will bring, I just pray for safety :-) Between work and racing and spending time with me and the kids, Kevin's staying very busy!

Daddy and the munchkins!

Racing for me and the kids has been hectic! Wow is it hard bringing a 3 year old and a baby! Friday nights I don't bring the kids (thank god for my mother in law!!!), Saturdays I bring the kids and we sit in the booth and its very busy to say the least, again I'm thankful for my mother in law and our friends who sit with us, the extra hands are so nice! Sundays have been easier, I still bring both kids, but where we sit I have easy access to the hauler, which is a relief and my dad has come every Sunday we've raced there so Blake tends to drag my dad all over! Sadly, my dad starts racing Sundays in Proctor this weekend, so there goes my help! :-)

I've been very busy with my kids, work and the endless housework. Work is busy as I have 7, sometimes 8 kids daily, its great money wise, just very busy at times! I can't complain though, their all great kids and are on the same schedule for eating and napping, and my kids enjoy having their friends over to play everyday! I've been trying to get things done on my endless "to do" list as well. Last weekend I had a garage sale and got rid of all the kids clothes and baby/daycare items I no longer use and I made just over 300! It was well worth the aggravation of setting up a sale! Everything was .25 unless marked or bring a bag and fill for 5.00, it was easy! So now I need to reorganize my storage room now that all the junk is outta there!

We have lots of fun things planned for the summer, I arranged my summer schedule so I don't work Mondays, I can't wait! We plan on taking the kids to the Como Zoo and the MN Zoo, Wisconsin Dells, Wild Mountain and a day trip to Duluth, as well as our yearly camping trip to Hayward. Kevin and I are also going to sneak over to Valley Fair, just the two of us. Is it summer yet?!

Have a safe Memorial Day weekend!

Snowed In

Well almost anyway! Today me, Blake, Brooke and one daycare kid are enjoying the beautiful snow! We are watching the Lion King (Blake's current favorite), playing cars and trains and of course going outside to play in the snow and make snowmen!

We've had a busy last month, which has been fun! Kevin was racing in Florida the beginning of February and had some great runs, especially the last night at East Bay when he battled for the lead and ended up 2nd, it was pretty intense and stressful to watch, at least for me anyway! Blake and I made a shotgun trip down there for 3 1/2 days and we had a great time despite Blake having a cold. We were able to see Kevin, watch some racing, play in the pool and go to Busch Gardens. (Thinking back about being in Florida sure makes me wish we were there now especially looking at all the snow!)

We had the RLS banquet last Saturday night and we had a great time! Although the night seemed to go too fast and I paid for it all day Sunday! It was nice to see all the racing people again after a long boring winter. Kevin won the modified track points and my dad was 3rd in points as well as the "rookie of the year" as a joke! LOL Cathy Roe had a plaque made for me and made a beautiful scrapbook of all the kids and the activities that we did, for starting the RLS kids club, it was really sweet and thoughtful of her, and very much appreciated!

On to the kids.....

Blake hasn't been up to too much, he started swim lessons a couple of weeks ago, its more of a introduction to the water, as I have to go in with him! Since having ear infections so often when he was a baby and then having tubes put in, he's been super sensitive about getting water in his ears. So he loves playing in the water but does not love having the water anywhere near his ears. Each week he has improved and is getting more and more brave about getting wet. He really enjoys all the games and toys we play with there. Blake is still in to playing make believe a lot, like acting out the Lion King, its pretty cute :-) Other than that he hasn't been up to too much, just playing outside and playing race cars! (Since going to Florida he is beyond ready to go racing every weekend!!)

Brooke has been changing and growing so much! She is almost 8 months now, she has 2 teeth, can say da da, she's attempting to crawl and wants everything she can get her hands on! Anytime Blake is playing with her and not being too rough she is beyond happy! He can make her laugh and giggle so easily, makes my heart melt! Brooke wants to crawl and stand on her own so bad that she's getting very frustrated. She's very much a mommy's girl and LOVES to be snuggled, which I love! When Kevin comes home, she's all about daddy and wants all of his attention!

March is going to be filled with a quick weekend getaway for Kevin and I, a wedding, the crazyness of Kevin's busy season at work, the preparation of racing season for both Kevin and I.... meaning Kevin doing any last minute things that need to be done before the season is underway and me doing fun and "normal" people things on the weekends before we are racing every weekend. I'm also planning an overnight stay at the water park in Duluth for the kids and my family. Should be fun :-)

That's all for now...next time I'll post pix! Enjoy the snow!

Time flies when your having fun!

Wow, its been 3 weeks since we were in Florida, I'm sooo ready to go back! Our vacation was wonderful,  even with one rainy afternoon we had fun. The kids were both very good, I was super worried about having a baby on an airplane but Brooklyn was a pro! LOL She loved looking around and entertaining the people who sat across from us. Blake did great as well, we bought a couple of new movies for the flight and he sat so good and watched them.

