So Many Celebrations!

 We have been celebrating non-stop her since we got back from our vacation!  Thanksgiving weekend, we celebrated the holiday, and my Grandma's 80th birthday!  The whole family went out to visit my grandparents, and we had a nice little party for her.  My grandparents were surprised that we were able to come and bring all of the great-grandkids.  It was great to have everyone together for the first time in over a year.

Then, on that Monday, we went to my dad's work retirement party. He is on "vacation" now, and he only has to go back for one more day until he is officially retired!  He has worked 41.5 long years at Amtrak, and we are very proud of him.  My sister and I dressed the kids up in these little railroad outfits, and we made signs, so they were the hit of the party!  They had a nice luncheon for him with all of his co-workers.  He was very proud to show off all of his grandkids!

Last week, we celebrated Kenley's 5th birthday, which was a luau theme.  It was a fun party, and many of our family and friends came dressed for the theme.  We had a full house, and I know Kenley had a blast with her friends and family.  She had a busy week, and Monday was parent-viewing day for her dance class, so we got to watch her.  She did a great job, and she seems to really like doing tap as well. Then, Tuesday for her actual birthday, she had her holiday musical at school.  All the kids were dressed so cute for the holidays, and they did a great job singing their hearts out.


She's really 5 now.  Seriously hard to believe.  She will be going to kindergarten in the Fall, and she talks about it weekly.  The other day she told Charlie, "Charlie I'm not going to see you that much next year when I start kindergarten.  But, it's ok, I'll still be home at night." We talk about it a lot, and I know it will be a blink of an eye until she's getting on that bus. She's really turned into such a big girl.  The other night I took her to the grocery store to pick out a treat to bring to school for her birthday.  It was actually kind of fun going to the store, just the two of us, something that doesn't happen very often.  I was reminded of how old she is getting. Too old to sit in the cart, wants to push the cart herself, and pick everything out by herself.  Little Miss Independent, and I remembered back to her being just under 2 and always saying, "I do it!" I love this girl with all my heart!

AND....Last, but not Least....(maybe this is why I'm getting emotional writing this) I'm expecting baby #3!!!  Craaazzyyy!!  We are very excited, but I think it also hasn't really sunk in yet.  Partially, because we have been so busy with other things to keep us occupied!  I think I am still surprised myself because I always thought I would have 2 kids, and I was ok with that....until I was pregnant with Charlie and I started getting these feelings that maybe I wasn't ready to be done at 2.  It was something Ray and I spent a long time thinking and talking about.  Around summer, once were really settled in the house we decided it "good timing." And, Ray finally came around :)  I know 3 is going to be a game-changer since we will be outnumbered! The kids, especially Kenley, is every excited.  She has her heart set on a sister, so we will see.  We will be able to find out in January!

So, these are the things we have been celebrating in the last month, and Christmas isn't even here yet!  Looking forward to the next few weeks with many more parties to come.  I have my annual girl's night party with my high school girlfriends this weekend, a party with my former co-workers next weekend, celebrating Christmas at our house with Ray's family, and Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day!  Whew!  So, I guess this has just been the beginning of all the festivities!

So much happening, So much to be Thankful for!

We had a great Thanksgiving, and we celebrated with both sides of our families this weekend. We were very lucky to see our cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, and grandparents. The kids were able to see all 4 of their Great-Grandparents this weekend, since we saw my Grandma W for brunch on Thanksgiving, Ray's Grandma Kruse (G-Gma) for Thanksgiving dinner, and my Grandma and Grandpa Voight today to celebrate Thanksgiving and my Grandma's 80th birthday. We had delicious food, but most of all, just enjoyed time with our families.

I also got ALL of my indoor Christmas decorations up, which took just about 8 full hours yesterday!  Whew!  Lots of work, but now we have a whole month to enjoy them!  I love how festive the house looks, and now we just need to work on the outside. (tomorrow!)

Now, rewind about a month, and here is what we have been up to! We had a fun Halloween, even though the weather was crappy.  It rained most of the day, but we did catch about a half an hour where it stopped to go trick-or-treating with the kids.  It was fun since we all dressed up, and it was our first time trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood.  We were the characters from Frozen, since Kenley has not given up her love for the movie. It has really rubbed off on Charlie too, and he was so excited to be Olaf!

