MANFULLS

It’s Love Day :)

2012-02-14T17:31:00.001-08:00

And I sure do love this little monkey!!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Like father like son…

2012-02-06T15:59:00.001-08:00

5 months!

2012-01-22T07:41:00.001-08:00

I can’t believe Lincoln is already 5 months old! He is growing so fast! This little boy loves to talk and smile. His favorite things are still the fan and lights. He has really been interested in watching Abby lately and will have staring contests with her! He still is not a fan of tummy time but at day care this past week while he was on his tummy he was getting so mad that he rolled over to his back and did it 3 times!

He still has his fussy time at night but it’s been helping putting him to bed a little earlier. Lincoln had been sleeping through the night 8-9 hours, amazing! This was while he was in his Rock and Play Sleeper in our room since he had some colds, but I have now made the transition back to his crib which is messing things up! I don’t think he likes feeling so “open” in his crib so he usually wakes up 3 or so times but will fall asleep after I give him his pacifier or sometimes he will soothe himself back down. His hasn’t needed to eat in the night for a few weeks now. I knew putting him back in his crib was going to mess up sleep patterns but I had to do it! He is usually a great napper, except for this weekend for some reason and has been only napping good on me!

Another new transition has been switching to formula :( My supply just wasn’t there and am now out of what I had frozen so I can’t keep up. He was used to formula because we have always had to put formula with my breast milk for extra calories. Now that he has had an increase in formula he seems to be spitting up a lot more so we will have to see how this goes. It’s been a little hard on me knowing I am completely done with the whole nursing/pumping thing but at the same time it has made my life a little easier. I feel like I can get so much more done at school now and can socialize again. I actually ate lunch with teachers for the first time last week!

Weight: 14.8 lbs Diaper size: 2 Clothes size: a few 3-6, mostly 6 mo, and some 6-9 mo

Look what I’m starting to do, still with little help from mom! He grabs at everything now!

Mommy likes this shirt :)

New Years = Weddings!

2012-01-20T06:32:00.001-08:00

On December 30th we went to Drew and Abby Johnson’s wedding. I missed the entire wedding as I had to stand outside the sanctuary with Lincoln. I fed him and then he just wanted to be super loud talking and laughing and just being a stinker, but mostly a happy stinker. So that was still a bummer for me. The reception was a lot of fun, even though Lincoln prevented me from staying too long. I loved the food they had catered. They had cheeseburger sliders, fries, beans and other yummy food from Famous Daves. The reception was at the Rotary Reserve which was super nice since it was only a couple minutes away from our house so I could go put the little guy to bed!

Mr. Hungry Lincoln with Dave Bartlett!

On December 31 Aj’s Aunt Kim and Archie got married at Orchard Hill (that’s two weddings at Orchard two days in a row!!) This wedding Lincoln decided to be a sweet little boy and slept through the entire thing, thank you! It was a perfect ceremony for them and fun to be with family for the night. After the wedding we had a dinner at the Visitors Center where Kim works. Everything was set up so beautifully. The rest of the night was spent at the Clarion. That hotel was packed! The guys even brought their Bags game inside to play in the hallway. This has been their new obsession at holiday events:) We didn’t make it quite to midnight, I think we were home around 11 and asleep by 11:30!!

The next day was spent laying around with Uncle Monte and his girlfriend Erica. She flew in for the weekend from Colorado to meet our family. We had so much fun spending time with them! That night our family all went to the Brown Bottle for a delicious dinner. Can’t wait to see you guys in the summer!

I think Lincoln was saying some prayers during a little snooze, love it!!

More Christmas!

2012-01-15T08:38:00.001-08:00

On Christmas Eve day AJ and I exchanged presents and let the dogs get new bones out of their stockings. They had been really investigating their stocking for a couple days so were pretty excited to finally have their treat. Lincoln’s main present from us this year was his high chair. He was pretty stoked, soon he will be in it!

That night we headed to the Christmas Eve service at our church with both our families. Uncle Monte drove all day from Colorado to get there in time. We were all so looking forward to seeing him, especially Lincoln since he had not met his uncle yet! After church we went back to my parents house to open presents and have appetizers.

Christmas day we headed over to my grandma’s house for lunch.

Lincoln is all about fitting as many fingers in his mouth as he can!

My grandma really wanted pictures of Lincoln in her highchair. It is for dolls, but she has pictures of my brother and I sitting in it when we were 3 and 4 months old so Lincoln needed to carry on the tradition. His head was a little wobbly still so our hands were right there to prop it back up if needed:)

Later that afternoon both our families went bowling! Lincoln was a good boy watching the action from his car seat and took a little nap. After bowling we all went to Peppers to eat. Lincoln started fussing there quite a bit and not eating so good, which I soon found out was due to the start of a little stomach bug :( Poor boy didn’t feel so good for a few days and we went through SO many diapers!

Manfull Christmas

2012-01-09T19:24:00.001-08:00

We had our Christmas with AJ’s family on the 17th. It was another nice day in December! We started our day off with quiche then let the girls open their presents for new toys to play with. Later we had delicious ham from Zippys, opened more presents and frosted a lot of cookies. Lincoln got toys, clothes and books!! We had a great day!

Quite a few years ago Aj’s family had pictures taken all in their white ts. Nateria and Emily thought it would be fun for the significant others to take pictures in our white ts in just about the same poses and location. We took the pictures on Thanksgiving since it was so nice out then gave them the pictures for Christmas. They loved them!

Later that night we kept Lincoln at AJ’s parents house for a couple hours so we could go to AJ’s work party. It was a lot of fun! Lincoln was Mr. Fussy while we were gone but luckily he slept over 9 hours for mommy that night!

Lincoln’s 4 months!

2012-01-01T12:55:00.001-08:00

Ok he’s a little more now since I am behind in blogging, what’s new! It has been so much fun watching Lincoln’s personality come out. He loves to smile and laugh. He is full of smiles now especially if you clap his hands together and pull down fast on his chin. He absolutely loves his mommy and daddy. Lately he just wants to be held which I love but makes it hard to get things done. I am getting much better at just letting those other things go and just embrace this time cuddling together! Lincoln is obsessed with staring at our ceiling fan and still loves bright lights. He actually loves when I change his diaper and clothes, we’ll see how long this lasts! He also tolerates Abby’s kisses quite nicely :)

He has had a cold for about three weeks so has been sleeping in our room in his rock and play sleeper. I am slowly making the transition back to his crib during naps but it isn’t the easiest. He sleeps all night now but will occasionally wake up once to eat but its more like a little snack and he’s back down. This past month he has been a little stinker with eating. My milk supply definitely has gone down since I went back to work and am having trouble getting it back up. This has made nursing more difficult. Lincoln also just does better with a bottle and I am finally accepting the fact that it’s okay for me to just pump and feed him on a bottle. He will nurse in the night if needed and in the morning (but only will eat on one side and then I have to pump and give the rest with a bottle). It’s a little more of a hassle but definitely less stressful for everyone. I will keep pumping as long as I can.

Lincoln started going to the chiropractor which has helped a lot. He has acid reflux which can make it hard for him to eat. He has much less spit up and now he burps so much better. He still can be a little fussy, more at night time. He is still not a fan of tummy time so trying to do it more often in smaller time amounts. He had his EDI therapy appointment last week to see how he’s progressing on development. She said he’s at about 3 months (really they still compare him to his gestational age so about 2 1/2 months) so he’s doing really good. He’s a little behind with his head, not quite holding up on own yet but close. He’s close to rolling over too. She said he pry would be if he had some more tummy time so will keep plugging away.

Thanks to Hansons and Hoskinsons for letting our little man wear their boy clothes!! It has been super helpful and much appreciated. He is wearing a few 3 months but mostly 3-6 months and some 6 months clothes. Everyone tells us he doesn’t even look like he was a preemie – has some good chubby cheeks and catching up very nicely!

