Little Miss Independent

Little K is getting more and more independent every day. Her new thing is to get herself dressed and taking her shoes on and off. She is really good with her boots and practices ALOT! Almost always getting them on the wrong feet.

reality check

Today I received my March issue of Babytalk magazine. As I was waiting for the cookies in the oven to finish baking, I opened it up and started reading this article on moms being addicted to the internet. It really got me thinking about how much I use the internet and WHY I use the internet. It talks about internet errands like paying bills, shopping, checking bank statements and such. But also about blogging, facebook and other social internet activities. Here is a piece of it that caught my attention:
"I called it my 'avoidance cycle. Whenever I felt overwhelmed, I would escape into mindless web surfing. I'd find myself circling through the comments section on my blogs to my photos on Flickr to see if anyone had commented on them, and then over to Twitter to see if anyone was chatting with me there. I'd waste hours just waiting for someone to respond to something I'd said or posted." Because she'd skip errands and allow her kids to make a mess of the house, she says, her stress only amplified, and she'd dive into the avoidance cycle all over again."

How many times have I blogged instead of doing the dishes or cleaning the bathroom. How many times have I put on a video for little K so that I could finish one more thing online. Ok, it isn't that often, but still too often.

I highly suggest reading this article. It was good to see that I am not the only one that does this but also made me realize that I need to be a little more aware of the time that I am online.

* As I sit here and ponder the ideas in the article it seems a little ironic that I am now blogging about it. The article needed to end by saying 'if you are planning to go and blog about this article right now, then it is a good thing you read it!'

The Gift that keeps giving ....

I am reposting this because I did so many posts on the same day, that it got "lost" in the middle!

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a gift from me during this year.(Maybe something handmade, maybe some scentsy... who knows:) When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch though...Post this same thing on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift!

Happy Anniversary!

I almost forgot to blog about our Anniversary. Not our wedding anniversary, but our NEW old house anniversary. We have lived in our old house in Iowa for ONE YEAR! WOW! it is amazing how fast and slow the time has gone. It seems like forever ago that we were demoing the kitchen but it stills feel like we just moved here and are the new kids in town. Anyway, here are some picture of the house before we made a couple changes... (and if you want to see the after pictures, well I haven't taken any. so I guess you will just have to come over and see it yourself).

I had forgotten how yucky the bathroom was before we fixed it.
Little K - one year ago (8 Months old and much chubbier)

Day one of demo in the kitchen

Lots of hours of dirty work later...

The family room after we pulled up the carpet and nasty wood.

Ok, I am only kidding about the after pictures. I will take some tomorrow and post them. Stay tuned!

Royal Cuteness

On Saturday we went to Library for story time. Little K loves this horse and would ride it all day long if I let her. She was jumping up and down saying "gty up - wahoo" Too cute


We went to a birthday party on Friday night. It was very fun. Little K loves her friends. It is so great having friends here that we love and have so much fun with.
In honor of the birthday Girl ' Banana', and Valentines Day, Little K and I painted our nails. I was SO surprised and how well she sat still.
I made some little bows/clips for her hair. She is very proudly taking it off to show me she has a bow. She enjoys getting her hair done and loves headbands and bows but will not leave them on for more that 2 minutes.

Nice weather doesn't last

Last week we had some GREAT weather. It was 63 one day. It was too nice to stay inside so we hit the park for a little bit. We weren't there as long as I would have hoped to be because my sweet little princess fell and got a little muddy and was very upset about being a 'mess'. She cried and whimpered " I mess. I mess. On no I mess" She wouldn't even climb on the toys anymore. So we left.
Just a few days later, we had snow :( again! It was nice to get that little short break though.

