Strawberry Picking 2011

New carseat! We had a looong drive but thought it was worth it for the experience.

Makin napped, Lorelei watched her movies and Brad and I got to talk...interrupted plenty by our talkative two year old. :)










Well, I have to say we were very much missing our Virginia Beach strawberry picking. These strawberries were very tiny, many were already rotting, and the whole "follows organic practices" to me now says, "many bugs!" We made the best of it and did get about 3 1/2 lbs of strawberries.

As always we pretty much have fun no matter what when we are all together, so enjoyed the trip even if we may not do it every year...or at least find someplace closer if possible.



The pic of Lorelei cracks me up...one of many, many more pictures with the wind blowing her hair in her face. "And the wind comes sweeping down the plains!" :) (It applies to Texas too!)



Had to keep our Red Robin tradition! Ugh for blurriness.













Made some of our strawberries into smoothies with popcorn for our afternoon snack!

Some Farm Time

Lorelei finally got to get her tractor ride and check the cattle. She was thrilled to help Papa move a hay bale and drive the tractor. Then they headed out with Brad to check the cows and kept mooing at them. :)



Monday was a low-key morning with playing and packing. Lorelei got her much loved Play Doh time and both kids enjoyed some piano time too. Thanks to Nana for all the fun toys, yummy food and special Easter basket goodies. Miss you and love you!

Thanks for a wonderful visit!

Easter Sunday

Lorelei loved finding her Easter baskets and we will be working on finishing the candy until Halloween!







Growing up, church was like a second home to me, and the people at our church were really some of the closest family I had since we lived so far away from all our actual family. It was wonderful to see all of them again. We had a beautiful service followed by our traditional Easter breakfast (Yay for delicious food cooked by amazing women!) and egg hunt. Lorelei had no trouble finding eggs and filling her basket. She had a great time on her "Easter hunt" as she calls it. :)


The kids she is lined up with...8 grandkids from the same family. Good thing they showed up or Lorelei would have been the only one hunting! The man nealing next to her taught me in High School Sunday school...by myself until Heather could finally join me, the lady with her at the egg hunt was my ??1st?? Grade Sunday school teacher...they were obviously way young teaching me! Makin had no problem being passed around and getting adored. And last but not least is "Grandma Nita" who was one of our "local grandmothers" who took our family in for many occasions and made us their own, and she is also my godmother.

And now for the family photo shoot...they look beautiful but by then not much cooperation...and Lorelei would much rather play with the dog. :) And have to note, Makin's first Easter! :)

My Favorite Of The Two Kids

And the extended family photo shoot...again Lorelei wanted to do nothing but play with Grace (the dog) and Makin didn't ever look at the camera...after all how interesting is a tripod anyway? Had to include the one with Heather's crazy hair...just couldn't resist. :) I mean, its the Oklahoma panhandle, when can you get a picture where your hair isn't windblown?



The Three Siblings...Lorelei is trying to get Grace to smile for the camera... :) Yes my brother is astonishingly taller than me, and the one with Heather and I the same height is because I was excited in my two-inch wedges that I was her height with her shoes off. :)



We had a delicious Easter lunch. My mom is a master in the kitchen so we were very spoiled with her cooking the entire trip. Makin LOVED his potatoes (contrary to the look on his face in the picture) and Lorelei loved the jello eggs. :)



Thanks for a wonderful Easter!

Saturday Family Fun

After such a busy Friday we were glad to have a low key day at home. Brad and AJ went golfing in the morning but got in some play time with the kids too. AJ had not seen us since Lorelei was Makin's age!

Fun With Uncle AJ

Lorelei was completely in awe of him (perhaps something to do with he is probably one of the tallest people she has ever seen!) and he has now trumped us all in his amazingly fun piggy back rides. Thanks for playing Uncle AJ!

They Love Nana!

They had a ton of fun out on the swings almost every day. Thankfully Makin will ignore the pink for now. ;)



Dying Easter Eggs! Lorelei had a great time and loved preparing the dye, hearing the fizz and adding water to each one. She did a great job with the eggs as long as you had the spoon ready to catch where she was going to plop it. :)

Fun With Aunt Heather! The girls got some side walk chalk drawing time together!

Lorelei in rollers Saturday night...I used to use these! Unfortunately she woke up at 2 something AM crying and wanted them out...which also woke up her brother. At least we tried!

