A month long UPDATE!

Okay so I realize that I haven’t updated this think in like a MONTH but I have been busy it is the holidays so STOP JUDGING ME! LOL just kidding I really have just hadn’t gotten around to it… I have found other things to do instead of updating it’s sad isn’t it L but the kids get kind of mad when I don’t make them dinner.

Halloween! Well Halloween was pretty uneventful we wanted to take the girls the church for their Christmas party b/c it was close to home and we didn’t have to go tracking around the universe begging for candy. So we stopped by and Lehna was dressed in her Lion costume and Maya was dressed in her pumpkin outfit (that she wore all day) and we head out. Lehna was great at first she liked looking at the other little kids in their costumes but then Lehna saw a clown and it was over. Lehna refused to stand on her own she wanted to be picked up and held and she kept both eyes on the clown. I tired to explain that it was just another little girl dressed up like she was but she didn’t understand nor did she care. Sooooo we went down the hall for the trick or treating and Lehna wasn’t a fan of the different rooms. Some teachers were dressed up and some were not the one’s that were not dressed up she seemed to be more comfortable around them but the one’s that were she wanted NO part of. She scrambled in my arms and tried very forcefully to get away. Tait carried a very happy Maya to the different rooms and she didn’t care about much at all. After we got down going to the different rooms there were a few games set up in the gym for the kids to play. Lehna didn’t care for the gooles dressed up running the games but she did have a good time playing the candy walk. Of course she played it like 50 times she never won but that was okay b/c she got enough booty just from the rooms. After going through the church we decided to go to Pizza Hut for dinner and Lehna and Maya both seemed to enjoy that.

Maya as the Pumpkin

Then we had a wedding the first weekend in November. My cousin Jeff got married to Rona in Peru . Actually they got married at the Missessionia Reservoir and it was a very nice wedding just very simple. We didn’t stay for the reception we had left our children at Tait’s parents and both weren’t feeling 100% so we didn’t want to leave them with sick kids so we went to go take care of them.

Saying their vowes

The Kiss

The second weekend in November we went to West Lafayette for Thanksgiving at Sarah and Adam’s. Sarah hosted and she made quite the spread of Asian cuisine. It was really good. She did make ham which was really tasty but the Asian food was very very good. I ate my share let me tell you. Mom and Terry were there as well and they got to play with the babies and I always enjoy that when they get to see them. Lehna wasn’t too afraid of Terry she warmed up a lot faster with them. She was more afraid of their dogs then anything. They have two big huskies so she was a little learning around them, but to be honest I was nervous for her b/c I didn’t want them to bite her. Sarah kept telling me that they were perfectly fine and that they wouldn’t bite them but I was still nervous. It was a nice gathering I really had a nice time. Their house is really nice way nicer then ours. We had a good time it was really good.

Lehna in her "pretty dress" She LOVES to dress up right now!


Maya looking very sweet!

Then this past weekend we actually had THANKSGIVING! It was pretty exciting. We went to Tait’s grandparents for Thursday lunch. We ate fried turkey and lots of traditional Thanksgiving dishes like mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc. It was pretty tasty I didn’t want to eat too much though b/c I knew that I was going to go to Peru for my grandma’s Thanksgiving and we were going to eat Porgies there sooo I wanted to make sure that I had room! It was so very wonderful both Thanksgiving I really have to tell you people that can cook really are wonderful individuals. I think it’s b/c I can’t cook that it really is amazing to me. I try to bake on occasion but I usually am okay about 60% of the time… which odds like that aren’t the best especially when it’s food involved. So I enjoyed myself on all levels at Thanksgiving. We didn’t play any games and grandma’s which is normally typically we normally don’t play games for Thanksgiving but we do for Christmas… strange hua! I really enjoyed catching up with my aunts and uncles I really enjoy their company so it was a good time.


(I didn't take pictures at Thanksgiving so have some you can enjoy the girls instead)

On Friday Night we went to my uncle’s roast, which was REALLY a ton of fun! We drove to Schererville for the event and it was fun. The atmosphere was light and fun. They had a belly dancer that should be in retirement and we got to dance around the table and it was really a lot of fun. I laughed a lot!!! I did get to tell a couple of funny stories but I of course didn’t embarrass him I mean how can you embarrass Steve! I did forget the toast part of the evening so I told funny stories but didn’t say anything nice about him, which is kind of funny.


I did take LOTS more pictures but I wanted to be able to protect the innocent so I am only displaying "G" rated pictures...

The wedding is this coming weekend and I’m very excited about it. I like going to weddings and I think this is going to be quite an exciting event it sounds like there’s going to be many people invited so that will make it fun. I enjoy being with my family so it’s going to be fun. We are going to spend the night there so it will be a mini vacation. So I hope to have pictures of that event once of course I get them off the camera.



