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March 19, 2009

Hi Everyone!
I really haven't had much to update on, but thought I might try to squeeze something out!
We are still in Iowa, but hope to be moving in the next few weeks. We do have great news about moving, we will not have to cover the moving cost, the company Thatcher was working for is going to take care of that!
Thatcher has had several job offers, we are just trying to make the best decision, especially with moving across the country yet again!  Depending on when we move, I may homeschool Jacob and Alex for the end of this year. We just really don't like the idea of having to transfer and adjust to a new school if there is only going to be a few weeks left in the year.  We have had lots of family time! Jacob is out of school this week for sping break and the weather has actually been quite nice. The boys have been outside all week. We went on a hike Tuesday afternoon after nap time. There was suppose to be a waterfall, but we never found it. lol But I still snapped a couple of pictures!
Also keep Thatcher's Dad in your thoughts and prayers. He was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer and will be undergoing another sugery and treatments.
March 3, 2009

WHAT A WEEK.............
And its only Tuesday!!
My Mom is in the hospital. She has been sick with the flu for a little over a week. And just was not getting better, so they went back to the er Sunday night. Well she had pancreatitis and pneumonia.. And I know I have most likely misspelled both! She is doing much better now.
Yesterday Thatcher's company did some lay offs and well we were picked for elimination. I am really counting my blessings though.  I am very thankful we did not buy a house here in Iowa. And I am very thankful that because of who Thatcher worked for and the business he was in, it should be fairly easy to move on to another job. I am very thankful the financial situation we are in, we didn't buy a house and should be fine for the in between time and will be able to move ourselves closer to home if that is what we decide to do.  The downside is moving the kids after only doing it 4 months ago!!!!
So needless to say we could use some prayers for our family right now!
I know that God is in control and will see us through this.
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February 25, 2009

Hi everyone! I just wanted to swing in for a quick update. Everything is going well here. We are still working on getting rid of a cold thats been in the house for about two weeks now.
We finally finished Thatcher's office, although we still haven't worked out how to get the fax line running through there just yet.
Alex gave us a nice scare last week. It so funny to hear him tell the story....."I was going super super fast, and then I couldn't stop, and I cracked my head"  He was running and pushing his dump truck, tried to stop and didn't. He hit his head on our basically concrete tile floor, and got the biggest hematoma I've ever seen! We called the pediatrician to make sure we didn't need to take him in. But we did have to wake him up every 2 to 3 hours that night to do "neuro" checks.  Alex has to recite "Humpty Dumpty" this week at school and he has added an extra line since this happened. "Humpty Dumpty cracked his head"
Also, just had to share this!
We finally built a geotrax track with everything since getting all the new stuff at Christmas.
Alex got his first little start up set when he was 2........










And It has Grown!! He loves this stuff! Its really hard to even get a good picture of it, to really show how big it is. The "dining room" is the "train room, and it takes up the entire room!
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February 14, 2009

We went sledding this morning and I just couldn't resist sharing this with ya!
This is Thatcher sledding, and if you listen very carefully you can hear him "holler" when he hits the jump!

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January 30, 2009

Slackin' on the updates!

Sorry about that!  I have so many projects going right now I just have not sat down to update.  Right now, I am working up putting up an entire years worth of pictures. Bad me, again!  And in the process doing a little bit of "re-do".  All the mis-matching photo albulms were and are driving me crazy, so I've been working on that.
Also working on selling some of Alyssa's (cloth)diapers. Some just do not work for us and some, I am just tired of looking at. So I have been selling and then buying a few new ones. I know I'm crazy, but diaper buying is so much fun, there is just so much cute "fluff" out there!
We had a really horrible stomach virus run through the house. It started with Jacob and he took the brunt of it, bless his heart!  He almost ended up in the ER for dehydration.
And last but not least we are working on getting Thatcher's office set up.  We ordered his desk last week and hopefully it will be shipping out soon. It was on a slight back order.
And then just all the normal day to day things and there ya go, No time in there for updating!

So I do have several things to update you on. I have not even posted any photos from Christmas! But thats ok, none of our neighbors have even taken down their decorations yet!!

Ok first up are a few Christmas Pictures. The kids and I flew to Alabama to visit with everyone. It was so great to see everyone and all the green grass. Everything here is covered in snow!


Shortly after coming home from Alabama Jacob lost his first tooth!!!!!
We were so excited! I finally got to give him his little space tooth fairy pillow.