4 month stats: (his percentile compared to preemie boys)

weight 12 lbs 12 oz 75-95%

height 23.25in 75-95%

head 39 cm 50-75%

I caught Roy one morning sitting in Lincoln’s rocker. When I got the camera he started getting down, he was sitting up very nicely enjoying his brother’s room!

First Thanksgiving

2011-12-23T06:21:00.001-08:00

I love all these “first” holidays with our new little family! We celebrated the weekend before Thanksgiving with my family. My parents were heading out to Colorado for Thanksgiving with my brother. We were also celebrating AJ’s birthday. Unfortunately he got the flu so was sick that weekend and could not join in the festivities. Lincoln and I stayed away from dad most of the weekend! We spent Thanksgiving day at AJ’s parents house. Lincoln was really fussy that day (tummy pain with acid reflux:( We still had a lot of fun with our family!

Here’s my gobs of photos!

Trip to Arizona!

2011-12-13T19:37:00.001-08:00

I went back to work November 7th but only for a few days before we headed out to Arizona for our friend’s Tyler and Amy’s wedding! We left Wednesday after work to drive to Des Moines and stayed with the Willoughbys. This was Lincoln’s first long car right and first night away from our house. He was such a trooper. We flew out early the next day on daddy’s birthday. Mom was a little stressed just worrying about how his first flight would go. Lincoln only fussed about one minute switching sides nursing. Whew, I just didn’t want to be that mom with a screaming baby! We kept him covered the whole flight and practically nobody knew he was even there! Their wedding was 11-11-11! Lincoln got to spend the day with the girls relaxing and getting ready. During the wedding, right as AJ and I were starting to walk down the aisle, Lincoln started crying ready to eat. The whole time standing up front I was worrying about him and felt bad for our friend who had to miss practically the whole wedding to feed and take care of him. She came back just in time for the vows! The reception was beautiful! It was at Amy’s dad’s amazing house outside. They had heaters brought in which made it nice and cozy. I just cuddled Lincoln and we had a great time. We hung out the next day for a little while at her dad’s house before taking off to go back home. Our flight home definitely wasn’t as smooth sailing as the way there. There was HORRIBLE turbulence due to 75 mph tail wind. It was pretty much dropping us out of the sky. It lasted about 30 minutes and had to get higher in altitude to find higher air. People’s things started falling so they made everyone put everything up. I had to hold on to Lincoln really tight. We were super nervous this whole time. Lincoln was amazing and slept through it all :) We drove home from Des Monies that night and got home at about 2:30 am. It was a short trip but we had lots of fun spending time with the Geopferts!

Nicole Geopfert, mommy, and Lincoln at the rehearsal dinner

The bridesmaids! (Look at that beautiful background!)

Loving time with daddy

The beautiful bride and groom – Tyler and Amy

AJ, Lincoln, Travis and Nicole – we have missed them and loved spending time with them!

Lincoln slept through all our pictures!

my 3 month old

2011-11-20T17:49:00.001-08:00

I still can’t believe how fast these months go. Lincoln has been interacting a lot more with us. He just started really smiling and cooing at us. I LOVE it! Someday I hope to capture it on camera!

Weight: 11 lbs 2. oz Head: not sure! Length: Not sure!

He usually sleeps about 7 hours at night which is amazing! Last weekend Lincoln went on his first trip in an airplane to Arizona for our friends Tyler and Amy’s wedding. I will post more about that trip later. He also has been adjusting to day care. We are all getting into a routine now with me back at work. I am finally feeling a little better about it all now that I’m getting into the groove of things again. I am looking forward to the upcoming holidays with our new little one and our families!

Lincoln’s 3 month posing session didn’t go the greatest. He was Mr. Fussy so most pictures were him crying!

so here we are…

2011-11-06T14:46:00.001-08:00

Sitting on the couch biting my lip. It is the day before I go back to work and I feel like tomorrow is the first day of school. My nerves are here yet excited to work with my kiddos and fellow teachers again. I get to meet new teachers and even new kids. Parts of me has excitement. The rest is filled with some sadness. I have loved being home with our son. I love watching everything he does all day long. I love to hold him when he cries or just need some cuddles. I love to kiss him any time in the day I want. I am going to miss him in the day. I know it will all be ok and this time was soon to come. I just want to freeze time… I am lucky to have the breaks we get as teachers. But right now I am just thinking about everything I will miss. And I am afraid I will miss some firsts. He will be in great hands and only a few minutes away from school so if I need to I can run and kiss him during lunch. I want Lincoln to know how much his mom loves him and always will. He is the most precious thing to me. Ok so writing this is only bringing the tears on so I must stop.

Here’s my fast growing boy:

Lincoln’s throne

2011-10-31T17:36:00.001-07:00

All summer I kept saying we needed to finish (I mean start) his bedroom – it was bugging me that it wasn’t done. My goal was to have it mostly done before I went back to work. I knew there was a reason I was so pushy…9 weeks early was a good reason:) We did have the walls painted and a dresser set up before Lincoln was born! I had found some neat wall decals that I was planning on buying for his room but then didn’t really want to spend the money. So AJ hooked up our computer and projector in his room and traced the tree and grass. Aj’s mom is so crafty and painted them! It turned out so awesome. Lincoln’s room is definitely my favorite room in the house:) Everything else has come together…I still need a few more things for the walls and need to bring in some of our pictures but that’s on my to do list .. my very large to do list!

And here’s the lil man who sleeps in this room…..

2 months

2011-10-19T15:08:00.001-07:00

Lincoln James is already 2 months old! It’s weird that it was just my actual due date a few days ago too. I can’t express how great these last few weeks with him at home have been. We have all transitioned here pretty well. It is different not having nurses to talk to any hour of the day tho!

Here are Lincoln’s two month stats:

Weight- 8lbs 11 oz – 50th%

Height- 20.75in - 50th%

Head- 35cm – 25th%

Lincoln seems to be growing so well! He is a very content baby. He naps a lot in the day. He usually is awake right after he eats for a while, but sometimes is just too sleepy. He stays awake more in the evening time. He is eating every 2 1/2 – 3 hours in the day and usually 4 hours sometimes a little more or sometimes a little less in the night. I am waiting for this to get better! Nursing definitely hasn’t been the easiest thing in the world, which I wasn’t expecting. He is getting better but will sometimes be very sleepy while eating so it can take a while, or he screams bloody murder trying to latch on. They say this is kind of a preemie thing too, and will continue to get better as he gets bigger. He takes a bottle great which is awesome for Lincoln and daddy time!

I love watching his little facial expressions especially while he’s sleeping. He still doesn’t give us a smile while he’s awake which I am waiting for! Lincoln doesn’t fuss much, except during diaper changes and when he’s hungry. Oh and sometimes during tummy time – he isn’t the biggest fan of this. He is getting better at lifting and turning his head.

The dogs have adjusted well but miss getting all the attention. Abby is still a pistol and will carry his pacifiers or sometimes a blanket of his off somewhere else. She loves diapers (dirty or not) so I cannot leave these out in her reach. I absolutely love being at home with Lincoln and cuddling with him. It’s definitely not going to be the easiest going back to work. Laundry and a clean house pry isn’t going to happen as much real soon…I have to keep telling myself that holiday breaks and summer will be here before we know it!!

grandparents

2011-10-03T17:53:00.001-07:00

Both our parents waited ever so patiently to hold their new grandson. Everything was a little tricky in the hospital with monitors, oxygen, tube for food, etc. The night before we left the hospital they all held him. I don’t think they ever wanted to stop Good thing they all live in town!!

