Day 5 of Break

Today we got our Christmas tree up along with a few decorations while listening to Christmas music. It was SO much fun and made us so much more excited for Christmas. Our tradition before starting to decorate is to make a toast with "lite" egg nog :) (Tanner has been calling it egg juice)


Us waiting patiently while Nate went to the shed and got our Christmas things out. Joce LOVED looking out the window and trying to take the Christmas stickers off the window.


One of the first things we found was Tanner's 1st Christmas hat. Joce modeled it for us. Wish we had one in pink :)


Nate playin' with Joce. She loves to be thrown in the air.... well most of the time.


Tanner HAD to put the star on the top. He kept asking all day if it was time. We made him wait until the tree was finished. After he put it on he said "This is the best Christmas Ever" - so cute!!


Tanner and Joce under the tree. Joce's 1st Christmas tree. She loved looking at all the lights.


Joce and I in our head warmers and vests ready to go to the pie party we were invited to at some friends house.... which was a blast. I ate way too much pie!


Joce happy to be back home and huggin on her daddy ready for bed. Love it



What a fun day!!!

3rd & 4th Day of Break

So on Monday we watched the Hills Kids (Addy and Ensley) while their parents had a date night. Then on Tuesday we took our kids to their house while we went on a date. We went and saw Harry Potter. Besides the couple who were drinking alcohol next to me, the guy who randomly burped when it was quiet and the girl behind us who sobbed LOTS at a part that really wasn't that sad, It was AWESOME!! :)

2nd Day of Break (Sunday)

We did the usual for a Sunday, went to church and relaxed. I had to post how cute the kids looked for church. I love my beautiful children and can't wait for all of my family to see them at Christmas and how much they've changed and grown :)

1st Day of Break

So, the first pic was from Friday. Right when Nate got home from school after his last final - the kids wanted their daddy asap. It was SO cute. On Saturday we went to a new place in Centerville Iowa called The Columns. It was SUCH a cute little place to shop. It was like a big house just loaded with tons of different things and was only about 50 miles away. Whoever comes to visit, plan on going there :). We went and ate pizza afterwards and they had delicious pizza that we ended up getting $$off because of the long wait.


This room was full of Men's things like hunting, camping, ect... Tanner was amazed by all the Junk....I mean stuff in this room, haha


This was a random find in that same room. It reminded me of something my father and brothers would enjoy :)


I love trying on things as usual...


Nate was taking care of business while I looked around - such an awesome hubby and father!!



We are having so much fun already spending time together on this little break! The next days are coming.....

Tanner is..... POTTY TRAINED!!!

So... it FINALLY happened. Tanner is potty trained. He went pee pee and poo poo on the 16th and has not looked back since. It all happened when he was in the tubby and had to go potty. I said "why don't you sit on the big boy potty" like we always do and to my surprise he said "okay". I was thinking silently..... no way. Could this really be it. He's said this before and sat on the potty many times before and nothing ever happened. Anyway, so I sat him on the potty and to my astonishment, he went pee pee. He said "diapers are for baby Joce, not for Tanner". I was SO excited I started jumping up and down and shouting praise to Tanner of how proud I was. Then later that day he went poo poo. I couldn't believe it. The first thing he said was "Now I get to go to the store and pick out a toy". We've told him for months that as soon as he could go poo poo in the potty, he'd get to go pick out whatever toy he wanted..... (yes, we got desperate for anything to get him potty trained). So when Nate came home from school for a lunch break, he took Tanner to the store and he picked out Buzz Lightyear. He LOVES it and won't put it down. He had to eat and sleep with him. So cute! He then didn't have a bm for like 5 days, but is now going like a champ. Nate and I couldn't be happier or more proud of Tanner. We've been waiting for this day and we can finally say BYE BYE to diapers and WELCOME to the $40 or so a month we will save. WAY TO GO TANNER!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Nate!!

