Ryan's First Words!

I know, sorry, I don't have any video but I'm going to try to use our new camera to take some. Anyways---Ryan gets told "No" and "Don't" a lot and yesterday when I told him "Don't!" because he was taking his mittens off *again* while we were running errands and he responded "don't!" and laughed at me! At first it didn't occur to me what he was doing, but he kept saying it I then I realized what he was doing. Then today I was saying "No!" (I think this was directed at Alex though) and he again starts saying "nah!" "nah!" and laughing! So we made it a little game and he was just laughing his head off. Now, I don't just walk around telling my kids No and Don't all the time, but he has learned these two!

My sister is coming over and we are going to bake Peanut Butter Blossoms with the kids. It is her birthday today! Tomorrow we are headed to both of my Grandparents' homes and then Christmas morning after the kids open gifts we will go to North Platte and come home late that night. Unfortunately Nik probably won't be with us much of Christmas Eve night which is a bummer because it's definately my favorite night and my most-loved tradition of going to Grandma's. He should arrive right in time to help us haul gifts to the car though-haha.

I do have some pictures to post, Alex and I made a gingerbread house last week, it turned out great and it was so easy to do. (Kit by Wilton sold at Wal-mart for $10.)



We opened gifts at my Parent's house on Sunday and I forgot my camera, but here is one with some of the gifts-Ryan got a plush chair to match Alex's (which she also got for her 2nd Christmas) and they both got these awesome, soft blankets that light-up.

Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year! (We are hoping it is a HEALTHY New Year...Alex is now on round 3 of antibiotics for bronchitis again. We just can't keep that girl healthy this winter!)

1. I have not totally procrastinated and not started Alex's apron (Christmas present!) yet. I do not not have motivation to do it, even though I know she will LOVE it! I am not such a dork that I am making myself one that is matching.

2. My child is not on antibiotics for the 3rd time this fall. I do not feel like a failure of a mother because of this.

3. Ryan is not still in pajamas. (The kids do not regularly just stay in pajamas if we aren't going anywhere, nope they are dressed right after breakfast!)

4. I have not only had 1/2 of a sandwich today because Alex ate the other

Playing in the snow

in the house! I took a great tip from Wendy @ TheGwennap4 (a MOPS friend of mine) and brought some snow in to play. Alex loved it, and thought the texture and sparkle to the snow was so fascinating. All Ryan wanted to do was shove it in his mouth! This made a minimal mess and kept Alex busy for about 1/2 hour (so what if 10 of those minutes were spent feeding it to Ryan while I was tweezing my eyebrows?)

Dang it's COLD out!!!

Finally freezing here in good ol Nebraska!I wonder if Nik is freezing yet. I feel bad for him having to be in and out of the truck in this frigid cold weather!

The kids have colds, yet again...starting to think this is just normal for us! It seems as though everyone has been having this type of winter though, so I am trying to not let it get me down so much.

I can NOT believe Christmas is next week and I am definitely not ready. The kids' gifts have been slowly drifting in from UPS and I still have some people to buy for. Unfortunately Christmas cards are just not going to happen this year. Maybe I will do New Years Cards! Well Alex just pulled out a puzzle and that's no good with Ryan crawlingwalking around so I must go interfere!

Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Wanted to make this a separate post for my baby boy!

We always knew that we wanted our kiddos to be close in age and we didn't waste much time! I was SOOO happy when I got that positive pregnancy test. I was ready to give Alex a sibling and I was so ready to cuddle a sweet little newborn again. Throughout my pregnancy we asked Alex if it was a boy or a girl and she always said "boy!" Myself, I just knew it was a boy just like I knew Alex was a girl. They say it's so much easier the 2nd time around, and it really really is. (Despite the fact that you have a toddler AND a newborn, it's still easier!) Ryan is a TRUE BOY! Anybody that has been around him can attest to that fact, he is constantly going somewhere, trying to escape, getting hurt, climbing onto things and pushing things around. I was just thinking this morning, we never used our pack n play with Alex because we never needed to contain her, but I still can't take it down because I have to have a cage for Ryan! (Only kidding of course!) He is such a cuddler and is now giving us "loves" on command and of course still nursing. I fell in love with this sweet little boy the moment I laid my eyes on him and he is my BABY! I love his strong will and desire to find out how things work or where I hid the remote!

