three

sweet boy, you are 3 today!  how is that even possible?  it feels like yesterday that you were this huge, happy, rolly polly of a child. 

and now, look at you...

so handsome, so cute.

you will always hold a dear spot in my heart because well, you are my first, you made me a momma and we have figured this whole parenting/kid thing out together from the beginning.  you are so incredibly special to me.

things about you i want to remember about you at this age....

• you still must have a bagel every. single. morning.
• you are ridicilously smart.  i love listening to your little mind verbally process life.
• you speak so well and always have.  
• you ADORE your little sister.  and the dogs.
• you are our social butterfly and want to be friends with everyone.  anytime the neighbors walk by you say, "hi, i'm noah. what's your name?  want to come play at my house?"  fyi, you get this from your daddy 100%.  :)
• we haven't bought you clothes in a LONG time.  you are adorably little and chances are you will always be a small fry.  :)
• the way you run.  you have gotten more coordination and those little legs moving as fast as they can is pretty cute.
• tv shows you love:  mike the knight, jake and the neverland pirates and dora.  actually since moving from florida, you no longer want to watch movies.  i have no idea why and i would love for you to start again.  ha.
• favorite book:  we're going on a lion hunt.  you love how daddy puts your blanket on your head making it into a safari hat before he starts.  i want to always remember the way your eyes light up as daddy acts out the entire book with weird voices and creepy faces.
• you are beginning to be easier to negiotiate with which has made tantrums less frequent.  thank you, thank you, thank you.
• favorite foods:  bagels, cheese crackers, applesauce, and popcorn with mellows.
• continue to look just like your daddy...and your uncle donald.
• you have the sweetest soul.  you are sensitive and aware of other's feelings.  i love this.
• the way you light up when you see your daddy.  he is your best friend and your are his.  i love watching you two together.

as you would say, we love you sweet boy, allllll the way to the mooooon and alllll the way to the stars and allllll the way back.

happy birthday, noah michael!!!

embrace the camera

so this thursday i decided to finally





it's a thing my friend started for moms (or dads) to jump in the pic with their kids so that later in life they can look back and say, "hey, mom really was there, too."  and i'll say, "you bet i was!  i was wiping your hiney, cleaning pee off the floor and crayon markings off the walls...but i was there." 

my sweet girl and her sweaty-no-make-up-just-got-back-from-the gym momma.

holy gym hair! 

 

 

i always want to remember these sweet moments.

reflecting and trusting

as we arrived in orlando for our visit, we drove down to where we used to live so i could get my eyebrows waxed by my old lady.  (i ran out of time before we left.)  luke asked me if it felt weird to be back.  i said "no" because honestly it didn't.  it felt like we were back from a long vacation and going home.  luke said thinking that was weird.  whatever.  it felt normal to me.  well, i guess i did tip the eyebrow lady 60% because it was so good to see her which is not "normal".  what?!

it is weird, however, to think that a place i fought so hard to feel settled in because i was homesick for kansas, family, friends, and familiarity could stir up such emotions.  as we were driving around reminiscing, i was a bit sad.  living in florida went by in the blink of an eye.  why does life have to fly by so fast?   our kids are going to ticked when they are old enough to realize that they used to live in mickey's backyard.  sorry kids.  we love orlando.  we love florida.  a piece of our hearts will always be in central florida, which i why i got this made to hang in our basement.

i've said this a million times, but i am so thankful that we had the opportunity.  we knew from the very beginning that is was a God thing.  we never contemplated or thought twice about the decision to move.  we both said whole heartily, "yes".  we knew and trusted God had an amazing plan for us and did He ever!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

throughout my life, the micro manager in me repeatedly goes back to this verse over and over and over again.  i am glad in the case of moving to florida, i actually listened.  God has got our backs and knows what is best for us.  isn't that amazing and extremely reassuring?  i know personally and it has made my life so much easier.

i love being back in kansas.  it's where we want to raise our kids.  it is home.  but getting away for a bit was so much fun.  i would do it all over again in a heart beat.  in fact the thought of starting over again thrills me.  i feel much more confident in myself now and honestly, would love to try it again someday.  perhaps when the kids are all grown and out of the house.

but heck, i'd follow this man anywhere.

parents, do not worry. we are not moving.

easter

uh yeah, it's about a month late but what the heck.  i need documentation of mila's first easter egg hunt and dress.

 the neighborhood egg hunt

mila's first egg hunted.