Well that’s my update I hope you enjoyed reading about us.

update

Okay so I know I've been quite the lazy updater... but in my defense I have been really busy. I also have pictures that I need to put up but they are still on my camera. I know I know enough of the excuses... I'll update soon.

Picture Perfect

Well things around our house have been both busy and quiet all at the same time. We are starting now starting to really hit some fall weather which in turn is starting to make the leaves turn the beautiful colors which is VERY exciting. I have three big tall oak trees in my yard so I love the fall b/c it makes them look so beautiful. We are also starting to dress the girls warmer now which is kind of fun and sad all that the same time. I like their fall clothes but I must admit dresses and diapers are MUCH easier then Pants and diapers, but listen to whine.

This past weekend we went to get a couple of things done. First we went and got our family pictures taken. Julie and Dan (we just attending their wedding like 3 weeks ago, pictures are below) they are both photographers and they both helped take our pictures. We went to Happy Hallow Park in Lafayette and it was beautiful there. We got some good shots two shots that I really like that I want to use as our family picture for Christmas cards and some really good pictures of the two girls together that I really like. Lehna was a TOTAL ham (as usual) and they got some really cute pictures of her as well. The dress the Jackie made is Lehna’s FAVORITE dress she calls it her “pretty dress” and she can’t wear it enough. She wears it whenever we let her but if was up to her she would wear it to daycare and around the house. It’s very cute. And luckily that material that Jackie picked for it does very well in the washer and so far any stains Lehna acquires is VERY easy just to treat and wash… and so far they have come out, knock on wood. We got Maya a very pretty red dress for her “pretty dress” it is very cute on her and she liked to play with it b/c it was in two layers so she kept holding the top part up. She’s such a silly kid. She was also very interested in the leaves that were around her, she even tried to eat them, which she didn’t like. We did our family pictures in Purdue attire. Tait is such a big Purdue fan I thought it would be appropriate for us. Helen and Tim found a Purdue Cheerleading outfit for Lehna last year that Lehna has wore a couple of times to the games we attended so she was easy to find something Purdueish. Well Maya on the other hand was a bit more complicated. The problem is most ‘sports’ attire is suited for little boys instead of little girls so when I found this Purdue Onezie I was very excited but that the same time disappointed b/c it was so boyish looking, so I didn’t want people to think we had a little girl and a little boy but instead I have two BEAUTIFUL little Girls I decided to put a big bow in her hair. I thought she looked cute and she didn’t seem to mind it at all. So here’s on of our family pictures and also some pictures of the girls together.

Family Picture

Baby Kiss

Lehna sitting pretty

Maya Looking Cute

After the family pictures we went to Marcus and Jackie’s for FootballPolozia at least I think that’s what it was called. We had a BBQ and we got to watch the Purdue football game. Which Tait enjoyed on a nice big TV, I don’t know the size is but its bigger then ours so he was happy. Terry and Mom came down from Wisconsin so they could see everyone and see the grandbabies. Lehna was only a little afraid of Terry at first but warmed right up to him after about an hour. Maya was good the entire day. She played on the floor and didn’t cry except to eat, which is pretty typical. The food was wonderful. Sarah and Adam came as well so that was nice to see them again. They seemed to enjoy playing with the kids on the floor. I couldn’t believe how interactive they were with the children they just warmed right up to them and starting tickling them and it was nice.

We also played some board games we only played like two games but it was fun. We played this new game call Vision Play or something like that and it was a very interesting game, it was challenging. The object of the game is you have like 12 different dice that have pictures on them and basically you roll all 12 dice and you flip them over and when you uncover them you see how many compound words you can come up with based on the pictures like for example: if there’s a picture of a Bear and a picture of a person’s back you could put it together and say Bareback and that would be one word. It was challenging and I must admit Sarah has QUITE the imagination. It was a good time.

Terry mentioned taking Lehna to the park and Lehna was running faster then I have seen her move to get her shoes on so she could go play at the park. Jackie and Marcus live like 2 blocks away from a school that we took them too. So Lehna went up and down the slide like a BILLION times and we walked back in the dark. It was a good day overall very fun. I enjoyed spending time with my family playing games and of course eating… it would be a family gathering if there wasn’t food. 

On Sunday we had church in the morning which Lehna again insisted on wearing her pretty dress too and since pictures were completed I didn’t have a problem doing that for her. Then in the afternoon Tait and I and the children of course went to Temple Prep classes. We are taking them in order to be sealed in the temple which has always been a goal of mine and so Tait and I are working towards that, but it’s QUITE a process. Basically there are four things that you must be living in order for you to even be eligible to go into the temple and right now… Tait and I are only hitting about half of them… Soooooooo it’s a long process. I’m getting support from Becky who’s a friend of mine from church and work and she’s giving me some words of encouragement so that’s helpful. It will just take time and a commitment from us both, but I know that it’s a wonderful place to be and go we just will have to work on that we just have to keep things in perspective, but enough about church.

