A most heartfelt welcome

I don't know if I can properly express my joy and happiness,

so I'll just say this,

Congratulations Julie and Brad!

Miss Catherine Ann(e) arrived yesterday morning and made beautiful music as she cried hello to the world!

I can't wait to hug her parents and share in their joy, and of course, give snuggles to the precious bundle herself!  

I love you all and wish you nothing but the pleasure of parenting!  

Patience with the Whine

ugh...

Since Elaina was born, I've always been grateful that the "challenging" phases for each of them happened to avoid occurring at the same time.  When Lila would have her weeks of "issues", Elaina was in general a good, happy, baby.  And when Miss Elaina decided to give us grief, Lila was well behaved, and even-tempered.

The past few weeks, well...

the worlds have collided!  And it's not pretty.

I currently am dealing with an emotionally unstable 3.5year old, who must cry 20 times a day, and carries a persistent whine that makes me want to drink myself into oblivion.  We've tried the ignorance approach, but trying to block out her crying for 30 minutes can push both Ryan and I to the breaking point.  We've tried discipline, we've tried being gentle... the whine continues.

Deep breath.

Then, I've got miss naughty in the throws of the terrible 2's.  All the typical, hitting, biting, "NO", "Mine", nasty throw-down tantrums, you can come to expect of a willful Type-A two year old.  She taunts her already irritable sister, and finds amusement in defying both of her parents.

I realize kids will go through phases.  I realize that at some point this shall pass and it won't seem like such a big deal.  I realize that in the grand scheme of things, life could be a lot worse, but dammit if it isn't FRUSTRATING!!!!

If any of you out there have any pearls of wisdom, or just words of encouragement, I'd be delighted to hear them!  Just let me know I'm not alone in my moments when I look at them and think "it's a good thing I love you so much..."!

I'm going to gladly go fold my laundry in peace, as the little darlings are at daycare today.

Thank God for small blessings!

:)

Happy Birthday to a pretty great lady!

This morning we gathered for a special birthday celebration for the greatest Mother-in-Law I could ask for!

Brunch, photos, candles, and some homemade cards... not a bad day at all!

Barb, we love you!

Hope your Birthday was wonderful, like you!

Here's a few family shots we managed today!

~Nice shot of the family~

One of the many "practice" takes!

Ryan loves his mommy!
Although, I'm not sure she's happy with him at this moment!

The whole gang!

Volovsek Reunion ~ Camping

Well, I survived!

I'm not a camper.

Sorry.

But that said, I did manage to enjoy parts of this past weekend!

Our dear neighbors were kind enough to borrow us their pop-up camper, which was a giant improvment over our previous plan to tent-it!

Ryan's sister also has a nice camper, so we were able to utilize their facilities as well!

The girls were SO excited to go and had a blast!  Lila had quite the pout when it was time to pack up and come home.

We did all the things you do while camping... swim, spend time outside, eat way too much crap-food, roast marshmallows, light sparklers, etc!  

The weekend was not without it's difficult moments, and by difficult, I mean moments at which I thought my head might explode with frustration.  But I'm pretty sure that's part of the camping experience too, right?!

It was great seeing Ryan's family... the campground was full of kiddos, and it's always fun to chat and catch up! 

Our stinkers thought the camper was SOOO COOL! :)

Lila had fun swimming with Daddy!

Amber and Brekken ~ Too cute!

Lila got sand in her shoes... so she took them off and parked it.

Al & Ginny's gang!
I took about 10 photos and not one had everyone looking normal~
what does that say about this family?!

Sparkler Time!
Carter thought it was a firework that was gonna make noise!

Couldn't resist putting one of my hubby's nice bum in here!!

See you again next year!

Happy Fathers Day!

Our family is blessed to have many guys worthy of this title!

Papa Dave, Grandpa Rich, Grandpa Alan....  WE LOVE YOU!!!

And of course, the love of my life and the reason I have such beautiful chidren...

Ryan, the girls and I love you so much!

Thank you for being the wonderful father you are!

To all the great men out there who lucky enough to be called DAD... 

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Have a good weekend

This was the view out my bedroom window last night.

This was the view out my bedroom window this morning when I woke up.

I can't complain!

Have a great weekend!

Come Over

I'm a music fan.

I love just about any kind of music you can throw at me.

But deep down... I'm a country girl!  

And because it's summer, and I love Kenny, and this video is steamy... I thought I'd share!

Enjoy!

Squirt Guns

The original plan was that I would be returning to the work scene this week, but late last Thursday, things changed and now my start date is still TBD.  This is a great thing, however, because I'm tickled with my new job!!

That being said, I now have a little more time at home.  

Hmmmm, time at home during the gorgeous summer... I won't complain!

On Monday I had plans to run errands with the kidlets, but alas, 2 of the 3 of us woke up with our cranky pants on, and well... it just wasn't going to happen.

So, instead we ran to the in-town store for the bare nessecities, came home, put our suits on, and dragged the pool out of it's winter hibernation!  While at the store, my girls were lured into the crap-toy isle and in order to avoid an arguement (I may have been one of the 2 with my cranky pants on), we paid $2.97 for 2 tiny squirt guns.

This purchased proved to be my saving grace for the day!  Those little buggers were the highlight of the day!

Sometimes folks, it's the little things!!!

Doesn't this just Scream SUMMER?!?

"Helping" me water my bushes!

Cutie patootie!

Not quite as cute.  This is Lila's "angry face".  She's mad that it's almost time to go inside.

Now, to tackle a few household projects before I head out the door to have lunch with a certain special cousin, then finally take on the errands I passed up on Monday!

Happy Hump Day!

*oooh, that reminds me, I may need to read a little more Fifty... ;)