Wednesday, July 28, 2010

7 month stretch....

It's hard to believe that my little baby girl is now 7 months old today. These past few months have been a whirlwind of growth spurts! Lu-Lu as we call her is all over the house all day long crawling around and yelling up a storm at everyone. She says "da da" over and over again which RJ loves. She is still working on getting her first tooth, which I am sad to say I think might be 4 at once. The little stinker has been waking up about every 4-5 hours in the night with a slight fever wanting a bottle. It doesn't help that her and Gracie both think 10-11 pm lately is the time to go to bed. I thought I would share just a couple pics from the last couple of weeks of Lucie!

Lucie showing off her amazingly long tongue
Daddy rocking Lucie to sleep at the bbq


This is one of my favorite pics of Lucie, she was just hanging out at one of my best friend Megan's house on her little girl Avery's quilt! She looks so much older here!


LUCIE LOUISE

We love you baby girl! Happy 7 month birthday!!!

Monday, July 26, 2010

7 year Anniversary....

Family Pictures 2010

Family Pictures 2009

Family Pictures 2007
Our first Twins Game June 2010

Dave & Kari's Wedding 2010
Summer of 2009

Lee & Jynette's Wedding 2009

New Years Eve 2008

Visiting California in 2002


7 years ago today I married the man of my dreams. Most people can't say that. Everyday he amazes me how hard he works to take care of our family. I have tried to come up with the definition of what a husband and being married actually means to me and this is it:

We compliment eachother well. We listen to eachother when we have good and bad days, we lookout for eachother. We argue, we makeup. We talk to eachother and share our opinions whatever they may be. We share the housework, the workload, the yardwork. We love our children. All 3 take time and need us in different ways. We share the emotional and physical means of taking care of them. We love eachother, wholeheartedly.



Most of all we stand beside eachother through good and bad. These past 7 years we have seen more than our share of ups and downs and not once did we turn and run, we stood together facing the outcomes.

That is what a marriage is to me. To find the one that makes you laugh when you are crying, picks you up when you fall down, and loves you with all of your flaws.

That is why I married RJ 7 years ago today, and I would do it all over again .


I love you Monkey,

Your Hotrod

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Missing you everyday....



It's hard to believe that one year ago today we said goodbye to my brother-in-law Tracy. He was killed in a car accident in Iowa Falls. He left behind a loving wife Sarah and two beautiful children Fischer & Olivia, not to mention his parents and siblings. In the 7 years that RJ and I have been married I got to know Tracy and Sarah pretty well. We went and visited when we could and loved to play games and watch movies together.


This past year has been hard on our whole family. He was such a great person. It's hard to believe how one person can impact so many but he did. His passing was such a shock and devistation to us all.


We have to tried to see the positive in losing him. It has taught us to cherish the time we do have with our loved ones and to try to smile more, laugh more, and be better people.


So we miss you and love you Tracy and hope you are watching us from heaven as we think of you everyday......

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Crawling already...

It's hard to believe that my Lucie Lu is crawling already. She has become quite fond of wrestling with Daddy and Gracie. She started out pretty slow and is now chasing Gracie around the livingroom like crazy. Now instead of telling Gracie to stay out of something I am telling both girls to stay out of things. It's fun. She seems to want to play with a lot more of Gracie's toys now too. The other night both girls were playing with the kitchen set that we have in our dining room. It was so cute to see them playing together. Here are a couple pics of them the other night....








Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Gracie and the potty.....

Daddy & Gracie

We have recently entered the world of potty training. Things are going very well it seems. Gracie now tells us everytime (almost) she has to "potty or poop". We rush her upstairs, since we do not have a bathroom on the main floor (very inconvenient) and sit with her for several minutes until she is "ALL DONE". I don't think I have changed a poopy diaper of hers in over a week, which I must say is so very nice.
I'm a big girl now!
With her doing so great we decided to buy her some big girl underwear. She has worn them twice for about an hour each time and hasn't had an accident yet. We really haven't been home that much lately to really explore her wearing them all day long. It would have to be a weekend for sure. Our little baby is growing so fast, hard to believe she will be 2 years old this year.


So good job Gracie and keep up the good work.....

Love Mom & Dad

Monday, July 19, 2010

Fun in the Sun....

