The Belly Smacker

Our nephew Owen perfected the Belly Smacker over the weekend. He and Avery must have done it 20 times in a row. And it never got old!

Life is Good!

Out for a Sunday drive!


Swimming with Mady & Morgan.


Lake activities with Owen & Sophia


Summer BBQ!


Crafting with Grammie & Grandpa


Livin' Large


Just Chillin'


The Family

Happy 4th of July!

Heading to the subdivision 4th of July parade!

Friends, Fireworks, and Fireflies

This past weekend, our friends came over for dinner and we spent a casual evening on the deck.

We met Brian & Carey when we bought our 1st home. They had just purchased the one right next to us. They got married the weekend after us in late summer of '99. Over the years, we enjoyed chats over the fence, having our first babies, play-dates, etc.

When we moved three summers ago, we knew that we would miss them more than we'd miss our old house (even though we only moved 5 miles away). Thankfully, last summer they moved into the subdivision right next to ours!

The kids play well together. Ethan is 5, Avery is 4, Carley is 3, and Austin is 2.

We roasted marshmallows, enjoyed the neighbor's fireworks, and then at the end of the night when it was really dark, we all enjoyed running through the yard to catch fireflies.

I love summer!

Love Language

The hardest part of my day happens around 8:15 every weekday morning. I've been doing it for 4 1/2 years. I drive my little kiddos to their day care (school, as we call it), give them lots of hugs and kisses, visit with their friends and teachers, and leave them there for the day. It never gets easier! I struggle with that decision nearly every day, but know that for our family, it's the best solution at this time.

I feel comfortable knowing that they are getting a full day of entertainment, academic-minded curriculum, nutritious meals, and are learning about independence and social relationships. During the week, they also have visiting teachers for Spanish, Gymnastics, and Music.

One of the best times of my day is when I get to pick them up. Their little faces light up and they come running across the room for a big hug.

The last three weeks have been really difficult. Austin started in a new class right after his birthday and he's just not as comfortable with the new teachers & classmates yet. When I have left him, he is typically crying "Mommy" and they have to hold him from running out the door after me. It breaks my heart. I hope I'm not jinxing it, but the last two days have been much better.

For the last two years, Avery's classroom has faced the parking lot. Each morning, I park right in front of her window. It's been our tradition that she stands at the window and waves to me as I get back into my car.

We do the I LOVE YOU sign to each other. Every Day!

This morning her classroom window was open and as I was driving away she yelled "I love you, Mommy".

I had such a hard time going back to work after both of my children were born. I remember my Mom telling me that every parent goes through that separation anxiety at some point, whether it be day care, or when the child goes to Kindergarten, or when they move away.

She said that she had tears in her eyes on the way home after they dropped me off at Purdue my freshman year. Stacey and I were so excited to be living at Harrison Hall and I'm sure we couldn't wait to send our parents on their way so we could start meeting all of our new friends.

I'm sure that day will come far too soon for our kids as well and I'll be crying all the way home. Hopefully she'll still be watching for me to sign I LOVE YOU through the window!

I'm just sayin'...

One of these guys is a hunky movie star.

The other is just hunky.

I think they resemble each other a little-what do you think?

The Places You'll Go

CONGRATULATIONS! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.


THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high flierswho soar to high heights. You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed. You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.



Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!


~Portions of the poem by Dr. Seuss, titled “Oh, the Places You’ll Go…”

This is my "little" brother. I'm so proud of him. This past weekend he earned his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He's so deserving of the great accomplishments that he has already achieved and we're anxious to see what the future holds.

Next month, Kevin & Heather are headed to Singapore for 5-6 months. He'll be working on a new product for his company and she's fortunate enough to be able to take time off from teaching to go along for the experience.

We'll miss them a great deal, but know that this is an opportunity that they shouldn't pass up.

Thanks for a fun weekend, guys. Be safe, we love you. We'll see you at Christmas!

History Repeats Itself

Austin & Avery playing in the playhouse at

Nana & Grandpa's House-summer 2008.

Austin & Avery's Mommy (me) and Uncle Kevin

playing in the same playhouse-summer of 1981

*editor's note-the playhouse has received a Safety Renovation in recent years

(notice the wider guard rails)

Student Drivers

It's that time of year again.

Lately as I've been driving into work, I approach cars being driven carefully (IE: slower than the speed limit, always mindful of turn signals, stopping 20 feet before the stoplight, etc). Then as I get closer to the car, I understand...it's Driver's Ed.

