Christmas 2010

I Love our Christmas tree this year. I like to refer to it as a "Martha Stewart" tree. I love how the presents begin to take over the bottom of the Christmas tree! I can't wait everyone to open their presents! This will be a good year for the girls! Yay!!! The other picture is of Cecelia at her schools Christmas party. I always volunteer to help the room mother. This year I offered to do the game. I precut wrapping paper (enough for each child to have one). Then I brought empty cereal boxes (3) and a bag of bows, oh-and of course I bought prizes. The kids were in groups of 6 and went to 3 different stations (snacks, craft, and game station). At my station, I had the kids break up into 2 groups of three. I had the kids race to wrap the paper, tape it up and slap a bow on it. Who ever was the first one to put the bow on won, and got a prize. Fortunately, everyone got a prize who played. The kids loved it!

1st prenatal visit

I had my first prenatal visit this morning. Baby's heart rate was 148 bpm. Perfectly normal! Typically, at this point, the ultrasound can't usually pick up the heartbeat but instead you can only visualize it on the monitor. I asked if we could try to hear it and sure enough, the heartbeat came over loud and clear. The little peanut is coincidentally, from crown to rump, about the size of a peanut M&M (about 1.25 centimeters). I'm measuring at 7 weeks and 4 days, which is right on target based on my lmp. My blood pressure was about 106/68. Just about where it usually is. We got 2 ultrasound pictures and I can't wait to tell the girls tomorrow. Cecelia is going to be sooo excited! My next appointment is scheduled for January 18th:) Oh my goodness! I have to pee ALL the time! Apparently, not only is the uterus sitting on my bladder (obviously) but apparently now that the baby's kidneys are fully functioning, I am now peeing for two. This pregnancy is quite different than I remember with Cecelia. Maybe that is a good indication that it may be a boy???

Graduation!

I now officially have the honor and privilege of saying that I have my Bachelors Degree of Science in Nursing!!! I can't believe I'm done! It doesn't seem real yet. Graduation was beautiful. My graduating class was only 24 students, plus a few students from various other programs from the college. So it was very small, and intimate. At this point in my life, it will be a transition phase. I have to learn to relax again! I have been so used to constantly being busy...juggling school, working part-time, and being a full-time mom and wife. I'm glad that I can once again focus on being a mom, and simply working 3 days a week (let's hope I can find a JOB!).
Cecelia only has school on Monday and Tuesday next week, on Tuesday, Cecelia has her winter party at school. I'm very excited to help out in the classroom again. I have also promised to join the PTO after Christmas break since I will have a lot more time to devote to the organization. Cecelia had her skills check out for gymnastics the last two weeks. She received a blue ribbon. The next ribbon up would have allowed her to move on to the next class, she still has a lot to work on but is getting better each week. We are hoping when we move that we can get her some gymnastics equipment to pull out into the yard or to just keep in the basement for her. Possibly a balance beam and some mats.
This weekend I also hosted a Christmas party for some of my closest friends. There was about 10 of us here. Just hanging out, cooking, eating, exchanging gifts and enjoying each others company. Luckily, 2 of my best friends, Stephanie and Rachel were in town. Rachel lives in California and Stephanie lives in Florida, and I miss them sooo much when they are not here. Because of their presence the night was that much more special.
So far, this pregnancy hasn't been too rough. I have to admit that I am already beginning to show, and that I only fit into sports bras these days. I have been exhausted lately and just want to sleep for 12 hours a night. I have had no nausea up until this week. Luckily it has been very mild, and intermittent. I can usually just eat some saltines, and have some ice water and sit or lay down and I start to feel much better! Next week I will be 8 weeks pregnant. We have our first ultra sound the day before Christmas Eve. Getting to see our babies heartbeat on the ultrasound screen will be such an amazing Christmas gift. Of course, I have to thank God himself for all the amazing blessings I have in my life. I can't wait to share the ultrasound picture with Cecelia and finally let her in on our secret. I know that she is going to be ecstatic, and I just feel terrible keeping such exciting news from her.
We can't wait to have Kiley home from Colorado for a week over Christmas break and have to have Cecelia home for 2 weeks from school. Up next for me: working on getting my student loans consolidated so that will be in order for when we start looking for a house in February or March, and studying for boards. I am going to try to schedule to take them the 3rd week in January. Pretty nervous for them. I will have lots of studying to do over the next month!

