Ok. Its been a month, and I havent posted ANYTHING! Just shows how incredibly BUSY we all have been lately. I cant say exactly what it is either that is making us so busy, but it always seems like every night we have something going.

We have been little by little finishing a room and a bathroom in the basement since last summer. Its been getting closer to being done, and hopefully this spring should be complete! With Ryan in school, and livvy taking over Ryan's office...finding a place where he could escape to do schoolwork has been getting impossible, unless he wants a 2 year old little boy interupting every 2 minutes. :-) It will definatly benefit us in the future as well!

Alivia is growing by the minute. She is six months old now and I cant believe how fast time went. The next six months are going to fly by as well, and she will then be a year! She is rolling everywhere, eating solids three times a day...sleeping pretty good. The last couple nights have been a little better, but for the last month, she has been waking up a couple times a night looking for her pipe. It was making for some long nights on this mamma. Anyways...she is just one of the happiest little girls I know. Constantly smiling, jabbering like crazy. She is just getting cuter by the minute. We are falling in love with this little peanut more and more every day. She's such a blessing.

Last week was one of the harder weeks on us lately. Evan was just getting over a double ear infection and Thursday we noticed Liv was running a fever. Friday she still had a fever and she was not herself. Ryan ended up taking her in Friday night because her fever was getting higher. They checked for a UTI and bladder infection, but it came back clean. By monday, she was lethargic and it was freaking us out so we took her back in. Her temp was 104! Thats way too high for a little peanut. They took some blood and were able to tell she had an infection, and later that day found out she had a UTI. :-( Poor princess. After two shots and a weeks worth of antibiotics, she is doing 100% better. I felt so bad for her though. I had never seen her look like that. It was heartbreaking. Thank goodness she is doing better and we now know what to look for!!

Evan is growing like crazy too. His vocabulary is getting insane. I cant believe what he says, or how he knows what to say sometimes. That little boy is so stinkin smart. Backyardigans are probably his favorite show still. He also is big into Dora and Diego, and he loves the Imagination Movers in the morning. His favorite food lately is probably quesadillas or pasta. He loves all his john deere tractors, trucks and bike. He is definatly into signing and dancing, although poor boy is probably cursed, because both his parents cant do either. :-) His favorite song by far is Jesus Loves Me, and a close second The ABC song...SuperWhy style. He is so much fun and we love getting to know this little man God's blessed us with.

I will try and post pictures this weekend. Ryan is leaving me for a night this weekend with his dad, brother, and his brothers inlaws to the casino, so I might have time, maybe less tho! I'm sure Ryan is looking forward to a night away, of "watching" other people gamble and the free drinks! We arent big gamblers at all, but I am sure it will be nice to get away and have some guy time. I'm a little jealous!

Randoms!

So, I had some pictures that I havent had a chance to post, that I thought I better get on here. We took Evan ice skating a few weekends ago and he did so good! He loved it and screamed the whole way out because we had to leave. After 45 minutes of it tho, my ankles had about all they could take. It was such a good time, and fun to be able to take just Evan out and do something fun. Here are a few of that, and then just random ones. Have a great week everybody!

Has it really been over 2 weeks since my last post? Wow! I guess I havent had anything too exciting happen the last couple weeks. I did however just finish course one of the Wilton Cake decorating class, and will be starting course 2 in March. I absolutly love it! Its always been something I wanted to learn and know how to do, so I am super excited to be able to do some of the things I learned. Unfortunatly I have been eating a lot of my cakes as well. I wish I had the will power to not cut into it after bringing it home, however...I do not. I may have gained back the 8 pounds I lost just in the cake! Anyways...

Alivia is growing up so fast! It is amazing seeing her recognize things, and doing more. She giggles and smiles, kicks and rolls on her side. She has rolled from her belly to her back, (only because she gets mad on her belly, so she tries very hard to get off of it.) She is dramatic beyond belief compared to her brother, but we absolutly are in love with our little princess. I always thought the baby stages were so fun, but I think I have come to the conclusion that I love every stage. As they grow, it just gets better and better.

