Hudson's 2nd Birthday Party!

We were excited to take Nate to Hudson's 2nd Birthday party but we were a little nervous as to how he would be! He hadn't been to someone ELSE's birthday party and I was hoping that he wouldn't take control over all of Hudson's new toys! He did enjoy playing with Hudson's new toys but Hudson was very nice to share. Nate really liked Hudson's new Sesame Street couch that he got and both boys took turns swinging with the new T-ball set! However, Hudson is quite the ball player and we finally had to stop due to the fact that he was hitting them pretty long and hard! It is definitely not an INDOOR game! We had a lot of fun being a party of the family fun festivities and enjoyed celebrating Hudson's 2nd birthday! 

A very lazy, snowy Saturday...

Gotta love the Midwest weather! Today we got ice AND quite a bit of snow! So, it ended up being a very lazy, snowy Saturday. Since we were cooped up indoors, Nate stayed in his PJ's all day and we watched movies and played. Nate loves CARS and as you can see in the first picture he is laying on his Lightening McQueen, wearing his CARS PJ's, holding his CARS sippy cup, AND watching CARS the movie! (and these are only a FEW of the CARS items we have here at our home!) In the last picture, Jeremy and I were having a little bit of fun. Nate is in a desperate need of a haircut and we took advantage of his longer hair and added a little bit of gel to it! I think this little man could be destined to be a rock star!! He has quite the cute, curly, and crazy hair (and his hair looks even higher because Jeremy is sitting behind him)!

Nate's MY GYM class!

Almost every time we go to MY GYM Nate likes to grab one of the big orange cones and put it on his head! He usually wears it around for awhile as he runs around and plays. He makes such a cute little conehead! haha! He just loves his MY GYM classes and has a huge smile every time we go!

Sweet morning love...

The other morning when Nate got up, I took him into our room where Uncle Jeremy was still sleeping. I told Nate to jump on Uncle Jeremy to wake him up and he ended up becoming quite the little cuddle bug! In the first picture he is really laughing because we were tickling him! Look at all of those teeth!

An evening treat...

After we got home from the Zoo, we walked up to the nearby DQ with Nate and Maverick for some ice cream! Both Nate and Maverick loved their chocolate treat! Nothing beats a DQ blizzard, especially when it is with family!

Nate's 1st trip to the Zoo!

We took Nate to the Zoo for the 1st time today! Grandma and Papa went too and we had so much fun together! Nate was in awe of the big elephants and loved looking at all of the animals. We actually got a Family Zoo Pass for the whole summer so I am sure we will become frequent friends of the zoo!

More pictures of Nate...

1st picture: Nate frequently falls asleep with his arms behind his head...too cute!

2nd and 3rd picture: Nate was talking on his cell phone. I am not sure who he was talking to, but he was sure telling them quite the story!

4th picture: Graham rolled over onto his back to get his belly rubbed so Nate felt the need to get on the floor and get on his back too! Too funny!

a few pictures of Nate...

I could not resist taking a couple of pictures of that cute face! He has the cutest laugh too...he cracks himself, AND us, up all of the time! The last two pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago when he was helping Papa fix his rocking horse. He loves helping and fixing things! "Nate the Builder...Can he fix it, YES he can!"

Hello....

So, I have realized since I am now addicted to Facebook (so my sweet hubby says!), I have been neglecting our blog! However, there is nothing really new to report, which can be a good thing! However, Jeremy and I did have our LAST foster care class last night! We are very proud that we made it all the way through the 10 week course. Now, we just have to go through the official licensing process! We are hoping to be licensed in a couple of months. For now we are continuing to enjoy Nate living with us. He has been so much fun. Having Nate has definitely rocked our world, but we would not have it any other way! Moments with him are precious and priceless. Jeremy ended up being late for work this morning because we were having too much fun watching Nate! He was playing ball and hide-n-seek with Maverick, and he was being quite the cuddle-bug with Uncle Jeremy. TOO cute! 

Blah, blah, blah....

So, last night I felt horrible. It just came on all of a sudden and I found myself incapacitated on the couch all evening. I was so grateful that Jeremy came home from work a little early and took care of Nate. All I gotta say is I am soooo very thankful for an amazing husband who is willing to hold my hair back as I am throwing up! Now, THAT'S L-O-V-E. Thankfully I feel a lot better this morning...not sure what was going on last night (and NO I am NOT pregnant! Don't get all excited moms!)

Newly painted rooms

This weekend I went to FL to paint a couple of rooms for FRANNIE'S. They were really fun rooms to paint...I painted a baby's room with the cutest theme EVER! It was from Pottery Barn and it was pink (for a girl of course!) and had cute little monkeys on the design. So, I gathered  a couple of ideas from the new mom and the design and painted what you see in the first couple of pictures! I even added bling...not sure if you can see that or not, but it added a lot to the mural! It was awesome because it sparkled! The other room I painted was a bathroom with a sea theme. It turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself! It was actually the first room where I took someone with me to help. My brother went along and his help was greatly appreciated! It would have taken me a lot longer if he hadn't been with me!

