Christmas Morning

I know we're a little behind, but here are some photo's from Christmas morning. The kids had a great time and so did we!

Santa always leaves the kids stocking by their beds. Andy was a little confused.

Christmas Eve Photos - Simpson Style

Here's us trying to get our 'nice' Christmas eve photo in front of our tree. Just watch the progression of things. I just see Bart and Homer Simpson all over these!

"I said look at my camera!" -- Andy

"Fine, don't look, I'm done with it then." -- Andy

"I'll get it, Andy!" -- Lilly

Almost a good one...

See Michael's face here, it's starting to get to him....

One more try.

Lilly's almost had it.

Okay, we're done. Andy's pulling hair and still throwing the camera and now Lilly's screaming and so are we! Ah the fun of Christmas Eve!

First Dance Receital

Lilly had her first receital this past weekend. It was so cute. Her teacher, Miss Stacy, made headbands for all the girls to wear and they did their tap dance for a crowd of about 80 people. It was too cute. She did a great job and really likes to dance, so I think we've found a good outlet for some of her energy!

This is Lilly with her friend Grace and below is Miss Stacy.

Let's Go See Santa

We finally made it to see Santa! We took Aunt Cara and Aunt Tammy and went to the mall in Topeka. Lilly wouldn't tell us what she wanted and then right before it was our turn, she looked at me and said, "Mommy, what did I want again?" If only I'd known it would be that easy this year. So I reminded her of the things we had talked about earlier and up we went. She hopped right up on his lap and they had quite the conversation. She was telling him that she wanted the Littlest Pet Shop Clubhouse, 2 Barbies and a Barbie playhouse (which was not one of the items I remindered her of just minutes before). I was trying to stand close enough to hear, (Santa's helper needs to know too!) and then Michael is yelling at me to get out of the picture. Go figure, it's never as easy as you think it should be!

Then came Andy's turn. Santa said, "I bet you like Elmo" and then out of no where, Andy just yells "ELMO!!!!!". So, even though Santa's Elf already had Andy's gift, they had to find something Elmo to have under the tree too. He was a big boy and thought it was pretty fun!

Grandma Snook

I know we've been MIA for a little while, but we've had good reason. Wanted to post a great picture of Lilly with Grandma Snook that was taken while we were trying to get our Christmas card photo done. By the way, we tried 3 different times before we were happy with the photo's.

Lilly's First Christmas Tree

This year we let Lilly put up a small tree in her bedroom. We purchased some plastic bulbs for her to use and also a set of M&M garland and then went through our ornaments and she picked out the ones she wanted to put on her tree. Michael put the tree together, after having to fix it, as it was Grandpa Kimberlin's old tree, and he put the lights on it for us, but then it was up to Lilly and I to add all the "flare" to it! She did most of it, which it took everything in me not to 'fix' it afterwards, since after all it is her Christmas tree.

Breakfast with Nana and Papa Jim

This is the first year that Nana (my mom) and Papa Jim have decided to join us for Thanksgiving. They brought with them powdered sugar donuts and chocolate covered donuts and of course my kids (Andy especially) thought this was great! Papa Jim got a kick out of Andy that morning. "I munny, I munny" is Andy speak for "I'm funny, I'm funny"! We enjoyed having them here as we always love having guests!

Fun in the Leaves

Don't you just love fall? Well, I know Lilly does. Michael I'm not so sure about. Here are some pictures we took the other day when he raked up all the leaves in our back yard. Too bad Andy was sleeping during all this fun! Luckily he's too young to know he missed out.

Seriously, who put on that blue hat?! It sure wasn't me.

Thanksgiving

For those of you who don't know, Michael and I have taken to hosting our family at Thanksgiving. We love having everyone to the house, as we love a good party! We will be having lunch with turkey, ham and all the fixings starting at 1:00, so please feel free to join us or just stop by on your way to say hello!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Halloween

Halloween was so fun this year with both kids dressing up and enjoying it. Lilly was Ella Barbie Princess and the Diamond Castle (I still haven't figured out the Diamond Castle part yet, but it's what she wanted from day one) and Andy was Nemo. His costume was by far the cutest I think we've had. He still is wearing it around the house and I just laugh every time he wants to put it on. Michael and I got it out a week early so he could get used to it. I wasn't sure he'd wear the hat, and he proved me wrong the first day I tried to put it on him. He put the hat on, but didn't want anything to do with the body part...until Michael walked through the door. Then he put it on with no trouble at all! I think kids have an uncanny knack of proving their parents wrong at a very young age. So Andy wore his costume on and off all week long for small periods of time and he never once fought us while putting it on.

Once Friday came around, I thought, "here's our real test". We were going to make several stops and he was going to have to take it off and on each time, as it wouldn't fit in his car seat with him. It really does look like a big marshmallow. Our first stop was here in town at Susan's shop. She's the lady that pays me at the church and is Andy's "Grandma" in the mornings when I'm there when I'm being the mean mom and letting him cry it out trying to get him to go to sleep. Michael got him out and had him dressed before I could even get Lilly around to the other side of the van to help him. She had entire boxes of fruit snacks for each of the kids. One for Lilly that was all Barbie snacks and one for Andy that is all Nemo snacks. She lives here by herself and her kids aren't too far away, but I don't think she sees them a lot, so I'm glad she enjoys ours!

Then we went to Papa K's house. Neither one of the kids had had a nap that day, so Lilly fell asleep in the car on the way over and Andy just looked like he was in a daze. But he hoped out of his chair and let Michael dress him, no fuss at all! I thought, this is too good to be true.

Papa always gives the kids apples and both of them ate one while we were there. They love them and what a good snack before we get started with all the candy!