I can't believe it has been a month since I even got on here. This past month has flown by! I only have 2 weeks left of school before graduation! So I have been busy finishing up the last few requirements. Thanksgiving was great! We went over to my sister Jennifer's house for lunch. Then for dinner, Aaron's family came over to our house. I cooked the turkey, and everyone brought 1 or 2 side dishes. I LOVE the holidays. Especially the shopping that is required! Aaron's sister Sara and I went black Friday shopping this year, just as we have done every year for the last 3. This year we started at Wal-Mart at 10:30 on Thanksgiving and didn't return home till after 6:00 A.M.! I was able to get almost everything that we needed...the car was completely full. Literally, I could barely see out the back windows! Just as tradition, we put the Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving. I absolutely love the soft glow of the Christmas tree and the smiles of anticipation that Cecelia has as she looks and feels all the presents. This year is especially cheerful for us because we just found out were expecting! I'm only about 5 weeks pregnant, so it's super early, but pregnant just the same! Yay! I'm due August 11th (according to Nigel's rule) but I have my first prenatal appointment and ultrasound the day before Christmas Eve, so I will probably get a more accurate due date then. We plan on telling Cecelia when we have the ultrasound picture to show her. Plus, it will give us a little more time to get further through the first trimester. I am so excited for graduation, my best friends coming in town for the graduation and Christmas, all the holiday parties, presents, good food, and the new year. Graduation pictures soon to come! I started applying for jobs today too. Hopefully, I can get something that I love and that has good hours. I will be praying hard!

Halloween

I absolutely LOVE Halloween! It is one of my favorite holidays. This year for Halloween Cecelia was a Renaissance princess/zombie princess...at school she was just a Renaissance princess and for actual Halloween she was a zombie princess with full on zombie makeup. Stanley was a pirate this year. My sister Erika had a Halloween party this year. The kids loved it! Pizza, cupcakes, decorations, party favors, getting ready with all her cousins, and lots of pictures! My mom took all the pictures that night so I have to wait to put those up.

Denver

We headed to Denver to visit Kiley for 3 days while she was on fall break from school. I love the picture of the tumble weed stuck to our car! I hit that thing about 2 hours before we got to Denver. I had no idea that it stuck to my car...I did get a few weird looks from other cars. The weather ended up not being as nice as we would have liked:( We did drive up to the Colorado Springs area to go to a dinosaur museum but it was snowing so we couldn't drive up into the mountains like we were hoping. We also took the girls to Casa Bonita one night for dinner. The girls enjoy watching the divers and the skits that the staff do. The girls loved swimming in the indoor pool at the hotel, but we were not happy that the hot tub was out of service. The last day we were in town we took the girls to Hammonds Candy factory. The store gives hourly tours and you are able to see the employees making all of the candy by hand. The girls got huge lollipops as treats. I'm sure it will take weeks to finish them. We decided that next fall when we go out to visit Kiley we are just going to drive through Denver to pick her up and then we are going to stay in Colorado Springs. We are also hoping to make the trip in late September or early October because we would really like to enjoy the mountains a little more than we have been able to on our last few visits. Plus, there is so much to do in Colorado Springs!

Tau Tau

I was recently invited to join Sigma Theta Tau National Honor Society. Our instructors make their recommendations to the organization and we are then contacted and invited to join. It's such an honor to be asked. In order to be eligible you have to have a 3.5 GPA and be in the top 3rd of your class. I'm really excited to be able to put this down on my resume! Yay!!! I'm going to be applying for a job with the VA this month! I can't wait to get a big girl job!

Mini Golf

We have never been mini golfing as a family before. It was so much fun! We picked the perfect day to go mini golfing! The weather was gorgeous and there was an amazing breeze. In the beginning we were keeping score, but after realizing how silly it was to keep score when playing against your child, we gave up and had so much more fun!