A Visit To The Gragert House

They took us on as boy-crazy Junior High girls and put up with us singing hours of karaoke as High-Schoolers, not to mention some amazing vacations they brought me along for...and now, they take on our babies!

We enjoyed a fun visit at the Gragert house Friday afternoon. For those who don't know these faces, Eldon and Audry are Amanda's parents! We had a short but fun visit and both Lorelei and Makin were wound for sound and giving the new grandparents a glimpse of what is coming up for them! Thankfully they had plenty of energy to keep both kids entertained. And more importantly, they kept my kiddos busy so I got to hold sweet little Miss Sidney!


We miss you and thanks for a great visit!

And the Oklahoma Easter Trip Begins

I will forgo the dramatics of traveling 9+ hrs (eh hem, its supposed to take about 7) with a newly potty trained two year old...lets just say we may keep the road trips to a minimum until both kids learn to hold it, but they did great considering. :)

I would love to have a car picture (including Makin in his new carseat, which matches his sister!) but didn't get one at the start of our drive, and then our camera broke AGAIN (and no I did not kill it) so we missed our chance. Hopefully getting a new one soon as it is like a third arm for me. :)

We were very glad to be able make the trip to my parent's house for Easter as it had been two years since our last visit. Mom broke out the "antique" toys from my childhood and the kids loved them. They just don't make some things as wonderful as they used to! Such great memories!

Friday turned into a work day for Brad as they have a big project that "has to be done" so he stayed home to work on it. Guess its a vacation day we can use another time! We girls and Makin headed to Guymon and had a donut treat, followed by a trip to Nana's school playground (her favorite feature...a see saw! they are practically impossible to find these days), classroom(where we had fun with puppet shows, blocks, chalk and balls), McDonalds lunch on the go on the way to another park! They have new playground equipment at a great park area and we just couldn't miss out on a chance for Lorelei to try it, even though it meant giving up nap for the day. Mom and I took turns sitting with Makin in the car so he could get a good nap in. We even topped off the afternoon with a trip to visit a family friend, Rita, for a quick visit and chance to see the kiddos.



Two of my new favorite pics of the kids.



This was hilarious fun and a little scarey but had to show it!



Then we headed out to the Gragert house for some great fun with them. I think I'll save that for the next post. :)

Yet Another Potty Update

Apparently the tiny potty we've been using is no longer acceptable, so now we are always using big potties. Okay with me, more room in the living room!

By now she has filled her potty chart, but we are waiting for the big Chucky Cheese celebration until after the OK trip.

The main kink in the potty training lately has been travel..."little girl who cried pee" would be a great title for that one. Pulling over to gas stations, lugging two kids out of the car when I'm on my own, etc has gotten extremely aggravating (particularly when she then doesn't go, but then has to go again 2 minutes back on the road), but we are hoping our "you will sit there until you go" plan will work. Plus we finally got a travel potty, so no matter where we are, we can just pull over and use that, so hopefully that will simplify things immensely. Hoping to get the hang of it on our 8 hr drive...either that or just go insane...so hopefully it will get better. :)

We are very proud of her for doing so great!

The Latest Cutest Quotes:

(When trying to get us to try food...in a singsongy voice...) "It's yummmmyyyyy."

(Brad calling her for something) "Here Mom. (hands me whatever she had) I gotta go!"

After completing a task such as making a tower or stacking some rings she says "Perfect."

I often ask her "Would you like me to do that to you?" in order to get her to learn not to do something. Her reply is always, "Me see." because she wants to see whether she would like it or not, so then I do it to her. :) Usually its not. :)

I was asking her everybody's first name, her full name etc. She knows it but I like to freshen up on the info. She knows Brad and I's first name even though we haven't worked on learning it. Today I asked her what my name was and she couldn't seem to remember, so I said, "What does Daddy call me?" (that is the only way I think she learned our names) Her response: "Babe." :)

Me: "UUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" (it was a long day)
Lor: "Why frustrated?"

L: (wipes her nose on my shirt and thinks its hilarious)
Me: "Don't wipe your boogers on me!"
L: "It friendly." (as in, the boogers are friendly so I shouldn't mind them being on my shirt)


And now I apologize that the last post you will see for a while will be about pottying and boogers...and never thought that would be such a focus of my day...but that is life. :) Until next time...go look at some cuter pictures for now. :) Happy Easter!

