New Look

Well I figure it is getting to the end of summer and beginning of fall so I decided to get a new look to my blog!  The family picture is back from March but I still love it!  Bryleigh looks so little compared to what she looks like now!  We just recently purchased this photo which was in the Nieman Photography Window and it is a 20 x 24 and looks great on our living room wall! 

I don't have a lot to update on since I have been so busy with work!  I am currently handling two units at work while we search for another social worker and yesterday I had a training in Madison so I had to leave my house at 5:45am and didn't get home until after 7pm.  It was such a long day! After yesterday, I was really having doubts about wanting to go back to school because that would be what it feels like for 2 days per week for 4 years.  I suppose I have some thinking to do :(

But I did have these beautiful views on my early morning drive yesterday!

I'm so looking forward to my short day at work tomorrow and then my 4 day weekend! 

Life as we know it

We are enjoying our last couple of days of summer vacation before Christian starts school and are loving it!  I just wish that we lived in a state that was warm all year because we just love to be outside!  Christian sure has gotten his use out of his Power Wheels this year!

Don't ask what Bryleigh is doing because this is her newest thing!  Has to have her mouth wide open! And the looks this girl can give!  

We have been having quite the challenge with these two children lately!  They are both so strong willed and stubborn and then you combine them with Christian's recent phasing out of naps and Bryleigh's need for independence, makes for some very trying parenting for Bryan and I! Bryan keeps telling me that these are the times that I need to remember when I get baby fever, which happens quite frequently these days :)

But tonight the kids spent some time with my mom, while Bryan and I went food tasting with Jenna and Andy to prepare for their wedding coming up quick on November 26!  We had some great food!  I'm so excited for the upcoming months!  We have our vacation to Mexico booked for January and now I'm in the process of planning Jenna's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party! 

Good Ol' Summer Day

We spent the majority of the morning and afternoon outside playing, while Bryan helped a friend move.  I was even daring enough to take a walk with both kids and Homey!  I think its safe to say that I can handle another member of the family.  There is a good chance that this family may have to expand in the future, with a pet, that is :)  But for now, I"m good with just dog sitting! 

And Peycha came over today to pick up her finished dress!  And  she looked so pretty!

Although we did have some good fun today, I can't say that I wasn't excited when Grandma and Grandpa came over to take Christian for the afternoon to the Red Granite Rock Quarry to go swimming!  The kids have really been trying to see how far they can test me and with little nap for Bryleigh and no nap for Christian today,  I was exhausted.  So they took a lot of pictures and I was happy to hear that Christian had a blast and now he is passed out in bed! 

Tasha jumping off a cliff

This is the "Look, Grandma and Grandpa let me eat gummy worms"  Smile

And good night to all! 

Hot Dog :)

Our relaxing Friday has been pretty doggone good :)  (No pun intended)  Our friend, Deb,  also used to be Christian's favorite daycare teacher until she left to start up her own doggy daycare called Precious Paws Pet Resort.  So since she has no daughters or granddaughters that I am able to make some cute tutu's and hairbows for, she decided to see if my creations could outfit her pooch, Peycha!  And by golly, they did! 

She sure made that tutu dress look good!  So tonight I crafted away to make her a Rockstar Set!

We also spent the majority of the day outside since the weather was gorgeous!

This is from the other day but I snuck it in here because we did this today also!  Yum, freezie pops :)

Then, after dinner, we stopped out at my parents house to pick up "Homey" which is my parents dog.  They are out of town this weekend and so we decided to bring him to our house so he has some company!  To make a long story short,  when I was 17, I was at a farm with several of my friends and there was this dog which nobody wanted and the farm owners were going to take him out and shoot him.  I don't know how people can be so cruel but I couldn't let this happen so I took him home.  My parents told me that we could never get a dog but I brought this 6 week old puppy home and sat him on my parents bed at 10pm one night and said "Look at this face, he has no where to go."  And the rest is history....Homey is now our family dog and my parents don't know what they would do without him.  

Look at that face! Yes, his leg looks horrible but about a year ago, he started to chew on that one area and my parents have tried everything to make him stop and nothing works.  So if anyone has any ideas, we would love to hear them!

There was a lot of bonding going on at our house today! 