Lincoln has two amazing sets of grandparents who will spoil him and love him to pieces!!

one month, new camera and lots of pictures

2011-09-27T18:06:00.001-07:00

Lincoln was one month old on September 15th! At one month he weighed 6lbs 1oz. I did the best we could with a little photo shoot on daddy at the hospital!

Lincoln finally came home last Wednesday the 21st. Words can’t express how happy we are to all be home together. We got a new camera and have enjoyed taking gobs of pictures!

Today he had a checkup. I was nervous to take him all by myself. AJ stuck around to help get us out the door. Everything went pretty smooth!

6 week stats: weight: 6lbs 8 oz 25th percentile head: 33in. 5-25th percentile length: 20 in. 50th percentile

*I am going to try to catch up and keep posting!*

a few firsts

2011-09-03T07:36:00.001-07:00

Wednesday August 24th was Lincoln’s first bath in the sink. AJ was holding him before and we decided to just undress him while still being held.

Here are some pictures as we began this fun process!

Now right after this I attempted to take off his diaper… and this became the first time we got peed on! It was a straight shot to daddy I covered him and then opened his diaper figuring he was done. Nope.. I think this happened 3 times! I have learned my lesson now!

Lincoln really liked his bath and was content the whole time.

On Monday August 29, Lincoln moved up to a big boy bed – an open crib!! This just makes everything a little easier!

I have also now started nursing him twice a day. We are still in the beginning stages and can’t wait until that light just turns on and he gets it all the time!! This morning was actually the best so far. Dr. keeps saying we are working on quality not quantity right now He is continuing to gain weight and is 5lbs 1oz !

sweet Abby

2011-08-29T16:58:00.001-07:00

Oh where do I begin on this baby girl of ours!?

Two days after I passed my kidney stones, Friday July 15th, Abby got pretty sick. Everything was normal that day, a lot of laying around with mom. We went outside that night to look at a game AJ made and she then started acting all goofy. She laid under the deck in the dirt and was just not herself. We went inside for a while, and she was just pacing and being weird. AJ took her outside. He then came back in the house with his hand all red and asked me what Abby ate that was red. I freaked out, saying she didn't eat anything, that was all blood! I ran outside and couldn't believe all the blood Abby threw up. It was the biggest pile ever (I of course have a picture but would not do that to you!) Anyway, we called the vet. She said to give her pepto tablets so AJ went and bought some. The entire night she was just awake, feeling miserable. I took her to the vet in the morning. Her blood count levels were off. She had some intestinal infection and started to become anemic. It was a rough week. She was super weak. She had tried going to the bathroom outside, but was too weak could not get back up. Aj had to carry her back in the house. I am so glad he was there because me being pregnant (ok even if I wasn't pregnant) could not lift her! She had even fallen over in the hallway for me and hit her head on the wall because she was too weak. So for about a week and a half I nursed her back to health. We had to feed her while she was laying on the couch. We gave her water from a bowl from the couch. She had lost weight too which she was kind of skinny to begin with.

Finally she was back to herself again after 2 weeks. Until...

She was doing very well so we took her and Roy out on the boat on a nice Sunday afternoon! It was very hot out but felt great to be in the water. Abby can get fearful of the water, but with assistance getting off the boat and in she did it. Well after in the water she started throwing up foam. First we thought it was the heat. I had said we needed to take her back home. The whole time at home she was throwing up more foam and lots of saliva. She was crying and moaning super loud. She tried hiding places in the house- so not Abby. I called the vet, very nervous because Great Danes have a higher risk for stomach twisting and bloat. She said to try pepto tablets and if she didn't stop throwing up to come in. Well she didn't stop so we met the vet and Abby got a shot to try and stop vomiting. She advised us that if that didn't stop to call the Cedar Rapids Eastern Iowa Emergency Vet Hospital. So we did and ended up taking a trip to CR that night. Her stomach ended up twisting (a little less of the twisting, more shifting positions) then had the bloat. Bloat is when their stomach starts to fill with excess gas/fluid at such a rate that the dog can't relieve the pressure or keep up by belching or passing gas. 40% of cases this can be fatal.We were at the hospital a little before 8pm and at 10:30 we got to see her before she went in for surgery. At this time she was not doing a great job breathing. 11pm she went in for surgery. This was very difficult for AJ and I to wait. At midnight we talked to the surgeon. Abby made it through surgery and everything looked ok now. So we drove home and got back about 1:45 am. She had then developed aspiration pneumonia from sucking and breathing in all that foam. She was put on oxygen to help her breathe better. I got a call at 1pm Monday saying they weren't sure if she was going to make it because her breathing was not doing well and she was dependent at this point on oxygen. That was not the phone call I wanted nor expected. When we got there that night we didn't know what to expect. AJ brought her most favorite toy that she cannot live with out, her green football. We thought maybe they would wheel her in to the room to see us, but no.. she came in walking and came right up to AJ and took the football from him and walked around the room very proud!! They said she was doing much better!! The next day they said she was off her oxygen (from what I read in the reports after it said after seeing her owners she was more anxious and chewed through her oxygen line, therefore her oxygen was discontinued!! ha that is our Abby). So Tuesday evening we brought home our baby girl!! We then began the process of getting her all healed up. This time she wasn't as weak and could eat and drink on her own, thank goodness! She was put on 5 different medicines, it was a lot of work taking care of this girl!
This dog made July an interesting month for us, but we love her and so glad she is doing great now!
She used to be 113 lbs and now down to 99lbs, we are working on beefing her up :)

On our way home from the hospital that Tuesday night

Finally got settled in on one of the beds with her football!

Roy had to check her out to make sure his sister was alive and well!

This is how we spent our evening and days to follow...

She can even blow bubbles!

21 staples...

She is a little spoiled

Abby is back to her normal self, this picture clearly tells you how! This is what we came home to yesterday. I think she is mad at us for being gone so much at the hospital with her baby brother. She hadn't been kenneled for over a month, but she started back in there today!!

We still love her, so to end the night last night we took both dogs out on a long walk at the rock quarry by our house!

One Week Old!

2011-08-22T12:54:00.002-07:00

Lincoln is one week old today. I can't believe it! This little guy has just melted mommy and daddy's hearts. We can't wait until the day we bring him home. Most likely that will be about 3 weeks, give or take. Here is a little recap of what has happened this past week:

Saturday Aug. 13: My contractions were super painful (for some days) but thought I should call labor and delivery and see what they thought. I had also just lost my mucus plug so they thought I needed to come in. I drove myself since we thought it would be a quick check. I got there at 7:30 pm and stayed for a couple hours. My contractions were about 3-5 min. apart. My cervix was still closed. They did another FFN test to see if I would go into preterm labor. I was given IV to see if hydrating me more would help. Then I was given a few shots to try and stop/slow contractions. This ended up helping so I was able to go home about 9:30pm. They said to call back if contractions got closer or pain started again. The nurse called me and said the FFN test was positive (3 days ago it was negative!!) Told me to be on bed and pelvic rest until my next appointment on Wed. Well an hour after I got home the pain was back. I toughed it through the night, not sleeping at all.

Sunday Aug. 14: I called the nurse at 7:50am and she said I needed to come in. AJ drove me this time, but dropped me off because he needed to finish some concrete work he was doing!(We laugh about this now!) I got checked and was dilated to 4+!! Holy cow I couldn't believe it. I was admitted, talked to my neo-natologist about all the complications of a preemie, given a steroid to help develop baby's lungs, given more shots to try and stop these contractions. The plan was to try and stop them and hopefully keep this baby in me till 36 weeks but would be on bed rest in the hospital until he arrived. It was kind of a long day dealing with contractions. My mom and AJ were there with me. I started having some really bad ones about 4pm which sent baby's heart rate down to 60 for about 2 min. then stabilized. This happened a few times. I was checked at about 8:30 pm and was at 6cm. I was given oxygen to help baby and me. Had epidural, broke water and was told was going to have this baby! 11pm started pushing but then stopped because just wasn't quite ready. My dad was in Florida for work, but my mom, AJ and his parents were there. My mom and his parents waited in the waiting room!

