A Family of Love

Sick Boy

2012-02-01T06:54:00.000-06:00

Matthew is not feeling well again.

It started with a few coughs yesterday morning, but he seemed fine otherwise.

He had a really rough nap.

When he woke up, he told me he didn't feel good.

I got him all comfy on the couch with a glass of water and some cartoons so I could clean up all the papers I was trying to organize while he was sleeping.

He didn't want me to do anything but snuggle with him.

I did finish cleaning up real quick and then we snuggled.

About 1/2 to 45 minutes later without warning he puked all over both of us.

When we went to the bathroom to clean up, he looked at me and said I sorry for puking on you Momma. After I got cleaned up and got him out of the shower, he looked much better and kept telling me that he was starving. He was a little mad at me for only letting him eat crackers.

He seemed fine last night except for a fever which he still has this morning.

He was up at about 5:30 this morning. Gave him something for his fever and he fell back to sleep.

He's going to be a sad boy when he wakes up and I tell him that he has to stay home with me since he is sick. He always gets to spend Wednesdays with his Papa and sometimes Gram too. I told last night before he threw up that if he wasn't feeling better that he would have to stay home with me. As he laid on the couch (before he threw up), he kept saying to me, "I feel better now". After he threw up, he said (almost crying) "I still go to Grammie and Papa's tomorrow. I told him we would have to wait to see how he is feeling in the morning. He will be really sad when he wakes up this morning. For me, there will be lots of snuggling my sick boy today.

Music and Singing

2012-01-26T08:51:00.000-06:00

Matthew loves to sing and dance (even in his underwear)!

I have the cutest video to show but I am having trouble uploading it to the blog!

I'm stilling working on it!

Gingerbread Train

2012-01-25T22:16:00.000-06:00

On January 10, we finally had time to do our gingerbread train that we bought a week before Christmas. We had so much fun when we finally did get to decorate it.

Lots of frosting + big mess=one happy boy

What more can a mama ask for except for one happy boy!!!!!

Outside

2012-01-25T14:16:00.000-06:00

These pictures are from a few weeks ago. I just got them loaded onto my computer.

It was back when we were having the really nice weather. It was so nice that we played with Matthew's new bubble maker and wrote all over the cement in front of our garage with chalk. Matthew has really been into writing and drawing lately.

Here are a few pictures of his bubble machine:

He even played in his sand box and told me that I couldn't take any more pictures (so I told him that I was taking pictures of the trees. Hehehe!)

We finally got back outside yesterday but I didn't take any pictures.

We had lots of fun digging in the snow with his sand shovels and putting and moving it in his wheelbarrow. He was trying to have us find Bugs Bunny!

Pictures

2012-01-10T16:05:00.000-06:00

Since the weather has been so nice, we have been outside playing a bit the last few days! I am loving the sunshine! I love taking pictures outside! I especially love when Matthew lets me take his pictures! Usually there is bribery! Sometimes I just tell him I going to take pictures of the trees! Sometimes he actually wants me to take his pictures!

This next one is my favorite!!

Then he was done!

Ok he'll fake it for one more!

He was also getting cold!

When we went in, I told him thank you for letting me take some pictures of him today.

He said, "You're welcome Mama!"

Made my heart melt!

He has been so sweet lately!

Icee

2012-01-09T08:15:00.000-06:00

Matthew got an icee maker for Christmas!

It was really easy and fun!

First flavor he picked of course was blue raspberry!

Playing Outside

2012-01-08T07:45:00.002-06:00

It's January!

It is beautiful outside!

This can't be Minnesota in January!

But it is!

We are loving it!

We played outside for a long time!

When we first went out, he didn't want me to take any pictures!

But I did anyway!

I thanked him when we went in for letting me take his picture and he said, "You're welcome Mama!

This new year is starting out great compared to how last year ended.

Matthew got his stitches out on the 2nd of January and his head is looking really good.

Couple more Christmas Pictures

2012-01-07T08:02:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple more Christmas pictures:

Christmas was so much fun this year! Matthew got so excited over all the things he got!

He was a little disappointed that Santa forgot a dinosaur!

He did get a microphone and loves to sing into and play this guitar.
Scott starts songs on You Tube and Matthew plays and sings along.

He got lots of other things from Santa but in all the pictures he is either turned away or not interested in looking at me for a picture.
We love reading Llama Llama books!

This one was the first to come out of the box!

We had an awesome time this Christmas!

Hopefully next year Santa will remember to bring a dinosaur!

My side of the Family

2012-01-03T21:17:00.001-06:00

My side of the family:

(I'm the first one of the left, Scott wasn't able to come to this party due to his work schedule and Matthew is front left)

Mom and Jerry with their grandchildren minus a few that were not there.

My mom with her 2 sisters, brother and mom (My grandma)

"Old" Grandma with her great grandchildren (she has a few more that we not able to make it to the party).

We had lots of fun at the party!

Can't wait to do all the fun things that we have already planned for next year (I mean this year 2012)!!

One Christmas celebration

2012-01-02T21:17:00.000-06:00

We had lots of Christmas celebrations this year. Some of them I took pictures of and some of them I didn't.

Here is a couple pictures of Matthew with a few of his favorites:

He got so many gifts that I can't even list them all.

We did go to see Alvin and The Chipmunks Chipwrecked yesterday and the movie theater. He loved it but was scared in a couple spots. I thought it was a really cute show.

Christmas Tree

2012-01-02T21:12:00.000-06:00

Here is a partical picture of our Christmas tree:

Most of the ornaments are homemade by either my great grandma or my sister and the others are little picture frames. We also have name ornaments and a ornament with a picture of our church on it.

PS Since we have decorated for awhile, we were so excited to start decorating for holidays that our Halloween decor was still hanging in the window. Our angel sat in the window without be lite up because we could find her plug in.

Monday's Happening

2011-12-27T09:04:00.000-06:00

So this top picture is a cute picture of our now happy boy who fell down the stairs yesterday and put a nice little gash on the top of his head.

His gash required 3 stitches.

Here's a better picture after we got it all cleaned up last night:

I was in town picking up a few things when it happened. Scott called me and said Can you come home we need to take Matthew in to get a few stitches. My heart instantly started racing. How can Scott be so calm? I did okay until I got home and seen the blood but after I came in and gave Matthew a hug I felt better. Matthew and Scott had been working outside. They came inside to get something to drink because Matthew was thristy. As they went back out, Matthew fell down the stairs outside and went through the railing (after we moved the deck this past summer we put the old deck back up temporarily and the railing on the deck has the top handrail and then a short handrail). When he fell, he went right under the short handrail and Scott said he grabbed for him but couldn't get enough of his coat to stop him. The doctors and nurses we had at urgent care was wonderful. I didn't lose it until they had to strap him down to do the stitches. Scott held his head and I got to hold his hands. I am sure that eveyone in the clinic could hear Matthew screaming and the screaming is what made me lose it. After the doctor was done, it didn't take Matthew very long to calm down after he was in Daddy's lap. We took him for ice cream for being a very brave boy while getting stitches.

After we got home, we put batteries in his microphone that he got from Santa. He was singing and then he said(into his microphone), "I fell down today and bonked my head and got stitches in my head." It was cute hearing him say his version of the story.

Later in the afternoon, Matthew was playing and hit his elbow on something. I asked if he was okay and he said, "It's not bleeding" two times. Had to reassure himself that he didn't have to go to the doctor again.

He got to sleep with us last night so that we could make sure that he was okay.

He is doing good. He has been his silly little self and continues to make up laugh.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T08:29:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!!

Christmas Program at Church

2011-12-24T13:07:00.000-06:00

This is Matthew's first year in Sunday School so it was his very first Christmas program.

He was a "cow".

The last 2 years I have been taking pictures of all the kids that are in the program.

Matthew standing by his cousin, Emma, and they are singing This Little Light of Mine.

Then our little cow started grazing and I'm sure he was saying Yum Yum Yum.

Right after he got his costume on, he starting acting like he was eating the carpet and saying Yum Yum Yum!

Here is our wandering cow:

We were both very surprised that he stayed in the program. He did wander a little bit but he did a great job!

Christmas

2011-12-23T12:44:00.000-06:00

The whole month of December has been a crazy busy month for us!

We have had or have been to lots of Christmas parties already!

We had a wonderful evening with Matthew's birthmom and her family a few weeks ago. It was a wild one and I haven't laughed like that in a long time.

Then last weekend we had a fun evening with Matthew's birthfather's family (we were really sad that his birthfather couldn't join us because he ended having to work). We will have a schedule another time with him.

Here is what birthparents and grandparents received this year from Matthew

(Mom if you are reading you might want to stop right here or it will spoil your Christmas present from Matthew)!

I started with 4" x 4" tiles from Home Depot and some Mod Podge:

Put the Mod Podge down, then picture and then Mod Podge on top:

The tiles as they were drying.

After they dried, Scott put 2 coats of an acrylic spray lacquer on them.

Each birthparent and grandparent received 4 picture coasters tied with a ribbon!

I found this idea on Pinterest! It's a great website to get great ideas but it is addicting!

I heard the same comment from all who received them that they will NOT be used as coasters

Another Dusting of Snow-November 20

2011-12-22T23:06:00.000-06:00

We got another little dusting a few days later but it too didn't last either.

