I'm a Big Kid Now

Kyri and Graysen are growing so fast! They have both recently reached some major milestones and I have not been very good about posting it. So, here it goes!

Graysen thinks he's as big as his sister. So, why not wear her panties and boots?

I'm pretty sure he'll start a new fashion statement with this outfit!

Here's Gray sleeping in his crib (Yep, still with Kyri's panties on....and with her babies!)

And here's Graysen sleeping in his big boy bed!! (Sort of) We just put his mattress on the floor. We wanted him to get used to not being in the crib before the baby came. We found him in this position often, at first, and even completely off the bed. But he's getting much better at keeping his WHOLE body on the bed. (As far as we know)

We are SO proud of Kyri!! She has been potty trained pretty much since her 2nd birthday, but not night trained. So, she's been wearing pull-ups for over a year!! (thank goodness I finally started finding them cheaper with coupons :) ) We always figured we would have to night "train" her to get her out of her pull-ups. So, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas we made a BIG deal about staying dry at night. We took her out of the pull-ups and into her panties. She stayed dry the very first night!! We were so excited and thought, "oh, this will be easier than we thought!" We had a chart she could put stickers on, I bought her a special surprise at the store for staying dry and we really had high hopes. However, that was the ONLY night she stayed dry for the entire week. We didn't know what else to do. I was tired of washing sheets and blankets EVERY single day. So, we put her back into the pull-ups (sigh). Then a few weeks after Christmas Kyri was waking up with DRY pull-ups! We didn't want to get our hopes up too high, so we still had her sleep in pull-ups every night. After one week there was only one night she didn't stay dry. And that night she even woke up in the middle of the night to tell me she had a wet pull-up and she wanted to change it. When I was putting her back to bed she said, "I'm sorry I had a wet pull-up. I should have tried to keep it dry!!" OH! Of course I wasn't at all mad at her. SHe was doing SO great and I was just happy for the progress we WERE making. So, after a week we let her sleep in panties again and she has never had to go back to pull-ups again!! YEA!! She has only had a couple accidents and they were both when she was sick and I was having her drink as much juice as she wanted. Other than that, we have had a serious BIG GIRL on our hands....and we are SO proud :)

Here's our big girl sleeping in nothing but her panties. Apparently she got too hot in her jammies.

In the tub

Kyri was SO mad this day, but we really wanted to get a picture of her crazy hair! (She had buns in) We kept telling her to smile and this is the best we got!

One day Kyri got really sad about something (she was probably in trouble). She laid on the bean bag and said, "I want Gray!!"

So, he came a runnin'! And that was just what she needed to cheer her up.

We are SO grateful these 2 love each other SO much and play so well together!

Playing in the closet....a favorite of theirs

Decorating (or eating?) Valentine cupcakes

Kyri's and Gray's....not too shabby! Although, Gray didn't have too many hearts to put on his cupcakes because he kept eating his!! Haha

Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting....delicious!

Christmas Time Again...

...Or should I say "finally"?

Here's Kyri playing the part of Mary for her Joy School Christmas Program.

She did such an awesome job!! Especially since Joseph refused to play the part...she did it all on her own! She even got to put baby Jesus in the manger!

A rising star...for SURE!!

This is our Nativity

Gary got in in the Philippines and this is our first year having it up

I LOVE it!!

Christmas Eve

Boy they sure are excited!!

Santa even gave us a special visit to our house!!

Kyri invited him in and was not at all shy to sit on his lap. Graysen, on the other hand, didn't want anything to do with him....well, except take his "nandy"

I just hope that Santa realizes this is 2 years in a row our kids have had special visits....will you please make a special appearance EVERY year? :)

This is "dog dog" that Kyri gave Gray for Christmas and he LOVES it!

He sleeps with it every night and asks to get it out of his crib every morning.

Kyri's new princess jammies from "Grandma and Grandpa from Bunkerbill"

She has REALLY been wanting some footie pajamas.

SPOILED!

Gray in his new jammies...and in the baby exersaucer? Sort of.

Silly boy!!

So, Gary and I got the EXACT same bed set for each other for Christmas!

No, we did not see it while out shopping together.

What are the chances?

