And then there were 4....

Little Handyman

2012-01-23T06:41:00.000-06:00

Makenna Telling the Christmas Story

2012-01-20T07:27:00.000-06:00

Better late than never.

All through the season of Advent, we as a family tried hard to make the time preparing for Christmas about Jesus.

We attempted this in several ways. Our Jesse Tree was a main way we did this but as you know we have young kiddos and a new story everyday even if they all center around God's big picture gets confusing for small kiddos.

Another way we tried to really drive home the importance of Christmas was by telling our kiddos the story of the first Christmas often. We did this by reading straight out of the Bible, reading the story out of our Jesus Storybook Bible, and reenacting the story with a nativity set.

Let me just say that with the current age of our kiddos the reenacting was by far the favorite. Within just a few times of telling the story this way Makenna decided to try to tell the Christmas Story herself. Also, both kids LOVED to play with the nativity set. As you can see in the video below Colin even gets involved at one point.

Currently the nativity set is still not packed away with all the other Christmas decor. Mostly because the kiddos love playing with it so much.

So all that said here is a video of Makenna's take at the age of 3 on the story of Jesus birth.

Disclaimer: The white card Makenna is using has a picture of an angel on it. She had to use this because we somehow misplaced the angel to the nativity set. Also, please ignore my constant questions...I just wanted to encourage Makenna and see how much she remembered about the story.

Snow

2012-01-19T07:29:00.001-06:00

Finally we got enough snow for the kiddos to enjoy.

It doesn't take much because as you can tell by the pictures there is hardly enough snow to cover the driveway. But I guess that says a ton about expectations. Makenna and Colin didn't expect any snow so when there was some to help Daddy shovel they were excited.

We even broke out a sled to let the kiddos take a couple passes down the street. Needless to say they had a blast.

For those of you who noticed....Yep our neighbors got tee-peed....in January.

Pregnancy Number 3 : 29 Weeks

2012-01-18T15:16:00.001-06:00

Pregnancy Number 3 : The Birth Day

2012-01-17T15:06:00.000-06:00

I guess the big news right now is that a day has been chosen for Baby 3 to be born. It is kinda funny because most of the time you think that when you are going to have a c-section you will get to pick the day your baby will be born.

But not the case for the Willises. Our doctor picked our baby's birthday for us. I know that if we had a major conflict with the day our OB would have changed the day but we really don't. It wouldn't have been my first choice because our niece will have the same birthday. No big deal though. It will make it easy to remember for Grandma Janelle.

So that brings us to the announcing of the day.......

MARCH 26, 2012

That is unless baby 3 decides to make his/her grand appearance sooner.

Christmas Songs

2012-01-13T15:46:00.003-06:00

Makenna has definitely found a few Christmas songs that she really enjoyed singing the past month. Most of the time she would rotate between Hark the Harold Angels Sing, The Little Drummer Boy, Silent Night, and Away in a Manger.

Here are a few videos showcasing her musical talent:)

Colin's Big Boy Bed

2012-01-06T14:55:00.003-06:00

If you didn't guess by the title of the post, I'll make it very clear. Colin is now sleeping (both nap and over night in his big boy bed).Yep that's right no more crib for Colin.

We started him with just sleeping in his bed during nap time on Tuesday. His only objection was to the pillow. Which I gladly removed and as a result he slept great.

For over night we have been giving him a choice as to where he would like to sleep and he would choose his crib. But last night when Jared gave him the choice, he pointed to his big boy bed. And to everyone's delight he slept great.

I will say though that we have been dealing with him getting out of bed for some time now because he had figured out how to climb out of his crib. So the whole "you can't get out of bed" talk has been previously dealt with. Not that I think we are in the clear yet as he hasn't attempted to test this out with his big boy bed. But here is to hoping this milestone is all taken care of.

In other big boy bed news. As of now both the crib and Colin's big boy bed are in the same room. No that does not mean we know that baby 3 is a boy it is just the most convenient place for both the crib and bed right now. Also, the bed was made by my dad and given to Colin as a Christmas present.

Here are the pictures of Jared and the kiddos putting the bed together.

Colin - An Update

2012-01-03T13:13:00.002-06:00

This is a quick update on Colin at 20 months.

He has recently accomplished some pretty big things. It is funny how all of a sudden a child can surprise you with what they already know and are capable of learning.

Colin has done just that, completely taken me by surprise with what he knows and is able to communicate. (Well communicate in toddler language that only his mama can understand most of the time)

Here is a brief list of update about Colin:

He recognizes his colors and can say most of them.
He recognizes simple shapes. And as of just the other day proved me wrong when I said he knows his shapes but cannot name them. He did this right in front of his Nana and Papa. I think this will be Colin's personality though. Not let you know that he can do something until you give him the chance to prove you wrong.
He has become quite the chatter box. This is relative because compared to Makenna he hardly says anything. But lately he will pretend to tell a story, try to explain something to you or just talk while playing with his toys. (All of this chatter is just that, chatter. Sometimes you can pick out a few words but most of it is toddler speak.)
He really enjoys coloring, writing, or anytime he is allowed to use a writing utensil. This is completely opposite of how Makenna was at his age. All she wanted to do was scribble if that, but Colin seems to try to draw things. He even holds a pen correctly, better than Makenna. It is just how he does it. No one showed him how.
He loves cars, tools, tractors, boots, going outside, food, books, trains, dinosaurs and puzzles.
He continues to impress us with his facial expressions. He can roll his eyes with the best of them.
He also has a very high pain tolerance. Here is an example: At his doctor's appointment a few weeks ago he had to have two shots, one in each arm. Instead of crying he just watched the nurse sick him in the first arm and then the second all the while staring at her with a look that probable meant "Is that all you got lady?"

That's Colin in a nutshell right now. Well at least the things that stand out to me.

Makenna's Name

2012-01-02T14:37:00.001-06:00

Makenna has recently taken to wanting to write her name. Let me just tell you that this is no easy task for a 3yr old who has a 7 letter name.

She has been able to write an "M" for almost a year now and the "A" was shortly after that. But "K" has been a difficult and so much so that for a while she didn't even want to learn how to write it.

I have not pushed her to learn to write her name mostly because she just turned 3 in October. But I have encouraged her to learn how to write her letters as that is part of what she is learning in her preschool. This is not something that has come easy to Makenna but she recently wants to practice writing more and more.

So because I am so proud that she has conquered such a hard task, you all get to see her first successful attempt at writing the first 4 letters of her name in succession.

Christmas Day Picture

2011-12-30T14:29:00.001-06:00

Not the best picture of our kiddos but they still look cute. Maybe next year they will understand that you are supposed to smile for the camera.

Willis Chirstmas in Photos

2011-12-29T14:17:00.003-06:00

Here are a few of the highlights from the Willis family Christmas.

Grandpa and Grandma spending Christmas Day with all their grandchildren.

Ally really appreciating the "Hinged Angel" we gave her.

Gotta love this girl for all the sugar and spice she brings to the family.

Great-Grandma and the grandkids.

Sigmund Christmas in Photos

2011-12-29T13:56:00.006-06:00

Here are a few of the highlights of our Sigmund family Christmas.

Family Pictures

Meeting this cutie!

New table saw for my dad.