Birthday Party 08!

We did the kids' party together this year, seeing as they are less than 2 weeks apart for Birthdays. It was an afternoon of fun and good cake! We had one set of Grandparents, an Aunt, Great Aunt and Great Great Aunt, and Great Grandparents over. (Hope I got all those Greats right, haha.) We enjoyed having everyone over! Here is an album of the afternoon! (Feel free to order prints if you'd like!)

Birthday Party 2008

Rebel For A Cause

A few of you may read MckMama's blog over at mycharmingkids.net. Well, she is having an AWESOME raffle! She is giving away an amazing camera, a Canon Rebel Xsi and a ton of other stuff. $10 buys you a ticket and enters you into the contest. All the proceeds will go to String of Pearls, No Hands But Ours and The Elison Project. I don't know about you, but with Christmas coming and thinking about buying gifts and everything I've also been thinking about what I can give to others. The link to donate is on the right side column of my blog if you feel moved to give to these wonderful charities and have a chance to win this awesome camera! Man I would be in 7th heaven if I won the camera. And if not someone else is going to win and be just as happy, and it will be AMAZING to see how much money this raises as it's only been up for what, 9 hours and the total is 1.5k!!!!

Not Me Monday

1. We definitely did NOT serve our toddlerpreschooler sugary cereal and turn on the TV for her this morning so we could both continue sleeping. We also did not end up sleeping until 8:30 and said toddlerpreschooler did not have 2 bowls of the cereal during this time! Nope not us! (Ok so she is not in preschool yet, but definitely not a toddler!)

2. I did NOT tell Alex several times that she couldn't eat lunch downstairs that we eat lunch at the table and they tell her she could, because that would be so confusing and teach her that if you whine long enough Mom will give in!

3. I did NOT this morning let the child I am trying to slowly wean nurse just because he was such a crab! I am also not going back and forth on whether to wean him, because I am a very decisive person.

4. Yesterday I did not only drink 2 cans of pop and one yummy beer all day long. Nope, only water for me!

5. I will not spend all afternoon playing with our new camera that is due to arrive from UPS. I have cleaning to do!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my sweet little girl!

We are super duper busy today making cupcakes, food for Thanksgiving, preparing for our day trip to North Platte tomorrow...but here are some pictures. Can't believe she is 3! Such a big girl, and she is so thrilled that it is her birthday.






While these were loading I searched for some quotations about becoming a Mother. Because while this is Alex's Birthday, it's also my Birth-Day, the day I became a Mother. The Day I felt a love stronger than any love I had ever felt. Or even thought was possible. It's the scariest and best thing I have ever experienced. My heart swells when I watch my children play together, when I am so blessed as to hold a sleeping child for a few sweet minutes. To see the amount of pure, unharnessed excitement that simple things bring to my children. They are my WORLD!

"A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path."
-- Agatha Christie

Look what I can do!

While I was writing an email, Ryan figured out how to climb inside the box that holds our wood blocks. He was so proud and fit just perfectly! His other new feat: climbing into Alex's bed. It all started yesterday, he had free roam in the house and their door was open, I couldn't find him and there he is sitting on her bed looking so proud and grinning from ear to ear. So that is the new hot spot. And of course, being a boy, he thinks the way to get out of the bed is to just dive off the side so we have to be careful. It is just a toddler bed though so he can sort of just crawl off the side.



And an Alexism for you...we got the kid's Christmas outfits last week, thanks to my Mom, and I was going on about how cute I thought they were and how well they matched and Alex says "Yeah, people are going to say 'Your kids are so adorable!'" So conceited at such a young age! They will be cute though.

Nik is working so awfully hard right now. UPS is of course getting busier by the day with the Holidays approaching and The Barn also gets very busy normally plus they have a Holiday event starting this weekend! He has mostly just been driving for UPS though. It is so nice to have him home at night after 1.5 years of working 6-10pm. All you Moms know that can be a stressful time with dinner cleanup, bath and bed!

