Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! I hope you all have a blessed holiday season!

Kat

Happy 4th Birthday Pretty Girl!!!!!

It's hard to believe that 4 years ago today our precious little girl made her entrance into this world! She came into this world in her own way (sunny side up) and has been her own little person ever since. She is the light of my life and I cannot imagine our lives without her in them.

Happy Birthday to my pretty girl!!!!

Mommy loves you!!!!

Kat

Life Update......hopefully I still have some readers left :)

(This was written in the beginning of October and I didn't want all of this writing to go to waste so I added my pictures and put in a few updates)

Whew! Is this thing on???? Hello????
Life around here has been crazy!!!! Let me tell ya!

We had a pretty great summer. Most of it we spent at home. I'm not sure what I did with my time, but the summer sure blew by fast! Oh wait! I remember! I got sucked into Crossfit this summer. Normally during the summer I do work out at least three times a week. This summer my friends got me stuck on Crossfit. The only reason I agreed to go in the first place is because this box offered daycare. I had to have a place for my munchkins to go while I'm working out. Which is why I generally use the YMCA. So, I gave it a shot and by July, I was hooked. I'm hooked to the point that I feel guilty if I don't go. That has never happened to me before, especially once school starts. Normally what ever exercise program I'm doing stops once school starts. But not Crossfit. I have stuck with it 4-5 days a week since July and love it. I've even been talked into participating in the Savage Race in two weeks. Eeekkk!!!! I hate getting dirty and I hate mud, yet I am willingly going to subject myself to a race that has both. I'm not quite sure what is wrong with me yet. Let's hope I will survive. I'm also thinking about signing up for my first half marathon. well, let me rephrase that. I'm being talked into signing up for my first half marathon. I hate running, like hate with a passion and hate it every time I have to do it at Crossfit. Oh! And I talk about Crossfit quite a bit now days. Thankfully one of my good friends is doing it with me so I have someone to talk to about it. I think M gets tired of hearing about it some days.

Update: I completed the Savage Race and I'm proud to say I only missed 3 out of the 26 obstacles! I was muddy, tired and sore afterwards but super proud of myself!

So, also over the summer I started my Masters program! Another EEEKKKK! So far it is going really well and I'm maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Which is pretty awesome for me. My mom reminds me when I tried to convince her C's were ok because they were average in middle school. Now I think I would freak out if I got a C. However, I am ready for the program to be over so I can get my raise. :)

This summer Booger, Pretty Girl and I flew up to Michigan to visit my dad and step-mom. I was soooo nervous flying with these two by myself. Especially with Pretty Girl because she has never been on a plane before. But let me tell you, these two flew like champs! They each had an iPad to watch movies on and we had TON of snacks for them. On our way home the pilot even let Lucas touch some of the buttons in the cockpit! How cool is that?!!?!?! It was a great trip with awesome weather! I wish we could have stayed longer, but it was nice to get away from Florida and the summer heat. It did my heart and soul good to be back in Michigan, if only for a week.

In August we went back to school. Booger started the 1st grade and Pretty Girl started a new preschool at a local Methodist church. She is LOVING her new preschool and Booger has finally found his stride this year and is doing well. We have spelling words on top of homework this year, so that has taken some getting used to. Booger has also joined Cub scouts and is loving every minute of that as well. He's been looking forward to joining since we started visiting our nephews at their campouts years ago. I also think it's a great way for M and Booger to spend time together. And it gives Pretty Girl and I a chance to hang out. So, it's a win/win situation.

With the start of the school year meant I was starting a year I was not looking forward to. I am now doing strictly Course recovery this year, no actual teaching for me. :( I hate it. It makes the day so boring. I basically am their mother and make sure they get their homework done and are passing their classes. It will get more hectic as the year goes on, but right now it's just boring. So, thankfully my Principal has given me lots of new jobs to do on top of my class. I am on the Yearbook committee, which I am really excited about. I will be assistant testing coordinator for our school and I've been helping my principal with a lot of projects this year. It's been nice that she is willing to keep me busy and realizes that I'm not being used to my full potential. So, I am getting a lot of administration experience, which will be helpful once I have to do my internship for my degree.