See his excitement....doesn't happen too often.

Don't you dare try to touch my Woody doll.

Lots of cousin time.

Tasty Tacos t-shirts for Jared and Jason.

A Kindle Fire for my mom.

Being entertained by Jacob.

Makenna telling the story of the first Christmas.

What You Talkin' Bout Willis

2011-12-07T07:39:00.002-06:00

PINTEREST.

Yep that's right, Pinterest.

I was introduced to this website several months ago by my good friend Sarah. And since then Pinterest has become somewhat of a vice of mine. Don't get me wrong I really do enjoy the site and find it helpful but I sometimes feel that it is both good and bad at the same time. Just hear me out.

I'll start with the good.

I am finding all kinds of fun DIY projects like this and this and this that seem both easy and fun.
It helps me not spend hours upon hours searching for new yummy recipes , creative ways to decorate, or simple ways to turn your everyday toilet paper roll into art.
I have found some very good teaching/craft ideas for the kiddos.
I have even found a few Christmas present ideas. Sorry no link to those. Don't want to ruin any surprises.
Family pictures were made easier because of ideas like this.
There are tons and tons of great ideas for fashion. And normal everyday fashion too.

Now for the bad.

It is consuming my life. Not really but kinda. I spend way to much time looking though the site finding things I like. So I guess in regard to #2 on the good list the time I save looking has been replaced by finding.
And most of what I find I will never wear, never want to spend the money on to decorate, and never take time to do my self. Because lets face it I live in the real world. I live on a budget and spend most of my time taking care of my family.

All that being said, I really have found it helpful and fun. I have used several things I found on the site and either used them as inspiration or actually duplicated them. And I am planning to continue to do so.

So I guess the lesson for myself is..... spend my time wisely and don't get carried away with the time I spend on Pinterest.

Oh and also if you have not checked it out you should. It is pretty cool. But be cautious....it may consume your life:)

Naptime

2011-12-02T07:42:00.000-06:00

Most Sundays after church Colin is out cold on the ride home. Actually Colin is notorious for both falling asleep in the car and after anytime he has been around a decent number of people.

I would have to say he gets the car thing from me and the being exhausted by groups of people from Jared.

My guess is that Colin is an introvert but I am really starting to get away form the point of this post.

Actually there isn't really a point to this post other than to show his Grandmas a cute picture. So here you go Grandma Janelle and Nana....ENJOY!

Trimming the Tree

2011-12-01T06:08:00.000-06:00

Setting up the tree

Adding decorations

Colin enjoying a snack. What he chose to do for most of the decorating process.

Finally the star.

What You Talkin' Bout Willis

2011-11-30T07:47:00.003-06:00

Still changing things up a bit on "What You Talkin' Bout Willis Wednesday".

I, as in Allison, have high-jacked "What You Talkin' Bout Willis Wednesday" this week. And probably for the next few weeks or until Jared wants to reclaim his creation. So on to what I'm talkin' about.

As I mentioned yesterday we started our Jesse Tree last night.

If you are unfamiliar with a Jesse Tree you can see my previous post here.

But we are doing it a bit more structured this year. All the stories are the same just a bit more detailed with the devotional/application part. I found a great resource for Jesse Tree devotionals and Bible Stories on a favorite blog of mine, A Holy Experience. So that is what we are using this year.

I am really looking forward to using this to help guide us through celebrating Advent.

If you are interested in down loading a free copy all you have to do is click here to see a preview and subscribe to the blog.

What Are You Waiting For

2011-11-29T13:16:00.003-06:00

Just like the title of this post says, "What are you waiting for"? What a great question to ask yourself as Christmas approaches.

Tonight we will start our third year of doing a Jesse Tree. Our Jesse Tree is our way of trying to fully embrace the season of Advent. A way to fully grasp the importance of Christ's birth and His becoming fully human, born a baby.

I sit and ponder how at even the young ages of our children they are already beginning to become a part of this world. A world who focuses more on so many other things this time of year and not Jesus.

A time of year that is spent waiting in so many ways. Both good and bad. Waiting in line, waiting to open gifts, waiting to see family, waiting to see what bowl game the Cyclones might play in, waiting for snow, waiting for baked goodies, and just waiting for Christmas in general.

So the question I am trying to ask my self daily during the season of Advent is "What am I waiting for"?

Because really what am I waiting for? I hope it is the coming of my savior Jesus Christ. Both His past coming and future coming.

All that being said my goal is for our family to embrace this season of Advent and wait in hope for Jesus Christ. Waiting to celebrate His birth and waiting in anticipation for His coming again.

Iowa State Men's Basketball Game

2011-11-28T07:20:00.002-06:00

Last Tuesday was a big day for the Willis kiddos.

It was their first time ever to experience an Iowa State athletic event.

Shocking, I know. It is surprising that it has taken Jared (die hard Cyclone from birth) 3 years to share this experience with our kiddos.

Here are some pictures of the kiddos enjoying the game.

Colin's First Official Haircut

2011-11-25T07:24:00.002-06:00

Last Sunday after many weeks of me begging Jared to let me cut Colin's hair, Jared finally caved. Colin did great and sat rather still the entire time.

Now let me just say that even though I really, REALLY wanted Colin to have a haircut I am somewhat sad that he no longer has the baby look to him. Yes, I know he had to grow up and it was just a haircut but it was a bit more drastic than I was ready for. Now I understand why Jared kept putting off the inevitable haircut.

Don't get me wrong. I am very glad his hair is cut and I definitely think he looks much better. But there is still a part of me that is a bit sad that he looks older now.

A Thankful Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T07:16:00.001-06:00

So during the month of November we started what I hope will become a yearly tradition. It is what I will call the Thankful Turkey.

Basically it is just a way to make the whole month of November a time to remember all of the things we have to be thankful for.

Makenna looked forward to each day when she would get to cut out a new feather and tell us what she was "thank you" thankful for.

Here is a picture of Makenna and her Thankful Turkey.

A simple yet easy and fun way to get kids involved in remembering to be thankful.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

What You Talkin' Bout Willis

2011-11-23T07:36:00.000-06:00

I recently had a conversation with Makenna involving the fact that baby Micheal had been born and had come out of my sister's tummy. I proceeded to tell Makenna that the baby in mama's tummy would come out in March. Well a little while later Makenna was talking about her new baby sibling and I happened to ask....

"Do you remember when our baby is gonna come out of mama's belly?"

Her answer after a lot of thought. "Stomp!" (get it marching/stomping)

Future Volleyball Player

2011-11-22T06:50:00.001-06:00

A while back I took Makenna to watch our friend Megan coach her High School volleyball team. Needless to say Makenna had a great time and asked me a bunch of questions. By the end of the match she was even shouting and clapping along with me.

Well the next day Makenna decided that she was gonna play volleyball like the big girls. And this is what she came up with....

Watch out coach Frederiksen.

Pregnancy Number 3 : 21 Weeks

2011-11-21T18:30:00.000-06:00

We had an ultra sound today. The baby looks great and is growing well.

No, we didn't find out the sex. It really isn't that important for me to know. I would just rather know the baby is healthy. Plus, it takes the fun out of the delivery for me as I don't really have any surprises as to when the baby will arrive. So the surprise of the baby's sex is always something to look forward to.