Weekend in FL

This past weekend I went to FL to visit Whitsbury Court as well as to paint a couple of rooms. It was a great weekend, the rooms were fun to paint, it was wonderful seeing my FL friends, and the weather was beautiful! The first three pictures are of Shelby, Stephanie, Scott, Joshua, and I when we went out to Applebees to eat one night. The last picture is a photo of Scott and Joshua's dining room...they just got this new picture of the Eiffel Tower...isn't it awesome??!! They have such a beautiful house. It will look different next time I am in town though because Joshua was getting ready to lay down hardwood flooring. 

Filling some big shoes....

Nate LOVES wearing Papa's boots! Too cute!

Outing in the park

Dan and Marsha came to visit us one evening and we took Nate over to the park! We had a lot of fun together...we went for a walk, Nate played on the jungle gym, and Marsha chased Nate down as he was trying to play with the girls soccer team that was practicing there in the field! Nate also helped me walk Graham although after awhile he just decided it was more fun to RUN!

Drop it America!

I have to admit that Jeremy and I were part of the millions of people who got sucked into watching the Season Finale of 'The Bachelor' (there is just not much on T.V. on Monday nights)! Neither one of us had seen the whole season but we both watched to see how this season's Bachelor drama would end. And, after watching the whole show, including the 'After the Final Rose' (Part one and then TWO), I have to admit I may be one of the very FEW women in the world NOT mad at this guy! It is definitely unfortunate that the break-up happened on T.V. but if you are dating in front of the camera, you gotta know that things aren't always presented well ON camera. However, I think he made the best choice and I wish the new couple all of the happiness in the world! I have just been laughing because it seems like so many people are not letting this go! I was walking in Walmart with Nate yesterday and the girl behind us was going off about what happened to someone on the phone, it was brought up by some of our fellow classmates last night in our weekly class that we attend, AND after my aerobic class today, I noticed the girl at the front desk was watching some of the recaps online! Let the happy couple live their life! It definitely sucks to be hurt (been there, done that more than once), and I cannot even imagine being dumped on T.V. but she had to have known something was going on because she didn't walk out on the set like she even liked the guy. They BOTH sat there as if they were not thrilled to be there with each other so even though it was a shocker to America who's to say it was really a shocker for them? However, Melissa is going to fine, she is beautiful and sweet and I am sure she already has producers contacting her to extend her 15 minutes of fame! All in all though, even if it was all brought out on T.V., I think that he was honest and made the absolute best decision. So, even though my opinion does not matter at all...DROP IT AMERICA! 

Happy Birthday to MAVERICK!!!!

I have to admit...4 months ago I was not sure we were going to be able to celebrate this special day with Maverick. However, he is still going strong and he amazes me everyday! Today he is officially SEVEN years old! He was brought home on May 11th, but this is the day that he was actually born. We are so lucky to have him, he is such a wonderful dog and he will 

always be my 'baby boy'!!! The pictures are through the years...1st picture is in 2004 when we lived in MO, 2nd picture is in 2007 when we lived in AZ, 3rd picture is 2008 when we were in FL, and the 4th picture was taken just about a week ago back here in KS! 

Happy 7th Birthday Maverick! 

A snowy and silent weekend...

Nate is spending this weekend with his maternal grandparents so we have had the weekend to ourselves! It has definitely been more quiet around here and I think that Maverick is missing Nate more than he will let on. Nate is usually the one that he plays ball with now and his little buddy has been gone! I felt bad though, yesterday (Saturday) was Jeremy's birthday, and not only was I under the weather, the above picture is what we saw when we woke up that morning. And, it was still snowing! Jeremy had to go into work for a few hours but once he got home, we pretty much stayed inside and watched a couple of movies. Besides grabbing a bite for dinner, we did not venture far from home! But, we can celebrate Jeremy's birthday WHENEVER because technically he does not have a birthday for another 3 years! Yep, my hubby is a Leap Year baby. So, you could wish him a Happy 8.25th OR a 33rd Birthday! 

Speaking of the movies we watched...we caught the Lifetime movie with Rosie O'Donnell called AMERICA. Wow...it was really good and we both enjoyed it (don't be scared off guys...just because it is on Lifetime doesn't mean it is a chic flick)! It was also really sad, but really well done because of the reality of the foster care system. It just reaffirmed our desire to be foster care parents and even though we know it will be challenging, we are excited about becoming licensed. The second movie we watched was EAGLE EYE. This movie was just crazy as it was so amazing to think of how advanced our technology has gotten and could get. Definitely action-packed but it is kind of scary to think of where our future is headed. 

PEEK-A-BOO!!!!!

.....I SEE YOU!!