So things are well fairly well overall I know Christmas is right around the corner which is scary and exciting all at the same time believe it or not. I love the excitement but the same time all the moving around and shifting is kind of chaotic at the same time. I know that we have had a few people inquire about gifts for the girls and I must say these children need not another toy we have a room packed full of toys but they are lacking in the movie collection realm. Just putting it out there b/c Lehna has started to really get into movies and watch them, thank goodness so now we are watching the same videos over and over. So I’m just putting it out there for you if you wanted to know what to get them, that's what I would suggest.

Okay alright I have rambled on enough. I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Thanks for reading about us.

A teaser

Looking Cute

Smiling like she's a Sweet and Innocent

Maya giving me a Cute Face

Okay I got pictures taken family pictures and I wanted to display them. There are lots more but I don't want to use all of them here since I will use them as Christmas Cards and such... sooooo I hope you enjoy them!





I will post more later!

Julie’s Wedding

This weekend we had Julie’s Wedding, Julie is Jackie’s Sister. Lehna was asked to be the flower girl in her wedding. I was a little nervous when they first asked her to be in the wedding b/c I didn’t know how she would act. Well I should have given my daughter more credit because she did an AWSOME job!

I have pictures this update so get EXCITED!

They took Lehna on Friday b/c the rehearsal was going to be during the day. When I picked up Lehna she was in SUCH a good mood. Jackie said that Lehna was an ANGEL all day. At first I thought maybe I had the wrong child… but she answered to the name Lehna and called me mommy… so I guess it was the right kid. They said she was so good as they did their different errands and during practice. So I was excited. By the time I got Lehna home though she came back to the two-year-old I know and love. She threw a huge fit over juice and cookies… So I’m glad she saved all of her “two year old moments” for me rather then was a pain in the butt for other people all day.

On Saturday we gave both girls a bath and put Lehna in a white dress and put up her hair. I put her hair up in pigtail b/c I thought that would be the cutest and by the time her hair dried her hair was in perfect ringlets. So she looked REALLY cute. Here are some pictures of them getting ready. She was so excited about her new shoes. They are they type of shoes that make clicking noises when you walk on hard surfaces and she couldn’t get enough of them. She was dancing all over the place in her “pretty shoes” as she called them.

Lehna's dress by the way was made entirely made by Jackie. She made the dress instead of ordering one b/c it was cheaper. Jackie did a great job. Seh is going to make Lehna different color bows so I can put them on Lehna to wear to church. The dress was beautiful Jackie you did an excellent job. She made in in a very SHORT amount of time.

Lehna ready to go down the aisle

Zach getting ready for his performance

Once we were ready to go… I went to sit down and waiting for Lehna to come down the aisle. The other tow year old didn’t want to go down the aisle by him so Lehna went down with Jackie and Zach and that was good. Lehna held her flowers and walked down the aisle. She didn’t really smile but at least she didn’t throw a fit or run the other way. So I was pleased.

SHOWTIME!

After the wedding, which Julie looked amazing, her dress was really beautiful. They went and had some cheese and punch b/c we couldn’t get into the reception all until another 45 minutes. So we kind of waited around to do pictures. Lehna did the pictures and she did a good job she was only in two of them so it was pretty easy once they got started. I am putting all the pictures I stole from the photographer.

Jackie and Julie (I apologize for the facial expressions I was trying to do this FAST)

Lehna, Julie, & Dan

Too precious not to share

Lehna waiting for pictures

The DeAromond, Rhine, Knotts Family

After the pictures we went to the reception. Lehna was pretty excited b/c we kept telling her she was going to be able to dance once we got to the reception. And she was starving so we gave her some of the chocolates on the table (the favors) to help tide her over until it was time for the party to start. Marcus came over to our table and invited us to sit with him and Jackie’s father so that was nice. We were at table one so we didn’t have to wait to eat which I was glad b/c Lehna had had WAY too much chocolate. When we were eating the starting playing the music and Lehna couldn’t hold still she was all over the dance floor. I think the sugar in the chocolate was starting to kick in b/c she was all of a sudden very HYPER!

Lehna and Marcus making the "second entrance" since I didn't get my camera to work the first time

We got Lehna to calm down by having her color and with the promise of cake (yeah I know more sugar) and she sat as I watched over her colorings and asked LOTS of questions. The distraction seemed to work, but not for long soon she was out on the dance floor once again. I took her up for a song then Jackie and Julie took her out on the floor.

