Tomorrow Makes 6 Weeks!

Our little fishies swimming in the bathtub! I was thinking, it is a good thing they both still fit in the tub because they love it! They spent an hour or more swimming and playing.

 I always love a cute clean face wrapped in a towel! I know Jesse always likes to get Bella while she is still wrapped in her towel so I though I had better take the picture. Isn't she cute!

 She has grown so tall! Look at her standing next to her crib, she is taller. I was thinking tonight as much as I love her being caged up in the crib, I think she needs a big girl bed. I say this because she has a nasty scrape across her foot that came from the bed somehow, somewhere. And when I walked into her room tonight she was hanging with one foot above the rail, and the bed is sat as low as it will go. I will have to start shopping around before we have a two year old with broken legs.

 And Kaeden next to his bed to show how tall he is getting, plus the GQ look he wanted to give. Isn't he cute!

 Kaeden is getting better at taking pictures with the camera, and he always asks to do it. I had to lean into the picture a little, but there I am, and I was directed by Kaeden to put my arms up :0)

 The kids are loving having Bailey around. They love yo pretend that they are puppies too! Bailey looks like she is wondering what the heck is going on here...

 So, they let her in too!

 After cleaning up breakfast the kids spent some time playing in the play room and when I went to check on them, they were both wearing hats. Too cute!

 I can't believe how much Kaeden looks like Daddy with his new hair cut and the hat on! So cute I just want to kiss him.

 Hello! Here is Bailey laying comfortably on the couch and saying "hello".

 While Bella was napping, Kaeden and I worked hard on some cooking and baking. I am making a meal or two each weekend and freezing half so I can use it for lunches and quick dinners. I also made some pumpkin bread tonight, and Kaeden wanted to make cookies. I still have some of the precut cookies around and thought it was a perfect idea. He was thrilled!

 When Bella woke up we had lunch ready and waiting so we all sat down to eat. Compliments to the chef! Bella kept telling me "Mommy I like maki-cheese"!

 And of course the mad face.

 Kaeden said he didn't like it, but he still ate it because of the lingering smell of fresh cookies that I told him he could not have unless he ate his lunch.

 And here is his mad face.

 After lunch they were full of energy, and were hopping around the house like frogs saying "ribbit".

 And here are Kaedens cookies! Yum! When I put them away tonight there were only 5 left. hehe.

 Here is the pumpkin break that I made. I haven't tasted it yet, but I will be taking some into work tomorrow to share if anyone wants to stop by and have a slice.

 It has been a long weekend and the kids were getting on my nerves tonight so we when out to Sam's Club and got a few items. It is COLD out there! Then we came back home and visited with Al and Linda and back to our house for bedtime. Bella when to bed and I let Kaeden stay up a little longer. I helped him put together a puzzle as I cleaned up the kitchen. He was so proud of himself and wanted to send Daddy a picture of it. Isn't he sweet!

Well, we have 18 weeks left until Daddy comes home, and we can't wait. So far we have been plugging right along and trying not to focus on how much we miss him, but the fact is we do miss Daddy! The kids are both very involved in knowing where he is and why he is there and that we get to send him stuff in the mail, which they really love! We can't wait to have you home Daddy!

Stay Safe!

One Awesome Week!

I have so many things to Thankful for! I got to take a week of vacation in between my "old job"and my "new job", and I got to spend it with many of the most important people in my life! Originally I was going to leave work early on my last day but the weather prevented that, so I waited until Saturday morning to take off for my long 8 hour drive. The drive was good and we made it home just fine. Saturday night we had a movie night at Sarah's cabin with the whole family, and Allison and her girls. The kids played and we watched Grown Ups. We did dinner at mom and dad's because the hill to the cabin is a little treacherous, and we can't get Dad's van up there without towing him. Sunday we all went sledding down the hill witch seconds as a driveway to the cabin. It was so much fun! I haven't been sledding in years and it was just as much fun as I remember. We would all sled down the hill and then Mom would pick us up with the Explorer and drive us back to the top so we could go again. The little ones spent more time riding in the car in order to keep warm.
This is only about 1/3 of the length of the hill. I think Beth wiped out about 6 times in one run!

Bella staying warm.

Kaeden staying warm.

Emily staying warm.

