Her royal princess Sophia

Can you believe how old she looks these days?

My Valentine this year

Sorry Mommy, there’s a new another girl who also has my heart.

2010

Well so far 2010 hasn’t started out the greatest of years. The weather has been extremely unpleasant for one. The kids have been cooped up in the house and have very bad cases of cabin fever.

At work, I had an employee of mine that transferred departments at the most inopportune time, so I have basically been running the accounting show solo. What that means is closing 2009 books, preparing for my audit (which starts Monday) and getting 1099s out. There hasn’t been enough hours in the day, which means I’ve been working nights too. For the last 3 weeks I’ve worked no less than 60 hours ea week.

So for Kevin that has meant a lot of time with the kids!! The kids are at the age where they can not be around each other without poking or taunting one another. Needless to say, Kevin is pretty stressed out to.

So, the plan is to start February out on a much better foot!! My audit will be over by then and I have a new person starting on Wednesday, which should lead to a much happier family. Come on February, no wammies!!

We are still here.

Seems like it has been forever since we posted anything here. Lynnette and I primarily use Facebook for all of our postings and pictures these days, it is just so much easier to share what’s going on

Anyway, we’re still alive and kicking. Kids are growing, Iowa weather has been pretty miserable and Lynnette has been mondo-busy at work.

Here are a few recent pictures:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We’ve been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks!!

The weekend before Christmas Grandma Robin and Dick came over for an early Christmas. We all had a great time. It was the kids’ first Christmas this year and they loved EVERYTHING they got. It was a great day.

The weather over the next week was SNOW, SNOW, SNOW. We knew early on that it was going to be a white Christmas. The snow was so bad (worse in NW Iowa where they got close to 2 ft), so we decided to spend Christmas weekend snuggled in our own warm house. Christmas day was wonderful!! The kids were so happy to open their gifts. Derek’s favorites were the Mac (Cars) carrying case that fits 12 hot wheels cars and Sophia’s pink fuzzy phone and of course his Handy Manny blanket. Sophia’s favorite was her new Princess sheets.

New Year’s Day we finally made the trip to Cherokee for the Fassler/Goodburn Family Christmas. Unfortunately the whole Goodburn family didn’t make it. This is the second year in a row that weather has kept us all apart, but for a few hours we had the entire Fassler clan all together.

Sophia followed Emily around (just like usual) and the 3 boys fought like brothers, as usual!! Derek had a tough weekend, his sleeping habits interrupted everyone. He also had a snow globe shatter on his head, which was not a pleasant experience, but everyone was ok. Another good family trip!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Very Happy New Year!

My princess

I know a lot of you don’t check my Facebook page regularly, so I thought I post a picture of Sophia from a photo shoot today:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all…

(Great) Grandparent Surprise

As most of you in Iowa know, on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, we were piled with over a foot of snow, followed by a nice blizzard. I’m pretty sure the snow will be around awhile and that we will have a white Christmas!!

Saturday morning we went out and played in the snow for a couple of hours. It took about 45 minutes to convince Derek to get suited up, but when he finally did, he had a blast. After a half hour the neighbor kids came out to play, so I got to sit back and watch the happy kids play (and make a snow angel or two).

After we got inside, Uncle Doug called and asked if we would like some guests for the night. They were headed through town on their way to Branson and thought we might want to see my Grandparents. Grandma, Grandpa, Trevor and Tricia all came over for supper and some fun with the kids.

This morning Sophia and I made breakfast for Grandma and Grandpa. We were also lucky enough to get some really great pictures. We seldom get time with Grandma and Grandpa, so it was a wonderful surprise!! As they were driving off, Sophia said “I want them to come back and play tomorrow”. We all had a great time!!

Here are a few pictures:

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It seems like Thanksgiving has been going on forever. Not that I mind at all!! Wednesday night I took Sophia to Disney Princesses on Ice. She LOVED it. We both had such a good time. The amazement on her face is something I will cherish forever!!

On Thursday we went over to Grandma Robin and Grandpa Dick’s for his famous grilled turkey, which was as wonderful as usual. We all had a really good time!

Friday I had to work, but Kevin enjoyed some time with the kids. He got 6 loads of laundry done, Christmas tree and decorations up, house cleaned and supper ready when I got home. Thank you Mr Mom…your awesome!

Saturday we went to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese’s. Obviously the kids had a great time and it was really nice to see some old friends we hadn’t seen in quite awhile! The weather was so nice on Saturday, that after a quick nap we spent some time outside. Kevin got some great pictures of the kids (as usual).

