Happy Birthday to Austyn . . .

  I can't believe my baby girl is THREE years old. It doesn't seem possible. Makes me feel old too. I don't even know where to begin with this blog. She is the most incredible three year old you'll ever meet. One recent happening that blew my mind was when we were leaving my Grandmas (GG's) house from getting ice cream one night. We were all loaded up in the Bronco and she was sitting on Jordan's lap "driving", when she actually was steering the Bronco all by herself. We backed up and with no guidance turned the wheel the right way and when we started going forward drove all the way home. I couldn't believe that at three years old she could get the concept of turning the wrong way when backing up and let alone steering a rig correctly (with a river on one side). I have to thank my dad for this, because he will just take her and go get in his pick-up and practice with her. The kind of patience this mother just doesn't have. I'm amazed at the concepts she can get at this age. If she is interested or in the mood to listen, she really can understand and catch on to almost anything. And she never forgets a thing. She has started to notice the Corn Maze ramp back up and randomly started to talk about everything that happened last year at the Corn Maze. She is so excited for all the fun at Lone Pine in October.
  She started Preschool this year and she is actually loving it. The first day when I was walking up to her school, I was anticipating a melt down when I left her, but she looked up at me and said "It's o.k. Mommy, you can yeave (she has a hard time pronouncing her "L's") me. I won't cry." I about busted down crying right there. And she was right. She didn't blink and eye when I left. I about lost it walking back to my car, but at least she was fine. I didn't realize how bad I would miss my buddy for just 3 1/2 hours a day. It's still the saddest part of my day when I eat lunch by myself. Even though Quade is there, it's not the same. She definitely puts a spark in our lives. I do get a lot done when she's at school though ;) I can now appreciate how maddening it was for my parents when they would ask me what I learned or did in school that day, and I would say "Nothing". I get so frustrated with Austyn when she won't talk about school at all. I want to know so badly what she's doing in school, who her friends are, who she sat by at lunch, etc. But she won't elaborate what so ever. Oh it pisses me off! At least I'm good friends with the assistant in her class so I can get my information that way. She's so stubborn. Must get it from Jordan. :)
  She loves to sing. She will sing all the time. I especially love it when she's singing what she is doing at the time. Or when she sings through a conversation with me. I used to do that all the time to her when she was little. I guess they do soak everything up! She loves to dance, and is now into rough housing. Holy cow, she can get rough. I have to remind myself that I'm wrestling with a three year old. She also still gets a kick out of getting dirty which warms Jordan and my hearts. I don't know why, but I love watching her get dirty. And she does a good job at it. She leaves a ring around the tub most nights. Her excitement level right now is so impressive. Anything new is so much fun to watch her light up when she's introduced to it. Just the other day, we went to a furniture store and it had stuffed animals (real animals), cars, old house fronts, it was kind of like a town inside a building, she ran around there amazed at everything new she was seeing. I can't wait to take her to Disney Land if she gets that excited about a furniture store.
  At the moment she is exploring the level of attitude and sassyness she can get away with. And let me tell you, she would be a handful in a hurry if I gave her an inch. It's so hard right now to know what to let her get away with and what to shut down. I know she is just testing the waters and growing up, but sometimes I feel like such a bad mom because it seems like all I do is give her spankens or am getting her in trouble. I just wish I had one more notch of respect/control over her. It makes me so mad when Jordan comes home and all he has to do is look at her or just say her name and she straightens up. She use to mind me like that, but I don't know if I've gotten easier or she's gotten harder. I think a little of both. Trial and error I guess. She keeps me on my toes all the time. But I think I'm getting a little of what I deserve by the way I was when I was little. My family tells me she is the spitting image of me when I was her age. So I should stop worrying I guess. If that's the case, she'll end up perfect :)
  Her Birthday party at Lone Pine Farms was another hit.She had so much fun with all her buddies. And it was a huge turn out. The weather held perfectly. It was a success. On her actual Birthday, Jordan and I went to her school and ate lunch with her. It was so cute. Then we took my parents to town, and the girls got a pedicure and the boys went to Cabela's. Austyn was so stinking cute when she was getting her pedicure. She sat the whole time and did a better job understanding the ladies than my mom and I did. She talked to them the whole time. After that we went to Chuck-E-Cheese and spent a couples hours of straight game playing to end up with a slinky, a straw, a box of Nerds and a car. But we all had an amazing time.

All of Austyn's Buddies. I think I counted 22 including babies. 

Austyn is in to everything Hello Kitty. So she got

a Hello Kitty Birthday cake.

