January/February

Well the last two months have brought lots of change in our family. I celebrated my 30th b-day! I had mixed emotions about it, but have decided that it doesn't feel any different than 29. Although sometimes I feel it in my knees when I am down on the floor with the kids!!!! We celebrated by going up north an hour and a half to Grand Casino Mille Lacs. We were able to get a free room through Joe's parents which was awesome. They came with us so they could watch the kids while we went out. We started off by going swimming with the kids, which they loved! Then we got ready to go out and had dinner at one of the restaurants there. It was really good food and nice to be able to talk and have an adult conversation! Then we went back to the room to help get the kids ready for bed. Then we headed out to see a movie. It was SO nice to be able to spend time together and get out without the kids for a few hours!!! When we got back about 11:30pm Kaelyn was asleep in between Grandma and Grandpa in their bed and Austin was wide awake with a fever. Needless to say it was a very long night. Then we went out for breakfast and then packed up to go. It was nice to get away for the night and enjoy some family time!!!
Our lease is coming up the end of April on our apartment and we have decided that we need more room and a yard for the kids. So we are going to be moving again and renting a house. We got approved for a home in Crystal. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, hardwood floors, fireplace, a living room up stairs and a family room downstairs. It has a fenced in back yard with a huge detached garage. We are really looking forward to having more room and a yard for the kids to run around in!!!! We will let you know more about that when it gets closer to moving!
I have also decided to enter back into the work force. Unemployment has been such a blessing for us over the past year and a half, but we will be needing more income to provide what we want for our family. I was offered two different positions and have decided to go back to Park Nicollet. I will be working at the Melrose Institute which is their eating disorders clinic. They recently moved into a brand new state of the art facility. They have in patient and out patient services. I will be a medical receptionist and that will include working the call center too. It's very similar to what I was doing before minus checking insurance. It will be 36 hours a week and I will be done by 3:30pm every day. Joe will be home with the kids on Tues and Wed so they will be in day care 3days a week.
The kids are doing great! Kaelyn is an outgoing, energetic little girl who isn't afraid to talk to anyone! She recently just got glasses because her left eye is crossing and she is a little farsighted. The glasses are supposed to help her left eye straighten out. We go back to the Dr in March to see if they are helping and will find out more then. She does a pretty good job with keeping them on, although we have had to go in and have them adjusted a few times already. She is talking in full paragraphs now and is so much fun to have a conversation with!!! She is so loving with her brother and takes such good care of him!
Austin is also talking a lot more! He is saying new words everyday and it is so much fun to see all of the connections he is making. He is 18 months now so he is finally able to go to nursery at church!!! So now Joe might actually be able to get something out of church! Kaelyn is in nursery with Austin and takes good care of him!
So we have a lot coming up in the next few months, but we are looking forward to all that is in store for us!!!

Jan/Feb 2011

December 2010

December was a fun month for our family!!!! We started the month off with a visit from my parents. It was so nice to see them and spend a week with them! The kids has a great time playing with both of them. Pretty much everyone got sick the week they were here, but we enjoyed the time together! However, my parents said that they will not be back to visit in December ever again! (Floridians!!!!)
I was able to take the kids downtown to see the Macy's display along with two friends and their kids. It was fun to see "Santa's workshop" and sit on his lap. Both kids managed to sit on his lap without crying, although they didn't seem too sure of what to think!
I got to have my annual cookie baking day with my two best friends from high school, Jamie and Alison. We get together every year to do this and really enjoy it! Every year we get a little quicker even with the addition of 5 kids (Jamie-2, me-2, and Alison-1) between the three of us now!!!
We were able to spend Christmas Eve at Joe's parents house. Joe's two brothers, Kip and Buddy, were there. As well as his sister Penny along with her 4 kids and boyfriend Alan. Our oldest niece Lucia and her son Alex were also there. It was a full house but we had a lot of fun!!! Good food and lots of presents so the kids and the adults enjoyed it.
Joe finished another 9 credits at North Hennepin Community College and was able to get a second Associates Degree! It was a long semester but he did an awesome job! He will be starting at Metropolitan State in January to get his Bachelors Degree in Business Management. He has 32 credits he needs to complete to get that degree. So we will just take it one semester at a time!
We spent New Year's Eve at home with our friends Ethan, Kim and their kids. We made steak and crab legs which turned out great!!! The two little one's, Austin and Taylor, went to bed early. But Kaelyn, Bryson and Kelsey stayed up until midnight! It was a nice way to end the year. We are looking forward to all that 2011 will hold for our family!

December 2010

November 2010

Hello everyone! November ended up being a pretty quiet month for us. We had some birthday parties and dinner with friends throughout the month. We had a visit from Joe's dad and his girlfriend so they got to spend some time with the kids! Joe was able to take the kids to his sister's house for Thanksgiving while I stayed home with the stomach flu. We had our first snow of the season which Kaelyn absolutely loved!! Other than that things were pretty low key.
Kaelyn and Austin are doing well and growing up!!! Kaelyn is talking in full sentences and learning to dance like a ballerina!! She loves arts and crafts and being with friends. Austin is starting to use new words as well. Some of them include down, baby, Shhhhh (with his finger pressed to his lips), soft, Dora, bye bye, puh (for please), wa-wa (for his cup), and blanket (which sounds more like baby!). They love laughing together and making each other laugh! They definitely keep us busy and laughing!