Let's see.....what else???

Booger is super excited for Halloween. I think it's one of his favorite holidays. He has decided to be Darth Vador. Pretty Girl decided to be Ariel and I bought M a Super Man shirt with a cape. I ended up finding a Wonder Woman shirt with a cape online for cheap! Win/win in my book!

We have a new addition to our family. His name is Max and he's a parakeet. The kids love him and thankfully the cat hasn't tried to eat him yet.

I think that is it for now.
I promise I will try and update more frequently.

Kat

Summer....thus far

Well, I thought I would be blogging a whole lot more being out of work. But it seems as though I'm super busy and I keep putting it off. Summers are the worst for me because I procrastinate like no other. "Oh, I can do that tomorrow," and before I know it, a week has gone by.

This summer has been pretty good so far. I have been working out. My friends have talked me into doing Crossfit and I must say, I'm already addicted. I never thought I would like a workout like that, but I do. And what's better is there is a room at the gym for my kids to play, which is pretty rare for CrossFit "boxes". That is a huge selling point to me. Plus the owners are awesome and two of my good friends are going there too. Good motivation for me.

I'm happy to report I'm down on my pop (or as some like to call it "soda") intake. I used to drink at least one a day, now I'm down to like maybe 1-2 a week. It's awesome! Let me tell ya. I'm not down too much weight right now, but I do know I'm getting stronger.

I've also decided to start my masters. I will be getting it in Educational Leadership and M is fully behind me on this decision, which is so awesome! I should be able to get it done in a year to 18 months. I'm not happy with my assignment at school this year, but this will keep me motivated and focused.

One of these days I need to get motivated and get our house in order. It looks as though a tornado went through. It seems like as soon as I pick stuff up, our tornado (Pretty girl) comes behind me and undoes everything I just did.

Do any of you use the Erin Condren Life planners? I've seen them on facebook and have a few friends that love them. I was just wondering what you girls thought of them.

I'm thinking of getting family pictures done this summer before M leaves on his training. What is the going rate for photographers? We haven't had family pics done since M returned from Afghanistan (*fail).

Now I will leave you with some pics of my cute kiddos :) 'Cause who doesn't love cute pics?

She insisted I do her hair and take a picture

This is my indorr kitty who know thinks he's a big bad outdoor kitty. He's declawed and a rag doll cat, he's not going to win outside :(

Pretty Girl got her faced painted while we waited for dinner one night. She wanted to be a rainbow butterfly. She did awesome sitting still to get this done. 

My pretty girl and I at the 4th of July 

4th of July

My Booger who insisted on wearing his silly hat for a picture

My water babies at the 4th

 Have a great weekend!!!!!

Kat

Booger's Super Exciting Week!

Whew! Well, school is out for the summer and I finally have some time to get my thoughts together and hopefully blog a little more. But today we will start with Booger's busy last week of school.

In Florida, we get out at the end of May and Booger's birthday is at the end of May. So, Memorial weekend we decided to have Booger's family birthday party. Saturday my favorite aunt was in town, so we went swimming over at her house and spent some quality time with my family. I didn't get any pictures, which isn't like me. Thankfully my aunt got two good ones of my munchkins.

Aren't they cute?!?!?

That night, I cleaned our house from one side to the other in preparation for M's side of the family birthday party. I think everyone had a great time. Of course, the birthday boy enjoyed having everyone over to play with him.

He LOVES anything to do with Avengers. So he picked out an Iron Man cake

After cake, we opened presents. He played with his new toys and eventually everyone went home. It was a nice birthday for our 6-year-old. (WOW! How did he get so old?!?!)

Monday was spent hanging around the house and just relaxing. It was a nice way to spend our Memorial Day.

Tuesday was Booger's actual birthday. He was so excited to take cupcakes into school to share with his friends.

We also let him decide what we were having for dinner that day. He thought that was pretty awesome!

Thursday that week, our Booger graduated from Kindergarten! Can you believe it?!?! I sure can't!

And Friday was his last day of school as a Kindergartner. I still cannot believe it!

Saturday was his friend birthday party and I again forgot to take pictures. Only a few school friends came, but he had a BLAST and that's what is important.