Jackie and Lehna Dancing

Julie and Lehna Dancing

Soon after cake was served it was time to go. Maya had had it. She was falling asleep with the loud music and REALLY wanted a bottle like right now. So I quickly whipped up a bottled and plugged it in the mouth and we were off to home.

Maya and Tait

The wedding was really wonderful. It was a bit on the hot side but that was okay b/c we weren’t out in the heat for very long. I did feel sorry for the boys though b/c they had tuxes on and they looked really hot. But after the wedding and pictures were over they were stripped down to just the shirt and pants and then seemed much more comfortable.

So congratulations Julie and Dan we wish you both great happiness and thank you for including Lehna.

Lehna acting goofy

How do you keep a Two Year awake?

Well this is a question I didn’t think that I would EVER have to ask but if from experience I do know how to keep a two year old awake.

As I wrote in my last update that Lehna was supposed to have an EEG test and she had to is sleep deprived. For those that don’t remember please read my last update to get UPDATED!

So on Wednesday night we put Lehna to bed a bit earlier and we let Lehna her sleep until Midnight. That was a mistake… just so you know. When it was time to wake her up she was NOT ready to get up and she cried and said how tired she was it was very heart breaking. So I tried to get her to do ANYTHING I suggested playing outside, going for a walk, ANYTHING, playing games… and then I suggested to go SHOPPING… she was like “yeah I want to go shopping” and so we were OFF to the store. I kept her awake in the car by singing and rolling down the window… then when we got there I made the baby walk. I didn’t want her to fall asleep in the cart and I figured that the walking would do us both good. So Lehna and I started our LONG walk around Wal-Mart.

I started off in the pharmacy department and that’s where they were stocking the shelves and I just kind of smiled as I went up and down the aisles. They didn’t really ask me anything but I have a feeling they were talking about me when I walked out of ear shot. Well we went to the pet department and there were fishes for Lehna to look at and she liked that.

We walked up every aisle at Super Wal-Mart when we went to the toy department I lingered in each aisle a lot longer b/c she REALLY liked playing with the different toys and I thought… heck it’s keeping her awake. I let her pick out some play dough and she found this stuffed big bird that she goes “I found my big bird” and she proceeded to carry that around. The more I looked at that big bird the more I noticed the big bird didn’t look like it was for sale… the biggest clue was the missing price tag, but it’s Wal-Mart so who knows… but she just loved carrying it around. So after about 2 hours I told that it was time to go b/c we had make it all the way around. I got her Dora movie and play dough… I also managed to get a toilet paper holder for our bathroom… it’s amazing the things you just don’t notice when you’re at Wal-Mart.

When we walked to the front of the store I explained to the cashier why we were out so late so she didn’t think that I was an awful parent. But you know in the 3 hours were there at Wal-Mart not ONE PERSON, sales associate, asked us if we needed any help finding anything… strange hua… that’s customer service for you. Well we went in the arcade for about an hour after walking around so that’s why it took 3 hours. She loved playing on the bob the builder ride she kept asking to go on that a couple of times. We played every game there a couple of times. If Tait would have come I’m sure he would have gotten her a toy in the crane game b/c she kind of stared at that for awhile and I know that I wouldn’t have been successful so I didn’t try.

So we got home and I turned on the TV Louder then normal. The Dora movie was a dancing movie so I made Lehna get up and dance every time it came on so she wouldn’t get tired sitting. We played with play dough and just had a good time playing.

About 4 a.m I woke Tait up and told him to get a shower and stuff b/c we had to feed Lehna. So we were going to go to Bob Evans or Steak N Shake so we could get her fed. We left our house about 5:30 and this was probably the HARDEST part about the whole thing was the car trip. Lehna kept trying to fall asleep I rolled down the windows and she just tried to doze off. It was VERY difficult. We got to Bob Evans and they didn’t open until 6 a.m so we kind of wondered around the parking lot still keeping Lehna moving… the poor baby she was so tired. Well after breakfast we went to the clinic.

We were early but that was okay b/c the tech was early also and invited us back early and that was WONDERFUL. So we got back and the lady asked when Lehna slept last and I told her we got her up and midnight and we have been up since then. She gave us sympathy and told us this should go really fast then. The setting up probably took the longest b/c they had to put these probes on her head with this gue and Lehna wasn’t so excited about that… but I sat next to her and just told her to close her eyes. She fell asleep as soon as they turned off the lights.

The tech didn’t say one word to me during the test UNTIL I broke out my book to read then the lady was ALLLLL TALKY. She explained what the different waves meant and that was pretty neat. And she said that from the test (she isn’t a doctor) but she said it looked normal to her. They did a strobe test where they flashed a strobe test for a couple of seconds.