My Helper - Dishes

Little K loves to help. She helps carry the bucket to the door to get wood for the fire. She loves to help vacuum by using her little Dirt devil right behind me. She helps do laundry by attempting to put on every piece of clothing she can. She loves to help open and close the refrigerator when I get her juice. I have to admit that most days I would rather just get things done quick so we have time to play and I dont let her help as much as she would like or as much as I should. But this week I was feeling particularly... hmmm. whats the word I want..... patient and carefree. I had her help me unload the dishwasher. I put her up on the chair and gave her the silverware to "put away". I could not beleive how much FUN she had. She was signing and laughing and it took her FOREVER. That is a good thing because it allowed me to get the rest of the dishes unload and the sink full loaded. Here is the end result:

The Gift that keeps giving ....

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch though...Post this same thing on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift!

Talk talk talk

Sorry for posting like 20 times today. This is the first chance I have had in a while and need to get it done while the monster is sleeping.
She is talking so much now. It is so much fun to hear her try new words. She says "mess" a lot. I think that I must say it a lot too. Yesterday as we were walking back to the truck she slipped and fell in a puddle and got her pants all wet. The entire way home she was sitting in the back say " Mess, me mess, mess, me mess...." She was very upset by the mess on her pants and wanted to change them right when we got home. She is growing up too fast.
She also likes to say "Where is it? or Where is dad?"
We had rice crispy treats this weekend and now is asking for "cerweial" all day
She is still learning new signs as well. We have been renting "signing time" from the library and she loves it. This week was Time to Eat and learned signs for cook, kitchen, breakfast, dinner, fork and salad.

The other day there was a pile of clean laundry sitting on the steps, waiting to be put away. Little K was sitting on the step with me to put our shoes on and she looks over at the pile and says "Elmo!!!!" Now I was a little confused, I didn't know where she was seeing elmo. Check out the picture and you can see a tiny corner of her new Elmo shirt (which she LOVES)My sister sent a super cute dress for Little K and a matching one for her baby. She loves her baby and takes very good care of her baby. This morning she was sharing her toast with her. She sings to her, tells her stories and rocks her to sleep. She even helps her talk on the phone.


She is picking out a book to read to baby. It is pretty cute how much she loves her baby.

Dodge Ball

K and his Friends from Palmer signed up to play in a dodge ball tournament at school. K recruited me to make the shirts. It was fun (though he ended up doing most of the work). I think they won half their games or something like that. Little K and I went and watched the first game, but then she was ready for lunch and a nap.


Little K and her buddy Calvy were the team Cheerleaders!

Pony Tail

Little K finally has just enough (and by just enough, I mean 7 hairs) that I can get into a pony tail. She LOVES to have her hair done. We brush it everyday. Here is a couple pictures of her first few pony tails. They don't stay in very long though, she like to pull them out - ouch

On this day, she kept asking to do her hair and asked for a bow. She was so excited, she pulled it out right after I took these pictures...

Drop and Go

These are some cute pictures of Little K and her friends a couple weeks ago when I hosted Drop and Go. Everyone that came, didn't drop or go but it was a blast having everyone there to play. Christa planned a fun craft of making Rainbows. They turned out super cute!

Um... not sure what she is eating.... paper maybe

no more germs please

I have been trying really hard not to use my blog as an outlet for complaining. I LOVE being a mom and there is nothing else in the world I would rather be doing
BUT.....
Enough with the sickness.
2 weeks ago Little K got sick, fever, and whining and all that. Not eating for 4 days and hardly sleeping unless I was holding her. Come to find out (from a great Chiropractor) she had a double ear infection and a respiratory infection. AND I was not feeling great. I had a major case of body aches and slight fever.
It has been two weeks of getting over that for the both of us and THEN......
This morning I wake up with a deep painful cough and a headache like no other and Little K starts throwing up around 10 am. I do not do well with puke. And then to watch it come out makes it so much worse. I nearly threw up while I was cleaning it up. But by the time it happened for the 5th time, I was able to catch it in my hands, scrub her down and clean the floor with out one dry heave. (I know that is so gross... sorry)
She is now asleep and I think the vomiting is over. Her 5 pairs of PJs are in the washing machine and the 3 spots in the carpet have been scrubbed. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!