Here are the first pictures we have of Baby #3.I can't wait to actually meet this little one and really see what he/she looks like.

And for all those who love pregnancy pictures.

Family Pictures

2011-11-18T07:00:00.002-06:00

And this one is my absolute favorite:)

Family Pictures

2011-11-17T07:39:00.001-06:00

Bet you thought you would get to see some family pictures by the title of this blog.

But not today. You'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Instead you get to hear about how we took family pictures a couple Saturdays ago and how we will not have to pay a single cent for them. Well, that is until I want to get some printed.

This is how it all went down. Only three things had to happen.

Find a photographer to use our camera. Thank you Megan.
Find poses to recreate. Thank you Pinterest.
The kids had to cooperate. Thank you Halloween candy.

All in all I personally think they turned out really great. But you can judge for yourselves tomorrow.

What You Talkin' Bout Willis

2011-11-16T05:34:00.001-06:00

Makenna found one of my bras and Jared happened to ask her what it was.

Makenna's response, "A nipple".

Colin's 18 Month Pictures

2011-11-15T07:34:00.000-06:00

Makenna's 3 Year Pictures

2011-11-14T07:15:00.000-06:00

Silly Colin

2011-11-10T06:39:00.000-06:00

I don't know why but this kid has a fascination with shoes.

What You Talkin' Bout Willis

2011-11-09T07:17:00.003-06:00

Today's "What You Talkin' Bout Willis" is highlighting Makenna.

Actually the next few weeks will be conversations with Makenna.

Here is this weeks.

As we are driving in the car and passing a hog confinement Makenna proclaims....

"Daddy you stink!"

Makenna's 3rd Birthday : Part Three

2011-11-08T07:40:00.000-06:00

On the Saturday after Makenna's birthday we had her "Cow" birthday party. If you remember from last year I made a huge mistake and planned a party for Makenna and then asked her what kind of party she wanted....lesson learned.

Anyway this year she finally got her cow themed birthday party. We celebrated with the Willis side of the family since my parents were in Texas celebrating the birth of the newest member of the family Michael Everett.

Makenna had a blast. And when Jared asked at bed time what was her favorite part of her birthday party her reply was, "Playing in the leaves with Ally and Drew":)

(Pin the tale on the cow)

(Snacks)

(Barn Cake)

(Makenna's special cow cake)

(Opening presents)

Makenna's 3rd Birthday : Part Two

2011-11-07T07:35:00.002-06:00

On the actual day Makenna was born we headed to Hickory Park to celebrate. We celebrated at Hickory Park last year too.

Makenna's good friend Megan came to join us for the celebration. Makenna was able to enjoy another present to open (courtesy of Megan), a grilled cheese sandwich, and ice cream.

Makenna's 3rd Birthday : Part One

2011-11-06T07:27:00.000-06:00

Makenna was spoiled this year and got to celebrate her birthday on three separate occasions.

Makenna's first celebration took place at the Center Grove Orchard with her Nana and Papa.

She had a blast and was a little unhappy when it was time to go home. But that soon was resolved when she found out she would get cupcakes and presents.

After nap Makenna got to pick where we went for supper. She decided on Pizza Ranch....she is a true Willis:)

Thanks Nana and Papa for such a fun day.

Trick or Treat

2011-11-03T06:21:00.000-05:00

Makenna and Colin had a blast trick or treating this year.

As a result this pregnant mama is gonna gain 15 pounds in the next week because she has am impulse control problem and can't seem to say no to all that chocolate.

Lack of Blogging... Explained

2011-11-02T15:57:00.000-05:00

As a result of the above picture I have not had my usual amount of energy over the past couple months. So the blog has taken a back seat and hopefully I will be blogging more now that my energy has returned. Plus a lot has happened over the last couple months.

Makenna's First Day of Preschool

2011-09-07T14:53:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Makenna had her first day of Preschool. For those interested she is attending a very informal type of preschool. It is called a preschool co-op and held once a week for 2 hour. There are only 3 other kiddos in her class and the teaching and location rotates each week so that each mama has a turn to teach at her house.

The curriculum is very simple. Bible story and verse. Letter and sound introduction/recognition. Simple math skills (counting, patterns, coins, sorting). Calendar introduction (month, day, and year). Other social skills like sitting still during the teaching time, writing, cutting, coloring in lines, and raising hands before talking will be taught as well.

Makenna was very excited for her first day and she had a blast. I'm excited for Makenna to learn from the other kiddos (who are all older than her, she is by far the youngest as she isn't even 3 yet). I can't wait (and a little sad) to see how much she will grow up over the next year.

Makenna's Black Eye

2011-08-15T10:38:00.002-05:00

Bet you didn't realize reading books with Jared could result in such a way. Elbow to the eye as he was trying to put his arm around her. Geesh reading can be dangerous:)

My big fat greek construction project

2011-08-13T20:37:00.002-05:00

I don't write a lot about work on the blog anymore. Actually, I don't write much at all, but I'm going to try and fix that.

The biggest project I am currently working on is just south of the ISU campus, down in the Greek community area. Yes, sorority and frat land. Just east of my project is some Kappa Alpha something sorority. I know that much because I hear their "cheers" multiple times a day.

The summer was quiet, but as the students have started coming back for fall semester, so have the over zealous cheerleader wannabees. They come out several times a day. Randomly someone starts a cheer where kicking, clapping, spirit fingers and yelling are all acceptable. As I understand it, they are loudly proclaiming the prominence of their mighty sorority because people passing by may just think of their building as just another (gasp) apartment building.

This cheering comes and goes. It happens while they are inside and outside. They all will file outside, do some goofy chants and then go back in. They also will all come out and begin walking around, sometimes actually leaving, sometimes just burning calories. It's like when girls always have to go to the bathroom in groups - on steroids.

I also came across different sorority being weird. I have no explanation for this other than they knew I was driving towards them and they wanted to impress me. About 40 girls all dressed in very nice white dresses spilled out their front door, ran to the middle of the street, formed a circle, put their arms around their neighbor and kicked and chanted and waved their arms.

It's definitely made for interesting entertainment thus far on the project. It's so odd to me. If it wasn't so odd, I could really care less. However, I do know the Hispanic concrete guys have really been enjoying it.

Big Boy

2011-08-13T20:32:00.002-05:00

Colin likes to act older than he is. This was shot when he was exactly one year, three months old.

By the way, I have created a Youtube channel called Willisfamilychannel that showcases a lot of videos shot from my phone. Here is a link

I will keep updating them as I can.

Just Like Big Sister

2011-08-08T08:13:00.001-05:00

I would say that Makenna and Colin get along rather well for siblings. Most of the time they play together without any major fights.

That being said Colin also likes to do pretty much everything that Makenna is doing. Which has recently included wearing a tutu. At first I tired to encourage him to dance without the tutu but he was set in his ways and began to throw a fit. So because I love my son and what him to be able to explore dancing the way he finds most fun, I let him wear the tutu.

Let it also be known that when dance party was over he refused to take the tutu off and wore it the rest of the morning. I was finally able to get him to part from it when in was lunch time.

And because I love Colin so much and want him to remember that he loved his big sister so much that he wanted to be just like her, I took a ton of pictures as proof to show him when he gets to be a teenager.

