Christmas 2010

Christmas break flew by this year. I swear the time off keeps getting shorter and shorter each year but then again I guess any time at all off with my family is a blessing. As you may have read we were really busy up to Christmas doing Christmasy things. And as you can imagine the business didn't stop there. On Christmas Eve Nana Dresp and Uncle Bob came over to our house to celebrate, have dinner, and of course to spoil Eddie.

Here are a few pictures:

And then after the party broke up we had to leave milk and cookies for Santa!Christmas morning was absolutely magical. Eddie woke up not even really thinking about Christmas and Santa. He woke up asking for his computer (Mobigo) that he got on Christmas Eve from nana. I gave him his computer and then went downstairs to get my coffee. When I returned to the room he was sitting there on my bed looking so cute in his Christmas jammies playing his computer when I asked him, "Who do you think came last night?" And he said, "SAANTAA!!!!!" He immediately wanted to go downstairs to see if the milk and cookies were gone and to see if Santa left him any presents. When he finally saw what awaited him he said, "Mom! oh boy! oh my gosh! look mom, look dad!" and then he started opening his presents. With each present we got an oh my gosh, oh boy, oh mom, oh dad.... it was so stinking cute! He was so excited and so exhausted from the excitement that half way through his presents he said, "okay. I all done now. I save the rest for later." So, he took a break and came back to finish opening his presents a half hour or so later (note to self: do not let Santa bring as much next year!).

Here are a few pictures of Christmas morning:

After opening presents all morning we went to Aunt Janeen's for Christmas dinner. Eddie had a blast playing with his cousins and getting to spend the afternoon with family. We all had great company, great food, and an overall great day together.

Here are a few pictures from our afternoon:

Uncle Ed and his oldest nephew jamming in the basement:

Eddie opening his big wheel:The day after Christmas Grandma and Peepaw Mueller came over to celebrate the Christmas holiday with us. And again our spaghetti man was spoiled. We enjoyed each others company and had a great dinner. The hubby and I were spoiled too by all grandmas and grandpas. Thank you all for making our holiday so special. We love you.
Here are a few pictures of Christmas, that day after:

Christmas Lights

Last Thursday the hubby and I took Eddie to see Christmas Lights at a farm near our home with some of our neighbor friends. The minute we drove into the farm Eddie was hooked by all of the beautiful lights. Little did he, or we for that matter, know that the best part of the night would be making a toy in Santa's workshop with elves that like to dance and sing. Eddie was extremely attentive and focused on making his toy with the elf. He listen to every direction and even handed the right tools to the elf when she asked for them. After he was done making his toy with daddy, I was in charge of helping him paint his toy. And let me just tell you, the toy is still tightly wrapped and in the back of my car. We put some much paint and glitter on that toy it was ridiculous and I just know that I would be finding paint years later if I brought it into the house. Anyway, we all thoroughly enjoy making his tractor. After the making and painting of the tractor, we took a tractor ride through the farm to see all of the Christmas lights and then stopped at the horse stable to watch a horse show. Pony rides were offered at the horse stable as well. Much to my surprise after a few minutes of watching the big horses gallop and jump, Eddie want to ride a horse. So, a pony ride it was. He was so happy sitting on top of that pony. And we were so happy because he was so happy! We ended the night eating a hot dog and a bag of chips at the snack shop while getting to watch model trains chug along their tracks. Going to the farm to see the lights was a great night!

The toy making and painting:

The pony ride:

Holiday Festivities

The month of December has been filled with Holiday Festivities. Eddie has truly been Santa'd to death this year and has had many opportunities to celebrate the Christmas Holiday. We participated in my schools breakfast with Santa and dinner with Santa. We went to Mr. Kringle's Inventionasium where we made a puppet, snow, toys, and built blocks with Santa's elves. We rode Christmas trains, built ginger bread houses, and even helped mommy decorate the Christmas tree. Eddie understands, at the age of 2 and 1/2, who Santa is and what Santa brings on Christmas day. He understands that many people in the world put up Christmas decorations inside their homes and out and he understands that people say, "Merry Christmas" in passing during this time of the year and he too has told many people, "Merry Christmas." We are very thankful to have been able to participate in so many wonderful holiday festivities together.

Here are some pictures of all that fun we have been having!!!

And stay tuned for more because the holiday festivities are to be continued with pictures of Country Lights, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day!!!