Today, Sophia and I spent all day with Amy and Quinton making cookies. The kids did great helping for awhile, then they would get bored and go off and play, then they would come back to help, then get bored and go play. It was an all day adventure and we had lots of fun (and lots of sugar)!!

We hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving us much as we did!!

Early Thanksgiving

I have to apologize…ever since I’ve gotten on facebook, my blog posts have been lacking. I’ll try harder!!

Friday Sophia and I got up early to go shopping and Kevin and Derek had some fun boy time. After lunch we all packed up and headed to Cherokee. We had 2 full days family fun. Friday night we just let the kids play until 10ish. Sophia had her first sleep over away from us and had a great time with Emily!! Derek stayed (in the other room) with Karissa and Devin. Kevin and I got a great night’s sleep!!

Saturday we went back to Kim’s and got ready for Logan’s big 2nd birthday party. The kids had so much fun at the party!! After a quick nap to refresh us, we played and ate some more. Kevin ended up being the entertainment of the night, with Kevin Horsey and a 6 energetic kids. It was quite entertaining to watch and the kids had a blast too!!

Sunday we had brunch at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and some more family time. It was really great to get the DLD crew (Derek, Logan and Devin) together again!! And Emily and Sophia always have so much fun. Kim, Karissa and I got some girl time in too. And it was nice to spend time with Grandma & Grandpa and Doug & Cindy!!

The boys (this really was the best picture, they weren’t real cooperative):

Loving life:

Dinner is ready:

Kick it:

Dancer, mayber:

Hope everyone had a great weekend!! I’ll try to get Kevin to post some pics soon!

I am Norman Rockwell (with a DSLR)

Derek’s two yr check up

I’m sure it doesn’t shock anyone to find out that Derek is 97%ile in height at 38 inches tall and 87% in weight at 32 lbs. What a big healthy boy!!

Saturday before nap, we changed Derek’s crib into a big boy toddler bed. We have our moments, but it’s going fairly well! Hopefully we don’t have to get the crib pieces back out anytime soon. He’s already been out 3 times tonight….scratch that 4.

We never did get a good picture of Derek in his new big boy bed.

Karissa and Devin came down for a visit Saturday and Sunday. I wish I could say the boys had fun together, but this time I can say quite the opposite. I thought Sophia and Derek were oil and water, but Derek and Devin are beyond a bad mixture. They fought something awful!! At one point Sophia came yelling for help and I walked in on Devin continually smacking Derek, who was cowering in the corner screaming. Poor kid, we need to find him some boy friends to play with.

Karissa and DJ:

Karissa and Sophia:

Derek and Devin did “play nice” together a couple times:

Saturday Lee and his friend came to visit for lunch and Trevor stopped by for supper. It was a really good family weekend!!

My Little Man is 2!!

It is so hard to believe that 2 short years ago, Derek greeted us in a rather surprising way. Today he is a happy healthy little man that loves to hassle his sister. He’s mostly tough, but loves to play with Sophia’s ponies and dolls too. We have plenty of pictures to black mail him with in his teenage years!!

We had a great party with friends and family yesterday. Derek (and Sophia) got a ton of really great toys. They have played with almost all the toys over the last couple of days. I’ve even had a little alone time when they played by themselves!! Thanks to everyone who was able to join us in the celebration!

Derek we love you so much and hope you had a wonderful 2nd birthday!!

It’s Time to Celebrate!!

Over the last few weeks, Derek has grown to LOVE to go potty in the potty. Every time we put him on the potty he goes. The first few times he would have a stream going for a nanosecond, then he would stop, giggle and say “I toot”, then he would repeat the stream and giggling for 5ish or more times. He is so funny! He does much better now and goes almost every time we put him on.

He is very far from being potty trained, because I’m pretty sure he doesn’t understand that he’s not supposed to go in his diaper. We even bought him some adorable little Thomas underwear. He kept them dry for about 2 hours, then I noticed him waddling around. We won’t push it for now, but we’re on our way!!

Another reason to celebrate is my water broke 2 years ago tomorrow. Which means I get to celebrate all week long (since I was in labor for 5 whole days). Derek only gets to celebrate on Saturday. Can you believe the big boy is almost 2!!!

New Cars

I’ve been having a few car issues with me ‘99 VW. I’m not really big on cars and I thought I would have that car forever, but recently I’ve had a few problems and it was becoming a little unreliable and with kids, that’s really not an option.

Saturday morning we got up and Kevin and I decided we wanted to go talk to the Toyota guy about his lease and a new car for me. The kids did pretty good for about the first 10 minutes, but after that we realized we weren’t going to get anywhere with them, so we called Denise and she was more than happy to take them for a few hours. Luckily the kids got to spend time at Denise’s apartment and hang out with her kitty. They had a blast.

