A Hard Day on the JOB!

Most days, the J-O-B is hard. Beyond, beyond rewarding, but it's some work. I will say that each day I wake up excited for what the day will bring with my two little loves. I know it will be fun no matter what we do. They are the sweetest, most beautiful, most loving boys. I'm pretty proud of me and Ross. They might be full of energy and drive us up the wall a lot, but they are ours and we love them like crazy!

We celebrated Ross's 31st birthday at home, all together. We bundled up and ventured outdoors for a walk and some playtime at our new park. Everyone had a great time!

Relaxing before dinner!

Blowing out the candles!


Saturday evening, Ross's parents and grandparents (sans Iva), came for dinner to celebrate Ross and to see our new house. It was a great night!

Cash had fun--can you tell?!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Happy Birthday to the best Daddy in the whole world!!
(we are so lucky for Ross--in too many ways to list. I'll just say he is truly the best Daddy, friend, husband and provider. Thanks Rossco-for being YOU!)

*side note*--Dane said he was going up to get dressed and this is what he came down in. Yesterday. I like the way he thinks, but...

**on another side note** It's been a quiet month. Pretty nice, in fact. We've made our house home and really like it here. We are back on our routines and schedules and life is just nice and easy right now. We have been really bad with taking pictures and updating the blog. I'll try to be better.

Where to Begin.

Seriously. Where do you begin when sooooo much has taken place in the last month?? I have lots that I could talk about. Quite a lot of pictures--although, not nearly the normal amount I have over a months span. I've been forgetful with that. Yes, it has been quite the busy month, but in a good way. A rough few weeks mixed in. Both boys were down with bad colds. Cash got 5 teeth in one week, an ear infection and 5 separate vaccines. Yuck. It was hard, but we're over it. My poor Mom dealt with the sick guys while Ross and I went to Florida. What a saint!! Our trip was great, minus the fiasco of our return home. All in all, I would have to say January was pretty darn good. But...here's to February being even better!!

Oh great... Just realized I put all the pictures in backwards. Sorry. You'll get the drift. I think.

View from the kitchen.

Living Room.

Kitchen.

What loves...

The Floridian Crew--can you tell I got some sun that day?!

Me and my P.Cole.

The boat behind the cute, buff guy--that's kind of small compared to what we saw. The homes and boats were gi-normous!

Big Daddy, Bryan and Ross.

Greg and Lynn rented a beautiful place in Del Ray Beach for the month of January. They were kind enough to share that place with several people. They also had an awesome boat that we took out on the intercostal. It was pretty cool. The whole trip was pretty cool. Except for missing our flight from Atlanta. Because we were in the bar. We are so lame. That's what vacation does to us.
Thanks for the Awesome trip, guys!!

Anyone who knows Dane, knows this is pretty normal. And that he lives in his underwear. The minute we enter the house, the clothes get taken off. He doesn't even always were pj's. The kid is nuts. Cute, but nuts.

Underwear, spidey gloves, a tent and each other. The best day ever!

OK. I don't have many pictures from Christmas. I know, there's something wrong with me. Anyways...Dane has become obsessed with Spiderman this year. Fine by me, I guess. He loved his new hat and gloves from Great Grandma Danielson. He loved everything and kept asking for more. I've been told that's really normal, but it was quite upsetting to me. How do you teach gratitude to a 3 year old??
Again, anyways...we had a wonderful Christmas. The boys had fun and were super spoiled--as were we. It came and went too fast. Next year, I'm making it last longer. Look out Ross!!

Christmas Day at Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Tammy's.
This is seriously the only picture I have that is usable. The others that were taken that day were video. What were we doing?

Cookies and milk set out for Santa!

Christmas Eve was celebrated at the Greenwald home. Another fabulous Christmas. Dane was very interested in anything Uncle Bryan. But Uncle Bryan loved that!!

Dane being Dane. Extra adorable in his tie!

Mixing in some random before Christmas pictures!

Cash insisted on wearing Dane's unders. And over his clothes. Maybe this means potty training will be a breeze!

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Do you think my boys are special? This is how they like playing Elefun.

We celebrated Christmas with my extended family, the week before Christmas. It sure is fun when we all get together. Here is all of the kids. Wowza! Most of them were in their jammers and looking so cute! Dana and Ben hosted this year and we had a great time. I wish we could all get together more often. They have a blast with each other.

Megan and Bel.
(Mia and Ava off to the sides)

Cashie and Coopie! Just 5 weeks apart. So cute!!

Long Time Comin'

~I can't find my camera cord, so there won't be any pictures for this post (and I'm waaaaayyyy behind so you'll just have to bear with me until I find more time to blog--about Christmas and such--and my camera cord).

Well, we've been away for quite awhile. Sometimes you just don't know how much you miss something until it's been unavailable to you.
The move went well and we are settling into our new home. The boys had a hard first night, but then they were like old pros and love their new rooms. The house is beautiful and looks even more so as we find proper homes for all of our beloved things. We are taking our time doing that-which is extremely hard for me.
Tomorrow will be two weeks in the new house and we are honoring that fete by heading to Del Ray Beach, Florida to meet up with The Greenwald's (ie. Ross's parents). They gave us the trip for Christmas and it couldn't come at a better time. To say that the past month and 1/2 has been stressful is an understatement. So, my wonderful Mom offered to watch the boys and we are leaving knowing they will be well taken care of and we can breathe a bit of relief from all that's been going on!