Evan too is growing like crazy! At his 2 year appointment he weighed a whopping 31 pounds and is now 3 feet tall exactly. 86% for height, and 85% for weight. He is a little pistol. The things he comes up with and says are just hilarious. It is so much fun being able to have full on conversations with the little guy. My favorite thing is listening to him pray, and thank Jesus for all the things he is thankful for. Most the time it is food, fruit snacks, and tractors...He is too funny. He also is developing quite the will power. He is to the age where he thinks he can do what he wants, and when told the opposite, can throw quite the fit. He has entered the terrible two's with a vegence! All in all, we love him so so much. He definatly is entertaining and makes life intresting.

It is so funny how Evan is developing his love for his sister. Dont get me wrong, there are days where he wants nothing to do with her, but on the others where he shows affection, it is the sweetest thing. Alivia just adores her brother. Every time he talks to her, her face lights up. So cute! I am sure there is a day coming when they wont be the best of friends!

Not much else to say. Ryan is still working, and the date that they have work through keeps being extended, which is a positive thing. Still doing well in school as he started another semester a few weeks ago. Its hard to believe he has been in school over a year now! So proud of him

Life is pretty much the same for me as well. Sorry, I dont have time to post pictures. Maybe sometime soon. I dont have time for much lately so I should probably get offline and do something productive!

What's New Lately

This year for New Years we went to the Double Tree hotel in holland with some great friends, and had some great times. I know the kids all had a blast, and Evan had so much fun trying to keep up with them! We pretty much hung out all night, ate some great pizza, went swiming...ect. We had an awesome time, and hopefully will have the priveledge of going again next year! Here are a few pics of New Years.



Here are just a few randoms lately. Evan making Alivia talk on the phone. It is so funny how much she loves her big brother. He looks at her and she gets a smile on her face. So adorable. Dont mind the food still smeared on Evan's face. He always seems to have something on it.



Not much else is too new over here. Ryan once again, starts his winter semester tomorrow night. He is taking two classes this semester again, so back to being busy! Things are also still going well at Tiara, so that is another blessing there!

Our house has been plagued lately with every sickness imaginable. Evan has had a cold/cough for about 2 weeks now. Prior to that, he had "Hand Foot Mouth." It probably sounds worse then what it was. He didnt have a bad case of it, but the virus is very contagious, and unfortunatly my nephews got it as well. That being said, our family Christmas had to be rescheduled for this past Saturday. We just cant beat the sickness over here. I was hoping 2010 would be a little healthier but so far it isnt looking that way.

I did want to say it is Evan's 2nd birthday today!! I cant believe my baby is 2. What a gift Evan is to us. We are so blessed to have him and love seeing him grow and learn new things everyday. These past two years have been amazing getting to know this little man God has given us, and we look forward to the many years to come with him. Happy Birthday little guy! Here are some pictures of his birthday party this past Friday night at our house. He got a ton of fun new things, one of his favorite being his new John Deere Tractor. He absolutly loves tractors!

Christmas in Pictures

Pictures!!

Here are a few pics of the kids most recently. We took Evan sledding by Ryan's parents house yesterday for a little bit. He loved being out in the snow. He even went down the hill by himself!

Just thought I would post some pics and update a little bit.
Life has been a little bit busier lately. Ryan is back to work it seems like for good now. This is a huge blessing, but also makes things a little more hectic with the babysitting situation. They apparently have 15 boat orders which means they have work thru Febuary at the least. It looks like it will probably be longer than that, if not indefinatly. Yay!
When I came back to work, knowing Ryan was soon going back as well I went down to four days a week which has been SO much nicer. I would love to go down more, but at this point, the work load at work may be too much for me to do that, so, I guess I have to hang in there a little bit longer! Its a nice break, and its nice to feel important and needed other than mommy needs, however I do miss my kiddos!!! They are growing so fast!!!!

Here are a few pics most recently taken:






We had baptism today for Alivia, as well as my nephew and cousins baby too. After baptism we had lunch at my brother and sister in law's house celebrating my nephew Garrett and Alivias baptism. What a blessing this little girl is to us. We love her so much, and she brings us so much joy. Love her to pieces! And how fun it was to be able to share this special day with Dave and Wendi and Garrett. Thanks Dave and Wendi for hosting today! Here is a pic of my Livvy pie in her baptism dress...without her cardigan. (I forgot to get a pic when she had everything on!) Yes, her dress is PINK...we arent a traditional family. :-)