We got home about 8:30 a.m and Lehna was put in the bed and she didn’t move… she was so tired. Tait went onto work and I slept. Lehna woke up at 10:30 and asked if she could get up and I told her that that was fine but I was going to stay here and lay down. Lehna and I both feel back to sleep… we both woke up at 2:30 p.m.

After a couple of days we did hear back from the doctor after I had to CALL THEM FOR THE RESULTS and the tech was right she is normal. The plan now is to wait and see. This isn’t very fun… I mean I hate the thought that we have to witness another seizure I mean I didn’t see the big one and I don’t want too… just hearing about it was scary enough. So that’s Lehna’s health update. It’s good she’s normal but still frustrating that there’s no other news.

As for update for everyone…

Maya is up on all four trying to crawl… she hasn’t managed to figure it out but I figure in the next week or so she’ll be mobile. She’s already rocking and kind of jumping on all fours when you put her on her tummy on the floor. She is also eating solid food and not liking it too much. I mean it doesn’t look too good to me and Maya makes the FUNNIEST faces when she eats it. She’s getting way too big way too fast. I just want her to be a baby… not be mobile but just let me cuddle her and not grow up. (sigh) I guess that’s not going to happen but still…

Tait and I well we are still pretty boring… nothing really happening right now… I mean besides the normal stuff. Work, Home, Sleep, Repeat. Pretty exciting.

I hope to have pictures next update… have a Good Friday!

Update!

I am trying to get my updates up a bit faster then I managed to do last week! So here it is in all its glory.

This weekend was a pretty fast weekend. On Saturday we got up pretty early (thanks to Miss Maya) and we headed over to Tait’s coworkers football game. He is nine and they have a youth league, to be quite honest I didn’t really know who had the ball most of the game and I couldn’t remember the score. It went REALLY fast so that was kind of nice. I talked Tait’s coworker the entire game so I was distracted.

After we got home from the game I worked on laundry. It was so warm outside I was able to get some clothes out on the line and that speed up my laundry process. I still had some to do on Sunday but it wasn’t too bad. We also put together Lehna’s new tricycle. Lehna doesn’t quite understand the pushing once petal at a time so we managed to put the bike together. I still need to tighten the clamp that holds the handle bars together b/c it turns pretty easily and that was making Lehna frustrated. That was our Saturday…

On Sunday Lehna woke up in a HORRIBLE mood like literally right after she woke up she was crying and throwing a fit I was so frustrated. So I debated whether we should go to church or not. So I decided that we should go since we aren’t going next week since we’ll be in Peru. So we headed out to church. I’m certainly glad we went we had some good speakers, it was our ward conference, and we had members of the Stake come and talk and they were really good very entertaining. Lehna was horrible about half way through sacrament. I took her out to her potty break after the sacrament was passed and Lehna decided to put her dress in the toilet water and decided to lock me out of the stall… needless to say the two year old brat child appeared in church. So I put her in timeout. After her time out it was AMAZING she was her normal charming self it was FABOULOUS. By the time we left church Lehna was a totally different child she was so pleasant and offered her cookie to both Tait and I it was very nice. I’m glad b/c I don’t think I could have taken a day full of Lehna the brat child.

Well this week we have A LOT going on. I was talking to one of my friends at lunch this past week and it has been brought to my attention that I have FAILED to mention Lehna’s EEG that is coming up… Well this test sounds like a TON of fun let me tell you. Lehna has to be asleep during the test, which her test is at 7:30 am on Thursday so I asked the nurse “how do you make a two year old sleep on demand?” Well the nurse informs me that not only does she have to be asleep BUT ALSO she really needs to come in “sleep deprived” and I kind of giggled at that point and asked, “how does one do that” well…. She informed me that most parents we’ll put there kids to bed an hour earlier then normal then wake them up at midnight the day before their test and KEEP THEM AWAKE until their appointment… I LAUGHED I said “really” and she’s like yeah you can clean your house, take the to Wal-Mart or meijers anything just don’t let them nap or snooze in-between. LOL RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT! So needless to say Tait and I have Thursday off so we can “recover” from the test. Tait wants to take “SHIFTS” as far as keeping Lehna awake… the hardest part I think it is going to be keeping her awake in the car… Tait said he is going to alert the CPS worker on call this week to let them know that if they get a report of parents taking their two year old at Wal-Mart at “early o clock” in the morning that it’s probably just us and to ignore it… LOL So the other part is we have to feed her 2 hours before the test. Now Lehna can’t have any type of caffeine or anything like that so that makes me happy of course it doesn’t say anything about the parents so I will be drinking a LOT of caffeine… So keep us in your dreams as you dream away on Wednesday to Thursday… Helen has offered to take Maya so that makes it a bit easier on us. I don’t think I would have been able to keep one kid asleep then keep one kid awake… I mean ONE IS BAD ENOUGH.