Lil Kickers

Last Saturday we took Eddie (aka: our little guy) to his first Lil Kickers class. The class works on listening skills, being able to follow directions, agility, hand eye coordination, and speed. And did I mention the kids even get to kick around a soccer ball? AND they got to be spun around on the giant parachute by their parents. Needless to say, Eddie had a blast!!! And so did mommy and daddy. Eddie has got plenty of speed and agility and energy. The other skills are there and we see them from time to time but they need a little work! Hopefully, by the end of the class Eddie will be a Lil Kickers all-star!

Here is Eddie in action:

Santa 2010

On Wednesday November 24th, Mema and Papa Alberts and I took the little man to see Santa. He did so well this year and even waited in line as patiently as he could. He sat on Santa's lap cheesing for his pictures and then told Santa what he wanted for Christmas. He is getting way to big way to fast (and I know that I've said that a thousand times but I can't help it.... the time is going by way to fast).

We arrived to the mall a little early so I decided it would be a good idea for my little man to build his first bear! He made a bee line to, yep, the brightest blue bear (THE PEACE BEAR). He was a little unsure about making the bear, especially when it was time to stuff the bear. The noise from the stuffing machine scared him a bit, but he quickly got over the scared and went back to making his bear. He even gave his bear a bath. And then after bath we made his bear a birth certificate and named his bear BLUE!

Here they are together with Santa:
Here is our little man making his bear:

The Very Sad of Fall 2010

On October 30, 2010, My aunt Denise Marie Afanador die at the age of 52. Loving wife to my Uncle Louie, mother to my cousins Greg and Steven, grandmother to Izabella and Alejandro, and sister to (my mom) Renee Schilling Mueller and Dave Schilling. It is so hard to believe that almost a month has past by without her here. I'm sitting here looking forward to a Thanksgiving Feast with my family but yet am not feeling as happy as I should. And it's because my Aunt Denise will not be there with us tomorrow enjoying her husband, children, grandchildren, sister and brother, niece and nephew. And enjoying the great food and drinks that we always have. Her presence will be missed greatly and so will her sense of humor and her love. We will all be thinking of you tomorrow Aunt Denise, we love you.

Our family has gone through so much in the last year and a half. My grandfather past in August of 09, my grandmother in December of 09, and now my aunt. Hopefully, 2011 will bring more joy to our family than sadness.

On another sad note, but not nearly as sad as losing family. I made the decision to put down my dog of ten years. Her name was "KOA." She was loyal and protective and probably the best dog I will ever have in my entire adult life. She was one of those dogs you could just let outside with you and she wouldn't go anywhere. She was a porch dog. She was the best. I took her everywhere with me before I got married. She loved the beach. She absolutely loved swimming. And she loved to go running with me. But then when my son was born, I made some bad decisions. I separated all of our dogs from our child, which of course we all know that is exactly what your not supposed to do. I couldn't help it. At the time, we had three dogs. I was so afraid of coming home with a new born baby and three dogs running around my ankles. I kept thinking.... I'm going to fall and trip with the baby.... One of the dogs is going to bite the baby when I'm not looking.....I am going to step on one of the dogs etc.... So anyway.... turns out, out of three dogs she was the last one standing. And after a while she became lonely. And then she started limping. And then she stop going outside to the bathroom. And then I made a very tough decision. And now she is not here. And I miss her. And I think about her all the time. But I know I made the right decision. I know you are at peace and happy now KOA. I love you.

Halloween & Such 2010

Halloween was a bit of a challenge this year. Our little man would not wear a costume. He liked all three of the costumes I bought and would carry them around the house like dolls but just wouldn't wear them. I finally, after seeing his little buddy Anthony dressed up as a farmer, decided that he would be a hunter! My husband and Papa Ed both hunt so I figured since they both have all the hunting gear and our little man has seen all of it, there would be no problem. I was wrong. The first time I put the camouflage overalls on my little man he rolled on the floor screaming, "take these off of me." Eventually, with enough distractions, he got over wearing the hunting overalls and went with the flow!
A week or so prior to Halloween we painted "baby pumpkins" together, participated in the Halloween story time at the library, went to Boo at the Zoo with Nana Dresp, and did some trick or treating in the downtown area of were we live! And although wearing a costume was a bit of a challenge, Halloween turned out to be a great night. We went to Papa and Mema Alberts house for dinner and trick or treating. Our little man was pooped after 15 or so houses so daddy took him back to Papa and mema's to pass out candy to the kids! He had a blast. And we all had a blast watching him.

