Happy Birthday to me!!!

I started my day with breakfast in bed (thanks babe), of course then Conley had to eat his breakfast in bed with me. Nate took my kids to daycare and I did whatever I wanted, it was great. He gave me a gift certificate for a massage he had schedule for me today at 2. It was AWESOME. Then reality set back in...daycare called and Shay had a fever, I had to go get her right away (oh and took Conley at the same time). A gourmet dinner of frozen pizza (Nate "cooked" it), and then a haircut for Conley. It wasn't going well, so he ended up with the buzz! I'm planning on spending the rest of the night on the couch and read some magazines or start my new book. Yes, I lead an exciting life!!! Truly I would have it no different!

Here is the after of the haircut process. Of course Shay is sporting the crazy hair as always. Nate saw this photo and commented that Shay's hair doesn't even look real. Poor girl!!!

This is a before haircut picture. They had played with shaving cream at daycare this day and his hair stood up on end!

On Sunday my mom and grammie Pat came over for dinner and birthday cake. Conley was very excited to blow out candles and then pull them out and lick the bottom!

Busy weekend!

Shay got another ear infection this past Thursday, and thankfully is doing much better. The medicine does give her explosive poop and she is averaging 2 major blowouts per day. Laundry has never been so disgusting! On two occasions I gave in and just threw the undershirts away. Seriously disgusting!!!

Big shout out to my parents. They helped huge on Friday when daycare called to have me come pick Shay up. I really needed to get stuff done at work, and had left early the day before for her doctor's appointment. My parents picked up both kids and brought them to our house and hung out all afternoon. There is no greater blessing than having family close to help out, I truly appreciate that.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to join Mindy and Chloe on a shopping spree at the Iowa City store's 1/2 Price Sale. I found some awesome bargains and got some cute stuff for both Shay and Conley. Saturday for lunch my aunt and grandma stopped by to hang out for the afternoon. They brought lunch and birthday presents (my birthday is tomorrow). I got the coolest vase from my aunt. I had to take a picture to show it off. It is very shallow and you put just a couple fresh stems in the vase. It looks AWESOME in my bathroom, thanks Linda!!! Saturday night my parents took us out to eat for my birthday, while Grammie babysat. I got to pick, so we went to The Atlas. Mindy introduced my to the buffalo chicken burrito awhile ago, and I fell in love. It was yummy!!!!

My vase with beautiful flowers. I not the best green thumb, but I am excited to buy fresh flowers for my bathroom. I'm sure my guests will appreciate my decorations as well ;)

Nate is quite handy and that has been both fun and costly throughout our marriage. He loves doing projects and upgrades around the house, but does come home with quite the Menards bill. His most recent project is the bed for Conley. He decided he was going to make Conley a bed when we moved Conley into his new room a year ago. He made a frame out of birch for the mattress and boxsprings to sit in and it has 2 drawers on each side for storage. This is great because we don't have a dresser in Conley's room. It is a little higher off the ground than I would prefer, but very nice. We already had a stool for Conley to use in the bathroom when he brushes his teeth, so we are using that for now. Of course Nate said he would build a little step unit that Conley could use to climb in until he is bigger.

It didn't fit up the stairs at first, so Nate and Luke had to take it apart in some places. It was funny watching them attempt it the first time. They would not admit it wasn't going to fit, they tried so hard, but eventually gave in to the spectators.

There was a little damage done to the wall, but of course Nate will just fix that. It was a tight squeeze and that is putting it lightly!!!

His bed all put together. He of course is very excited and of course tells me that his bed is "just for big boys, not shay-shay". Yes bossy ;)

Shay

My aunt pointed out to me that Shay has been very absent from the blog. Well, she is anything but in our lives. She has changed so much and I can't believe her first birthday is less than one month away. She is sooooooooooo funny!!! She loves to be chased, tickled, kissed, and hugged. She is our dancing queen. The second she hears music, she gets her groove on!

Here is the skinny on Shay:

~She loves her brother...she pulls his hair and laughs at anything he does

~She LOVES to dance

~She loves to give kisses and hugs to her baby

~She loves to eat...has started eating what we eat and may eat as much as Conley at dinner (not saying much for those who know Conley's dinner habits)

~Uses the sign language for "more"

~Has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom

~She is a momma's girl

~She is crawling and is starting to pull up

She loved helping me with the laundry.

She probably ate more clothing than she helped fold, oh well!

She has the crazy hair going on all the time!

I can't cook...I hate cooking

I do!

...I'm too tired

...I don't care

...We are not picky eaters (thank the Lord!)