Just two weeks later we were off to DISNEY WORLD!!  We only told the kids a week before, even though this trip has been planned for months!  We had the best time.  We stayed at the Animal Kingdom resort, and we went to all 4 parks. We had a Savannah view, so we could see lots of different animals right outside our balcony every morning.

Our favorite memories were The Frozen Sing-Along, The Finding Nemo show, The Lion King show, Makeover for Kenley at Bippity Boppity Botique, Space Mountain (for Kenley and Ray), Expedition Everest, The Laugh Floor Monsters Inc, the parade and fireworks at Magic Kingdom, and the night show at Hollywood Studios.  I could list a hundred more things, but those were the ones that really stick out.  The kids were troopers, and they were going non-stop from 8am-10pm everyday.  They were actually up every day before us, and they were ready to go!  They loved seeing all the characters, and they loved the castle. 





















We had a very full week there, but it was truly an experience we will never forget.  I hope we are able to go back sometime again in the future.





















Next up, we will be celebrating Kenley's 5th birthday!  Her party is next weekend, and there is a lot to do between now and then! Like I always tell her, I'll squish her extra hard during hugs this week to try to prevent her from growing any more. 

Almost tick-or-treat time!

Whew!  Another blink of an eye, and it's almost the end of October!  It's been a fun month, and we will really be celebrating next week since the kids have tons of activities to celebrate Halloween. They have a school party, a parade at the gym, a party at the high school, Ray's work party, and then Halloween on Saturday.  I'm happy it's on a weekend this year, and Ray can be home with us to enjoy the whole day. (I'm praying it doesn't snow this year like it did last year!)

We already have our costumes, and by "we" I mean the whole family.  Ray was a good sport, and gave into the kids (mostly Kenley) who encouraged us both to get costumes.  We had a Halloween birthday party for one of our friends that day, so I dressed up with the kids for that too.  Hopefully, we can get one of the neighbors to snap a picture for us while we are out trick-or-treating. 

Last time I posted, I mentioned that Ray had something planned for my birthday.  I did not know that it was indoor skydiving!  It was so much fun!  I would encourage anyone to try it...maybe some other day we will get brave enough to do the real thing! We also spent the day/night out shopping, and went out to dinner.

 This past weekend, we went to a charity event that Ray's company sponsored.  It was nice to be able to spend some time with some of his co-workers, and we had a really fun night.  We actually bid on a trip to Nashville with tickets to the Country Music Awards next year and we won!  We have to wait to figure out the details of the trip, but I'm pretty excited about it!  I'm already thinking about ways I can meet some celebrities, and I'm trying to find out if I can stalk the red carpet.

The kids are doing great, and they are so excited about Halloween.  Ray and have a SUPER BIG, FUN surprise for them!  If you are close friends and family, you already know!  I can't wait to surprise them, and tell them this secret the week after Halloween.

Full on Fall

We have been embracing everything Fall the last few weeks. Even though summer is my favorite season weather-wise, I do enjoy welcoming a new season in full force!  Plus, I'll take it as long as fall weather stays around 70's. We may be just a little bit early, but the house has fall/Halloween decorations up, most of the kid's summer clothes have been switched out with their fall/winter clothes (including many that are Halloween-themed), and we have already been to a few of our usual Fall activities like the local Fall fests and parades by us.  Most of the pumpkin fests will be starting next week, so I'm sure we will be planning a day soon to go pick out our pumpkins.

It seems like I have enjoyed this time of year much more over the past few years.  A lot of that probably has to do with the fact that I am not teaching full-time, so I don't have the back-to-school blues!  But, also, I think it's because Fall is much more fun when you have kids.  I love that they love going to all the fests, and petting zoos, and parades, and it makes me excited that they are excited for Halloween.  It's especially fun now having 2 kids old enough to be excited about a holiday!  Charlie is getting in the spirit, and he loves seeing the fall decorations go up bit by bit around the neighborhood. We already have costumes picked out, as long as Kenley doesn't change her mind.  Only one guess on who she has said she wanted to be since last year....