**Also want to note that anyone can comment now, I changed the settings!**

Chicken and Fries.

We have been listening to the Zac Brown Band song "Chicken Fried" a lot and yesterday morning Alex said "Mom, can you play that Chicken and Fries song?" Chicken and Fries is what Alex always wants when we get fast food....that may be why she likes the song! (In other news, I hate that she is calling us Mom and Dad sometimes. I told her this morning she is not allowed!)

Ryan had a fever this week of up to 103.6, pretty scary for me and he was such a sad little guy. Hate to see the guy that never sits still just put his head down on your leg and fall asleep. We headed back to the Dr, waited 1.5 hrs in the waiting room. (This is a whole 'nother story, our Dr is getting sooo incredibly busy...we have had to see the other Doctors in the practice for the past few months, so I at least felt fortunate to be able to see him.) Kids are back on antibiotics-a heavy duty one this time and Ryan's fever seems to be gone so I am very thankful for that. We have missed church and MOPS twice already and miss them both (and our friends!) I was able to go meet with the MOPS girls last night to get setup for the meeting this morning so it was nice to get out and socialize and bit.

Ryan has been walking a lot! He has taken up to 13 steps at a time! We are so excited for him and it's so cute.

It's Friday!

And I have seriously wasted this week.

Maybe it's that we are all sick.

Maybe it's the weather (although it has been okay this week!)

I have just had no motivation, have been full of worry about the kids with their colds. What am I thankful for? Nik has driven at UPS all week, and is feeling more and more comfortable with the job and it will result in a good paycheck next week!

So my laundry is waiting, along with a dirty highchair and dishes from last night. Alex is still sleeping, thank God because her little body needs that! I really and truly hope our winter is not like this health-wise. Lord, it would be good if this was it. These 2 colds/coughs have been enough. I think the kids are just passing it back and forth so it is taking them so long to get over it. And I am really praying that we don't have to go back to the Dr's office and I'm also really praying that this is still viral. I don't think another round of abx would be a good thing for them. I'm having a lot of anxiety about them being sick. I don't know why...they aren't that sick...no fevers except a little one for Alex a few days ago---everytime someone has a little coughing spell it strikes anxiety in me. Maybe because I've just been waiting for them to get better and everytime they wake up coughing I realize no today is not the day they are going to get better.

I know this is a whiny post but I am in that kind of mood, trying to turn it around today!

But you would really never know she is sick...(and she didn't cough up a lung this morning, so my hopes are high!)

A picture to go with yesterday's post...

11 Months Old!

My sweet little boy turns 11 months old today, and I feel as though I am going to lose it this morning. For some reason, 11 months seems a lot older than 10 months. Ryan may be our last baby and I just can't stand to see him get any older. (Now I am really crying as I type this.) He is such a loving little guy, craving attention and kisses. I always thought he'd start getting too busy to nurse because he's so active but definitely not the truth! This one may be very hard to wean from nursing when we decide it's time! It's so cliche to say...but where did the time go? I still so vividly remember his birth, our sweet time in the hospital together. Now he's my big boy playing by himself in the livingroom about to fall head first in the kids' big toy bin.

HC Trick or Treat Street

Last night Nik and I dropped the baby off at Grandma and Grandpa's and took Alex to the Hastings College Trick or Treat Street. It's held in the Keweit Gymnasium and the Student Association has all kinds of booths with games for the kids and a costume contest as well. After Ryan came we always made it a goal to get out with just Alex occasionally, so this was one of those fun times. She did great with all the games! At the bowling she bowled a strike with her first try! (She also did well with
bowling at the YWCA's Enchanted Forest...maybe she has a future in bowling?) We hadn't planned on entering the costume contest but so many commented on her costume that we put her in it! Our little pirate won 2nd place for her age group! (1st place went to a baby about Ryan's age in a bug costume, it was adorable, he had like 10 legs coming out of the costume!)I was bursting with pride! We all got to share one of those medium sized Eileens cookies. Yum! Looking foward to a few more Halloween festivities and then Mommy will be Halloweened out! 2 this weekend and 2 more this week!

