Birthday Girl

happy birthday Jenni! you youngin!

Day #2

It's day #2 of daddy being gone. I wanted to keep the kiddos busy today too. In the morning we headed back to the mall to play in the playground and splash pad. This time, it was Nolan who gave me a run for my money. He was running around everywhere that he wasn't supposed to be. And he used to be my better listener, darn. They had a blast again....

what a monkey

she loved this butterfly

he did end up making it to the top by himself

poser!

happy bugger

busy bee

After the splash pad it was time to go home for lunch and naptime. When Nolan woke up, we headed over to grandma and grandpa's house. My camera was dead by that point, so no pics. We stayed for a couple hours and headed home. Kylee was feeling a little under the weather so my plan of playing in the backyard sprinkler fell through. It was snuggle/cuddle time for a few hours before she finally fell asleep though. I'll take that any time I can get it! Turns out day #2 was just as fun as day #1. Daddy'll have to see what he missed out on when he gets home.

Day #1

Daddy's out of town (again) until Sunday so I did my best to keep the kiddos entertained all day today. We had so much fun. I don't often take them places by myself, it is not fun to trying to keep them in one place together! But I did just that because I wanted to have fun with them so I just prepared myself for the complete chaos that comes along with it, ha! I have proven to myself today that it is absolutely impossible to keep my two eyes on the both of them at all times. Kylee thinks she's a bigger girl than she is and can roam free at all times, very frustrating. Though I don't want Kylee to grow up too fast, I often wish she was old enough already to know what's expected of her in public places. Having two little ones as young as they are is difficult outside the house. But the kiddos had a blast and are probably looking forward to our adventures tomorrow, not that I even know what they are yet. we read stories waiting for sissy to wake up, this is Nolan reaching for his books

sitting so nice for mommy to read to him


then he got distracted by the camera

when Kylee woke up, I painted her toenails. and yes, that's pen marks on my couch - don't ask

and painted her fingernails

after breakfast I took them to the big park at the subdivision next to ours - they were in heaven!

gettin it done

flushed cheeks - it was too damn hot

such a big girl - what happened to my baby?

hi kylee!

Then we headed home for lunch time and much needed nap time. After Nolan's unusually long nap, we headed to the mall to play in the playground and the splash pad.

what you don't see in this pic is that Kylee just kicked Nolan down the steps

taking turns

being bigger than his britches

he LOVED the splash pad

happy Kylee

having so much fun

they had both slipped. it was really slippery, wonder why?

after the splash pad, we went over to Auntie Anne's to get a pretzel with cheese for a snack

yummy pretzel

then it was off to home to take a bath and eat dinner. And now both kids are asleep, yippie! It was a great day and I'm happy that they had so much fun. Now I'm deciding what we're going to do tomorrow.

On The Hunt

It's official! We're going to be moving soon. I just got the phone call with the approval for a 2nd home loan. All the crap I talk about Ryan being a penny pincher and not ever letting me spend money on anything, but I guess it pays off. With Ryan's credit and the money he has stashed away, he was able to get approved for a whole other home. That was the reasoning for the Trailblazer, we were able to keep all the money we made off the Tahoe to put towards a new house. Unfortunately, the house is going to be in Queen Creek ;-(

Basically, our mortgage is too high and our house is too small. We can get a huge, really nice house in Queen Creek and have a mortgage half the size it is now. We have a budget, which is half of what we paid for this house, and seriously we can double what we have for that. I am sad though. I really don't want to live that far. Neither one of us do. But it's the best decision for us financially because it's the 1st step of a 7 year plan: we really want our kids to grow up in Gilbert but are stuck in a house that we owe too much on and is too small for us. Ryan, being as disciplined as he is when it comes to money, will be able to put the difference in the mortgages in the bank for the next 7 years. Plus everything else that he saves, and then we can buy our dream home in Gilbert. We want the kids to go to the same school throughout their school years with the same kids. As long as we can get them in the neighborhood we want them to be in by late elementary school for Kylee, then I'll be happy.