Matthew was helping Daddy do a little shoveling

First Snow-November 15

2011-12-22T09:33:00.000-06:00

On November 15, we got a little dusting of snow. As soon as Matthew woke up and seen it, he wanted to go outside. He wasn't even up 5 minutes before we headed outside in our jammies! He had snowpants on so you couldn't really see his jammies.

It was all melted by the end of the day!

This has just been a crazy winter! It's almost Christmas and we still don't have any snow!

I'm okay with that though.

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only a few days away.

A Catch Up Post

2011-12-22T09:25:00.000-06:00

I know I know! It's Christmas not Halloween!

That just shows you how far behind in blogging that I am!

I am working on catching up and hope to be caught up by the end of the year!

Matthew was Tow Mater from his favorite movie Disney Pixar "CARS"!

Matthew and Daddy

Matthew and Mommy

A Little Snippet of Today

2011-12-21T22:22:00.000-06:00

This morning as I was getting everything ready to give Matthew a bath, he started telling me a story but the funniest part of his story was the beginning. He started his story by saying "When I was a young boy............He cracks me up!

Finally!!!!!!

2011-12-05T17:36:00.000-06:00

I'm sure this is what you have all been waiting for........

I know that it has taken me a long time to get pictures of our house up but I have been debating what to do. I thought about starting a new blog with just house pictures and all the things we are or have done to it but at the same time it is a part of what our family has done or is doing so here they are.........

The before pictures:

(Back side of house)

We are really not sure why it was missing siding but we thought within a few years we would reside the whole house.

Front side of house

Garage

This is what sold Scott!

It's a dream garage Right???

Off to the right side is a 3 season porch. Why on the garage? Not really sure. I thought about turning it into a photo studio but after looking at it and with much discussion with Scott it would take to much time and money to convert it. It wasn't built to be insulated I don't think.

Or it could have been this long driveway (that he could use his tractor to plow in the winter) with beautiful trees and a circle drive.

Plus the 4.4 acres helped too.

We are a good distance off the road.

See that pile of brush..... Yep that is where we kept the burn pit. Did I tell you that we have had many fires already? That is the best part about having your own home and a fire pit.

I'll show more inside photos at a later date. But let me start by telling you a little about what we found in the interior. Not sure if I told you but we planned on redoing the sheetrock because previous owners were smokers and it smelled terrible and then new flooring and cabinets and we had talked about possible reinsulating the walls and knew the ceiling/attic would have to be.

Well when we removed the sheetrock from the ceiling, the insulation of course came down too and I told Scott that a couple spots looked wet. After the insulation was cleaned up (which was a job and a half but thanks to the help of Scott's brother we got it cleaned up in about 4 hours I believe), Scott decided to get up on the roof and check it out to see if he could find any leaks. When he almost fell through the roof, we knew that we had to replace it before we could put any money into the inside.

Here is Scott working on the roof and shortly after this picture the chimney also came down because it was not being used and it was all cracked up.

The chimney was so bad that Scott only had to give it a few good pushes and it came crashing down.

This is how it landed.

It broke off about 5 feet from the ground so I got to take my frustration out on the rest of the chimney with a mallet. It helped a little!

New roof is on!

Back side view

Front side view

Shingles going on!

As you can see some of the siding is missing and was missing when we bought the house. As we researched the issues that we found inside the house to outside, we realized that behind the insulation there was only a 3/4" foam insulation panel with that ugly composite (or whatever it was) siding. Are you getting any ideas as to what we found on the inside behind the sheetrock yet? Let me show you a picture of what some of the stud cavities looked like:

Do you see the missing insulation from that cavity?

There were some even worse then this one.

That's what mice will do! Let me tell you that it is DISGUSTING and smells REALLY bad!

Yep! Mice were getting behind the siding and chewing their way through the foam panel and had the run of the house. Let me just tell you that I cried and wanted to burn the place to the ground! I may have even said a few choice (maybe bad) words.

So it was onto replacing all the exterior with OSB but only after a good powerwashing and bleaching of all the studs. In the process, we changed a few things too! We added a patio door on the side and a window in the back where the door currently is in this picture.

Both ends were completed in just less than 2 days.

Then we did the back one weekend and the front the next weekend.

The next weekend, it was on to the house wrap.

It was a windowless house for a week or more. As I remember back, I believe that it was longer than a week because they had to do the soffit and fascia before they moved inside.

New windows upstairs. Almost all windows have been replaced except the two basement windows in the front. We painted them to make them look better. We hope to replace them next year or at least before we put siding on.

We also put on a new front door in because the old one was rusted.

Since this picture, we replaced the two basement windows in back because when Scott's mom went to paint the windows, these two crumbled under the paint brush.

We also took all the rock from around the house out because they were not at the right grade and let the water run down the side of the house and into the basement. No problems since then with water.

We planted grass!

We also put the old deck back up with a few replaced boards and then painted it.

This is what it looks like now!

We also put in our bird feeder and have lots of birds!

Hope you enjoyed the view into our house project this past summer!

Next up is the inside but that will have to wait for awhile. I still need to take some pictures of the upstairs and what the downstairs looks like now.

Veggin Out

2011-12-05T15:56:00.000-06:00

Some times all Matthew wanted to do was veg out and watch a movie:

So that is what we let him do:

Most of the time we used it for a quiet/rest time.

Here he is in our screen porch that is attached to the garage.

Helping

2011-12-05T15:52:00.000-06:00

Matthew had lots of fun helping Daddy work on the house this past summer.

I don't think that I showed you this picture.

Matthew had to bring his own tools to help Daddy!

Are you patiently waiting to see more of this house?

I am working on it and hope to have another post up soon!

Leaves

2011-12-01T07:18:00.000-06:00

Leaves, leaves and more leaves.

Holy Moly do we have leaves at the new house.

One day I spent 4 or more hours picking up leaves (really fight with the lawn mower because every 2 minutes or so the shoot would get plugged up). And I broke the leaf blower. It wasn't a good day.

I decided that there were way to many leaves so I was just going to have to rack.

So I racked up a big pile and let Matthew play in it.

Matthew played his little heart out in the leaves even after dark.

A week or so later, I racked the whole yard of leaves into small piles. Man did I have piles!

It took me all day to rack everything into piles and then another 1/2 day to move the piles (Thank goodness I had help moving the piles otherwise I would have been at it for a whole day!) Did I hear you say that you wanted to see our yard? Ok since you asked so nicely.

Here is a picture of it the day we bought it:

And here are some recent ones:

Looks different doesn't it? The house does anyway.

We had to completely redo the exterior including the roof, windows (except 2 that we have to do next year) and whole exterior had to be redone to get rid of the mice invasion (I'll tell you all about that in another post).

Snuggle Time

2011-12-01T06:51:00.000-06:00

After we got home, they had snuggle time on the floor while watching SpongeBob because Mattthew had to see the pirate that is on the SpongeBob movie that we have.

Too cute!

FUN

2011-12-01T06:48:00.000-06:00

Many of you know that our summer was completely taken over by a house remodel. Wish I could say that it is done but no such luck. We are content! Since the remodel took over our life this summer, we didn't have time for to much fun so one day we decided to skip working on the house and take Matthew to play mini golf.

The mini golf course is called Pirate's Cove.

Matthew's version is ARRR Matie's (you know since that is what pirates say).

We had a great time! Well until we got to the part with the "canon"

They just had to make sure that they had a clean ball before we started.

Next picture: (sorry it's so dark) He wanted to go home. He didn't like the "canon". So at 3 I guess I would be scared to. They "shot" the canon and it lands in the water with a big splash. Matthew was not so sure. He was trying to hide behind the tree. After we got him calmed down, we explained that it was not real and it was just fun noises and sounds.

Mama was in a picture too!

This is a common sight around our house.

Any ideas on how to get it to stop.

We have tried just about everything even ideas from the doctor.

If you can't tell he is picking his nose.

It was a fun family night out with supper afterwards.

Playing with a Caterpillar

2011-11-30T16:30:00.000-06:00

This year we found lots of caterpillars. Matthew was not so much into touching them or holding them.

Either was his Mama but Daddy would always have to hold them and tell me to be brave! That crazy Daddy! I was however BRAVE until they started to move and then I had to laugh so I wouldn't freak out or cry. By the end of summer I was brave and could hold one and so was Matthew!

Love the look on his face in this picture:

Ok just put it in my hand! Hahaha!

It started crawling around in his hand!

He was pretty proud of himself!

Then he played with it for at least an hour. It even played in his sand box with him.

He was pretty sad when we told him that he had to let is go.

Every time after that he seen one, he had to study it and move it to a better place.

Daddy is going to teach him how to love all the creatures great and small including frogs and toads!

New Bed

2011-11-30T16:21:00.000-06:00

Back before we moved, we changed beds with my sister in law. She had a toddler bed but needed a crib so we changed. Matthew got the toddler bed and was so excited but he was also scared at the same time. Most nights (during the night), we would join us in our bed.

We tried to find him Disney "Cars" blanket when we got the new bed but all the stores in town were out and the one we have is for a twin bed so it is way to big for the toddler bed.

Once we moved to the new house, he has been doing great sleeping in his own bed. Of course, his bed and our bed are in the same room. Since our house is not completely done, we are living in the basement temporarily and there is only one bedroom but it works!

Bible

2011-11-30T16:12:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the long delay in posting.

Wow! I thought that things would slow down a bit after we moved in but it's not happening.

I envy those people who post every day.

