Winter Project beginnings...

Just changing the color of the door has made the kitchen look bigger and brighter!  

We're going to replace all the interior doors and baseboards and change it to white.  Getting rid of the original, beat-up brown and making it look cleaner. Can't wait to see the results!!

Hockey?!?!

We gave J a choice between hockey and tae kwon do this year.

Surprisingly, it was hockey...hands-down.  You'd never know that he's only been on ice skates one other time last winter.

He was so excited for the season to start, as you can tell by this picture! (you can see that adorable smile even through his facemask!)

It was quite the comedy trying to get all the gear on him.  Although we requested the "small" set, those smalls are huge on him!

This is Chris putting J out on the ice the first time.

It's kind of like watching him learning to walk all over again!!

He was very persistent and didn't give up the entire hour they were out on the ice.  This next video was the first time he got up by himself after falling.  Every single time he fell down, though, he got right back up...

...and he fell.  A lot.  They all did, as the following video shows; they look like bowling pins or something, continually falling over, trying to get back up, and falling down again.  I give them all a ton of credit because I was getting frustrated for them and I was only watching!!! J is the one right in the middle of the screen who doesn't fall down even once in this clip.  :)

We are so proud of him!

His first words when he got off the ice, even before I got his helmet off:

"That. Was. AWE-SOME!!!"

So are you, my boy.

So. are. you.

NLCS Game 1 2014

We made it to the 1st game of the NLCS this year!  Even though the Cardinals didn't pull off a win when we were there, we still had a ton of fun!!

And we definitely have a baseball fan on our hands...I love this boy.

Ready to catch a foul ball!!! 

January to April 2014

Yeah, I know...January?!?!

I have definitely been slacking on the blog this year.  I can give excuses or just post these pictures that I've just recently run across again...

I agree.  Do the post.

In January, we spent some time at my aunt's house with my parents and sisters and their families.  Random pictures from that visit.

Warning: total cuteness factor will be seen multiple times over!

Rub-a-dub-dub, four boys in a tub

Someone had a great night's sleep!!

Twister with Grandma

Twister with great-Aunt Lori

Fixing up great-Grandpa's walker for Valentine's Day

J played indoor soccer from January to March and enjoyed it.

(But not as much as he's loving t-ball presently!)

Playing trucks with his friend, B (who I think was jumping during my picture attempt, hence the blurriness/shadow around him)

First roller skating attempt.  He says he likes ice skating better.

Helping Daddy do some "man work" around the house with his tools.

The donations to the animal shelter that he received in lieu of birthday gifts this year.  What a sweet boy...he was so excited to do this when I mentioned it instead of get gifts for himself!

So now we are quickly caught up to April.  I have pictures through July photoshopped and will try to get those up soon.

Yeah, I know, you've heard that one before!!

Another First!

Last Friday was J's first day of Kindergarten!

So much fun to be able to share this with him.

And we can't believe he's growing up so fast!!

We are so so proud of you!

Our camper

If I can get it uploaded correctly, here is video of our camper.  I had to cut it into multiple shorter movies because it was too long, so watch them all if you want to see the whole camper!

Looking forward to going back up!  The camper will stay there, so that way when we go up, we can just unlock the door, push two buttons to pop out the slide-out and the awning, and we're pretty much good to go after Chris hooks up the water and electric.  Guess it's not really true camping anymore, but boy is it fun!!

And next time we go up, I finally get my hammock hung up...just hope the bugs aren't too bad.

Who's up for a visit?!?!

300th post!

Took me a while to get there, but this is my 300th post on the blog!!  And to commemorate it, I want to wish my husband a happy 10th anniversary a day late (June 26th).

It's been a wild ride, with ups and downs, but I'm so glad it was you I was on that ride with.  I can't imagine what my life would be like without you.

Happy 10th Anniversary, Honey!!

What a difference ten years makes...

Thank you for making me so very happy.

I'm the luckiest woman/mommy in the world.