the leinwetters

My version of a popluar repurposing trend

2011-12-21T20:43:00.000-08:00

So a while ago I ran across this adorable play kitchen that a grandma had made from an old TV stand. "How CUTE!" I thought. And then the next dreaded words came right out of my mouth... "I can do THAT."

Famous last words...
This summer I scavenged around garage sales and goodwill looking for the perfect TV stand and one day, I found this beauty-

$10. Yes, I'll take it! This is when the DIY gods started laughing their tails off. If there is one thing I learned from this project, its that repurposing is WAY OVERRATED. WWWWAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY overrated!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I said at least a hundred times while spending precious time "tweaking" things on this old TV stand that this would have been a million times easier if I would have just started from scratch. But I didn't. And by the time I realized it, I was in too deep to turn back. So away I plugged at this little project and after about 60 hours total, I ended up with this adorable kitchen for my cutie patootie. I am pretty sure the DIY gods have stopped laughing. :)

I cannot wait for Adri to see this Christmas morning. She is going to LOVE it!!!!!

Special thanks to Grandpa B and Dave Clark for their help!!!!! Without all the right tools, I could have never made this. :)

Happy Birthday Adri!!!

2011-12-10T20:24:00.000-08:00

Miss Adrianna Claire Leinwetter blessed our lives 3 years ago today at 12:15am. Her dimple was the first thing everyone noticed about her at birth and its still the first thing people comment on when they see her.
Adri on December 10th, 2008

Here is Adri at 3 years old. I can't hardly believe my baby is 3. It is soooo bittersweet for me. A little more bitter than sweet if I am totally honest. :) It just kills me to see her grow up. She was such a fun baby and an adorable toddler. I wish I could freeze her and keep her just like this FOREVER!

Adri lights up a room with her smile and she has the sweetest heart I could ever imagine. She literally can melt you into a puddle of goo in 1 minute flat. Let me prove this point- today I took her to the mall to do some Christmas shopping. She wanted to bring her new Bitty Baby and stroller and because its her birthday, I let her. :) As she is pushing her baby in to the mall, a couple, about Adri's grandparent's age, stops her and asks to see her baby. She stops, uncovers her baby and like a proud new mom, shows off her baby. The couple, who had already started to melt into a puddle of goo (b/c of Adri's cuteness, which I can't even describe in words, you have to just see her.), oooo's and awww's over her baby and just as they begin their complete melt down, Adri says (about her baby), "i just love her so much. she's such a good baby. but she's getting cold now so i need to cover her back up or move away from this door. i am a good mommy b/c, well, its my birthday." The couple, now making a mess of goo all over the floor proceeds to take out his wallet and hand Adri a $5 bill!!! See what I mean? 100% pure adorable-ness. I have a ton of similar stories. She's just sooooo stinkin sweet.

She is also quite a spit-fire! She's got the eye roll, hands-on-hip, "you just don't understand" act down to a T. She loves to annoy her brother... just for fun. She loves to goof off, be silly, laugh at anything and everything and she has the most ornory grin you could imagine. She would change clothes 10 times a day if we let her. She loves shoes, jewelry and anything princess. Her favorite thing to wear right now are her skinny jeans. And she sadly, knows the difference between other jeans and her skinnies. She also loves anything sparkly. All girl!!! Dare I say, "so much like her momma"??
Here's our Miss Personality! I tried to get a few pics for our Christmas cards but as you can see, I wasn't getting very far.

Adri's birthday party was today. It was a mermaid themed "shell-abration" and she had a blast with all of her friends. Here are some pics from the party-

Tomorrow, I will try to post a video of her birthday interview!

WHAT??? A blog post????

2011-08-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

Whose kids aren't growing like little weeds?? I mean really, where does time go?Tuesday was the first day of school in our district and I got a little emotional thinking about how next year I will be putting my little man on the bus and sending him off to kindergarten. (insert sob here) Seriously, I will be a mess. A MESS! But enough of that, I still have a year. :)

Here are a few pics I took earlier this summer (okay, this spring) but haven't posted on the blog yet. Friends (you know who you are) you can stop bugging me about posting pics of the kids now. :)

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. I can't believe its mid August already. The weather here has been beautiful and we are enjoying the outdoors as much as possible.