Back in September, the 3 year olds and 4 years olds from our church who started Sunday School this year received a Bible. It is an amazing Bible! It is almost as big as he is. He had a hard time carrying it so it fell and got a bent corner right away.

Here is a few pictures of him with his new Bible:

Since I haven't had much time I haven't edited pictures in a long time. So the next bunch of posts will not have the best picture quality.

In Sunday School they studied the story of Noah's Ark for 5 weeks and then The Lord is my Shepherd for 5 weeks. Matthew has been doing awesome with his memory work. The teacher gives the kids things to memory and then they say it to the teacher to get a prize out of the treasure chest. He already knew the Lord's prayer so that one was easy for him. He memorized the Come Lord Jesus prayer which we say at meal time now. He is loving Sunday School (and Dad has to go with him not mom). That's ok!

I am so excited that he will be a part of the Sunday School Christmas program this year!

What a Boy We Have

2011-10-27T20:50:00.001-05:00

We have one comical child! Where does he learn this stuff? Today Matthew and I said our final good-bye to the apartment. As we were leaving, Matthew decided not to hang onto the railing to go down the stairs. He got going a little to fast and fell the last two steps. As I ran down the last couple of stairs, he looked all right and he wasn't crying. I bent down and asked if he was ok but he didn't answer me. I started to panic inside but when I asked him again, he slowly stuck his tongue out but still didn't say anything. I picked him up and asked if he was okay. He laid his head on my shoulder with his tongue sticking out. I told him he better say something or I would tickle him. He said, "I died". He had me scared a little bit but I knew when he stuck his tongue out that he was okay. That's his "I died" look with his tongue sticking out.

He is fine! As soon as we got outside, he wanted down and he ran to the car!

We're Moving

2011-10-20T15:32:00.000-05:00

Yes we are FINALLY moving!

We are so excited to finally be moving out to our new house.

We still have LOTS of work to do!

We are moving into the lower level which is partially finished until we can finish the upstairs.

At this point, it will be awhile before we finish the upstairs.

We did not anticipate putting this much money into this place but it seems that the further along we went the more things that we found that needed to be fixed.

We will pretty much have a brand new house by the time we are finshed which is exciting!

I'll be without internet for a few days but once things start to settle down, I will start showing some of the before and during pictures. After pictures will of course have to wait until we are finished!

I have almost everything packed and moved already. On Saturday, we have an awesome crew coming to help with all the "big" stuff.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Birthday

2011-10-12T07:48:00.000-05:00

Yes I realize that Matthew's birthday was well over a month ago but I finally had a few minutes to upload the pictures and give you a glimpse into how much fun we had. Matthew had lots of fun this year with his birthday. He requested that we go to the park and have a picnic lunch so that is what him and I did for lunch. On the way to the car, he tripped and fell and skinned both knees a little. We had fun playing at the park. Then we went for ice cream.

The night of his birthday, he wanted to go to Burger King. With the help of Daddy before anyone else got there, he learned how to climb up the playland. Yes Daddy actually went into the playland with him! It was quite a site! No I didn't get any pictures!

Here are a few pictures from the night of his birthday and his birthday party which was a couple of days later:

He loves his tractors!

I love how his feet our sticking out from under the present!

He got a Lightening McQueen guitar.

He got tools and a workbench with more tools!

He requested a tractor ice cream cake!

Hahaha! Wearing his goggles from his chainsaw upside down!

Yes they are all fogged up!

Cutting down the tree with his new chainsaw!

Remember this post! Scott and I thought he was like his own chainsaw.

He loves it! He has almost "cut" down all the trees in our yard! Hahaha!

He plays his guiter and sings his favorite song!

"Life is a Highway" Can you guess where he gets that song from?

I made this cute banner for his birthday.

His invitations also had polka dots on it.

All the cupcakes had different color frosting to match the polka dots on his invitation. I forgot to get a picture of the cupcakes. On Matthew's cupcake you can see the polka dot paper(same paper as the invitations) with the number 3 cut out but all the other cupcakes had circles (variety of colors to match the polka dots) attached to sucker sticks with different pictures on them. Sorry no pictures of them.

Next year, I am going to hire someone to take pictures or ask someone to be in charge of my camera because I didn't get a whole lot of pictures this year. I did finally put my sister in charge of the camera and she got some great pictures.

Like his cute "Birthday Boy" shirt? Can you believe that it is the same shirt he wore last year on his birthday? Either it was big last year or he hasn't grown much.

He must have asked a million times about opening presents.

We always have everyone eat, the cupcakes and ice cream and then presents.

He was in heaven when he finally got to open the presents.

He got lots of fun things.

Here are just a few:

A talking Mater!

A hoodie with a "John Deere" tractor on it!

Some farm animals.

He had to set the fence and animals up before he could open anymore gifts!

This was one of his favorites. It is a tractor/front end loader. This tractor went with us everywhere for a week or more!

He had a great birthday and party! There was a total of 71 people. Yes you read that right-71. We do one big party which includes my family, Scott's family, Matthew's birthmother and her family and Matthew's birthfather and his family. We had smoked pulled pork sandwiches (Scott smoked the pork roasts the day before which took about 12 hours), chips, fruit with fruit dip, my mom's yummy potato salad, home grown cucumbers and tomatoes (from Matthew's biological great grandpa's garden-Adie's grandpa) and cupcakes and ice cream.

Our garage at our new house worked awesome for the birthday party!

Fingerprint Friday

2011-09-30T10:07:00.000-05:00

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God
So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them?

We love our "little man"!

We can't believe that he is 3 years old already.

Time flies when you're having fun!

We love being parents!

This picture was taken on Wednesday and it is a rare occasion that he actually wants me to take his picture. I have taken so many that when he sees the camera come out, he usually cries and says no pictures.

Would you like to share where you see God's fingerprints? Head over to The Rusted Chain to see how to join.

Matthew's Funny Laugh

2011-09-29T12:48:00.000-05:00

One day, Matthew just started this funny laugh!

It's to cute not to share!

Here is a few more pictures of him playing in a box at the new house:

Matthew trying to read the directions and tell Daddy what he needs to do!

Too cute!

The box gave him hours of entertainment!

More Pictures of Cousin Landon

2011-09-29T10:30:00.000-05:00

Here is some more pictures of Matthew's cousin Landon.

He is so adorable!

He makes the 3rd baby born into our families in the last 4 months.

Holding him just brings back my baby fever.

Matthew didn't hold Landon and was really upset when Daddy was holding Landon.

Matthew got over being upset pretty quickly only because he was watching Bugs Bunny on YouTube on my phone.

Another Fun Day at Another Park-This Time with Cousins

2011-09-28T17:08:00.000-05:00

Another fun day at the park but this time with cousins and a silly auntie!

Cousin Austin

Cousin Avalynn

Cousin Annabelle

Matthew being brave on the swing!

Look Mom-No hands!

My grandma and me!

My mom and me

Me, Mom and Grandma

It's hard to get 3 kiddos under 4 to look at the camera at same time.

We had lots of fun playing at the park!

Then we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's for dessert!

A Fun Day at the Park

2011-09-28T16:45:00.000-05:00

One day back in August, Matthew and I had fun at the Nisswa park for a little while until it started to rain so we went to lunch.

Here are a few pictures from the park:

He loved this big clock!

He came back to it several times to change the time.

I am amazed at what he challenges himself to do.

Last year he would stand and whine until we helped him.

This year he is a little bit of a dare devil!

Not sure if that is good or bad!

New Cousin

2011-09-27T07:44:00.000-05:00

Matthew has a new cousin!!!!

Landon John was born today at 5:01 am

He is 6 lbs 12 1/2 oz and 19 1/2" long!

Can't wait to go meet him!

Here are a couple pictures that we received from his proud daddy and mommy!

Congrats Kyle and Jessica!!!!

So excited for you two!

Camping 2011

2011-09-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

Camping 2011 was lots of fun! We decided to check in a day earlier than everyone else. We got there in the evening and set up camp. The first night in the camper was a rough one. It was hot! I didn't slep much. Plus Matthew fell out of bed 2 times.

He did have fun being co-captian!

He was proud and looked so grown up. He was not thrilled to have his picture taken.

When he woke up, he came and snuggled with Daddy.

There may or may not have been some tickling/giggling going on.

Later in the day, there was some fishing going on.

Daddy tried to get Matthew's fishing pole fixed up.

He was having fun and smiling for his mama!

Emma was there too!

Matthew helping Daddy with his fishing pool.

Emma got a fish and was pretty excited!

We moved locations and Daddy was helping Matthew fish!

He caught his "whale" (sunfish).

The night before we went camping, Matthew told Grammie and Papa that he was going fishing and he was going to catch a whale.

Being brave enough to touch it but he wasn't brave enough to hold it.

Our campfire one night!

Scott is the master chef when we are camping.

He has this awesome griddle for his grill that he loves to cook on.

It works the best for breakfasts!

Aunt Karyl and Aunt Debbie also cooking.

Aunt Karyl is Scott's aunt who started the annual camping trip 24 years ago. I started going the year Scott and I started dating 16 years ago. We do 3 days and 2 nights. By the 3rd day, everyone is getting tired and a little on the grumpy side.

Matthew and Daddy hanging out. I think they were debating about trying fishing again.

Matthew with his cousin, Eva. He loves that girl. He is always talking about Eva and asking where she is. They had lots of fun playing together.