Now the fun part: HOUSE HUNTING!

Coldstone

Daddy went to the archery range last night. So after our dinner of yummy homemade mac n cheese, I took the kids to Coldstone for some ice cream. They ran amuck, as usual, but they had fun. Thankfully we were the only people in there cause they were all over the place, ha!

80's Music

I went out Saturday night for a few hours for a friend's birthday. We hit up Old Town Scottsdale. It had been a very long time since I had been out there. We had some yummy pizza at Grimaldi's and then headed to the sports bar Upper Deck for some 80's music. And as usual, I didn't make it long and headed home early. It's not fun with both babies and a lack of sleep. This is somehow the only picture I took of the whole night which is too bad. There was probably 15 or so of us. Oh well. Happy Birthday Keri!

I was at the sports bar for probably about an hour and a half and had ordered one beer when I first got there. I gave the waitress a $20 to pay for it and never got my change back. So when I wanted to leave, I went and found her and told her I needed my change back. She then told me that she gave it to someone else at my table (seriously?!) and I needed to get it from her. Well, that person said she had no idea what the waitress was talking about. So I went and found her again and she said it was my own problem that someone else stole my change and that there was nothing she could do about it. I had to go talk to her manager, who happened to be the bartender. He gave me my $17 change out of his own tip jar. What a bitch. I hope he got it back from her at the end of the night. How do you give someone else somebody's change?

Startin Her Early

That's right. Taught her how to vaccum already! Actually, she thinks it's sooooo fun (for now). She's a great little helper. I have to start preparing her now for all the chores I'm going to have her be doing when she gets older. She has no idea what's in store, ha! I was way too bombarded with chores when I was kid, I wouldn't ever make her do that much. But for sure, it teaches kids such great things and she'll have plenty ;-)

look at the concentration on her face

don't mind the naked barbie

Silly Goose

Little Miss Kylee was being a silly goose the other day. Some days she gets so mad when I take her picture and some days she loves it.
edited for nudity ;-)

She wont wear a diaper anymore if we're at home, at all. I can only get one on her if she needs to go potty. Then she takes it off and either brings it to me or throws it away herself. She's funny about it though. She only pees in her bedroom, behind closed doors. And she only poops in her timeout corner. Ha! But she knows she needs a diaper on if we go somewhere. She's a turkey. She absolutely refuses to go to the real potty. Hopefully soon enough.

9 Long Days

We sold the Tahoe last Tuesday and after 9 VERY long days of not having a vehicle we finally bought this... It's a 2008 Chevy Trailblazer. After all the trash talking I did about buying a foreign after the Tahoe started having problems just to buy another American. Really, we were in the market for a foreign but we had a very hard time finding one that fit into our expectations. Whether it was price, mileage (the biggest problem), the year, room, interior, etc.... it was not fun looking for what we wanted. Even though I would have never thought that this Trailblazer would be what we bought, it is soooooo nice. It only has 14k miles, leather, moonroof, 10" dvd system, nice wheels (even for factory ones), and it's black. I was hoping whatever we bought would be black. And the best part? It was 10k dollars cheaper than the Tahoe. At first we were just looking for an even replacement. But within the past 9 days while truck shopping, we have decided to buy a new house! I'll hopefully be blogging some good news about that in a few days.

Reception

This past Saturday night, the fam and I went to a wedding reception for a guy that I've known since the 3rd grade. It was a lot of fun, and they had the GREATEST playground in their backyard. I'm hoping to wake up one morning and find one of these playgrounds in our yard. I probably should have taken a picture of the whole thing, it was enormous, ha! The kids had a blast and it was great to see some people I hadn't seen in years.

in a big girl swing

weeeee

after i took a few pics i realized there was something on my lense making all the pics blurry

i love this pic of them

don't mind the huge tumor on my forehead, i was 15 again for a few days

love my buddy