Monday Aug. 15: 1:40am started pushing with nurse and at 1:55am brought Dr. and everyone in. 2:16am Lincoln James Manfull arrived into this world with a nice loud scream:) 4lbs 6oz, 17 in. long. I couldn't hold him since he needed to get checked right away. I touched his leg then he was in the room for 15 min. getting looked over. Then AJ went with Dr. to the NICU with Lincoln.

How he is doing now: Great! He has lots of beautiful blonde hair! Last week had a breathing tube to give him a rest from working so hard, then had CPAP, then was breathing all on his own! Friday Aug. 18 started Bili lights and blanket for jaundice but as of today (Aug. 22) off that for now! AJ and I love to hold him during his feedings which is every 3 hours. So we usually hold him for 2-3 hours a couple times a day. I spend the night about every other night and am here all day. AJ comes after work and was here all weekend.
Saturday Aug. 20 we had a family baby shower and got some great things. Last night Danielle came over and helped us in Lincoln's room (we didn't really have anything ready because we weren't expecting Lincoln to come 9 weeks early!) I am not not as stressed as things are falling into place.

In order to come home: They said he needs to have 3 things mastered which are breathing on own (doing good!), holding his own body temperature (that's been good past 2 days but waiting a little bit to be in an open crib) and eating all on his own. Right now he has a little tube down his nose for breastmilk that I pump. The hard part can be doing all 3 of these things at once!

AJ made a video of his first 5 days but I am having trouble loading it on here so will keep working on it. Here are some pictures for now :) The little circle taped on his face is what his cool shades for the bili lights were stuck to!

October came early!

2011-08-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

Lincoln James arrived Monday August 15th at 2:16 am. 4 lbs 6 oz, 17 inches long. Precious as could be.

More info to come later. He is doing well and making progress in the NICU. I finally got to hold him last night and have skin to skin contact for about 45 minutes- that was truly amazing.

down to single digits

2011-08-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

Well here we are with 9 weeks left! WOW! He is going to be here before we know it. I am now getting anxious and just ready to meet him and cuddle him!

This last month has been a little interesting. Starting in the middle of June, I was having blood in my urine. I was put on antibiotics for UTI, however tests revealed it was never a UTI. So this happened again July 2nd. I was told to come in and get checked out and to make sure I wasn't having contractions. I was suppose to be on the monitor for 20 minutes but then that turned into about an hour and a half because I actually was having contractions. The doctor had thought there was a chance I had kidney stones so decided to do an ultra sound on my kidney and bladder. Nothing showed on that, but they can be small so they don't always show. So they said just to monitor things and I was put on antibiotics again.

Then a few days later, on our way home from the Ozarks I started having some back pain. The next day (Tuesday) the back pain was very severe and painful. AJ drove me up to Covenant. They said this had to be the passing of the kidney stones. I was in tears pretty much the whole time there because my back pain was so intense. I had to be have a test to see if there was a chance I would have preterm delivery. Luckily that was negative. So I got put on Vicatin...once that kicked in I felt so much better. However I then started throwing up the rest of the day and the next day as well until finally that Wednesday night I PASSED THE KIDNEY STONES!!! It wasn't overally big, a little smaller than a pea but oval shaped. And then had a few that looked like grains of sand. It's crazy how small these things were but yet caused soo much pain.

My contractions have continued. They were all painless until this week. They now feel very crampy in my lower abdomen and in my lower back. It is starting to be uncomfortable and the only thing that makes them feel better is a heating pad. Sleep has been horrible! I had to be checked again to make sure I wasn't dilated or having a chance of preterm later. That all turned out fine again so just have to keep an eye on things. Let's hope this lil babe can hang out a few more weeks in there!!

31 weeks!

Lake of the Ozarks

2011-07-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

A week ago AJ and I took a mini vacation to Lake of the Ozarks to visit our good friends Dale and Becky Geerdes. It was super hot while we were there, perfect for boating. We had a blast with them and can't wait to return next summer with our lil guy!

We had fun riding in Becky's convertible! We made it to the outlet mall for a little bit. I had been wanting to go to Motherhood for a while!

Since it was so hot (actual temp was 102), we spent most our days floating. It was just perfect!

We had a beautiful view while we were just loungin in the water:)

It was pretty busy out on the water, so AJ got thrashed around quite a bit loving every minute of it.. in AJ's words "It was sobering" :)

One night we went out to dinner at Baxters. It is right on the water-a perfect view. It was so delicious!

We had so much fun with them. It was completely relaxing, just what we needed! We played mannny games of Sequence, which we dominated in :) Can't wait to go back!

26 weeks

2011-07-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

I have been asked multiple times to share some baby bump pictures! So here you go:)

24 weeks

25 weeks

26 weeks this past Thursday

Ultimate Dog Tease

2011-07-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

Haven't been able to stop watching this video this weekend :)

our first garden

2011-06-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

I love our neighbors, the Goetzs! We made a garden together and it has been a lot of fun watching everything take off!
What we planted: strawberries (in the boxes), 2 different kinds of potatoes, green beans, onions, cucumbers, carrots, radishes, peppers, tomatoes and watermelon (I think that's all). We also planted some big sunflowers. I can't wait until everything is ready to be picked and eaten :)

Here are some pictures during the beginning of everything growing.

Now everything has really taken off!

We have some amazing sunsets at our house. Here are some recent favorite pictures from our deck.

Fun on the river!

2011-06-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we celebrated Em's birthday on the river. Rob, Nateria and the girls were able to make it up for a fun weekend!!

Grace is getting so big! She was very excited to talk about going to preschool soon!

Morgan is almost a year old! She is one happy girl!

It was a great day to get the pool out at grandma and grandpas!

Grace had to water all the steps on the deck!

Birthday girl Em!

Had to have some 21 week baby bump pics with Amy and Nateria :)

Before going to bed, Grace showed off her dance recital performance to us, and this was one of the poses where she would kick her feet up and down. So cute!!!

The life of a dog...

2011-06-06T19:08:00.000-07:00

It's a ...

2011-05-26T19:14:00.001-07:00

Baby Manfull is a boy!!!

Thoughts on pregnancy

2011-05-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

Oh where do I begin?:)

I vividly remember that day we found out we were expecting. When I got to school that day I couldn't get rid of this crazy grin on my face. I remember somebody asking me why I was so happy, and I just told them I was so excited that our carpet was being laid today (which it was and I was so happy about!)

We told our parents within a week..my dad jumped up and screamed at Buffalo Wild Wings - a lil embarrassing but fun! It sure was hard keeping things quiet for the next 11 weeks.

I really feel like I have been lucky so far. I would occasionally get sick but not often. The worst was during week 13-14 I got the flu bad...really bad. I had to go to the hospital 3 times for IVs for fluid. I was so dehydrated and the sickest I had ever been. I thought I would never get better. I was off work for a week which was not fun as well. I was worried since I was sick, maybe the baby wasn't ok even though I knew deep down everything was fine. I was reassured at the hospital when we heard the heartbeat again.

After I finally got over that hump I could eat again, and oh did it feel good to eat! The biggest craving has been Popsicles. I would eat like 4 day!

My tummy is now growing! My belly button is already turning to an outie and it is so weird.
I will be 20 weeks this Thursday and get to have an ultra sound and find out what we are having!I have been waiting for Thursday to come for a long time!