October-Pumpkin Patch and more.

How is it already nearing the end of October!!! We have already received our first tiny bit of snow. Just flakes, nothing that accumulated but it was quite fun! I love winter. Not so much for summer. I also love to be able to be a stay at home Mom in the winter. Nothing like leaving the kids in their warm fleece pajamas...the "fuzzy, cuddly pajamas" as Alex calls them, cooking, baking, cleaning, and staying in from the cold. Anyone that knows me knows that home is certainly where my heart is!

Kids are doing well, we are all healthy, Praise the Lord. Finally received a dose of antibiotics for all of us and we are 100%. We have plans to all go get poked for flu shots on Saturday and after last winter we are truly believers in the flu shot. It was the first year we all received them and no one even had so much as a cold the rest of that winter. Both kids are GROWING so much, Alex is getting taller and skinnier (loosing that baby fat) as noticed by her Great Grandma and Grandpa! Ryan is just closing that gap of baby to toddler, he is such a joy and I will definitely have my hands full when he is walking. He has taken a few steps already!

Ok, enough of words....I could really write all day. I do want to mention one thing, and that is the new church we are going to. We feel so truly blessed that we have found somewhere we like. I had prayed a lot this fall about finding a church home and God put it in my heart to try LifeHouse, which some of you may have heard about. It is an awesome church starting to do awesome things in our little community. I am really excited to get more involved in it. Since the age of 15...God has been calling me. I haven't answered, but I've listened to the voicemails he's left in my heart. So now I am answering. :) I could also talk more on this but enough you all just want to see pictures I know!

October is, of course, Pumpkin Patch time for those that have little ones! We continued our tradition of going to Country Harvest and fun was had by all! Alex did almost all the activities and it was so fun to see her having fun. There is nothing like seeing excitement in the face of your child. It makes you feel good!









Alex at the Pumpkin Patch last year, getting ready to eat pumpkin icecream!

Pumpkin Patch 08

This past weekend we all took a trip the the Pumpkin Patch in Glenvil. We did this last year as well and plan to make it a yearly event!!!

Trying the blogging thing again!

Hey all! It is Saturday morning and I am having my morning coffee while the kids play in the living room. The kiddos have been battling terrible colds for a week now, and myself a horrible sore throat. It is that season! With all the activities we go to outside of the house, it's just to be expected. All you can do is be prepared with the Kleenexes, occasional meds and pray that they get through it quickly and come out with more immunity! We've really been lucky as far as illnesses go though. Nothing serious yet!
Alex will be 3 in less than 2 months. I cannot even fathom that I will be the proud Mom to a 3 year old. She already acts like one! I will be happy to be out of the terrible twos (that's how it works, right??? ;) ) Alex loves playing with the kids in our MOPS group, going to the library and story hour and ADORES the park! She is quite the chatterbox and comes up with the funniest things. I love recounting stories to Daddy when he comes home and calling up Grandmas and telling them what Alex just said. She is hilarious. Still has dark blond crazy curly hair!

Ryan is almost 10 months old. It has gone so quickly. He has the biggest dark brown eyes that he is always getting complimented on. He definitely has a different personality than Alex! Very adventurous, strong-willed and quite the handful! He is still not sleeping through the night, but I think that is just him. He's been crawling since 7 months, and standing up on things since 8 months and is just starting to let go and stand and took a short little walk holding onto Alex's shopping cart! He is just all over the place and hates to sit still! (And he has 7 teeth fully in and the 8th and 9th are about to pop through, crazy little teether!)

I finally found the kids some functional and nice sunglasses at Wal-mart! They are looking pretty cool!

Last month Alex had a fun day with us at the Museum and then we went out for ice-cream at McDonald's! This was our first visit to the Museum (it was free during Kool-Aid Days) and she loved it.

Looking at the rattlesnake with Daddy, all the Hastings kids remember this right?

Digging for fossils...

The Kool-Aid Stand! She had fun with this.

Icecream!