Guess what? Lucky you, you get to see them.

Enjoy!

Hats

2011-08-04T08:05:00.001-05:00

Colin LOVES hats. He wears one whenever he finds one.He even will use buckets or pasta strainers as a hat.

My mom put up a super cute blog post about Colin's hats. Click here to see it.

Below is a picture of Colin showing off his newest hat.

Notice how he is eating with it on. Yep, he even likes to wear a hat while eating.

Thanks Nana for the new hat!

What You Talkin' Bout Willis

2011-08-03T13:43:00.003-05:00

I high-jacked Jared's "What you Talkin' Bout Willis Wednesday" today.

Why?

Because I wanted to let all the other parents of toddlers out there know about the amazing find I came across today.

What is this amazing find?

Ashby Park in Des Moines. It is only a 45 minute drive from Ames.

Oh my word if you have small children who like to play in water this is definitely a place you need to check out.

First, it is free.

Second, it has a wadding pool plus jets/fountains.

Third, it has two separate playgrounds.

Fourth, did I mention it was free?

Here are the not so great pics that I was able to take of the kiddos enjoying Ashby Park.

Oh, Boy

2011-07-28T13:35:00.006-05:00

It seems as though everyday Colin learns or does something new. He continues to be pretty easy going. Although, he is starting to be bothered when Makenna takes things away from him. I guess that was bound to happen sooner or later.

Here is a list of a few of the things that Colin does that I don't want to forget. And I know that if I don't write/type them down somewhere I will never remember them 5 years from now let alone a month. So I deemed the blog the best place.

Here's to helping my memory.

The way he will answer almost any question you ask him with either "Doe" (aka No) or "Des" (aka Yes)
How you can almost always find him with at least one ball in his hand.
The way he follows Makenna around like she is the most interesting person to watch and imitate.
How he runs in place really fast when he gets super excited.
The way he enjoys cuddling when he is tired.
How He thinks he is older than he is. He tires to do things I would never think that a 14 month old would ever attempt to do and most of the time succeed at doing.
The way he tilts his head down towards his shoulder and makes a pathetically sad face when he gets into trouble.
How he screams at the top of his lungs with excitement when he sees something that he likes or someone he knows. The best way to describe the sound is image a 13 year old girl screaming because she sees a spider. Only he is overly happy.
How he attempts to play hide-and-seek. Basically this consists of following around the person counting and acting like he is helping find the people hiding. And when he finds you he just runs really fast in place and points.

Free Book

2011-07-25T13:15:00.003-05:00

Today I found out that you can get a free copy of the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan.

I totally recommend the book. It challenged and inspired me at the same time. I would have to say that it has been by far the best book I have read it a long time. Please take the time to at least take a look at the book. I really don't think you will be disappointed.

Just click here to learn about how to get a free copy.

Oh and a big thanks to Money Saving Mom for the info.

Watching Daddy Mow

2011-07-11T08:15:00.001-05:00

I really like this picture so I decided to share it with you.

Her First Set of Wheels

2011-07-07T13:55:00.005-05:00

Makenna got her first set of wheels for Christmas from her Nana and Papa. When we first broke out her bike this Spring she was very eager to ride it but could not get the whole pedaling and looking where you are going at the same time down.

But over the last month she has really caught on. She is known to be timid sometimes. So I have learned that with Makenna you cannot press her to do something she is not ready or willing to do. (Case in point: No matter how much we try to convince her that fruit and ice cream taste good she has still yet to take a real taste of them) Some days she loves to ride her bike and will ride around our block with no hesitation. But other days she acts like she wants to ride her bike but yet will barely pedal and then usually ends up walking next to her bike and pushing it. Silly girl!

It has been fun to witness her learning to do something that seems so natural to me. I never really thought about how hard it is to learn how to ride a bike.

Needless to say, this Mama is proud of her little girl. Way to go Sweet Makenna Girl!

Bubbles

2011-07-07T13:39:00.002-05:00

I love the faces Colin makes. He resembles his daddy so much. I even think Jared has given me that look many times.

Peas

2011-07-05T10:32:00.004-05:00

It has been a successful day already.

I picked peas from the garden, while the kiddos picked up the apples that have fallen on the ground beneath our apple trees.

Makenna and I podded the peas while Colin (who has a cold and is getting a tooth and grumpy) watched some Baby Signing Time.

Makenna was great help.....really! When she got to the last pod she said, "More peas, mama". I told her in a few days there would me more.

I Got A Great Deal

2011-07-01T13:43:00.001-05:00

Yep, I'm gonna toot my own horn for a minute.

I just received this dress (in a sea green color) in the mail yesterday.

Guess how much I payed including shipping?

$21.95

Yes, I said that correctly. I only spent $22 on an awesome dress.

You may be wondering how that was possible. Well, here is the story. I saw the dress on Pinterest. Through a little searching I found the company who makes it. Then as I was looking through the clearance section on their website, I came across the dress. I saw the original price and decided not to get the dress, because lets face it I am a stay-at-home mom and I don't wear dresses on a daily basis.

So how did I end up with the dress. Well, I went back to the website to see what other dresses and clothes I could drool over. Then I saw it there in the bottom right hand corner of the homepage calling my name. It was a $20 coupon for new customers.

The rest is history. I registered as a new customer, waited a day to get my coupon code and ordered my dress.

Long story short thank you Pinterest, eShakit, and Janelle Willis (you gave me the $20 for Mother's Day) for my wonderful new dress.

"Your Love" - Video

2011-06-30T13:40:00.002-05:00

This is for all those who were unable to see the live version.

"Your Love"

2011-06-24T14:11:00.003-05:00

This is my personal plug for the Worship Arts Camp that took place at Cornerstone Church this past week.

Let me just tell you I was blessed with the opportunity to help at the camp and....IT WAS AWESOME!

The whole camp was based on Psaml 103:8-12.

⁸ The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

⁹ He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;

¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;

¹² as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

The teachers focused specifically on how much God loves his children, how He has removed our sins and forgiven us, and how our natural response should be to worship Him.

Be sure to be at either the 9:00 or 11:00 service at Cornerstone Church in Ames this Sunday. You really don't want to miss this outstanding display of worship to our great God. It might even bring tears to your eyes. It did mine!

An Interview With Colin

2011-06-24T14:09:00.000-05:00

Rachel's Bridal Shower

2011-06-20T13:42:00.008-05:00

This past Saturday I had the privilege to help host my good friend Rachel's bridal shower. We decided to go with a garden party theme. I had a ton of fun using my limited creativity by helping with the decorations. I think the flowers take the award for the most dramatic presence. (Thank you ever so much Betsy Meyer) All in all I think we achieved our goal with the whole garden party theme.

But more importantly I think that everyone enjoyed themselves, especially the Bride-to-be. This is mostly do to the stellar entertainment.... Sarah Meyer you have out done yourself once again.

Enjoy the pictures.

Mystery Solved

2011-06-09T10:46:00.003-05:00

Back on the week of Easter I found a surprise on our front step.

What I found was two plastic grocery bags with a "Happy Easter" message written on them. Inside each I found an Easter basket for each of the kiddos. Each kiddo got a sand bucket and shovel, bubbles, a sucker, and a stuffed animal. Also, the one for Makenna had sidewalk chalk in it and the one for Colin had a plastic sail boat.

