Happy Daddy's Day!!

This is how Tate says happy Father's Day and I think it is adorable. We spent the morning at Teagan's VBS program and then headed to my Grandma's for the annual tractor parade and lunch.

Then is was off to home for much needed naps. There is something about having the air on, cuddling with a blanket, and taking a great nap. Teagan wanted to try and have Tate nap with her, but as you can imagine it didn't work so well.

But they sure are cute! Little cheese balls!
Teagan made a genuine attempt, but as you can tell from Tate's expression he had no intentions of taking a nap. Guess the big boy bed will have to wait for awhile!

After naps everyone played for awhile, Brad grilled and we just finished watching Kung Fu Panda. Love free ShowTime and Jack Black!! Happy Father's Day!!

My crew!! Quite the handfull, but what would I do without them?

Water, Water Everywhere!

It rained like crazy today and the water levels were worse than last year! Some places had 3 -5 inches in one hour! Here are some pictures and a video link from KCRG TV.

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/48638102.html?video=YHI&t=a

Old Man's Creek under the bridge. Facing north

Somewhere along Old Man's by J&S. It was amazing how fast the water was moving!
J&S trying to empty out some of their storage. The water got much higher than this.

This is the first time most people remember 149 being closed for flooding. All 3 major ways into town were shut down at some point this afternoon. Craziness! Old Man's Creek by Monsanto. Going up the road to Highland Ridge was completely covered too!

Our North Street friends were temporary owners of waterfront property today, but hopefully all forecasted rain holds off and the water will receed. Nature is amazing and completely unpredictable!

While we were waiting out the end of the rain I worked on putting some dishes away and got a little help from Tate.The glass stuff made me a little nervous, but he was trying so hard and being so sweet!
So obviously he isn't big enough to put them away so this is as far as he got. Honestly it might be more dishes than his dad has done this year!!

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Attack of the Little People!

This title describes my summer so far in so many ways. I will begin with the true meaning - Tate is absolutely infatuated with 2 Little People videos that we have. And when I say videos, I mean videos (VHS). That is how old they are! From the minute he wakes up to the minute he goes to bed he is asking "I watch farm now?" For those of you who are parents you understand how cute it is at first when they are completely obsessed with something, but then it all goes wrong when it consumes them. I am serious - not even exagerating!

Creepy - I know. Now imagine that you know all the words!

Now for my "little people". Tate is doing new stuff everyday and talking up a storm. Really, only I can decode what he is saying most of the time, but he is saying real stuff. He also likes to read Teagan's Dora book. He will be a lot of fun this summer!

Teagan started Vacation Bible School this week, so the nights have been a little long. She is loving it and it is nice that she has something to do that breaks up her summer a little. Most of the time she is very tolerant of the "Little People", but like the rest of us she has had enough. Tate has also started tattling on her, which 90% of the time isn't true! She has learned not to get offended and that he is just excited to be able to talk and say stuff!This is my garden for the year. It may not look like much, but it consists of snow peas, green beans, yellow squash, zuchinni, green peppers, and a tomato plant. Teagan helped me plant everything and they are growing like crazy!

Here are the peas. They are taking over the fence, but I didn't allow for very much growth room. I love peas!!The beans. Again, didn't allow for as much growing room as I should have, but they are starting to grow up the side of the house. I guess we'll see what happens. All I know is I feel pretty darn domestic, so if I only get one stinkin vegatable from each it will be an accomplishment!!

Kids Day!!

Good times at Kids Day today! Actually it didn't start out wonderfully, but the rain stopped and it turned out pretty well. The kids both signed up for the tractor pull. Teagan wasn't super excited, but she did a good job!When I was signing Teagan up at the table Tate kept saying, "I ride tractor, Mommy." The lady felt bad for him and said he could do it too. He couldn't reach the pedals, but he tried hard and loved every minute!

The guy was nice enough to "pull" Tate so he could at least move a little.
Teagan also got her face painted - waited awhile, but she was patient. As a parent sometimes you have to stop and think about how exciting this kind of stuff was when we were little. It makes days like this a little easier to handle

In homefront news - Tate went poop in his potty chair for the first time last night. Yeah!! I will spare you the Jon & Kate Plus 8 visual ( she took pictures of every childs first poop), but here is where the magic happened. I am very realistic and know that this might not happen again for awhile, but it is a glimmer of hope!

Aunt Beth came over for nap and snack time after work today. Actually she was picking up Teagan to watch her (and Tate later) so Brad and I could go out for our anniversary. 8 wonderful years on the 16th. Happy Anniversary Honey!!!

Where Have I Been?

Last night I realized I haven't blogged since last Thursday. What?? That is sooo not like me. I thought to myself, "Self, what have you been doing?" My answer - not really sure, but I was doing stuff.First of all I am getting ready for a garage sale at my Grandma's house in Homestead. She always does one the week before Father's Day because Amana has stuff going on. I usually just grab stuff from around the house that I am done with, but this year I decided to get rid of the majority of my baby clothes - no need for alarm - the baby discussion at the Schaefer's is not completely closed! So I have found myself literally buried under clothes and not knowing where to start. I get started, have to stop, and then it takes forever to get started again. Arg!!!