And just a couple of snow pictures!
Alex didn't want to play, so thats why he is missing


One more thing!
Alex has started "big" preschool!! He was sooo excited to finally be "going" to school. He loves it and just jumped right in. His teacher thought he had been to school before, but nope just homeschool preschool.
Can you tell he was excited??!  He is so glad to be getting out of the house a little, and having his "own" things to talk about.
He was asleep within 2 minutes of leaving!
He goes to school 2 days a week, for a couple of hours.


March 2009
Call me crazy.......
The weather is finally nice enough for me to hang my(well the kids) diapers out to line dry!
My husband laughed at me, the neighbors probably think I am nuts, but they were so pretty I had to take pictures and thought I would share!
























I have several more, but thought I'd spare you!
You gotta admit though, it is pretty!
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March 28, 2009
Earth Hour!!
I just wanted to let everyone know, or remind you if you already know, that earth hour is tonight at 8:30pm local time. For one hour everyone is suppose to turn out the lights. The kids have a blast with, they love getting out the flashlights and candles!

And Happy Birthday to Meee, tommorow!! Its a pretty cool one, I'll be 29 on the 29th!
Yea, I know I'm a dork!
























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April 2, 2009

Scrappin'
That is what I have done alot of lately. Scrapbooking that is. I am finally caught up with the pictures I had. And NOW if I ever finish getting our photos dated and put up from LAST YEAR and get some layouts done with those I'll be on a roll! It is just way to much fun to sit down and make something so pretty with just paper and a few other things. So I thought I would share some of my layouts. I'm still pretty new to it all, but I'm getting better.
And if you want to see the big pictures go
here.
I am learning alot by doing scrapbooking challenges.  Here is a link to one of my faves. I went to highschool with Jamie!

























April 3, 2009

I just want to share a little bit of news that just came out.

Most people look at me like I have 3 heads when they see Alyssa, almost 2,  still rear facing in her carseat. So I thought I would share this.  I learned about extended rear facing a few months before Alyssa's first birthday. After some research we decided it was right for us, especially with Alyssa being such a tiny thing.  About a month ago I learned that the American Academy of pediatrics now recommended children remain rear facing as long as the carseat would allow it, most are rear facing up to 35lbs. This is when I plan on turning Alyssa around.  The AAP has now offically come out with the new recommendations, rear facing until the age of 2.
Here is a link, if you are interested.

























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April 12, 2009

Happy Easter



























And just for Aunt Duck(Brook), here is a picture of Alyssa's "beautiful" shoes



























June 20, 2009

Wow, has it really been a month and a half since I updated??!!
May is always a super busy month for us especially now with 2 birthdays.

Jacob's 7th Birthday

Alyssa's 2nd Birthday

It will be another couple of weeks before I update again also. The kids and I are flying out bright and early Monday morning. We are traveling to Alabama for 2 WEEKS to visit with our families and we cannot wait!! We've never gone this long without visiting. Wish me luck flying with all these kiddos. Its usually pretty easy but Alyssa did just have her 2nd birthday so her mood changes constantly. Jacob is soo excited about having to get up "in the middle of the night", our flight leaves a little before 7 so we will be at the airport around 5:30am in order to have time to get all the carseats un-installed and bagged. Sounds fun huh? lol

I will more than likely only have a few more post over here anyway. I have been wanting to switch over to a "normal" blog and our web host will be closing later this summer anyway.
I have been working on my little girls room this past week also. It is finally back to normal since we moved 8 months ago!

Before













After



And just a couple of misc pictures



























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May 5, 2009

Going Green.....
Yea I know earth day was like a week ago, I'm late.
I love finding new ways to help our enviroment and our quaility of life. I wanted to share some "green" things we are doing now and some we want to do in the future.

