January 2014

 Mr. Nolan helping us ring in the new year.

 

 Victoria looking smashing in her New Year garb.

 

 Izzy tooting her own horn.

 

 Liz showing the girls how to make noise makers with plastic bottles, confetti, beans and stickers.

 

 Mark and Brock cheersing to another great year.

This time of year it is hard to keep the girls entertained. I'm constantly hearing, "Mooom, I'm booored!" So today we got out the Play Doh.

 

 

 

 Here I introduced them to Silly Putty. Apparently sticky, squishy things keep them occupied. Oh, and this Silly Putty glows so they spend a good 20 minutes in the closet.

 

 A rare nice day in January. We took full advantage of it. We played on the swings in the back yard and then that afternoon we met our friends, Courtney, Avery, and Emery at the park.

 

Here is my copy cat. She sooo, looks up to her sister.

Climbing the rockwall. A feet she couldn't accomplish a year ago.

A little house cleaning in the play house.

 



Well, we got the year off to a great start with our good friends the Smiths and the Jones's. Smiths have two little guys, Hudson and Nolan, and Jones's have, Xavier and Victoria, that all get along really well with Izzy and Addie. Jones left a little early and Smiths made it until midnight and then headed home. Liz, the school teacher she is, brought over stickers, and stuff to make shakers along with masks and horns. The kids had a blast, as did we big kids. We also had a couple other friends stop to just wish everyone a happy new year.

Izzy is growing like a weed and doing great at soccer and gymnastics. We had a little hiccup with swimming lessons, but after two weeks it was all smoothed out. Izzy moved up a class and her new teacher was a guy. We had a bad experience with a "boy" teacher at our last swim lessons, and ever since, a guy teacher is out of the question for her. So, we went through two weeks of her not getting in the water. The first time she wailed that her teacher had a bun and she didn't like that on boys (he has long hair and it was pulled back). She said this really loud in front of the entire observing area.  The next week she wouldn't even let go of my leg. So Mark and I took her to open swim night and Tony, the swim instructor, lifeguards on those nights. He got in the water and let Izzy just swim back and forth between the two of us so she could get use to him. Also, a small girl got a little too far from the wall and Iz saw Tony jump in and get her. She was convinced he was awesome then. Swimming lessons have been a breeze ever since.

The next hurdle we had to jump was Izzy's first boyfriend. Izzy and I were in my bathroom and she was watching me get ready for the day. She asked me when we got to go to Gamma's next.
 I said, "I'm not sure, "why?"
She said, "Because we need to go get your dress."
"What dress?," I said
"Your princess dress, " she stated (which is aka my wedding dress)
Of course I wanted to know why she wanted it and here was her explanation.
"Well, Cooper said he likes Violet now and if she had a pretty dress, maybe he would like her better."
WOW! How do I deal with this? I started explaining to her that she was too little for a boyfriend anyway and she'll find someone other than Cooper to marry. I told her Mommy had other boyfriends before Daddy and I married him. Then I thought, "Am I explaining way too much for this little four year old brain?" She's only 4! I have a long road ahead if it's starting now. She's turning into such a big girl.

Addie is doing awesome. We are still working on potty training. She is hit and miss, but does tell us if she has to go every now and then. If she is too busy she could sit in a dirty diaper for hours and not care. She is copying everything Izzy does and says. Hopefully Izzy will be a good role model as they get older. Her colds seem to be getting a little better but she is still drooling like crazy. Hopefully she will grow out of that soon.

In the middle of the month Mark and I had a date night and then met up with a bunch of our neighbors. We were suppose to have a party bus that night but is was really cold and many people were sick. So we cancelled the bus and just met out together. It was a lot of fun. Our neighborhood has turned out to be a great place to live.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy. Love, Ariann

December 2013

Decorations went up right after Thanksgiving and this is daddy and Iz putting on the final touch.

Right before the girls' Christmas Program for school. It was at Elkhorn High in the auditorium.

Love them to the moon and back.

Meet Snowflake. She was a wonderful fixture at our house this season.

Addie at the Christmas Program. Not sure what she sang because you couldn't understand them, but she loved being on stage. There was something about jumping and she jump all the way across the stage.