The cousins in their Easter outfits

Big Girl Bed

2011-06-07T20:39:00.000-07:00

Adri's big girl room is almost complete. Original? Not at all. Its straight from the catalog picture, but Pottery Barn makes things so cute, I just can't help but copy it! Adri loves the idea of having a "big girl" bed, however, staying in it, well, that's another story. Lets just say I am reminded CONSTANTLY of how different my 2 kids are from each other. Anderson thrives off of structure and rules to follow. Adri thrives off of breaking the rules and figuring out how to disrupt our (really her brother's) perfectly planned day. I could go on forever about how different they are, but that's a whole new post. Anyway, here is Miss Adri Claire's big girl room in the making. I bought a really cool old dresser and mirror that I will paint for her room. I also want to make a little reading corner for her and put a small table and chair set where she can have tea parties and play with her doll house someday. :)

Easter

2011-04-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

My favorite holiday by far is Easter. I love the spring time, I love the eastery colors and the tulips blooming everywhere, I love to coordinate my family's outfits (I know its dorky, but it was always a tradition in my family growing up. A tradition I loved then and still do!). But most of all, I love WHY we celebrate Easter. HE ROSE, people! Jesus rose from the dead! And because of this, we can have eternal life in heaven. I know this is not usually the theme of my blog posts, but I just want to say that if you have never heard the Easter story, don't believe it or think it is simply "just a story", I STRONGLY encourage you to dig a little deeper or ask around. What you find might change your life!

Our Easter celebration started with a beautiful church service (we actually made it to 8am service. Yes, pigs were flying as we walked in to the church.) Lee's parents went with us. Then we had breakfast and an egg hunt at my mom's house. The kids loved hunting eggs. They wanted to do it again and again. After naps, we headed to my aunt's house and celebrated with my extended family. We all had a great time. There was even a 'minute to win it' competition. Fun times!

Here are a few random pics from the day. In no particular order.

Anderson is 4!

2011-04-19T13:27:00.000-07:00

Anderson had so much fun this year with his birthday celebrations. I always make birthday banners for the kids (Anderson crawled through his 1st birthday banner, stopped in the middle, grabbed the fringe and sucked on it) :) We celebrated with the annual Happy Birthday song wake up serenade, pancake breakfast (with a candle on top!) and family over for dinner. Then the next day we had his friends over (he only wanted boys this year) for a Thomas the Train birthday party. More like a glorified play date. He still LOVES trains. It was a lot of fun. This is the first year Anderson really got in to the birthday thing and boy was he IN to it! Everything now comes in 4s. "I need 4 drinks b/c I am 4", "I need 4 trains b/c I am 4", I need 4 suckers b/c..." you get the point. :) Here are a few pics of my big 4 year old and his birthday celebrations.

Birthday Boy!

Family Birthday Celebration. Ice Cream Cake!

Opening gifts

Thomas Party

Orange is Anderson's "most best" (favorite) color. So he wanted everything to be orange. Orange banner, orange cake, orange frosting, orange drinks, etc. These are actually cupcakes that I baked in ice cream cones. If you've never had one, you are missing out!

So after all the fun 4 year old festivities, we ended the birthday celebrations with a Bryan Family (Lee's mom's family) birthday get-together. When we told Anderson we were going to gma and gpa's for his birthday he said, "I'm 5 now!?!" That night he told everyone he was 5. Boy, that 4th year went by fast! I love 4 year old minds :)

Adri's Birthday Party

2011-02-01T12:08:00.001-08:00

We had a monkey themed party for Boo's 2nd birthday. It was inspired by the outfit I bought for her to wear for her 2 year pictures. We had just family over this year and it turned out to be a nice little shin dig.

Here's the invite. Created by my friend Sammie at sammiedawnphotgrpahy

The spread. We went simple with cold cuts, fruit, chips and chocolate covered bananas.

I made her cake! It is soooo fun to do cakes!!! Her outfit was my inspiration for her party theme so I just drew the monkey from her shirt on to the cake and star-frosted it. It was easy peasy.

