I've Been a Bad Blogger....

Well, the combination of only having dial-up internet and just plain staying off the computer this summer have made me a bad blogger! But, I do plan to get caught up with everything soon, once I start back to school and can upload pictures quickly either on campus or at my mom's!
Just a quick preview of things to come include a trip to the ER, county fairs, parades, water parks, play dates, and other summertime fun!!

Fishin' Fun

What an exciting time the last few weeks!

School ended for me on May 5 and I spent the next few days with my mom traveling to Shreveport, LA, to help my sister get settled in to her new home. It was an exciting and long trip! We came back on mother's day and I arrived home finally at about 6 that evening! Andy had a wonderful card for me and the kids each made a card for me, too cute!

The weekend prior to my trip with all the rain the kids got to spend time playing in their first mud puddle and they were covered in mud but had a fantastic time! We all had fun watching them! =) Weston had already gotten pretty muddy when Daddy got the Rhino stuck in the mud and flung it all over them, so Emma might as well have gotten dirty too!

This past weekend was super exciting! We found worms and the kids gave them to Grandpa Ted who used them as bait on his jugs and caught a 2 1/2 lb. catfish. When the kids when to see the fish their worms caught, we let them fish and Emma and Weston both caught their first fish!!!! SO EXCITING! But, it was difficult to get pictures with them and the fish as they didn't want to get too close to the flopping creatures! Hopefully they'll be used to fish by the end of the summer! ;)

We also began potty training last week and Weston pooped on the potty for the first time this weekend which was super exciting for us. Emma still refuses to use the potty, but will gladly just sit on it! =) Hopefully they'll both decide to be done with diaper/pullups in the near future!

The last bit of excitement for the weekend was a new colt born. We are expecting two so the arrival of the first little guy was great news and fun to see!

Other than that, we are just waiting for dryer, warmer weather to begin enjoying our summertime! We don't have anything too big planned this summer. May take a trip back down to Louisiana with Andy and the kids, but we'll see what happens!

Weston and Emma are talking more everyday and doing so well. They are really growing and changing all the time. I can't believe we're potty training, it seems like the last big step from babies to toddlers for us and in many ways make me want to have another baby, but for now we're just going to enjoy these two precious kiddos!

I am super excited that I only have one semester left of classes, so after the fall no more driving to Columbia! Next spring I will be student teaching and should be closer to home! =) Then I will finally have must master's and my teaching certification under my belt and can return to work! I am not necessarily excited about leaving the kids to go to work, but we are ready to move on to building a house and possibly having another baby, but will need more room first! =)

The lsat few weeks and the weeks ahead have been pretty busy and marked some pretty big mile stones. My niece, Casey, turned 18 and will graduate from Helias next week. She then is planning to attend Southeast Missouri State University in the fall. I can still remember giving her rides in her Barbie jeep when she was 2-years-old!

My youngest older brother turned 40 May 5!

My oldest nephew turns 16 today and will start to drive!

Andy's birthday is next week as well as my sister-in-law, Sanae's.

Andy's oldest niece, Savanna, will turn 13 June 12 and his youngest nephew will turn 5 on June 3!

Ted and Marilyn's Anniversary is May 31st and so is my goddaughter's, Samantha's, birthday!

So many events and milestones this year. We are so fortunate to have wonderful friends and family to share these events and milestones!

Volley For a Cure

Saturday Andy and I played on my sister-in-law's team for Volley for a Cure held at North Shelby. We had a blast but I realized I am out of shape so I began my pilates work outs with Denise Austin on dvd. Needless to say I am extremely sore, but if I can get back into shape it will be worth it!

The Volley for a Cure was a blast, even though we lost our first two games I really enjoyed it and plan to attend next year's event! Wish we did this in the spring and fall!! They also had very good food so if you haven't gone before you should plan to attend next time!

Tomorrow I am having surgery bright and early in Columbia to remove a lump on my back. They said it's just a lipoma but it will go to pathology after it's removed. I'm a little nervous but ready to just get it over with and I'm hoping that recovery isn't too laid back so I can spend lots of time outside with the kids this week and continue my working out. (Yep, despite my soreness I did pilates again this afternoon!)