So I immediately started to think about who could have left us such a nice surprise. Well my brain automatically thought of the kiddos grandmas. But that was quickly confirmed as a big negative.
Then with the help of Jared we eliminated some other family and some close friends.

After calling everyone we thought would leave the Easter baskets for the kiddos, we kinda gave up trying to figure out who left them and thought that whoever left them must not want to be known. Which bummed me out a bit because I just wanted to thank the person.

Well, that brings me to this morning.

Every Thursday morning is garbage pick-up day for Waste Management on our street. The kiddos get really excited because they have made friends with the driver. He always does all the typical garbage truck tricks for the kids right in front of the house. All winter we would wave from inside and the driver would honk and now that the weather is nice we go outside and sit in the driveway to watch and wave.

Makenna and Colin love it and really look forward to him coming.

But this is not the story from this morning, it is just the back-story. Which helps explain this morning.

Hopefully I have not lost you and if I have you probably are not reading this sentence right now anyway. But back to this morning.

I heard the garbage truck so I grabbed the kiddos and high-tailed it outside. We did the typical pull up a seat in the driveway and watch the amazing garbage truck.

Well this time the driver pulled the biggest surprise yet, he got out of the truck and asked us if we got the gifts that the Easter Bunny left us. My response in a shocked voice was , "was that you?". His reply with a huge smile was, "no it was the Easter Bunny". And he started to get into the his truck as I holler back, "Thank You, that was very kind!"

Mystery Solved!

The kicker is we don't even use waste management to pick up out trash. We just use them for entertainment purposes and make friends with their employees.

Backbone

2011-06-01T15:58:00.007-05:00

We went camping at Backbone State Park over Memorial Day weekend.....kid free.

We enjoyed ourselves despite the not the best for camping weather. But as Jared put it, "I would rather sleep in a sleeping bag wearing a sweatshirt to stay warm instead of trying to get comfortable in when you are all sticky from the humidity."

Camping for me is all about the food and I would say that this trip takes the cake in that respect. With a combined effort from our friend Megan's super menu planning to Jared's ingenious ideas on how to cook the food most efficiently, we definitely ate in style all weekend.

We also managed to get me to stop eating long enough to go on two hikes. One that was a decent workout but not so fun for sight seeing and one that had some pretty neat views. I even crawled though a hole carved out or a rock on the second hike. (see picture)

All in all the weekend was a fun one and I am looking forward to our next opportunity to go camping. Anyone want to volunteer to watch our kiddos?

Pictures

2011-05-16T07:15:00.000-05:00

These pictures are my first attempt at taking Colin's one year pictures and Makenna's two and a half pictures.

Enjoy!

Colin's One Year Birthday Party

2011-05-14T18:38:00.009-05:00

Today we celebrated Colin's 1st Birthday with family. It actually worked out great that my sister came back for a week long vacation so we could have a joint party of Colin and my nephew Jacob.

We did a kinda jungle theme with lions and monkeys. We also kept it very simple by ordering pizza for lunch and having cupcakes for dessert.

All the kiddos seemed to have a great time and I know the birthday boy really had fun opening his gifts and digging into his cake. Thank you to all those who joined us to celebrate Colin!

Now enjoy the pictures.

Colin : One Year Fun Facts

2011-05-13T14:56:00.002-05:00

In honor of Colin's birthday yesterday here are some fun facts about Colin.

He has had several nicknames in his first year of life. (Snuff-ol-pal, Col-no, Col-dog, Turbo, and the latest Sir)

He has pretty much one facial expression....a "what the heck are you talking about" stare....he gets this from his dad.

His hair is uncontrollable....he also gets this from his dad.

He loves balls, strawberries, building towers, cars, playing outside, puppies, hats, shoes, waking up at 5:00am, and his toothbrush.

He has some stellar dance moves....you can tell he is related to Jason Willis.

He has mastered going down the slide at the school behind our house all by himself.

He climbs on and in whatever he can.

Happy Birthday Colin

2011-05-12T17:27:00.000-05:00

My Baby Is One

2011-05-12T08:35:00.000-05:00

One year ago today we were getting ready to meet the newest member of our family.

Oh how crazy to think about how fast a year can seem to fly by. We have had the privilege to watch our sweet boy go from a small newborn who was completely dependent to a full blown toddler who can do so much on his own.
We love you, Colin. And today we are reminded of the wonderful gift God gave us when he created you.

Really?

2011-05-03T12:50:00.005-05:00

This is the scenario....

We are outside enjoying the nice weather.

Colin and I are playing and I look around and I don't see Makenna anywhere.

I start walking over to our shed as I'm saying "Makenna, Makenna".

I walk around the shed to the backside and there is Makenna.

SHE IS HOLDING A DEAD RABBIT!

I scream because that is what any calm and collected mama who is looking at their sweet innocent daughter holding a DEAD rabbit would do.

She immediately drops the rabbit as if she knew why I was screaming. But gives me a confused look and says, "I hug bunny, mommy".

Yep, Makenna you hugged a bunny, a DEAD bunny!

I whisk her away from the horrible scene and grab Colin so we can sanitize her nasty dead bunny hands as soon as possible.

Needless to say we stayed inside the rest of the afternoon. I didn't want a repeat episode of dead bunny touching.

And in case you are wondering, Jared promptly buried the rabbit so that I won't have any more freak out sessions due to DEAD rabbit hugging.

Whatchu talkin bout Willis Wednesday.

2011-04-20T21:26:00.002-05:00

Put down that remote. Wake the neighbors. Call the kids.

It's back.

It's been a long time since I've written. In the professional world, you'd call it a sabbatical. I call it lazy. Either way, here we go again. You'd think I'd come out swinging, guns loaded and ready to entertain. But thats not my style. If you start at the top, there's only one place to go.

-I'm not afraid to say I love Oreos. I do feel guilty when I almost eat half the package in one sitting though. What starts as just one can quickly lead to me having to blame Makenna.

-Speaking of healthy, I had a New Year's resolution to do push ups regularly. Now that it's April, I'm proud to say I still am. Once a month can be defined as "regularly" right?

-I think I heard a guy refer to an ipod as a walkman. Does this guy still have a ghetto blaster at home?

-My tiled master shower project has surpassed the 5 week mark now. My goal of two weekends has turned into maybe being able to count this as a Christmas gift to Allison.

-Makenna loves the show "Super Why" on PBS. She has assigned each of us in the family as a real life representative of a character on the show. Somehow I ended being the black princess.

-I broke down and bought a new dishwasher last week. It works great, but the 12 cubic foot box it came in is clearly the bigger hit around the house.

-It snowed April 19th. Seriously?

-I laughed at this: "President Obama is slated to appear on one of Oprah's last shows. He's hoping it's the one on which she gives away $14 Trillion." - Conan O'Brien

-It's Easter season. I hope each of you reading this remembers how special this weekend is. In the land of bunnies and eggs, hopefully Jesus dying and rising again is not overshadowed.

In Case You Were Wondering

2011-04-19T15:59:00.004-05:00

Why do I blog what I blog?

