Why Rob is meant to be a dad

Rob is an amazing daddy first and foremost.  But this picture explains why he is meant to be a daddy of girls. He's such a great sport. Paige asked if she could comb his hair and he totally let her.  Love you Robby!

Very Busy Weekend

We went to Newton this weekend and man were we go go go!  Enjoy all of the pictures!!

Helping Grammie pick lettuce from her garden

Cocktail hour

Seeing Grandma after church

I mean who can't love this face!

Laek, Sean and Paige enjoying the swing

Proud Mama

Well we went to Newton this weekend so that Paige could spend some time with all of her grandparents.  We went to church with Grandma Greta on Sunday and Paige got to do something that made me oh so proud!  I know she made her Papa Gary proud as well!  It all starts with learning to play the piano...here she is playing at Grandma Greta's.

Then at church she got to play the DRUMS!!  I don't know if all of you know but my Dad as well and myself were both drummers.  My Mom plays in the praise band at church and they allowed Paige to play mess around on the drum set.  Enjoy the pictures as well as the video at the bottom!!

I love that her tongue is sticking out because that's exactly how I played when I was learning something new

Adventures At The Park

Tonight we ventured out to a new park!  Paige is getting really good at all of the playground equipment.  She's all over the place it's so much fun to watch her.  Unfortunately my allergies got really bad and we had to leave.  I felt so bad as Paige was really upset.  But because she has an amazing Daddy and I have an amazing husband she is currently outside as I type this in her sandbox with Daddy.  Enjoy the pictures of our big girl!  

On a side note this is Paige's last week in her 1 year old room before she officially moves into the 2 year old room at daycare.  I can't believe we're moving into our 3rd room.  Where has time gone?

Upgraded Sandbox

 Rob and I have been talking about working on Paige's sandbox since the day we closed on the house.  When we moved in 2 amazing little girls (Yep we've met them they are still very good friends with our neighbors) moved out.  These little girls were older and had outgrown their sandbox.  So the sandbox was full of rocks and sand.  This past weekend Rob added sides around the sandbox so that rocks don't get kicked in anymore.  I scooped out all of the old sand and rocks into the wheel barrel.  Then we put 5 new bags of sand into the box.  As you can see we have one very happy little little girl.  She has played in it almost every night and just tells us it's so soft!!  She's also learning to play by herself.  The other night Rob and I set on the deck and were able to have an adult conversation while she played in her sandbox.  We think it's an amazing thing to have and a great addition to our yard for summer!

Sesame Street Live!

Yep the title is correct...this Mama broke down and took Paige to Sesame Street Live.  Ok so it wasn't as expensive as I thought it was going to be and I will tell you it was worth every penny.  My best friend Graham and her daughter Laek went with us.  We started out the trip with a stop at the souvenir booth and each of the girls got to pick out a new friend.  Paige picked Zoe and Laek got Big Bird.  They were both so excited and wouldn't stop hugging them.  We then went to find our seats.  I must give myself a high five because we had some amazing seats.  We were in the front row of the actual seating (not on the floor) so the girls were able to stand up dance around and not be in anyones way.  You'll see from the pictures that they didn't sit down at all.  I don't think the smile left Paige's face the entire show (or mine for that matter, I loved seeing her that into something).  I had so much fun watching her dance to the music, clapping her hands and yelling up to all of the characters on stage.  She did get to shake hands with Zoe and Elmo as they made their way around.  But boy was she sad when Abby and Cookie Monster didn't come over and say Hi to her.  Graham and I were laughing but also felt so bad.  We then had a girls lunch and then everyone went home for naps.  I hope you enjoy the pictures, I couldn't get very good ones of the girls because they were so pumped they didn't want to stop to take any pictures.  Enjoy!!

Trying to get a picture before the show started

All of the gang

They are so into the show

This is how they stood for the entire thing once the music got going

Paigey's 2 year pictures

Megan just texted me and told me to get on to our gallery because Paige's pictures were ready!  I immediately went online and was so excited to see the amazing pictures again!!  Click Here to see her gallery and her password is paigeypoo.  If you click view all at the top then scroll down you'll see her 2 year pictures.  Or feel free to reminis a little and start a 3 months and keep going.  Hope you love them as much as we do!  Thanks again Megan you do an amazing job!!!