So, that is Booger's extremely busy and exciting week!

I will be back soon to recap our summer so far. :) Have a great Wednesday!

Kat

Happy 6th Birthday Booger!

Today I want to wish my Booger a very happy 6th birthday! I cannot believe he is 6 already. He LOVES Legos, Transformers, and all things boy related. It's amazing to think that today, 6 years ago I was made a mother and a little 5lb 15oz baby boy was placed in my arms. He has grown into such a nice, caring, amazing little man. I am so proud to be his mommy!

Top R- 5th birthday, 2nd birthday, 1st birthday
Middle R- Lucas almost 6, 4th birthday, 3rd birthday
Bottom- The day he was born 

Happy birthday Booger! I hope you have an amazing day!!!!

Kat

Booger is turning 6......how?!?!?!?

Seriously?!?!? How do I have an almost 6 year old? I am NOT old enough for this! I swear it was just yesterday I found out (unexpectedly) that I was pregnant with Booger.

Well, we are getting ready for him to have his first ever friend birthday party at our house soon! Eeek! I ended up making his birthday invitations and I'm quite proud of them. :)

What do you think?

I'm also procrastinating. I should be writing essays right now and instead I'm writing a blog post. It's amazing the things you can find to do when you're trying to avoid something.

Well, I need to get these essays done. :(

Have a great night!!!!

Kat

Why do women have to be so mean to each other?

I've heard people saying how mean other women are towards each other. I've seen it with my own eyes, and experienced it. But not like how I did tonight.

I am utterly shocked at the words that came out of this older woman's mouth when I told her to mind her own business. I mean seriously!

Let's start at the beginning. M is gone for the weekend. Booger was having a hard time listening tonight. We were going to Panera to pick up dinner, he wasn't listening when I was trying to talk to him. So as I was getting out of the car I told Booger "if you can't be respectful when I'm talking to you, then I will do the same to you." Maybe it was harsh, but at the moment I was over it. This lady walks up to me and tells me I shouldn't speak to my kids that way. I told her to mind her own business, she doesn't know the situation. Then she proceeds to call me an a@%hole! Like seriously?!?!? Then I said "wow! Thanks for using such nice language around my kids" Then she proceeds to tell me I am a horrible mother and never should have been one! Can you believe it?!?!? How rude! I don't care how horrible you thought what I said was, you do NOT say something like that in front of my kids! Why can't people mind their own business??? It's not like I was being overly mean to my son or beating him in public (not that I do in private either) but geeze!

I know it shouldn't bother me what someone else says. I know I am a good mom and I love my kids more than anything in this world. But I refuse to raise disrespectful kids.

Why do women have to be so mean and rude to each other?

Kat

Booger is playing Soccer

Well, our son has started playing soccer. We decided to let him choose which sport and he chose soccer first. I am OK with that. I think it's a great way for him to learn about teams and really, no skills are needed to play soccer at this age level. We had our first game this past Saturday. It was fun to watch and he did really good. Especially for this being his first game. I saw some of his competitiveness come out and he did a great job of getting into the game.

 Here he is trying to look like he knows what he is doing. He played a good portion of the game.

This video is when he got the ball and almost scored. Please excuse the screaming. I was just so excited for him.

Do your kids play sports? If so, which did they start with?

Kat

Spring Break 2014

Our school district has had spring break really early in the last couple of years. And when I mean early, I mean like 1st or 2nd week of March. Early. It used to be the week before Easter, but due to state testing, it is now earlier in the year. This year, it was just the kids and I for the whole week. M had to work out of town that week. Thankfully we had some beautiful weather and spent most of the week outside. We rode bikes, took our last swim in my mom's pool (she sold her house recently) and generally just played outside. It was a nice, relaxing week.

 Pretty Girl has taken to holding our cat, even if the cat protests. This is her telling me "see? Trevor stays." Yea, yea. I've heard that before, right before the cat growls at her

 I found this yummy drink on Pinterest. It's supposed to be with a Naked strawberry drink, but tastes good even with Fruit Punch :) 

 We went for a walk with our old neighbor one morning and were finally able to meet her little bundle of joy. It was a really nice walk and a great chance for her and I to catch up. We only live two roads away now and need to try and get together more. 

