Quick Catch Up

Hello! I've been MIA again... story of my life, so here's a quick catch up post!

:: Bowling::

We had SO much fun at the Cotton Bowl! {Except for K-State losing} We road with 2 other couples to Dallas and it was such a fun road trip!! I dont think I've ever laughed so hard in my life! :0)

Our Crew: Becky & Brett, Brooke & Jeremy, Me & Mike

Game day!!

Linda made me a cute koozie for the trip! Love her! Everyone was jealous ;)

ugh, stepped in gum right away. annoying.

Lunch before tailgating

Us girls all forgot sunglasses and it was beautiful and SUNNY on game day. Thankfully there was a Claire's right next to the restaurant we ate lunch at so we each bought a new pair of shades :) Mine lasted a whole 5 hrs before I dropped them in a mob of people walking into the game... they didn't have a chance and neither did I trying to stop and find them. boo.  

The stadium was UH-MAZING!! Our seats were great and the  atmosphere was incredible. I was a shaking, excited, nervous disaster for the whole first quarter! ha!

Unfortunately the Cats couldn't pull off a win... so after the game we headed back to the hotel, got pizza and went to bed. Pretty lame :(

We wanted to get out of town early Saturday morning to get us home at a decent time. We all have kids and we missed them!!

:: Gymnastics::

Aiden started a gymnastics class!! His sweet aunties, Amy & Sarah, got him signed up as his birthday present from them. I thought it was a fantastic idea since lord knows he doesn't need anymore toys! 

Its every Thursday for the next 6 weeks or so and he absolutely LOVES going. He is still really excited and curious so he has a hard time listening to his instructors and sitting still. He is ALL over the place and they are constantly chasing him. There is so much going on with all the different classes at the same time as his, and a ton of kids, so he is easily distracted. The parents stay in another room that has windows so we can watch. I usually just play on my phone because it stresses me out when I see him not listening and playing on equipment that he shouldn't be. I joked with the instructors after the last class that they probably wouldn't be doing a 3 yr old class anymore after this experience. ha! Also, they've nicknamed him Crazy Aiden if that tells  you anything...

 Im sure as the "newness" wears off  it will get better... hopefully :)

 Its been a fun adjustment for us to have to be somewhere right after work. Its quite chaotic getting him changed and fighting traffic to get there on time.  I feel like such a soccer mom :) I love that he is getting old enough to be involved in activities and we've already been receiving fliers for basketball and t-ball... can't wait!!

Sorry for the crappy phone pics... I have forgotten my camera both times! I WILL remember this week!

The boy second in line is Colten and Aiden is the last one. Colten and Aiden are also in the same class at school! They were pretty wild this first class and they seperated them for the second class. Ha! Boys will be boys! :)

::Busy Season::

We are full on into Mike's busiest season at work. 2 weeks down and 4 to go!!

 Aiden misses his daddy SO much and this year has been really hard on both of them. Last year Aiden was a little too young to realize how much Mike was gone but this year he knows.  I can only imagine how hard it is for Mike to listen to Aiden tell him he misses him and ask why he's never home :(  I've been trying to keep Aiden as busy as possible and his mind off of daddy not being here... and we try to send Mike pics of what we're up to. We couldn't get skype to work on our phones but yesterday we both downloaded Tango and are going to try that tonight!

This single mom business is HARD...and its only for 6 weeks!  I seriously tip my hat to all single moms and military families.

:: New car::

 Nothing too exciting but it feels good to own my own car {for the first time in my life} and take that burden off my wonderful GENEROUS daddy :) Let's just say car shopping is NOT fun when you have expensive taste and a small budget... but in the end I got an affordable and realiable car perfect for our little family :)

:: Reunion::

I can't even contain my excitement for this coming weekend... RANDY ROGERS BAND in KC with 10 of my favorite girls!!! We're celebrating mine and Cortney's birthdays!!

Casey is coming from Chicago, Les from Atchison, my sister Amy from El dorado with NO kids {this is a first!!} Brooke, Ashley and Cortney from Manhattan, Michelle from Topeka and me, Sarah, Lindsey and our future sister in law Tara from KC! Holy reunion right??!!

 I can't believe it all came together and worked out for everyone! Sarah got us a hummer limo because there are so many of us and no one wanted to drive down town, leave our cars and take taxis home. This is going to be bananas!!

2007 Randy Rogers Concert {yikes}

Relaxed and Recharged

This weekend was all about R&R! Friday night we made home made pizza and watched Kung Fu Panda 2 with Aiden. After putting him to bed Mike and I watched Water For Elephants. The movie was OKAY but that's only because I loooooved the book and the movie didn't compare :(

 I had to work for a bit Saturday morning then ran a few errands afterwards while my boys napped. Mike's brother & sister in law were having people over for NYE as well as my good friend Mandy and her husband... but we decided to fore go all the festivities and spend the evening at home as a family. Christmas was hectic and we'll be out of town next weekend so we really wanted to just relax, spend time with Aiden and catch up on sleep. We cooked dinner, had a treat afterwards and watched football.  It really didn't feel like NYE at all... we didn't get any party hats or noise makers or even have a sip of champagne but to me, it was perfect and exactly what we needed.  Honestly, we were in bed at 9:30 and I was asleep by 10 and Mike said he was asleep by 1030. Ha!

2011 was a great year... and like all of them, it went FAST! I think we are officially settled in KC and its starting to feel like home. Mike and I's jobs are going really well and we have a happy and healthy 3 yr old boy who is the absolute light of our lives.