Jackie is coming over on Tuesday to finish Lehna’s flower girl dress. She has the hem pretty much done she just needs to do the zipper. She wants to be able to put it on Lehna as many times as possible if she needs to make sure the bodice doesn’t pucker. I know she’ll do fine but I can understand Jackie’s worries.

Speaking of Jackie… Jackie made Lehna some REALLY COOL letters for her room. Lehna had a VERY blank wall and I was telling Jackie that I needed something for that wall and couldn’t really think of what to put there. Well she said she would make Lehna’s name in big letters. I am attaching a picture of it so you can all see Jackie’s handy work. She did have me hang them… which I have to say that was very difficult. I don’t know if this but I like to do things about 80%. It’s a horrible habit of mine and I’m NOT a perfectionist in ANY stretch of the imagination, so I know that if Jackie were going to hang them she would make them hang perfect so I had some pressure on me. After I got the hang of how to do it, it wasn’t too bad and I think they turned out REALLY cute… So thank you Jackie you have inspired me. I decided that Maya need her name in letters too sooooo I bought her letters today and I’m going to paint them and get the hung up on her blank side of the room. I’m pretty excited about it. I think once I get them done it will be REALLY cute. Of course when I was at Wal-Mart I forgot to get spray paint so that’s not a good start but I’m going to work on making them to how Jackie would have made them soooooo it may take me awhile… I’ll have to make sure that I have enough time to do them and don’t rush through it. Here are the letters below of the “raw” letters they aren’t painted but the little animals are completed.

Lehna's Name

Maya's Name

Also Jackie gave me another tip about getting Lehna and Maya a Halloween costume at Once Upon A Child sooooo I stopped by there the other day and this is the outfit that I found! Isn’t it just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen! Lehna LOVES IT! We have been having her practice her lion roar so it’s pretty exciting. Maya is going to go either as a duck or a pumpkin I have both I also have the skunk that Lehna wore her first Halloween so I don’t know what we’ll do yet. We found out this Sunday that our ward will have a Halloween party. Where they will have trick or treating right at the church and they will have like games for the kids to play soooo I think we are going to go to that instead of trick or treating in our neighborhood.

Lehna as the LION! Roar!

The last thing that I have for you is kind of a strange phenomenon that seems to be happening around our house.

This is a picture of the girls’ room. We combined the girls’ rooms b/c we the room on the end of the house gets REALLY cold in the wintertime. The windows aren’t’ the greatest in that room and I think it just catches the wind easily enough to both the East and South but anyway… so here’s a picture of the room….

Maya's Side of the Room

Lehna's Side of the Room

Well the next pictures are of the “toy room” we decided or more like I decided that I hated having the toys in the living room. I mean it makes the space look REALLY small and it’s just clutter and lord knows I don’t need help with the “clutter bugs”. Well here are the pictures of the toy room, please keep in mind this has been after weekend of playing in the “toy room” so nothing is put away… I don’t really inforce picking up in this room at this point b/c I can always just close the door to the mess.




Well slowly the toys are working their way out of the toy room. This is a picture of the kitchen and if you notice there’s a walker in the kitchen…



Now when you get to the living room we have a corner that has started to ‘over flow’ with toys… I guess so much for moving all the toys to the back room.



I mean there’s still room to walk around in the living room but it’s still annoying. I know that Lehna is usually pretty good about putting her toys back in the toy bins when we ask her to, but the big toys can only be blamed on the parents. Because neither Lehna nor Maya can carry the big toys that are placed in this corner… so if there’s one thing these kids don’t need is TOYS good lord… But as Helen says “Christmas is only a few months away” LOL

Well the last picture I leave you with this update is from when we tailgated last time. The central Michigan vs. Purdue game. This was Papal Tim holding the girls. I think they kind of like him. I’ll leave it up to you to decide.




Well I hope you guys all have a good week this week are going to be fast and furious… I know that Monday and Tuesday are probably going to be the ONLY days that crawl by but for the rest… I’m already looking forward to the weekend! Well have a great week!

Here is my update.

I know that I have been lacking in the update realm but I’m a working progress. I have pictures and everything to put up but they are like two weeks old SOOOO I’m going to put them up ANYWAYS just so there are pictures up… then later I’ll update another date with pictures…

So here’s the update…

On Labor Day we really didn’t do anything too productive besides going to the park. I took pictures at the park so I’m putting those up… We really just lay around and didn’t do much of anything else. Tait did mow the yard, which was exciting but that was about the only thing exciting that happened that weekend.