The pool has been closed so we are getting ready on bath night. Teagan insists on putting the goggles on - we won't tell her she looks like a mutant bug!! Note Tate's strategically played cup. He is so modest, just like his dad! Yeah right!!Tate got a new 4-wheeler this week, which explains how I lost 2 hours of my Tuesday night. It had "some adult assembly required". Understatement!! Anyway - I bought it thinking it was electric like Teagan's Dora jeep, but low and behold it is a ride-on. Oh well, he still really likes it and the headlight and horn works great!

Teagan returned from her Huxley vacation on Tuesday also. She was happy to be home, but she absolutely loves going to visit the Schafbuch's! It is nice as a mom to be able to know that my baby is being taken care of like she is their own. Plus, it gave Tate a little time to be an only child and get a little one-on-one time too. This was our attempt at a picture without a real photogragher! Before this Teagan was making us to senior picture/engagement photos - even better!

We have also been attending our fair share of high school softball and baseball games. Some of the nights have been gorgeous, and I'm not going to lie - its a little glory days for me. There is nothing like a field with lights on and kids playing ball. That being said - my posts may be farther apart with all the summer stuff going on. I only have 8 more days to teacher summer school and then it is just the kids and I. I am excited to be planning a summer vacation, days trips to the Children's Museum, and movies at the mall. I also have some projects to do around the house, but we'll see how much of that list I get through!

I Heart ....

Days off!

I had my first taste of summer this week. On Tuesday Teagan and I had girl's day and Wednesday I hung out with the kids. We got some stuff done, but mostly did some of our favorite stuff.

Teagan rode around in her Dora jeep again and we went to the park before lunch.

After naps we played outside some more and saw Carson and G-pa Swanson walking past our house. The boys actually had on the same shirt - what a pair!! This is what trouble looks like!


Day Care Providers

While I love my days at home it always reassures my decision to be a working mom. I love my kids more than anything, but after a couple days at home I know I make the best decision for all of us when I go back to work every fall. These days also make me appreciate our babysitter and how much she goes through everyday! Like this:
I found Tate watching TV like this - no one got him ready, all him. This one might come back to haunt him!!

At one point Teagan also had every stuffed doll, animal, pretty much anything with a head laying all over the house. They were all napping and she was taking care of them!

So much for my clean house!!

Smooth Roads
Not sure if anyone of you have driven I-80 West lately, but they are doing some resurfacing. It is such a pain and ridiculously loud. What gets me is the people who don't want to drive on it and go 50 mph so the only way to get by them is to drive on the crappy part of the road.

Anyway - it will be nice to have them done and I will be a lot more grateful about the roads I drive on everyday!

Hobby Lobby

Teagan let me do a little shopping at Hobby Lobby on Tuesday. I found this for the outside of my house. There was a mailbox there when we moved in. We took it down right away, but there were screws in the wall and it looked bare. I added some brackets on the back, lets hope it stays up!

Found this basket for a couple dollars and used ivy and sprays from dollar tree to fill it. I would really like to use fresh flowers, but I know they would die and I would just let them hang there. The less work the better!

Happy Hour at Sonic

I don't know how many of you know this, but Sonic has happy hour from 2-4 pm. I think it is just for the slushes, but they are soooo good. They have the regular flavors, but they also have apple or cranberry juice and some other fun flavors. Teagan got a small and I got a medium - the total was $1.75. Heck of a deal!!

Those of just some of my "heart" items from this week. Take a minute to think about the things you "heart". They will make you smile! Have a great Friday!!!

A little help here!

First of all I have to say - hooray for Tori and Dean!! They are going to fill my unused TV time. I really like her. If you would have asked me about that 10 years ago I would have said "no way", but I love this show!!

To my blog readers - I need some suggestions. My creativity has its limits and I really want to re-do my kitchen at some point - I need help. When I say re-do I mean paint and thats about it. We don't have money in the budget to do anything big, but I have the bug and really want to do something. I found a couple pictures that I really like. They have the color scheme that I think I want to use. What do you think?

Here is the big wall that needs the most help - with one of the pictures - just to see how I like it.

These are the pictures I found - only $13 each and I really like the colors. I don't want the wall too dark, so I'm thinking maybe an orangeish.
More of the wall and the entry from the garage. As you can see I need to get rid of the border so I don't know if I should do the whole wall one color or two. Arg - decisions!!

Teagan and I had girl's day today and she was a trooper and endured Hobby Lobby with me. I found a ton of stuff - all on sale of course. These bird pictures included. Now if only I could find an amazing deal on a couch or new cover. Oh well, right now there is food and whatever else crusted on it, so it is doing its job!

Here they are close up.

So - no pressure, but if anyone has any lights go off with some ideas please let me know. Thanks!!