Also, my birthday is next weekend!  I'll be turning 33, and I really can't believe it.  33 seems like a lucky number to me, so I'm hoping I have a great year ahead of me!  Of course, in the back of my mind I think OMG 33 is close to 35, and 35 is close to 40! It's not the number that bothers me, but it's the idea of time going by too fast.  I also fear not being able to clearly remember what these moments were like of having little kids, and the precious moments that I get to experience every day.  Of course, I do remember some parts, but it's almost like you forget what your own life was like.  I think that is part of the reason that I take so many pictures because, for me, looking at a pictures puts you back in that moment.  Ill be sure to free up extra storage on my camera and phone for pictures :)  I'm looking forward to celebrating, and Ray has something planned for us.

TWO

Even though I am late, I couldn't let the month of August go by without posting about Charlie's birthday. He had a great birthday week, and we celebrated with a family dinner to All Aboard on Monday, and we had his party the following weekend. He had a Bubble Guppie themed party complete with a bubble machine, jumpy house, water slide, and our family and friends. It was kind of weird that I felt like I barely saw either of the kids most of the party, but I knew they were running around somewhere in the backyard having a great time. It was a busy day, but a lot of fun, and it was our fist big party in the new house.

*Please disregard the frog onesie Kenley decided to put on before cake.  She was cold after going on the waterslide, even though it was almost 90 degrees!  HA!

 

 

Charlie seems to have gone from baby to big-boy overnight. He is very outgoing, brave, funny, and sweet. He is always on the go, and he is already fighting naps.  I'm lucky if I get him to nap every other day or so. He is so talkative, and communicates really well. I love his voice, and I love hearing the way he puts words and sentences together, and he loves to copy everything his sister says. His favorite word is "no", he loves playing outside and running around, and he's really getting into all the typical little boy toys like cars, trains, etc. (Although, a moment later you may find him wearing Elsa high heels and rocking Kenley's dolls.  He's tough and sweet!) Charlie gets soooo much attention from strangers! People constantly comment on his light blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Pair that with his personality, and it's kind of hard to miss this kid!

It's fun now that Charlie is old enough to play with Kenley,and they are usually very good with one another. It's really sweet how she is protective and tries really hard to teach him things, and how he really tries to do everything she is doing. They both started school last week, and it went really well.(He was crying in the pictures because he wanted to play with his outdoor toys instead of take a picture and get in the car.) We took Charlie into his classroom first, and he started crying when I left, but I know it was only for a minute or two.  He was happy both days I picked him up, and gave me a full report of the highlights of his day. "Ate applesauce and mac n cheese!  I play outside!" and repeated his teacher's name many times throughout the day.

 Kenley walked in her first day like a rock star.  All of her friends were calling her name, and she was waving to everyone.  She gave me a quick kiss and ran off with her friends.  She has a new teacher this year, and is in the "Big Kid" 4 year old pre-school.  I know they are both in for a fun year, and will learn so much.  I thought a lot about how next year Kenley will be in school full time, 5 days a week for kindergarten, and it made me kind of happy that she missed the cut-off for kindergarten this year.  I'm so glad I get another year to be with her the majority of the time to be her main "teacher" before she is away from home most of the day, and I really want to cherish this time.

I also started work 2 weeks ago, and it going really well.  There was a last minute change in my work schedule, so my classes aren't back-to-back anymore, but now I have about an hour and 20 minute break in-between.  I think it will work out ok because I would usually go in early and stay a little bit late to get most of my planning and grading done, so now I'm just using that time for that.  Because of that, I also switched the kid's school days so that I could have one of the days they are in school to get things done.  Last Monday was my first 3-hour time period alone, and it was so nice!  I worked out and went to Target as planned, but I leisurely browsed the aisles, and I was actually able to plan ahead and shop for some specific ingredients to make dinner that night.  Normally, I throw random food into the cart when I'm trying to rush out with the kids.  Then, when I get home I feel like I didn't buy much to make an actual "meal."  So, I think our new schedule is going to work out very nice.  Once again, I am so thankful that my mom and mother-in law are able to watch the kids while I am working.