And giggling!

There was lots of swimming on the second day. First day was way to windy and a little on the cool side.

Splashing himself! He was a little braver in the water this year.

He was being a ham!

He was very open and very talkative to everyone!

The ranger gave the kids these fun frizbees with the holes in the center!

This is how Matthew wore his!

The second night, we had a birthday celebration for Emma!

Her birthday party had been scheduled for a few weeks early but she ended up with hives of some sort (at first they thought chicken pox) so her party was cancelled and rescheduled for when we were all together at camping.

Matthew and Eva again!

Like I said, they have so much fun with each other!

Some more swimming with little boys with matching swim suits.

Matthew's little cousin, Jack, had the same swim suit!

After swimming, we had a awesome dinner of grilled chicken, cheesy hashbrowns, corn and dessert!

Then we packed up and headed for home.

After year done!

We can't wait for next year!

Cajun Fest 2011

2011-09-17T07:35:00.000-05:00

I am really behind on getting pictures up. Life has been a little busy and I am hoping that it slows down a lot after we move (which is next weekend and I haven't even started packing yet-I have a busy week ahead of me).

Anyway, back in August we went to Walker to Northern Lights Casino for their Cajun Fest. Matthew wasn't sure at first and wanted nothing to do with all the noise and commotion but he had fun after awhile.

Here are some pictures:

We always go on a Friday night and they have 2 small parades: a kiddie parade for kids are dressed up and then an adult parade a few hours later where adults are dressed up in Mardi Gras attire.

They throw beads or sometimes hand them out or put them on you.

Daddy had to wear Matthews because he wanted nothing to do with it.

Daddy and Matthew with Grandma (my mom)

I think that he was maybe a little hungry. After the kiddie parade, we went and add at the buffet with grandpa (my dad) and Auntie Mandy (my sister).

My sister Mandy and I.

One with our dad!

Matthew and Austin with their light up balls being silly.

My mom and stepdad always stay up there in their motorhome so we had play time at the motorhome before the adult parade.

Matthew was in a much better mode at the adult parade and decided it wasn't so bad to wear all the necklaces. Man did he had a LOT of them. He wasn't so happy with me when I made him take them off when we got to the car to leave.

We had fun! It was a wonderful break from working on the house.

Love Him To Pieces

2011-09-13T15:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Matthew and I played outside with his new tractor that he got for his birthday. He was getting really dirty so I told him that I was going to throw him in the shower with Daddy when he got home. Matthew looked at me funny and then said, "No Mommy that will hurt me."

I love him to pieces!

Love how his 3 year old brain thinks!

Anniversary

2011-09-12T23:11:00.090-05:00

13 years ago today, I married my best friend. It is amazing how are love for each other continues to grow.

Here are 13 things about us that you might not know:

1. I asked Scott the night we married if we could start trying for a baby. He said no.
2. We struggled with infertility 6 years before we decided to adopt.
3. We built 2 houses and are in the process of remodeling another one now.
4. We started dating in high school a little over 16 years ago. I was a junior and he was a sophomore.
5. We were only dating for 8 months when Scott asked if I'd marry him.
6. We were together a little over 4 years when we got married.
7. Scott makes breakfast for us every morning.
8. The only thing we didnt agree on was how many kids we should have. I wanted 6 and Scott wanted 2 so we agreed on 3. I'm happy with one but hope to someday add a brother or sister for Matthew.
9. We worked for the same company before I became a stay at home mom.
10. We took a 2 week road trip for our honeytrip (I was a nanny when we got married and one of the girls that I nannied called our honeymoon our honeytrip). We went to Corpus Christi, Texas and Padre Island,Texas with a stop in Nebraska on the way home to visit some of Scott's relatives.
11. Then only other trip we've been on was 3 years after we got married. We drove to Washington state to visit mt grandparents for Thanksgiving but we never told them we were coming. They just happened to be talking to my mom when we arrived and they hung up on her. They were excited!!
12. We splurged on our 9th anniversary and stayed in a hotel 2 hours away and had a day full of adventure hoping by our 10th anniversary we would be welcoming a baby into our home. Matthew was born 4 days before our 10th anniversary.
13. We are EXCITED to be moving into our newly remodeled but not finished house at the end of the month.

Grandparent's Day

2011-09-11T23:30:00.002-05:00

Happy Grandparent's Day to all of Matthew's grandparents!!!!!

Matthew is so blessed to have so many wonderful grandparents in his life!

Happy 3rd Birthday Matthew!

2011-09-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Matthew is 3 years old today! Where did the time go? It is hard to believe that 3 years have gone by since we first met our little man. Life sure changed when he came into our life. We wouldn't change it for the world!

We've had our share of ups and downs the past three years but I can't imagine our life without him!

I remember our first time at church with him. He was born on a Monday and the following Sunday we were scheduled to be greeters at church. What a great way to introduce our little man to everyone! When we went up to church, Grammie and Papa were there and one of them wanted to hold him. After a few minutes, he started crying so they passed him to me. As soon as he was in my arms, he stopped crying. What an awesome feeling knowing that he just needed his mama! I truly felt like a mama that day!

Now of course, he is much more a Daddy's boy!

I remember the first day that Scott had to return to work after Matthew was born! We talked several times that day! If I remember correctly, Matthew and I even went to the jobsite to visit him. He was working at our former neighbor's house. That night when Scott go home, he loved up his little man! Matthew just grunted and stretched!

Now when he wants my attention, he says, Mommy Daddy or if he is trying to get Daddy's attention he says, Daddy Mommy. Guess he wants to make sure both of us respond.

It is so amazing what a baby learns that first year!

Oh and do I remember the pucking! It was a good thing that we had a washer and dryer because we did a lot of laundry! He spit up all the time! We tried several different formulas but none of them made any difference. When we started him on cereal that helped a little bit! He was almost a year old when he started him on whole milk and the pucking stopped almost instantly.

It was a sad day when we had to sell our home that Matthew came home to! But we were a family and it didn't matter where we lived, we could make anywhere a home. It was a big adjustment for all of us when we moved into a small apartment. We are so happy that we finallly have another house to call home which we will be moving into in a little over 2 weeks. We are going to celebrate Matthew's birthday there so everyone can see our new home that is a remodeling work in progress! We are far from being done but it is time to move!

Today we celebrate Matthew!

He requested a picnic lunch at the park!

Then tonight we are going to swing into Burger King for supper with family!

Just a short story about swinging into Burger King: About two months ago, Matthew and I had to go pick up Uncle Kyle and as we were driving through town, Matthew said, "I starvin. Let's swing into Burger King." Oh and Matthew and his Papa swing into Burger King when Matthew is hungry and needs a cheeseburger! His Papa has him just a little spoiled! Occassionally now, when Matthew is trying to get our attention, he thows Papa's name in the mix with Mommy Daddy.

We Love You Matthew!

PS Can you please slow down on growing up!

(None of your pants fit you anymore!)

I also want to thank Matthew's birthparents for choosing life and for choosing us! We have had an awesome 3 years of life with Matthew in it and are so glad that you and your families are a part of this wonderful life!

Thank You Thank You Thank You!

Matthew means the world to us!

You made our dreams of parenthood a reality!

We LOVE you Adie and Sebastian!

P.P.S. The pictures above are the best we got from our latest birthday photo session!

He is so cute!!!!!

Out of the Mouth of an almost 3 year old

2011-09-03T08:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday as we were getting things ready to go out to our new house and work, Matthew was standing in the kitchen drinking some orange juice and talking a mile a minute. He told me that the juice at Papa's house is way better and that mine is kind of dangerous. Where that came from I am not really sure. Oh and by the way, I don't make the juice, daddy does. hahaha.

And in his ramblings, he told me that daddy had a girlfriend at church. So I asked him what her name was. Her name was Donna. Hahaha! The only Donna that we know of at our church is Scott's aunt, Donna. Scott had no idea about this conversation that took place so when we got to the new house, I asked him who Donna was at church. He gave him the most puzzled look and said the only Donna he know at church was Aunt Donna. I finally had to tell him the girlfriend story.

We had a couple of good laughs yesterday! I wonder what today will bring!

I have lots of pictures to show from the last couple of weeks but please be patient, I have a birthday party in the works! My baby turns 3 in a couple of days! His party is one week from day! We have lots of cleaning and some reorganzing to do still. Oh and we are moving into our new house in just a few weeks (haven't even started packing yet)!

Helping Daddy In The Tractor

2011-08-25T08:34:00.000-05:00

Yes you read that right "Helping Daddy in the Tractor"

In the tractor bucket!

Scott had been working on our soffit and fascia around the house and his dad would lift him up in the tractor bucket to reach what he need to do so that he didn't have to move a ladder a million times to do the job. Matthew wants a try to so when he was done with the house, Matthew and Scott got lifted up to remove a few dead branches that were hanging out in the other branches of the tree.

Whenever Papa (Scott's dad) would raise the bucket a little Matthew would get these big eyes but Matthew loved every second of it.

They were up there a LONG ways.

This mama was glad she was on the ground taking the pictures.

Matthew loves helping his Daddy and his Papa. His Papa (and Grammie) have been helping us alot on the new house and Matthew loves seeing his Papa (and Grammie)! Matthew gets pretty jealous if his Papa is holding one of the other grandchildren and if he knows that the other grandchildren are at Grammie and Papa's house.