Aj thinks we are having a boy and I am thinking a girl. You will get to find out soon, but you can keep guessing for now:)

Sunday landscaping & playing with Picasa

2011-05-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

Today we started our landscaping. We initially planned on doing more siding, but then we just wanted to do something fun. So we picked up rocks from the yard and started landscaping! We had a little added help from the dogs of course. It was an all day event working hard. Dogs now paid the price and are out COLD!

I have been hearing lots of good things about Picasa so I thought I would download it and give it a try tonight. It's pretty fun and easy. I like how fast it is to put pictures in the blog. Maybe I will start to blog more now... :)

Someone has a new look!

2011-04-25T15:21:00.001-07:00

It was definitely time this boy got a haircut. He was always super hot and collecting dirt and everything else you could imagine in his hair. Now he feels refreshed and rejuvenated. Pretty sure he lost some weight now too:)

Before:

After:

Our next phase in life!!!

2011-04-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

We're having a baby!!!!

Due October 13th :)

two weeks in the house

2011-02-24T16:55:00.000-08:00

I can't believe we have been in the house for two weeks already. Things are really coming together.
We still have a lot left to do. Hopefully trim will be in soon. I plan on shopping during spring break for some decorations, bar stools, and new bedding. Our new kitchen table will be delivered on Wednesday!

Here are a few pictures of the kitchen/great room!

Conquering my fears

2011-02-02T16:16:00.001-08:00

For some reason I have a fear of ladders. Roy has no fear of ladders, he climbs them like a champ, even to the roof. I am not sure, maybe I think they are unstable. Well with building a house you can't get by from going up and down a ladder, just can't. So I think I have done pretty well with this one.

Another thing that I get scared of are stairs. Not just regular stairs, but ones that don't have the backs on them and you can see the light coming through them. We have had our steps going downstairs like that for a little while now, so I have gotten pretty good at going faster and not worrying about them. I remember one day working at the house and I was walking down the steps. Aj's mom asked me if I felt okay. I think she asked that because of the look on my face walking up and down these stairs and I was walking really slow.

So then today happened. We had another snow day and I felt pretty good about going and being productive and finishing up all my paint touch ups in the house. Well when I got there I remembered what state our stairs were in. We started yesterday taking the steps off so we could drywall the sides of the walls going downstairs. How could I possible walk down these stairs with steps missing!? You had to stand on the wood pieces that normally hold up the steps. I quickly texted AJ, twice, explaining my panic. Then I called him and asked if he read my messages. Of course he did. He said well if you can't do it then leave. The paint was in the basement so I had to go down. He was no help, I don't know what help I was looking for.. Of course he went up and down these step things yesterday with no problem and was holding drywall.
3 or 4 times I sat at the top just putting my feet on the wood holders and got up cause I just panicked. Then I decided to go open a Mt. Dew and get it together. I went back and put my feet again on the wood, held on the side for dear life and prayed. Then I stood up and walked down very carefully. I did it. I was so proud of myself. I quickly texted Aj saying I did it. He wrote back, "good."

Thank goodness for carpet coming Monday...

Big things are happening now

2011-01-17T19:14:00.000-08:00

Drywall, mudding, texturing, priming, and now PAINTING...wahoo! :)

The drywall on the ceiling got put up

Our kitchen cabinets arrived

All drywall got mudded and sanded

Everything got textured and primed..very messy

All done with texturing and priming and ceiling paint on

Today we started putting colored paint on the walls! It was so nice having an extra day to our weekend. The holes on this wall are for the TV and speakers. The wood frame is where our fireplace will go.

Here's the front door/entry way and dining room is to the right. This is all open with the dining area/kitchen/great room.

Things are finally coming together now!

Christmas Bowling

2011-01-01T16:27:00.000-08:00

This years Christmas was a little different than in the past. My parents went to see my brother in Colorado so they were gone. We had Aj's family's Christmas the weekend before Christmas and then had Christmas with my parents that following Monday before they left town.
We always go to the Christmas Eve service at our church. This year of course it didn't want to stop snowing so AJ ended up plowing from early that morning until 10:00 that night. I still went to church with my grandma and met Aj's parents there. I then decided to go ride around with Aj for a while as he plowed snow. After we were starving and the only thing left open on Christmas Eve at 10:00 was Chinese - they were closing but were nice to give us food to go- so we enjoyed that (the 2nd night in a row eating Chinese).
Christmas morning we decided to go work on the house for a couple hours. Aj and I then went and ate lunch at my grandmas. After we got back home we decided to go bowling with Aj's parents, his sister and her boyfriend. It was so much fun! We got there right when the ally opened and didn't have anybody else there for quite a while. After we went to Toads and played shuffle board and had appetizers. When we got home we all watched the movie Salt.
It was a fun day where we kind of did things spur of the moment!

Still here..

2010-12-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I am horrible at blogging lately! Things are so busy around here (we didn't even do Christmas cards this year and I still haven't gotten my Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks:(

Anyway, things are good, just busy and a little stressful.

Where we are on our house right now:

-we have part of the house sided (it got too cold and siding was cracking when cutting in)

-we are finishing up wiring the house, will be done soon

-we have most of the walls insulated (next will be the ceiling)

-plumbing will be finishing up soon

-A lot of the geothermal heat work has been done

-I can't wait for drywall to go up, which hopefully will be in a couple of weeks

It all takes time but is going well. We just ordered appliances yesterday so we are very excited about that!

I have a few pictures to post but they aren't very recent. I need to take more pictures of the house. We actually have more siding up than in these pictures but I haven't taken any recent ones yet. It looks really pretty out there now, the snow covers up all the ugly dirt :)

I love our front door. I couldn't decide on a color so just got it in white and then will paint it later!

She did it!

2010-11-18T17:57:00.000-08:00

You would think going through breast cancer and having a carcinoid tumor in your lung would slow you down. Not for my mom! She decided to run in the Des Moines Marathon on October 17. I still can't believe she did it. She ran as a part of the Iowans for Africa Team through our church at Orchard Hill. The team raised about $85,000 to build a school in Mozambique.
Here are pictures of the amazing day:)

Way to go mom, love you!

25 today

2010-11-10T05:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday babe, love you! :)

weekends

2010-10-31T15:20:00.001-07:00

I love how much we get accomplished on the house in a weekend. I wish they would not end:)
Next weekend...shingling!! Come help if you want to have fun :)

My birthday boy

2010-10-27T18:38:00.001-07:00

Our boy turned 3 today...wow how the years fly by:) Roy has been the best well mannered dog ever. Happy Birthday to you big boy!:)

I need to update more!

2010-10-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

I have not been very good at updating house pictures lately. I need to do better!

Aj laying block for the porch

Putting outside walls up

Starting roof trusses

Front view of the house. The right is the garage with a side entry. Now all of the sheeting is up. Next is to finish the garage roof trusses. Then we put sheeting on the roof and shingle. It will be good to get this house enclosed soon! Our windows are here so those will be put in after the roof is all done.

Side view of garage

Other side of house. Those are the two bedrooms in the basement.

Back of the house. On the left bottom there is a side walkout.

A Laugh Much Needed

2010-10-09T18:04:00.000-07:00

I was working with a few of my kids on some sight words. The word we were working on was "it". I had my flip letters out that spelled "it". One of my first graders who loves to grab things went and grabbed more letters. He happened to grab the flip card with "sh" on it. He then connected the flip cards together. I thought ha, how nice. Then he said with full excitement in his voice.... "CAR WASH." "It says CAR WASH!!!" My associate and I looked at each other and then the laughter came out :) I love his innocence. Moments like that make me love my job:)

Moving Up

2010-09-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

Things are taking shape now and really looking like a house to me!
Here are a bunch of pictures of the basement process.
Today I got to walk on the main level floor, man that felt good (despite the rain!)

New Toys

2010-09-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

Here are our new 3 wheelers! AJ bought them so we could hook up our little trailer we have to the back of one then bring tools back and forth from the house to the building.

