PRESCHOOL!!!

Keatin's 1st day of 4 year old preschool was yesterday...the day finally came! :) I think it was a HUGE success. She reported that her favorite part of the day was playing outside and playing with her new friend Gracey. When I picked her up after school, she was beaming...I asked her how it went and she said - "Mom! It was so "citing"! (AKA - exciting) :) And secretly, I loved being right there to pick her up...and I even secretly peeked in on her a few times...will have to restrain myself from doing that every day!

Keatin - may you have many more "citing" preschool days! :)

still here

Hi...

We are still here...

Just been kinda busy...

 

New school and school year...new daycare...new routine...a new apartment (next weekend)...and hopefully a new house, come February or March...

But...we are hanging in there!

 

Keatin, Will, and I took a break from all the organizing and packing this morning and snuck away to the park for over an hour. It was great. :) Gorgeous weather, new toys to play on, lots of geese and dogs to watch, and Will even pooped his pants...which is always a cause for celebration around here. :) I love these kids...and some days in the last 2 weeks, I have been missing them like CRAZY. And the times of day that I get to spend with them...well, let's just say...it isn't always their best moments...but they are moments, nontheless...and I am grateful for an awesome Sunday morning like we had today.

SO...Keatin officially starts 4 year old preschool on Tuesday. She is THRILLED beyond belief. She will be wearing her Easter dress...don't ask...I know it is not practical for school, but the poor girl has been talking about wearing it to school since June...so I figured I better just go with it. :) I have also found a wonderful mother of another preschool student to help with transporting Keatin to and from school...what a blessing for Josh and I. :) Oh...and Keatin's preschool classroom is just around the corner from my office at school. :)

And then come this weekend, we are moving...to an apartment...in Ankeny. The 3 kids (which includes Crimson) will be going to stay with G & G Petersen for the weekend. G & G Barber actually have a wedding in Ames on Saturday night...which is perfect timing for them because then they get to help us move/unpack - ha! I am just ready to be done with the organizing/packing process (for now) and get the moving over with...which will put me/the kids much closer to Bondurant...which will be very nice. :)

Speaking of Bondurant...I think we are going to build a house there! We have found a plot of land we like that backs up to a little pond. Click here if you want to see the builder's website and the floorplan we are looking at. Don't really know all the details yet...but that is in the works too!

(OK - and I was almost thinking of typing this right here...[And...I am pregnant!] Which is a total lie...but just felt like I needed to add one more crazy thing going on in our lives right now!!!!)

All in all...we are hanging in there. :) Keatin is excited to move to our new "little house" (AKA - the apartment) because we can ride our bikes to Jack and Reid's house from there. :) I know it will be a transition for the kids...okay, maybe ALL of us...but Josh and I are SO excited for this new chapter of our lives!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

tomorrow

Tomorrow is the 1st day with students at my new job...K-1 counselor at Anderson Elementary in Bondurant, IA. I have been back at work since last Thursday...and it has been an adjustment...but I am really excited for the year at the same time.

It has been crazy, busy, and chaotic around our house...lots of adjusting to new routines...so sorry for the lack of pictures of Keatin/Will. Honestly, I am not even sure where my camera is. :)

Keatin and Will have been going to their new babysitter's house since Monday. I was really anxious about dropping them off Monday morning...I have always pawned that job off on Josh...but they did great. No tears by any of the parties involved. :) And Keatin has NOT STOPPED TALKING about Andee's house...so I am taking that as a good sign. :)

Until next time...here are 2 pieces of information Keatin has shared with me in the last few days...

#1
K: Hey mom - do you know where my new friend Kash lives?
M: No honey - where does he live?
K: Kash lives in Tuna, IA.
M: Ooohhh...do you mean Altoona, IA?
K: Nope mom - he lives in Tuna, IA. :)

#2
As we are eating supper tonight, out of the blue Keatin says: Hey mom - do you know what Kash doesn't like? Kash doesn't like buffaloes.

What???? :) I about choked on my food. :)

Aaahhh...love that girl. :)

4

Four years ago today, my life changed. My heart grew bigger than I ever knew it could be...and I became a mom.

Happy 4th birthday Keatin Marie. :)

We love you to the moon and back!

8.7.2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

last monday of the summer...

Today is my last Monday of the summer with these 2. (tear) :(

I have loved being home with Keatin and Will this summer. We spent lots of days playing at the park, playing outside in our pool, watching Dora the Explorer, eating popsicles and watermelon outside, going to story time at the library, playing with friends, and visiting daddy at work...just to name a few things! God has truly blessed me with these 2 children...they are so loving and unique in their own ways...and my heart just overflows with love for them. I pray that I am the best mommy I can be for them each and every day.

We were at the park again last Friday...and new park...and we found this little walking trail. The kids loved it!

How they spotted an itty-bitty worm on the trail, I don't know...but they did...and proceeded to touch the poor thing over and over. Yuck!

We also found this area with really fine sand...and our empty Starbucks cups made perfect sandpails. When I turned around for 3.2 seconds, these two were dumping sand...all...over...each...other. Straight into the bathtub when we got home. :)

And we sold our house...in like 2 weeks! SO...we close on our house in Ames on Sept. 12th. Josh and I looked for a home in Bondurant, but haven't found the right one for us yet...so we are going to rent in Ankeny for 6 months starting Sept. 1st...hoping we will find a house/get a house built in that time period!

[blank park zoo]

My summer with the kids is almost over...and I have been wanting to get to Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines since June...and last Wednesday happened to be the day!

Just like last summer (click here), the deNeui girls were our guests for the trip. They are so sweet...and so helpful...and more than anything, Keatin LOVES them. Honestly, when I told Keatin on Wednesday morning who was coming to the zoo with us, her face was PRICELESS...I wish I could have captured her reaction in a bottle and saved it forever. :)

It was another hot day (shock), but we got to the zoo by 9:30 am and saw everything we needed to see by lunch...when everyone was plenty sweaty and tired!

Will LOVED the fish - he kept going back to them over and over!

The 5 kids. :)

Best pose of the day - ha!

Will also loved the goats...we had to feed them over and over and over! He didn't seem to care at all that the goats kept nibbling his little fingers!

Heading out for lunch - whew!

After lunch before we headed home...2 tired girls!

Thank you Emma, Grace, and Josie for coming along - we love ya!

birthday girl

I have A LOT of catching up to do on the blog...haven't had a lot of free time lately...but will do my best.

However, this post is for the birthday girl at our house...who had her 4th birthday party yesterday.

G & G Petersen and Grandma Barber came into town for the big event...and since the party wasn't until 3:30, "the girls" (as Keatin would say) decided to go get pedicures while Will was napping. SO fun...and we all left with some pretty nails.

And then...it was party time. :) We had Keatin's party at the Cardinal Gymnastics Academy at ISU. What the "party" entailed was basically letting the kids (both young and young at heart kids) play, play, play in the ISU gymastics training facility. I had so much fun just watching them all play! When it was time to do cake/presents, the kids (we had about 10 other friends there) were SO sweaty and red in the face...I decided that meant it was a success. :) I was mom-of-the-year and took one picture the entire party...so these are all the pictures my mom and dad took.

After we were done playing, the ISU gymnastics girls served the kids cake and Keatin was able to open presents. I am not a creative party planner, so this was certainly the way to go (for me) when it comes to a birthday party! And the joy on Keatin's face...it was so worth it. :)

After the party was over, we headed back home to eat supper and open a few more presents...one of which was the t-ball tee pictured below...which Keatin tested out this morning in her pajamas. :)

Awesome day...awesome family...awesome friends...awesome daughter. :)