One day while Grammie and I were working on removing some of the old ugly paneling from downstairs (I was also trying to help Scott with something too so I wasn't always downstairs), Matthew talked Grammie's ear off. He was talking a million a minute. I really think that his Papa put a quarter or a fifty cent piece in him before he left. Hehehe! When I was helping Scott upstairs, he and I would just chuckle because Matthew just kept going and going (even without a nap) and going.

Just Pictures

2011-08-24T08:20:00.001-05:00

I have been taking pictures for a few people lately and most of my pictures I just can't seem to get those really sharp crystal clear eyes that I see in other photographer's photos so I have been experimenting with my other lenses that I got for Christmas last year.

Here our a few practice shots: Not the best but they are cute enough to share:

Is was a rare occasion where Matthew was actually looking without be bribed.

Yes I have to bribe him to take pictures.

We were out at our new house and whenever we are there Matthew usually has dirt everywhere. So you can see in the pictures that his face was all dirty. It just adds to the cuteness.

One day when I was trying to get him to smile I told him to say "cheeseburger" but now when you ask him to smile his says cheeseburger Burger King. (Guess where we go for cheeseburgers?) Hahaha!

I have been reading lots and lots on all aspects of the camera and photo taking as I can to learn as much as I can. Once we get settled into our new house and I have a few extra bucks, there is a photogrpahy course that I would love to take online. Until then I will continue to read everything that I can.

Helping Daddy

2011-08-23T09:46:00.000-05:00

Matthew just loves helping his Daddy with anything around the house.

One day last week, Scott had the day off so they worked on the railing on the outside deck.

He loves Daddy's undivided attention.

He has been a bigger helper around the house lately.

He is pretty funny too!

On this particular day, he came into the garage where I was working and said, "Mommy, uh I sweaty from working on the house."

He was even pulling 2 x 4 x 8's off the trailer and dragging them to the window and helping push them in the window. After he did 6 or so, he looked at me and said "Oh my back is hurting." He took a break for awhile and then continued helping. We had LOTs of 2 x 4's (90 I believe). After we were done, he told me he was thristy and needed a treat.

He is getting so grown up! While working of the new house, we have been letting him skip naps (unless of course, he really needs one) and he does really good without his naps. I still give him naps during the week to see about catching up on some of that missed sleep but there are days when he is just not tired and just rests.

3 Years Ago

2011-08-22T23:34:00.000-05:00

3 years ago today, we meet a young man who helped our dream of becoming parents a reality. We had met Adie first about a month before and she had told us about Sebastian and had even given us a picture of the both of them. Meeting Adie and Sebastian were the most nerve wracking meetings we had ever had to do but oh so worth it. I don't remember all the details of that first meeting but we shared a little bit about us and Sebastian shared a little about himself and Grandma G shared a little bit too. Then we talked a little bit about the future-would the baby go to daycare or would I stay home and names for baby I also remember that I was a bit embarrassed too because I started crying. It is amazing how our relationship with both Adie and Sebastian and their families has become so natural and wonderful. We enjoy the time that we spend with both families and hope that they feel the same. When we first had to make contact agreements we had no idea how our relationships would evolve. We do written updates, we started the blog, we send pictures, we get together several times a year and they are welcome to call or stop by to visit whenever we are available. I know this year I have gotten a little behind with our house remodel with getting pictures and updates out but I know that they understand. We also love texting! If Matthew does something or makes a little face or anything that reminds us of his birthparent or any of their family members, we send pictures and stories by texting.

I can't believe that in a little our 2 weeks we will all be getting together to celebrate one special little boy who is turning 3!!! I know I can't believe he is 3 already. Matthew's birthday has become my favorite "holiday" each year. I love planning his parties! And let me tell ya, we always have one heck of a birthday bash. I take lots of notes while planning and I try to write down all the details after like how many people, what food went and how much and as much other details as I can remember. Of course, I try to take lots of pictures to remember the event! This year we get to have his party at our new house! We are go excited to show everyone all our hard work so far! We will be moving to our new house in about 5 weeks. Since the project has become so much bigger that we anticipated, we are working at getting the basement set up to a livable arrangement until we can finish the upstairs. The bathroom downstairs was not originally designed very well so we have had issues but I think we have come up with a solution. We need to check on prices and availability for a few things before we know for sure. Yep that is on my to do list tomorrow as well as getting clothes washed and packed for camping, grocery shopping and cooking and packing up my mom and stepdad's motorhome.

Yes we are actually taking 3 whole days off from the house to go camping with family. This is our annual camping trip with Scott's aunt Karyl which was start I think 25 years ago. Matthew is also excited that he gets to use his SpongeBob SquarePants fishing pole.

Stick

2011-08-22T07:57:00.001-05:00

While working and playing outside we also seen a walking stick.

They are so cool!

Here it is:

What Was In The Box?

2011-08-21T07:39:00.001-05:00

Matthew had actually gotten two packages on 2 different days!

The first package was the fun net/cage and with it he got ladybugs.

Matthew and Daddy went outside and found some twigs and leaves and then sat on the deck and put the ladybugs in.

Let me back up just a little: Matthew loves the book called "The Grouchy Ladybug" by Eric Carle.

We have read it so many times that we can almost recite it and we can change words and Matthew will correct us. So Grammie and Papa bought him this fun kit. After Matthew opened the kit, he said very excitedly, "Just like my book"! Then his mood immediately changed. He was sad because his book was out at our new house and he wanted to match them. He still had fun helping Daddy though!

I love the concentration!

Then Matthew was off carrying his ladybugs around leaving Daddy sit on the deck!

The other package that he got was a painted lady butterfly. It is actually the eggs so we get to watch it become a caterpillar, a chrysalis and then the butterfly. We are really excited!

We have also been watching monarch caterpillars on the milk weed at our new house. The one caterpillar is getting really big and should form his chrysalis really soon!

So Excited

2011-08-20T07:33:00.001-05:00

Matthew was so excited the other day when we got home!

There was a package at the door for him.

He could hardly wait to open it! He had a hard time waiting for me to carry in the groceries and he definitely didn't let me put the groceries away before he opened it.

Come back tomorrow to find out what was in his package!

Our Crazy Boy

2011-08-19T07:27:00.000-05:00

My mother in law and I have been rearranging and organizing our new garage, getting ready for Matthew's birthday party which is in a few short weeks. We have it almost done except for the lawn mowers, tiller, power washer and a few others. I think the day of the party that those will just be moved out of the garage. Now that that is done, I must start working on his birthday invitations and a few other things that I want to do for his birthday.

Matthew's sandbox was one thing that we were cleaning around in the garage until Grammie brought sand for it on one of the days that we were cleaning. Matthew was REALLY excited to finally be able to play in his sandbox. When he realized that Grammie had sand, he went in the garage to try to get his sandbox. He flipped it upside down to get all the stuff out of it. Then as soon as I got one bag of sand in it, he had already started putting his toys in. After we got the sand in, he jumped in and started playing so we went back to working on the garage.

After a few minutes, I went out to check on him and this is what I seen:

He is bare naked playing in his sandbox. I started laughing and I ran to the garage to have Grammie come see. Hahaha! She said you have to get a picture and put it on the blog.

He had no idea why he got naked! After I cleaned him up, I made him at least put his underwear back on. He was so dirty when we left that day that he got a bath as soon as we got ~~home~~ back to the apartment!

Beautiful Eyes

2011-08-15T22:29:00.000-05:00

This week over at I Heart Faces the challenge is "Beautiful Eyes".

Matthew has the most beautiful eyes to me!

They are so blue!

First Attempt at Birthday Pictures

2011-08-09T22:47:00.000-05:00

I tried to do a little photo shoot with Matthew the other day to get his 3 year old pictures done!

I was unsuccessful.

Here is what I got:

A silly smile:

An "I don't want to do this look"

Ok-"I'll try to smile but with my head funny" look:

This is probably one of the cutest ones!

And I took at least 150 pictures.

Ok, Let me try this way look:

The "I'm brushing my teeth with my finger look"

The "I'm looking and have a crooked smile but my head is still crooked look"

This one is cute but he was not going to look at me:

"Ok Mom are we done yet so I don't have to show you my smile any more Look"

"Can you see all my teeth from way back there look"

Then it was on to some bubble fun!

He was trying to lick the bubbles!

This picture is the best!

We have a bubble machine that makes really BIG bubbles and this one just happened to pop when I snapped this picture!

Do you see his tongue out trying to "catch" it?

One more "Are we done yet look"

We didn't have a successful time for any birthday pictures so we will try again.

Did you see the count down timer at the top of the blog for his birthday?

It's hard to believe that in less than a month, he is going to be 3 years old.

Where did the time go?

I finally started working on his birthday invitations.

Then I have some sewing to do for a little idea I have.

This party will be at our new house (even though we are not even close to being done).

Hopefully I can get the garage all cleaned out and organized again so we can have the party in the garage. Scott says we can have it in the house so everyone can see the progress of our remodel project. Or there has even been talk of outside with a bonfire. If it will be like the last two years, it rained so that might be out of the question.

I'm contemplating what to do with our house pictures. Do I put them on our family blog or start another blog for the house and all the millions of projects that will be taking place. A house is never done and there always seems to be projects to do that can and would keep another blog interesting. I'll let you know what I decide.