When we got back to the dealership, it was a whole day process (started at 9:30 am until 3:30 Pm). We ended up trading the Tundra and my car in for a 2009 Highlander Lmtd for Kevin and got me a pretty good lease deal on a no thrills 2010 Corolla. We walked out of there with the exact monthly payment we were hoping for. I think we did some great negotiating!!

Hey there blue eyes

Vacation

Wow, I haven’t posted in a couple weeks. I’ll try to make it brief. Kim, Emily, Logan, Mom and Dad came to town last weekend. We had a great time as always! Saturday we went to Adventureland and the kids had a blast!! After Kevin went on the tornado, he got pretty sick. We thought he was just getting old, turns out it was the start of the flu bug through the entire family. I ended up getting sick overnight Sat/Sunday. Logan and Emily got sick on the car ride home on Sunday. Kim and Dad both got sick on Tuesday. Denise also had it on Saturday (same day as Kevin). That stuff is contageous and not fun at all!!

After we all recovered, we got right back in the swing of fall fun. I took Wednesday through Friday off this week and we did a ton of really fun stuff. I discovered a whole new Mommy world!! We went to reading time, playground, got the kids some shoes, play date Wednesday night and another again Thursday morning. Thursday afternoon Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Steve came back. Derek and Sophia had dentist appointments on Thursday (Derek’s first trip to the dentist). They both did WONDERFUL…I was so amazed. Then we walked around at Valley Junction, then to the Science Center on Saturday.

This morning my parents left at 8. Robin showed up soon after to pick Kevin and the kids up for Thomas the Train in Boone. I hear they had a fun time, even though Derek was quite the handful!. I spent my alone time cleaning and sanitizing the house. Floors cleaned and steamed, carpet vaccuumed and shampooed, laundry, organizing…spic and span. Whew…I am exhausted!!! I think I need a vacation.

Now to get the kids back on a schedule!!

Terrible twos – Part II

They say a photo is worth a thousand words. I’d say this pretty much sums up our little man as he rapidly approaches the age of two:

I think he was trying to grab my cell phone.

September is Here!

I can’t believe how fast the summer has gone by!! It seems like the weeks and months go faster and faster. Derek will be 2 in a month!!

Kevin had last week off, so he got a lot of odds and ends stuff done around the house. Our patio is less than desirable at the current state, but we are working with the concrete guy to see what he can do to make it better. Hopefully he will show Wednesday night, like he’s supposed to.

Friday I took the day off and we all left for Cherokee, except Lexi. Lexi got to go to the Grandma Spa again…thanks Grandma Robin! We got up there just in time for a nice supper at Kim’s, with Mom and Dad (aka Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Steve), the DLD (Derek, Logan & Devin) crew and Emily and Sophia. Everyone made some great food and Kim made some awesome Margaritas. It’s was very entertaining to watch the boys play…I mean fight. They didn’t seem to get along at all!!

Saturday we drove to Cutty’s at Spirit Lake, where my Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle were camping. We spent the day up there eating and hanging out. We took the kids to the pool and got to play on the fun play equipment. Emily and Sophia got to show off there gymnastics and the boys had fun dancing and running wild!! We got back to Cherokee late on Saturday.

Sunday morning we had yet another huge breakfast and lunch. The boys got to take a bath together, which was the only time they really seemed to play well together. We got some pretty great pictures. I think everyone had a really great time. Thanks for all your hospitality. Hope we didn’t trash your house too bad Grandma!

We were pretty lucky that the kids fell asleep fairly easy both nights. Derek amazed me by just laying down in the pack’n play both nights and just talked himself to sleep. I had to lay next to Sophia to get her to sleep both nights, but she was pretty tired so it didn’t take long. The kids were also really great in the car all 9 hours (total over the 3 days). Thank goodness for the portable DVD player!!

Working on the patio

Who says a construction site is dangerous for kids?

He’s Free!

Saturday morning around 6:30 AM, I heard Derek with his usual chattering. So I rolled over and went back to sleep. About 15 minutes later, i heard Sophia and Derek talking back and forth. Rolled over into the other direction and again fell back to sleep. About 7:00 am, we heard “the running of the bulls” coming towards us, opening our bedroom door and in they came.

“I helped him out” said Sophia. Sure enough, she had helped Derek out of his crib. Later I checked in his room and she had gotten the SpongeBob step stool out of the bathroom and put it up to his crib to help him.

At that moment, Kevin and I realized our lives had changed forever…again. Strange enough, he got out of his crib on Sunday morning (again with the help of big Sister). However, he has never tried it all on his own! He’s certainly big enough to get out on his own, but I really think he likes it in there.