Carriage Ride on the Plaza

Lee's parents took us to Kansas City Sunday to shop around, see all the pretty lights on the Plaza and to check a carriage ride with grandkids off their bucket list. It was a fun evening.

Posing in front of the Carriage.

Anderson is already tired of mommy taking pictures every time he turns around (see new camera post below!) so he refuses to look at me.

Adri and her baby blues. :)

Grandpa Larry (ee) and Grandma Pam (ham) with the kids

Waiting for dinner

Say Cheese!

We got a dslr camera for Christmas this year and I LOVE IT!!! I haven't hardly put it down. The world of dslr photography is amazingly complex so I am playing around with the camera as much as I can and trying to learn as quickly as possible. I'm not very patient when it comes to a few things. Like, I want awesome pictures NOW! So anyway, here are a few shots I've taken the past few days. (i had over 200 pics and we've only owned the thing since Friday) :)







We had our first ever Ugly Christmas Sweater party to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family. It was lots of fun!!! Here are a few pics from the night.


Matt Kettle (dressed as Mayor of the North Pole) and Mit Winter (dressed as, whoknowswhat) were by far the best dressed there.

Matt
Jenni (with the bean) and Me. Don't worrry, we'll knock em dead next year since we'll have all year to plan!
Kurt and Lee sported some of the ugly sweaters that I managed to sneak out of my dad's closet. He bought the one Lee is wearing in 1983! Enough said.

Susan and Mit, the happy hosts!

Boo decorating cookies

A1 and A2 wearing vintage birthday hats that my grandma made for her kids' birthdays! Yes, we are aware that they look like dunce hats. :) Based on their faces, they are too.

If you can't tell, I'm smitten with this girl!

2 years ago, a little drop of sunshine entered our lives and she's been shining ever since! I had no clue how much impact this baby girl would have on my life- my personal life, my marriage, my motherhood, everything, but looking back on the past 2 years, I am so thankful for the gift of Miss Adrianna Claire. She is truly a gift from God. I thank God for allowing me the pleasure of raising her. I thank God for the way he has used her to change me, change her daddy, change the ways in which I prioritize my marriage and my fmaily, change the way I see my own mom, change the way I experience God. Yes, all of this in one little bundle of pink sunshine!!!

So, here she is, my precious (not so much) baby girl at age 2!

Happy 2nd Birthday Adrianna Claire Leinwetter!


Sweet baby girl, we love you more than you can ever know!


Irresistible dimples! This is the first thing everone notices about her. Even at birth, when the nurse handed her to me, she said, "look! she has dimples!" Proof she's an angel. :)


This is the sh** eating grin (sorry, but there is no other word for it).


The (semi)pigtails


Her "bubby" as she calls him! She loves this kid to death!


Best Friends

What?? A blog update??

Where have I been?? I don't even know, but here's a MEGA update to make up for neglecting my far away friends and family of pics and updates on the Leinwetter crew.

Trip to aunt Susan's lakehouse at the end of the summer




Anderson went on his first train ride with Grandpa Larry, Dad, and Grandpa B. He thought it was pretty cool but Lee said he was too concerned about trying to see all the parts of the train moving to get a good pic.


Hay rack ride with Grandma Pam and Dad


Our biggest news is that Miss Adri Claire is potty trained! I always said I would try her at 22 months and when it came, I thought "is she really ready?" But she took to it like a champ. I'm so glad to be a diaper free house!!!!!! Its soooo nice!

Yes, she is sitting on the potty backwards. We've fixed that little "kink"


Family Fun night with some great friends and their kids. Our kids' first time to go bowling. They had a lot of fun. Anderson asks to go back all the time.






Halloween!
Anderson was an engineer and Adri was a ghost (her nickname is Boo so it was fitting!). My mom made her costume. She is so talented. I try to learn as much as I can from her. The week of Halloween, Adri had a trick-or-treat play group with her PAT (Parents As Teachers) group, then I took the kids to visit Lee's grandparents and we also visited Mimi at work and Grandma Pam at work in costumes. Then my parents hosted a trick-or-treat party with our friends, their kids, and their parents (grandparents). It was tons of fun!!






Anderson sported a wild mohawk for Cubbies crazy hair night. He was super proud of it. I didn't realize how long Anderson's hair was until I started the crazy hair process. Needless to say, he got a haircut the next day.



