Now I know why mom dressed my sister and I alike . . .

it's just so much fun!

The Day in Pictures

This was the state of our house when I got out of the shower this morning. Our extra two year old is quite excited about all the "new to her" toys!

There was some playing babies . . .

There was LOTS of playing kitchen . . .


There were a couple of tea parties . . .

Puzzles . . .

And some posed shots . . .

Things are going great with my niece here. This is the first time she's ever been away from her parents, and I can't believe how well she's doing. Even when it's time for bed, she just goes into her room and lays down on the little toddler air mattress without a peep. She has yet to cry or whine, etc. And when I went to my sister's to pick her up yesterday, she was excited about coming with me. The girls are getting along good, too. They're having lots of fun, and are so polite with one another, it's so cute. Of course, there have been a few sharing issues as well, but that's to be expected, especially since they are the only kids in their families for now.

Pictures to go with the last post

The pig tailed cousins (and blanky).

I'm sure they'll appreciate this picture someday!


An actual nice day!


Visiting the calves at my sister's.

My sister, brother, myself, and my parents at my dad's birthday bash.

My whole family - five and a half grandkids so far!

Dancing cousins

Getting their groove on.

The three 2 year old cousins.

When Monte came home from his trip, he brought Isabella and I each a rose!

Where do I Begin

I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and write about all that's been going on in the last couple of weeks, life has been crazy. Monte was sent on a business trip for TWO weeks, which is why I had no computer access, since he took it with him. He has never been gone that long, and we were all quite emotional upon his departure. Looking back, maybe we were overeacting, but two whole weeks seemed like a LONG time, my heart goes out to anyone in the military who has to send their loved one oversees for months at a time! The first few days were extremely long, we had a blizzard, so Isabella and I weren't able to even get outside at all for 2 days. Our awesome neighbor came over to snowblow and shovel us out. I found myself having the TV on almost constantly, just for the company, and I don't usually have it on during the day. Once the weather cleared we made the four hour trip to my parents' house, where I spent the next several days stripping wallpaper off of my mom's kitchen walls, yuck, but it was good to be home. Isabella was great the whole time we were there, and had so much fun with grandma and grandpa! There was, however, two times where I got that sick/homesick feeling, just missing Monte and missing the three of us being home. I guess that means I'm officially grown up, because the only other times I've felt homesick was when I was missing my parents! It was great to get to see my grandma, and my brother and his family as well.



The next week Isabella and I left my parents and headed for my sister's. Who, by the way, is preggers, YAY! I'm going to be an aunt again around the first of September! Isabella had so much fun with her cousin, Rachel. I think they really are going to be best friends! They got along so well, now that they are two it is so fun to see them play together. They have little conversations with each other, and actually play together instead of play alone side by side. They had to do everything together, including always going potty when the other one did.



We headed back home on Thursday, and Monte came home on Friday. It is SO good to have him home! We missed him like crazy, and Isabella was especially lonely without him. When we were at my parents, she found a framed senior picture of his, and she had to sleep with it every night. The first time she slept with it, it made her really sad when she woke up, she woke up crying and saying, "I was just looking at Daddy, I need Daddy!" I didn't want it to make her upset so I put the picture away. That was for her nap, then later that evening, my mom put her in bed, and she told my mom, "Where's that picture of my daddy, I NEED my daddy!!" She is such a Daddy's girl, but that could be a whole other post! Every morning, she calls for Daddy to come get her out of bed, and if I am ever the one to get her out, she gets sad and says, "I've just been wanting my daddy." And now since his return, she is so afraid he's going to leave again, she won't even let him go to the bathroom without panicking, and running around looking for him. Good thing he's been working from home since he got back, but that won't be for much longer .



We were home for one day, when we left again to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday! His birthday is actually tomorrow, I can't believe he is 70, that scares me a little! He is 11 years older than my mom, and he was over 40 when I was born. My brother, sister, and I all surprised him, we went out to eat, and there was a dance, it was great fun! All the kids had so much fun dancing.



And now my sister and her husband are leaving for the Florida Keys tomorrow. So back in the car I will go, for another 5 hour (round trip) drive to go pick up my niece. She will be staying with us until next Tuesday. She's never been away from her mom and dad overnight before, so it could be interesting, but I'm looking forward to it, and so is Isabella.



And now for the pictures . . .

But I just realized I'm logged in as Monte, and the pictures are under my log in. I'll add the pictures later.

I'm glad she's healthy

because she would not know how to handle it if she wasn't. This morning Isabella had a runny nose, she's had a stuffy nose a couple of times in her life, but I don't think she's had a runny nose before. A runny nose, that's it, nothing more, and she was BAWLING and crying "MY NOSE IS RUNNING, PLEASE WIPE IT!" over and over again. Oh boy . . .

I'm back . . .

in case there is anyone out there who still reads this blog! I've got lots to write about, but not enough time to write, not tonight anyway, I'm exhausted.

An Update and a Blogging Break

Remember this, that crazy expensive drug Monte is supposed to be on, the one we were supposed to hear back on in a couple of days. Well, a little over a month later, we finally heard back, and it is most certainly an answer to prayers!! It's going to cost us ZERO dollars!! We finally heard back from insurance, which said they would pay most (the cost is roughly $14,000 a year), but we would have to pay almost $200 a month co-pay. Then the pharmacy called the next day to tell us it would be completely free, due to a plan through the drug company called co-pay plus, and Monte's super nice nurse who called the company and said he REALLY needed it, and that she thinks he should get it for free! This is just awesome news for us, and we are thanking God for continuing to provide for us, He is awesome!!! The drug comes from a specialized pharmacy that has a team of people involved with his care, they overnight the drug to us in a special cooler, then a nurse will come to our house to help with the injections at first. Overall Monte is doing MUCH better than he was a couple of months ago, but as he is tapering off the steroids we are seeing some symptoms come back. He starts the new drug tomorrow, and the hope is that it will put him in complete, long term remission.

And on another note, for the next two weeks I won't have much (if any) access to the internet. :(
Therefore, a blogging break is in order. There's going to be a lot going on in the next couple weeks, so I'll update after that. It just so happens that it will be a good time for me to be without the internet, since it is lent. "See" you in a couple weeks!

Oh my!

Isabella looking at me as serious as could be: "I've got hair in my eyes, I probwy (probably) need a bra I guess."

Big Girl Room

We converted Isabella's crib into a toddler bed almost two months ago (she still refuses to get out of it until we come in and tell her she can get out every time she wakes up, I'm enjoying it while it lasts). And now I finally took the "baby" stuff off the walls, it was a little sad. But I do like the way it turned out. I got every thing for her walls (the letters, flowers, etc.) really cheap, and just painted them myself.

I sewed her this blanket. Every time she gets in bed, she says "Mommy made this for you" (she often refers to herself as you, but is now starting to get I and me down a little better).

Her changing table before.

We don't need that anymore, so now it's a dresser.

And here's a before shot of the room taken last summer.