This looks about right

                                             YMCA Santa Photos 2012

       Austin holding Ryan - my ugly Christmas sweater in the works in the   background

                 Christmas Eve, this may be the best family photo we have in 2012

 The Annual Christmas Eve Nativity.  Baby Jesus, Mary and Angel

                                                  Christmas PJ's

      You know when you read your friends blog, and every picture is beautiful, they constantly look like a super model, their family picture should be in a magazine, their children are perfectly put together, and their Christmas was perfect in every way.  Yeah, one thing about reading my blog, you will never get that feeling here.  Yes, people this is the best of the best.
     Lee and I hardly ever take pictures, not because we don't want to, but because we have the world's oldest camera and we always forget it.  Then we hardly ever look picture worthy.  We haven't had a family photo for over 2 years and even then it was at JC Penny.   I ooooh and awe at everyone else's family portraits, but dang, I will not spend hundreds of dollars on a photograph.  I am sorry I cannot bring myself to do it.  Especially when I feel like I have the know how but not the equipment.  So when my children look back on their lives in photos they will see the truth.
    Yes, half the time you weren't wearing pants, no we never bothered doing your hair.  Yes you wore the same outfit for 1 entire year.  Yes we got the cheapest Santa photos we could find, yes your Mom is wearing a Hoody Footy.  Yes your parents did look young, and yes they were and continue to be awesomely embarrassing.  No fabricated photo shop quality picture perfect memories here, just the real freaking deal!  But that is one thing I love about us, what you see is what you get.  And if you ask me, it's pretty dang good.

A picture says 1000 words right??? Here are my words.

Any Day...

So no picture here because Lee just changed around everything on the pude again and I can't even begin to know how to find them.  Anyway, life is well underway.  We have been in our house for 2 months now.  Finally I think we are mostly done.  There will always be those "house projects" but really, we are in.  Still a few things to put on walls etc but it looks and feels like a home.  Since then Makenzie has started Kindergarten.  In fact we've been going for a month now so we are pro's.  She is doing great.  Loves her teachers, love her friends, loves the bus.  Life is good.  Now if only something could wear her out.  Seriously, the girl is an energizer bunny.  She never stops.  I have to wake her up at 6am everyday and she pushes all the way until 8pm no problem.  Even then she's fighting sleep.   Then there is Austin who has trained himself to get up at 5:30am and I want to die.  My kids won't sleep.  And now I am about to add number 3.  As if I need another kid who doesn't sleep. 
   So that brings us to now.  We are just waiting for number 3 to arrive.  Any day now really.  Am I excited, yes and no.  Is this terrible to think?  The other day Lee and I were talking and he goes "we planned this right? We sat down and had a conversation about having another child right?"  And in my head I was thinking... I know, what were we thinking.  Then today Austin goes "Mommy I don't want a baby."  Then Makenzie heard that and goes, "I don't know if I want a baby either."  These are all comments that a pregnant woman should not be hearing a week before her due date.  Now I'm thinking..  "what the crap are we doing?"  We will love this baby right?  Am I alone in having a hard time wrapping my mind around loving another child.  I love my 2 children so much, what if I don't love the 3rd?  If I am this much of a crazy person right now, I am doomed in 3 weeks.  Anyway we will keep you posted on the arrival of our hopefully bundle of joy.

Home Sweet Home

So it finally happened. Lee broke down and bought me a house. Nah, he loves me and he loves our home. I just can't believe it. Everyday I am still like, what?? This is mine? Well the bank's.. but you know. Anyway, we came in and did a lot of painting. They had some colors that weren't really my style, I tried to post the before and after, they aren't in exact order so use your imagination. Anyway they had some really bold browns and yellows and oranges, barf, so we went with grays and blues to soften things up a bit. I am really happy with how it turned out. We got all the major projects done but there is still more painting to be done, that will have to wait. Also I have been scrubbing this place from top to bottom, it was pretty dirty when we moved in, so now it is deep cleansed. I also went ahead and spray painted most of my door knobs. A little trick I learned on pinterest, hope it lasts. But it makes a huge difference. Too bad my hinges are still bronze. I have knobs to put on cabinets, hardware to change, bathrooms to paint......the list goes on, but we are excited. I threw in a picture of the back yard just because it is so awesome. The land behind the fence is ours as well and it is level. We just bought a trampoline to put back there. Should be fun. We are so excited and feel so blessed to have such a lovely home we can grow into. I obviously didn't post every room, maybe later when I finally get everything set up, or when my kids finally have furniture.