It wasn't even something on my Christmas list, so I definitely wasn't expecting it, but when I opened mine I told Gary which present he should open next. We had a pretty good laugh over this one. At least we knew we both liked it!

Kyri got a new scooter and Gray got a new "bike".

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa from "Bunkerbill"!

Since we have so much tile in our house the kids ride around inside and LOVE these!! And it makes their mama happy because they are entertained while I'm making meals.

Everyone lucked out with these gifts :)

Graysen just so happy about his new bike

They really like to push each other around.

Like I said, a great source of entertainment!!

And that Mickey Mouse is what Gray gave Kyri for Christmas. It's nearly as big as her, but she still loves sleeping with it and carrying it around...and giving it rides on the bike.

I've talked about gifts from Gary's parents. Well, they were actually here Christmas Eve and stayed until after we opened presents Christmas morning, but somehow we didn't get ANY pictures of them!! But we absolutely LOVED having them here.

My parents were also here for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. And since my grandparents just live down the road they came over too. So, here's a picture of Grammy, Grampy, Great Grandma and Grandpa Hansen, and kids. Yep, we let our kids stay in their jammies ALL day on Christmas. And Kyri would NOT get off her scooter long enough for us to even get a picture without it. We really did have a GREAT time!!

Graysen and Kyri all ready for church in their new clothes!

Just as a side note: the scarf "bodders" Kyri's neck, but she insisted on wearing it...this was our compromise.

Don't they just look so fabulous all dressed up?!?!

(yes, it's the best picture we could get)

It was so nice just staying home for Christmas this year. And we are SO grateful both our parents made the effort to come up and make it that much more special!! Kyri is already asking when it will be Christmas again!!

Why I Coupon Shop

OK, so I know we have A LOT of updating to do. We really want to put up pictures from Christmas, I need to change the background and music, etc. BUT I just wanted to make a quick post about why I shop with coupons. Check out one of my most recent deals:

8 boxes of cereal

1 package of pull ups

1 box of eye drops

2 packages of craft beads

Now, you might ask why I need 8 boxes of cereal when I already had over 30 boxes of cereal in my pantry. Well, all 8 boxes were completely FREE...so I say, Why not?!?! I didn't have any coupons for the beads, but they were only $.50 each and I thought that was a good deal to keep my kids entertained....even for just one afternoon!

Total BEFORE coupons $63.04

What I paid AFTER coupons $6.72

PLUS I will get a rebate check for $7.99

PLUS I got $8 of in store credit to use on my next purchase

So, I basically got paid over $9 to buy these things

And THAT, my friends, is why I shop with coupons!!

What's in the News

We have been SO crazy busy with SO many things lately. I'm hoping to get around to posting about some of them before too long (even though I don't have pictures to go along with any of it). But first, we decided to was time to share some news. Here is what we recently sent our family (We printed it out with pictures, but I couldn't get it all to come up on here AND our scanner doesn't work, BUT you get the idea)....

Ode to Family

Some of you’ve been asking,
and really want to know.
Is there a baby in Mauri’s tummy?
Will she ever show?
So, in answer to your questions,
We’re sending you this little verse.
Mauri’s feeling so much better,
in the beginning it was much worse.
Indeed, there is a baby inside,
and April 13th is when it’s due.
We won’t find out the sex this time,
A surprise for US and You.
Kyri wants a girl,
to play with oh so much.
Graysen wants a brother,
to kick and poke and punch.
And so, the next time you see us,
Mauri’s belly will start to show.
Of course, there’s a baby on the way!
Isn’t that what you all want to know?

We never tell our families we're expecting until we know the gender of our baby, but since we aren't going to find out....we still waited a while :) We are really excited and looking forward to one more source of chaos around here! Oh, and even though Kyri wanted a sister at first she is now hoping it's a boy!!

And please feel free to participate in our sidebar poll!!

Halloween....and Such

Well just as we were getting the kids into their costumes it became a downpour outside! We waited a while, but kids kept coming to OUR door...in the pouring rain...so Kyri kept asking if we could go. It finally cleared up, just long enough for us to hit a few houses in the neighborhood!

Seriously....have you ever seen such cute little animals before?!?!