I remember those days. 17 Years Ago. I didn't get a waiver and the other two in my car did...hmm, what does that mean? I remember my Driver's Ed teacher telling me that I hugged the middle line too much. I had to be reminded to keep my hands at 10 and 2. I would throw my whole body around to see what was behind me rather than using my mirrors. Parallel parking..well, lets not even go there.

Well, now that I've been driving longer than the age that I was when I took drivers ed, I have surely improved. No speeding tickets, warnings, or accidents in the last 10 years.

I think having children makes me a better driver.

Every time I pass one of those student drivers, I smile. They've got a long road (pun intended) ahead of them.

Blogging Award

I started this blog a while ago just to keep an on-line journal for the kids and perhaps update family members that live at a distance. The world of blogging has really taken off and I'm amazed at how many "Mommy" bloggers there are out there.

Earlier this week, I was presented an award from Kristen at Loving our Simple Life. I consider her to be a Professional Blogger! :)

She's creative and takes fantastic pictures!

Winning this award comes with rules that I must complete!

1. Chose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.

4. The award winner and one who has given the prize has to show the link of Arte Y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. Show these rules.

I am happy to pass this award along and announce the following winners:

Jamie at The Blissfully Happy Housewife

Kerri at Faith Filled Family

Kim at Family of Five

Sarah at Life of a Domestic Goddess

and last but not least Stacey at Wonderfully Blessed

I enjoy checking their blogs to see what is going on in their lives and with their children. The great thing is that we all have connections to great memories in our past and we've been able to reconnect through the blogging world. Thanks, gals, for always having insightful things to say.

Busy Weekend

We've had a busy weekend and I'm thankful for the rain this afternoon so that we can be inside napping and catching our breath for a little while.

Saturday morning was Avery's last soccer game of the season. It's been fun watching these little first-timers really improve over the last eight weeks.

They play 3 vs. 3, without a goalie and we don't even keep track of the score. Avery had a big cheering section as both sets of Grandparents, Aunt Jade and cousins Owen & Sophia came out to watch.

Avery is #6

We celebrated our niece Sophia's 2nd birthday with a

splish-splashin' pool party.

Swimming at Sophia's party...my kids are fish in the water. By the end of the afternoon, they were both jumping off the diving board into the deep end.

The cousins in their matching jammies. We had a slumber party on Saturday night at Grandpa and Grammie's house. They love to play together.

Four-wheeling at Grandpa and Nana's house on Sunday afternoon.

Two tired kiddos in the car on the way home.

Another weekend filled with great memories!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all of the

Wonderful Dads we know!!

The Next Survivor

I'm a big fan of the show...so when I read this email, after I calmed down from laughing so much, I thought I would share it with all of you.

THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES
Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.
Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.
There is no fast food.
Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, and complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.
In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.
Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time--no emailing.
Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment.
He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.
He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.
Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.
The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.
The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep fingernails polished and eyebrows groomed.
During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.
They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.
They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:00 am.
A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.
The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.
If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years eventually earning the right To be called Mother!

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Every year during the first few weeks of June, we visit a few Parade of Homes houses that are on display. And every year we end up feeling a little depressed after seeing these beautiful homes that are professionally decorated w/built in sound systems, perfect landscaping, entertainment rooms, huge walk in showers and closets. The homes are wonderful.

Three years ago this week we moved into our "dream house". I must say that after building a house for the first time, you certainly learn what you would do differently if you had another chance. Even though our house is not built to the quality of the custom built homes that we walked through on Sunday, we love our house. Besides, it isn't just a house...ours is a HOME with wonderful memories of our family and friends.

And It Begins...

This morning when I stepped into Avery's classroom to drop her off, her little buddy Mattux said: "Ooohhh, Avery looks pretty today!"

Maybe it was the french braid, or the mini skirt, or the new flip flops.

I'm not ready for little 5 year old boys to tell her she looks pretty yet.

Oh boy, I am not looking forward to the teenage years.

High School

Stacey mentioned in her blog that she has dreams about high school. I think High School has such a lasting effect on people....some people have really fond memories and some really would never like to go back.

I was fortunate to have a pretty decent high school experience. There are certainly a few years that I'd like to take back from a serious relationship I was in that monopolized much of my time, but other than that I'd have to say it was four great years of my life.

I remember that many still harbored ill-feelings at the 5 year reunion. I thought everyone in attendance at the 10 year reunion got along well enough. Hopefully by the 15 year mark next summer, many of those once uncomfortable emotions will be long gone and many of our classmates will attend.

My brother found this link to a documentary that was produced about seniors at Warsaw High School.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486259/trailers-screenplay-vi2833514777
It actually looks really interesting. I have no idea when it comes out or how to see the full movie, but it reminded me a lot of those good 'ole days.