More Food Mommy!

Another growth spurt? Does teething cause hunger? The last couple of days we have had an unusually cranky boy but today it seemed that if I just got him some good food he was much happier...at this rate we'll need to get 18 month summer clothes! :) Hopefully not, but this boy seems to have a big appitite today so hoping thats all it is. He is also working on about three teeth coming in so that doesn't help I'm sure. Just had to share the nice mess he made with his pasta. :)

The Hair Cut

Yep, this was the big one. Inches...but its cute. Still not sure if I love it, but it looks nice and clean cut and Lorelei seems to enjoy it. The kid's hair place was wonderful and getting her nails done was included with the cut. She picked purple and blue sparkly nail-polish. :) It was even Toddler Tuesday so we got an even better price! Yay for surprising good deals. :)

Our Cuties

Lorelei is big on giving Makin a hug and posing and then says, "Take picture Mommy!" :)

She is great at watching out and saying "arms in!" when going into stores. Makin tries to steal her goldfish but so far is able to be distracted with club crackers. :) I will just enjoy it until he decides to fight her for her goldfish... :)

Family Look Alike

As Dick and Jeanette were trying to figure out who Makin looked like, they decided Tim Kotera (Brad's cousin) was the closest match. :) Had to get a picture with Tim at Bob and Di's Sunday evening. Tim's daughter is finally done with soccer so they are there until fall for family gatherings. Great to get together with them again!

April Family Picture

A couple days late...as Brad pointed out, if I had taken it on the 15th (the day of the zoo) it would have gotten deleted anyway. :) Technically got one with bluebonnets, but wanted a regular one too.

Blue Bonnets

They are the Texas State flower, grow wild in the fields, and are gorgeous. I decided we had to make it a tradition to get blue bonnet pictures every year. This year we went all out and drove all the way down to Ennis (a little over an hour...if you aren't stopping for potty breaks, but that is a whole nother blog post) for their Blue Bonnet festival where they map out a route for you to drive to see some great areas. This is how we spent our Saturday. I came to the conclusion we will use our "local bluebonnet locations" for upcoming years, at least until we have children who will actually LOOK AT THE CAMERA. :) Anyway, enjoy what we got. We loved family time and getting out to enjoy the beautiful scenery.


We went to the festival/fair to start off our morning and get the map for our drive.


Lorelei loved the flowers and was so excited to walk out in them. She also loved getting a chance to see cows and horses up close as there was a lady who made sure to feed them so that the visitors had a chance to pull over and enjoy them on their drive.

And here is the one who would not cooperate for anything. He was way too intent at checking out the flowers around him and would not look at the camera for us.

















Our attempts at our first year of a picture of the two kids in the bluebonnets.



At least Brad cooperates for pictures with me... ;)


And someone was nice enough to take a family pic...I know the shadows are not good, but still love it.

Friday Zoo Trip

No pictures. I probably took 50 or so pictures of our zoo trip, including ones taken of me with the two kids, of which we have practically none, and there are now no pictures. Somehow the pictures ONLY on the date of the zoo got deleted from the camera. I must have gotten an undercover FBI agent in a picture and therefore they somehow stole my camera and deleted all of them. That makes the most sense. Anyway, you will have a picture-less post and if my camera does it again, it will die a slow and painful death.

We headed to Fort Worth to pick up Aunti Di and Clarissa for a trip to the zoo. Of course the girls absolutely loved it, from the flamingos to the lions. Lorelei's request was, as usual, the giraffes. We enjoyed lunch where the wall was basically a fish tank and the girls loved going nose to nose with a turtle and an alligator. Since Aunti Di was along, this meant a carosel ride (huge smiles) and a train ride too! There is even an old Texas town that has a huge play area. There was a very tricky way to climb up to the top and Lorelei was just a little to short to get up each hole/opening. Clarissa stayed behind to help her and just grabbed her shorts and hoisted her up to each level. It was hilarious! Thankfully Lorelei had no trouble going down the tunnel slide after all that work. Then they enjoyed an ice cream treat too. One of the other highlights for the girls was getting to feed some birds. They could buy a little stick with some bird seed on it and the birds came and ate off the stick. I was just glad I didn't get pooped on. ;) Lots and lots of fun and great memories. Hoping to go again in May before it gets too hot!

