Happy Birthday, Kanga!

Dear Julie,

I wanted to take today on this little blog to celebrate YOU.  I am so, so, so thankful for your birthday because it's the day this world became a much better place with you in it.  :)

The ways my life has changed since you messaged me that day in May, less than a year ago, are countless.  A constant skeptic, I wasn't really sure about this crazy idea.  But after spending time texting, calling and skyping with you - I quickly knew this was all meant to be.  You have such an incredible way with people.  You just make people feel at ease the moment they meet you.  It is my constant prayer that Kamdyn is soaking up as much of that as possible while she's in there because it is one of the many qualities that I love most about you.

I love that you are such a remarkable mom to your kids.  You are patient far beyond when most people would be.  You love each of them in exactly the way they need to be loved.  You are never too busy to stop what you're doing and sing a song, or sit on the floor and play with them.  I love to watch you with them - they are truly such blessings to you, and I can see it in your eyes every single time.

I love your sense of humor.  The fact that you sang to your belly while going through fertility treatments.  The fact that we had a little too much to drink the day before the procedure because you were just sure you were going to get pregnant the next day.  The fact that you enter into my crazy family and just go with the flow - hugging people and giggling as chaos ensues around you.  Your honking laugh.  That you still go down water slides.

That your favorite thing at Cheesecake Factory is their fries.  That you can make what should be an awkward process {someone else carrying our child} into something that is the furthest thing from awkward I could imagine.

Obviously, I love you because you're carrying my daughter.  I don't really have the words to tell you how I feel about that.  I'm getting teary eyed just trying right now.  It is so hard for me to be away from her all the time, but there is a strange comfort knowing that she's with you.  It is really the biggest gift of love you could give me - you are standing in for me, doing something for her that I can't, being her kangaroo - I will never stop being thankful to you for her.

While I could go on and on about the reasons I'm thankful for you, the biggest thing I'm thankful for is that you picked us.  Yes, most people believe that our family picked you to carry our child, and while that is partially true…the flip side of that is that your family also chose us - you not only chose us to carry our child, but you chose us to become forever family and one of my very best friends - and for all of that, I am eternally thankful.  I am humbled and honored that you chose me.  This world, and certainly MY world are far better because of YOU.

I hope your birthday is filled with all the things and people you love.

I love you,

{another} Birthday?!

In case you all haven't figured it out, January is BRUTAL in our family for birthdays.  I mean this is 3 in one week!  You'll be happy to know that we now have a little over a week off until another birthday!

This is my 'might-as-well' be niece, Emma.  Her mom was my dance teacher growing up, but has become more like my older sister.  When Emma was born in 2003, we decided that she might as well call me "Aunt Katie" and we haven't ever looked back!  She was born when I was a sophomore in college and I remember spending my afternoons off from class rocking her, playing with her, and feeding her popsicles at my dorm even though her mom said "no".  *hee hee*  

(I'm certain she will be paying me back for that when she babysits Kamdyn)

Emma's mom introduced Kevin and I to each other - which has turned out to be a huge blessing for Emma and Kaitlyn because they are forever friends.  They can literally play for hours on end and we often hear them giggling together from the basement while we adults are upstairs chatting.

She is the perfect combination of smart and sassy and I love her SO much!

Happy Birthday, Boo!  :)

Love,

Happy 30th, Kim!

Dear Kim,

I love birthday's for lots of reasons, but mostly because I love being able to celebrate the people I love.  So today, I'm celebrating YOU.

Thank you for loving me when I'm at less than my best.  Thank you for forcing me to let go and laugh sometimes.  Thank you for never letting me be alone.  Thank you for shaving the skin off my leg when we were little.  Thank you for making sure I don't take myself too seriously.  Thank you for listening while I vent.  Thank you for Sam & Maicey.  Thank you for being such a role model to so many students at PVP and ATB.  Thank you for crying with me as I was trying to get pregnant.  Thank you for covering for me.  Thank you for keeping my secrets.  Thank you for being the "dad" to me as the "mom".  Thank you for never letting me give up on being a mom.  Thank you for loving Kaitlyn as though you've known her forever.  Thank you for never compromising when you truly believe something is right.  Thank you for calling me out when I'm wrong.  But most of all, thank you for being YOU. 

Thank you for being my baby sister, my confidante, my roommate, my partner in crime, my biggest critic, my loudest cheerleader, my co-coach, and my very best friend.  This world - and certainly MY world - are far better places for having you in them.