As children, we really don't get to choose where we live or what school we attend. As an adult, it's a huge decision to "choose" where to set up camp. I, personally, always dreamt of living in a large city or resort area working in a deluxe 4 star hotel--and I'm sure I still could live out that dream. But for now, I'm completely satisfied living close to my family in a smaller town so that my children are near to their grandparents. It's funny how life works!

Happy Birthday Austin Cooper!

Two years ago, little Austin Cooper joined our family.

He has provided lots of joy and laughter

and we can't wait to see what happens in the coming years.

We love you little buddy!

Vacation at Home

A few times a year, I take a week off of work and stay home with the kids. I get the opportuntity to do normal things with them that I miss each day while I'm working.

We've had lazy mornings in our jammies watching cartoons; a trip to the park to play; errands during the day when the stores aren't jam packed; Avery loves running out to get the mail right after the mailman has dropped it off; planning what to have for dinner prior to 6pm and not rushing to get it done; walks; picnics out on the deck; coloring on the family room floor; etc.

Monday will be a tough day. It's always hard dropping them off at their school when they've been out of school for an extended period of time. Austin also starts in a new class on Monday with the Two's.

It's been a great week. The next vacation can't come soon enough!

Exposed...

Rachael Ray has an article in each of her magazines that introduces you to a Celebrity's Refrigerator. Well, I'm not a celebrity, but I did spend the better part of an hour cleaning out my refrigerator today. I'm guessing that a refrigerator can tell you a lot about a family. I dare you to expose yours as well...

Here's what I think mine might tell you:

• I have an almost two year old that still drinks whole milk and as soon as the Dr. gives me the okay...I'm ready to cut down on the two different gallons of milk that we purchase


• It is the end of the month and we have exceeded our grocery budget for the month...the fridge will look much more full next week


• We must like salad...I think I have 6 or 7 bottles of salad dressing in use.


• I'm not that great at eating left overs.


• Summer is here. I'm anxious for fresh produce.


• I'm not a pie-baker. There is a box of ready made pie crust that has been sitting in my fridge for several months.

• Memorial Day weekend is always the kick off for summer. I love the smell of the grill and I feel that we eat more healthy in the summer. Lots of fruits and veges and chicken on the grill.

If nothing else gets accomplished today...at least I have a clean refrigerator.

Little Stinkers

I'm taking vacation from work this week and staying home with the kiddos. This morning we attempted to take Austin's 2 year pictures at Target and get some of the two of them together. This has been a bit of a challenge in the past and today was no exception. Avery did great, but Austin was very hesitant. We ended up with a few okay shots and probably left the photographer very thankful for her next appointment.

We're looking forward to spending quality time together this week...let's hope the weather warms up a little as the week goes on.

Memorial Day Weekend

What a great weekend and such beautiful weather.

On Saturday we spent the afternoon at the lake w/the cousins and then headed to my parents house for dinner w/Uncle Kevin and Aunt Heather.

On Sunday we celebrated Austin's 2nd birthday with our families.

It was a frog theme-can you tell?

Yesterday, we had a lazy morning and then ended the day with a picnic outside and smore's around the firepit.

We ate well all weekend, took pontoon, jet ski, and four-wheeler rides, watched the kids play and swim in the freezing water, and had great conversation.

It worked out pretty well that both of my kids have a birthday near a long-weekend holiday. One can be celebrated over Memorial Day and the other over Labor Day. That makes it better for aunts and uncles traveling from Chicago for the parties. We enjoyed having everyone together!

This Is How My Mind Works...

These are the random thoughts that I had while driving to and from Indianapolis yesterday for a meeting.

• First of all, every song on the radio reminds me of some point in my life and I love those "song memories" (roller skating parties, high school sports warm ups, Purdue days, lazy summers, working at the All Star Music Resort at Disney where they played old disco music all day, concerts, I could go on and on and on)
• I love to guess what radio station/genre all the drivers around me are listening to
• Do you suppose people that drive cars with the temporary plates drive more carefully than the rest of us? Trying to protect their new car? The one in front of me was driving really slowly.
• Do you suppose BLAMMO would play for free at our 15 year class reunion next summer?
• What color heels would you where with a wine colored suit (Brown, Black, or Cream)? I have all three in my car because I had hard time deciding.
• Motorcycles make me nervous
• Has it really been 10 years since I graduated from Purdue? Time flies, doesn't it.
• In the last year, Jon has called me out for singing the wrong words to a song that I typically sing with all my might. For 15 years + I've been singing the wrong words and never knew it. He thought it was really funny. I heard this song yesterday and was laughing in the car all by myself. (By the way...the words are "Dude, looks like a lady". I always thought it said "Do just like a lady").
• Can you guess how many McDonald's you pass between my house and downtown Indianapolis? At least 9, maybe 10. That's one every 15 miles.
• Thank goodness for cell phones...they make the time go by much more quickly.

