Holiday Fun!

We had a great time this past weekend with all our visitors! Megan and Mike arrived very late Thursday night last week and stayed until early Monday morning. They had to head back for Mike to work the night shift (he is a cop.) We enjoyed seeing them again as it had been a while. They are getting very excited as they are also closing on their house next week!

On Friday night, my mom and sister Kim arrived. On Saturday, Megan, Kim and I went to the city pool (where I got nice and sun burn!), while Mike and Hans made a trip to Mitchell to go to Menard's and Cabellas (boy stuff!). Mom stayed here at the house with Jacob so that he could take his much needed nap! After the pool, we stopped and looked at a local store that was advertising their patio furniture at 50% off. I was able to find a really good deal on a table with 6 chairs. This was a house warming gift to us from my mom. She also bought Jacob a play set (swing, slide) for his late birthday / early Christmas gift! That was one of the items that Hans and Mike picked up at Menard's. It will be built once Hans' parents come the weekend of the 15th and Hans has his dad's help.

We really enjoyed having the patio table, and ate a few meals outside since having it. We also enjoy it in the evenings when the sun is going down and it isn't so hot outside. :) On Saturday night, Mom, Megan, Mike, Hans and I all went to watch the fireworks! Kim wasn't feeling well, so she stayed home with Jacob as he was already in bed. We enjoyed the show and did our best to not be eaten alive by all the mosquitoes!

Sunday we just had a lazy day after Church playing games and visiting. Then we had to say goodby to M&M early Monday morning. After they left, we were able to get a few more hours sleep before Jacob was insistent on us being awake (Grandma wasn't keeping him entertained enough I guess). We hung out and then went down to check out the 4th of July celebration festivities going on. Most of the stuff had already ended, but we were able to walk around some booths that were set up in the park down town. We then came home and Jacob had a blast playing with Grandma and Aunt Kim in his play room!

Then after dinner on Monday, Mom got a couple good family pictures for us!

Next week we have some exciting things going on!! On Monday 7/11 we will be signing the papers to officially own our house!!!!! I am so excited! Then on Friday 7/15 Hans parents are coming for a visit!!!

I am also happy to report that Jacob is doing very good with sleeping in his own bed and for most of every night! I was worried that he would regress with the full house, but he did great!

Visitors!

We are having a influx of visitors starting tonight!!!! Megan and Mike are coming to visit for the weekend!!! I can't believe that it has already been almost 6 months since Jacob and I have seen Mike, and 5 months for Megan! Then on Friday night, my mom and sister Kim will be arriving and be here until Tuesday! Then we will have a break for a week and a half, and then Hans' parents are coming for a visit!


I have been keeping busy with my normal work, but I also opened an Etsy store to sell my hand made cards! I received my first custom order for some baby shower invitations and they are going to be going out in the mail today! If you would like to read more about them go here....

Well I hope you all have a fun and safe 4th of July weekend!

2 years 2 months 1 week and 1 day

Is how long Jacob nursed for! I have been so ready for him to be done for a while now, but he just wasn't ready to stop. Well last week we finally hit a wall with his sleeping issues and we had to start some sleep training. Thankfully that has been going very well! And with him sleeping in his own bed every night all night he doesn't ask to nurse! He will now fall asleep on his own after being tucked in and given a good night kiss and hug and a story read to him. I am so proud of the improvements that we have all made in the past couple of days!

On another note, I started my 90 day challenge at Curves today! I am really excited about this challenge and am looking forward to the results.

We are going to have quite the busy house this coming weekend! Megan and Mike are coming for the holiday weekend and so are my mom and sister Kim! Then on the 15Th of July, Mark and Diane are coming for a while! And of course on the 11th we close on our house!!

New Cards...and update

Last night I made a belated birthday card for our friend Brooke. She had been on vacation over her birthday and I kept forgetting to get it made.

Front of Envelope

 Back of envelope

Front of Card

 Inside of card

Then today I made a birthday card for my Nana. Her birthday is at the end of this week.

 Front of envelope

 Back of envelope

 Front of card

 Inside of card

 Back of card

This week we are just going back to normal life after having my sister Kim stay with us last week. We enjoyed having her and I know she enjoyed being around Jacob.

In 17 days Jacob and I will be flying to Colorado to visit Hans parents, his oldest sister and her family and his uncle. I am so excited as this will be the first time that our family in CO (besides Oma and Boppy) will get to meet Jacob. I also get to meet my sister-in-laws 9 month old twin girls!

Hans job search is still in the works. He was recontacted by the company in PA and informed that they had sent him the wrong email stating that he was not still being considered for the job, and he really is still being considered for it! Last week they told him they hope to be making job offers sometime this week! I am crossing all my fingers and toes hoping that something great comes of this and that we will finally know where/when we will be going.

PFD Day!!!!

Today is the day that Alaskans love the most! Today is the day that we all woke up to have a nice little deposit of $1,281 each in our banks accounts from the State of AK! We are being smart with ours and they went directly into savings, but let me tell you stores are CRAZY from today and for the next few weeks as people get out and spend spend spend all that "free" money. I purposely stayed away from all stores today because I knew that they would be crazy.