Funny story... (i didn't see this happen, my cousin who helps with Cubbies told me about it)

At the beginning of Cubbies, the leader picks a few kids to come to the front and say that weeks bible memory verse on the microphone. Anderson gets picked this week (the wild hair must have gotten him noticed). So he goes to the front and stands in line with the other 4 kids. First kid grabs the microphone, says his verse, the kids cheer, he steps off the stage. Next kid, same thing. Anderson is next. He grabs the microphone, the leader says, "Anderson can you tell us your memory verse?" Anderson takes a breath and then says into the microphone, "i love my mom and she made my hair real tall and orange." Then he hands the leader her microphone back and hops off the stage.

Bible verse, what?? Oh well, he enjoyed himself for sure!


And last, but certainly not least, a baby Kidd update...
First the fun news- Jen and Kurt had 2 names picked out and Jen just couldn't pick out "the one" so she left it up to Kurt. He tought about it for a while and chose. But instead of just telling her, he decided to buy a blanket off the registry and have it monogrammed. Isn't that cute??? So after 2 weeks of waiting, the blanket came. Here he is giving her the box.


Jenni is opening it. (yes she is in a hospital gown, more on that below)


And the winner is...



On a more serious note, Jenni went to the hospital Saturday night b/c she started massively bleeding. After a long few days, the bleeding has ceased. She and baby are currently stable, however, jenni's condition is critical. Most likely she will be in the hospital for the duration of her pregnancy. At this point, we don't know much. Only that the baby will be taken early, but not yet, and that Jen will have a c-section. In the grand scheme of things, this is good news. The baby is still thriving and growing inside which is what we want. Jen did get a round of steroids to help develop the babies lungs which will be crucial if she is born any time soon. What we DO know is that Jennifer and baby Emily are in God's hands. We have felt his presence every minute of this journey. Saturday night our famly experienced a true miracle as the baby seemed to be totally unaffected by the crisis going on around her. Praise GOD! Please pray for Jenni, Kurt and baby Emily. We have felt every single one of them for sure!

On Monday, Jennifer had a sono and the baby flashed the "a OK" hand signal.

What a sign from above!!!

Some inspiration for my Mommy friends

My MOPS group started this month and has been amazing so far. Last week we had a stay at home mom come and talk with us about Time Management and Motherhood. It was awesome!! She really challenged us to take a deep look at our days and figure out what we are really spending our time on and if, in the eternal perspective, those things REALLY mattter. She shared this quote with us and I just love it. The first 4 words and the last part, I keep repeating to myself over and over again.

"Busyness is not Godliness. God is not impressed with your production capacity as much as He is concerned that the product of your home - your own children - be chiseled and molded and perfected to the best of your ability. You may tire of this mundane task, but the Lord admonishes you not to grow weary and promises to supply the energy and strength as needed in this all-important task (Isaiah 40:28-31). God's strength is for what He plans for you to do - not stamina for everything you might want to do."
- Dorothy Patterson

I love all my mommy friends (and the non mommy ones too) and think that we all need a little perspective check once in a while. :)



And I leave you with this great video of advice mom's would give themselves if they could go back to before they had kids.

Wizard of Oz Museum

(yes, one actually exists)
My friend and I took the kids to the Wizard of Oz Museum in Wamego, KS. It was fun. More for adults than kids, but still a fun little day trip.

Rylee and Anderson waiting to go in to see the "Oz Wizard"


Dorothy


Glenda the good witch. Rylee said "there's good witches and bad witches, and not-so-good witches too."


Adri spotted this chair and HAD to get in it.


Wizards of Oz for the day.

Summer Fun and ready for football

We are enjoying the beautiful weather that has fallen on Kansas. The kids got a new sprinkler and were out enjoying it today. I was trying to snap a few summer fun shots for a craft project, but that was just not going to happen. I really need a new camera I've decided. Christmas hint! Surely that will make me a better photographer.



We (lee and I) are very ready for college football to start. We have football tickets for KU again this year and its always fun to go to the games. Don't think for one minute however, that I have converted loyalties. I'm a Red Raider til I die!

Rainbow!!!!!

Haven't seen one of these in a while. NEVER seen one this big! I'm standing across the street in the neighbors yard and still couldn't fit it all in. It covered our whole house. WOW! God's creations, big and small are so beautiful.

Cute Project

Ok crafty friends, this is going to be my next little project. I LOVE POPPIES so when I saw a craft project inspired by them, I knew I would love it. I love the neutral whites and off whites and tans. I love the 3D art. Love the little pearl in the center. Love it all! I am thinking I should make 3 of these and put them in a series above my bed. Or maybe one for Adri's room. I don't know, but I have to try it. :)



Take a look!

Do you love?