My kids are doing pretty good, Emma's cough is still hanging on so I hope she will get better soon. Emma and Weston have been doing pretty good with their toddler beds overall, nap time is the hardest so far so I'm hoping as we move toward summer they will e more tired and more willing to take a nap! =)

Big Boy/Big Girl Beds & Our 4 Year Anniversary

Well, Friday Weston finally received his master climber award as he flawlessly climbed out of his crib and did so at least two more times on Saturday. In an effort to try to keep accidents down, we switched their cribs to toddler beds today. I can say I'm less than thrilled that they can get up whenever they want and I'm nervous as to what the night will bring. I knew it had to happen sooner or later, but I was hoping for later.

Nap time today went okay, Emma ended up going to sleep on her own in bed which didn't really surprise me, she fights going to sleep less than Weston. Weston had to lay with me and then I put him in his own bed, so I'm hoping this will all work out alright!

Thursday marked mine and Andy's 4 year wedding anniversary. We didn't do anything to celebrate until Saturday night, we went out to Kobe's in Columbia for a wonderful dinner and went to the new Cody's for a short time to enjoy playing pool and some dancing. It was an absolutely wonderful evening! We had even went out Friday night as well to celebrate Andy's cousin, Jared, surprise 30th Birthday Party so it was an eventful weekend!

I'm glad to see the snow is gone and hoping it will stay that way until next Christmas. I'm looking forward to spring and especially summer as I'll be home with the kids everyday and we can just enjoy the great outdoors! Spring break is only a couple of weeks away which is so exciting. Once we get back school will nearly be over for the semester, then only one semester of driving back and forth to Columbia!!

I cannot believe how quickly my children have grown. They are amazing! Some days are trying more than others, mostly days when they fight a lot, but other days have less fighting and are really good days. They are ready to be able to go outside and burn energy that they just can't seem to get rid of when they're indoors! I'm so excited that they are older and will be able to do more this summer, I think they'll have so much fun!

Well, I suppose I should go, it's later than I thought thanks to daylight savings time so in the words of the Truman show in case I don't see you later, good morning, good afternoon and good night!

Family Pictures

Anyone who thinks it's easy to get two two-year-olds to smile pretty for camera may be crazy, but nevertheless, the kids did a good job and we ended up with some good pictures after all.

It seemed that if one of the kids was doing good the other was not, and when we were trying to get individual pictures they were too busy trying to figure out what the other one was doing to

want to do what we asked of them. Whew, I hope this gets easier as they get older! Haha!

A Not so Good Week

So this week has been rough on the family as Emma and I started getting sick last weekend and Weston shortly followed. I am finally feeling better after 5 long days of being sick and I think the kids are starting to do better as well. Andy just started getting sick so he's just now starting to get into the worst of it, but I hope he doesn't end up getting it as bad as the rest of us. Just some kind of nasty cold/flu. Makes us hope for spring even more!

But, at least with all the snow we got last week/weekend it was a good week to stay indoors. Wish we could get out to play in it, but not with sick kids.

Next week is shaping up to be a very busy week ahead and I really cannot believe it's going to be March. Time sure has flown by, usually the semesters seem to drag on but for some reason we're nearly half-way done and it seems like I just started.

Andy has been able to work closer to home the past few weeks which has been wonderful, but is heading back to the longer drive to Columbia next week. Hope he starts feeling better before Monday.

Other than that there's really no big news. We've just been enjoying the Winter Olympics and taking it easy.

As I'm getting nearly finished with my master's I'm getting more excited to teach, another positive experience just makes it seem like that is what I'm supposed to do, so I'm hoping that something will fall into place for me when it come times to find a job this time next year.

I am nervous about student teaching, I sure hope I feel ready when the time comes, but it helped ease my mind to talk with some of my friends who are student teaching this semester that I can get through it! =)

Winter Fun

Finally, the temperature was warmer with snow on the ground for the kids to enjoy their first time playing out in the snow. We enjoyed the winter weather on Saturday and the kids had a lot of fun, especially riding on the tractor with daddy.