Riding with Amy ..very slow:)

Welcome Morgan Mae!

2010-08-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Aj's sister had another girl July 17th! We were able to drive to the hospital to see her the night she was born! Grace was so excited to meet her new little sister. Grandma Kelli got her a baby doll that cries, closes her eyes, and makes all kinds of noises. Grace LOVED it! She named her doll baby Morgan:) First we named her baby Christy but that soon got changed!

It was so much fun to meet our new niece!

Two weeks later we made it for another visit and play date!

We love you Grace and Morgan!!

Time to update!!

2010-08-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been forever since I have updated anything! Things are super busy around here. I am putting up pictures so you can see the progress in the basement. We just finished laying block last Thursday. It took us a week and a day. Man it was lots of hard work in that heat! I am happy to have a nice tan tho:) I also had to put up a picture of my new best friend, aka the dump truck. The last pictures are of AJ and his dad trenching the water line. We have water hooked up in the basement and out to our building!
I have more things to post on, but for now this will do!

This is my "I am woman hear me roar" picture as I like to say:)

Getting Closer!!

2010-07-04T12:55:00.001-07:00

We have the roof done and just a few more pieces of siding/trim left. Hopefully the garage door will be in soon!

I learned how to drive the dump truck on my birthday, exciting I know, so I was able to bring 14 loads of gravel over. I dumped every load! I felt pretty cool and still do :)

Tuesday we are starting to lay block for the basement in the house!

Progress has been made!

2010-06-10T18:23:00.001-07:00

AJ had to dig 25 holes for the poles to go in for the pole building

This was a little hard getting the corner poles all situated

Nothin like good family bonding!

We have all the rafters up and almost all the roof on. We are getting close for the metal siding.

This week the electrical box got put in

AJ and a couple friends have been busy digging the basment for our house! Hooray!

We have had some changes in plans. We aren't going to live in the pole building anymore. We would have had to put another septic in and that was just going to be expensive. So instead of waiting to finish the basement, we are going to do that right away. We will then live in the basement while we are working on finishing the rest of house. Our goal is to be in the basement by the end of September!

Mrs. Katie Peacock!!

2010-06-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

My best friend, Katie, got married on May 22nd. AJ and I drove down to Texas Thursday and got back Sunday. It was a fast but fun trip! Katie was such a gorgeous bride! Here are a few pictures to recap the bachelorette party at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar in downtown Fort Worth and the wedding.

I can't move this video up, but I had to share this :)

New Class!

2010-05-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

I decided to take a new position for next year! Really I will be teaching the same type of class: special needs on the more severe end. Now I am teaching grades 4 - 6 but next year I will have grades K - 2. Instead of just 8 this year, it's looking more like 12 for next year! I am staying at my same school and everything. I am excited about this change. I have always wanted to work with the younger kids, and since a teacher is retiring at my school I had the opportunity to change. I wasn't really feelin like changing rooms again ( I had to move across the hall for this year) but I know it will be worth it. I will even have carpet so I am excited about that!
Lots of fun things are happening right now with house stuff starting. It will for sure be a busy summer preparing for my class next year, helping AJ mow, and building a house:)

The past month

2010-04-26T15:17:00.001-07:00

We closed on our house on April 2nd. We are living with Aj's parents on the river. It is very nice being super close to work! So far we have the 1st layer of gravel down on our new driveway. We also have a mailbox! Everything takes so much time at the beginning!

Roy quickly became in love with Charlie and Rascal's beds (Aj's parents two dogs)

Abby found her spot right away as well:)

The Rogers came over for a boat ride! Here's Katie and Avery!

Avery loved driving the boat with AJ!

Christy and Avery hanging out!

Jani came over to play the Wii :)

We went over to Paulis to eat my most favorite meal- Corned Beef Casserole! Wil had a blast in this box!

Abby Amazes Me

2010-04-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

One night at the beginning of this week AJ's dad told me Abby was on the deck playing with one of their dogs small beanie toys. He looked away, then looked back to see her swallow it! That night she woke me up I swear every hour. I was too tired to realize she probably wasn't feeling good because she ate a toy! The next day she threw it up in her kennel and continued to be sick all throughout the day until that evening!

Thursday night we were all on the deck hanging out. There was a big stuffed animal (the stuffing was out so it was like a dead rodent) that the dogs liked to play tug of war with. All of a sudden we heard Abby take a big gulp and lay funny. I looked all over frantically for the stuffed animal. It was gone. Abby swallowed it whole! This was like the size of a big wash rag! I panicked and called the vet. The on-call vet first was laughing. She said sorry I know it's not funny, but cute. Hmm not cute!! Anyways, we ended up inducing vomiting by using 3 or 4 spoonfuls of salt washed down by hydrogen peroxide. Yummy! It worked and all was happy.

No soft toys for Abby every again!

Yummy!

2010-04-06T18:03:00.001-07:00

I was never a big cereal fan. If I happened to eat cereal it would usually be plain without milk.
A teacher at school was eating a new kind. I decided to try it - even with milk. I fell in love.
Chocolate Cheerios:) aka super delicious

Sweet Home Alabama

2010-03-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Alabama on spring break was so relaxing and fun.
Here are some things I loved:
-the beach
-sleeping in
-going out many nights
-making breakfast every morning
-getting a tan
-going shopping at the outlet mall 3 times
-acting like a lil kid picking up shells
-enjoying our friends wedding on the beach
-enjoying a good party at the beach house (which includes tables breaking:)
-being with family and friends
-eating at Lamberts - best restaurant ever- they throw rolls at you and you get free refills on anything you want!
-finally hanging out at FloraBama - best trashy bar to see
-eating lots of FRIED food! which includes my favorite gator bites!
-watching the UNI game with lots of CF people
-going to the zoo
-getting our kite up in the air 1,200 feet! It then landed on top of our condo. Luckily we got it down without too much injury to the kite. It was so fun...so many people on the beach were cheering for our airplane kite:)

Our family...

2010-03-14T17:19:00.001-07:00

Tough Love

2010-03-11T16:11:00.000-08:00

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night with thoughts runnin all over and couldn't sleep.
The Cosby Show was on so I watched some of that. It was an episode where the kids were talking about how boys and girls are mean to each other. They then inferred that being mean to each other just means you like each other.
I then started thinking about when I was younger. At daycare there was this cool loft in the basement. The floor in the basement was just concrete. Well, there was this boy who liked me. He liked me so much he handcuffed me. Then he took it to the next level and pushed me off the loft- right on the concrete floor! Teeth went through my lower lip. Stitches from there. A scar today. I think he must have loved me.

We are moving!!

2010-03-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

We finally have sold our house!

This has been a process and hard for me at times to be patient. Now I know that it has all been in God's timing and his plan.

We close on the house April 2nd(maybe a week earlier than that).

We close on our land next week. Our land is on N. Union Rd. in Cedar Falls. We are going to be neighbors with Krista and Danielle's parents- the Goetzs!! We are super excited about this. We have 5 acres of land. The first step will be AJ putting up our pole building for his work shop/business. We are also going to be putting a loft inside there for us to live while the house is being built. The loft will be approx. 600 sq. ft. Oh the adventure we will have!! Our goal is to be in our house by Christmas time. So until now and the pole building being built...I think we are moving in with AJ's parents for a couple of months!

We did the initial house plans. Now Spahn and Rose Lumber in Waverly are working on final plans. Hopefully I will post some pictures of our house plans soon.

We took the dogs to the land last weekend. They loved all the room! Roy gained a lil weight this winter(tough subject for him) so he kinda sunk in the snow while hiking around. He was pooped- plus snow kept sticking in his paws! Abby just explored!

This was a picture on my way up to and through our land.