Then the weekend before last we took the girls to their FIRST Purdue Football game. We had a good time we got a new awing to go over us b/c we didn’t know if we were going to rain or not. So we went to the game and just before the first half was over it started to POUR on us. Everyone around us had umbrellas and jackets we did not. I didn’t bring anything for the girls. Maya seemed to like the rain; she looked up at the sky and watched the rain come down. Lehna on the other hand kind of freaked out so Tait put his shirt on her and his hat and she sat very patiently on Heather’s lap until we decided to leave. It was a good time… it truly was even though we left at half time.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to find tickets on Stubhub.com that were only 6 bucks per person so I “surprised” Tait with tickets. I put Surprise in Quotes because I was telling him about them as I was ordering them. I had to send them to his office since I was going to be out at conference in Indy all day Friday so I didn’t want to Miss FedEx when they came on Friday. Tait was pretty excited they were cheap enough that we got two extra tickets for Tim and Trent and they came down to watch the game.

When we put up our awing this time we had some trouble pulling the stupid contraption apart. So we pulled really hard on it and it finally went up… much to our dismay that the one side of the awing was bent… so after one time of using the awing I have to take it back. It was only $60 but still that’s STILL $60 BUCKS! So my plan was to take it back on my lunch hour today during Work but… plans changed.

Lehna and Maya have the stomach flu. Lehna was throwing up every HOUR last night and Maya isn’t throwing up but it’s affecting her other end. So today I got to stay home and watch them all day. I called the doctor on call last night b/c Lehna was vomiting so much I thought maybe it was something else but the doctor just said it was the stomach flu and to keep both girls as hydrated as we can. So needless to stay I didn’t sleep very much last night. I got to change Lehna’s sheets and bedding four separate times and my bedding once. By the end of the night I had it down to a system. Lehna kind of gives a warning cry before she spews so I would RUN to her room and pulls her off the bed and then just “wait” it was pretty fabulous.

Tait got Maya duty while I tended to Lehna. Maya was up a number of times last night so Tait and I didn’t get very much sleeping at all last night. Both girls are still feeling pretty yucky so Tait has arranged to where he can take the day off tomorrow to watch them since I need to go back to work. I really hate it when the girls are sick it makes me worry about them and there’s just nothing I can do to help them.

So that’s what we have been doing for the last 24 hours is nursing the girls. I am hoping that it will just take them one more day to get them back to ‘normal’ Lehna is very lethargic and for anyone that knows Lehna you know that means she’s not feeling very good she’s usually bouncing off the walls so this was quite a change. I did a ton of laundry today so I could get all the sheets and blankets washed. They said this flu has been going around for the past two weeks so it’s just a bug. The doctor said it would probably last 24-48 hours so hopefully by the time I get home tomorrow they will be back to their old selves again.

So that’s life at our house right now not too exciting I just wanted to send an update to everyone out there to let everyone know that we are alive and kicking.

Enjoy the pictures.

Lehna in a very cute hat!

Maya giving me a BIG smile!

Lehna in her Purdue Cheer leading Outfit!

Lehna playing on the slide

Vacation Update

Well we had an exciting weekend. We went to Wisconsin this past weekend/Week and let me tell you we had a BLAST!!! We had so much fun it was great, another awesome thing was the kids were wonderful they were both very well behaved and good the entire trip. There were only a few hiccups but for the majority of the time they were sooooo good!

We left Wednesday night from daycare. Tait’s parents were nice enough to let us use their van and that was really nice. We had entertainment for Lehna the entire journey back and forth, they have a VCR and monitor in their car so we watched Wiggles, Little Einstein’s, Veggie Tales, and Dora. Well I should say we listened to those shows we didn’t really watch them since they were facing the back seats, but it was great b/c Lehna was so entertained by them.

We arrived in a few short 5 hours up, which was good. We only ran into a little weather at the very tail end of our journey which we hit in Wisconsin just north of Milwaukee which we only had like 2 hours left and it was just rainy nothing serious just annoying. We found out later that the van only had one headlight so it made it a bit more difficult to see through the rain but we survived. Once we got there Mom had made us some pizza bread and they played with their grandkids. Lehna warmed up to mom and Terry after about an hour and she played with them all weekend!

On Thursday we hung around the house. Which was very relaxing. Lehna and Terry went to the park in the afternoon and Lehna LOVED that she loves playing and swinging at the part so Terry was willing to take her so she got VERY BUDDY BUDDY with her b/c of that. Here are some pictures of us playing around the house and stuff.