On to another subject: About 2 weeks ago I had my first ever Senior Grad session! The session was a blast and I got some great shots! We are going to do another session after she returns from her trip in a new location. I have been expertimenting with my other lenses to see what I like best. Wish my test subject above would be a little more willing to have his picture taken. I really want to start my own studio/business some day but I second guess myself a lot about it. But first things first, we have to finsh this house remodel.

Ok enough of my ramblings.

Hope everyone (here in Minnesota) anyway is enjoying this much cooler weather.

I know we are!!!!

Just Because!!!!!!

2011-08-02T15:33:00.000-05:00

He is so CUTE!

Can you believe that in a month and a few days this little guy is going to be 3?!

Where did the time go?

Lots of birthday party ideas are floating around in my head. Think I better start on some of them really soon.

Caterpillar

2011-08-02T15:18:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, Daddy found a caterpillar and was showing it to Little Man but he was a little scared of it.

He did not want to hold it.

Being the brave mama that I am (giggle giggle), I showed Matthew that I could hold it.

It actually tickled!

He was just a tiny fuzzy caterpillar.

Matthew was brave and held the lens cap with the caterpillar on it but.....

when it started moving he dropped the lens cap.

So this brave mama picked up the tiny caterpillar and put him on a tree stump.

Matthew wanted to watch him.

Then he looked my way and I clicked.

He never wants me or lets me take pictures of him.

A short while later after begging for a picture, this is what I got.

Then he had enough of me trying to take his picture so he decided to help Daddy.

Or just play with Daddy's stuff.

Tractor Ride

2011-08-02T15:02:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, Scott was finally able to bring his tractor to the new house.

Matthew has been enjoying some tractor riding time.

Daddy even lets him think that he is driving it.

Matthew loves his daddy and loves when daddy gives him tractor rides.

Ever hear of Corneal Flash Burns? Or sunburn to the eyes?

On Friday, Scott was working at our new house, removing rock from around the house, the sun was shining, the house has white house wrap on it.

About 3 am Saturday morning, Scott woke me up saying that his eyes felt like someone dumped a bucket of sand in each one. We both first thought pink eye. It was so bad that we called and talked to a nurse at the local hospital. She was not pleasant and didn't really want to help. So we called the hospital that is about 30 to 45 minutes away. The nurse was amazing and funny too! She and Scott talked for a few minutes about symptoms and she told him what she thought and what he should do. She also told him what they would do for him if he came in. So he tried what she suggested first. By Saturday afternoon, his eyes were feeling much better but as you can see by the above pictures he wore his sunglasses and Matthew did too.

The following information is from eMedicinehealth:

Eyes, particularly the cornea (the clear window of tissue on the front of the eyeball), can be easily damaged by exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from other sources of ultraviolet light, such as a welder's arc, a photographer's flood lamps, a sun lamp, or even a halogen desk lamp.

At first, we thought it was from a welder's arc because Scott's dad was welding on the tractor bucket but Scott never looked at the arc. He knows better! As I read further, we figured that it was from glare from the sun off of the white house wrap. We used lubricating eye drops on his eyes a few times and he wore his sunglasses while outside.

Chocolate

2011-07-27T14:40:00.000-05:00

Please ignore the mess in the background.

It's clean now!

Friday through Sunday, the apartment gets ignored because we are working on the house.

This particular Sunday, Matthew and Scott went to Menards before they came home and Matthew got this candy bar that was suppose to be shared with all of us. He ended up eating most of it. He would only break off little tiny pieces to give us at a time.

Can you also hear his hoarse voice?

He has been fighting this cold since July 15th and he just can't seem to shake it.

Of course, he wanted to share and passed it on to his mama.

I don't think that I got it as bad as he did.

Water

2011-07-25T17:41:00.000-05:00

The challenge over at I Heart Faces this week is "Water".

I love this picture of Matthew spitting the water!

He was playing in his swimming pool, using his shovel to suck water in and then spitting it out.

This was a day he didn't want me to take pictures but after he spit it out the first time, I told him that it would be a cool picture so he let me.

Of course, he had to see the picture right away after!

New Cousin

2011-07-22T17:36:00.000-05:00

Matthew has another new cousin!
My sister had a baby yesterday!
Avalynn was born on July 21 at 2:58 pm
9 lbs 4 oz
21" long

Matthew didn't get to go meet his new cousin today because he is still getting over a cold!

I got to hold her the whole time that I was there (which was about 1 1/2 hours)!

I love babies!

Can you say "BABY FEVER"!!!

Oh yeah baby!

It is hitting me pretty hard with 3 new babies within a month!

Slip N Slide

2011-07-17T16:03:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, Matthew and I played in his "Cars" Slip N Slide.

Yes even this mama went slipping down the slide.

It was a funny sight!! I am sure!!!

Matthew just wanted to fill his buckets up with the sprinkling water so I had to show him how to do it!

Trust me, the water was really cold.

I ran through it a few times before I slid down.

Matthew had a great time and so did his mama!

Sorry I don't have any pictures of me (they probably wouldn't be appropriate to put on the blog).

This weekend, it has been just to hot. Scott has been working on the house a little bit and very slow. Yesterday, I was out there working on some paper work when my vertigo hit me like a ton of bricks.

Matthew and I came home shortly after and we both took a nap.

Felt so much better when I woke up but my meds for my vertigo make me really tired so I was asleep pretty early last night.

Funny Kid

2011-07-14T14:29:00.000-05:00

Today, when we stopped at Scott's work, Matthew got a sucker. I told him he had to wait until after lunch to eat it. He got mad at me when I told him to put the wrapper back on and he threw a fit. When we got in the car, I justed my mirror so that I could see him. At one point, he had the wrapper off and had it to his mouth. I asked him what he was doing. He told me that he was just smelling it. Each time, I think he was taking a few licks as he was smelling it because it was awful wet and sticky when we got home. What a crazy kid.

Our "Fourth of July" Celebrations

2011-07-09T00:43:00.000-05:00

We had a fun Fourth of July!

We started in Crosby with the parade!

They also start the parade with a police car!

Matthew didn't really like the sirens so he covered his ears.

Firetrucks follow the police car.

There were LOTS of firetrucks.

Almost the whole parade was firetrucks.

Matthew still with his ears covered.

He was really scared and had to sit on my lap for some time.

He finally got down to collect some candy.

Then his favorite float went by.

It had an Allis Chalmers tractor almost just like Matthew's tractor.

Then some snowmobiles came by.

When this old antique snowmobile came by, Matthew said, "It's not very good."

Just sitting by his mama!

Picking up treats that were thrown.

Meet my nephew (Adam Lee)

He is my step-brother's and his girlfriends little guy.

He is so adorable!

I met him for the first time on the 4th.

He was about 10 days old.

Then we went to our next celebration.

Matthew played in the dirt and drank pop!

A Happy Boy for not taking a nap.

A Very Dirty Boy but Happy!

Matthew even made it through the fireworks.

We sat at the Westgate Mall parking lot to watch the fireworks (there's a whole post coming with fireworks pictures). When we left, Matthew was asleep before we got home and it's only a couple miles.

We had a fun day!

Chain Saw

2011-07-05T18:24:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, Scott had to use his chain saw.

The case was Matthew's "chain saw".

He sure makes the cutest chain saw noises.

He sure is a busy boy when we are at the house.

He always has to take all of his toys out of the garage as soon as we get there.

At some point in the day, he usually plays with each one.

More pictures will be coming of our 4th of July celebration. Stay tuned.

Fishing

2011-07-05T18:18:00.000-05:00

Matthew has a Sponge Bob Square Pants fishing pole with a Planktin on the fishing line.

He was fishing in his swimming pool.

He was having fun!

He didn't catch anything but a big old snarled mess of fishing line.

Baseball with Daddy

2011-07-05T18:13:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, Daddy and Matthew played baseball.

If you throw the ball right at the bat, he can usually hit it.

Not sure if you can see the ball but it is right where his hand meets the bat.

And he hits it!

He's a happy baseball playing boy!

Now it is his turn to throw it to Daddy!

Daddy hitting the baseball.

Not sure what this look was for but it was to cute not to share!

Here is a little video of them playing baseball.

Love how excited Matthew gets!

More Pictures from our Weekend

2011-07-05T16:42:00.000-05:00

More pool time on Saturday.

He was making a bird "feeder".

Scott and I both told him that it was more like a bird bath but he insisted that it was a bird feeder.

Some Matthew toes and feet!

Then Matthew gave me a foot pool spa!

I had to soak my feet in the buckets and he poured water on my legs!

Matthew and Mommy

It's a pretty cute picture for me trying to take it myself.

Different angle and he was okay with me taking his picture.

Are you Ready?

2011-07-05T16:28:00.000-05:00

Are you ready to be overwhelmed with photos?

I filled my camera card since Friday which is about 1,000+ pictures.

Don't worry, I'm not going to show you all of them.

Some did get delete for one reason or another.

Some were of the house and I can't decided how or when I want to start showing them. Please be patient!

Matthew loves playing in his pool, loves showers, loves baths but does not like the water at the beach. We went swimming at the beach on Thursday (sorry no pictures-didn't even take my camera). We had some wonderful family time.

Friday, Matthew played in his pool and loved it. By accident, I found the perfect spot in our new yard for the swimming pool. It gets sun all morning and about 12:30-2:30 it is all shaded.

He did not want me to take any pictures!

He was telling me NO!