She got a little bashful when we all started singing the happy birthday song.

Lots of great presents!

Christmas 2010

2011-02-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

Yes, we did celebrate Christmas this year, and since it is now February, I thought I should maybe add our Christmas 2010 memories to the blog! We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Being close to family makes it so nice because we can be home and still see all our families. We trade off which family we spend Christmas with each year. It was a Leinwetter Christmas so we spent Christmas Eve with Lee's family and also Christmas day, but my family came over Christmas morning (since we wouldn't see them the rest of the day) and got to watch the kids open Santa gifts. Next year we will switch families and spend Christmas Eve and Day with MY family and Lee's parents/brother will come over for Santa gifts. Anyway, I didn't get a ton of pics b/c I was too busy enjoying the festivities and sadly, we did not get a single family photo this year. NOT ONE!!!! :(

Christmas Eve

Lee and Adri before church service

Stockings

Anderson got a Lionel train track and table to play with at Gma and Gpa Leinwetters house. He was pretty pumped.

Pam and I still aren't sure that this train set wasn't really for Lee and Larry. :)

Christmas Morning (heads up- my family wears matching Christmas jammies. I know it may seem wierd to some of you, but its a tradition that is special to my mom, my sister and me, and so the guys appease us and wear their jammies too!)

spotting the goodies

Gettin started

My parents gave our family a pop-a-shot basketball game. It was inspired by Anderson's love of the game, but we all enjoy it a lot!! I see many years of hoops being played by our kids and their friends in the future.

An attempt at a group photo after the gifting was over.

Christmas day
I took 0, yes, ZERO, pictures of Christmas day celebrations. Lee took maybe 5. Note to self, take more pics of Christmas day next year.
Grandpa E sneaking in a Sprite for Adri

Adri playing poker with the guys! She was betting with cookies and gumdrops!

Single Shout Out

2011-01-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

Kellys Korner, a blog I love to read is having a link party for singles and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to link up one (more if I can convince you!) of my favorite single friends. :)

This is Alex. The first thing I can think to say about her is that she is truly one of the FUNNIEST people I have ever known. Along with being hilarious, she is a beautiful woman. She's smart, tall and has the sporty natural (with a hint of glamour girl) look down. She loves dogs, loves her family and loves her friends. She likes to go out and have a good time but knows when to stop and should be with a man who knows that too. She's also just as happy hanging out at home especially with someone who deserves her love and attention. :) She will make some lucky guy the center of her world and deserves the same from him.

This baby...

2011-01-07T07:07:00.000-08:00

has occupied my thoughts for a LONG time and I am soooo glad she is home and well.

Here she is, Miss Emily Sharon Kidd. I love her to pieces!!!

Carriage Ride on the Plaza

2010-12-20T19:21:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-20T18:43:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

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??

2010-11-10T12:12:00.001-08:00

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

2010-09-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-27T06:21:00.000-07:00

(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

2010-08-23T11:55:00.000-07:00

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!!!!!

2010-08-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

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?

Confessions

2010-08-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make...
My kids have never seen a dentist. I KNOW! That is very very bad! So, today I set up their first dental appointments. I have strategically set Andersons appointment for a Tuesday morning when Lee is available to take him. :) I just don't even want to be a part of Anderson's first experience with a dentist. He is not one of those kids that accepts new experiences with open arms and I don't think his dentist visit is going to be a pretty scene. Lets just hope that he has good, healthy teeth and doesn't need lots of dental work in his childhood.

Adri will go in September while Anderson is at school.

Speaking of dentists, I should probably go too. Bleck!

On a happier note, I bought the round version of this tablecloth and it is being shipped today!!!!

Its going in my entry way. I hope it looks good. I am excited to be slowly, let me emphasize, SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY getting my house to reflect me and my taste. Next week my mom and I are going to put the final coats of paint on the trim in the living room and dining room and change outlets to white in those 2 rooms as well as the kitchen and the kids bedrooms. All of those rooms have no outlet covers on them right now. HOW RIDICULOUS IS THAT????? See what I mean by SLOW????? Then Lee and his parents are taking the kids to Atwood on the August 28th weekend and my mom and I (she is such a great home DIY buddy) are going to tackle either the entry way or the family room. YIKES!!!! Those are both HUGE projects, but hey, when else am I going to get an entire weekend without kids???