Jacob had his first dentist appointment today! I have been wanting to get him in for just a check as he already has all but his 2 yr molars and they are actually already trying to come in. I had originally called the dentist office that I am a patient at and they said they don't start seeing kids until age 3. I then called a pediatric dentist that my younger sisters used to see and they too didn't want to see him unless he was having a problem until he is 2.5! the reason I want him checked is so that I know that he doesn't have any problems. So today I had my 1/2 yearly cleaning and I was talking to the hygienist and she said that they could see him as she has seen patients younger than 3. Then she asked me if I could bring him back in the afternoon as they had an opening.  So after picking Jacob up from daycare off to the dentists office we went. He did pretty good, they were able to get a good look, and he got a bag full of goodies! We both even got $30 gift cards from their referral program! The dentist told me that his teeth look great and to just keep brushing them 2 times a day. :)

I am really excited for the 17th as my sister Kim is coming to stay with us for a week. She is coming here to help me with a huge project that I have going on and need some extra help with. I have not seen her since Jacob and I stayed at my moms in February and went to WDW in March.

Hans' job search has been going good. He had a phone interview with a company in Baltimore earlier this week. He also received a email back from the company in PA stating that they made a mistake by sending him the email stating that he was no longer in the running and that he truly still is in the running and they will be making their decision the week of October 18th!

On Tuesday and Wednesday nights this week we had ACES HOCKEY!!!! We are very excited that the hockey season is back. These games were the preseason games where they paint the ice purple (the previous 3 years it has been pink) for cancer awareness. All the profits from the games went to the local Breast Cancer and one other cancer charity. We came to the realization that hockey games and Jacob are not going to be easy. He didn't want to sit in his seat, and would have much preferred to be able to go up and down the stairs constantly. It got so bad at Wednesday's game that we had to leave early. From now on I believe that we will be getting a baby sitter for the games that we go to.

I have finally downloaded the pictures from my camera from the last month and I will post some in the next few days! I have lots of pictures of some really cute cards that I have been making with the cricut!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! We spent today relaxing and getting ready for our camping trip next weekend with Megan and Mike. I am so excited to take Jacob camping for the first time! I did make ribs in the crock pot (they were really yummy!!!) and twice baked potatoes. Oma and Boppy came over for our last "Sunday dinner" as they are leaving tomorrow :(.

This past week we have been helping them as much as we we able with the packing of all their household items. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Hans went over and helped Mark load the 28ft Semi-Trailer. They worked very hard and long days and got all but the really heavy items. Then on Thursday the professional movers came to pack their piano and some other things. Then Friday morning the trailer was picked up to be taken down to the docks and loaded on the barge for Seattle. Once it reaches Seattle, it will be trucked to Colorado and delivered to their house there for them to unpack.

We knew this day was coming for about 10 months, however it doesn't seam like it should already be here. I held it together when they had to leave and then quickly email some pictures to Diane that I took tonight (see below!). I am sure that it will really hit me tomorrow when I get the call that they are pulling out of town, and then later in the week when I might normally go and hang out (yes I am weird and actually get along with my in-laws and have a pretty great relationship with them). However, I have to keep reminding myself that we will see Mark next month when he comes back to AK and then we will see Diane when we all travel to Seattle for Hans' grandmothers 90th birthday. (That is the trip that we are also going to go and see Brad Paisley in concert! )

In other news my sister Kimberly got her drivers license this past week! I can't believe that she is old enough to drive! She is enjoying her new freedom (well so is my mom, as she can now send Kim to the store to pick stuff up for her).

Well that is all I can think of for now....so here is a picture of Jacob with Oma and Boppy!

Sleep training......

So I am trying to get Jacob back to sleeping in his crib at night. Before we went on vacation in November I would put him in his crib when he fell asleep and he would stay in there until between 3:30 and 5:30ish when I would move him into bed with Hans and I to nurse him back to sleep and allow me to sleep until I needed to get up. Well that stopped when we were on vacation and he slept with us almost the entire time. Add in that he loves to take his nap while at Oma's with her it is really been a hard time to get him back into the crib. So tonight I gave him a bath, and then nursed him to sleep. He stayed sleeping for maybe 10 minutes, so I went in and nursed him again, and laid him down again. This time he woke up, so I put him on his stomach as this is how he prefers to sleep. I sat there patting his back and shhhhhhh shhhhhhhhhing for what felt like forever. He then decided that it was time to fill his diaper so I had to give in and take him out of the crib. At this point I was ready to give up for the night so we came back out to the living room and I tried to nurse him but he just wanted to play. So Hans played with him and he finally hit his melt down point and I nursed him again. When he fell asleep I put him back in the crib with NO problems!!!! I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will last at least a few hours and maybe this will be our turning point to getting him back to napping and sleeping in his crib!!

My picture for the day today is of Jacob playing IN his new toy box. Kim thought that it would be funny to put him in it with his toys. He really liked it as you can tell from the picture!

Vaction booked and Kim passed her permit test!

So today my mom booked my tickets to go to Arizona! While I am down there will be Sara's spring break and she is taking the girls, Jacob and I to Walt Disney World!!!! I am so excited!!!!!

Today I took Kim to the DMV to get her permit and she passed! Only missed 2 questions on the test. I guess the third time really does the trick. Then this evening Hans, Jacob and I along with Brooke went to the Aces game. They were not doing very well, so we left early. For my picture today it is in honor of Kim as it is her and her permit. I also am loading a picture that I took earlier in the week at a hockey game of Jacob on my phone and just was able to get transferred to my computer today (thanks hubby!)