This was Roy trying to bite out the snow chunks that stuck to his paws.

Now I need to begin packing...how fun!

3 more weeks

2010-02-21T17:42:00.000-08:00

That is until we arrive in Gulf Shores, Alabama! A whole bunch of us are going for spring break and I am counting down the days for warmer weather and just pure fun! I have gone twice with Aj's family back in high school. We got out the pictures tonight from when we were there in 2004. Here are a few pictures from then that are getting me excited now!

Looking Forward To...

2010-02-02T17:11:00.000-08:00

Four Queens opening on February 17th!!!

We are really missin it .. I can't wait for a strawberry ice cream cone dipped with crunch.. yum :)

What's your favorite thing to get at Four Queens?

Just in case...

2010-01-26T17:14:00.000-08:00

Sadly, we have not had a fire extinguisher in our house. You'd think with all our disasters we would have one by now. Katie Rogers inspired me as well to get one with the little cooking mishap, a fire extinguisher was needed. It was time. We are now prepared...just in case :)

Meet Darby

2010-01-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

Darby is my parents new pup! She is a Goldendoodle (golden retriever/poodle). She is a mini (hybrid of mini poodle and retriever) so won't be overly big like my Roy :)
She is adorable and will be meeting Abby and Roy this weekend! They are pretty excited for a new friend to play with!

Here are some pics:

80!

2010-01-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

My mom's dad turned 80 this last Friday!! He is so amazing!

To celebrate we got together with aunts, uncles, cousins, and so on in Fort Dodge at a hotel. We have out sized grandpa's house by now :)

It was a fun time watchin the young ones go swimmin, hang out in the bar at the hotel, eat cake and watch grandpa open presents. My uncle is such an ISU fan and grandpa a complete Iowa Hawkeye fan. For the first time ever, my uncle gave grandpa an Iowa shirt. This was super hard for him to do. My grandpa LOVED it!! For supper we all ate out downtown in Fort Dodge at Olde Boston's Restaurant and Pub. It was a lot of fun. We had the loft reserved for our big family!

Next month my dad's mom will be turning 85!!

My Girl

2010-01-03T17:32:00.000-08:00

I love sweet Jani :)

Cookie Exchange

2009-12-23T14:29:00.000-08:00

My mom had a cookie exchange party at her house a couple weekends ago. It was the first time I had been to one. The first thoughts that were going through my head were, man this is going to be a lot of work making 6 dozen cookies. Really it wasn't too bad. It was fun taking home 6 dozen other kinds of cookies too!

I decided to try a new recipe. I couldn't even try the cookie after I made them because I made exactly 6 dozen!

I made Chocolate Mint Thumbprint Cookies. They turned out delicious!

Here's the recipe!

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

2 egg yolks

16 drops green food coloring

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

3 Tb. whipping cream

3 Tb. butter

18 Andes mints, unwrapped, cut in half diagonally

1. Heat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In large bowl, beat 1 cup butter and the powdered sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in peppermint extract, egg yoks and food coloring until blended. On low speed, beat in flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on cookies sheets. Using end of handle of wooden spoon, press a deep well into center of each cookie.

4. Bake 10-12 min. or until set. Reshape wells with end of handle of wooden spoon. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely; about 15 min.

5. In medium microwaveable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, cream and 3 Tb. of butter on High 1 minute, stirring frequently, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Fill each well with about 1 tsp. chocolate mixture; garnish with Andes mint piece. Let stand about 1 hour until chocolate is set.

Snowy Day

2009-12-09T14:25:00.000-08:00

It sure has been a nice relaxing day hanging out with my doggies and Eric.

We watched Eric clear out the driveway since AJ is out all night and day plowin for others.

Usually this is what Roy does, stands on the back of living room couch to watch someone out in the driveway. Abby decided it would be fun if she gave it a try.

We made cookies!

We took naps.

I told the dogs I would get on my gear and go play outside with them. They were happy :)

Happy Snowy Day! :)

A lil Catchin up...

2009-11-24T16:25:00.000-08:00

Really the only exciting event that has happed lately is having Jani Sue being born!! She is so adorable and precious-we love her so much!Yes we did visit Doug, Staci and Jani in our Halloween outfits at the hospital :)

Here is what we looked like in our hand made outlet and plug outfit on Halloween..

Our masterpieces...

2009-10-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Good Times

2009-10-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

I had to give LP (Lil Panther) a kiss while tailgating in the cold! Soon it will be a real one!!Abby is showing off her angel outfit - ready for Halloween

It was a little harder to get a good pic. of Roy in his devil outfit for Halloween. He kept chasing the tail around and soon took off his hat!

Truly Amazing

2009-10-06T17:26:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Alli Rogers posted a blog about Katie.

I do not know Katie at all, but I now follow her daily. She is twenty years old and is living in Uganda now raising 14 girls. She cares for hundreds of other children in her village. Katie feeds them, clothes them, provides shelter for them, gives them medicine or any other surgery needed, and most importantly spreads her love for and through Jesus Christ.

She is truly inspiring to me. She has SO much faith and LIVES her life for Jesus. She has so much love for these children, all because Jesus has loved her.

I pray that I can be like Katie. I want to be a light to others. My heart has been touched by her.

Please take a look at Katie's blog. http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

Baby Time!

2009-10-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Brea and I threw Staci her first baby shower at Brea's house!

It was very fun watching Stac open lots of great things for LP. I am getting very anxious to meet her...she will be here before we know it! :)

Here are a few pics to recap the shower.

New Hobby?

2009-09-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

I shot my first gun. Actually that was the first time I held a gun too.

AJ showed me how to hold the gun and shoot it, but didn't give me a heads up that it would actually hurt my arm.

I tried a couple shots at first. After I rested my arm I tried again shooting clays. I didn't hit any but was pretty darn close! I will get them next time!

Car Wash

2009-09-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Have you ever taken your dogs with you to an automatic car wash?

I did and it was hilarious. They freaked out- Roy actually jumped to the front seat to get a closer look at the soap. It was blue and pink soap- pretty cool. Abby turned around in the back seat to watch the rear window. They followed the soap and water the entire time. I have never seen them so focused and excited or nervous at the same time.

That was the best car wash ever.

Jade Plants

2009-08-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

We were given two Jade Plants from our friends the Willoughbys.

They are about 5 years old right now. (Willoughbys have a huge one that is 15 yrs. old!)

Usually AJ and I don't do very well with inside plants- but so far so good. I don't think I can kill this one. I kept the bigger one inside and made two smaller ones from the other plant which are outside.

Ben came earlier this summer and did some pruning for me. He made my two plants into four plants. It is really easy to start a new plant. You can either separate them (cutting the root) which new leaves come up pretty quickly. Or you can just take a leaf and stick it in water. Roots appear and there you go! I have started a couple plants for people- kind of cool.

I looked up a little more about Jade Plants. They can sometimes be referred to as friendship tree, lucky plant or Money Plant (I like the name of this one). It said under the right conditions, they may produce small white or pink star like flowers in early spring. I hope this happens:)

It had rained so had some yucky moss stuff in it.

The branch got a little wobbly so I later put a stick thing in there to hold it up.

Surprise!!

2009-08-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

My best friend Katie Hunemuller lives in Texas. Her boyfriend, John, has been planning with me his soon to be proposal to Katie. The plan was to have a big suprise party at their new house with family and friends. Katie originally thought that her parents and her sister would be coming up to Texas this week (Wed through Sunday) to see her graduate.

Katie kept asking me and asking me about me coming with them to visit. I kept telling her I had a school training thing I couldn't get out of. Yup, that was a lie.

Anyways, last Sat. the 8th, I drove to Texas with Katie's family. We stayed the night with her sister Krista and her husband who aslo live in Texas. It was weird not seing Katie that night being in Texas. I wanted to just call her up and say, "Hey I'm here!!" But couldn't do that!