*Cloth diapers...Ok I think everybody already knows I use cloth. A disposiable diaper takes 500 years to decompose!
*Laundry detergent...We use Crunchy Clean. Think of all the chemicals in regular detergent, or all the chemicals that go into making the detergent.
*Dryer Balls...Like these. You can save some money instead of using all those dryer sheets. You can be even "greener" and make your own wool dryer balls(I did this once)
*Natural cleaners...I use cloroxs' Green Works line. I use to cringe every time I would clean the bath tub, thinking about putting my kids in there later that night. This also saved us an er trip recently, this last fall, when Alex decided to take a sip of the floor cleaner. Because it was all natural, there was no risk. (FYI: it was only out where he could  reach it because I was using it.)
*Dishwasher...I let the dishes air dry instead of using the heat dry option on the dishwasher.
*Clothes Washing...I wash our all of our clothes in cold water(diapers get washed on hot)
*Recycle...if your city has the curb side recycling, use it!!
*Line Dry...I line dry everything!  Since the weather is warming up everything is being line dried otuside. I am new to this but I love it. Our clothes smell soo good and there is just something peaceful about hanging the clothes out to dry. When the weather is not so nice, I hang what will fit on my line in the laundry room and put everything else in the dryer.
*Light bulbs...We replace any bulbs that blow with the new energy efficient ones. They last so much longer!
*Avoid plastics...I am trying to avoid using plastics, mainly in the kitchen.
*Re-usable shopping bags...This is one of my favorites. I love our bags. They can hold so much more. This is also a really cheap one too, the bags are usually only about a dollar a peice. I want to start collecting different ones when we travel. I wish I had one from San Fransico.
*Re-print paper...We print on both sides of the paper! And I use papers Jacob and Alex bring home from school, and use the other side. Or we cut them up into squares and use for scrap paper, shopping list, etc.
*Pay bills online...and save some paper(and stamps)
*Reduce paper products...we don't use paper plates or cups. But when I do need to use these for some reason, I only use the paper kind.
*Buy local produce...its usually organic(no chemicals) and by buying local you cut down the amount of gas to bring produce in from other states or countries.

Here are things I want to learn more about or do in the future....
*Organic Garden...I want to start a garden project with the kids every year and use rain barrels for watering. You can also make your own.
*Un-paper towels and napkins...Like these
*Family cloth...I'll let you figure this out on your own(or basically-cloth wipes for everyone)
*Bleach alternative...I love this stuff for my whites, but I want to find a more earth friendly alternative
*Learn about composting
*Re-usable baggies...like these

The main rule of thumb is the old slogan, Reduce, Re-use and Recycle
Reduce how much you use, re-use everything you can and recycle anything you can't re-use.
I guess thats about it for now!
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May 2, 2009

Job updates....
Well we are back to square one! Thatcher was re-hired the first of April for a position in Milwaukee. So he has been working there for the last month. Now his position in Iowa has come back into the mix of things. So we are taking that, and are right back where we were in the first place! :)

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August 29, 2009
Miss Me?

Well did ya? I cannot believe the summer is already over!(And I have not updated)

So here's the deal...this web host will be officially closing October 26th. So between now and then I will be working on saving our pages, from 3 websites! And setting up the new blog. Which I am pretty sure will be less time consuming to keep up, which means more updates!! Yay!!  I know you're excited!

(Ok, You can stop jumping up and down now)

I have a TON to update on and lots of pictures to share. Everything from the kids starting back to school, to potty training, to new potraits, and lots of fun stuff we have been up too.  I am going to bring you all up to date. I plan on doing a couple of quick updates a week.

But in the mean time, check this out! 
We had this storm come though a few weeks ago and I was not the only person out with a camera. Is this not the most wicked thing you've ever seen?! I sent it to the weather channel, I don't think they showed it on tv though. lol  We had fast wind, trees cracking, bunches of rain, you get the picture.





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September 4, 2009
Well are you ready for another invigorating update??

I promised udpates so here they are. I have been consumed with this years summer potraits lately.  Alyssa is not an easy person to photograph right now. But here's a sneak peak. I cannot decide if I like them black and white or color, let me know what you think!

(I know they are grainy, they are scanned in, the actual prints look much better)






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September 7, 2009

What did you do you do all summer, Niki?

Well, I am going to tell you!
Welcome to the what Niki did all summer long series. A post a day about our adventures and achievments over the summer.

Day one...Motorcycle Mania
So we have this playstation game called Freekstyle. Its a motorcycle racing and trick game. Alex has become obsessed. 




















No, not because we let him play all the time. We regulate how much the kids get to play video games with sticker charts.
Each chart has 5 rows with 10 dots. For each good deed they get a sticker. Everytime they fill up a row they get an hour of video game time.
Anyway........back to the motorcycle game. And it is a very fun game. Alex just loves it. If he isn't playing, he is talking about it. If he isn't talking about it, he is practicing tricks. The smart cycle is no longer used as a smart cycle, its a practice motorcycle.  And so are the boys bikes!



















And that reminds me of one of their summer accomplishments.....
Riding without training wheels.
Yep, Jacob and Alex finally did it.  One day they just decided they wanted the training wheels off, so we took them off. And within 30 minutes of being outside, all by themselves, they were training wheel free!
And so far this summer we have been through approximately 6 boxes of band aids, 2 tubes of neosporin, 2 boxes of gauze and 2 rolls of tape!
I'm pretty sure their little legs will be glad to see the snow start to fall this winter!









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