Mother's Day and More

First and foremost Happy Mother's Day to all the special Mom's in our lives!

For Mother's Day this year I was treated to a breakfast of egg burritos and coffee made by my handsome husband and my two blond lovies. Needless to say, breakfast was egg-cellent.
The rest of Mother's Day Justin spent slaving away in our backyard....building me a garden bed. Yes, I have a garden! A salsa garden to be exact. I love it and I look forward to seeing if I can actually grow something.



CARLY JoELLEN

A few of her funny lines:
*"I'm crazy like that."
*"Nolan, get out of my girl!" (it's suppose to be "grill" but she doesn't quite get that)
*"Hey Mom, I always got your back. You got mine?"


Carly and I are doing a Mommy and Me gymnastics class at TAGS Gymnastics in Apple Valley. She does great but really needs to take a class without me. I think I only hinder her concentration and progression. However, Carly does not want to do gymnastics on her own. I'll keep you posted and let you know how she does.

NOLAN EMERSON

is almost two years old. I can hardly believe it.

*Nolan has suddenly become independent. He wants to do everything himself. Putting on shoes, clothes, buttering is waffles, etc...

*Nolan has inherited his father's "puffy" hair and I LOVE IT! Normally we keep his hair rather short. It's a little long, and puffy, right now so I thought I should take a picture.

*My morning coffee is always made so much sweeter when I have a little helper. Most mornings, I have a little helper. Nolan loves to sit next to me and help. When the coffee is done he stirs the coffee and tries to cool it down for me by blowing on it. That's what my little gentleman is doing in this picture:





Here are a few pictures of Nolan showing off his huge muscles.





Thanks everyone for reading our blog.

Quick Catch Up!

It's obviously been a long time (I feel like I start every post out this way) since I've written an update. I don't have time to post pictures and go into the last month review right now but here are a few highlights:

My sister, Leah, is PREGNANT! She's due November 7th.

We celebrated Easter with the Douglas family and my side of the family. We had a fantastic time at both Easter Celebrations. The kids, and myself for that matter, at too much candy but who cares - it was Easter after all.

Justin and I celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary on April 20th. I'm a lucky girl.

We finally tiled the back splash in our kitchen and are very happy with the results.

Our good friends, Todd and Carla, had a get together on May 2nd. We had a great time seeing our good friends the Boelters, Yarolimek's, Bale's and all the others.

Our niece, Anna, had her first communion. Congratulations Anna!

Our nephew, Nathan, had stitches in his head. Poor little guy. That very same day his sister and our niece, Ellen, broke her arm. Ellen is going in for surgery on her arm tomorrow afternoon. We're thinking of you Ellen!

I think that covers the majority of it. I have pictures of Easter, Carly's gymnastics and just everyday fun that I really want to get posted. I will, I promise, one of these days.

I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for reading our blog. Many blessing to all of you!

Ugly Jammies

Ever since Carly had her tonsils out she has been growing like a weed. Yesterday we got her new jammies because she's grown out of her other ones. Being 3 and being a girl she HAD to pick them out herself. Carly found a gaudy, ruffled, obnoxious, ugly nightie with Minnie Mouse on it....and I LOVE IT! I can remember being a little girl and dancing around in something similar to this. Carly is very proud of these jammies, as you can see from the picture. She's growing up so quickly!

Happy Hearts.

Hello to all our friends and family. I hope everyone has a "Happy Heart" (more on that later). Well, I have so much to write about I don't know where to begin. I guess I'll just jump into it:
VACATION:
Justin and I took last week off of work to spend as a family. We painted the bathroom and mudroom. We also took care of some much needed home improvements. On Tuesday we took the kids to the MN Zoo - probably the highlight of our vacation. Both Carly and Nolan are at a great age where everything is exciting. I love seeing the world through their eyes.
Today Justin is back at work. I was sad to see him leave this morning but happy to be back into our regular routine.

CARLY:

A few months ago I was saying "good night" to Carly when she told me she was scared. I tried explaining, "It's okay sweetie, Mom and Dad are here and God is always watching over you." To which Carly responded, "I don't want that man peeking in my windows!" Needless to say the last few months we have spent trying to help her understand who God is and how he plays a roll in our lives.
I'm happy to announce Carly is really into God lately. As she ventures into the basement, to get toys with Nolan, she remind her brother, "It's okay Nolan, God is always watching over us." She is also aware God is watching when Mom and Dad are not. The other day she pushed Nolan off the couch. Neither Justin nor myself saw it but kinda had a feeling of what happened. At first Carly denied the pushing but when I told her God knew what she did she fessed up. Her comment to finally telling the truth was, "Is God's heart happy now that I told you what happened?"
Which brings me to the "Happy Heart" title. Carly is trying to figure out what makes people happy and/or sad. "Mom, I love you! Does that make your heart happy?" "Mom, if I sass you is your heart sad?" "Does it make God's heart sad when I sass you?" "Is my Dad's heart happy when I give him a hug?" "Mom!, look at me hug Nolan. It will make your heart happy!"
It seems to make Carly's heart happy to play with "Littlest Pet Shops" (shown in the picture). These are her favorite toys lately. She loves to pretend like they're sick or hurt then nurse them back to health.
In summary, Carly and I spend much of our day talking about God, playing Littlest Pet Shop and having Happy Hearts. I hope she always knows how happy she makes my heart.