It's Been Awhile

 Well it's been a while since I updated anything about Paigey.  From the picture on the left you'll see we've been spending a lot of time outside.  We had some warm weather last week and Paige has been dying to play with her water table since she got it for her birthday.  She just loves to play with all the buckets and strainers.  She also had her first experience with the sprinkler.  I didn't get a picture because I was laughing so hard at her I totally forgot to take one.  She loved it and hated it.  But it was the most entertaining thing I have ever watched her do.  The other picture is her coloring on her new lap table I got her from IKEA.  My friend Jenn and I have been taking a Saturday every 6 months or so to go have a mommy's night away in Minnesota.  We thank our husbands for watching the little girls.  But I found this amazing little table and Paige LOVES it.


Rob and I have finally decided that Paigey is no longer our little baby.  I mean obviously the fact that she's 3 ft tall and 32 lbs gave it away.  But she has just decided to be this big girl all of a sudden.  The newest things she is doing.  She started drinking from a cup that doesn't have a lid on it.  We're still pretty careful about this one, but she's doing an amazing job!  She has found a love for showers instead of baths.  Rob and I are totally ok with this as you can imagine its a lot easier to wash her hair in the shower then the bath.  She just gets in the water and loves every minute of it.  Rob and I always look at each other and say, "$35 swimming lessons well worth it"!  She's also talking up a storm.  She has full conversations with us now about anything, birds outside, what happened at daycare, etc.  My mom was over the other day and listened to Paige and I have an entire conversation about showers, how hot daddy likes his and how mommy doesn't like hers hot, etc.  My mom said her language has increased so much.

I will try and get some more pictures up for you guys.  We have some fun stuff coming up on the weekends including a trip to Sesame Street Live next weekend.  It's Mommy/Daughter day with Graham and Laek.  I think Graham and I might be more excited.  Love you all and thank you for all the great emails I get after I make these updates.  It's so nice to stay in touch with everyone!

Proud of Myself

Well I'm sitting here writing this blog wondering if I'll actually post it.  I found the picture on the left on my phone today so I decided to take the picture on the right.  Please ignore the fact that I'm in the work bathroom in both pictures :).  As most of you know I have been in a battle with weight probably my entire life, I'm up and I'm down.  After having Paige I was at a point I have never been before.  I will never forget going jean shopping with my mom and her telling me we're not here to look at the numbers we're here to just find pants that fit.  As all first time mom's do I was adjusting to working, having a baby, living in our tiny duplex, STRESS!!  Well we closed on our house the end of July last summer and the picture on the left was taken Aug 1.  At that point I had a friend who was being very successful at losing weight and was highly encouraging me to take a hold of my life and do the same thing, I had no excuses because she had just had TWINS and already had a toddler as well. So I started tracking everything I ate, and working out.  I also invested in a BodyBugg which I would suggest everyone using if they need help getting a jump start, it's totally worth the money.

Well it's been a slow journey and I still have 5-6 lbs to get to my goal weight.  But I am officially 20 lbs down.  I have started a running program which most of you know I have never ran a day in my life.  I used to say if I had to run for my life that would NOT be a good thing.  I am officially fitting into clothes that almost a year ago I would have told you I could never wear again.  I have lost all of my baby weight and then some.  I have a huge goal of continuing to run while pregnant the next time and hoping I never see the numbers on the scale that I did.  Most of you would say I've been to hard on myself and to be honest with you I know I have been.  Until I looked at these pictures I couldn't see a different in myself when I looked in the mirror.  I would get dressed in the morning excited something new would fit, Rob would tell me how much of a difference there is but I couldn't see it.  I put these pictures side by side and I'm still sitting here staring at them thinking NO WAY!  I don't normally do anything like this to bring attention to myself or my weight but I'm so proud of the work I have put in I wanted to share it with you my family and close friends.

Thank you to all of you who have supported me, listened to be complain, and helped keep me motivated.  Thank you Jenn for making me get my butt up and do something about it.  Thank you Graham and Pat for getting married to give me a goal haha because you know I couldn't have done this just for the heck of it!  Love you all!!