He definitely DID NOT want any pictures!

He let me know it too!

After some persistence, he finally left me!

He even smiled!

Then he started spitting the water.

Another spitting one!

Annoyed again but I think it was a surprise picture!

So then he just made faces at me.

This next one is my favorite!

Can't remember what he was looking at.

Bed Time

2011-07-03T08:31:00.000-05:00

We have been busy at our new house.

Progress is being made on it but not sure if we will make our target date.

It sure will be nice to have a "normal" routine again.

We work out at the house until 9-10 at night, come home shower and go to bed.

Last night, Scott had to run out to Grammie and Papa's house to pick some things up that he needed for today so Matthew got to decide who he wanted to ride with. Of course, he picked daddy! I came home, showered and did somethings around the apartment before they got back here. When they got home I was reading the Sunday paper, Matthew busted in the door and said "I sleep in mommy and daddy's bed". Scott told him as a special treat for being such a good boy that if he was a good listener and didn't cry during his shower that he could sleep in our bed. As we were getting into bed, he was just being silly and was giggly. We had a special little vistor sleeping in between us last night. After we shut the lights off, Scott and I were talking for a few minutes and every once in awhile, Matthew had to add in his two cents too! It was so cute!

New Cousin

2011-06-26T21:55:00.000-05:00

Matthew has a new cousin!

Meet Charli Ann!

Born at 1:44 pm

9 lbs 9 oz

19 1/2" long

She is so precious!

Look at her long toes!

Uncle holding her!

Matthew cried when Daddy was holding her.

Look at all her dark hair!

When Mommy was holding her, Matthew had to be in my lap too!

Then Matthew got to hold her!

He just kept kissing her and rubbing his lips on her soft cheeks.

We love her to pieces already!

I Love You

2011-06-25T10:19:00.000-05:00

This morning, Matthew went outside with Scott. Just after they closed the door, it opened again and a little head popped in and said, Mommy I love you! and then he was gone. Scott said that Matthew got down the first step and said Oh I forgot to tell mommy love you. Made this mommy tear up this morning.

Hope everyone has a good day!

Come From

2011-06-25T09:00:00.001-05:00

Matthew has been very curious lately about where things come from. Last night on our drive back to our apartment from our new house, Matthew was really quiet (usually he is a chatterbox in the car) so I had to ask him if he was still awake. He replied," I wake." Then he asked, "Mommy where come from?" I told him that Adie was his birthmom and Bash was his birthfather and that he grew in Adie's tummy. I hear OH and then a little giggle.

I would just like to know why all of a sudden, Matthew has reverted and has been wetting his pants. He has been doing great well except with pooping (that's about 50/50). In the last 2 days, he has had 5 or 6 accidents. I think since the time we started training, he has never had that many accidents. I guess it will be back to asking and/or making him go every so often.

Family Pictures

2011-06-23T20:45:00.000-05:00

Tonight while our chicken was cooking on the grill, I decided to try for some family pictures. It did go as smooth as I had wanted but we got a couple that will work.

We took a few family ones before Matthew didn't he was done but none turned out so I took a couple of just me and Scott thinking it would make Matthew jealous. It didn't work like I thought it would.

First Matthew was being silly.

This one was an okay one.

This one I have to laugh at Scott's face. He like here we go again. Hahaha!

This one is okay but Matthew is looking off the other direction.

We bribed him with a nutty bar and he was saying bar in this picture.

This one is okay but I tried standing on the other side and just didn't like the look of it.

This one is good except Matthew's cheesy smile.

I think that this is the best one from them all!

Honey Suckles

2011-06-23T15:39:00.000-05:00

We have these honey suckles everywhere around our new house!

Along with lots of poison ivy!

We've already started working on getting rid of the poison ivy!

So far (knock on wood) none of us have gotten any poison ivy.

Helping Daddy Again

2011-06-23T08:57:00.000-05:00

In the lower level of the new house, there is this ugly paneling that was glued right to the block wall and we are removing because it STINKS.

It is coming off in little bitty pieces.

Matthew was helping Scott remove it.

Matthew loves to help.

I think it's because he gets to use Daddy's tools.

This is just a cute picture:

Notice Matthew's pants!

Pants are hard to find that fit him.

We have to usually find the ones that have adjustable waists or use a belt.

Belts and newly potty trained don't work so well.

Hope the wanting to help continues!

He jumps at helping us but when it comes to picking up toys that he dumps out, it's a struggle to get him to pick them up. Not sure why that is!

Helping Plant Trees

2011-06-20T17:51:00.000-05:00

For my birthday/Mother's Day, I got 2 apple trees for our new house.

A couple weekends ago, we finally got them planted.

Well actually Daddy and Matthew got them planted.

Now my job is to water them daily!

Sleeping with Daddy

2011-06-20T17:28:00.000-05:00

One day last week, Daddy got home last from work so we didn't go work on the new house.

Instead Matthew and Daddy snuggled on the couch to watch TV and before long they were both sleeping.

Look how Matthew has his feet crossed!

We love our snuggle time with our little man and he loves it too!

Matthew got a little extra snuggle time this past weekend.

Let me tell you why.

On Saturday, we were working at the house and Scott was cutting off a old sewer pipe and the upper half was wedged into the floor joist but when he cut it the upper half which was about 3' long with a few connectors came crashing down and hit his hand putting a nice gash in it. He had to get a couple stitches at the ER. Matthew got to spend that time with his Papa. So I made him take the rest of the day off and I had already told him that he had to take Father's Day off.

Scott's Father's Day Picture

2011-06-18T21:53:00.000-05:00

Here is the collage that Matthew and I made for Scott!

Matthew really didn't want to have his picture taken so that is why the funny smiles.

I got this fun idea from Beki over at The Rusted Chain.

Matthew and I are so excited to give it to him tomorrow!

I just have to put it in a frame!

Nap Time at the New House

2011-06-11T07:38:00.000-05:00

Here is our new garage:

On the right side is a 3 season porch

Some day my photo studio (Not sure what I will do in the winter)

There are windows along the whole side.

Matthew taking a nap in the 3 season porch on a sleeping bag.

If it is nice like this day was, I opened the windows to let in the light breeze.

He is such an angel when he is sleeping.

When he is awake, he is one BUSY little boy.

Yesterday, we worked at the house all day with no idea what time it was so Matthew didn't take a nap yesterday. When Scott had to run to town for a few things, I sent Matthew with thinking that maybe Matthew would fall asleep on the way back. No such luck! Last night, he was one tired and very dirty little boy. He played hard yesterday! He had so much sand and rocks on the cement apron in front of the garage and he loved the small shovel he found in the garage too! Scott thought that he would love the shovel so he brought it over from the storage unit. We almost have our storage unit cleaned out. Within the next week or so that should be cleaned out. I didn't want to bring anymore stuff to the new house after I decided to scrub the garage floors. I already have enough boxes to move around. The garage interior is almost all primed/painted as of last night. I just have to cut in around some of the of outlets and the garage door supports. Painting will be done this morning and the floor scrubing with start this evening and continue into tomorrow. My wonderful mother in law is coming to help me with that!

Outside

2011-06-10T01:27:00.000-05:00

Matthew loves playing outside at our new house. It is awesome out there with the birds singing, the frogs and it is quiet (no traffic noise).

Not sure if I shared on here about the excitement we had around the apartment about 3 weeks ago.

We were just sitting down to relax for the evening when we smelled what smelled like burned rubber.

It wasn't rubber it was plastic. Somehow, the dumpter behind our apartment started on fire. Talk about people freaking out. We all stood and watched it until the fire truck came to put it out.

Ever since then, Matthew likes to build "fires". He uses anything from toys to blankets to sticks. He piles it all up in a big heap and usually has a miniature fire truck there to put it out. So anyway, he has had a blast with all the sticks around the yard at our new house. There was a small brush pile started and he has added a quite a few branches/sticks/

Here I think he is trying to plant a "tree" which was just a branch that fell off.

He is a busy little boy when he is playing outside!

Look at this adorable dirty face:

Usually every night when we come back to the apartment, he looks like this!

Just tonight, Matthew and Scott were staying home while I went and did some grocery shopping and have some Mommy time. As I was getting ready to leave, I went to give Matthew a kiss and he told me to wait because his face was dirty. He had to have Scott wash it before he would give me a kiss.

On Wednesday, while Matthew was napping at our new house (where? I'll show you in an upcoming post), I continued to prime/paint the garage walls and ceiling. I am a very messy painter and had little white specks all over my face when Matthew woke up from his nap. He looked at me when I asked for a kiss and said, Mommy dirty. I told him it was just a little paint and he was okay with that.

Farm Visit

2011-06-10T00:47:00.000-05:00

Matthew and I attended our ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) program this past school year and had a wonderful time. We overcame some separation anxiety (just a little though). On the last day of class, we went to a local dairy farm for a tour. We went to the same farm last year but it seems like we learn sometime each time we have been there.

On the last day of class, Scott got to go to the farm with us!

Scott had also attended a couple of classes with us during the year!

Matthew was a little scared of the cows at first but soon got over it and would pet the young calves.

I guess he is checking his hand for germs or something!

I want to say that this baby calf was born only a day or two before our visit.

Matthew tempting to pet the calf again.

Of course, we had to stop so Scott and Matthew would look at (or admire) the tractor.

Matthew with his friend Ethan from class.

