it's been WAY too long....

So I haven't done this blogging thing as much as I had originally planned so I figured I would post something tonight. Much has gone on since I last posted. Emma is in pre-school and loving it. She is counting to 18 and knows her ABC's and is just as busy as ever. Gracie has changed as well. She is into everything and absolutely loves her mommy. The girls and I went home for the weekend and visited Grandma Wainwright. We didn't stay too long because... well let's just say that her house is NOT kid proof, but it was fun for her to have 3 great-grandchildren playing at her house. The Madsen's came and visited over Thanksgiving and it GREAT to see them. Zack was in Chris and Kate's wedding in August that took place in Ohio. Zack and Chris were in the army together at Ft. Campbell so it was so nice to be able to have them come and visit for awhile! I have had 2 knee surgeries in the last 8 1/2 weeks and am currently non-weight bearing for another few weeks(it's been JUST a little bit stressful). Grandma Connie came and visited for a week to help out so Zack could continue working and I stayed in my bed. Emma had her 1st school concert and the fun part was that our friend's daugher Ella sang with Emma, so it was fun to get pictures of them. Needless to say it was quite the scene. Ella didn't sing whatsoever...and Emma was turned around yelling at Ella to put her antlers on and towards the end of their time up front Emma wacked the kid next to her with one of the sticks she was holding. Emma and Gracie had a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus this year and hopefully they will stop by next year as well! We had a great 1st Christmas in our house this year. It was a lot of fun having the fireplace and a place to actually hang the stockings. Here are some pictures of the last few months. Hope all is well with everyone!

*Enjoying the beautiful weather*

Playing in her new sand table that Grandma Connie and Grandpa Dennis bought her for her birthday..... with PURPLE sand... crazy! What will they come up with next?

getting ready to go ride her bike with her snazzy little swimsuit

a VERY traumatic injury

this was taken about 1 minute before emma wiped out running down the driveway.... hence the above picture

our new tree in the front yard

our little cutie:)

Gracie wearing Emma's sunglasses... didn't last for more than about 10 seconds.

Emma's 3rd birthday party

The kids acting like monkeys

Looking for the "golden rocks" (aka...rocks spray painted gold)

Opening birthday presents

Bringing the birthday cake out to Emma

Curious George birthday party

Emma blowing out her birthday candles!

We had a blast at Emma's 3rd B-day party. It was freeeezzzing outside...well pretty chilly...and VERY windy but we managed. I had originally planned on just having a basic birthday party.. but Zack and I decided to take Emma to the party store... and well.. as you can tell, we ended up with a Curious George birthday party. We danced, played with sidewalk chalk, had a scavenger hunt finding gold rocks and painted.

happy mother's day!

Nothing new going on around here. Dennis and Connie are coming to town on Thursday for Emma's birthday weekend. I can't believe that Emma is going to be 3 years old already! We still have lots (well, everything!) to get ready for her birthday party. Hopefully all goes well. We finally have new neighbors and they have two little boys... one is a month younger than emma and the other boy is 2 months older than gracie so we are super excited to FINALLY have neighbors....kids at that as well. Happy Mother's DAy to everyone! We are off to find some $5 crocs at Payless for the girls.

~Easter pictures~

We went back to Villisca for Easter weekend even though we had all been sick for a week. We had a good weekend. There was the Joel Herzberg Family Fun day that Emma absolutely loved. She played games, did the Easter egg hunt and played at the park. While we were home we had Julie take some pictures. We are anxiously awaiting the nice spring weather that seems to be slowly getting here.

Storm Lake fun!!

Storm Lake fun!!

This past Friday we packed up the car and headed to Storm Lake. Friday night we all just played. Saturday morning we all headed to the waterpark for 2 hours. Emma absolutely loved it. She is finally strong enough to wear a life jacket and still keep her feet on the ground. After the waterpark, it was time for a quick nap before the dance. But when we got back to the house I decided to send Emma with Lauren and Lori to the twins' Pine Wood Derby. Long story short...Cobe won it all, Seth won best craftmanship and Emma...well she actually won with Dan's car that he made when he was a kid. We started getting ready for the dance around 4:00. She got all dolled up...hair done, princess dress and dancing shoes on. I did Lauren's hair which was crazyyyy because I hadn't done her hair in SO long. Off they went and stayed out till 8:45. On Sunday Zack and Emma headed to the waterpark again...and the twins and Dan met up with them as well. They stayed for 3 hours!! We got home to Grimes at 5pm and are all just tired as can be.

Easter eggs and cookies

I decided to pick Ella up this morning around 8:15am and bring her to our house so the girls could play. I had the magnificent idea of dying Easter eggs and than decorating cookies. Well, we did that AND more. We colored pictures, dyed eggs, decorated cookies, played outside in the dirt, dress-up, dancing to 'Single Ladies', Becky doing some shopping in my closet, a have way broken but fixable kite and paint all over the sidewalk. The girls had a very busy and FuN morning! Jake, Becky and Aaden came over after Aaden's nap so that made for a house full. Gracie cried a few times....because Aaden just goes for her and ends up "hurting" Gracie's feelings but I think that she is getting a little bit braver.