Best Buddies

Just when I thought that my little girl was growing up,

I find her like this in the morning. How cute.

  To sum it all up, she is my best little buddy and I couldn't imagine my life without her. I hope and pray that we have the kind of relationship that my mom and I do. I have watched our lives go by so fast and I just try and treasure every day with her. She won't want to sleep with me, or have me rock her, or read her books for long. And that breaks my heart. But hopefully when she stops wanting me to do those things, she'll start needing me in new ways to help me feel needed and close to her. I'm so happy that she is enjoying school, but I can't help but to watch the clock the whole time she's gone. She truly is my heart and sole. I've said it before, but I feel like the luckiest person in the world to get to stay at home with the kids. I couldn't imagine my life any other way.

We're still alive . . .

  Wow, it's been awhile. My apologizes to my dedicated followers (we didn't have internet for 3 weeks). Since my last post in July we have moved into the house, had a bridal shower, had a wedding, and had our first house guests. I seriously thought we were going to slow down once we moved in. Not the case at all. I'm beginning to think we are incapable of slowing down or relaxing for any length of time.

THE HOUSE- 
  The house is amazing. It is everything we have been imagining and more. Every time I come down the driveway it still hasn't sunk in that it's our new house. I hope that feeling never goes away, and I can be in love with our new house forever. Some of my favorite things about the house is the shower, pantry, and our new (to us) filing cabinet. And of course all the extra space. I have to pat myself on the back for being a creative and organized packer in the old house. Almost all our cupboards and drawers are full. I don't know how I fit everything we have into the little amount of space we had and still was able to function. We still have a lot on our to do lists for the house, but we are both really excited to start on the projects one by one. We are for the most part settled in (to the house portion) and have gotten into a flow with the new house. It takes awhile to learn light switches (I still just flip everyone until I get the one I want), what drawer works good for certain things, etc. We haven't ran across anything that we are unhappy with so far. I'm really looking forward to watching the seasons change out our beautiful windows throughout the year. And we can get one giant Christmas tree this year!!

These pictures were about 3 weeks ago. It's amazing

how much Quade has changed in that amount of time.

Three weeks ago

Now

Our amazing kitchen. Notice the light fixture over

the table. My brother and sister-in-law made

this for us. It's great. Matches everything perfectly. 

Here is our shower. We get mixed opinions

on it. Mostly are dislike. But we love it, and 

that's all that counts.

The floor is a pebble river rock style

Austyn's room

Quade's room

Bathtime

This is in our front field/yard. We get visitors every now 

and again from the neighbor cows. I liked the look of

our yard with cattle so I took a picture:) Austyn gets so 

excited when the cows get out on our property.

THE KIDS-
  The kiddos are wonderful. Growing like weeds (beautiful weeds). Austyn had two weeks of swim lessons and two weeks of summer camp this summer. Very busy! She did ok in both and I think I can say she enjoyed them mostly. We have decided to put her in preschool this year. She has a tendency to not socialize with other kids. So we thought that it would be good for her to be in that environment and have the direction from someone besides us. We're putting her in Territorial Preschool which is right up the road from us. It's started, morning routines for school. I think I'm most excited about getting her a backpack and school supplies! That was my favorite part of school (until we got to school and had to share all of them). She still is the funniest two almost three year old I've come across. She blows my mind sometimes. We have become quite the buddies lately. Something I'm hoping will stick for the rest of our lives.
  Quade is getting so big now. He is a little over 6 months and is sitting up and eating food now. He is starting to roll and rock a little bit. He has started putting two syllables together. Super cute!! Still so sweet and happy. I'm hoping he will be a crawler. Austyn didn't do too much crawling and I think it's so adorable. His hair has gotten so thick lately. I can spike a mohawk now. He has become an even bigger Mama's boy. I love it!! This boy loves food. The only time he throws a fit is if I'm eating something and not sharing it with him. Especially ice cream. Yes, he has joined Austyn and I on the ice cream wagon.
  I'm still feeling so blessed with the world's easiest baby. I'm not quite sure how we pulled off getting two amazing kids. I don't know where these thoughts come from, but they just pop up out of the blue. I've been thinking how fortunate we are and all our friends and family to have such healthy kids. I know so many people with kids and that are pregnant and each one is healthy. There are so many diseases out there and disorders that I think we all forget how fortunate we are to have these wonderful healthy children. It would be so hard to deal with a life long health problem.