 We had to get Booger's hair cut, so we did and I really like how it turned out. Although I must say, it makes him look like a big kid. :( There are no more babies in our house.

 Playing nicely together. It's amazing how nicely they will play together outside, but once we would go back inside, it was all fighting and screaming. Hence why we were outside so much. :)

 Taking our last swim in grandma's pool before she closed on her house.

Of course the dog needed her hair cut as well. :) So to the groomers we went as well. 

Oh did you guys notice how short Pretty Girls hair is now? Oh yea, I wasn't planning on cutting her hair any time soon. However, SHE decided it was time for a hair cut. Yup those pics are of her hair cutting skills. :( I knew she was too quiet in her room. Thankfully M was awesome and able to fix her hair. I had a small coronary. 

All in all it was a great break. Too early in the school year for me, but what can you do? I don't get to choose the dates. 

Did you do anything fun for spring break? 

Kat

Hello 2015

I cannot believe it is already 2015! I swear we were just celebrating Y2K and now it's 2015.

Where has the time gone? We spent the evening at a family friends house like we have done in years past. The kids were able to go swimming in the cold pool and watch movies. We ate good food and spent time with good friends and family. Not the most glamorous or exciting, but fun nonetheless.

I have a few pictures from that night.

Swimming in the cold pool

Silly little girl

My Booger

Silly goose

I see this face more than you would think

It was a nice was to ring in the new year.

Now for some Goals:

* Find a place to start my Masters in Educational Leadership and get it started
* Attend information session on Leadership Academy
* Start working out at least 2 days a week (whether it's at home or at the gym)
* Start watching what I eat and limiting my pop intake.
* Read at least 1 book every 3 months (I already have one down. Just read The Good Girl and it was REALLY good)
*Start meal planning at least 2 meals a week
* Try a new dish every other week
* Get more organized
*Try to get on an actual budget
* Be more "present" with my kids
*Take the kiddos to the Zoo
*Start chores for the kids (like picking up toys before bed, making beds in the morning, helping a few little things around the house)
*blog a little more

I think these are doable goals for the upcoming year. What do you think?

Kat

Crochet Camo Baby Blanket

One of my best friends is expecting a baby boy this month. She has gotten into crocheting recently and has made a few baby blankets for her new little bundle of joy.

She has also made one that is a camo blanket and super cute! If I had a little bundle of joy, I would sure buy one. But this baby factory is currently closed.

If you would like to visit her Esty store, go here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/216314856/crochet-camo-baby-blanket

Stop by and check them out. What do you guys think??

Kat

Christmas Recap

Christmas was great this year. M had the week of Christmas off to spend with us, which was nice.

We split our Christmas celebration into three different celebrations. We started off with my mom the Tuesday before Christmas. We went over and had lunch and opened presents with her. Her and my dad spoiled the heck out of me this year. It was really nice to get spoiled a little. They also spoiled Booger and Pretty Girl. We spent the afternoon at her house playing with their new toys. I only have one picture from that day, but I have to say, it's my favorite.

Christmas eve was spent at M's parents house with his side of the family. It was a nice evening. The kids were spoiled again and were able to play with some of their new gifts. We also ate some great food.

Left is of our nephews opening their cards from us (I made them and was pretty proud of them) and of course Booger and Pretty girl opened their presents as well.

Then Santa came to our house. There was much excitement in our house. Both kids understood what was going on. It was magical this year and their excitement was contagious. Santa spoiled our kids as well. They received baby turtles, 2 of them; a large fish tank for the turtles and fish; ninja turtle gear; Sophia the First doll and princess shoes; the transformer Grimlock Booger has been talking about for months; and a few other little things. They had a blast Christmas morning.

From left: the tree after Santa arrived, our baby turtle, the fish tank, boots that Pretty girl has been eyeing for awhile now, the ninja turtle gear and of course pretty dresses for a pretty girl.

Overall it was a nice holiday. The magic was alive for the kids and to me, that is what is important. That and family. It's not about the gifts, but watching the kids believe so strongly in something is nice. It was a nice Christmas.

Kat