We couldn't see her until Sunday night when the suprise party was happening. There were all of Katie and John's friends at their house cooking away. They were making all this homeade bbq sauce and chicken and much much more...it was amazing.

Finally, after about an hour and a half at her house Katie and John show up from shopping. He told her to go in the front door which was kind of unusual for her. But she did. While she was unlocking the door John told her he had one more suprise for her.

She came in the house, looking down and noticed someone's purse on the floor. Her first coment was, "You got me a new purse!?" Ha not quite.

She then looked up and saw everyone, including me. I defintely started crying. Yes and of course she did too.

John then got on one knee and asked her if she would marry him. Of course she said yes! She then took the ring from his hand and put it on her finger all by herself :) She was in the moment and a little excited!!!!

It was awesome and I was so happy to be there for all of it! It was very short trip but well worth it.

I love her to death. Soon she will be Mrs. Katie Peacock :)

Here are some pictures leading up to the proposal, a video of the big question, and a few pics of Katie and I together!

Hungry?

2009-08-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

The dogs get a little excited when I bring home their 50 lb. bag of dog food that I can barely carry in the house. So excited that they can't even wait for me to put it in their bowl to eat...has to be right from the tub!!

Let Me Sleep!

2009-07-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

"You can't find me...."

Abby's new thing is to cuddle with this orange pillow (and chew on it- not bite it really, but enough to slobber it up)

"Here I am..innocent I promise"

"Just let me go back to sleep..."

The other day Abby came into the living room seeming very proud of what she brought me... the orange pillow in her mouth all goobered up!!!! I was very upset, she knew it right away. Smart girl walked right into her kennel without being told :)

Summer So Far

2009-07-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

I must say I thoroughly enjoy being a teacher with the summer off. Last summer I taught summer school but a break was much needed.
The first week of summer I participated in a 5 Day Autism Training. It was a great training and I learned so many good ideas that I actually can't wait to get back in my classroom and implement!

One day last week we took a few friends to see AJ's grandparents at Lake Delhi. That was when it was in the upper 90s so boating felt amazing!

We decided it was time again to shave Roy- this time not quite as short. He gets very hot in the summer. He was a good boy and waited very patiently!!

Sturgis Falls was a fun but busy weekend. It was our 5 year reunion so that meant our good friend Ben who lives in Texas was going to be in town. We picked him up Saturday morning at the CR airport and took him back Sunday evening. And we had our first open house that day!!

These are good friends that go back from elementary: Annie and Lyssa!!

And here is Ben!

Ok last thing! We had a birthday party grill out last night for my birthday, Abby's #1 birthday, and Aj's parents dog Charlie's #4 birthday!! We also have had my brother's dog over so it was a little bit of a zoo :)

While I was Gone

2009-06-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

This is kind of a late post, but I love the pictures too much that I needed to put it up :)

AJ seemed to have way too much fun Memorial Day weekend spending most of the time having parties/hanging out at his parents house. I was in Nebraska with my parents meeting my brother at a half way point- he lives in Colorado.

Aj and Jacob decided it would be fun and rather amusing to switch clothes.

You will have to look at Jacob's feet- Aj made him keep his pinky toe outside the sandal since that is how it is officially worn by Aj.

He is lookin pretty good to me ;) Maybe they will do this more often!?

June 10, 2006

2009-06-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

Wow I can't believe we have been married for 3 years. I think it was this past year that seriously flew by.

I have loved our busy life together. We always have some kind of project instore for us.

The next one I believe is putting our house up for sale and building?!

I told Aj, "I thought we were just going to relax next." But then I thought, duh I am married to AJ- we just don't do that :)

Here's some pictures down memory lane....

Painting the House

2009-06-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

The house color needed a change. We didn't want to put new siding on, so we painted. Luckily and thankfully we had some help from our wonderful friends and family.

Here are some before pictures.

Here are a few pictures of some of the hard workers!

Here's AJ taking down our beautiful basketball hoop that was never used until that day when Joe played some one on one with our dogs.

Joe and Wil had some relaxing time together.

Kelli did great on the white trim!

Here's Nikki riding Abby :)

Now here's some pictures of the mostly finished product. We still need to paint the white trim up top on the house everywhere and a few touch ups. Then of course get new gutters. There is always something to do!

Too Cute

2009-05-04T18:57:00.001-07:00

Cuddle Time

Beauty in a Tree

2009-05-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love Spring when the trees are blooming. I have been waiting for my Magnolia tree to bud and get beautiful. It finally did :)

This is before the buds opened- I was waiting patiently.

This made my day when the tree bloomed. Praise God for nature and this tree that puts a smile on my face everyday!!

Home Projects

2009-04-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

Since the flood, I have gotten to re-decorate everything...kinda fun :)

One weekend, AJ's mom, Kelli, and I decided to take on a project that she saw on HDTV.

What we had to do was find lots of cool fabric. With the help of AJ we made wood frames then used a staple gun to wrap around the frames. It was hard figuring out what shapes or how big to make them. I think they turned out pretty cool. I have a long wall behind our couch in the family room so it fit perfect. I am still in the process of making one more on the left next to the yellow one.

I have had one of those sayings to put on your wall for a while (before the flood). Luckily for some reason I waited to put it up. I am glad because it would have been ruined!

After I painted one of our bedroom walls orange, I decided it was time to put up the saying. Kelli came over one night to help (I can't do these projects on my own:)

"Together Is A Wonderful Place To Be"

Having a Great Dane

2009-04-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

Did I ever think I would say yes to AJ for getting a Great Dane!? Never did I imagine saying yes.

We really thought Roy needed a friend- someone to play with when he gets bored, and of course someone to get in trouble with :)

AJ has always told me he wanted a Great Dane named Bob. I had partly given in now. We decided another boy dog was not the best idea. On the way to go look in Algona (they only had girls anyway) my mind was made up that we weren't just looking. I knew I would fall in love and bring home a puppy.

When you think of a puppy, you usually think small or tiny. A Great Dane is never any of those words. However, she has HUGE paws and is super super cute with floppy ears:)

So we got there and just played with all the puppies. Aj's sister, brother-in-law, and niece came to check out the pups (thinking they might be interested as well!).

We ended up picking one out. Nateria, Rob and Grace left without one ;)

Somehow Abby was the name we ended up. The name AJ wanted was Bob, but that didn't quite work for a female and I didn't want to name her Bobby ;)

I ended up sitting in the back of the car on the way home holding my new pup!

Abby was born on my birthday, July 1st. She is not even a year old but is over 110 pounds, and can rest her head on our island in the kitchen.

She is so gentle, calm and cuddly. She LOVES kids and babies and follows them around to be their bodyguard. She is the BEST and Roy is very appreciative that we got him a sister :)

A Busy Year

2009-04-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

It has been one year now since AJ and I have lived in our first house in New Hartford!
So much has happend to us in this past year.
I got a job teaching Special Education for grades 3-6 at North Cedar Elementary in Cedar Falls. I absolutely love it! AJ is very busy with all his work for his business and fixing up our house.

Within a year at our house, this is all that has happened:
1. Lightning struck a light pole in our yard and it traveled through the house managing to fry our 2 computers.
2. A tornado came through our town as well as Parkersburg- took out 3 of our best and biggest trees as well as a few shingles! Our house was caked with mud!!

3. While I was visiting Katie in Texas, the flood came. We had a little over 2 feet of water (and mud) in our house. Yes, that was the worst of our little disasters!
We have completely remodeled since we lost pretty much everything. One of the worst parts for me was losing my shoes and purses...hard to replace :(

More will come later on how all of these obstacles have changed some of my loookings on life!