 I can only hope that my  family and friends remain happy and healthy in 2012 and I'm anxious to see what it has in store for everyone!

I dont do resolutions or goals or anything... but I did see this on Pinterest and thought it fit me for this coming year :)

{even though I think I cook enough! ha}

I could definitely add to that list but it'd go on and on and on, so I wont. I think Kelly from Kelly's Korner summed it up best.... "just survive." Amen sister. :)

On Sunday we took down all the Christmas decorations and cleaned up the house.

{I found these adorable snowman mugs at Walgreens for 50cents... I got 2 :) Its the perfect size for Aiden and he loves it!!}

{daddy & Aiden watching "Happy New Year Charlie Brown"}

{Aiden listening to his recorded 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' book one last time before I packed it up}

 I hadn't really unpacked and organized since coming back from Christmas so there was a lot to be done!

 After lunch and naps we took Aiden to the the chipmunk movie "Chipwrecked"

He was in heaven with a slushie, skittles and popcorn! He did really good at the movie and we all had a great time!

After the movie we headed back home to get dinner ready. I had invited my mom, Sarah and Derek over for a mexican feast! Yum-o

Today was another lazy day for me and Aiden. Mike headed to Topeka to get started on some work since its a short week for us.

We CAN.NOT.WAIT to head to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl!! A 2 day work week for me then off to Dallas on Thursday morning!! Aiden will be in good hands with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Don.

Mike and I are driving down with 2 other couples and it should be a fun roadtrip! Mike and I never get to travel together... so this is going to be an extra special weekend for us and I couldn't be more excited!! The funny thing is a TON of the blogs I follow and love are girls from Fayetteville, Arkansas! They are all HUGE Razorback fans and since following them I have joked about wanting to move there. And during football season this year I would always check scores to see if the Razorbacks had won or not and would cheer for them if they were playing. Since they are in the SEC and never play kstate I didn't think it mattered! Until now... ha!  Mike thinks Im going to be cheering for them at the game...trust me I WILL NOT.

I bleed purple. period.

I have my camera charged and ready to go and hope to take pictures this trip!!

Look for us on TV!!! :)

GO CATS!



Christmas 2011 {Part 2}

I've been putting off the Christmas recap because I neglected to document the holiday with any photos :(  bad mommy!! Ill post the very few I took...

Us before Church Christmas Eve

We usually spend Christmas Eve and morning with Mike's family. It works out well because we love going to the candle light church service in Hanover as well as waking up Christmas morning with them. Mike's family has a "pickle ornament" and it has always been their Christmas morning tradition. Linda hides 2 pickle ornaments (one for the boys and one for the girls) and we have to find them. Its quite competative because the pickle prizes are always GREAT!! Sadly, Alissa won this year and I was bummed because she got a CUTE "santa's cookies" plate :(

I NEED THAT!!!

Mike won the guys' pickle prize this year which was a bunch of shoe polish's- he was pumped!

Chad, Theresa and the girls came over after church to spend Christmas Eve with us. We all ate and played games! They were so sweet and brought Aiden a gift.

A Cars 2 Memory Game!

This was Christmas morning but the best pic I have of his new snowman jammies. My family has a traditon of opening ONE present on Christmas Eve and it is always new pajamas! It's one of my favorite traditions so I have carried it on with Aiden the past few years. Mike got some new ones too! :)

Aiden had us up early Christmas morning to check out the loot santa had left him! He was absolutely THRILLED with his new toys... especially Mack. This is ALL he wanted for Christmas!!

This could have easily been his ONLY present and he would have been happy as a clam. He played with it ALLLL day long. I didn't go too overboard this year since he just had a birthday. But once everyone got him 1-2 gifts he still came home with a huge pile of new stuff.

After Aiden played with his Santa gifts for awhile, and the rest of the family woke up, we all opened gifts together. Everyone had a GREAT Christmas and got lots of fun stuff.

This year Mike's parents suprised me with a Coach purse. I cried. They are just SO generous and good to me and Im beyond grateful!  I mentioned over Thanksgiving that I had wanted a Coach slingback so I could shop hands free, without my purse falling off my shoulder....but apparently Alissa and Linda found this on black friday and couldn't pass it up. The purse is gorgeous and im obsessed with the purple inside :) I dont own nice purses... Im too cheap and have never cared for expensive purses. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE this purse and it is now my little baby. I dont even want to put in on the floor of my car or even the seat of a shopping cart. ha!

Then Mike suprised me with the sling back I had wanted!

It was a good Chrismtas had by all!!

After breakfast and presents it was time to shower and get packed up to head to my dad's for Christmas with the Long's!

Aiden took a quick snooze on the way there and was SO eager to play with his best friends Pax and Harper! My dad had an amazing dinner and my grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins were all there. We  had a special toast to congratulate the  newly engaged couple, Tony and Tara!!After cleaning up dinner, we spent the rest of the evening opening more presents, playing, watching football and just hanging out. Us adults thought it would be a brilliant idea to play poker til 4am. ughhhh. The only good thing that came out of that was ME WINNING!! :) ha!

I didn't take a single pic of Christmas with the Long's but you can go HERE to see my sister's post! Its quite hilarious at the end :)

It was a great Christmas and we were EXHAUSTED come Monday!! Going back to work Tuesday was SOOO hard!!

Aiden was OUT by the time we hit the interstate!! :)

Hope you all had WONDERFUL Christmas's as well!!