Cece finally got into a gymnastics class. She had been on the wait list at Omega for a few weeks and we got a call last week saying that she could start on Monday! To our surprise, Cece's friend Kaylee from school is also in her class. Cecelia was a little worried about making new friends in the class, so it was a relief to see a familiar face. Finding a leotard that fit our little munchkin was a whole other story! In fact, shopping for her this year has been a little more complicated. Her waist is so tiny, so she fits the waist of a 4/5 but she is tall enough to fit into 5/6. Jeans with adjustable waist have been awesome but finding comfy yoga pants or sweat pants that fit her have been more of a challenge. At her well baby/child visit 2 weeks ago, it was brought to our attention that since March, she has grown 4 inches taller and gained 4 pounds! Ironically, she was born at 4 lbs, 4 oz! I just thought that was kind of cool! In addition to her well child checkup Cece just had an appointment last week for her 6 month cleaning again. NO CAVITIES! Thank goodness, cavities are so expensive and painful! Picture day is Friday. I have to work, so Aaron will be on his own for this one. I'm not really worried. He has mastered the straightening iron amazingly well!
My last nursing class is officially over! At this point I will be starting precepting at the end of this month. I need to complete 192 hours of precepting experience which equals out to about fifteen, 12 hour shifts. Sounds easy right? HA! November will be quite busy for me, trying to juggle work, precepting, class one day a week and all of my family responsibilities. Oh well, I have to keep remembering that saying "anyone can do anything for a short amount of time". Plus, graduation day will be right around the corner. December 17th can't come fast enough!
We are planning a 3 day trip to Denver to see Kiley towards the end of the month. Hopefully the weather cooperates. Last October when we went there it snowed about 10 inches. I hate driving on the interstates with the kids in the car when it's snowing like that. We know we will be taking the kids to the nature and science museum one day we are in town. Then we would like to go to the Rockies another day we are there but that will depend on the weather.

Trip to Grandma's barn

Cecelia is holding a very cooperative black chicken and an equally as cooperative (although tortured looking) bunny rabbit. My grandma has her very own petting zoo to go with all the ponies. Coincidentally, the chicken that Cecelia loved to hold and play with this day, is the same chicken who lays the eggs that we eat sometimes (they are so much better than store bought!)

My best friend Jade's baby, Anna. She is so precious! Jade says that she is a handful but every time I have babysat her she has been a perfect Angel! Cecelia loved helping me too. She is going to be such a good big sister. She can't wait to have a baby to play with and neither can I!

Mommy & Me manicures and pedicures

My little princess and I got manicures and pedicures. This was Cece's first time and she loved it. This is her lounging waiting for her toes to dry while I got my manicure. This is definitely something we will probably not do very often though. Although fun to feel pampered together, it is hard for me to justify spending $90 for us to have manicures and pedicures done, especially when I can do it myself at home for nothing. For myself, I can defend getting a pedicure because it lasts so long (like a month). However, Cece's paint job was already chipping after a few days...kids just play too rough.

My Stanley is sooo stinkin cute! He had just gotten back from the doggy spa when this picture was taken. Prior to getting groomed, his hair had gotten so long. He looked so scruffy that Aaron and I decided that we just looked like bad pet owners to let his hair get that long. We have long ago given up any hope of him having a traditional Shih Tzu hair style. He is just hates having his hair brushed. Even now, with his hair as short as it is, he doesn't like me to brush his hair!

The start of another great school year!