This past Sunday us "Boone Girls" and our families decided to have a bbq. Since we don't get together that often it was very cool to see our own children playing together! With Kari living in Harcourt, Megan in Perry, Susan in Harlan and Amber and I in Boone we just don't get to spend the time hanging out like we used to, so we try to enjoy every minute we can when we do. This time Amber "B" couldn't make it, so we missed seeing Hannah and Wesley playing with the rest of the kids. Hopefully we can get together again soon.
While the kids enjoyed swimming, the adults played a couple of yard games but mostly sat around a circle in our lawn chairs in the yard talking about what's going on in our lives away from the group. It's so nice just to visit.
Mikayla & Gracie in the big girl pool

Lucie sunbathing

Gracie, Avery & Lucie in the baby pool
Avery & Lucie enjoying some baby time in the pool !
Seems like we just graduated yesterday and now we all have families......







Saturday, July 17, 2010

Our Minnesota Vacation....

TWINS VS. WHITESOX



PRE-GAME ACTIVITIES...

We had a bite to eat before the game at "Dan & Kelly's" where Brock managed to eat an entire appetizer of BBQ Hotwings by himself and was still hungry.

We made it early to take in a little batting practice...
Nick, Kara, Sarah, RJ


The Girls




The Boys
Brock, Alex, RJ & Nick



This past Friday night we had the opportunity to spend some time with good friends and enjoy a great game of baseball in Minnesota! Of course we "Vodeniks'" are Twins fans while our friends The Larsons' are White Sox fans (Alex is a White Sox fan too!). We planned earlier this year to make it to a game where both teams played eachother and it just so happend they would on Friday night.

For Alex's 13th birthday this year (June 29th) we got him two tickets to join us! He brought along one of his good friends "Brock", and we all had a lot of fun. Of course the Twins won the game 7-4. It was a hot one too, I believe the temperature was around 89 degrees with no wind whatsoever, but we made it through.

On Saturday we spent a couple of hours at the Mega Mall and played some minature golf. Once the boys did a little shopping and we had a late lunch we headed for home, just in time too as there was a tornado that touched down soon after we left the good state. Sharing the driving time we made it home in just under 3 hours.

It was a fun time had by all and we can't wait to do it again. Of course next time we will bring the girls' along (Gracie, Lucie and Eleanor). This time was just for the adults and the new teenagers!!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Sibling time!!

Alex & Gracie at the Ballpark

Gracie helping push Lucie in her walker!

Alex helping Lucie play in their kitchen!


It's a brother/sister team effort!

We have learned to value and cherish the time we have when they are so little still !!


A Day in the Park.....


This past weekend we decided to stop at a park while we were in Ames. We pulled out our favorite red and green "Toreador" blanket, and Lucie and I played on it, while RJ, Alex and Gracie had fun going down the slide and playing on the jungle gym!!!
What a relaxing day!!

Gracie going down the slide!!


Friday, July 9, 2010

Here's to a new beginning...

Just wanted to give a shout out to my sistergirl Erica for starting her new job in Des Moines a couple of weeks ago! Can't believe you already make more than I do, hah!
Love you sis, and I am very proud of you!!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

4th of July 2010

We started off our 4th of July with a parade in Gowrie with Uncle Dave and Aunt Kari. Of course our cousins Hanna & Lilly were there to make it extra special!

Then we celebrated Uncle Dave's 36th birthday with a bbq in Harcourt.

We then finished our day with fireworks in Boone! Gracie did her first sparklers with Daddy and Alex while Mommy and Lucie watched safely from the blanket! Of course both of us girls fell asleep before the fireworks were over, it was a very long day!!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Friday, July 2, 2010

6 month check-up....


Today was Lucie's 6 month check up and she is doing great. Right on track she weighed in at 16lbs, 9 oz putting her in the 75th percentile for weight, and 27 1/2 in long putting her in the 97th percentile for height! In no time she will be right up there with Gracie.

Lucie got 3 shots today and had to drink the little vile of sweet stuff! Of course she cried when they put the needles in her legs, who wouldn't?? Being a good mommie, I called ahead and had Grandma give her some tylenol before I picked her up to take her to the appointment.
Needless to say all the nurses and the doctor said she has beautiful big blue eyes, like her daddy of course.
I can remember when I was sitting in the hospital this last time with Lucie before we brought her home thinking, "I don't know if I can do this, I am so overwhelmed already." I was very stressed and I just didn't have confidence in myself. I have learned to take a deep breath and try to relax when it seems like things are too much for me to handle, ok at least I try to. I can't imagine not having Lucie now. She is just getting so big already and honestly I kinda miss the days of breastfeeding her! Ok, maybe not!!!!!!!

I love you my Lu-Lu belle!!