Change

That seems to be a thought in my mind lately. There's a lot of stuff going on right now, and all I can say is CHANGE.
Change isn't always a bad thing, but I think for most people, it's an uncomfortable thing. Well at least that's what I'm feeling.
I have talked about going back to school for about a year now seriously. I really have a passion for interior design, wish I knew that in college, and I would LOVE to pursue that. Although, time, money, family and job has held me back, and continues to hold me back a little. I was going to go to Johnson County Community College this week to talk to someone and see how long, what it takes, and of course how much all of this would be. Well I am once again swamped with life and wont be able to get there.
Brett has been gone since Sunday afternoon to western KS for a bball camp he puts on. He'll get back tomorrow night sometime and I cant wait. I definitely have props for single parent's. I can't imagine having to do EVERYTHING all by myself ALL the time. I'm blessed I have him and although our lives get really busy during season and I really feel like a single parent then, I know I'm not and have him to fall back on.
Anyways, Kaden's been funny asking about him every morning, afternoon and night. I keep telling him that daddy is playing basketball for a few days, and all he says is "OOHH", which is what he always says when he understands something. Pretty cute though.
So back to change...things at work might be changing soon and it's kinda scary. I've really had it REALLY easy and I'm pretty spoiled at work and have been for the past 4 years. Having the chance to travel w/ my husband to all the games, coach c.c. at Lawrence High, have my child at my work, and just having an overall great boss, just really spoils me. Like I said, change isn't always bad, just different and sometimes I don't like different.
We'll see!!!
Besides all that, we leave for Destin, FL on FRIDAY!!! I CANT WAIT!!! I'm sooo excited for our vacation. Brett, me, Kaden, my sister, and my mom!! We are pretty pumped and also blessed that we have a great friend Sandy, b/c Sandy's parents are letting us stay at their HOUSE on the beach for a week, FREE!!! I am just excited to get away and it'll be Kaden's first trip to the beach!! He likes baby pools, but not fond of big pools yet, so we'll see how the OCEAN sets in with him!! I think it'll be a blast no matter what though. So if I don't write before, I'll let you know how the trip went.!

Take care.

Quick Prayer

Just wanted to ask everyone for a quick prayer for Brett's family, his mom's side in particular. His uncle just past away this previous Sunday. It is one of his mom's brothers. We are blessed though that he is in a much better place. He was slowly passing from brain tumor and brain surgery, and it was getting harder and harder, so now he is at peace. I think it's really hard for his grandad b/c he's had to bury his wife (10 yrs ago) , go through a tornado and loose everything, and now bury his son. So please be thinking of them, it would mean a lot to me/us.
Thank you!

Moved in!

We are finally moved in, new carpet layed, and furniture in it's respected place (kinda)!!!

Things have been overly hectic the last few days...
We closed on Wed, moved(into the garage), pulled up carpet, and stayed at my moms.

Thurs, carpet started getting put down upstairs/hall, boxes still everywhere, such a mess! While that was going on my sister was painting the purple bathroom that we had primed and I had picked out a pretty blue color. Well I came home at lunch and walked in there and about cried...it looked like you were at the ocean, I mean a turquoisey blue, yuck (love that color, just not in a hall bathroom) So she stopped, painted it white again and then I was going to go and fix the color.

Meanwhile, Kaden hadn't been feeling good, finally took him to the doctor....STREP!!! Yep, immediately he tested positive for strep. Got the meds, he's soo confused w/ the move anyways, went back to moms, and 2 throw-ups later, he was down resting. So I couldn't take him to daycare the rest of the day or the next, so I stayed home with him. We went to the new house to work and then stayed at moms again thurs.
While we were moving in stuff on thurs though, Cooper (our little Maltese) was running around like crazy and I called him over once and had picked him up to put him near us and as I was letting him down on the grass, he landed wrong and basically dislocated his knee. I mean our new neighbors probably thought we were killing him. My mom, sister, Brett everyone came out of the house b/c his howl was soooo screechy and he was in TONS of pain. So a few phone calls later to the vet, we could just give him Asprin for the night and take him the next day. So while I had taken Kaden to the docs to find out he had strep, wonderful mom took Cooper to the vet to find out everything. ($2-$300) surgery that's not guaranteed...not sure what we're gonna do yet. Poor Cooper!!! He'll walk just fine sometimes and then he'll be a 3-legged dog other times, I feel soooo bad b/c I was the one who let him down.