Me with my amazing SISTERS! Sarah is on the left, me in the middle, and Beth on the right.



My sister Sarah and her best friend and husband Raleigh.

After a fun couple of hours sledding we had to get inside, warm up, and get something to eat. Kaeden refuses to eat what we call good food. He only eats cereal, claiming that he doesn't like anything else. So Beth got him some cereal and the box was empty, so she gave it to him to wear on his head. He was so funny prancing around with a cereal box on his head!

And look how big Eli is getting! He is nine months old now and you would never know he came early with how big he has gotten. He is crawling around now and even cruising furniture. Look at his beautiful big blue eyes! I love to cuddle him, but every time Sarah walks in the room he wants her and crawls right back out of my arms to get his Mamma. And Gracie is taking a big bite out of her burger. She is Beth's youngest baby, and she won't cuddle me for too long either but I still love to squeeze her when I get the chance!

Sarah took a picture of me fresh out of the warm shower after sledding. Notice the LONG hair.

On Monday my cousin came to Mom and Dad's house to cut my Dad's hair, and she did me a favor and cut the kids hair since Jess took the clippers with him to Iraq and Kaeden was definitely due for a trim. For two years he has had his Mohawk, and would not agree to let me cut it when I asked, but he let Megan cut it off. Now he has a hair cut like his Daddy, and he looks so much like Daddy with his new haircut that I just want to kiss him all the time! He played with Lego's every day at Bucka and Grampa's house.

Tuesday and Wednesday came and went so fast I didn't even have a chance to get any pictures, but Tuesday we did another dinner with the family, and Wednesday I went to dinner with Allison. I like getting together with Allison just the two of us without kids so we can catch up. Thursday morning I got everything packed up and ready to go for the drive up to the cities for Dorthy's birthday party at Psycho Suzies (dinner) and Pickle Park (drinks and dancing). Mom and Amanda came with me to help celebrate Dorothy's birthday. We had so much fun! My favorite was dancing with Dorothy. Thank You Gramma Leslie for watching the kids so we could go out. We all had a lot of fun. Even Jesse's aunt Rite and her man Pat came out to celebrate! It was so much fun! Here is a picture of all us girls taking a break from the dance floor. Left to right: Amanda, Dorothy, ME, Mom, Rita. Notice the short hair! Thanks for the cut Megan!

Friday we packed up again! Mom and Amanda went home, and the kids and I went with Gramma Leslie to the cabin. YAY! The kids had so much fun! They loved playing with the toys that seem so new when really they are always there but they see them so rarely that they seem new. Kaeden found a Spiderman Frisbee and Gramma Leslie showed him the right way to throw it. He was doing pretty good and could launch it all the way across the living room.

Our new puppy Bailey was enjoying a little snooze on the couch. She's so pretty!

Bella and Kaeden both got the sniffles throughout to weeks adventures, but still ran around like little crazy people. Look at how beautiful her blue eyes are!

She was having fun with Grampa! She would crawl up in his lap to "Nuggo" and he would pick her up by the legs and drop her back onto his lap making bomb exploding sounds. She would tell him hands or legs, and after running off to play she would come back for more bombings.

Saturday after the kids went down for a nap, Grampa Dave, Gramma Leslie, and I decided to get in the hot tub with three bottles, yes three, of champagne. We were a little runk! But it was FUN!!! A toast to Jesse's SAFE return!

CHEERS!!!

I have to show off my fancy swimming suit! I didn't not think with the cold weather we have been having that I would need to pack a swimming suit so Leslie dug out some of her old suits for me to wear. Can you guess which era this one is from? HOT HOT HOT!!!

After our champagne we headed to the Cajun in hopes that we could skype Jess. Bummer! We didn't get to see him on skype, but he did call while we were there. We also played pull tabs and WON! It is so much fun to win for a  change!

Sunday morning, time to pack up AGAIN! Kaeden was loving playing games on the Wii. He did pretty good for his first time playing Super Mario Brothers. Grampa was helping he fly a plane just before we loaded up in the car for our long ride home.

Bella was playing with Bailey.

And X was doing what he usually does...

