Our garden

the pic above is tomatoes and to the right is our sweet corn just coming up
Below is more sweet corn coming up. Then Sara and I's broccoli. Then my blueberry bush that was eaten by the dog two years ago and it finally is doing something again. Then our blackberry bush it has lots of white blooms but you cant see them very well due to the amount of sunshine. So excited to see our garden coming up.

It has been a while

Well life has been going well lately but extremely busy so I have taken the time to write a new blog. So we have done much this year. We bought a home in Gardner, KS last August and have been working on it. We still have a lot to do to make it exactly what we want but that is the fun of owning a home. We recently put in a huge garden with tomatoes, peppers, corn, broccoli and we are going to plant some cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon. We also have 2 grape vines, a blackberry and blueberry bush, and 3 fruit trees (plum, pluot(plum and apricot mix), and a peach).
Sara will be 3 in June and we have been redecorating her room to make it a big girl room. She loves horses so she wanted purple and brown with horses. Josh is making her a daybed and I have been working on a quilt and curtains for her room. Now with her bday coming up I am making her invitations for her party...I couldn't find any cute horse invites. She also has decided she wants a horse cake so to save some money I will be working on learning to make one myself. Oh and she wanted to be a brown and white paint horse for Halloween so I had to make a costume since we couldn't find one in a store...although I think most people thought she was a cow:)
My daycare is going well I watch the kids of two great families. One family has a 3 yr. old girl and twin one yr old boys; the other has a 3 yr old boy and a one yr old girl. They are tons of fun and it is great that the older kids are the same age as Sara.
Josh has been working 11pm-7am the last few months and will continue to through the middle of July. I was very nervous about him working the midnight shift but it has actually been great for family time..especially working on our garden.
So that is about all that is going on with our family lately. The end of summer will hopefully be busy with canning and freezing stuff from our garden and making salsa. Then once the fall/winter comes it will be back to busy with butchering deer and remodeling our master bath and hopefully repainting the interior of our house.
Busy busy but better than bored:)

The ZOO

So I took a mini vaca (2 days) for my birthday and Josh and I took Sara to the KC Zoo. This was Sara's very first time to go to the Zoo. I know she is almost 2 but we didn't see the point taking her before she could actually enjoy it. She really liked it for the most part. She actually got head butted by a sheep in the petting zoo area...which freaked her out and thankfully Josh was right next to her so she didn't actually get knocked down. She is use to the sheep at the petting zoo near our house so she didn't think they would try to knock her down. She did yell, "NO SHEEP" while shaking her finger at the sheep. So once that was over she was fine again and loving the zoo. AND THEN....while she was eating her goldfish off her stroller tray a goose came up and decided that it wanted a goldfish. So the goose preceeded to snatch the goldfish out of Sara's fingers and in the process bite Sara. It did make her bleed but it certainly scared her enough that she couldn't crawl up the seat of the stroller into my arms fast enough. SO I was pretty certain that are child would hate animals forever, BUT after a few minutes she was better and wanted to see more animals. She did really well and the weather was beautiful. I was amazed that she only got upset those two times and it was well past her nap by the time we left the zoo. So I think that her first trip to the zoo was a success and we are planning to go again soon.

HELP...My Child Won't Sleep

Okay for all you moms out there...what do I do. My child use to be a great sleeper. We did our short nap time routine and then she would lay down, close her eyes and be asleep for 2 hours...and then at night we would do our similar but longer routine and then she would again close her eyes and go right to sleep and sleep for 9-10 hours...WELL NOW MY WORLD HAS CHANGED :( Sara throws and hour and a half long fit each day at nap time. I've tried every thing I can think of with out giving in and letting her go without a nap. I remind her of the routine: we get the diaper changed, we sit in the rocking chair, mommy sings "I'm a child of God" while Sara drinks her cup of milk, when the song is over we turn on the fan and her music (soft classical cd), then I put her in her bed give her a kiss and cover her up. I leave the room and the minute I shut the door she starts wailing. I let her cry for 10 minutes and then go in and check on her....STILL AWAKE. I tell her it is time to go to sleep..she begs to be held or rocked..."mommy no...mommy rock...mommy hold me...peez(please)" This breaks my heart. And so this goes on for an hour and a half until I'm not sure what happens she just decides she isn't going to get what she wants so she goes to bed. I have tried putting her down earlier and later than the scheduled 12 noon nap. It doesn't matter what time I put her in bed she wont fall asleep for an hour and a half.

THEN at 8PM we do it all over again. At least at night it is pitch dark so she normally only lasts about 30 minutes before she falls alseep because she cant see anything.

