This Week...

According to my phone...this week we...


Attended a home Pioneer game, the first half anyway. 

Our kids go with the flow pretty well, but we have been noticing that they do need more sleep lately.  So we headed home just before half-time.  After having ample time to harrass Pioneer Pete...

get chased around by the remote control car...

play on our make-shift jungle gym...

 

and take a million photos with my phone. 

 

Photography by Cade...

 

This was during the National Anthem...

 

In other news, this arrived in the mail from MaKenzie.  She's a cutie.  And her handwriting is hilarious.

 

Matt was gone over the weekend at an away game and then a recruiting trip to Chicago.  I knew it seemed like a terrible idea to attempt a movie alone with a 1 and 3-year-old.  But I've always enjoyed a challenge.

Reesie's first movie!

 

 

They just love watching Frozen clips on YouTube so much, I thought they could handle it.  Cade and I had seen it before in GB, but I thought Reesie would enjoy it.  I know, I am crazy. 

 

They did pretty well though!  One potty break for Cade, 3 packs of fruit snacks for Reese to convince her to stay seated, and the best part, it was only 10 bucks for all 3 of us at the Great Mall theater.  We may just become movie-goers!

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our day off and took advantage of the YMCA Open House by going swimming.  The kids loved it and were wiped.  Mission accomplished!

Pics after the fact since I didn't take my phone in at the Y. They did so well swimming around on their own (with their floatie belt things) that it makes me look forward to summer!!  Which is surely just right around the corner...right?!

Speedy Start to the New Year

I've decided to {attempt to} at least blog a weekly recap with pics I snapped from the week and any tidbits I'd like to remember.  I found myself standing at the end of 2013 thinking..."what did happen this year?!"  so hopefully this will help.

Somehow this just sounds like one of those resolutions along the lines of "write in my diary every day" or "work out 5 times per week" or other promises that are impossible to keep.  So no promises...

To kick things off, our Christmas break was extended one day as the "polar vortex" swept across our part of the nation bringing dangerously low wind chills. 

 

Temperatures were around -9 while I was in my warm bed sleeping and unable to screen-shot it.

 

We spent the day in our pjs making lego towers and playing with princess dolls and thoroughly confusing the kids about the "routine" they were supposed to be headed back into...

 

Oh yes, and I wouldn't want to forget this.  The "speedy" start to the New Year would be my speeding ticket that I got on my way home from my first day back to work. 

 

Can't say I didn't deserve it.  Have actually sped along that part of the highway pretty much every day so I very much deserved it. 

 

Still stings a little though. 

 

Cruise control for me from now on!  Another New Year's resolution, perhaps?!

2013

2013: The year we brought no new humans into the world.  This is going to seem so strange...but recently I was thinking about how I was pregnant a portion of the year in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.

2013 was a year to just "be."  A year of 1/3 less blogging than in years past.  A year without any major changes.  Much unlike the previous 5 or so years that have consisted of moving, new jobs, redecorating, babies, being parents, nursing, adjusting, growing, learning, changing.

The growing, learning, and changing never stops.  At least I hope not.  I can't imagine that there will ever be a day when I wake up and have this parenting gig all figured out...
But it was nice to have a year with just the 4 of us, growing together.  (2014 will also be a year of no new humans for us, assuming all goes as planned!  Just in case you were wondering...)

A glance back at our oh-so-uneventful, yet oh-so-special 2013!

A lot of cuteness in January...

 

Our valentine treats in February...

Quite a few snow days in 2013!  Five, if I remember right.

We had to start experimenting with Reesie's growing hair...

Our sweet Reesie turned one...

 

It was a pretty chilly Spring, with a little snow in May actually!

 

Curious Cade turned three...

Christy (Matt's sister) and Mitch got married!

We went to Deanna Rose...a lot!

We took in the sights of OKC with our extended family...

 

Celebrated our independence...

Spent a few days in Wichita with Gentry, sans children and responsibility...

 

I discovered I could still do this and became an active Instagram user after some prodding from Audrey.

 

 

We successfully had the best summer ever.  Seriously.  Ever.

 

 

My classroom got a new look over the summer...and then we had to head back to school...wah, wah, wah.

 

 

Ah yes, if you were zoning out you may want to listen up about now.  In September, Matt surprised me with a very fun date night...that included getting tattoos.  What?!  Yep.  In 2013, we got inked.

And I chickened out and canceled all the {painful!} scrollies on mine while Matt says they didn't even hurt.  I beg to differ.

Cade started preschool...

We hit up the KC Pumpkin Patch with the Heine's.

 

We took a girl's trip in October...

We enjoyed Thanksgiving in Tulsa...

 

 

Met Santa at Crown Center with the Heine's...

 

I wore this to school the last day before break...and secretly loved it.  I'm a festive-sweater-kind-of-person deep down...

 

Last but not least we had a wonderfully white Christmas in the Bend!

 

 

Which brings us to...

 

Happy New Year! Wishing you a blessed 2014!

 

Doesn't Cade's face just say, "Blessings in 2014?!"  No?

 

We were blessed with many special experiences and memorable moments in 2013 as the kids grow and we continue to make memories together.  We are so fortunate to get to share life with our amazing friends and family! 

 

Thanks for checking out the blog in 2013, and hopefully 2014 too! 

Christmas Extravaganza: 2013 Edition

We traveled to the Bend for yet another amazing Christmas Extravaganza of fun for all!  Matt's team played in Montana right after Christmas so we traveled in two cars so the kids and I could continue to kick-it in GB even after Matt had to leave...on Christmas Day. 

A few pics to document it all...

Matching jammies for all the grandkids.

Piles of presents for all!

 

Grandma, Cade, and Woody

Grandpa, Reese, and Baby

Finding refuge amid the snowball fight

Taking down Uncle Todd

 

If you give a dragon a cookie...

 

 

Jammies for the big kids at the Sauder Christmas

Testing their patience...

 

Festive Papa

Sometimes it takes a few tries...

 

Caught "The Kid" on her phone on Christmas morning!!!  Busted!!

We sang happy birthday to Jesus.  My mom made the cake this year, which was a much better idea than what I attempted last year...

Great Bend got over a foot of snow shortly after we arrived, giving plenty of opportunities to play in the snow!  Cade enjoyed it...in small doses. 

Ready for sledding with Cousin Lukas

Ready to build a snowman with Kizzie and Papa

The finished product, Creepy Snowman Guy.

Where should all of this go?!

 

We are so thankful for our amazing families and the time we get to spend with them over Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am also thankful for the 2nd week of break when we got to relax at home, take down the Christmas decorations, find homes for all of our new toys and clothes, and brace ourselves for re-entry into the real world. T minus 15 hours. 

 

I enjoyed taking some time to look back...Reesie was so tiny last year! 

Throw-back to Christmas Past: 2012, 2011, 2010