Because the only people I know who read this blog regularly are my mom and Jared's mom. I know there are others out there that check our blog but I never get requests from them to put up more pictures of the kiddos. So because I like to please my audience, I tend to focus my blog posts on what the kiddos are up to. Plus this keeps the Grandmas happy and that is always a good thing:)
Also, my life/job is all about being a wife, mama, and homemaker. Keeping these three areas of my life under control is time consuming, so I don't have much time for other ventures hence the kid-centered posts.
I am not very articulate in the written form. Therefore, you get very few wordy blog posts and a lot of the picture posts. I think everyone is better off that way. I don't have to regret what I have said and you get to see pictures which are supposed to be worth a thousand words. It is a win-win if you ask me.

All that being said, maybe someday if I get really inspired you will get to read about what is really on my mind. Won't that be lucky for you. I know you all want to know the inner workings of my brain.

Siblings

2011-04-11T08:58:00.007-05:00

I love that my kiddos love to...

do this

and this

and this

And sometimes when they...

do this

it makes their cute faces become even cuter...

like this
and this

Oh, how I love turning around to catch my kiddos doing things like these!

10 Minutes

2011-04-08T10:20:00.002-05:00

10 minutes can look different depending on the time of day or the situation you are experiencing. For me this is what the last 10 minutes looked like.

Makenna peed her pants.

While I am cleaning up Makenna's mess, Colin manages to stick his hands in the toilet three times (I am counting all three because after each time I washed his hands). Drenching his shirt in the process.

While I am giving Makenna a bath Colin falls in, because he is a freak about the bathtub.

What have I learned from the last 10 minutes?

That laundry and messes are a constant in this stage of my life. And even more importantly, that sometimes life with two small kiddos gets crazy and in those moments I'm glad that I can just laugh and smile because I know that 10 minutes in a few years will look completely different.

How I Survive...

2011-04-08T08:54:00.000-05:00

The grocery store.
Look at how happy they are to be at the grocery store. Isn't it precious!?!

And this is where I throw out a big thank you to Fareway for thinking about us mamas with more than one small child.

Colin 10 Months

2011-04-07T08:28:00.002-05:00

Colin has accomplished a lot of new things this past month.

Here is a list of most of them.

He started walking.
He can sign: more, all done, thank you, puppy, fish and sometimes milk and please.
He said his first word "ball". He says it all the time now.
He started dancing to music.
He will bring us books when he wants us to read to him.
He started drinking out of a sippy cup. Still trying to master this, but he is doing great with help.
He eats all table food. And eats it very well may I add.
He can stack blocks.
He makes a vroooom sound when he plays with his cars.
He will wave "hi" and "goodbye"

It is so amazing to get to experience all the small and big things he is starting to learn. He really is becoming more of a toddler than a baby with every new skill he accomplishes. I am just glad that I am around to watch it all happen.

Oh, and by the way his hair is still CRAZY. And we love it!

Makenna 2 and a half : A Closer Look

2011-04-06T08:06:00.002-05:00

I cannot believe Makenna is almost 2 and a half. Wow does time fly.

It seems like she is just a sponge when it comes to learning new things. Currently, she has mastered recognizing all the letters in the alphabet (even out of order), counting to eleven, recognizing shapes and colors. I am impressed at how quickly she catches on to anything we try to teach her. She is also very observant. Which can be both a blessing and a curse.

I also try my hardest to teach her basic truths about God and Jesus as much as possible. I think she is doing well for a 2 year old. She knows that God made her and that He loves her and that Jesus wants to be her friend. ( I taught her a song that sings those words and she sings it a lot) That is as simple as I can make it for her. It is also so sweet to hear her sing hymns, bible verses and other worship songs. I catch her singing them along with our CDs or by herself, either way there is something so wonderful to hear a child singing praises to God.

A favorite pastime of Makenna's is to pretend. She pretends to go shopping at Wal-mart, which includes her asking the lady who greets you for a sticker and then saying thank you to the lady, looking at the fish, checking out, and holding Mama's hand so the cars won't get 'You'. She also pretends to play grocery store and library/storytime, this is where she pretends to be the librarian who reads and sings to the kids.
She continues to be a huge helper around the house. She likes to do the dishes, sweep the floor, do the laundry, and help cook. She likes to get diapers for Colin and likes to help feed him his snacks. I hope she continues to have such a happy servant heart as she grows up.

Well, that is all that sticks out about her personality right now. I might add more if anything pops into my head.

Colin Is Walking

2011-04-05T14:11:00.000-05:00

Yep that is right, Colin is now officially a toddler. Where did my baby go? I guess he had to grow up sometime. Anyway, I am proud of him and it will make playing outside a ton easier.

Here is a video of his big accomplishment.

I Wear My Sunglasses

2011-04-04T16:59:00.006-05:00

Makenna loves to wear her glasses. Most of the time I keep them in the car because as soon as we get in the car she will proclaim, "No sun get you". Meaning, "Mama, please get me my sunglasses because I cannot stand it if the sun gets in my eyes." She will say this even if the sun is not out.

Oh, Makenna this is one thing that I hope I will always remember about you!

Colin Eating

2011-04-01T20:35:00.000-05:00

Well, kinda. More like Eating while trying desperately to fall asleep.

Last Thursday....

2011-03-31T16:21:00.005-05:00

I got the chance to watch Jared's cousins Maddie and Haleigh.

The girls turned out to be more of a help than I thought. They really loved playing with Makenna and Colin.

Playing

Making sugar cookies during nap time

And I saved the best for last. A video of the girls teaching Makenna a dance. (Make sure you watch Colin too. Simply HILARIOUS)

Girls, you are welcome to come back anytime!

A Mouth Full

2011-03-22T14:07:00.005-05:00

The following pictures are of Colin fully enjoying all that our backyard has to offer. Well, maybe just what the dirt in our planter has to offer.

Spring Is Here!

2011-03-21T14:30:00.003-05:00

Iris

Daffodils

Holding Hands

2011-03-09T15:20:00.003-06:00

Makenna's Weekend

2011-03-08T13:20:00.003-06:00

This past weekend Makenna got to go stay at her Nana and Papa's house. (without Colin)

Her weekend away included a shopping trip to Target, lunch at Maid-rite, going to Church, watching Nemo, cooking homemade blueberry waffles, and painting the new grandkids room in my parent's basement.

I'm sure she got to do a lot of other things that we don't let her do around here. Like jump on the bed and eat Junior Mints by the handful. But really what are grandparents for.

Here are a few pictures I got from my mom of Makenna painting. (Oh and by the way Makenna picked out the paint color)

Colin - 9 Months

2011-02-18T08:41:00.003-06:00

These are some things that stick out about Colin at 9 months of age.