I am also making headway on tearing down the "precious" wall paper in the laundry room. I am painting it either apple green or buttery yellow. We shall see! Here is the laundry room before pic.

And as I type this, this is what the kids are up to. (Mom, don't look)

This is why I can't blog these days. B/c my kids can't find something safe to do on their own. People keep telling me I will miss these days. I believe them, sometimes. :)

More later (during nap time perhaps!)

Hanging Out

2010-06-28T13:16:00.001-07:00

My kids are impossible to photograph lately. I mean, IM-POSS-IBLE!!! Mostly b/c they are moving a mile a minute. So here are a few candid shots of us hanging out. That's about all we do these days. :)

Stepping on the fountains at the water park

Adri, trying to avoid getting close to Mom who will undoubtedly ruin the fun by telling her its time to go.

Eating snacks with friends (Lincoln and Rylee) at the water park. This was during a 10 minute "everyone out of the pool" break. Don't think that they voluntarily sat out to eat snacks.

Playin trains

Trying to figure out how to sabotage Anderson's train playing

"Cheese!"

"Lets Race!"

2010-06-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

Anderson's favorite activity lately is racing. And the whole family, including Macy dog, must participate. We all line up at the "starting line" and run laps around the so called circle of our house. The route starts at the powder room, goes through the entryway, living room, dining room, kitchen, breakfast room, famiy room and then back to the starting line. Anderson could run 20 laps, easily. Lee and I get tired after about 10. :) Ok, just me. But whatev! Last week I took some pics of this new favorite activity.

On your marks, get set, GO! And we're off!

Anderson taking the lead

I took this pic last time we raced (different time from above). Adri's new thing is to take a lap or two and then hide out so she can pop out and scare us when we run by.

She is soooo ornary.

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-28T12:57:00.001-07:00

I always knew when Lee and I were dating that he would be a great daddy. Its one of the reasons why I wanted to marry him. I love so much getting to watch him be a dad/daddy. He loves his kids soooo much. He truly is the best dad. I cannot put it in words. But I probably don't have too. I imagine that most of you who read my blog are lucky enough to know exactly what I mean.

2010-06-28T12:35:00.001-07:00

We had a crazy, crazy weekend but it was tons of fun. Friday night we hung out at my mom and dad's house, Saturday I hosted a baby shower for my cousin/friend who is having a baby in August. Then we went to the water park with some friends and their kids and Saturday night had a date with another couple. We saw Knight and Day. IT WAS GOOD!!! GO SEE IT!!!! Sunday after church we went to Lee's parents and hung out with his aunt who was in town with her grand-daughter, Tessa. Grandma E was there too. Sunday night we went to the church's summer baptism at my aunt and uncles house and finally got home at 8:45. We caught our breath for a few minutes and went straight to bed. WHEW!!!

lately, my kids are impossible to photograph. this is the sole reason i have not posted to my blog in a while.

Sweet Tessa, who is as of 6 days ago, a new big sister!

Meet "Bean"

2010-06-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

This is my future niece or nephew!!!!!! For all you non-sono experts, the baby is the blob of speckles inside (along the edge) of the black oval thing. :)

My whole family is anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby Kidd in January 2011. Some of you knew that my sister lost her first pregancy last year and so this little life is so precious to her and Kurt (and all of the family too). I couldn't be more excited to share the title of "mommy" with my big sis.

I have lovingly nicknamed the baby "the bean"

Construction Zone

2010-06-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

My foyer looks like this right now!!! And the excitement is because construction = home improvements and there is nothing I love more than a good ol house project. Yes, seriously!!! For my bday (back in April) Lee got me a light fixture for my foyer. One that I had been drooling over for months. Yes, I drool over light fixtures. Only problem was that my foyer is approximately 17 feet high from floor to ceiling which made do-it-yourself installation impossible. Until I got creative and got my hands on some scaffolding. My cousin is a very talented mason and he was willing to let me borrow some scaffolding. He dropped it off yesterday and my mom and WONDERFUL brother-in-law came over last night and we got it up. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! So much that I was too giddy to fall asleep last night. Once my cousin gets the scaffolding down, I will post a pic of the enormous beauty. But you can kind of see it in the pic (hanging under the scaffold).