Happy 30th to the love of my life!! I'm so lucky to have been married to such a wonderful guy for 7 1/2 years. I love him more everyday. He is such an amazing husband and father. Doesn't he look great for turning the BIG 30 :). It was really cute because the night before his Birthday, we were talking in the kitchen and I said "Aren't you so excited for your Birthday tomorrow". He looked at me and sat down on the floor and said "Is it really my Birthday already.....and I'm going to be 30 really" then he sat down and I obviously ran and got the camera and took a pic. It was finals week the week after so he didn't even realize it was already his bday. He chose scrambled eggs and blueberry muffins for breakfast and mexican meatloaf for dinner. I'm so glad it all turned out and I didn't burn anything :)


I gave him a big kiss and told him turning 30 would be ok (even though I think when I turn 30 I may have a break down)


I decorated the table with balloons and his presents


The kids were SO excited that is was Daddy's birthday. They love their daddy so much!!


Then he blew out his candles and we enjoyed the yummy cake



We love you SO much. Thanks for all you do for our family :) MUAHHHHHH

Nice Day

The weather has been pretty nice the past couple of days. So we've been enjoying it!! It's pretty funny trying to take a picture with these two by my side. Tanner loves to try and make Joce laugh for the picture. He is such a cute big brother. I love how it looks like she's giving a thumb's up in the background :)


Tanner loves getting his truck and his chair and putting them side by side taking turns on each of them. He cracks me up.


So I tried taking a closer pic of Joce and I to see if we look anything alike....... yeah I don't see much at all. She looks just like her daddy....SO cute!!!


Yes, Tanner on his first date at age 3...hahaha. Isn't this the cutest pic. There were lots of kids playing at the park and I look over and Tanner and Addy are sitting alone on the grass kindof far away as if they had so many private things to talk about :)


So Cute!!


I hope there are a couple more nice days before it gets way too cold because we LOVE playing and being outside!!

Halloween

Sorry this post is a bit late. Things have been SO busy. We did have a great Halloween weekend. Friday night we went to a Halloween party that was a lot of fun. Nate and Tanner went as skeletons and Joce and I were witches. She was going to be a flower but I decided I would attempt to make her costume and we could both be witches. I made her tutu, legwarmers and sewed things onto her white onesie. It actually turned out really cute, I was surprised! But I think anything she wears she looks cute in.

(Had to get a cute back shot :))




Then on Saturday morning there was a trunk-or-treat at the TCC (gym) outside. I took Tanner around to get candy while Nate and Joce handed out candy.

Then Tanner wanted to hand out the candy.

And of course, eating some in between handing it out :)

Then on Saturday night, there was a trunk-or-treat party at the church. Tanner had fun with one of his favorite friends Addy.

Then on Sunday we went to a friends for dinner and Tanner had fun pulling his other favorite friend Bostyn around her house in her wagon treating her like a queen. They are so cute!!

Then of course we had to do some trick-or-treating. They had so much fun. It was SO cute because whenever they went and knocked on the door and said "trick-or-treat. They would both get candy and Bostyn always got an extra one for Tanner and put it in his pumpkin. Bostyn hooked him up :)

It's SO nice to live in a place that has so many things to do through the SAA and with the awesome friends we have made. We are loving it here but do miss all our family and friends back home. Love you all!!

Tanner-Awesome Big Brother/Fun with Friends

Loves to play outside

Loves to run from the camera

Loves kung fu or something like it :)

LOVES his baby sis - "can she sit by me?"

Loves to be scary

"I want to hold her" she's not so sure about it in this pic. She usually loves it though. So cute!

"I will make baby sis laugh"

Tanner, Noah and Addy after the Homecoming Parade

Can his face get any closer to the camera. He wanted a close shot :)

Addy and Tanner at the park.

Noah, Addy, Bostyn and Tanner. First little road trip together. SO CUTE!!

Tanner on his favorite animal on our family outing to Columbia. We had a blast!!

Tanner had so much fun at "Family Fun Night". They had a lot of games and Tanner won lots of prizes due to his good aim and shot in the basketball hoop. He also got 4 tattoo's. I love his smile.

Tanner and Addy with Curious George. Tanner kept wanting to go give him a hug, so cute!

Although Tanner isn't changing as fast as Joce right now, I still had to post some of his pics. He is such a great big brother to his sis. He is also such a big helper. I can't believe how smart he is. You can tell him something once and he'll remember it like a week later. He makes me laugh everyday with his cute sense of humor and his awesome face expressions .I can't say enough about my boy except I love him SO much!! I'm SO happy he's made so many good friends!!