Lehna Riding the Motorcycle

Lehna riding the Motorcycle

Maya on the Motocycle

The next morning we headed off to the Children’s museum, which is in Milwaukee, which was only about 2 hours away. The museum was pretty cool over all it was a bit crowed I’m used to the very large children’s museum in Indianapolis and this was about a ¼ of the size. It basically had one floor but all the exhibits where so kid focused that there were actually things to do. Tait made the comment that at the Indianapolis children’s museum there are things for the kids to do but most of them are broken or missing so it doesn’t make it very fun for kids. This was a lot of fun b/c all of the toys were directed at Lehna’s age and above so she made things and played in the different exhibits. Her favorite spot was a windy slide in the music area of museum that she went to visit twice. We brought the stroller for Maya but we carried her for the majority of the journey, note to self-next time bring the baby pocket swing for the baby instead of the stroller. My favorite part of the museum was this section for the “artistic child.” They had this really cool machine that made you look like you were a conductor of an orchestra. Well you waved your baton and that controlled the speed of the music so I had a lot of fun with that. Lehna didn’t quite understand what we were doing so I kept taking it from her showing her how to do it, hehehe okay so I just liked to play with it. But it was pretty cool, below are some pictures of that part of the museum I’ll try to write underneath what is going on but they are pretty self-explanatories.

Lehna the Train Conductor

Lehna Milking the Cow

Lehna Riding the Dragon

Lehna Creating Art with her Mommy

Lehna working on her masterpiece

Lehna's Masterpiece

Lehna Making Music with her Daddy

Lehna's Favorite part of the Museum

Mommy's Favorite part of the Museum

Maya at the Museum

When we got back to the house we had an awesome steak dinner that mom prepared for us. Terry’s friends came over Judy and Paul they were traveling through on their way to Indianapolis to visit their son so they wanted to go and visit them. They don’t see Terry and mom very often so they stopped by. They were nice people so I was okay sharing my time with parents with them.

On Saturday we were off to two new places to Ella’s Deli and also to the Henry Vila’s Zoo, these places are in Madison and they were about an hour southwest from them. It was a nice drive to the zoo we only got lost once going there. The zoo was a bit difficult to park at but the zoo was really nice. It was free which was really strange and they zoo seemed cleaned and well taken care of. The zoo was pretty small it was about the size of the Fort Wayne zoo so not too large but big enough that it spread out people so we weren’t right on top of each other. They had all different types of animals there everything from Pythons to Polar Bears I mean not too shabby for a place that was literally in the middle of a housing addition. It reminded me lot like the Colombian Zoo you know just kind of in the middle of the street not really where you expect to see a zoo but that’s where it was located at. It was a pretty cute zoo overall. I am posting some pictures of the zoo.

Lehna with her Nanna

Lehna with her Papaul Terry

Feeding the Goats

Maya with Papaul Terry

We also went to this little deli after we went to the zoo called Ella’s Deli. It was a crazy little deli there were so many things that were hanging from the ceiling that moved and twisted around. There were pretty cool things like in the glass like our table had origami displays, which were like a big shadow box, but you ate on top of the shadow box, it was pretty fun. The food was good as well. Well after we ate the deli happened to have a carousal that you could ride on with some tokens. That was a lot of fun. The carni running the ride after out time was over asked us if we wanted to switch horses. Tait told him no that one time was plenty for us and then he went on about how they guy didn’t have any tokens b/c the people inside took them from him. We just kind of smiled and said oh okay. We had no idea what he was talking about but once on the horse was enough for us.

Lehna was great the entire time. She played with Terry and that was quite a huge step for her she went right up to him and asked him to take her to the park and also where we was when he left the room. This is so great for her she is usually so nervous or shy around him. Also she warmed up to mom really well too so that was very encouraging.

We had a great time in Wisconsin with Tait’s parents moving up there really soon Tait and I are really debating moving up there as well. I don’t think it’s something we are going to do right away or anything like that but something we maybe looking to do in the future. We just had such a great time. We decided we would go back in February mom has been talking about going to Dell’s in Wisconsin every since they moved there and I think next time we will make that a reality. We just had so much fun there so that will be fun going to the indoor water parks in wintertime.

Maya has learned how to roll over. She was really close when we were in Wisconsin so when we came home the first thing we did is put her on the bed and she rolled over like she had been doing it all her life. So that was exciting. Another funny game that Maya is doing is she takes blankets or diapers and puts them over her face. She puts them so they are placed right over her face then once she gets it there she starts to wave her hands and kick her legs. Then once we pull the blanket it off of her head she just smiles and puts the blanket back over her head. It’s the silliest thing ever. I am putting pictures of that b/c it’s pretty funny.

Maya Blanket On

Maya Blanket Off

Well that was our weekend. We did have a good time there. It was something that I can’t wait to go back to do it was a nice vacation. I think Tait really had a good item and I know the girls had a great time. I love being able to see mom it’s just really nice.

My Family