He loves to play "peek-a-boo". He even plays by himself, which he thinks is hilarious.
He eats a mixture of pureed foods and table foods. Boy does he like to eat.
He is often found following Makenna where ever she goes. He really enjoys playing with her and she is the one who can make him laugh the loudest.
He can stand on his own and is just now starting to take a few steps.
He likes to read books. He will let either us or Makenna read to him and he likes to look at books by himself.
He finds it hilarious when you build a tower and he gets to knock it down.
He can sign more. But he is very selective when he uses it.
He will raise his arms over his head when you ask him how big he is.
He is a good sleeper and I hope this habit continues.
He has a very easy going personality. It takes quite a bit to get him worked up.
He doesn't like the church nursery. I chalk it up to either he is going through separation anxiety (which doesn't quite fit because if we leave him anywhere else he is fine) or he is an extreme introvert (like is daddy) and all the other screaming babies overwhelm him. Either way he will just have to learn how to deal with it.
He loves to be tickled.
He is a little lover. He loves to cuddle and give kisses.
He likes to dance to music.
He can clap and does so a lot. He will also clap if you say "yeah".

Well, that is all that comes to mind right now.

Here are a few pics of the little man.

Colin - 9 Month Stats

2011-02-17T08:37:00.002-06:00

Colin is definitely built differently than his sister. Makenna always measured somewhere around the 30% range. Colin has been pretty consistently measuring somewhere in the 80% range.

Here are his 9 month stats:

Height - 29 3/4 inches
Weight - 21 pounds 12 ounces

Tomorrow I will post more about Colin's personality and what he has been up to lately.

What A Week!!

2011-02-15T16:11:00.005-06:00

Here is a recap of what last week looked like for me.

Monday: Typical day until about 4:00 when call Jared and ask him to come home early because I'm having sever chest pains. Jared gets home around 4:30 and by 5:00 he decides that it is best for me to go to the ER.

The doctors do all sorts of tests. They all come back negative except I test positive for pregnancy. Big no HUGE surprise. The positive pregnancy test limits the amount of other tests that the doctors are able to do.

The doctors give me some really strong pain medicine to help knock out the pain. I get sent home with pain meds and told that the chest pain was caused by a pulled/teared muscle around my lung and that it should correct itself.

Tuesday: Typical day. No pain. Really starting to sink in that we are pregnant.

Wednesday: My parents come up for the day to spend time with the kids. Around 11:00 I call Jared and ask him to come home because the chest pain is back. We decide to skip the ER because they were not that helpful last time and decide to go to the Iowa Heart Center instead. After extreme pain and a bunch of cardio tests, the heart specialist found nothing wrong and suggested that we go back to the ER because they can give me something for the pain.

We end up back in the ER and the doctors do more blood work and give me more pain medicine. The results come back from my blood work and it looks like I have had a miscarriage. Shock and disbelief hit me like a lead balloon.

The doctors think that a CT scan will help answer what is causing the chest pain (and now that I have miscarried that this test will be safe to run)

The results from the CT scan of my chest shows nothing abnormal. Once again I'm sent home with pain meds. But this time the doctor tells me nothing is wrong and that sometimes people have symptoms and yet there is nothing medically wrong with them.

Thursday: I am still having some pain but it is in the from of pressure in my abdomen.

Jared talks to a couple of doctor friends that he has (one of which is a cardiologist). They recommend that we make an appointment with my OB to double check for sure that I indeed had a miscarriage and have an ultra sound done to rule out a tubal pregnancy. (because as our friend the cardiologist informs us tubal pregnancies can sometimes cause chest pain)

We take their advice (which is a gift from God) and make an appointment on Friday with an OB. Not my OB because he is out of the office until Monday (go figure).

Friday: We take Colin to his 9 month appointment at 8:30. Luckily my dad is around to watch Makenna while we are at the appointment and offers to stay for my OB appointment at 11:15. I'm still in discomfort even while taking vicodin.

We head to the appointment inform the OB about my week and ask if we should have an ultra sound done. He is hesitant because he doesn't think there is a correlation between the two but agrees all the same.

Have a ultra sound done. The tech finds a cyst and says the OB will talk to us about it.

We get back to our room and the OB comes in and very straight forward tells us that the cyst is 7cm and appears to be about the size of a grapefruit. SHOCK hits me once again. He continues to tell us that he recommends surgery and that he would like to schedual the surgery that afternoon. SHOCK hits me again.

After making the necessary phone calls to get the kids taken care of, we walk across the street to the hospital to get admitted for out patient surgery. CRAZY!!

The time is sometime around 2:00 and I'm getting ready for a surgery that should last 30-45 minutes. At 3:15 they take me to pre-op and I get all the typical tube and cords attached to my body for surgery. I am then informed that I will have a breathing tube inserted for surgery. I don't like this one bit and now I'm terrified. (if you know me at all you know how much I dislike medical equipment attached to my body)

I have no idea what time I got out of surgery, I'm sure Jared could tell you. All I know is that it took about 3 hours. (a lot longer than expected). They got rid of the cyst that was on my right ovary and while they were in there they found some damage done to my left ovary and fallopian tube. The OB is pretty sure that the damage was from a tubal pregnancy that somehow exploded (I couldn't come up with a better term). As a result, they had to remove part of my left fallopian tube and ovary because the damage was so severe.

THE GOOD NEWS:
My chest pain has not returned and the OB thinks that all the problems with my female parts contributed to that.

We can still have kids.

I'm recovering from surgery.

I can praise God that He had control over the whole situation and He knew that this pregnancy was not meant to be carried out normally.

I know He loves me and our baby that was lost.

I am grieving and I am thankful both at the same time.

Love

2011-02-14T08:03:00.004-06:00

Sibling Love

Daddy Love

Mama Love

Husband and Wife Love

The Ultimate Love

New Sleds

2011-02-12T09:51:00.001-06:00

Well, actually they are old sleds just redone by Jared. Which makes them new to Makenna and Colin.

Last winter Jared found two destroyed runner sleds on the side of the road. His plan was to make them usable. This was gonna be quite the task because when he found them they were a far cry from any thing you would want to sled on. The metal was all bent up and most of the wood destroyed. Once again Jared surpassed all expectations.

Here are the pictures.

I took this one after Jared started work on the first sled. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of both sleds in the condition Jared found them in.

This is a picture of the sled found in the worse condition. All new wood, metal all straightened, and repainted.

Papa's Glasses

2011-02-07T10:51:00.000-06:00

Frosty the Snowman

2011-02-04T08:36:00.003-06:00

Makenna got to make her first snowman. Jared strategically built it with her right outside her window. Now she can look out and see Frosty whenever she wants. Colin even got in on the action for a picture or two. I'm sure next year he will be right out there in the thick of things.

A Wonderful Sound

2011-02-03T08:41:00.000-06:00

As a mama their isn't much that is better than hearing one of your kiddos full out belly laugh. I am so glad that we have this recorded because now we will have Colin's precious baby belly laugh forever. It really is priceless!!!

Winter

2011-02-02T08:46:00.002-06:00

Here are my thoughts about winter in Iowa.

It is a bit long. According to the calendar winter starts December 21, but in reality when you live in Iowa it feels like it starts way sooner than that.
I really dislike the bitter cold. Especially when the sun is out and it looks all nice and inviting. But then you step outdoors and instantly you feel a cold sting on any body part not covered with at least one layer of clothing.
It takes way too long to recover from being outside in the bitter cold. Why can't my hands ever seem to be warm again.
I find it hilarious how the local news uses the term 'Operation Winter Storm' when referring to any snow we might get.
I love to watch the snow fall. Especially the big fluffy flakes.
Sledding and making snowmen are two things I look forward to doing every winter.
I find it simply gorgeous when I wake up and see all the trees covered in a beautiful frost. It really is breath taking and it gives me a glimpse at some of our majestic Creator's handiwork.