Aaron and I now have ourselves a first grader!!! WOW! My "baby" is no longer a baby. This year Cecelia was placed in a combination class, consisting of half first graders and half second graders. Having your first grade child being chosen for this type of class is not at all a random selection. Apparently, it is a complement. The school unfortunately has too many second graders and not enough first graders. Therefore, they must select students for this combination class that can work independently, are well behaved, and somewhat more mature, or advanced. Cecelia loves hanging out with older kids, she always has. I think this stems from having an older sister, plus almost all of her cousins, with the exception of a few, are older than her. So Cecelia has so far enjoyed being with the older kids. In fact her new "best friend", Tessa, is a second grader in her class. In the mornings Cece is with her second grade teacher for reading and writing, special (P.E., Music, or library), recess and lunch. Then in the afternoon, Cecelia returns to her first grade teacher to finish the day with math and science.
On a side note, I think I am going to join PTA. I would love to get to know some of the other parents of the kids that Cecelia goes to school with. Eventually, she will want to start having sleep overs and I want to be comfortable with her going over to her friend's houses. Plus, I really want to get involved and show Cecelia that her school is important to me.

Cats and Dogs

That's the girls behind those dogs masks! So cute! We were able to go to a premier of the movie Cats and Dogs in 3D at Village Point Theater. Before the movie we went to get ice cream at Coldstone. The girls had so much fun. The movie was really funny. We will definitely be buying that on DVD when it comes out.

Adventure land

Neither of the girls had ever been to Adventure land before and they had a blast! We left the house at about 7:00 A.M. and the girls were still half asleep on the car ride down to Des Moines, Iowa. A couple of our friends were also planning a day trip to Adventure land so we met them at the park and our kids spent the majority of the day together. Unfortunately we decided to plan our trip on a weekend and it got very crowded at the park. I think the girls enjoyed the water park the best. The slides were pretty fun even for an adult! My favorite part was the water log ride. Cece and I sat in the front of the log and paid for it when we got off and were completely drenched. We made some very fun memories that day. We are already thinking about our next family vacation next summer. The girls are finally at that age where they are perfect angels in the car and we can venture out on longer car rides. I would love to take them to Wyoming and stay at a lodge in Yellowstone. I think the girls would be amazed to see the geysers and I would love to see the beautiful park again. My mom took my sister and I when I was 15 and even at 15 I was amazed by the sights. We'll see

Royals Baseball Game

I'm so glad that we were able to enjoy one of the last Royals games EVER. The team was only going to be playing a handful of more games on the field before the stadium was closed forever. Very sad to see the stadium closing but excited to see how the new stadium atmosphere will be next year when the college world series games are closer to downtown. The girls had fun that night at the game. They each picked out a baseball bat as a souvenir.

Beaver Lake

We were invited to go out to Beaver Lake with Aaron's sister Sara and I couldn't say no. The girls had so much fun! They each rode a jet ski for the very first time. I was surprised when Cecelia was asked if she wanted to ride and she said no, but Kiley said yes. Usually it is the other way around and Cece is the dare devil. I did make the girls both wear their arm floaties while in the lake, although both of them can swim. The water was just so choppy that day, and I was out numbered because Aaron couldn't come with us that day. The girls were constantly asking if they could take them off. Sorry, nope!

Heartland of America Park

We took the girls down to the Summer Arts Festival and it was way too hot for them. They couldn't really pay any attention to the amazing things there were to see from Artists down town because it was just too stinkin hot. So we walked to the Heartland of America park and took a boat ride around the fountain. Heartland of America Park is one of our favorites. It was a relaxing way to end the evening.

Sisters

These are the girls hanging out at my sister Jennifer's. They are actually taking a break from hours of swimming. I didn't get a picture of it, but at one point, the girls were both sitting on the purple lounge chair. Head to toe. It was soooo cute. Cecelia loves animals and Jennifer got two dogs this summer, so Cece loves petting them and giving them love.

Baby frogs

Somehow the girls have been lucky enough to catch frogs in our backyard on several occasions. In fact, almost every night that we have let them go outside to catch lightning bugs they have come in with a baby frog. A month or two ago, it was raining really hard and Aaron was looking out the front door and noticed a huge frog in the driveway and he went outside and grabbed it and brought it inside to show Cece. After dropping it multiple times inside of the house, I made him take it out back. Our theory is that the frog was pregnant and all the baby frogs the girls keep catching are her offspring. For whatever reason they are in our backyard, they provide hours of entertainment for the kiddos>)