Friday came and the carpet got finished about noon, lots of cleaning up and we were off moving stuff around. Another throw up event and then Kaden was off running around. Thought he was feeling better, but then sat. came and he threw-up again at the grocery store w/ me!! Kinda embarrassing..."um, mam, I need some help....clean up in isle 2", yeah!!

Oh but on Friday I went to "fix" the blue paint. So I did and took it home. Mom started painting it and well it was just a darker turquoise now!! oh man. I said "yeah, I guess it's fine, I'm done, we'll just live with it". My mom knew I was upset and said she'd go buy me some new paint. So we went and got one picked out and as I was flipping through more colors and the guy was already mixing it, I found a DIFFERENT one, oh man...we were laughing, but my mom was just like, really!!! So she bought the oops one,we'll use it in Kaden's room, and then the final product. I primed once again and then she started in on the 3rd and final paint color. So 6 paint layers later, ITS DONE!! YEAH! Thanks to my most wonderful mom!!

So garage is almost emptied, lots just moved to the basement, but oh well, we'll work on that later. We have most beds up, Kadens room is somewhat organized, the living room and kitchen have finally gotten together and the garage was organized last night by Brett!!

K, I have to get back to work, I'll post pictures eventually, and write more. I have VBS, vacation bible school, all this week after work so not lots of time to get things together before our bbq this coming weekend, so those coming, sorry about the mess!!

Almost moving day!

Well tomorrow is the big moving day for us!!!I am excited and exhausted all at the same time. Little nervous and stressed to, but not to bad.
I am more excited about the new carpet and I hope we picked out an ok match for the house! So we pack up the U-Haul tonight so everything will be off the floor at the house, then we can clean and pick up last minute things in the morning before we go to closing. Then we close in the morning and unload the U-Haul, then start ripping up the old carpet. Thurs. morning they'll start in on the new carpet and Steph has the day off so she'll be supervising and painting the oh-so-lovely purple bathroom to a new pretty blue shade I picked out. I hope that works too!!
We get to stay at my moms for the next few nights b/c of the change, but that's ok, we'll deal. My mom is wonderful and so excited about us being there. To bad she doesn't like us and Kaden!! :)
So wish us luck and we'll post and get some picts up soon of the new place!
Take care!!

Already!!!??

Well I didn't think it would start this early....give to Kaden to have his first little girlfriend at age 16mths and already be KISSING her!!! This is Gabrielle, and she is Kaden's little buddy at LAC daycare in the mornings. They are there almost every day together, so go figure they'd "hook" up (jk)!! We leave ever day at 1pm and go to his other daycare, but before we do, he always gives Miss Ashley (Gabrielle's mom) a hug goodbye, then walks back in and gives Gabrielle a hug too. most of the time it's just a lean-in hug and no arms. Well yesterday we were leaving and he went back in a totally just grabbed her arm and gave her a kiss, and she willingly kissed him back. So I grabbed my camera and told them to do it again and they did, so this wasn't the best shot, but the only one I could get quick enough. It was adorable!! But I certainly didn't think I'd have to be worrying about that just yet!!

Then yesterday after I picked him up from this other daycare, we played and went on a wagon ride, and played some more. After that we took the dogs on a walk and he LOVES trying to walk the dogs, so I got the leashes out and put them on a had to grab something and sure enough he was off with Cooper...Jack is a little to much for him! So he walked hi a little and then got in the wagon and wanted to "walk" him some more, so we let him hold on for a bit, then he usually lets go.

When we got home from that we played out in the driveway some more and then I had bought some popsicles the other day and thought it was a good time for his first popsicle experience. I grabbed one out and we took his shirt off and aways he went. He liked to actually hold the popsicle instead of the stick, but it was cute. The orange, sticky juice was all over him, his shorts, and the drive, but it was worth it, he LOVED it. He ate the whole thing. It was really funny b/c he then went and playing in the garage a little and was picking up one of those packing peanuts that had fallen out of something and was trying to throw it away in the trash, but b/c his hands were sticky it wasn't coming off!! He kept saying "eww, eww" and Brett and I couldn't stop laughing. Brett kept saying "come on now, just throw it away, what's wrong, just put it in there, come on now"! He started laughing too b/c it wouldn't come off. Very funny and again...the little things in life that make your day.

Brett got his bath ready and that was the end of the stickiness!! Off to bed he went. The night ended with lots more packing and taking some things to my moms garage, thanks mom!!
Nothing to exciting, but defiantly wanted to share the first kiss experience.

I just love my Kaden!!

Fun Times!!