I'll end with my New Year Resolution. I am striving to make sure that everyone in my life knows how important and loved they are. I want to leave people not knowing what tomorrow brings, always telling them I love them. It's a great goal. I hope to accomplish it.

Happy New Year!

Lots Going On...

**Disclaimer: There will be a lot of rambling on, so please prepare.

We close on our new house tomorrow...With that brings lots of feelings-anxiety, worry, excitement, saddness, adventure, newness, butterflies (I could go on and on). I can't begin to tell you how excited we are, but it's also bittersweet. We are leaving the first home that Ross and I lived in together. Our boys' first home. The house that we made our home. We love our home and while we do feel sad, we are bursting with happiness about our new house and making that our home--and creating new, beautiful memories together!!

That being said, we have got a lot going on over the next week. So, we close tomorrow morning. Ross is heading over with a truckload (already packed up). He'll come home and I'll head over with more, along with a boatload of cleaning supplies--the house was a foreclosure and is in need of major cleaning. I will then take a cleaning break to meet with the painters, who are to start painting the entire house on Saturday. After cleaning all day, I will rush home to shower and meet my girls for our annual Christmas evening of fun! Saturday begins with more house stuff, and then another Christmas get together at my sister's house. After returning from Dana's, we will be packing more stuff before slumbering. Sunday will have me over at the house painting the boys' bathroom (the one room that isn't too badly damaged). Whew. Tuesday the painters finish, Wednesday the carpet cleaner and appliances arrive. Thursday more prep, packing and delivering of boxes. Then Christmas Eve at the in-laws. Christmas morning here. After naps, we head to my parents. More packing and then the big move. I'm exhausted thinking about it all. It will be amazing, but wow. It's a lot. It's going to be so much fun and we cannot wait to see how beautiful it will be when it's all ready. We've got our work cut out for us, but how great of a job, right?!

I'm not going to have time to post until after all of this craziness is over. So here are a few pictures and updates as to what we've been doing the past few days.

After it snowed the other day, we hit the driveway at Grandma's to try out her saucer sleds. The boys really liked them. I think Grandma did too...

I have been telling Mia since school started, that we would go and get manicures together. Well, I finally followed through! We had a great time with the mani's and an even better dinner at Daddy-o's after!

Dane had his last day of preschool before the winter break today. It was pajama day and he got to bring the frosting and sprinkles for decorating cookies at snacktime. The day was made better when he walked in and saw that there was snow inside the school-what?! It was pretty cool (ha ha--pun intended)!

Our evening wrapped up with Cash helping me "clean-up!" I hope this new helper phase lasts a really long time!

Merry Christmas! Believe in the Magic...

Pete and Re-Pete

Yep. We've come to THAT stage. Copying. Cute, but really annoying. If it's not Cash copying Dane, it's Dane copying Cash (because Dane hears us talking about how cute Cash is doing something, so then he does it). Cash does everything Dane does. Seriously everything. He is crazy--climbs everything, jumps off of everything, runs all over the place, chases his big brother, sits on top of Dane, tries to hug Dane constantly...whew. It makes me tired just writing it.

Dane was sitting in this chair, so of course, Cash had to join him.
(I wouldn't care so much, but Dane throws such a fit when Cash does this)

Cash climbing into the cupboard.

Dane following Cashie's lead.

One hood up, the other hood up. They did this, not me.

They are just so stinkin' cute, I think we can deal with this new stage for a bit. I'm sure it's only going to get worse.

Wanted to throw in some funnies! Dane put this on himself.

And came up with the moves himself. (actually, he may have learned them from someone else I know...)

Stuff. Fun Stuff.

We pass the ice rink every day we go to school. Dane has been asking since school started, when the rink would be ready to skate with Daddy. I told him it would be ready in Winter. Well, Winter came and he started to ask again, when he could skate. I told him when it got colder out and they flooded the rink with water. Well...it finally got cold enough and we saw that the rink had been filled. So, he immediately wanted to call Daddy and ask if they could skate that day. And skate, they did!

It was pretty cold and the warming house wasn't open. So, they skated for a short time. Ross said the improvement Dane made from last year is remarkable. He said there was even a bit of gliding taking place. I can't believe it...

Saturday was Otsego's Santa Day. We got there right after it started, yet still had to wait 45 minutes in line. Yuck. Dane did great-there were little elves passing out cookies so he just munched and looked around a top of Ross's shoulders. Cash was doing well until we reached the 1/2 hour mark. He started to get tired and hot. A cookie worked for a few minutes...

...Until he saw Santa. Then he turned into a wreck! Poor Dane was so excited to tell Santa he's been a good boy and wants a speedy skateboard for Christmas. So, Cash left and Dane did what he needed to! And left very happy!!

See you in a few weeks, Santa!

After getting some apple cider, we ventured outside (into a line again) to take a sleigh ride. Cash was doing better and is was nice to be in the fresh air.

As soon as we took off with Valentine and Cole (Dane asked the driver their names--and held the reins for our ride)! Cash broke down again and SCREAMED the entire ride. Super fun! I think next year will be better :o)