JORDAN-
  Jordan is doing great. I think a huge load is off his shoulders with the house being done and his promotion stuff being over. I can tell he has relaxed a bit. He still has a list a mile long for things around the house though. But that's Jordan! He broke down and finally got some glasses. Poor guy could barely see out of his left eye. Now he is a new man. He told me to just call him Clark Kent! He looks pretty handsome in his spectacles.

ME-
  Things with me are the same. Chasing two kids and running after Jordan. It's my crazy wonderful life and I wouldn't have it any other way. I feel so fortunate to be able to stay at home and have the time I do with the kids and Jordan. I'm the luckiest girl in the world. My back got a little bent out of shape from moving and Quade getting SO HEAVY! It's slowly healing. I had to make a homemade sling to just carry Quade around normally. He is so big, it's ridiculous. It looks a little thrown together, but I literally can't even carry him on my hip for more than 20 minutes and he's too big for the front pack now. It's so funny how things change with the second kid. I would have never thought to do that with Austyn. But I am so much more laid back with Quade than I was with Austyn. I have slowed down (or stopped completely ) with working out. I'm 5 pounds away from my goal weight, which I'm pretty happy with. I know if I would just start back up I'd get there in no time.

  We are looking forward to our annual Crap Trip with Jordan's fire department over Labor Day. It is always super fun for everyone. I'm sitting here thinking what else we have coming up and have decided we are pretty much booked up for the rest of the year. BBQ next weekend, camping Labor Day, Austyn's Birthday Party two weeks after that, then the corn maze starts (every weekend from mid September to November and most of Jordan's days off during the week) which ends in November, Elk hunting for a week, Holidays, and whola the end of the year. I predict nothing but the same for us in 2014 :)

  Hope everyone is doing wonderful. And I will try to not let so much time go by before my next post.

A little 4th of July fun . . .

  Austyn was the luckiest little girl and got to ride Peanut (her favorite horse) in the Harrisburg parade. She was so excite about it. It took an hour to get through the whole thing and she did great. Jordan led the horse the whole way and I think they both had a blast. She waved and smiled the entire time. Then we got to go to the rodeo in the evening. We left Quade home with my Mom and just took Austyn. FUN FUN!!

Jordan getting Austyn ready for the parade

Grandma and Austyn

Austyn on Peanut

  Meanwhile we are counting down the days until we get to move into the new house. We are suppose to move the evening of the 9th. For some reason I just keep thinking it wont happen. Even though everything is going great and everyone is lined out for what they have left to do. It's just so hard to wrap my head around finally getting to move in. Hopefully everything will work smoothing and go according to plan. I did make a last minute change to the master shower. I decided to go with corrugated metal instead of the wood looking tile. I'm really excited about it. This way it's cheaper, faster, and easier. And I'm going to like it so much better. Thank you Pinterest for the idea (i'm a bit of an addict). Carpet and the master shower are the only things left to do.

  Jordan finally got his promotion. And he did his first shift as an official Engineer on the 3rd. I'm so proud of him. He has got to be the most motivated and goal driven person I know. He is also applying for the Water Rescue Team. He applied for it during their last opening, but he was still on probation and didn't qualify yet to get hired. So he's hoping that since he is working out of the station that the Water Rescue Team is based out of, he might have a really good chance this time.

  Austyn is turning into a little girl more and more everyday. It's bitter sweet. I love her personality and her sassyness (most of the time). She is enjoying the warm weather, because it means she gets to be naked most of the time. Quade had his Well Check appointment and he weighed 16.9 pounds and was 25 1/4 inches. And yes he has a huge head too, just like Austyn. He is doing great. But he did have to get shots and it made him so uncomfortable. I hate it when they have to get shots. Poor babies.

A few bath pictures of Mr.Quade!

This kid wakes up with a smile and goes to sleep with one.

We are the luckiest parents in the world.

What a sweet boy.

This is Austyn at the same age as Quade. I don't know

why but I enjoy comparing them at the same ages:)

  I have to say the last week of the build has been the hardest on me. I'm so burnt out of everything. I just want to sit and relax and enjoy the new house and the summer. I know it will just be a few more days, but Jordan and I are at our wits end. At least it is only the last week we've been miserable and not the entire time. It's so hard to get my parts done. Every time I go to wash a window one of the kids needs something. It took me ALL day to sort through a pile of cardboard, wood, and styrofoam. Talk about maddening. Just when I get on a good cleaning roll, inevitably it's time to go and put Austyn down for a nap. Boohoo, right! I know it's all worth it for what we are getting. Just gets overwhelming sometimes.

  I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! We sure did! Next post will be living in the new house. Can't wait for the night of the 9th. We can stay the night then!!!!!!!

A few pictures . . .