easter morning...i found my basket!!!

sweet doll

egg hunting is a serious sport.

the fam

g & g with all their grandkids

last day of school

today, was noah's last day of school.  he has absolutely loved going to school.  there were tears on the first day and none thereafter.  noah  looks forward to going every week and so do mommy and mila.  tuesdays are our special days.  we have our girl time, run errands, shop for girly things, and meet grandma at spin pizza nearly every week.  yeah, it's that delicious.  i'll take a pizza mia-pepperoni with a spinach salad and a diet coke.  please and thank you.

my girlfriend takes her kids' photos the first and last day of school to show how much they've changed.  i love this idea and will try to do it if i can remember.

first day of school

last day of school

it really shows how much his little face has changed and that he actually has ankles now.  noah is started to look like such a little man.  he is still rocking the same size of clothing, but his shoes are bigger.  that's a good sign right?  surely this kid will start growing up.  ha.

good bye spin.  see you in august. 

florida getaway

last week, the mister and i headed to orlando for a 5 day getaway kid-free.  it was rough leaving my babes at first, given i had yet to spend a single night away from mila, but wow, we (mainly me) needed it. 

we. had. a. blast. 

i needed to remember what it was like to be me for a few days and luke definitely needed a break from work, see the crazy eyes...

we spent a day with harry.  yeah, i was pretty much in heaven. 

plus, we are both theme park junkies.

i drank frozen butterbeer...okay, i had two and contemplated getting a third.
best drink i've ever tasted, seriously.

one day we spent ALL day doing this...

it was glorious.

palm trees + reading in peace + basking in the warm sunshine = my kind of heaven.

we got to see our friends' babies and meet the newest little one.  yeah, she's pretty much the cutest and gave me baby fever BIG time.

i got my hair did by my man fernando. 

he may or may not have been one of the main reasons i wanted to travel here. 

midwest chop no more!

 

 

 

 

 we spent a night out with great friends.  seeing them all made my heart oh so happy.

i seriously love these girls.

 

 

but the best part of the trip was having this man all to myself.

every day was date night. 

can you imagine?

it was amazing.   he is amazing.

13 years together and he still makes my heart skip a beat. 

i feel so blessed to have him. 

so incredibly blessed.

 

 

florida was fabulous, but we could not wait to get home to the little ones and boy, were they happy to see us.  mila has still hardly let me put her down.

 

 

i think every married couple should getaway kid-free every once in awhile.  it's good for your soul and your marriage.

 

 

thanks mom, dad and kelly for watching the kids. 

never having to worry because they were in the best of hands made our trip that much more enjoyable and relaxing.

15 months

baby girl, you are 15 months!   good grief, where does time go?

you have become so very busy.  here is what you are up to:

• still not the biggest talker but you get your point across.  i'm pretty sure if you would take your thumb out of your mouth and stop twirling your hair you would talk more.  :)
• you still call noah "bubba" but now having started saying "whoah".  so cute.
• 2 weeks ago you started officially walking full time!  you have been able to for months but just needed to wait until you were ready.  i love this about you.
• you climb on everything!  your brother was not much of a climber, but you are certainly our little monkey.  your favorite thing to do is empty mommy's kitchen drawers and climb into them to sit so brother laughs hysterically at your craziness.
• "dramatic" should be your middle name.  wowzers.

• you looooovvvveeee to swing.  sometimes i push you for nearly an hour while brother is running wild in the back yard and you love every second.
• everyone is a friend.   you say "hi" and "bye-bye" to everyone you see at the store, on walks, the park, anywhere. 
• mama is your favorite person in the whole world.  i hope that stays that way forever.  ;)
• you're such a lover.  you play. you come to snuggle.  you eat.  you snuggle.  you play. you come back to snuggle.  it is a cycle that i'm totally okay with.
• just like your brother, you almost have a full set of teeth.  you have been cutting four teeth at once this past month.  you've been a snotty, drooly mess.
• milk and cheese products continue make your tummy very upset, so we avoid them as best we can.  we also just started you on probiotics twice a day to see if that helps with some of your other digestive issues.
• for the most part, you are still taking 2, 2-hour naps a day.  you LOVE to sleep. 
• you continue to be our little bird that eats like a horse- 20 pounds-10th percentile , 25th percentile in height.  but what is fantastic is this past check-up you actually grew and gained weight!  go you!

mila, you are a special little lady and we are so very lucky to call you ours.