Seriously what is wrong with me???

I know back from the dead! But probably not for long. My blogging skills have slipped into the potty a long with my hot running bod, and probably a few of my parenting skills. But it's all good. Maybe by December of 2012 I will get my act together. So for those of you who have long awaited this post, boy are you in for a doozy! (Sadly though, not really.)

1. Life is good, we are prego sauce. 18 weeks to be exact, we find out the gender on May 5th. We will then celebrate with tacos and lots of them. I am guessing girl. Who knows?

2. We are actively searching for a house to buy.. Come July we better own a house, that is all I have to say.

3. We have been fortunate enough to see a lot of people that we love. We took a much needed vacation to Richmond/DC. I got to see almost everyone that I love and miss and adore. And thanks to Talai for hosting me for much longer than expected. And thanks to Melissa for her nursing skills, and thanks to Alisha for hosting a great get together with great ladies that I miss so much!! So good to see you all.

4. That's about it. School is out in May, hopefully we will find a house, move in, start kindergarden, have a baby in September, get some visitors and that should take us to the holidays. Life is looking pretty uncertain at the moment, but the future holds good things.

Here are some random pictures, nothing coincides with anything, just enjoy.

Austin grows up

So our little baby is growing up. I don't even think you can call him a baby anymore but he is so dang precious he'll always be my baby. He had a great birthday with great friends. Pizza, cupcakes, and friends, it was low key and totally great. Thanks Aunt Adrianne for all the presents. As you can see they were hit.

Our first real family vacation

We went on our first real family vacation last week to Miramar Beach FL. It was just us and the kids and we set off for a week at the beach. It was amazing. We had such a great time. our condo was great, right on the beach. The weather was perfect. The water was amazing. The kids slept in the same room for the first time ever and did great. Lee and I went to bed early a few nights and caught up on sleep. Our days consisted of mornings at the beach and pool. Lunch's and reading on the balcony overlooking the oceans. Afternoons sight seeing or lazing at the beach. It was awesome. We did have a few highlights. We took the kids to Gator Beach and got pretty up close and personal with some gators. We even got to pet one. Another afternoon we went to Gulf World in Panama City. It was pretty much like a miniature Sea World. But it was great because it was like Sea World minus everything we hate (lines, crowds, too big of a venue etc.) This place was pretty intimate and there was hardly anyone there. The kids thought it was awesome. Austin pet some stingrays and just went wild for the sea turtles. Kenzie loved the dolphins and birds. I have to admit I loved it all. After that we went to eat at Sharkey's open air restaurant on the beach. It was the most beautiful night. We ate right about the time the sun was going down.
We enjoyed running around on the beach and then the karaoke started. I told Lee I wanted to do it so he encouraged me. I asked Makenzie if she would want to do it with me. I expected her to be like "huh?" but as soon as I asked her if she wanted to sing with me she got so excited. She kept asking "is it our turn to sing yet?" So finally they called us up and Makenzie stole the show. It was so cute. She just belted it out, I couldn't hear myself or anything but her.
It was cute everyone stopped eating just to watch her. We had people coming around the corner from the hostess stand so they could watch this little 4 year old girl sing karaoke. It was really fun. Kind of a dream of mine, singing with my daughter. Enjoying something with her that I love so much. It was great. We spent the rest of our vacation in the sand or in the water. Makenzie is a little fish and wanted to spend every waking minute in the ocean. She is becoming quite the little swimmer. She made a lot of friends on the beach, so it was nice she had little friends to play with in the water. Austin perfected the art of throwing sand, or destroying anything that resembled a sand castle. That kid is all destruction right now. Coming home was hard, but we sure have some great memories to hold on to.