  I have been getting many requests for pictures. So here are a few to show you a little bit of the finishes we went with. Everything is a little dusty, so it's not showing all the details. Sorry. That's my next project.

We get to put the appliances in now!!

This is the office. We chose a laminate floor for it.

Kids Bathroom. It's hard to see from this 

picture, but the floor looks like tiles.

Lights in all bedrooms and hallways. Cabela's lighting.

We bought most of the stuff for the house on our 

Cabela's card and so we used our points to buy

the lights. So they were FREE, in a way.

Our pendent lights. I love these lights. I thought they were

black in the store, but when we put them up they were

that oil rubbed bronze that matches everything else

in the house. Even better!!

Our awesome sink. Jordan was able to finagle a display model

instead of the one we ordered. So we traded them straight

across when it was like $300 or $400 more. SCORE!!

These are the pull that we went with

Our fabulous living room windows. They look awesome

after they were all trimmed out.

Just a view showing what the trim looks like

around the doors. All the wood is knotty alder.

Master bath. This shows the tile look on 

the flooring a little better. It's the same in all

bathrooms and kitchen/dinning area.

This is the tile we are putting in our shower. It looks just

like wood. I hope it turns out like I'm seeing in my head.

This little girl is soooo excited to move into her new

house. It's all she talks about.

Our back patio!

  We have unfortunately ran into some snags that are setting us back about two weeks. We are so bummed:(

When the cabinet people drilled the holes for the knobs and pulls they split out and are horrible. I'm not sure why they kept going when they saw how they looked, but they are all ruined now. So they have to give us new drawers and doors. And the trim has set us back on getting carpet. Because it's going to take the painter longer to put the finish on the trim than they thought. So that pushes the carpet guy back, because he can't lay the carpet until the trim is done. And he's going on vacation and the soonest he can do it is the 8th and 9th of July. But on the bright side, at least we weren't the ones drilling the holes in the cabinets. I'm pretty sure we would have stopped when we saw how horrible it was. I guess we have longer to get things ready for the move. Like getting mirrors for the bathrooms and shelving for the pantry. I don't know. I'm just trying to find the good in the bad I guess. 

  I hope this helps people see a little bit of the progress with the house. If anyone is in the area just stop by whenever. We don't have to be there. 

An update . . .

So we have two or three weeks left before we can move in. The exterior paint is next week(weather depending), then the plumbing fixtures and master shower tile, the flooring and countertops will be done next week(besides carpet. That will be the last thing to go in). The trim work will be done by next Friday and then the painters will come in and finish it and do touch ups. The last stage of the heating is the week of the 24th. Jordan did all the dirt work around the house and put gravel all the way around the house and under the back patio. It looks amazing. I can finally see how our future yard will look. I absolutely love it. After the flooring and the countertop people are done I'm going to start cleaning the whole thing. Who wants to have a window cleaning party???? Come one, Come ALL!!!!! I hate washing windows. I'm still trying to figure out how to wipe down the tall ceilings in the living room. It's getting so close I can taste it. I just want to bring my sleeping bag over and sleep there. Austyn and I are so excited. Of course there are still endless projects. But all of those can be done after we move in. We are planning on putting up the backsplash in the kitchen and bathrooms, closet organizers, building stair to the bonus room, making a few furniture pieces, and on and on and on.

The kids are wonderful. Austyn is starting to read (memorize) books to us. It's adorable. She can do it word for word. I guess she IS paying attention when I read her books. She keeps saying "Mommy, I'm so ready to move into my new house!". Quade is still the perfect baby. He is giggling so much, grabbing things and bringing them to his mouth, finding his feet, and trying to sit up by himself. Getting too big, too fast. Makes us want more babies.

The two cutest kids in the world

This picture cracks me up. He looks like he is up

to no good. I'm sure I'm in for years and years of 

looks like that.

AWW Mom, stop it!!

Tummy Time! I try and do this a few times a day. But

no sign of rolling over yet.

This is Austyn at the same age as Quade is now.

Jordan heard at work that July 1st is the magical promotion date. But we will believe it when we see it. So many set backs with budget stuff. His list of house projects are dwindling. And I know he is very anxious to move in and be done.

I am so excited to watch all the final finishes come together. This is my favorite part of the whole thing. I am so excited, I am having my sister-in-laws bridal shower at our new house. Fun fun! Kinda fell off the wagon with the whole working out thing, but I am trying like crazy to get back on track. My eating is still good, and I'm still losing weight. I just need to start working out regularly again.

There's are update. Hope everyone is great. Next blog will be moving in!!!