And to top it all off, this was my kitchen sink this morning.

Empty! While I was busy with the light, Lee emptied the sink and did the dishes. Not that he doesn't help out around the house, its just that for some reason this morning it made me extra happy to not have to do the dishes that I neglected last night b/c I was preoccupied.

Celebrate the small things!!!!

(one more post below)

Poppy- The kids' new favorite babysitter.

2010-06-16T07:38:00.001-07:00

So I had an MRI this morning. Lee leaves for work at 745 so my dad came over to watch the kids until I got home. It was 915, I was just leaving the hospital and my dad said the kids were STILL asleep. AWESOME!!! By the time I got home they were awake and my dad was feeding them breakfast.

Yep, popsicles. My dad asked Anderson what he wanted for breakfast and he said "orange popsicle!"

Now I am stuck here, as my kids finish their popsicles, wondering if I even try to get a banana and oatmeal in them or just count my losses and move on.

Cozumel Pics

2010-06-08T08:35:00.001-07:00

Lee and I had a blast in Cozumel. It was absolutely beautiful. The water was the bluest I have ever seen and the weather was perfect. The highlight of the trip was our very first SCUBA DIVE! WOW!!!!!!!!!! It was AHHHHH-MAZING! Thats all I can say. :) We met a lot of really fun couples and took a few day trips. 1 around the island and 1 to Playa Del Carmen. Got some shopping in, good food, good drinks and good company. We missed the kids but if I said I was ready to come home after 7 days, I would be lying. I could have stayed another week, surely. ;)

And withour further adieu...
Laura on the plane (these are our traditional shots that we take every vacation)

Lee on the plane

Hanging out poolside

Lee is not a fan of heights so when we climbd up this lighthouse, he avoided going any where near the edge. I thought it was hilarious, so I was taking pics of him being a scaredy cat and then he caught me making fun of him and posed for one. :)

This was at a national park (by the lighthouse). Fun little hang out and they had a nice reef to snorkel. I hung out on the beach but Lee and some friends we met that went with us to the park went snorkeling. Lee decided to go without flippers (CRAZY!) and people kept coming in from the ocean and commenting on how rough the current was. I was pretty nervous until he got back... EXHAUSTED.

This was a window inside the lighthouse. I thought it was cute.

After our scuba trip!

Oh yeah, we swam with the dolphins too!!!! It was lots of fun.

Snorkel trip. Lee got sick from the night before's dinner so he was feeling terrible but he was a good sport and came and just hung out on the boat while I snorkeled.

At dinner

This is where we stayed. Cozumel Palace.

View from our room

In our room, saying goodbye to Cozumel.

forgot to post this a while ago!

2010-04-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

This was a video of Anderson's birthday pancakes. He LOVED getting to have Happy Birthday sung to him. I had to do it like 4 times after this, each time re-lighting the candle and each time, he sang along too! It was to cute. Having a 3 year old is so much fun. Anderson is quite the ham. He talks non-stop and says the funniest things. I can't even keep track of it all.

His John Deere birthday party was adorable. My friend Sammie took pics of the event. You can view them HERE. Sammie and her crew came up for the event and I just loved seeing her again. We were practically glued together in Wichita and I will admit it been hard to find a friend as good as her here in T town. We stayed up til 2 or so in the morning the night before the party frosting the cake (yes, I made that!!! i am so proud of myself) and cupcakes, and just chit chatting away. It was sooooo good to have her and her family here.

Tulips

2010-04-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

So, I have had a lot going on lately and blogging has become very low on the priority list. Oh well, thats life! But this pic was too cute not to post as a little hello to my blog readers (both of you).

Happy Spring!

Big Boy!