Here, Izzy was dashing through the snow. She also sang Santa Clause is Coming to Town.

Addie's Elmo birthday cake for her second birthday.

 

The Mulligans decorating their cookie.

Izzy's snow scene.

Grandma D. and Aunt Trish helping Addie with her picture.

Macy's final masterpiece.

Izzy's final masterpiece.

Addie is eating hers.

Gabi making her creation.

 

My mom and her aunt.

My grandma, cousins, Cooper and Rocky, and my Uncle Terry.

My cousin Gavin, me and my mom. I haven't seen Gavin since I was in 7th grade. So good to catch up.

The whole crew.

Christmas Eve at my Aunt Cindy and Uncle George's.

The girls did a little karaoke.

Prime rib, it's what's for dinner.

My family

My Uncle Karlye, Aunt Deb, and Kash. Miss you Jenny and fam.

My Uncle George, Jess, Aunt Cindy, Kya, and Jess's wife, Annalise.

Thank you from Santa.

Santa's crumbs!

Opening gifts!

My baby, all grown up. Last year we did it all for her.

The girls got their Frozen dolls and loved them.

Izzy and Grandma D.

Ladelle and the girls looking at, Mark's Aunt Cindy's, ornaments on the tree.

 

In Memory of the greatest grandpa. We will miss you and the Huskers will miss you cheering them on.

 



On December 5th, Addie had her well check and she is a healthy growing girl. She was 88.59% for height and 87.44% for weight. She is definitely going be a tall girl. No shots this visit. It was a success. She still has her runny nose and cough, but I think it's a permanent characteristic with this child. As is her drooling. Addie turned two on November 28th, but with this crazy time of year her party with friends got pushed until December 15th. We decorated cookies, made snow scene pictures, and ate cake and ice cream. It ended up being a great birthday party for her considering it was thrown together last minute. Sorry Addie, I think your birthdays will forever be chaos.

The  clinic I work for opened a new location on 72nd and Cornhusker. We had a grand opening event at the clinic and it was nice to meet people in the Papillion area. Mark decided to join me a little late as he screeched in from Green Bay, Wisconsin. He and three of his friends went from a Friday to Monday to cheer on the Packers at Lambeau field. It was chilling cold and snowing but the boys had a good time. The Saturday Mark was gone I took the girls to see Santa at West Roads Mall. Izzy was shy but sat by him and told him she wanted Palace Pets and the Littlest Pet Shop. Addie would wave and say hi, but wouldn't get near the man. I was in the picture yet again. Hopefully next year I won't have to do that.

On the 12th of December my grandpa decided to go home to the Lord. He was just so tired from fighting the flu and the pneumonia it brought with it. His lungs and heart couldn't keep up and he went peacefully 10 hours after the ventilator was removed. The following Thursday we celebrated his life and how blessed we were to have him for a grandpa. He was amazing, and his grandkids were everything. I sure miss him. It was nice to see family I hadn't seen in a long time and we've decided it shouldn't be so long until the next time. With this, we truly got to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. Just being with family and thankful for each other.  Now we just have to look after grandma and make sure she has everything she needs. My mom and dad have been a saints, helping her with everything.

Also, this holiday season we have been blessed to be able to celebrate with wonderful friends. In the middle of the month we had a White Elephant Christmas party with all the neighbor ladies. Although, the gifts were very nice. I ended up with a white wine by Dave Matthews. A perfect fit. Then the following week the girls and I got together with the Snodgrasses and the Mulligans for a little gift exchange. The girls played, and gave us moms a little Christmas concert. We had a lot of fun.

For Christmas Eve we went to Kearney to be with my Dad's side of the family, Christmas Day morning was spent at my parents, Christmas Day at Mark's Aunt and Uncle's, then to Mark's mom's,  Christmas Day night at my parents with my Uncle Jerry and Grandma Brown, and finally Saturday we came back to spend it with Mark's Dad's side of the family. It was definitely a whirl wind. Even with all of this and the death of my grandpa we had a wonderful holiday.

With the approaching new year, I wish all of you well and hope you find yourself happy and healthy. Lets get together soon and celebrate. We have a lot to celebrate about. LIFE!