And now that you know some of my thoughts about winter I will leave you with this picture Jared took of one of the friendly deer who seem to think our back yard is their home. Any good advice on how to get rid of them before they destroy our garden again this summer.

Jesus Loves Me

2011-02-01T08:40:00.000-06:00

Makenna loves to sing. We often catch her singing to herself or to Colin but rarely am I lucky enough to catch her on video. Here is one of those rare occasions.

Diaper Cake

2011-01-31T07:53:00.004-06:00

A couple weekends ago I was fortunate enough to help throw a baby shower for my friend Spring. I was given the opportunity to handle the decorations. I was really excited to help and couldn't wait to come up with some fun ideas.

I wanted to try to make a diaper cake because they always look so cute and are so practical at the same time. I mean diapers people. What newborn baby doesn't need and use diapers. Also, I had never attempted to make one so I thought this would be a good time to learn. The theme for the shower was monkeys so I googled 'Monkey Diaper Cakes' and thought that this one was cute. I used it as my inspiration. I think the one I made turned out pretty similar and I was definitely pleased with the end result.

In addition to the diaper cake I decided to make some poms. I got the idea from none other than Ms. Martha Stewart herself. Click here for the step by step tutorial. They were very easy and I thought they looked super cute. The bonus to these beauties was that I made them in the same colors as the baby's room so Spring could take them home and use them in the baby's room.

Here are a few pictures of the finished products.

A Typical Male

2011-01-29T09:38:00.000-06:00

Colin is learning this well know fact at a early age..... fart jokes are a great way to show your masculinity.

I Had A Moment

2011-01-28T08:37:00.001-06:00

It's not very often that I have moments where I come up with an ingenious idea. But this is one of those times. (Well, I would consider it an ingenious idea.)

PROBLEM:
I needed a way to organize all of Makenna hair stuff.

SOLUTION:
Rescue the nicely painted wood boxes that were gonna be thrown away by my mom and sister at Christmas. Place them in the drawer and organize away.

BEFORE

AFTER

See Erin I knew that they would come in handy somewhere. It just took me a while to figure out where.

Boy or Girl?

2011-01-27T13:55:00.006-06:00

The following is a conversation between my mom and Makenna.

Nana: Makenna, is Colin a boy or a girl?
Makenna: Boy
Nana: Makenna, is mama a boy or a girl?
Makenna: Girl
Nana: Makenna, is daddy a boy or a girl?
Makenna: Boy
Nana: Makenna, is papa a boy or a girl?
Makenna: Boy
Nana: Makenna, is nana a boy or a girl?
a long dramatic pause takes place while Makenna thinks about this question
Nana: Makenna, is nana a boy or a girl?
after a short pause to think some more she boldly declares
Makenna: A COW!

A Note To Jared

2011-01-26T15:57:00.004-06:00

Jared,

Today, since it is your birthday I wanted to write you a little note to let you know how much you are appreciated by your wife.

Although, you are bummed that you are getting older I hope you realize that today will be a day that I will always try extra hard to make special for you because if you hadn't been born 32 years ago my life would look completely different.

I am so glad God created you to be the man you are. But I am even more excited to watch as He continues to mold you into the man that He wants you to become. I see so many ways you enrich the lives of the people closest to you. And I am so very thankful that God has blessed me with such a wonderful husband.

I appreciate you in so many ways. I cherish how well you complement me and balance out my somewhat dramatic personality. You make me laugh more than I thought possible. You make me feel loved unconditionally. You encourage me even when I mess up big time. You challenge me to be a better wife and mother because of your actions. Only God could create this combination of a man to be my husband and I am extremely thankful that He made you to be that man.

I love you for the father you are to Makenna and Colin. They are truly blessed to have a daddy who wants to be so involved in their lives. From the crazy games Makenna makes up for you to play with her to the special shoulder rides only you give Colin I know both kids feel loved by you. Nothing makes me love you more as their daddy than to watch them laugh with you. (You know the laughs I'm talkin about....those big deep belly laughs)

I know I should tell you all these things more often, but then what would I tell you on your birthday to make it special. Hope you have a wonderful 32nd birthday.

Happy Birthday!

Love Ya,
Allison

Snug As A Bug

2011-01-25T08:36:00.000-06:00

Around The House

2011-01-24T08:43:00.001-06:00

I have been trying to tie up some loose ends around the house. Such as unpacking the office the has been packed up in boxes and been in storage since August when our basement got flooded. This is a bit pathetic but it is something that I have not placed as a priority because I really could care less how organized our office is.

Also on my list has been making or buying curtains for all the rooms in our house. Oh don't worry they all had curtains when we moved in but most of them needed to go. I am now down to two rooms that have not gotten updated curtains. The office being one of them. Can you tell which room I spend the least amount of time in. Six out of eight rooms isn't bad. I mean we have almost lived in the house for two years now. But keep in mind my husband has told me all along and would still stick by the fact that all of the old curtains served their purpose quite well even if they didn't look that great.

Another loose end is putting before and after pictures on the blog of all the updates we have made on the house. I am really excited to share all of our hard work and progress with our blog readers. And maybe sometime in the future you will get to see the pictures instead of just reading about how I want to put them on the blog.

And last but not least is to catch up on the kiddos baby books. Well, start Colin's is more accurate. It should only take me until they are 18 to decide what pictures to put in their books:)

Well, now that you know how I should be spending my time I think I will go eat a piece of cake and read for a while.

My little carpenter

2011-01-22T13:18:00.003-06:00

Today Makenna and dad took a trip to Lowe's for their little kids workshop time. The project was a little game you throw balls through. It was all pre-cut and easy, but Makenna had fun helping nail it together.

I did most of the "work" but she enjoyed swinging the hammer. I was actually surprised at how accurate she was. One of the dads there should have been taking notes from her.

She got to keep the apron and even got a little patch that can be sewn on.

We have had fun playing the game with her and even Colin has enjoyed having something new to chew on.

Colin - Teeth

2011-01-21T14:38:00.002-06:00

Colin got is first tooth the week before Christmas. His second one came in right after that. He is currently working on his top two. Here is a picture I attempted to take of the bottom two right after they came in.

Hilarious

2011-01-20T09:35:00.001-06:00

I find this video hilarious. If you know our kiddos at all this video captures both of their personalities rather well. Makenna enjoying being the 'star of the show' and Colin wondering what the heck are these weirdos singing about. (And yes he is wide awake. It is hard to tell in the video because he hardly is moving) ENJOY!

Christmas 2010 - Willis Family:Part 2 (Sledding)

2011-01-18T20:43:00.003-06:00

Christmas 2010 - Willis Family:Part 1

2011-01-18T08:42:00.003-06:00

Christmas 2010 - Sigmund Family

2011-01-17T18:27:00.007-06:00

We didn't have the camera out much while we were at the Sigmund family Christmas. I guess we were just too busy enjoying ourselves to think about taking pictures. But here are a few of the pictures we did manage to take.

And here is our attempt at getting a picture of all three grand kids in their Christmas jammies.

Christmas 2010 - Pictures

2011-01-17T18:21:00.004-06:00