We had a blast at the lake for the 4th of July!! We got to hang out with LOTS of our family and it's always so good to see them.

Kaden had fun on the boat, in the lake, trying to play with bubbles, and playing with the cousins.

We are now in packing mode in order to get ready for the big move next wed. I can't WAIT to move to our bigger house. And to get brand new carpet everywhere is really exciting for me as well. (the little things!) We have lots to do before next week, but little by little each night makes it seem not so overwhelming.

Kaden is just getting so much more talkative and is SOOO good. Just thinking of him makes me smile and I wish I could be with him more during the week. We have tons of fun though when we get home and he changes each day with his vocabulary and actions. He's now starting to "jump", or attempt to, it's hilarious!!! He'll start to copy you too, and his little run is awesome. He only swings his right arm when he goes and its the cutest darn thing. I love that little guy so much!!

Brett is doing really well and it's kinda, and I mean kinda, down time for him this month when all the coaches are out recruiting, so it's good timing for our move. We are so happy and blessed though that we get to stay another year with an amazing program and the opportunities he gets and we get as a family. We are blessed at the opportunity to move to this MUCH bigger house than we have now, due to the stay and I can only thank him for all the sacrifices and commitments he has to his job and family that enable us to do this. It finally feels like all his hard work is starting to pay off in different aspects of our lives.

As you can see in the pict, Kadens new favorite thing to do is the lawn mower. He still is obsessed with the wagon, but we go back and forth now. We move the living room floor, bedroom, actual grass and sidewalks. Whatever he can push over, gets "mowed". He even held onto it IN his wagon the other day. Crazy kid!

That's it for now, we'll see when the next time I get to post, might be after the move. Hope all is well w/ everyone and please keep in touch. We are still in need of prayers for our family, friends and loved ones, so don't ever forget. (Brett's uncle is getting worse w/ his aftermath of brain surgery a while back ago and is now in hospice, so add him to your list. Thanks so much!!) Take care!!

Time Flys

Wow time has flown by. Just the other day we were swamped with bball camps left and right, weddings, births, ect. Now it has all passed and always something new around the corner.

We move in 15 days!!! I am sooooooo excited but yet there is still soo much to be done. We have lots of packing to continue doing. We have knocked out a lot, but have much more. We just do a little at a time after Kaden's down or on the weekend. We went to the new house today to put carpet samples down and pick out our new carpet!!! We picked it out and now I just need to run by the place to put my order in. I really cant wait for new carpet... ahh, it makes me feel so much better inside knowing no one has step foot on it except for us!!!

We enjoyed a 3 year old bday party this weekend for Raelynn Keefer and it was a lot of fun. It's hilarious to see little kids interact and behave differently when others are around. We had fun in a balloon filled bedroom for starters, then went outside for a "fish for rubber ducky's" activity in a little baby pool, followed by a fishy pinata bust!!! Very fun though all around and we were excited that we could finally attend her bday b/c every year something has occurred.

We are leaving tomorrow night for the 4th of July weekend to our annual spot...my aunt and uncles lake house. I cant wait, I LOVE going out there to see our family and to just relax. This will be Kaden's first time to get on a boat, so I'm excited for that too. I'll post pictures when we get back. I am ready to see my Granny too. I saw a little of her at my brothers wedding, but it'll be nice to spend some time with her. Our cousins from Atlanta are coming in too, and they have a little girl not to much older than Kaden, so it'll be fun to see them interact. Our cousins from Wichita will be there like normal too, and then the only ones we are missing are Amber and Brett. It'll definitely be weird without them there, we've ALL always gone, but since they are in TX now, it's harder to get back up here, especially since they were gone so much for their wedding. So we'll miss them terribly at the lake, and I miss them terribly daily. But I cant wait for some time in the sun!!!

As far as my cousin Taylor, well she is hanging in there. I know a lot of you have emailed me and spoken to me about the situation and how many of you are praying and thinking of us all, especially Taylor and Josh during this time. Again I cant thank you enough, I know she does as well. This is a really tough time, and only time will help heal, not forget, but heal a broken and hurting heart. I know things will move forward but it's hard to imagine that at this point in time. Please continue to help the healing process for our family during this time, whatever means of help that is for you. We all truly appreciate it.

As for our new little niece Bailey, well she is doing just fine and changing each time we see her. I think Kale is adjusting pretty well, but I'm pretty sure Katie is the one having to adjust the most. She says she's doing good, and I can only hope some day I can adjust as well as she portrays to the change in life of a 2nd child.

That's about it for now, I'll update again when we get back!!!