We got to our resort on Sunday and enjoyed the evening by going swimming, Blake is a fish, he loves the water! Brooke seemed to enjoy the water as well, she's such an observer and just takes it all in. Monday we headed to Hollywood Studios and went to a bunch of shows, Blake loved the stunt show or as he called it the skunk show! Brooke was content to watch everything around her, she seemed to like the Disney Live on Stage show. We were able to do all the kid friendly attractions and be back at our hotel early, which was great! That evening Kevin and I were able to sneak back to the Hollywood Studios and go on the thrill rides. Tuesday we were off to the Magic Kingdom and we had an amazing day! There is sooo much to do and see there, we did everything we could do there (too much for me too list!)! I think Blake liked the Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride and the carousel the best! Brooklyn made it through half of that day and was just too tuckered out and went back to the hotel with grandma. It was great for us, she could get a good nap and we could do "bigger kid" rides with Blake. Although he did cry when grandma took Brooke, he wanted her to stay with us! How sweet! Once again that night we were able to bring Blake back to the hotel with grandma and Kevin and I headed back to the park to go on a couple of rides and watch the fireworks show. Wednesday morning we had breakfast at Chef Mickey's with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto! Blake LOVED every minute of it as did Brooke, Kevin and I! Blake would giggle and give the characters a big hug and then he'd get shy! Brooke really liked Minnie Mouse's nose...cute! After breakfast we were off to Animal Kingdom and it was raining when we got there :-( but its only rain so we stocked up on ponchos and headed to see the Lion King, Finding Nemo, A Bugs Life and the Kilimanjaro Safari- which is amazing to see the animals up close! That night Kevin and I had our planned date night- we got to go to our favorite seafood restaurant Fultons, it is ridiculously good! We also did some shopping at Downtown Disney and enjoyed the beautiful Florida evening! Thursday we went to Epcot, we went on the Finding Nemo ride, we went to the Turtle Talk with Crush, and got to see lots of fish, dolphins and sharks! This is where we saw all the characters and got pictures with them, Blake and Brooke both loved it and had big smiles on their faces, it was priceless! We headed back to our hotel early in the afternoon, it was so nice out, we took the kids swimming again :-) It was a gorgeous perfect vacation day! That evening Kevin and I headed back to Epcot to walk through the countries as the kids would be bored to death to walk through them! LOL Sadly the next day we had to head back to cold, wintry Wisconsin.

We had a wonderful vacation, with lots of happy memories, I'm so happy that we were able to bring both kids and that they both did so well outside of their normal routine/environment. Going to Disney World yearly is slowly becoming a tradition for us. Which is fine with Kevin, me and especially Blake, I'm sure Brooke too! Blake is already asking when we can go on "acation", to the hotel and swimming and Disney World again! LOL

January 16th, Blake turned 3! I still can't believe he's 3 already.... his 2nd birthday was an easy one for me as he still was a toddler and needed his mommy often, but this 3rd birthday really struck a cord with me, as he goes from toddler to boy. Just sad I guess that he's growing up so quick...some days I wish there was a pause button to keep him little and sweet for a little longer!  Blake is becoming so independent and is enjoying the many things he can do on his own, which is really good and exciting for all of us! Blake is still a huge daddy's boy and prefers to hang out with dad and work on the race cars and do boy stuff then hang out with mommy at home! He seems to want me when he's tired, hungry, wants cuddles or stories or when he wakes up in the middle of the night!

We had a birthday party with the family and Blake picked out the theme and the food- Mickey Mouse and pizza! Blake loved his special day and got lots of nice toys and clothes and LOVED the cake and balloons :-)
On his actual birthday we took him out to eat and he wanted tacos so off to the Mexican place we went! They sang to him, put a sombrero on him and put whip cream on his nose- he was not impressed! LOL But he sure liked the ice cream they gave him! All in all I think he had a wonderful 3rd birthday!

Brooklyn has been very busy lately she is sitting up by herself and rolling all over the place! She just popped her first tooth on Monday and is working on her 2nd as well! We had her 6 month check up and she is right on track developmentally and above average on her weight and height :-) Perfect and healthy! She is still the sweetest baby, she isn't much of crier and is so happy to watch whats going on around her. Brooke loves Blake to pieces and LOVES to watch him and she will giggle endlessly watching him.

That's all for now! Have a great rest of the week!

Welcome 2012!

Happy New Year! Hard to believe its already 2012, for me 2011 flew by! Well except when I was preggers, it sure felt like it was dragging on! I think when a person has children the time goes by way too quickly.