Under Contract

Woo hoo! Papers signed and we are "under contract" and now we wait until the design center calls us and then go and pick out our choices. Hoping that is pretty quick. The est date of completion is the end of July but could definitely be sooner, so I'm thinking about mid-July. This is the model home so it is maxed out with all the perks you can get, but it is the layout ours will be, so wanted to take a video for you. Can't wait till you can see the real thing! Enjoy!

Our Lot (Just a picture)

Front Of House...ours will be plain brick and Dining Room (our playroom)

Entrance and Kitchen (they are including these appliances along with washer and dryer free too!)





Dining/Living/Patio

Guest Room (its an office in the video, but it will be a room with own door)

Kids Rooms/Laundry Room

Master

Road To School (we couldn't believe it was the road but it was!)

School 1 Mile Away

6 Months Ago...

We were going through one of the worst mornings of our lives sending our little baby into surgery. Will write more and add a picture but just wanted to add it as I was thinking of it this morning. We are so glad our little man is doing so well and thankful we have such amazing doctors these days!

Update with Makin's doc and future surgeries. Right now we found a doctor that seems to be good here and had planned an appointment and then found out they don't take our insurance. Looks like we should be approved to use him as "in network" as just got a call from a lady from the company who seemed to say so, but going to call again to make sure since she just left a phone message, but hopefully it will work out. Right now we are pretty sure that Makin has a fistula (hole in the top of his mouth) because food comes out his nose of it right away when putting it in his mouth. This doesn't really bother him much so doesn't seem like something that needs to be fixed immediately, but I want to consider how it would affect his speech as well. So, we'll hopefully meet with the DR here if approved with ins. at the beginning of May and know for sure. Other than that our little boy is as healthy and happy as ever and we cannot believe what a little miracle we have.

Sleep Hiccuping

Lorelei was completely exhausted after looking at houses since we skipped nap. She was ready for bed by 7 and out cold within a few minutes. I heard this sound coming from her room and went in to ask if she wanted water to help with the hiccups...well apparently they were not going to bother her!

Helium Balloons, Indoor Golf, and House Hunting

That pretty much sums up our Sunday. As you will be able to tell Brad is fully recovered and having fun with his kids...as well as loosing a few brain cells, but it is pretty amusing. After I got out of the shower I heard Brad hitting balls from our room out to Lorelei with his golf clubs and apparently missed him hitting the huge one into the kitchen hitting the stereo. This is what happens when your husband is golf-deprived for nearly 3 years. Makin was enjoying watching The Masters with his own little club too. Then he added the helium entertainment. Lots of fun!

Sorry can't get them together so will just get one video.

We headed out house hunting that afternoon and found a great floor plan we liked in our price range! We even get to pick out everything ourselves! (Yikes too!) So hope to start getting all of that set in stone Wednesday after work and soon after the design they will start building. It should take about 3 months and we will have a house with a nice big back yard! (Which we will promptly turn into a water park as it will be July!) Woo hoo! Plan to get pictures/video when we go Wed night so you can see.

The Next One Down

Brad came home Friday with the flu bug. Thankfully it only lasted about 24 hours so he could help keep me sane a bit Saturday evening but still wanted limited contact with Makin for sure since he has not been hit yet. Hopefully this is the last weekend with anybody sick! I still got some of the things on my list done as Makin and I ran errands while Lor napped Saturday.
And what do I do with the kiddos when Brad is sick? Take a walk down to the little beach of course. :) Lorelei loved the water and actually showed a lot of interest in building a little "castle" pile which was fun. She also wanted to dig a hole for Makin and put water in it for his feet.

So glad Brad is doing better now! We need our extra Daddy time on the weekends for sure!

Bring On The Big Girl Underwear!