On top of all of this I cant do anything with out her wanting to be held. I love to hold my baby but I watch 5 other kids during the day and I have to cook and clean and go to the bathroom. Any task I have to do that I cant hold her or when I choose not to hold her she falls to the ground screaming "mommy hold me" or even better she grabs my leg and wont let go so I have to drag her around with me all the while she is screaming to be held.

Someone please tell me this is a phase that will only last a couple of months and not until she is three. The girls hasn't even had her second birthday yet.

Terrible two's just got worse and it might be the death of me or enough to drive me insane. I love me child but I hope my sweet toddler returns soon.

Oh...and the picture is of her putting her bowl on her head after she finished her snack.

Awesome Weekend

So this weekend was really great. Josh had Friday and Saturday off which doesn't happen often...I mean like it has happened maybe 5 times in the year that he has been out of the police academy. So Friday night we had dinner as a family at Old Chicago...really good pizza. And then I was able to go out for dessert with a really good friend of mine and just have some much needed adult girl time. Then this morning I got up and had my hair cut by a friend from church. She did an awesome job...so the reason that getting my hair cut is a big deal? I haven't had it cut in over 20 months...that's right, the last time I had my hair cut was in May of 2007 before my daughter was born. And I had enough hair that I could donate it to the Lock of Love...which makes me feel good since Josh's mom passed away of cancer. I feel like I get to give back something and help someone out. When I got home from my 2 hour hair cut and eyebrow wax...and visiting...Josh had vacuumed, started the dishwasher, the laundry was started, the baby was fed and dressed. This is an amazing thing because Josh does not normally do that much in the way of chores. Then we were able to spend the day as a family. And to top it all off we get to go to church together tomorrow which doesn't happen every Sunday...and we get to get new temple recommends.
So I hope everyone else had a good weekend too.

Crazy Eights

Here are the rules:

1. Post the rules on your blog.

2. Answer the six "8" items.

3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website. (or you can be lazy like me and if people decide to read your blog, you can let them find out on their own....)


8 Favorite TV Shows:

1. CSI: Miami
2. CSI: New York
3. CSI: Las Vegas (this was my number 1 until Grishom left the show:()
4. Eleventh Hour
5. Grey's Anatomy
6. The Unit
7. CSI: Criminal Intent
8. The Cosby Show

8 Things I did Yesterday:
1. Went to church
2. Took a 2 hour nap
3. Watch Snow Buddies with Sara
4. Tried to let my friends dogs out but all the doors were locked:(
5. Made chicken nuggets for dinner
6. Watched Cold Case
7. Went to bed at 9pm
8. woke up at 1 when Josh got home from work...not happy to be woken up


8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Figuring out what we are going to do about a house...buy...build...and where...and when...
2. Being in shape. ( I agree with Shelly)
3. Sara being potty trained...somedays she does great, other days she wants nothing to do with it
4. Knowing what to do to stay within my daycare numbers
5. Josh working day shift...even if for just 3 months...change is nice
6. Attending the temple
7. Living in a small town again
8. Warm weather

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Jose Peppers
2. Mi Ranchito
3. La Fiesta (Mcpherson, Ks)
4. Red Lobster...Josh hates it so I have to go with my mom:)
5. Garfield's (The Joplin, Mo Mall)
6. Chinese Food...Josh hates it so I don't go often..so no particular favorite
7. Fazoli's
8. Cold Stone Creamery...I know it isn't a restaurant but it is SOOOO Good



8 Things on My Wish List:
1. A new, bigger house
2. more self motivation...to do my work out
3. a good workout program/diet plan that is not so time consuming...30 minutes max a day...suggestions welcome
4. Nice bedroom furniture
5. A tropical vacation (again agreeing with Shelly)
6. A debt-free life. (again agreeing with Shelly)
7. A masters in Social Work
8. a nice massage...once a month

Shelly Claybrook...I mean Schloegel...I'm sure I butchered her last name. She added this list so I'm continuing with it

8 Things I'd have a hard time living without.

1. Clorox Wipes. I couldn't do daycare with out them.
2. Lysol

3. A microwave

4. my phone...helps me stay in touch with my hubby when he works nights

5. Strawberry and Chocolate milk mix...I wont drink milk without it

7. My sleep number bed

8. My new 300 count Egyptian cotten sheets

8 people I tag to do this too.

1. Natalie Kehr
2. Analla Compton
3.Adah Shumway
4. Emilie Peterson
5. Tanya Murray
6. Emily Allphin
7. Quinci Menssen

Finally She has Hair

So Sara finally has a decent amount of hair and I was able to put it in a tiny little pony tail. Unfortunately at 19 months Sara wants nothing to do with girly hair stuff. Well maybe some day. But at least I got a picture before it was taken out after only 10 seconds.