A Colorful World!

While Josh and Caroline were on their Daddy and Daughter date, Cooper and I had a night to ourselves!  We went out to eat at a restaurant we had never been to, Mooyah, and enjoyed hamburgers and shakes.  On the wall next to the booth where we sat, there were big cow pictures.  Cooper LOVED them and kept pointing to them.  While we were talking, I started asking him what color each cow was.  Mind you, this kid really hasn't said many words before, but he blurted out the right answers on every one of them!  He really keeps things in and waits until he gets them perfectly right to show us he can do something!  Since then he talks non-stop and has quite the vocabulary!  Who knows what else is going on in that little head of his?!  :)  Just yesterday I was asking Caroline what the opposite of short was.  She was rattling off the "wrong" answers, thinking she was funny, and Cooper answered  so matter of factly - "tall"!  My little smarty pants!

Princess and Papa Winter Ball

Josh and Caroline attended a Father/Daughter dance the other weekend and had a wonderful night enjoying each other!  Caroline and I spent the day getting pedicures and her hair cut and then we curled her hair and she was even allowed to wear a little "make up" to the event!  She chose to wear her Cinderella wedding dress to the ball and danced the night away!

Caroline had Traveling Bear from school, so she accompanied her getting ready and also posed for some pictures!

Check out those moves!

Caroline didn't know anyone at the dance, but managed to make friends quite quickly!  She had groups of girls dancing together and was the ring leader of it all!  Apparently most of the dads just stood and watched.  I'm amazed at how well this little girl can make friends and how easy it is for her to get kids to follow her.  It is definitely a gift and one we pray she uses to always include everyone.

Cheers to a wonderful daughter and amazing father!

February 14th!!

My favorite day of the year!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

XOXO

Our... HOUSE?!

Well at least the start of it anyways!  We found the lot where we wanted to build our house back in May.  Since then we have been designing every last detail and planning everything out.  It has taken quite a bit longer than we anticipated {and there might be some frustration there!}, but I can finally say that they are ready to build!  The previous house was demolished right before Christmas and we have enjoyed driving over to the property to look at it several times now.  The city permit has been obtained and now it is in the builder's hands.

We took Adam, Julie and Sam over to see where the house will be and Sam and Caroline had a great time building their own house!  So far this is about the most work that has been done on it.

2013

Well, it's 2013 and now February... but who's counting?!  We really enjoyed our January and have finally had a chance to relax!!  Josh and I almost don't know what to do with ourselves on the weekends because, for the first time in a long time, we have some time!  The kids have done well together and have been taking naps at the same time lately.  It has been nice to sit back and not have to clean the house to show it or work on new house things.  Even though we are now 1 month in to 2013, I thought I would share my resolutions to finally write them down and hopefully start working on them!!

1.  I am finding myself so run down with no energy!  It's sad but I usually do fine during the day and just crash when Josh comes home.  I really wanted to start working out to increase my energy!  I thought about joining a gym and then Josh encouraged me to do P90X with him.  I was really hesitant, but decided to give it a try.  Josh is very patient and a great person to push me.  So far, we are starting week 5 and I've actually been able to somewhat keep up.  I've skipped days here and there and can't really say that I've lost weight, but I have been able to stay up past 10!  :)  HUGE improvement!  I really do hope to make it through the whole 90 days and hopefully, at some point, realize that I like working out?

2.  I really need to teach Caroline and Cooper how to clean up after themselves.  I spend all of my nap time and night time cleaning just because it is easier.  This is something I want to work on and can't quite say I've been doing well with, but hope to really try!

3.  Limit our TV time!  While we showed the house, we had to do anything to keep the kids occupied.  TV worked so well to entertain them while I cleaned the house and we kind of fell into a routine.  Now they think the only thing we do while home is watch TV!  This has got to change!  I'm hoping with more energy and more time to devote to them, we can find new normals!  It's been hard being in a new house and a new area, but we are working on it and with the beautiful weather that we have been having lately, we have no excuse!