We had such a great summer, and in my mind it's not over until the last 75+ degree day.  I am looking forward to a lot of fun things coming up this Fall, but I hope it stays nice out during that time.  We will be wearing our summer clothes and sandals until then!







 

Busy Bees

We have had so much going on!  Every week, I think to myself, "next week we won't be so busy." But, then I find myself signing us up for events, making playdates with friends, making appointments, so it is busy in a good way!  The past few weeks have been very full.  I'm trying to cram as much in as I can these last few weeks of summer.  This month we celebrated the 4th of July, the kids finished swimming lessons, We celebrated Ray's birthday, I got to see a lot of my friends, and the kids got to see a lot of their friends, and Ray and I went on little trip with Katie and Greg to Put-In Bay.

We had a great little trip, and we were lucky we had the perfect weather!  It was Katie and Greg's anniversary weekend, so we were able to celebrate kind of a combination of Ray's birthday and both of our anniversaries.  We soaked up the sun and got in lots of interesting people watching at the pool parties.  We had some nice meals, and overall just enjoyed our little get-away.

We have more celebrations coming up in August, which started with our 7th anniversary this weekend.  Since we were away the weekend before, we celebrated with the kids, and we took them to Great America. It was fun to celebrate as a family, and we took (snuck) Charlie on his first roller coaster, even though he was technically about 2 inches too short! 

Kenley finished sportscamp this week, and she learned a lot of different things through playing soccer, t-ball, and basketball.  She will be finishing up the summer with dance camp next week.

We are only 1 week away from Charlie's 2nd birthday!  His party is the weekend after, so we will be getting ready to celebrate with the whole family.  Last night, he graduated from a crib to a "big boy" bed.  I wanted to delay this as much as possible because all I could envision was him coming into our room multiple times a night.  But, the last two weeks, he has become a master at climbing out of his crib.  So, I gave in because I guess it's time.  He did great last night, and he only got out of bed once!  He is even napping in there now.  Hopefully, he continues doing well and keeps napping because I am not ready for him to give those up yet!

Last week, we had our 2nd annual BIG playdate.  I invited pretty much all of my friends with young kids over to our house.  We had so much fun, and total ended up with about 16adults and 27 kids ranging from about 3 months-8years old.  (Not everyone was there for the picture)  It actually went very well, the kids all behaved, played nice, and the mom's got to socialize!  It was a lot of fun, and I am definitely planning on having one again next year!

I know it will be just a matter of time until school starts again. I'm gong to be teaching 2 classes again, both 2 days a week.  It is going to be very weird dropping both kids off a school two mornings a week also.  They will go to school in the mornings on the same days that I will be working in the afternoon.  It will be very weird and nice to have those 3 hours to myself.  I plan on napping, getting manicures/pedicures, shopping, etc.....Oh, who am I kidding?  Ha,ha, I will be going to the gym, maybe getting a little bit of cleaning done, and grading/preparing for my classes!  Maybe, every now in then I will try to sneak in some of those fun, relaxing things, but I already know that those 3 hours between drop-off and pick-up time go fast!

For now, I will enjoy these last 2 weeks of summer!!

It's summertime!

My favorite time of year!  Although, with all of this rain, it has been kind of a strange start to summer.  But, we aren't letting that stop us!  The last 2-3 weeks have been kind of a whirlwind of parks, playdates, and pools.  The kids have had swimming lessons everyday this week and last week, and it has been fun.  We were swimming in the rain 2-3 times, but like I said, it didn't stop us! 2 weeks of swimming lessons has kept us really busy because we have been getting up, going to the gym, going straight to swimming lessons, and then either meeting up with friends, or running errands.  By the time we've gotten home the last few days by 2-3, I don't know who has been more tired-me or the kids. 

We have also had a busy few weekends!  Over the next few weeks we have tons of parties/events!  We had one free weekend in July, but yesterday we got another party invite, so it looks like we're all booked up!  I guess that's what happens when everyone starts having kids, and we know a lot of people with summer birthdays.  Here's what we've been up to the month of June.