After Papa's we went to the Methodist Church there in McLouth where they had Trunk of Treat. We love that they do this. It's a safe environment where we can let the kids walk around and not worry about cars! We also saw the Weissenbach clan and that was one of the highlights of the evening! The kids had fun running around while we chatted. Cara, Denise, Josey, Manda, Kymani, Jamari, Little Kathel, Kerry, and Levi all joined us there too. Which is also why we love that the church does it. When the kids had collected all the candy from there, Kathel invited us back to the house for lasagna. It was great. We got to eat with the family and see everyone for more than a couple minutes that night.



You're never too old for Halloween!

That was our last stop and Andy had to put the costume on one more time. We went to Aunt Nita and Uncle Deak's house and I just kept waiting for the melt down, but I have to say, it never came. I don't know who to give the credit to, my husband or Andy, but they both did it all night long and not once was there screaming, resisting, or crying. (From either one!) I know part of it is just Daddy's touch, as it seems with both my kids, anything that they can do with Daddy is always better. I'm so thankful for that, as it makes my life much easier. All in all, we had a fabulous night! Both the kids were soundly asleep when we got home that night and we were exhausted too. Here are some additional pictures of Andy in the costume. It's just so cute, I can't say it enough!

Carving Pumpkins

Last Wednesday night I hurried home from the church so I could help Michael with the annual carving of the pumpkins we so carefully selected at the patch. When I got home, everyone was ready to get started, so I grabbed a quick bite and we dug in...literally! Enjoy these pictures!

Lilly had to "show" Andy the pumpkin seeds and what to do with it when you pulled them out!

That's my girl!

He was getting the hang of it... in between putting the pumpkin seeds and goo into his mouth!

Andy only lasted about half an hour and then he had to go to bed. For all our sakes! Daddy and Lilly finished the pumpkins and then scared themselves with them. What a great night we had.

Looking back...

Okay, I was looking through a folder of old pictures and found this. I know that kids grow and change, that is part of life. But look at how much they have changed. I made me a little sad to think about how they are not so little anymore. --- mike

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Tenille's mom and sister came to spend the weekend with us, so we thought that this would be a great time to take our annual trip to Schake's Pumpkin Patch. We spent several hours playing on the toys, sling-shotting pumpkins, and hay-rack riding out to the field to pick our own pumpkins. This is probably one of Lilly's favorite things to do that is holiday related. We get to go to the farm, play in the dirt, and then search 40 acres of pumpkins for the perfect, jack-o-latern pumpkin.

Luckly, my sister Cara and Tammy are friends with the Schake's and they work at the patch through out the month of October, so we get rock star treatment. Really, that just means not having to walk far from the parking lot, not much else.

Anyways, the kids had a great time with plenty of help to pick out just the right pumpkin. All in all, Andy and Lilly had Cara, Tammy, Chelle, and Nana (Anita, T's mom) to help them through the field. Of course, Andy with his skills in walking and running, bit the dirt several times and was attacked by several pumpkin vines. Lilly was determined to find the smallest pumpkin that she could find. And she did, it's smaller than a lemon.

Over all, it was a great, yet exhausting day. Now we just have to carve our pumpkins!!!!

Michael

MRI Results

I finally heard back and the results of the MRI were clear and they say everything is fine with my brain, that they can see anyway. They are still wanting me to take the medicine for the migraines, so we'll see how that goes. Thanks for everyone's concern's and prayers!

Now it's time for all the jokes about why I have them and who is causing them....my kids, my husband, my family, my in-laws, I know. Joke it up people... I have no clear answers either.

MRI Adventures

I know, I know, it's not so exciting having to have one done, but as life takes it's turns, that's where I am right now. My dear friend Megan called and left me a voicemail on my new phone (Yes, i went with the blackberry per her great endorsement on her blog a couple weeks ago) and as I was sitting here, I thought I might share a few thoughts on it with everyone.

It was LOUD! And I had to have an IV, which many of you know is not a fun procedure for me as they usually have to call in the IV specialists and I usually have to sit there with warm wraps on both of my arms and it takes forever. But as luck would have it, my radiology tech was a graduate from Fort Hays State University and he just laughed at me once he looked at my veins and got the IV started right away. (I'm not saying that FHSU had anything to do with it, but GO Fort Hays!) My loving husband came in with me and sat in the room while they did the MRI and he also had the pleasure of wearing earphones for the 20 minute procedure. I might add, it is not at all like what you see on Grey's Anatomy. Again, it was LOUD, even outside the room and they put this funny thing on top of your face, as if it isn't bad enough going into a tight cylindar, they cover your face with this thing that has a strategically placed mirror to help those of us that are clausterphobic. I did my best not to freak out and just 'pretended' to be asleep for the most part! I did ask the tech half way through if he was trying to give me a migraine since it was so incredibly loud in there!

I had this done on Monday and I haven't heard back yet from the doctor's office on the results yet, so no news as of today. As my OB office always says, no news is good news, but for some reason, it doesn't seem to have the same calming effect on me. Until I hear otherwise...

Lilly's First Day of Pre-school

So I know she's been in pre-school now for almost 2 months and I'm behind posting these pictures. (I know, I know, I really need to learn how to pull them off the camera myself!) Her teacher is Mrs. Schwartz and the assistant teacher is Mrs. Rosebrough. She loves her school and is making friends there. Andy was obviously excited for her to go as well. Can you believe I didn't pose them in this picture?

Our Other Children

I just realized that I haven't posted pictures of our very cute puppies. Well, they're not puppies anymore actually! They had their first birthday on September 24th and you would think we'd be happy that they are no longer puppies, but now I have to come up with a new excuse for all their bad behaving! We do have a trainer coming in November, so I'm very excited about that and looking forward to them 'training' Michael and I. Enjoy!