Our family had a wonderful Christmas at home again this year. We hosted my family here on Christmas Eve, and I loved every minute of it :-) Blake and Brooke LOVED opening gifts, especially Blake! He would tear into his gift, look at it, then tear into the next one. Blake got a ton of toys, a wagon, monster trucks, dinosaurs, movies, clothes etc. Brooke enjoyed playing in the wrapping paper and she loved the bows! She got lots of toys as well, a doll, seahorse, clothes, purse etc. Blake was really into Christmas this year so leaving cookies and milk for Santa was exciting as was going to bed to listen for Santa! (I wish I could use that trick year round to get him to go to bed!) Christmas morning he woke up in our bed, as he had a bad dream, and he completely forgot that Santa had come until we reminded him and then our still sleepy little boy couldn't jump out of bed fast enough. It was so fun listening to the sound of his feet running to the living room! Santa brought him a race track, a movie, cars, water bottle and a game. Brooklyn got a tea set, teethers and a sippy cup, I'm sure she was excited too, she just wasn't showing it!

Christmas Day afternoon was spent with Kevin's side of the family at his parents house, we had a wonderful meal and a wonderful day with them! Christmas at my in laws house for me is very relaxing and I enjoy every minute of it! Blake was so excited to open gifts there, that he barely would eat, we all weren't in the living room yet and Blake was opening his gifts! LOL He new what ones were his because he had cartoon wrapping paper!  He got a racetrack, a sit and spin, Elmo bath toy, clothes, a puzzle etc. Brooklyn once again loved the wrapping paper! She got lots of clothes- which is great cause she's growing so fast! She also got a stuffed puppy that she loves!

To sum it up we had a wonderful Christmas, the best part was spending it with family and watching the joy and happiness in our kids eyes, lots of wonderful memories!

December sure went fast, but it was a fun month. We brought Blake to Monster Jam and he did great, he sat for about the first 45 minutes and then got antsy. He had just about every snack you could get and enjoyed the foam Grave Digger hat that came with the $15 cotton candy the best. (And he only ate 3 bites of the cotton candy!!) We also took him to the Aquarium and on the rides at the MOA and we had a blast! Kevin and I both can't wait to bring him again, his smiles and giggles were priceless!

We also celebrated Kevin's 32nd birthday on Dec. 17th. Blake was so excited about a birthday and having a birthday party for daddy (even if it was just the 4 of us!). He helped me make a cake (so did Brooke, she was in her exersaucer in the kitchen) and decorate and helped wrap gifts. Blake thought it was fun to sing Happy Birthday :-)

 

Kevin has been  busy with work, and building racecars, his busy season is slowly creeping up on us, which is great for the work and all but me and the kids sure miss him a lot when he has to work so much. Fall and early winter spoil us, as he can be home with us so much more! He's also getting ready for his racing trip in February. :-)

I've been busy with the kiddos, work and planning our vacation. The kids are at ages where they need so much of me I haven't been able to do much else besides care for them, which is fine with me! Just wish they would sit and snuggle more! Work has been pretty good and is about to get busier as I am taking on 2 more kids the week after we come back from our vacation...it will be a full house, wish me luck as it will be great for the checkbook and not so great for my sanity! I've also been busy planning and preparing for our vacation. We head to Florida on Sunday and we all can't wait! And I say ALL because we are bringing Brooke as well! I just couldn't leave her, she's such a mommy's girl and is so attached to her big brother and daddy, I think she'd be sad for us to leave her for 6 days. So  my lists of things needed to be packed are miles and miles long as are my lists of things to do before we leave! So here I sit writing my blog instead of getting things done! LOL We are super lucky tho my mother in law and her sister are flying down  the day after we get there, to help us out with Miss Brooke. As there is so much to do at Disney, she'll get so tired, so Brooke will get to go back to the hotel with her grandma :-) Oh and Kevin and I will actually get a date night!!!

Blake hasn't been up to too much lately, just enjoying all his new toys and getting excited to go on an airplane, go to a hotel and see Mickey! He recently learned to say yellow instead of lellow, which made me so sad! It just reminds me that he's growing up, and too fast at that. His 3rd birthday is coming up and he is so happy about his party! He picked out all his birthday stuff and is impatiently waiting for that! He still loves his trains and cars but enjoys playing monster trucks with his cool ramps daddy made him for Christmas. Blake is really into playing pretend and acting out what he sees in movies. He has Lion King action figures and plays out scenes in the movie and will also play out scenes from the movie Up. Its so cute! I can't believe how much he remembers and how accurate he is when he plays, its pretty neat! He's really into the movies Up and Oliver and Co. Currently we are working on being a better listner :-)

Brooklyn will be 6 months on Friday and wow has she been growing! She loves to jump in her jumperoo and loves to chew on everything! Last week she learned how to roll and is quite happy to just roll to her toys and play :-) I'm sure she'll roll to Blake's toys soon enough! Brooke is doing pretty good sitting up by herself but still tips over sometimes. Her puppy and tea pot are her favorite toys at the moment. Brooke is starting to babble quite a bit and when she gets super excited she'll scream super loud, she is still full of smiles and giggles and is just the happiest baby! Currently our little princess is teething and we're hoping those teeth come in soon!

Have a wonderful week!