Matthew talked about Ethan all the time but when it came to class, he was to shy.

Not really sure what is going on in the picture but it's just cute!

We all got stickers that said "I met a dairy farmer"

We also had a yummy snack of string cheese and chocolate or white milk.

Matthew and I with the teachers from our class.

Matthew had so much fun in class this year.

It is amazing what he retains and starting doing or saying later when we are out of class.

He learned a few songs that he loves to sing. Sometimes he just breaks out in song. He doesn't always remember all the words but he loves to sing them.

Bowling with Adie

2011-06-10T00:33:00.000-05:00

I know that it has been awhile to get these pictures upload to show you:

To celebrate Mother's Day with Adie (Matthew's birthmother=just in case you are new to the blog), we went to dinner at Pizza Ranch and then went bowling. We were suppose to go to Arrr Matie's Cove (Matthew's name for our local Pirate's Cove mini golf) but it was raining.

Matthew cheering himself on:

Scott showing us what he's got:

Adie bowling:

Matthew had to carry his own ball:

(He is in that stage now where he has to do everything himself)

Matthew helping Adie:

Scott even had to get a picture of me:

We had so much fun!

I can't imagine our life without Adie!

She is wonderful!

We are blessed that she chose us to be Matthew's parents!

How does someone thank someone else for such a wonderful gift!

Even though there are days that I want to change my mommy name to Nick or Sally or something else, I wouldn't know what to do without our little blessing.

We love you Adie!

Feeling

2011-06-09T15:41:00.001-05:00

This is definitely how I have been feeling about this new house:

Most of you know that we purchased a house and planned to do a small remodel before we moved in.

Well that small remodel has become a HUGE remodel.

After removing sheetrock and insulation from the walls and ceiling, we discovered that there were small holes in the roof and it was leaking in several areas. When Scott almost fell through the roof, we knew we had to relace it. The house has a new roof (Thanks to the help of my wonderful father in law and brother in law)and Scott should be done shingling tomorrow. We are also removing siding and making the house rodent proof because mice have had the run of the place and several stud cavities had very little to no insulation and was very disgusting. All the studs and areas around the studs will be sprayed down with a heavy bleach solution. By the time we are done, we will almost have a new house. With the additional items added to this HUGE renovation project, our target date of moving in is way off but since we can't afford a rent payment on top of the new mortgage payment we will be moving into the garage. I have been busy priming/painting out the garage (with the help of my mother in law) which should be done on Friday and then we will rent a floor scrubber to clean the floors. After I get all the pictures downloaded to the computer and organized, I will start showing the progress of our home renovations. Stayed tuned! You will soon see why I am feeling like Matthew is looking!

Our Bribed Photoshoot

2011-05-25T15:25:00.000-05:00

I had to use a little bribery with Matthew so I could get some pictures of him.

He did great!

Here are some for you to enjoy:

Then he really didn't want to do any more!

Hence the LOOK:

But he agreed to a few more:

Hope you enjoyed pictures of our CUTE little man!

Who is growing up way to fast!

I can't believe that in 3 1/2 months he is going to be 3!

Playing Outside

2011-05-24T16:18:00.000-05:00

We've been playing outside a lot!

We've also gotten to know our neighbors too!

We'll be sad to say good-bye to them since we'll be moving soon!

Matthew stands at our patio door and hollers "hi neighbor" when they're outside!

There are lots of ants around!

The ants don't stand a chance with Matthew's big feet around stomping them!

Then he has to examine to make sure it is dead!

More pictures coming!

I used a little bribery today to get some pictures of Matthew!

Miscellaneous Stuff

2011-05-21T14:49:00.000-05:00

I am sorry that I haven't posted anything lately.
We have been outside enjoying this beautiful weather.
On Tuesday this week, Matthew helped me transplant some plants that needed replanting and he also helped me plant some seeds. We are going to try growing onions and rosemary.
Thursday he got to play with his new bubble machine.
Bubble machine you ask? We used a little bribery to get him to go poop on the potty. First time we bought it and he only gets to use it on the days that he goes poop on the potty.
He also doesn't want you to watch him while he is in the bathroom.
He says "Ouk" for Out!
He started this new thing where he thinks he has to ask the same question over and over again. He repeats it faster than you can answer him.
He also answers your questions with the same questions.
We have a mini golf course in the area called Pirates Cove and Matthew calls it Arrr Matie Cove!
He says toe gram for toe jam! He hates toe gram! As soon as his socks come off he is looking between his toes and removing it.
He loves napping on the couch with daddy! I know daddy loves it too!
He loves to help around the house!
He enjoys playing outside!
He likes to build "fires" as he calls them! He piles up sticks and whatever else he finds and says he is making a "fire".
He snores!
We'll be moving to a new house in about 2 months! So excited! Matthew loves playing out in the yard at our new house!
We had a great time last weekend when we celebrated Mother's Day with Adie! We went to dinner and then went bowling. I'll post pictures soon!

Water Park Fun with Cousins

2011-05-10T09:38:00.000-05:00

We have been trying really hard to get together with the cousins to go to the water park.

We finally were able to get together on Friday for an afternoon of swimming.

I was really surprised how brave Matthew was in the water.

Last summer, he wanted nothing to do with swimming at the beach. He only wanted to play in the sand.

Maybe he was just showing off to his bigger girl cousins.

Of course, he needed mommy to catch him on the slide.

The slide on the right was a little bit faster than the one of the left due to the shape/curve of it.

He did go down the one of the left by himself while I stood up on top and watched.

His favorite thing to do was to stick his hands in the spraying water and make it go everywhere.

Then all of a sudden, he had to go potty!

Off we ran!

It was hard trying to run and take a wet life jacket off a wet boy but we made it in time!

Matthew and his 3 older girl cousins.

Levi was with us too but he was already in dry clothes when we decided to take this picture.

Climbing up the net ladder.

Trying the other side of the slide.

Just looking up at Daddy!

Least Daddy can get a picture of him looking!

Trying to venture out into the pool at the end without his life jacket.

A life jacket is a must in these kiddie pools.

We tried at first without a life jacket.

It only lasted about 2 minutes before I was a basket case and needed him to wear a life jacket.

Another picture of the Cousins

Back row: L to R: Alexa, Emma, Eva

and Matthew in front!

For several days since swimming, Matthew keeps asking about going swimming again.

Soon!

Very Soon!

We will be able to get his small swimming pool set up at our "NEW" house!!!!

We are very excited!

We close on our new house in 2 weeks!

It will be a couple months before we move because our new house needs a little bit of a remodel.

We also get to set up Matthew's turtle sandbox that he has had since his first birthday but has never been able to play in because we moved to this little apartment and it went to storage!

Park Time with Annabelle

2011-05-09T15:14:00.000-05:00

On Friday night, we went to dinner at the new "Pizza Ranch"!

YUM!

Afterwards, we went to the park for a little while.

Matthew had fun playing with Annabelle.

Easter Pictures

2011-04-28T09:14:00.000-05:00

Easter Morning Pictures:

Emma, Levi and Matthew

After a few cousin pictures, Matthew didn't want his picture taken any more so this is what we got:

Ok-A little better

A silly smile:

A cute smile:

A Family picture:

Our church always does the Easter Lily Cross every year!

It is beautiful and the sanctuary smells wonderful!

Easter Bunny Basket

2011-04-28T08:11:00.000-05:00

Sunday morning before church, Matthew found his Easter basket full of fun stuff.

His favorite I think was this:

A Camera!

I don't have any idea why he would like it so much. Hahaha!

Daddy trying to show him how to use it but I think he took a couple pictures before Scott could even show him. He also took quite a few pictures in church. It is fun to see things from his perspective!

I will post his pictures on here occassionally.

Easter

2011-04-28T08:06:00.000-05:00

We had a busy Easter weekend!

Saturday we had an Easter Egg hunt at our church along with some fun art projects!

Then Saturday night, we went to my mom's for a little Easter egg hunt and dinner!

This is just some of Mom and Jerry's grandkids.

One of my sisters was not able to make it to mom's for dinner because she had to work so Scott, Matthew and I stopped at their house on the way home to drop off Annabelle's Easter basket from Grandma.

Matthew and Annabelle had a great time playing together.

Coloring Easter Eggs

2011-04-23T06:44:00.000-05:00

Matthew had a blast coloring Easter eggs yesterday.

He wanted me to take a picture of his egg!

Easter is the time of year when we have a new beginning. We celebrate God's handiwork and everything that is living. So when you see an Easter Egg with its colors shining bright, share that Easter spirit with everyone in sight.

~Author Unknown

Happy Easter!!!!

Have a egg-cellent weekend!

Pictures

2011-04-13T17:12:00.000-05:00

Isn't this picture just the cutest picture you ever seen?

Bless You!

It took a little asking but I finally got him to let me take some cute pictures.

After I took all the cute smiley pictures I realized that he has some wild hair.

He had just got up from his nap and wanted to play outside.

Company

2011-04-13T17:05:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, we had some company stop over.

Mamma (Matthew's birthgrandma, Anissa) and his aunt Carrin stopped over to visit for awhile.

Matthew loves having company.

Matthew is so busy that I think he wore Auntie Carrin out.

They were fixing things, building things and coloring.

Then he had to rest a bit.

He loves to when Mamma blows on the back of his neck.

He was even making the lip motions.

He loves to be tickled as he calls it.

He loves to be naked to!