November 2010

Winter Wonderland

This is what we woke up to!

Kaelyn LOVED it!!!!

Austin HATED it!!!!!

Austin was SO happy to be back inside!

Kaelyn wasn't ready to come in so she went out on the balcony

We had our first official snow of the season!!! We got close to a foot of snow! Kaelyn absolutely loves it and could play outside all day! Austin on the other hand, not so much. He cries as soon as you get all of his gear on and continues to cry the whole time outside unless you pick him up and hold him. But they both look pretty cute all bundled up! We got Austin's snow suit from an old co-worker of mine. It is 18-24 months so it is a little big, but it was free so it works!!! Kaelyn is actually wearing the jacket and snow pants we got last year which are 18 months. It fits her perfectly!!!! So we have been enjoying building snowmen and sledding with all of this white stuff outside!!!! It has been fun to actually be able to enjoy it this year!

Looking back....

So Austin and Kaelyn are 15 1/2 months apart. Austin in now 15 months, so I have been thinking......I am SOOOOOOO glad I am not 9 months pregnant right now!!!! Or even pregnant at all for that matter!!!! I love my kiddos, but they keep me busy enough right now!

October 2010

Well, it's been another crazy month for our family! We started off the month with a 10 day vacation to Idaho and Utah. Joe served his mission for our church in Boise, ID from 2001-2003. We started our trip flying into Boise and having lunch with the Teuscher's. Judy was like Joe's mom when he was on his mission. Then we drove out to Parma which is very close to the Oregon border. We stayed with the Jeffers who have a farm. The kids had an amazing week with all of the animals!! Kaelyn really bonded with one of the dog's named Wally and Austin held his own with all of the big wagging tails!!!! Joe got to do some shooting and even got to wrangle up a sheep to bring to slaughter. We drove into Oregon and got to see some of the areas where Joe served during his mission. It is a beautiful part of the country! At the end of the week we stayed with the Teuscher's daughter and her family for a night. Their kids watched our kids and we were able to have a night out with grown ups!!!! It was great!!! Then we drove down to Utah and stayed in Orem for a few days. We were able to meet up with our friends the Russell's who live here in MN. They were visiting family out there. We were also able to see an old friend Joe grew up with and one of his Tongan mission companions who is now married and living in Provo. At the end of our trip we had to drive back up to Boise to fly home, so we stayed with the Teuscher family again. It was actually a pretty nice and relaxing time because we just went with the flow and took it easy. The kids did really well on the airplane rides and we were sad we had to come back to reality!!! We had a fun Halloween with the kids this year. I don't think Austin really knew what was going on, but Kaelyn was able to go trick or treating with her cousins and absolutely loved it!!!! Kaelyn has been loving going to school twice a week and being able to do lots of art activities. She is very independent and loves to help with anything she can. She is talking in full sentences, but still has a lot of jabbering in between so it is very interesting to carry on a conversation with her! She loves to tell stories and sing too! And she climbs on everything! Austin is really starting to come into his own. He is very talkative and has a few words: Mama, Dada, ball, Dora, and fish. He loves Elmo and trucks. He is still very into books and can now climb up on Kaelyn's bed. He has started pushing back when he gets pushed and is very strong. We are definitely in for it with these two!!!

Idaho 2010

Utah 2010

October 2010

September 2010

Well, I guess I can say that September was a little less eventful than August was! Thank goodness. Aside from coughs and sniffles which seemed to follow us the whole month, we are all doing pretty well. The big thing that started this month is ECFE (early childhood family education). We decided to to a class for Kaelyn and for Austin. Kaelyn's class is Tuesday mornings and Austin's is Thursday. During Kaelyn's class Austin is at home with Joe, but on Thursday mornings Joe is sleeping. So Kaelyn goes with us and stays at sibling care. Each class is 1 1/2-2 hours long. It is divided up between play time, circle time-which includes singing, parent education time, and snack time. Both kids are really enjoying it and it's nice to get out and meet new people.
Kaelyn is working hard at learning her colors and shapes. She gets them correct about 50% of the time. She loves to count too, but always ends up saying 1,2,6...so hopefully she will figure it out eventually!!! She is talking so well now and it is so much fun to have a conversation with her that you actually understand!
Austin is such a little man! He is into everything but especially loves music. He is always dancing or bopping his head to the music. He loves to read and look at books and is walking all over the place. He really loves his sister too and is always wanting to get into what ever she is doing. His collar bone seems to be healing well and doesn't seem to bother him at all.
Joe is doing great with keeping up with his school work and working and being a husband and being a dad! He is one busy guy!!!!
We are looking forward to a trip out west to visit some friends in Idaho and Utah. I'm sure we will have lots of pictures to share!

Please click on the picture below

September 2010