The lamb and the lion

pleased as punch to be all dressed up

all dressed up with no place to go...EXCEPT Trick-or-Treating...and she is READY!

The kids were really getting anxious, so while it was pouring outside and kids were knocking on our door I decided to put one candy in each of their buckets.

This picture cracks me up because Kyri's looking at who-knows-what and Gray could care less about anything but his CANDY!!

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating and never complained about being cold.

And the best part is that they have never even asked to eat any of their Halloween candy!! When we got home they each got to choose one candy to eat. They both picked NERDS which spilled all over the floor and involved some crying. We put the rest of their candy up and we haven't even heard a word about it. Kyri talks about trick-or-treating and we look at these pictures (and others, which include their candy), so it's not like she forgot...but I'm not going to mention it if they don't!! Surely Gray is wishing at this point he knew a few words, though, because I'm sure he'd be begging for it if he just knew how to talk!! :)

Sunday afternoon we decided to make a yummy Halloween treat....because the candy just wasn't enough sugar! Here's our black and orange (it actually looked more orange in real life) Oreo Dessert

YUMMMM-MY!

On Monday we got to go to the Pumpkin Patch for Kyri's Joy School field trip. Yes, we went, even after Halloween. It was actually supposed to be last Monday, but it got rained out. Anyway, the kids had a great time! Here they are picking out their very own pumpkins!

The best one of the bunch

although, Gray found one slightly bigger

They got to go on this little "train" ride and they both LOVED it!

However, for some reason, Graysen was not about to sit on the little seat next to Kyri. I tried and tried to put him there, but he really REALLY wanted to sit in the bottom. And so he did. For the entire ride! All the other moms were laughing because at first they didn't know where he went...and then they saw just the top of his head! Too cute!

Another funny photo.

Again, Kyri's doing who-knows-what (she's very good at that) and Gray is totally posing for the picture.

Plus, Graysen looks as big as Kyri in this picture....maybe they're twins?!

I love that he's sleeping with Kyri's baby doll! :)

Sunday afternoons turn into family naps in our bed. Gray always starts out in his own bed, but ends up here. And Kyri usually falls asleep around the time Gray comes in. It's kind of a nice little tradition we've started.

The other night Kyri wanted to sleep in a "tent". That meant we also had to make one for Gray. This is what we came up with

Graysen LOVED this! The top of his crib was completely covered and I thought it would be down in seconds, but he actually left it there!

Kyri really loved the idea of this, but never got to sleep in it. :( She lost that privilege when I could no longer count on my hands how many times she came out of her bedroom that night!

It was fun while it lasted, I guess.

Dirty

His clothes were so filthy they had to come off before we even came into the house. If this boy ever steps foot outside he is immediately "digging"...and dirty!

Updates Galore

It's been a while, so I decided to update....A LOT.

Read on!

There's about 4 new posts.

Maybe if I did this more often I wouldn't have to do so much at a time.

What do you think?

Happy Birthday Big Girl!

It seems crazy to think that Kyri is already 3!! Where has the time gone? We have loved every minute (well, most minutes) of her 3 year old life!!

Kyri's birthday was on September 19th. Unfortunately, she was really sick with the stomach flu. We decided it would be best to forgo the cake on this day, but we still let her open and enjoy (as much as she could) her birthday presents. Don't mind her pajamas and uncombed hair...at least she doesn't look so green in these pictures, like she did earlier in the day.

Presents from Mom, Dad, and Gray

All week Kyri was telling us she wanted balloons for her birthday. Then she woke up and, I think because she was so sick, decided she probably wasn't going to get any. So, she said to me, "I don't need any balloons for my birthday. I can just wait until my next birthday for balloons." Oh, sweet girl! You can imagine her surprise when she came downstairs and saw these! And then, to make the story even sweeter: after seeing her balloons she immediately said, "Graysen might want a balloon too. He can have one of mine. He can have the small balloon!" She's not always willing to share, so it was sweet to hear her say that about her birthday balloons, especially since Gray was still in bed! And the 2 kids did carry around a balloon all week long!

She was sick and it was Sunday, so we wouldn't let her ride her new bike outside, but we did let her take it for a spin indoors!

The kitchen she got from Grammy and Grandpa. She LOVES to play with their toy food, so this was a fun gift.