Not only with children but also with dogs :)

4K

I can not believe it!  Christian starts 4 year old Kindergarten in less than 2 weeks! Our little boy is getting so big :(  Tonight, Bryan and I had parent orientation.  I'm so excited that after all the calling and enrolling and such,  I finally got Christian into my first choice 4K program which is at our church, St. Luke's Lutheran Church.  He was enrolled in 2 other programs, another private program and a public program, but to make a long story short,  I finally was able to get him in!  What makes it more exciting is that 20 years ago, I was in the same classroom for Preschool!  Never thought I would now be a parent to a child in the program :)  So exciting!

So tonight at orientation,  Bryan and I got to do a little bit of this...

 

I felt like a little kid again because we got to color Christian a picture of him for his place mat!  

And I think the best part about Christian going to 4K is that he will also be learning in a Christian environment and discipline will be structured around "Jesus Way," which will also be incorporating more at home also!  The theme for this year is "Bananas for the Lord"!  So next week, Christian has meet the teacher day and then on Sept. 7, our boy starts 4K!  

Just a little flashback...

Just Pretend!

Christian has quite the little imagination these days!  He sure comes up with the funniest things. Lately,  its been let's play "Captain Hook"  where he is Captain Hook and I am Steve.  I'm still unsure who Steve is but I'm assuming it is from a cartoon that he watched?!?  So tonight,  Christian wanted to pretend he was in Mexico.  (Must be hearing all of our vacation talk!)  So he put on his sun hat we brought him back from Mexico and Bryleigh followed and he proceeded to tell us that they were 'Lisa and Pat"  aka Grandma and Grandpa!  So they had the shoes and the hats and were all ready to go to the beach, he insisted!  Big feet like Grandpa he says! 

We love our "pretend" days!  I'm sure there will be more stories to come!  And in between the pretending, I was able to complete another tutu dress!

I'm a tired girl lately, so its going to be an early night for me!  Good night!

Just another day!

We seem to be so busy at our household but yet not much is going on!  Its been a lot of cook outs with friends,  wedding planning with the bestie, crafting, and shopping.  This past weekend my mom and I took a day and went shopping in Appleton with the kids in tow.  Although the kids were pretty cranky,  we got a lot done!  We stopped at David's Bridal so that we could look at flower girl dresses and OH MY GOSH,  they have the cutest dresses for little ones!  I think I have found the one but I'm still going to shop around a little more because I just hate to pay $129 for a dress that Bryleigh will wear one time but if we do go with that one, she will be one heck of a princess for a day! 

So this is basically what the dress looks like but in a much smaller size!  So the dress hunt continues!

And today I made the cutest tutu dress and its by far my favorite one so far.  A little peak into our photo shoot!  Our girl is such a character! 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  Now back to reality again tomorrow :)

For the love of shoes...

Our daughter has an obsession with shoes and I'm not sure where she gets it from! Shoes are not my thing, although, I have some cute pairs,  I would rather buy other things than shoes.  So in the past several months, Bryleigh has officially become obsessed with shoes and will have temper tantrums when we put the "wrong" shoes on her or if we won't let her wear a pair of shoes.

This is what happened today and you would have thought that it was the end of the world at our house today!

All because she wanted these shoes on...

Which are 2 sizes too small and I had full intentions of removing them from her closet and putting into storage but I guess I did not do that quick enough.  So she decided to put them on and squeeze her poor feet into them, after many attempts at Bryan and I trying to put different shoes on her.  We lost the battle :(  They say to choose your battles, right???

Another a happy note, today was Christian's 4th Baptismal Anniversary!  So in honor of his anniversary, we lit his Baptismal Candle!  Which we have neglected to light the past 3 years.  He was so excited to blow it out after I explained the meaning of Baptism to him! 

I am researching for our Mexico trip as I type and I can't wait to go back.  I just didn't think we would be going on vacation again so soon!  Thanks to Jenna and Andy for moving their wedding from March 10 to November 26, we will all be going on vacation in January instead of April now!  So exciting :)

Now on to researching and then some tutu and bow making...

Newest Creation

I am excited to announce my newest creation...Tutu Dresses!  I have seen these on little girls and I fell in love and decided I must create :) So I attempted my first tutu dress the other night and I was very excited with how it turned out! Of course, Bryleigh was my little model! 

And then I made a matching bow!  We'll call this the Rockstar Collection :)

I'm so excited to start selling them!  And eventually get Bryleigh's picture taken in one! 

And just to share my smiling kids faces...

The kids took extra long naps for us yesterday and Bryleigh must have missed Christian so much during nap time that she could not wait any longer to wake him up right after she woke up!  They love each other so much sometimes!