Fall 2010

Fall of 2010 has been filled with yet more great memories made together and with family and friends. Our little man is not so little anymore. And he is developing the best personality. He is smart, strong, kind, caring, and at times a little stinker! He is learning at a mile a minute and does not forget a thing. He is loved by many people and has had some great experiences thus far in his life. We to have had great experiences since he has come into our lives. It is hard to image life without him. We laugh, play, run, jump, climb, sing, watch movies together, and my favorite- cuddle. We go to the parks, festivals, the zoo,fairs,story time and holiday activities to make sure he is well rounded and learns about everything and anything. Fall of 2010 has been filled with fun and love.

Here is a slide show of our times together and with friends and family:

P.S. Slide show of Halloween to come!!!!

Family Photos

This fall I decided that since our son is already 2 and 1/2 years old it would be a good idea to take some family photos. Originally, I planned to hire a photographer but when she was not available on the dates that worked for us my husband decided he would take the photos. Our pictures turn out beautifully. And each day we decided to take pictures with my side of the family and his, we had great weather.For only being 2 and 1/2, our little man was pretty patience while taking pictures. And I think he even had a little fun. And I know that he loved seeing all of his grandparents.

Here is our family photo with Nana Dresp, and GG (great grandma Lavern):

Here is a picture of just the three of us:Here is our family photo with Peepaw and Grandma Mueller:And here is our family photo with Mema and Papa Alberts:

Play Dates--- The End of Summer

Our little man is so fortunate to have so many friends that love him so much. We finished out our summer with a bang. We had play dates with Anthony, Kyle, Lucas, Madilyn and of course Cassidy! Our little man swam in the lake for the first time this summer, went to his first movie at the movie theater, hung at the zoo, went to kiddie park with his best buddy Anthony, and got to hang out with mommy all summer. We finished out our summer with the Wiggles concert which I just posted. Better late than never!!! Now I just have to get caught up on all our Fall festivities.

The Wiggles Concert

We're going to the WIGGLES!!!!! That is what my son told all of his friends the entire week of August 23rd. The concert was on a Thursday and my husband decided we should tell him we were going the Saturday before. All week, I heard "Mommy, I need to give Dorothy a hug!!!" And thank goodness that there is a Wiggles God because he was the only kid in the audience that actually did hug her!!!!
Here is a slide show of the concert! We had a blast!

May 23rd-July 4th (Just Keep Reading, Just Keep Reading, Reading, Reading, Reading)

The last month and a half has been filled with so much love and joy among family and friends. And at times, tears too.

May 23rd was a day filled with both heart ache and joy. The hubby and I planned to take our little man to Thomas the Tank Engine Train ride that day. To make things easy, I always try to have everything ready to go so that we can just jump in the car and enjoy our day without any "drama". Well this particular morning, I had to move cars.... a few of them.... one of which included my husband Ford 250 Truck. And prior to leaving for our fun filled day we had a terrible accident. Speagle Beagle (my husband's dog of 15 years) was tragically injured by me while moving the truck and she did not make it ( there was hysterical crying by all). It was one of the most terrible mornings ever.
Speagle Beagle- You are thought about often and we will never forget you R.I.P.

After all that, we had these train tickets that we had told our son about. So he knew that he was going to ride Thomas that day. We couldn't take that away from him. He didn't do anything wrong. So, we still went to Thomas and tried to make the best out of our day at Thomas. And I'm glad that we did and I think my husband is glad that we did and I know our son was glad that we did because he had a blast. The train ride itself was not all that great but seeing the big Thomas come down that tracks was awesome. Our son just loved seeing Thomas and he really loved jumping in all the Thomas blow up bounce houses, playing with the red bouncy balls, and getting a few tattoos.
Here is my man, daddy, and Thomas:

I think our little man might be a toy hoarder..... If he could have collect all the balls he would have!
Applying tattoos at home:May 30th we went to Peepaw and Grandma Mueller's for a Memorial Day cookout. We were only there for about three hours and in that three hours I think our little man almost cut all sixteen acres of grass. He just wanted to run, run, run and look at the horses. We tried to get him in the pool but he did not want to "wim" as he would say. He definitely enjoyed his tractor ride with Peepaw and if he could have rode that tractor all day, he would have been in tractor heaven!
Here are some pictures:

On June 5th my daycare provider posted a sign on her door that said, "Does anyone want a cat? There is a stray cat in my backyard that needs a home." So, what do I do? I go home and tell my husband about it and he says, "Our little man just asked for a cat. Why don't you bring it home, if it's cute." And this is what I got myself into to!!!!! I have to admit.... she's a cutie and a keeper and our little man loves her. He named her KIKI. On June 7th I took our little man to have his first and last lunch with Peepaw Mueller at Perry High School. I was fortunate enough to work in the same school district as my father for the past three years. Unfortunately, he is moving to a new school district come August. My lunch is typically a half hour lunch which was never enough time to take our little man for lunch with Peepaw but this day was a bit different. Most of the sixth grade class was gone so I had a little wiggle room in my lunch schedule and I thought that I better squeeze this lunch in because we will never have the opportunity to have lunch together again. Our little man enjoyed lunch with his Peepaw!!!! And here is a picture of the daycare crew.... This was taken on June 8th, second to last day at daycare. They had parties all week! Our little man just loves going to Ms. Celeste and he loves his friends that he has made there! On June 11th my husband took our little man to a hot air balloon show at a local winery near our house while I went to a baseball game with my mom. And can you believe out of hundreds of people he ran into his best friend from day care. Here they are: June 14th we began going to the local library for story time. Story time always begins with a little marching song, then a short story, a puppet show, a longer story, some songs, and then ends with twinkle, twinkle little star with the lights out and glowing stars for the kids to hold. Our little man absolutely loves going to story time. Our first trip was a learning experience. As you can imagine, he was so excited and curious.... sitting the first time there was not really an option but now we go and he will sit on his little carpet listening attentively to Ms. Eason!!!! He is so cute, sometimes at night before going to bed he will say, "Mom, Ms. Eason???" and I say, "Yes honey, we will see her on Monday at story time!"

Here are a few pictures at story time:

The first time we went, Cassidy (our neighbor who I watch once a week) was with us. We actually made the Tye Dye t-shirts together the week before. Aren't they cute??June 16th we began going to gymnastics class. It's not really a structured class but they do have a balance beam, swing, and rings. Our little man can almost walk on the small balance beam by his self, jump on the trampoline, roll, attempts to do summer salts (he still needs help with this), attempts to get on the swing (still needs to learn to pump his legs- we are working on this), and of course can jump off of any mat. June 18th we went to the Strawberry Festival. Our little man loved the car ride..... but only when it was not moving!!! Luckily, it broke down and he got to sit in the purple car while the ride was being fixed!June 20th Peepaw and Grandma Mueller came over for Father's Day. We had a nice relaxing afternoon, a great dinner, and enjoyed each others company. When our little man woke up from his nap he wanted to go for a tractor ride, so of course daddy took him! And what did they find after they started up the tractor? A family of mice!!! A mama and some babies!

Here is one of the babies!Here is grandma Mueller pushing little man in his swing! And Peepaw opening his Father's Day present!June 27th we celebrated cousin Jason's birthday. His party was at a bounce house!!! Once our little man got warmed up there was not stopping him. He had so much fun!!! I have a feeling we will definitely be having a birthday party at a bounce house in the future.

Here's our man having fun with his uncle Mark: Here's my cutie pie:Being held by the birthday boy, Jason:After the bounce house party, we went to cousin Bella's first birthday party! Our little man danced his butt of with all the cutie little girls and stole Bella's birthday car for a good part of the party. WARNING: Our little man loves cars, trucks, tractors, and four wheelers... if you bring one to a party, park, gym class, your house or ours he will most likely take it some how some way!!!!

Here he is with Peepaw, Bella, and Uncle Louie!Fourth of July weekend was very eventful!!! As you can see from my pictures below..... we found another little friend. OMG..... I now have two cats!!!!! Long story short, the hubby was taking our little man for a tractor ride when all of a sudden they saw 8-10 kittens running through the backyard. We ended up catching the black and white one and yes for some strange reason I was apart of the wild goose chase??? She was found on Friday July 2nd and she has been named PUPPY CAT .... our little man has named both cats. I don't know how or when he became a cat lover but he is and he just loves them. July 3rd Grandma and Papa Alberts came over for a cookout and July 4th we went to Grandma and Peepaw Mueller's house. Here is a picture of the three of us sitting by Peepaw's pool!
Our summer has been a blast so far!!! Our little man is growing by the minute and has developed the best personality ever. He is kind, gentle, smart, curious, loving, adventurous, and ours!!!! He melts our hearts each and every day.

FYI- Title was inspired by Finding Nemo! Our son is loving his movies right now. His favorites are Cars, Toy Story, and Nemo!!!!