 

 

A few weeks ago, the kids and I went back to Shipshewana with my mom, sister, and my niece.  We had so much fun, and I'm sure we will be going back again next year.  We shopped, went out to eat, went on a horse and buggy ride, went swimming at night at the hotel, and went to a little farm on our way home.  I really enjoyed having this time away with my mom and sister, and I know Ray liked having a little day to himself as well :)


Kenley had her ballet recital on the BIG stage this year.  It was adorable and brought tears to my eyes watching her dance.  I was happy I kind of got to see the show twice because they had a dress rehearsal too.  Even though there were 5 other girls in her class, I don't think I took my eyes off her once during her dance.  During the real show, she did stop to yawn, but then got right back onto her moves.  The show must go on!  I can't believe how big she has gotten since last year's show.  She seems to really like dance class, and is going to "Frozen" dance camp again in August.

Ray and I also went on a quick little trip to Ohio for one of his customer's wedding.  It was a very casual, outdoor wedding, and I didn't know anyone until I got there, but we had a fun time.  It was nice to make a little trip out of it and have a night away in a hotel. We drank some beer, ate, socialized with a lot of people he does business with, and we even got to watch the Blackhawks game at one of the local bars! 

We also celebrated Father's Day this weekend.  We had a barbeque with my dad on Saturday, and on Sunday, just the 4 of us went to the zoo.  It was a nice weekend, and we got lucky with 2 days of nice weather!  My grandpa had to be hospitalized over the weekend due to an arm injury.  Luckily, he seems to be recovering, and we hope that he can be back with my grandma soon at the Veteran's Home.

So, those are the main things we've been up to these past few weeks!  I gotta get to cleaning because this weekend we are having a party at our house with Ray's co-workers. Whew! 

I've been wanting to blog since my last post, but as usual time gets away from me!  I'm at least trying to write twice a month, but somehow I don't even manage that half the time. I still like looking back at my posts and reminding myself of what was going on well over 2 years ago when I started this blog.  I like seeing how the kids have changed so much, and I love remembering fun memories.  Maybe they will even read this blog one day! 

We got our swingset up a few weeks ago, and the kids have been on it a lot!  It was a bit of a process to get it from the old house, but thanks to Ray's cousin, Joe, it worked out. We've been in the backyard almost every day it has been nice out.  Ray and I also went out with Katie and Greg one night to celebrate my sister's birthday.  We had a nice, relaxing dinner without the kids:)

Last week we had our first little "mini party" with a few of our friends over.  Ray ordered the fight and he had planned to have some guy friends over.  The fight wasn't until late, but I invited "the wives" and kids over to hang out earlier, knowing the babies would probably all need to go home before the fight started.  It was nice to have our first little get-together, and we are already planning a few more. 

We are having a party with Ray's co-workers, I am having my high school girl-friends over, I'm having a mom/kid party (round 2), and we will be planning Charlie's birthday party in August!  I'm kind of happy we are having a bunch of little mini parties because it's not as overwhelming as having everyone over at once, and hopefully I will actually be able to talk to everyone at each get together.  It's always hard to enjoy your own party when your hosting, but I think I've tried to relax a bit more lately.  I try to do as much planning ahead and preparing to make it as easy as possible once everyone gets here.

The day after our little party, I ran the half marathon.  It was hard, but I did it!  I beat my time by ten seconds from last year....so I improved!  I'm just happy I was able to run the whole thing.  Plus, I had the best cheering section ever!

  Now, if I could just stop eating unhealthy I could be in great shape by summer.  I need to work on that.  I probably shouldn't have justified eating a whole carton of Ben and Jerry's the day after my race. Why is it that food that tastes so good is not good for you?  With all the technology we have, there should be some way to make calorie-less junk food.  I'd buy it in a heartbeat!!  Anyway, I am going to try to be better about what I eat.

I'm finishing up the semester at the community college, so that means a lot of grading for me!  I have essays, quizzes, and finals to grade before the semester is over.  Kenley still has a few more weeks of school, and then all of the summer activities will begin.  This weekend we will be celebrating Mother's day with our families, and next weekend we are going to a charity event in the city.