That pretty much wraps up our week. We all had so much fun, and enjoyed spending time with all of our friends and family! The drive home was scary! Blowing snow and four foot drifts across both lanes with no snow plows to be seen. I had to drive 30 miles and hours for the last hour and a half. But, we made it home safely and Al and Linda helped my get the truck unloaded into the house. A long week, a long drive home, a long blog (thanks for hanging in there), and tomorrow I start the gym, and my new job! Good night!

Stay SAFE Daddy! We miss you and we LOVE you!!!

Thursday 13th

Well today was my last full day at work, and tomorrow I get off early in order to leave town and go home! I can't wait! A great day turned sour really quickly. I am trying to stay positive in everything I do while my Baby is gone and I don't want anyone bringing me down so I will just simply let those people go who try to bring me down. A good friend of mine has lost her mind! Apparently there are problems between her and her husband (more just her), and she is blaming me. I haven't even seen these people for 4 years! How could I possibly be to blame for their marital problems. So I get this email saying I cause her too much pain and heartache. WTF??? So she thinks deleting me from her life and more so her stupid Facebook page will fix their problems. Whatever! I know I am blessed to have some really great people in my life and friends who care about me so in order to stay positive and not let this bring me down I simply agreed with her and wished her luck. I figure I don't need that type of BS anywhere in my life and especially right now. Whew! I had to get that off my chest, I feel better now.
The kids were good tonight. When we got home I heated up leftovers yet again! Bella is getting so big!

She was being goofy tonight. You gotta love those silly faces. She was walking around making this silly face all night. She makes me laugh!

Kaeden actually ate well. If you know my Kaeden you know he is the most picky eater out there. But I learned a new trick. If you threaten no show and tell, you get results... a full tummy. And he is freakin adorable to boot!

So I figured I had better get them a bath before our long trip and many days of partying with the Fam. Kaeden had to go to the bathroom and he wanted to be just like Daddy so he decided to check out Daddy's magazine. I had to take the picture!

PRICELESS! And oh by the way you are laughing, thinking hmmm what is he making that face at??? Actually he opened it right up to a page that had super heroes on the ad which he LOVES, so he was super excited to get to read it.

Linda stopped over while the kids were in the bath so I was chatting with her for a bit when I figured I had better check on the kids still in the tub and this is what I found.

Bella was sitting on top of Kaeden and washing his hair! Too cute!!! No worries, Batman was standing watch! Aren't they great!

I am glad I got my venting out at the beginning of this blog because reliving the moments with the kids from earlier tonight makes me smile again. I don't have room in my life for DRAMA!

I got tires on my truck and still have packing to do so I had better get on it.

But, before I go I had better mention tonight was the first night I have seen tears about missing Daddy.  Kaeden was having a hard time laying down and I was short with him because I had things to do, so he started crying. I let him cry for a few minutes and when I went back in his room to ask what he was crying over he said "I'm crying because I miss my Daddy and I want him here". I didn't want to make a big deal of it thinking he might use that against me every night if I let him. We do miss Daddy and of course we want him here but right now he is working.

We LOVE and MISS you Daddy!
Stay Safe Please!

Another 1/2 Week Down!

I thought getting a good nights rest would make me feel better, but I actually felt worse when I woke up. I took myself to the doc today and they said I do not have Strep but I am very sick. I wish someone would pay me to give out that simple information! Actually as the day drugged on (get it?) my throat started feeling better and my head started feeling worse, but I'm alive. I was worried about the kids getting sick too, but so far they seem to be fine other than a few sniffles. After picking them up today we came right home and had left overs for dinner. YUM!

Bella and Kaeden had both been arguing over anything you could possibly think of, so I thought of something fun they could both do and not kill each other over... I let them color Daddy's box! They enjoyed it. I hope the post office will send it that way. The whole box is colored, and cover in stickers. The WHOLE box!

Bella seems to think that she should put sticker on top of sticker on top of sticker. There are some spots on the box that have stacks of stickers!

I asked them both to look at me and give me a nice smile. This is what I got from Kaeden.

And from sweet sweet Bella...

I love those crazy little faces! I wish I wasn't sick because I just want to kiss them!

I am excited for our trip home on Friday. I am hoping this blizzard will hold out long enough for us to get ahead of it. The kids and I both need some interaction with other family. Minnesota here we come!

We Love and Miss you Daddy!
Stay SAFE!!!