Kinda forgot about this thing!

Well... it's been a while... this is mostly just for me since I'm pretty sure no one else cares/reads it. Quick update... still have the Mazda, still in the same house (although we're trying to get to where we can list it again), and that little one that we were so excited about coming is here and is now 18mo old! Little Noah is alllll boy and loves the CRAP out of his big sister!!! And she is SUCH a great big sister!!! They play great together, hardly ever fight (yet) and love to snuggle each other...makes my heart swell with such love and pride every time I walk into the room and they are snuggled up together reading or watching a show. Livi finished her first year of preschool and LOVED it!!! She loved her teachers Miss Terri and Miss Liz and learned so so so so much! She can write her name and is familiar with most of her letters and numbers. This summer we are working on her learning her address and mommy's and daddy's phone numbers as well as how to spell her last name. She loves yelling out numbers to me from all over and is great at spotting speed limit signs and telling me what they are and then asking me how fast I'm going. A few times it's gotten me to slow down cuz I was going WAYYYYY too fast(what?! me?! never!!). Livi will be 5 in September and Noah will be 2 in December. They are 3 years, 3 months apart exactly. They are my pride and joy....I couldn't be happier. We are so blessed to have them each and have such beautiful, happy kiddos! We have been blessed with two wonderful, realtively healthy kids, however, Noah is going in to Primary Children's Hospital on Wednesday to be checked out for what his pediatrician (and mommy and daddy) think are seizures. He will be seen by a pediatric neurologist to see if they can figure out exactly what is going on and get some answers to the many questions that we have. We have been praying for him and for the doctors and having faith that they will be able to find out what is going on and that we'll know how to move on from here with it. Livi - doing a great job of learning her numbers and letters and is starting to recognize words. She is a great helper and cleaned the bathroom all by herself the other day (and actually did a really good job!). She is my smart, funny, loving little girl that loves to dance and sing and perform and always wants me to be the 'judge' or her audience and will put on a show. She just started in dance classes and loves it. Funny words: Cathe (cave), brathe (brave), guh-sheen (machine), nuh-nola (granola). She loves to color and 'write letters' to people and is learning about sending letters with stamps. She especially loves when someone writes her back and she gets a letter in the mail. Noah - is allllllllllll boy! He climbs on/under/over/through everything! Loves to dance and sing with his big sister and they play so well together - for now. lol.... He is getting to where he is picking up new words more and more. Words right now: eeez (please - and he folds his chubby, little hands and tilts his head when he says it), Daddy(everyone is daddy - me, Daddy, Livi, Duke, grandmas and grandpas too), go! (go! - lol), boom - as he slides down the stairs on his bum. He has a halo of curly, white-blonde hair and the cutest gap in his front teeth you've ever seen. Love, love, love my cute little family!!!!!! These pictures are some of my favorites from lately and speak for themselves.

It's been a while, sorry. I kinda forgot about this thing. We have a lot going on here! We're having another little one. I'm about 12 weeks along and super, super excited! Livi doesn't quite know what to think though. She thinks that the baby is in her tummy and Daddy's tummy and Grammy's tummy. she's a little confused. lol... she is getting soooooo big! We're about to start potty training so that we can avoid two in diapers if we can. We'll see how this goes. She hasn't seemed so excited about the whole thing, so we'll see.

We also just bought us a new car! YAY!!! Got a Mazda 6, dark blue that is soooooo awesome!!!! Has hands-free phone, music and that oh-so-wonderful new car smell. What will be really nice, too, is that we'll be saving soooo much on gas. Going from a large SUV to 4-cylindar will be so nice especially in the summer.

Here are a few pictures of the bigger and better and with more attitude..LIVI!!! Happy summer everyone!

My little lady....growing up so fast......

Our little lady is growing up.....

So no luck selling our house. Which is really a bummer but, hey....what'd ya do? But we've been having fun this summer and trying to get out and do things. Been to Lagoon a couple of times and got some fun trips planned. Going to Vegas this weekend and then to Chicago in September. Livi is growing like a weed and getting so big and soooooo smart. She lied to me the other day....I was scolding her for something she did and she bit the ottoman and took a piece out of it....this was the conversation:

Me: we don't chew on things or bite things....it's naughty.

Livi: oh...ash-eww (pointing to the door where Oscar had gone outside ....15 min ago. she was trying to blame him)

Me: No, Oscar didn't do it. You don't lie to Mom. (trying really hard not to laugh)

Livi: Why? Why? Why? (hands out, palms up)

Me: because it's naughty (trying REALLY hard not to laugh)

Livi: oh, dawn-it (darn it - sulks over and sits on the stairs where we do time out)

I had to shut myself in the bathroom I was laughing so hard and didn't want her to see me.

She's getting sooo big and smart and she's just a little person. Found out that she's allergic to penicillin. that was not fun. Poor kid had been sick and we'd been giving her antibiotics for a week. We both felt like crap for that one. But she got over it pretty quick once we figured out what was wrong with her and she's doing fine. Here are some pics to show what a little lady she is becoming. I could NOT be a happier/prouder mom. =)

So we're trying to sell our house and just got an offer on it. It's been one stressful process but hopefully it will all be worth it soon. The thing I keep trying to tell myself is that it will happen when it's right. It's not up to me. Prayers have been our good, good friend these last few months. If our counter offer is accepted then things will move pretty fast. We still have to find a house (we've been looking just haven't found 'the one' yet) and then packing and all that fun, fun stuff. We've slowly been getting ready for the moving aspect of things. packing up boxes here and there which will help when it comes time for the big move but there's still lots to do. It's all very exciting and scary and sad and frustrating and.....well.....exciting. We're sad that we'll be leaving our first house and Livi's first home. And leaving our neighborhood and friends will be hard too. But moving on and forward is exciting. Hopefully we'll find somewhere just as nice and friendly and settle in there too.

How I love my two peas in a pod....

These two are inseparable. I love watching them play together and often wonder if some of the things Livi 'says' are in Labrador. lol....they have their own language and can 'hang' for hours without so much as looking at me to acknowledge that I just gave them food or a drink or a treat....or life. But whatever - they make me soooo happy and watching Livi learn to be loving and gentle with Duke and watching Duke learn that Livi LOVES having her face licked is one of many joys in my life when it comes to these two. Heaven help us when the inevitable comes and they are separated.

Happy Christmas!!!! I hope everyone had a great day and got to spend it with someone that they love. Just want to take the opportunity to tell you all how blessed we are to have you in our lives and that we are soooo unbelievably thankful for everything and everyone. We had an awesome Christmas. It's so fun to watch Livi grow up and start to get excited about it....however her enthusiam is sometimes mis-directed. (see photo) This was taken a few days before Christmas but is a reflection of how Christmas went. (apparently bubble wrap is all it takes to apease her....lol) Love you all and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!