I hope this day is filled with all the people and things you love.

Happy Birthday -

Love,

Happy 6th Birthday, Maicey

I love you to the moon and back one million and one times.  

Now stop growing up.

Love you,

Tante

26 Weeks

Here is the 26 Week BUMPdate: 1/15/14 -

And side-by-side:

I am still flying pretty high from getting to spend lots of time with Julie and her family as well as most of my family this weekend for my family shower.  More on that in a bit.  :)

She is about the size of a scallion this week:

She is 14 inches from head to heel and about 1 2/3 lbs.  And the biggest news of this week is that she can finally SEE!  Her eyelids have been fused shut until now, but she is finally able to open them.  In addition, she has recently developed the ability to move her head around, her hair is growing in and she has toenails that are developed.

Alright, back to this weekend.  It was seriously SO wonderful.  All of my favorite people packed into one weekend.  I felt so blessed and just really savored every single moment with the people I love.  In addition, we were literally SHOWERED with generous gifts from the people who love us.  We are pretty close to officially having all the "stuff" we need to bring a baby into our house.  I'm certain we will think of small things here and there - but the big stuff is accounted for.  That's a huge relief!

Alright, here's a little photo dump from the weekend.  :)

Friday night we had a great time having Happy Joe's pizza.  Maicey was SUPER excited to see these two pretty ladies!  Genevieve & Gianna weren't quite sure how excited they were to see her.  What they were excited about was the pizza. They weren't messing around with that pizza.

I wish I had a better picture of his reaction when they came out singing and honking a loud horn to sing him Happy Birthday.  We had a great time celebrating with him this weekend and I am so thankful that he sacrificed a relaxing birthday at home to be with our family.  :)

She's the best.  For real.  THE.BEST.

These are my work friends - I adore them so much.

And cousins from Minnesota.  We grew up really, really close and it's so fun now as adults to get our children together and catch up with each other.  I am so thankful they made the drive - it was a highlight of my weekend.

And of course, this lady.  It was really, really hard to let her leave this time.  I love spending time with her and her family.  I love watching her interact with my family and friends.  I just love her.  For more reasons than that she has my baby in her belly.  :)

Alright, that's it for today friends.
Happy Thursday -

Finally {Black} Friday

This week has been SO awesome, because it went by so quickly.  In fact, if this weekend could slow down just a little, that'd be awesome!  :)

Our Thanksgiving was very low key - actually, we didn't even eat turkey.  Nobody in my family really loves turkey, so we decided to have an Italian Thanksgiving.

To be quite honest, I could eat hot dogs on Thanksgiving as long as I am spending it with the people I love.

We are headed to spend time with Kevin's family today - can't wait to see them all.

I will leave you with some pictures from our day yesterday.

Shopping the ads before lunch.

This girl cracks me up.  I'm so thankful for her.

Sam & Uncle Kevin were enjoying football.  Uncle Kevin wasn't so much enjoying football because his darn Packers couldn't get themselves together.

Maicey was hot - she didn't have any shorts at Oma & Opa's house, so Rob problem solved and made shorts out of Sam's old pants.  With the leftover fabric, he made them both hats.  Very handy.  :)

Gosh, I love them.  :)

We were the first group of people to get into Toys R Us last night.  I got a great deal on my nephew Aiden's Christmas gift.  And had fun with my family!

This man was such a trooper.  We are in line at Kohl's in this picture and he had a huge arm load of stuff  because we determined that a cart would only inhibit our ability to move through the store.  :)  It was wonderful quality time together.

Enjoy your weekend, Friends!

Finally Friday: Halloween Style

Welp, regular blogging these days has consisted of my Thursday morning BUMPdates - and while I am proud of myself for at least being on time with those, I am missing blogging about my regular life - so here we go.

I sat on my couch last night in a quiet house because Kevin is still in the hospital.  He had quite a bit of his colon resected on Monday morning to *hopefully* take care of his diverticulitis, which has been flaring up numerous times this year.  He has been in a great deal of pain, but we just keep praying that each day gets easier and he will be back to normal in no time.

