Because it's been so long-

I decided that maybe, just maybe I would work on keeping this blog updated for those who want to keep track of us. I promise to do my best to update this often... (at least I will try). Much has changed with the four of us. Emma is in 4 year old pre-school, which is in the afternoons.. making the evening quite difficult because she's so tired. Gracie is a VERY busy 2 year old. Our big news: Gracie's potty trained AND Emma learned how to ride her bike this week without traning wheels! It's great!!!

With Zack deployed, I keep busy around the house. I will say that things are tough around here... only because I feel that Zack is missing so much with the girls. Emma in in gymnastics once a week and just finished 5 weeks of swimming lessons. She keeps me on my toes and is a very determined little girl.

I leave in a few days to go see Zack on his pass before heading to Afghanistan. I am very very excited to go and see him and to spend time with him. The girls are staying here with my mom, so keep her in your prayers.... the girls never stop going until 8pm.

Here are a few pictures. So enjoy and hope all is well with everyone!

February already?!

January quickly came... and now it's the 8th of February already!!! We have been very busy lately and will continue to be busy until Zack deploys this summer. This past weekend Zack and I attended the military "prom" as I like to call it and we had a good time besides the fact that I had yet another migraine. We left the girls with Uncle Adam and cousin Addison for the night and they are still alive so I guess it went just fine. As you can see, Gracie is a busy little 1 1/2 year old... she empties out the drawer under the oven and piles up all the pans then proceeds to climb on the edges to see what she can reach on top of the stove and countertops! Emma is doing great in school... on the days that they actually have school. I doubt she will be going to school tomorrow morning as we are having yet ANOTHER blizzard here. The girls continue to grow rapidly.... and are really beginning to fight with each other and there is no sharing around this house.... well, no sharing that is actually done willingly.

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.