She also got some very nice cards and money for her piggy bank from the other grandparents and great grandparents. What a lucky girl to be SO loved and spoiled!

We finally got around to having birthday cake. Kyri had been asking if she could have a bunch of people over for her birthday cake, but instead we let her share her cake with me, on my birthday! She was pretty excited about that!

Kyri kept going back and forth between wanting a heart cake and a star cake. So, Gary decided to make a "Shapes Cake" for her.

She LOVED it!

Making a wish and blowing out the candles

We made the cake decorating a family event. Actually, the kids and I just sat around and watched as Gary decorated. After he made the frosting he let the kids each lick off one of the beaters. Kyri had hers cleaned off in no time, of course. But Gray had his, well, ALL over. His face, hands, and shirt were covered. So, Kyri, being the clever girl she is, said, "Can I lick your face, Gray?" I immediately laughed out loud and then said, "NO! You can not lick his face. That's gross." Funny. But gross. As my mother pointed out: at least she asked first!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest Kyri girl!

We LOVE you!!

Randomness...

Here's a few random things that I thought were worth sharing.

Look how excited Kyri was on her very first day of Joy School!

On her first day she got to take her backpack and something for show-and-tell. She decided to take Pink Bear (her favorite stuffed animal...she's had it since she was born) and Whitey (her favorite blanket...also been around since she was born)

Yea for Joy School!! She is loving it!

One day I was gone. I was actually gone overnight and Gary was in charge....of everything. When we moved here and actually had a dishwasher I was SO excited. I even told him I would never ask him to do the dishes again. I mean, I can load a dishwasher likes nobody's business....he could have a break for a few years ;) Anyway, being the awesome guy that he is, Gary decided to load and start the dishwasher while I was gone. But when I opened it to unload it, this is what it looked like:

So, random, right? It made me giggle. And I just HAD to take a picture. I couldn't even be upset. I mean, he was nice enough to even load it. And surprisingly enough EVERYTHING came out clean.

You can load the dishwasher ANY time you want, love!! :)

Cute kids on the stairs. Unfortunately, this was the best shot I could get. But it does show off Kyri's cute new haircut.

Pet Peeve

No pictures needed for this post.

I just have to mention a real big pet peeve. Seeing how this is something almost everyone I know says, I figure this would be a good way to address it rather than telling you all individually. Please know that this does not change the way I feel about you or our relationship in any way. It's just that every time you say this it gets to me, deep under my skin.

So, let's just address it this once and be done with it. And if you ever say this again, I will forgive you, but I will probably roll my eyes a bit.

Now, on to the peeve:

TEXTED is not actually a word.

However, it is just fine (and even CORRECT) to use "text" as the past tense of text. For example saying: "I text him back" rather than "I texted him back"

Get it?

Good.

Stop saying texted.

It's not a word.

AND

It drives me CRAZY!

The End.

Family Pictures July 2010

First I have to say how annoyed I am with blogger right now!! I have had SO much trouble uploading photos. I had to do these one at a time. GRRRR. Nevertheless, here they are....FINALLY!

Back in July we had a family reunion and our fabulous sister-in-law took some family photos for us! THANKS, AMBER!!

Here's just a few:

It's been nearly a year since we had family pictures taken. Now I remember why we don't do it more often....I never look as thin as I wish! However, I think that there are still some really great shots, despite the fact that I need to lose 20+ lbs

Cute little family

I LOVE this one. It truly shows off Gray's real personality.

Our model.

Isn't she, though?

My boys!!

Amber couldn't stop snapping pictures of this beauty!

And we didn't even have to rent a fan to get the wind effect...it was actually real wind!!

LOVE her!!

Again, I love this one! This is typical of what goes on around our house. Kyri wants loves. Gray's not so sure, but not quite big enough to push her away...yet. Just you wait, sister....

Again, a typical scenario of our family life. Kyri, being her silly self. Gray, playing in the dirt and getting ready to put it in his mouth, no doubt. And Gary and I pretending not to notice and believing we have the most perfect children in the world!!

Amber always does such a great job! We feel so lucky to have her in our family! To see more of Amber's work check out these websites:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/echoimages/356017840892

http://www.echoimages.blogspot.com/