6 hours of driving for 6 hours of meetings...it was a long day!

Boys Will Be Boys

It's season finale week....Dancing With The Stars (DWTS) and American Idol (AI). The whole family has enjoyed watching these programs together, but we're definitely ready to be done with shows for the summer. Yeah for David Cook!

Avery has rhythm. She loves to dance along during the show and pretend she's singing into a microphone. I'm thinking we should have enrolled her in a dance class versus playing soccer this spring.

Austin on the other hand, is all BOY! We frequently have to stop him from kicking the soccer ball on to her field during the games. He's content when he has a ball in his hand and often one in each hand.

One night this week, Avery was pretending to be on DWTS and wanted Austin to be her partner...he chose to play with the bouncy ball instead.

Boys will be Boys!

Patience Re-Load

I miss my family! I've been in Ft. Lauderdale since Monday training a new associate. I get home tomorrow night.

We had just returned home from a long weekend where we spent the better part of three days in the close quarters of a fairly small hotel room. My patience meter was getting a little low-nearly running on fumes.

Now, after tonight, I will have spent three nights in a large hotel suite all by myself several states away from my family.

What I miss:
Little voices
Hearing someone's breathing in the middle of the night
Avery dancing along to the show DWTS last night or pretending to be on American Idol
My good morning, welcome home, or good night kiss from my hubby
Splashing in the bathtub
Austin chasing his sister everywhere she goes and doing everything she does


What I gain:
A full tank of Patience and Gratitude for what I have at home waiting for me when I return!

Lucky Number 7

Jon completed his 7th running of the Indianapolis mini-marathon yesterday. Way to go - we're so proud of you! He trained harder this year and was able to shave 40 minutes off of his time from last year.

It's been a fun tradition for the last 7 years heading to Indy for a long weekend of activities. We were able to meet up with friends and celebrate birthdays, spend lots of time at the pool with the kids, do a little shopping, and just enjoy the city.

Let's Try Again

I have officially become addicted to reading blogs. So I suppose that if I am reading into other peoples' lives, then I should give them a glimpse of mine as well.
I hope that I'll have enough content to keep it afloat.

Here we go again...

MIssion Accomplished!

For the last few summers, I've been trying to convince Avery to take a jet ski ride with me. Finally, this was the weekend that she was brave enough to give it a whirl. I was so excited..probably more than she was.

She had a great time, but wanted me to stay "in this area", not too far from the house. We rode very gently, but did manage to get a couple of figure eights in as well-splashing her just a bit.

The highlight for her was trying to splash Grandpa standing at the end of the pier.

This is just the beginning...

What happened to the first half of 2007?

Many months have passed since the last post. We've had Easter, a first birthday, a vacation, the 4th of July, and many other great things to celebrate.

Perhaps I've been re-inspired to come back to the blogging world. We'll see what the next few weeks brings about. Stay tuned.....

The Life of a Working Mom

9 - days either working from home/taking the kids with me to work this year
8 - number of hours in a peaceful night's sleep--something I haven't had in a long while
7 - number of trips to the doctor's office since January 19, 2007
6 - number of prescriptions at Target Pharmacy
5 - number of ear infections between the two kids
4 - loads of laundry done after the effects of a virus this week
3 - number of grandparents that have taken time off to be with the kids
2 - hours spent dissinfecting all of the toys in our house on a Saturday afternoon
1 - very understanding boss that doesn't ask too many questions

Who Needs Toys

Austin has become very interested in our "tupperware" cabinet. He is content to sit there for quite a long while just pulling everything out of the cabinet. He even tried to climb into the cabinet. The only unfortunate thing for us is that he obviously doesn't know how to put everything back in.
Many fun days we have ahead of us now that he is mobile! I love this age.

Our First Baby

Isn't it funny how the pet that was once your "baby" suddenly gets put to the back burner because of your "real babies"? Our cat, Lofton, was once the apple of our eye. We threw her a birthday party when she turned 1. I remember when she would sleep on our heads when she was just a kitty. We used to buy her toys and Jon played hide and seek with her frequently. One winter we painted our family room and Lofton evidently enhaled too many paint fumes...she was on her deathbed. We took her to the Vet, left her there over the weekend and even visited her while she was there. A few tears and about $500 later she was home with us again.