NOLAN:

Oh my Nolan Emerson. I say it daily but I'll say it again... I may just eat that little fella. I'm sorry but he is so ding dang dong cute! I love this age! It's so much fun to watch him learn so much on a daily basis.
Nolan is talking up a storm. He can pretty much say whatever he wants. He's using sentences as well. He can even say, "No Cardy - you naughty!" when she takes one of his toys away. Believe it or not I hear that a couple times a day.
Nolan is still a little wild man. I constantly find myself laughing at his "boy moves". The flopping on the floor, the wide attack stance, the loud car noises, etc...I could go on and on.

We also have news that we will have a new nephew come July. Rebecca Hornblad (Justin's sister) is expecting her third boy at the end of July. We are very excited to meet Baby Ben.

I think that's about it for now. We hope everyone has Happy Hearts!

Break a Mama's Heart

Nolan is my special little guy and he's always been such a cuddle bug. But, my baby is growing up. When ever I ask for a kiss he takes of running and laughing. Is this how our relationship will be from now on?...me running to him with open arms and puckered lips and him running away saying "No Mama!"?
Justin, however, is still worthy of Nolan kisses and cuddles. This morning Nolan crawled into our bed, gave Justin a kiss and said, "Daddy cuddle you." He then proceeded to get under the covers and snuggle his Dad for ten minutes. It was the sweetest.
I've included a recent picture of Nolan giving Justin a hug while they play video games together. Blog posts are always more interesting with pictures.

Play Date and HappyDayVintage Update

I don't have much time so I'll try to make this as quick as I can...
Last week the kids (Carly, Nolan and my third child, William) spent the morning at The Bale's house for a playdate. It was fantastic. In true Erin style she had enough yummy food and drink (beautifully displayed mind you) to feed an entire elementary school. The kids had so much fun playing in the playland located in the Bale's basement. I was so impressed with Kamea Bale. She is three years old and not once did she complain about the numerous kids playing with her toys. She was so good and shared so well.
All the kids at the playdate were great kids. Everyone got along so well. I've included a few pictures from the event. Thank you, Erin, for a fantastic time!
Darn it, I just tried posting pictures of the playdate at the Bale's house. Most of the pictures won't load to my blog. I'm not sure why but I don't want to take the time to figure it out or I will never get this post listed. Sorry about the lack of pictures!
In other news...
I've been becoming a lot more busy lately (knock on wood and I'm NOT complaining!) For those of you who don't know I run a little side online business called Happy Day Vintage. In a nut shell, I sell vintage/retro housewares and luggage. Business is steadily picking up (again, knock on wood) and I'm steadily having more and more work to do - but I love it!!! I started a Happy Day Vintage blog (listed on the left hand side of my blog). I hope I can keep up with everything. What I really love about this side business is the fact that it's a family affair. It's something I love to do and I love it even more when I share it with my family and friends. Justin and I took the kids antique shopping last weekend. Believe it or not, the kids had a great time and I found a couple good "treasures" (that's what Carly calls them - she's so smart!). Once a month I go shopping with my good friend, Stacey. We drink wine and enjoy our night out. Stacey has even bought and listed a couple things on etsy. My sisters, Mom and Mother-in-law have also gotten into Happy Day Vintage. They too shop for treasures and are always willing to help me out when ever needed. I'm doing something fun, making money and best of all sharing it with those I love most...what could be better?

Long time no blog

Oh my, it's been so long since I've updated our blog. A lot has happened in the last couple months. I don't want to bore my readers so I'll give a summary in bullet points:
-Carly had strep, again
-Carly had an ear infection
-Carly was in the ER because she split her chin open and had 6 stitches
-Carly had her tonsils and adenoids removed

Since having her tonsils removed Carly is eating more, gaining weight (a good thing because she is a tiny peanut), sleeping better, talking better and has more energy. I'm so glad we made the decision to have her tonsils removed.

Nolan is great. He's such a big boy. He's a ball of energy. Nolan so reminds me of his Dad not only in looks but how he acts. Nolan has me doubled over laughing every single day, just like his Dad.



We hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day. We had a great one. For Valentine's Day we had a family date (the best kind of date) at home. The kids got to watch a movie while Justin and I had crab legs and wine. It was fantastic. For dessert we all had chocolate fondue. The kids really got into that.

I think we're caught up. I would write more but I'm afraid I'll get distracted and once again neglect to get an update posted to the blog. Take care everyone!