Sometimes I get so caught up in being a housewife and not a mom. Ryan is good at reminding me on what's really important in life.

P's Halloween Party

He leans over to me and whispers
"Mom I am so glad that you are here with me."
It's nice to be loved...

Annual Halloween Party

For the past couple of years, Grandma and Grandpa Karlson have held a Halloween party. To say they go all out is an understatement! They received an invitation a few weeks ago and have been counting down the days. Grandpa picked them up at 3:00 yesterday and the plan was for them to stay the night. At 1:30 am the dogs started barking. I looked out the window and saw the kids and Kerry sitting in our driveway.
Tanner was so croupy and needed to come home. They tried and tried calling but both phones were dead. Oops! Tanner is still coughing but doing tons better.

Here are just a few of the AMAZING pictures that Shara took this morning.

Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins

If you look closely to this picture, you can see ryan's hands holding H and T's pumpkins up!

Before I forget....

Just a few funny things that the kids have said that I am afraid I will forget!

Preston-
P:Mom, this girl in my class has a crush on Spencer. He doesn't have a crush on her. And Christian and Rachel have crushes on each other. They have even kissed.
Me: It's not ok to kiss girls. Only your mom and Dad.
P: No mom, its ok if you have a crush on a person to kiss.
NO ITS NOT!

Hailey-
H:Mom I want to go to Arlins house
M:Arlin is at work
H:I want to go to his mom's house
M:you mean his wife's house?
H:ya
M:Arlin doesn't have a wife. He is not married
H:That's so sad. Maybe Jesus will bring him one.

Jacob aka Tanner
For some strange reason Tanner likes to be called Jacob. I have no idea where it came from. Sometimes when you ask him what his name is, he will reply Jacob. Hailey often called him it even when they weren't playing house. We quickly discouraged it and it is a little better now. Strange little boy!

This is a daily occurrence at our house. Tanner and Hailey make a huge mess. It usually makes me crazy but I need to let go and let them use their little imaginations. (as long as they clean it up) Having Preston be at school all day has made these two create a strong little bond. I hope that they can remain close all their lives.
Check out T's awesome outfit....he has on Hawaiian print shorts with dogs on them and a reunion shirt. Great! Its 60 degrees, good mom.

Ry Ry

Ryan turns 30 today. I met (fell in love with, re met, was lucky enough to actually know the guy) when I was 18 and he was 21. 8 1/2 years has totally flown by! During those years I have come to know that he is the hardest working person I know, he loves his children and would do anything for them, he is honest, he is passionate about life, sports never come first, his patients has grown, I can talk to him about anything. I love him so much and am so grateful that he is mine forever.

Julia

Every time we bring a new baby into our home I am so amazed at how much love I can have for them. Words cannot express the love that I have for my sweet little Julia. She has the most dainty little features and is such a good baby. I cannot believe that she is almost a month old. I wish that they could stay little forever. Although she has been part of our family for only a month it seems like she has been with us forever. I cannot imagine our life without her.

I told Ryan to check the blog while he was gone so that he could see what we have been up to. Obviously I havent been doing a good job at that because I have been zonking at 8 every night with the kids! I am going to try to redeem myself! Sorry Ry.....



I have been trying and trying to take a picture of the 3 kids and it is nearly impossible. I think that the last one is as good as it gets!(....for now)


Yesterday Preston stayed home with a really yucky throat and fever. We all stayed in our jammies all day. (felt sorry for my sister in law Jesamy who was lucky enough to see us in all of our glory!) The kids got on their old shirts and potato printed hearts. They were pretty excited to use my paints since that's all I had and usually is totally off limits.

Love you Ry.....COME HOME!

Ry left last night for Pennsylvania. He is going to be gone for 9 days.
So far so good! We have had such a nice day. We went to church this morning. When we got home, we were so cold that we filled up the bathtub and stuck our feet in. We've played hide and seek, the monster and the horse game. There has been very minimal arguing and every one has been quite happy.
My wonderful mother in law has offered to take them over the weekend, when I am sure that I will need the break! But after today, I think that I will be ok! Even if every day is like today, it will be such a treat to only think about myself for 24 hours!
This is Ry shaving down his beloved (sick) beard. If you know me at all, I HATE facial hair. I have even threatened him that I would grow out my arm pit hair! (too much info.....sorry) He got a beard trimmer and shaved off a good 3/4 inches. More than he wanted but it made a very happy wife!

There is nothing like a flower in a blender pitcher to make Daddy feel better!!!

I couldn't go on and not post a few of my favorite Christmas pictures! We were lucky enough to have it at the Karlsons with the whole family!

Tanner loves his uncle Wesley
Princess Hailey

We saw Santa in the Karlsons backyard. Pres hid!
Mona helping the kiddos write a letter to Santa.
Papa reading a Christmas story.

Hailey held a tea party. She was so tickled that everyone attended!


Sledding on Christmas Eve. Ry and Hailey were being towed behind the four wheeler. They popped the raft!

Going Private!

After debating and debating I have decided to make my blog private. If by chance there is someone out there that wants an invite to it, and I don't have their email address let me know! (doubt there is, but you never know!) I will leave it public for a couple more days!

I am a very mean mommy! Hailey has been having a hard time going to preschool for the last few weeks. She is very attached to me. Wherever I go, Hailey goes.
She talks and talks about going to school all week and then when it comes time to go she hides her head and latches on to me. Last week she threw a fit for 10 mins in the hall of her preschool. I couldn't do that to her teacher any more!
We have been talking about how big girls go to school without crying, big girls are happy, big girls do this and this and this. It didn't work today, so I got mean. I told her that when she got home, I was going to take all of the toys out of her room and she was going to stay in there until preschool was done. I was prepared to hold on to her door handle for 2 hours!
We got home and I got a black garbage sack and put her toys in it. (she even helped me, silly girl) She went in and was not happy. (I told her that if she wanted to go to school at any time I would take her) After a few mins of unhappiness she said that she had to go to the bathroom. I told her to go but that she had to get back in when she was done. After she went, she grinned and said she was ready to go back to school.
I hate being mean!....But I hope that this solved her problem....(good thing I love her to pieces)

We have been drinking a lot of this:

You would think that after almost 6 days, Tanner would be over his croup. Poor little kiddo... In fact, he just woke up coughing so hard that he threw up.

I just got home from watching ry play city league basketball. My sweet mom came over so that I could go watch him. Crazy guys have games at 830 and 930 every Wednesday. I never realized how tiny ryan is until tonight. Everyone towered over him!

Sunday Randoms

I don't know why this picture wouldn't turn the right way.... This is the second tea party that ry and I attended tonight. The first was H's and this one was P's. Delicious!




Meggie's 2nd favorite human is definitely Preston.
We got new yummy smelling not doggie smelling carpet and have a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. This is a usual occurrence with him yelling I'm stuck, I'm stuck!
I came downstairs tonight to get the kids a drink and went past something on my rug. I didn't have my contacts on so I didn't see what it was. As I came past it again I stepped on it with bare feet. It was a little wet and made the sickest squishing sound. I looked closer and it was A DEAD BIRD! I was so grossed out by the noise that I couldn't pick it up and called my neighbor to do my dirty work! (ry was at a meeting)
I took the pic far away so I wouldnt gross anyone out!