I am beyond exhausted today because Halloween in an elementary school will do a real number on the adults in said school.  My sweet fifth-sters were more than a little "off" yesterday and while that makes me exhausted, I try really hard to remember what it's like to be 10...so I try to be patient.  As exhausting as yesterday was, the sad reality is that today is going to be worse.  I will work hard to enjoy my Friday with them.  :)

After work yesterday, I stopped at my sister and brother-in-law's to see these two pumpkins:

It was a cold and dreary day, but that didn't stop these trick-or-treaters.  They came back with a bag of candy and big smiles!  :)  I was just glad that I got a chance to see them - I never get tired of it.  Ever.

My sister texted me today to give me a little sneak peak of what arrived at her door yesterday:

Yippee for baby bedding!  Any of my readers who know me in real life will be SO proud of me.  This bedding is based on the alphabet and has an elephant on it - I swore I would never do this, but I just am in love with this adorable bedding, so with a little coaxing from my mother, sister, best friend Jamie and my 5 year-old niece calmly explaining to me that I could just cover up the elephant if I was scared...I've decided I can move past this minor detail and move forward with this bedding set.

Evidently God is playing tricks with me because the next day I was going through the little welcome bag from my Target baby registry and look at the little toy included

Yep, real funny.  I get it, I'm going to try to move past my phobia - but let's not push our limits, shall we?

And lastly, I got this last night

{melt.my.heart}

So, HAPPY HALLOWEEN {a day late}

from our BOO to YOU.

Have an awesome weekend, Friends -

Mother/Daughter Weekend 2013

What an amazing weekend.  Each year for the past 3, my amazing mama has given my sister {Kim} and my might-as-well-be-sister {Jenny} a weekend away.  We shop, eat, drink, and laugh - it's so wonderful.  Our first year we went to Chicago, last year we went to Minneapolis, and this year we went to Des Moines.

*Warning, picture overload. :)*

Jenny couldn't come up until Saturday afternoon, but Kim, my mom and I left on Friday afternoon.

On our way, we stopped at a wonderful little outlet mall.

Yes, I'm one of those people who enjoy beginning to Christmas shop early.  Last year, I didn't begin early - my December was not even a little enjoyable because I was running around like a crazy person {along with the masses of other irresponsible procrastinators :)}  Then to top it all off, I got extremely sick and my poor husband had to go out and do his own shopping as a result.  It was awful.  So, I've pledged that I will not be doing that again.

I made a big dent this weekend.  Thankfully, my mom and sister also have this same plan...although they both admitted, I got the most done this weekend.  :)  This is all of our packages from the outlet mall...not just mine - I didn't go out of control.  :)

After we checked in and unloaded, we decided to run to Michael's (yes, there is one literally 3 minutes from my house, but it was out of the prized gift).  My nieces are both wanting The Loom...them right along with everyone else evidently because I couldn't find it anywhere.  Clearly Friday was my lucky day because the Michael's we stopped at had gotten a shipment earlier that day!  Behold the goods...

Two people's Christmas gifts...check, check.

That night, on a whim we picked out this Mexican restaurant

I had the most delicious brisket tacos (such a strange combo I would've never put together...but so thankful someone else did!)

As you're all well aware, we're expecting a baby in April...but Margarita, don't mind if I do! {perhaps this surrogacy thing isn't so bad :)}

On Saturday morning, we headed to Buy Buy Baby - OH.MY.OVERLOAD.

We were able to find some adorable stuff in the {extremely overwhelming} baby superstore.  But after more than an hour in there, I was definitely ready for a little

After lunch we did more shopping and Saturday night, we went to a dueling piano bar - ohmygosh, it was so fun!!  :)

And this, my friends, is "Jeffy" {I'm nearly certain this isn't his real name, but whatever}.

You all, I'm telling you - he was tore up.  He was sitting at the table behind us and we became quick friends through our love of the Iowa Hawkeyes and 90's pop music.  Wow, he was ridiculous...and hilarious.  Totally made our night.

This morning, we got up and did a bit of shopping, then tried to go to Scratch Bakery...not open on Sunday's.  FAIL.

Here's where our weekend took a U-turn...Jenny lost her keys.  Not a clue where they could be...anywhere in the mall we walked all the way thru, the restaurant we had breakfast in, the parking lot, no clue.  I felt so bad for her.  Basically, she had to have her best friend grab her extra set of keys and meet her in Des Moines.  Not good at all.

Anyway, now I'm home in my quiet house getting ready for another week, feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for the amazing women in my life.  What an amazing weekend.  :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week -