Just liked this quick picture of her...very "Lorelei"...a little pretty and a lot messy. :) Took this at On The Border and she was thrilled that ice cream came with her meal...just to add a few more chocolate stains to the salsa...thanks little girl. :)

Never thought I'd use the word underwear on a blog title, but thats how I feel! I have been scared to mention it, but potty training is going AMAZINGLY well! We are now on day 6 of dry diapers and some big girl underwear! (Not counting when she sleeps, but she does wake up dry a lot of the time then too!) Suddenly Lorelei decided it would be fun to use the potty, so now she acts like an old pro! She went from refusing to go the week before, to being able to go every time we asked (I figured out her "potty walk" so that helped) and now to the point of coming to tell us she needs to go. I cannot say how amazed and excited I am. She has even held it while we were driving home and we made a mad dash for a Walgreens, which she thought was hilarious. In the car I was telling her we were trying to find a place to stop (yes we need a travel potty) and she said, "That's fine. I just go in my diaper." :) Thankfully she made it. She even did the "serious business" at the restaurant Thursday night! Amazed amazed and so proud of our little girl. Now my only problem is finding that dinosaur I put on the reward chart... :)

And along with my potty training news I thought I'd add the Lorelei quotes I've been jotting down the last few weeks.

Me: "You want to finish your apple?"
Lor: "No, too crunchy."

Me: "Come get dressed."
Lor: "Just a second." (I know, not a good answer, but I cracked up because I probably tell her that 50 times a day, so it was bound to come out sooner or later.)

Lor: "Smashed like a pancake." (This is what Brad told her would happen if she didn't stay by us in the parking lot...yeah. :) )

Us: Do you need to go potty? Go to your room? etc
Lor: "No nay go (thank you)."

Lor: (pretending to read grocery list) "Diapers, toy for Lorelei..."

Lor: (after a slight trip on the stairs) "Me fall down  BAM BOOM like Goofy." (From Dr. Daisy book, he gets a boo boo.)

Makin Is 7 Months Old

I am again in disbelief that you are growing up so fast little man!

Moving...well not really so much, but a little. Still no rolling going on, but if I leave you alone on your back (you are not thrilled at this) you will inch your way to other locations. Hmmm can we say "like father like son?" I believe Brad was a "back crawler" as well. You don't do this fast enough to watch a video, but have gotten half way across a room before, just painfully turtle-like to watch. Other than that not really close to crawling either. Just take the occasional nose dive to your belly when trying to get a toy out of reach.

We are now full force into food world. You will put up with baby food but would much MUCH rather be able to grab everything up with your fingers. You eat every kind of food already, which is new to me. Do not seem to be running into any problems having dairy or meat stuff, so I guess we'll just listen to the pediatrician. You absolutely love finger and snacky foods, usually puffs and crackers. You have no trouble eating a cracker and actually your only "fit" so far when I tried to take one away. You let me know quickly not to mess with your food. You have 3-4 6 oz bottles a day along with your food.

Give me toys! You want to play and you want plenty of toys to be busy with. You love pushing down all the animals on the "knob" toy where you are soon going to learn how to open them. You love balls and have figured out the lever/button on the gumball machine. If you are watching your sister play you want to be playing with whatever she has along with her.

You like to bang toys together and somewhat clap your hands as well.

You love books, especially the ones with animal noises and look at me like, "Mommy you are so silly" when I make them.

You think your sister hung the moon and that anything she does is hilarious. You even try to wrestle with her a little bit and seem to know you are being ornery when you pull her hair. :)

You are now getting your own baths in the big tub (in your tub) with daddy. Sometimes you join sister too (not in your tub) and love it.

You like to sleep on your side. You take 2-3 naps per day, usually in the morning its on the go or right before we leave, then in the afternoon I can hope for a good one, but usually end up rocking you...not sure when I'll get tough on you though! It works for now.

You can stand holding onto something. Standing must seem way cooler than crawling since that is what big sister does.

You are warm blooded. Easily get sweaty so we have already put you to sleep in shorts and are going to have to work to keep you cool this summer!

You are still the sweetest baby and everyone says so. You are wonderfully laid back and happy and smile and laugh so easily. We could not ask for a sweeter little boy and cannot wait for the next month!

Professional Pictures - Makin 6 months/Lorelei 2 1/2

Since we had to postpone our pictures from Saturday, we spent Makin's last day as a 6 month old getting 6 month pictures taken. Cannot stand to get them taken when he is 7 months! Anyway, we are happy with them, but I'm having slight buyers remorse since we have to choose them and print them right away and may have chosen a few different ones to print than we did, but hopefully your favorites are the ones we printed! Let me know if you have a preference but we have plenty to go around. Now you can look forward to them in the mail! :) (But don't hold your breath, the rate I'm going around here you may get them by Christmas! :) )