...We don't have much time

...I'm not creative

...I'm too cheap

..I'd rather give excuses than just get busy cooking

I truly don't care if I cook my family dinner. Seriously, I will admit that we have eaten a lot of mac n cheese, grilled cheese, frozen pizza and other items that are shortening our life span and clogging our arteries! AND THEN... when I actually cook something that is somewhat creative and delicious, Nate and I get food poisoning!!! Seriously, how hilarious is that. Nate and I both had a little food poisoning this past week from something I prepared, yes our kids escaped the jaws of my cooking, praise the Lord!

Why bring this up, you may ask???

Well the other day I got creative and Conley and I made some trail mix, oh yes, VERY COMPLICATED. I hear the oohs, and aahs coming in! I have included pics as proof. This is a big step for me, you know they sell it already made in a bag at Walmart.

AND...Nate's mom has this crazy idea (but a REALLY good one) that I am going to start cooking using all this natural, healthy oil and stuff. Heck, I can't even remember what it is I'm supposed to cook with and she just told me about it 2 hours ago. We are already doomed! Now this new cooking idea of hers is healthy and may cure Nate's psoriasis, but could be fairly expensive. Sorry honey, you may have to live with it a little longer due to my "cheapness".

I did buy a book about crock pot cooking. I thought that would be easy for someone who works 50 hrs a week with two children. BUT...I haven't opened the book yet. I have never done new year's resolutions, but I think this may be my year. I may try to get organized and plan ahead my meals. I tried this once. It lasted about 3 months and then again, I got lazy. Writing this goal on the blog might make me stick to it. My family is hoping this new year's resolution will stick. Wish me luck!

Conley didn't understand that you can't just eat the M&Ms.

Conley showing off our new snack creation. It has lasted for a week, which is amazing considering it has chocolate as an ingredient!

No Pants!

Mom- Conley, where are your pants???
C- I don't want pants on
M- You need to wear pants, it's freezing out and we are going to run errands
C- I not wear pants today
M- Yes (running after him with the pants)
C- No pants, no pants (laughing)


...Now my friend Isaac has gone through the no underwear stage, but no pants?! Yes, he obeyed and the pants went on. Later this weekend he also took off the diaper when the pants were off. I'm thinking we need to establish ground rules on clothing in this house. Not to mention, we are famous for not turning on the heat in this house (just kidding, don't call DHS), our relatives all complain, I guess we are just used to it a little colder :)

Boys and their toys!

Nate was VERY excited for it to start snowing this winter (yuck!) so he could break out the snowmobiles. Conley of course talked about it as well, sounding excited and eager to jump right on! After 10minutes of putting on snow gear and laughing at him unable to see or barely move, I pushed him out the door. He went running to the snowmobile and then Nate started it.....and he kept on running. I have included pis of him running from Nate, and then loving every minute of it. He didn't want to get off, and loved that Sampson would chase them around. He was crying because he had to come back in, too funny!

Since that night, he has been snowmobiling quite a few times. He would rather do that than go sledding. He is every bit Nate's child when it comes to the outdoors and manly stuff. Don't worry, he has a few of my type A characteristics :)

Here is Conley, initially scared, running from Nate after he started up the snowmobile. Nate had to carry him kicking and screaming back onto it. He quickly fell in love and the rest is history!

Here is the duo posing for a pic. Yes, my spoiled family (Greg and Nate) own 4 snowmobiles. All of course bought used, therefore always needing some TLC. Gives the boys something to do, I guess.

Here is Sampson, who loved chasing the boys. Luckily we live on 4 acres so it gives both the dog and Nate room to run.

New Dishwasher!!!!

For Christmas my parents bought us a new dishwasher. Our old dishwasher had always been a great laugh when started. It sounded like a helicopter ready to take flight when you started it, and it was a little over 10yrs old. We shopped around and I finally found one that I liked inside and Nate approved of the look on the outside. Nate is our interior expert at this house. He is fortunate to see MANY different homes with his job and always knows what's the hot new thing out there. Sometimes this is a disadvantage because he has expensive tastes!

I included pics of Nate and Conley taking out the old dishwasher and installing the new. Conley got a tool set for Christmas, so he got right in there with his tools to "help". It was fun watching him help Nate and they did a great job! This dishwasher is so quiet, I could barely hear it when Nate started it for the test run! The only problem now is that Nate wants a new stove to match the dishwasher and fridge (the fridge we got new a couple years ago and matches the dishwasher). He will have to wait a couple years for that!!!

My guys hard at work removing the old dishwasher. Don't be fooled, we bought a piece of stainless steel and put on the front of our old dishwasher to match the fridge. There is a tip for a cosmetic upgrade if you don't want to buy a whole new appliance.

You can see how Conley got out all his tools and had to put them all next to Nate's. He would try to grab the same tool Nate was using, so he could help.

My beautiful new stainless steel dishwasher!!! I love it!!!!!!!!! Thanks mom and dad.

One feature we wanted was the turbo jets in the back and under each rack and a stainless steel inside. I of course loaded it up right away.