Welcome to our crazy world!!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Goodbye Christmas, Welcome 2010!

It is a new year! I cannot believe it. 2009 didn't seem too great for a lot of people out there, but we were able to welcome Marshall to our family so it has been fantastic for us. Everyday is crazy, but fulfilling,and usually fun around our house. The girls are ready to start school (the longest 6 weeks ever for us all!) and I am ready to have time to myself again--even if it is only 2 hours! I don't really believe in resolutions, but if I were to have one it would be "to purge". Everything--toys, clothes, shoes, cupboards, basement, etc. We have way too much stuff taking up random space at our house. It is time to take back my space! I can't stand the clutter that is lurking in every corner right now. I sound pretty motivated eh? We will see how it goes:)

Hope everyone has a prosperous, safe, and healthy 2010!

Our Christmas was so much fun! I worked all the days up to and also a few after, so I was exhausted. I was thankful Rob and I were both off to enjoy the holiday with the kids this year though. Marshall had a really great time visiting all the family, playing with all his new little noisy toys, and crinkling paper. He likes to watch us play "RockBand" and the "Wii". A little gamer in training I am sure! The girls loved their respective "SANTA" gifts--Tally a guitar and Ipod, Ashlyn a nintendo DS and barbie(which she promptly took out of her festive dress and put on a dr.s coat and mask--nude of course:) Lots of fun. Spoiled for sure! I am thankful we could all be together, visit our families & friends, and be healthy this holiday season. Oh, btw, I do have Xmas cards coming. I am just a bit behind this year! I want everyone to get the cute and very rare (did I mention stressful and breakdown causing) photo of the kids together. So here is a belated Merry Christmas as well as a Happy New Year!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Where did fall go????

Well, time has flown by once again! It is already winter and almost Christmas. I am still trying to figure out where fall went? I want to post some photos from the last couple of months and then I will post some from December. There will be a couple of posts in a row, but I gotta catch up! Our little guy is getting so big! Over the last couple of months he has learned to sit on his own, roll around and get into stuff, bang his drum and whatever else he can, eat "big boy" food, give big and slobbery loves and hugs, clap. He says "mo, mo" which we assume is "more" since it is always said when he is eating and he is eagerly awaiting the next bite. He says MaMa pretty regularly and sometimes "dog" when Al is around. Dog is a new one so I am not sure he really knows what he is saying, but Al is present when he has said it so far. We love all of his new little stages and tricks. Marshall's biggest fans are his sisters. They are very into playing with him right now. Tally is just finishing up her fall basketball season. Last game is this week. It has been fun to watch her develop her game. Her coach has been good this season and taught her a lot. Of course, we think she has some natural talent as well:) Ashlyn is loving taking dance lessons through Miss Margene's Creative Generation. She just finished up performing in their version of the "Nutcracker". Ash was adorable as a "puffoon" and really loved performing. No shy girl here! I am going to post a video of her performance because it was sooooo cute! That's about it I think. Same old for the rest of us. Thanksgiving was great. I was cancelled from work so I was able to spend my Thanksgiving and birthday with my little family. A really great day. Seems like forever ago now though. Natalia, Ashlyn, me, Grandma Sharon, and Aunt Tiff all went to Ballet Wests "Nutcracker" on the 5th. Very fun to dress up and have a girls day out. Well, here's to winter and all it brings....

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Halloween 2009

It was such a fun Halloween this year! The kids looked so adorable in their costumes. Tally wanted to be a witch, but not just any witch. She was a "pumpkin" witch--pretty much just had to find her a costume with orange on it:) Ashlyn was Snow White and had tons of fun posing with her prop apple. Our little Marshall was the cutest Sock Monkey that ever was! I think we have the cutest kids ever! We dressed up for 3 days straight--Valley Crest Carnival Thursday night, Atria Carnival with Great Gma and Gpa Schirack (also great aunt Sandy & Nina) then Trunk-or-Treat with Tiff and Jeremy on Friday, and last but not least--Halloween! So much candy and fun times. I was lucky to have a bit of time off around Halloween and got to do it all. Marshall had a blast exploring the pumpkin guts--our 1st kiddo that would even touch them. He thought it was fantastic and started eating it--yuck! He also thought the little pumpkin we let him play with was awesome. He apparently thought it looked like something that was going to feed him because he kept "latching" on and then looking at it so confused. It was very funny to watch, but after a while I felt bad for him and let him have the real thing. I guess it is time to prepare for Thanksgiving and then Christmas. This year is just flying by! It will be 2010 before we know it.

Sorry there are so many pictures, but I had a hard time picking which ones to post! I will try to figure out how to do a collage before Xmas photos are taken:)

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Fall Photos at Kerkman farm

Oh my kids are cute! It was an impromptu photo shoot at my grandpa's farm. Lighting could be better, my kids could have cooperated better, photo quality could be better, but there are few I really love! They had a good time climbing around everything. Marshall was having a struggle because he cannot sit so well yet. I love fall and all the fun times it is going to bring us!

Monday, October 5, 2009

The last of summer & the first of fall!

divWow time has flown! We fit in as much fun as possible this last few weeks (a difficult feat with school in session since July!). The weather has turned on us--cold and rainy, for the last couple of days. Miserable to us fair-weather friends. We hit the state fair this year on another rainy and yucky day. I did get a fried snickers bar which was quite an experience! Tally had fun playing baseball (Rob was her coach!) and is gearing up for basketball right now. Rob and I took a quick trip to Vegas for one last summer hurrah. It was so fun hanging out with John, Rachel, Katie, and friends. The kids had a great time with Grandma Cindy, Aunt T & Jeremy in their new house. Marshall is growing so quickly! He is already 5 months old. I really wish he would sleep at this point (still up at least every 2- 2 1/2 hours and some nights every hour!). He does not seem to need it. Happy as can be with no REM sleep or naps. Me on the other hand, am not fairing so well! I am dying for this boy to sleep. I keep telling myself he will soon--keep hope alive I guess. I can't say I am the nicest mom right now to the girls--very short on patience. I know it will pass and I hate wishing these months away, but it is rough for all of us! The girls are doing very well in school. We are learning "sight words" with Ash and continuing to learn those darn letters! She is improving every day though. Tally is doing great. She is loving to read more and more every day. She is doing great in math as well, which is good because I can't do much past the 4th grade level! Stay tuned--there are lots of photos to come!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Finally, some updates!

Well, there has been a lot of stuff going on for us lately. I will be posting quite a bit the next few days so bear with me or enjoy! I am late getting the girl's 1st day of school photos on, so here they are. My mom bought Ashlyn this cute dress. She has to wear a dress just about every day. I will be buying lots of tights and leggings for winter. It is easier to do that than fight with her every morning. Tally still could care less about what she wears (well, anything but a dress), but she looked cute too. The highlight of her outfit was her "twinkle toes" shoes from Sketchers. They are all she wanted for school. We had our California cousins (John, Rachael, & Katie) come for a visit in August. It was a lot of goofing off and tons of fun. The grown-ups will be meeting up in Vegas in a couple of weeks--very fun! We have just been doing a lot of homework, reading, working, and trying to fit in a little bit more summer before fall really hits us. More posts to come....