Well, now unfortunately for Lofton, she doesn't get much love from us. Jon keeps her fed and watered, but other than that she mostly lives in the house on her own terms.

If anyone knows someone that needs to give out some extra love...I'm sure Lofton would appreciate it. To us, she's priceless! (That means she could go to a loving home for free)

Blame It On The Rain!

Okay, call me crazy! When I was in 8th Grade, these guys were my FAV!! I knew every word to their songs and had a poster of them in my room. I had their cassette tape, had piano sheet-music of their songs, I recorded them on my VCR when they performed on the sitcom "Sister Act" and then watched it over and over again trying to perfect their moves. I even made a head and shoulders ceramic in art class of Rob Morvan (the one on the right) - I think I still have that somewhere.

I was definitley bummed when I learned of their horrible deception - they were just a front. They were just the "pretty faces" and pretended to sing these songs.

Well, today on Music.Yahoo.com is states that there is a movie in the works about these guys. They sold 30 million records, but are now known as the biggest joke in pop music.

http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/39926517

I doubt that the movie will ever really make it to the big screen, but if it does....I'll be the first one in line to watch.

SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS!

Colts Win! What a great win for Peyton Manning and Coach Tony Dungy. They seem like such sincere, humble, likable guys. Certainly because the Bears are also close by, the game was especially fun to watch. We were definitely pleased with the outcome!

We have a little Colts cheerleading outfit that Avery has been wearing the last few months. She recently told her teacher at school that she wants to be a Cheerleader when she grows up. I don't have any knowledge in that area...so we can learn about it together. Go Team!

I Need New Tunes

I know so many children's songs from my childhood, church camp, cds, tv shows, etc. I can usually sing along to the song when I hear it-word for word. So why is it, then, that when I am actually singing songs to my kids at bedtime or while rocking them, I can only ever think of about 6-8 songs that I sing over and over again.

* My Favorite Things (Sound of Music)
* Hail, Purdue (fight song-they don't stand a chance liking any other school)
* Take Me Out to the Ballgame (Go Cubs)
* Amazing Grace
* Rock-A-Bye Baby
* Jesus Loves the Little Children
* Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star or Baa Baa Black Sheep (Avery's requests)

The letter A, Dora's baby sister, and a Snoopy Truck

What do these three items have in common? They have all gone MIA at one time somewhere in the land of the missing toys. Thankfully, all of the aforementioned toys have been found and put back in their place.
This sort of thing really bothers some people and barely affects others. Some people stay awake at night thinking about the missing item. For me, it's mostly an annoyance...knowing that the stinking missing piece is somewhere in your home because you haven't taken the toy anywhere. So you spend minutes or hours looking all over the house for the piece until finally you find it somewhere you swear you've looked a hundred times. When the piece is finally found, it's such a relief. At least until the next piece goes missing and the hunt begins again.

Joy to the World!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Steps for Life Worth

I am in Washington D.C. this week attending a training class for work. We always have interesting (and sometimes not so interesting) guest speakers. This morning during breakfast we had a fun-spirited guy from The Summit Group, a consulting firm. The take away that I had has nothing to do with my training while I'm here, but I liked it for LIFE:

Steps for Life Worth:
1. Create a personal Board of Directors
2. Create a Master Dream List
3. Focus on Personal Development
4. Find your calling/passion
5. Be interested.....not interesting
6. Practice the art of savoring!

Tradition in the Making

The Christmas cookie elves visited yesterday. Grandpa and Grammie came to spend the afternoon with Jon and the kids while I was away in D.C. They spent the afternoon and evening making cookies. I'm sure time was taken out for playing with kiddies as well.
This will be a fun tradition to continue year after year and even better to sample!!
We're so thankful to have loving grandparents close by to make wonderful memories.

Little Man ACE

I can't believe how fast time flies. I remember taking a specific picture of Avery when she was about 7 1/2 months old and thinking how she didn't look like a baby anymore.

This picture of Austin is one of those moments...he just looks so grown up. He's just a little over 6 months but he's turning into a little charmer already. Kudos to Jon for the great photo shot!

Who knows if there will be any more babies in the future, but as we move from stage to stage I can't help wondering if this will be the last of these precious milestones.

PRICELESS

Last night there were a few minutes of Holiday Spirit in the house. Typically we're running around trying not to be late for something or doing household tasks...just busy. Last night, we all sat down and watched the movie "Polar Express" amidst the mess of unfinished Christmas Decorations and dirty dishes in the sink. Near the end as we were all snuggled on the couch...Jon and Avery sharing a bowl of popcorn....I was holding Austin....I had one of those "priceless" moments. God is Good!