2010-04-12T12:48:00.001-07:00

Anderson is 3! I can't even believe it. He is so proud of being 3. It is so funny to see him tell people how old he is. I love the stage he is in right now. He is sooo funny and just a lot of fun. Lately he loves The Backyardigans, John-ga-Deere (John Deere), trains (of course, Thomas), going to preschool and bossing the dog around (the only thing that will let him). he says the most hilarious things. Last week he said,

"mom, I am going to say lets go to Starbucks and you say yes, ok?"

he announces the color of his pee, and the number of poos he puts in the potty, every time he goes. He is very independent with the potty. Almost too independent.

He likes to take rests, not naps.

He loves pre school and is learning so much.

He is still a cuddle bug and loves to rock at night. But only if you tickle his arms while you rock him. and don't even think about stopping the tickle for more than a second or two.

He loves the "zachius song" and "bop bop dinosaur" songs. he knows all the words!

On his actual birthday, we had grandparents and AJ and Kurt over for pizza and presents. He picked out a cake from Baskin Robbins (mmmmmmm!) and was very proud of it.
We had a John Deere birthday party for him Saturday and that was lots of fun too! I will post pics of that soon. Well... one of these days. :)

Easter 2010

2010-04-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful, laid back Easter and I couldn't have dreamed of a better way to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Easter is my favorite holiday. It is the most important day to me as a christian and is a day to celebrate the HOPE God gives each of us. Lee's family joined us at church. The message was awesome. I had a few teary moments. Always a sign of a good sermon. :) We went to my mom and dads for lunch and lots of family time. Played some washers, croquet and ate brisket. It was a perfect day! Here are a few snap shots.

Hunting for eggs

Diggin for goodies

This is just to good. The kids had all they could handle.

Adri wore a special necklace that was grandma Pam's as a baby.

Happy Easter

you need these!

2010-03-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

someone told me about these. you need them. trust me. disolves crusty boogars like you wouldn't believe. even eye crusties. can you tell what we have been up to??

2010-03-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

We had a blast enjoying the BEAUTIFUL day yesterday. A friend of mine and I hauled our kiddos up to Kansas City to eat at Fritz's Grill in Crown Center. It is an old school place where a train brings your food to the table! So fun. The kids loved it. There were trains everywhere. I don't think the kids ate much b/c they were so excited to be surrounded by trains.

After that we went outside to the fountains. My friend and I were chit chatting while the little ones tottled around and the big kids played by the fountain. Next thing I know, I look over and Anderson has his pants and underwear around his ankles and is bending over trying to get his shoes off. I wanted to die. I ran over to him (praying that he wasn't trying to pee) and asked what he was doing and he said, "i go swimming!" I had to laugh, and so did everyone else out there (and trust me there were a lot of people out there). We put his pants back on and took the shoes and socks off and away he went. The kid is a fish, I just know it.

We visited a cool Fairy Tale Exhibit and ate some ice cream and headed back home. It was a great day and makes this rainy one seem a lot more tolerable.

I am thankful for the good friends Lee and I have met here in Topeka and pray our friendships continue to grow.

Here is a cute pic that the newspaper took

the caption said- Anderson Leinwetter of Topeka, 3, looked as if he was conducting the water of the fountains at Crown Center Square. After a cold winter, people around were out enjoying the sun and mild temperatures

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/23/1833085/star-shots-health-care-bill-signing.html#ixzz0j7zsIMp5

2010-03-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

We are going to the St Patty's Parade tomorrow and it dawned on me this morning that my kids have nothing green to wear. Now I am a firm believer that every occassion has an outfit and every outfit has an accessory. With that in mind, I did some searching on etsy and found this...

and while the kids took their naps today, I made this.
Ta Da!

I will post pics of them actually in their outfits tomorrow. I am sure they will be much cuter when not laying on my kitchen counter. :)

missin our granny B

2010-03-15T20:22:00.001-07:00

Our granny B went to be with Jesus last Wednesday. Her funeral service was this weekend. It was lovely. We miss her like crazy but I am so proud of the Bryan family for the way we all pulled together to take care of her in her final days and support one another as we sturggled with the process of saying goodbye. She was one of the most wonderful people I have ever met. One of those who you just fall in love with as soon as you meet her and one of those people that you can't wait to see once you get to heaven. Its really hard to even believe she is gone. I am sure it will sink in soon.
I do have to share a sweet story...
There was a visitation the night before the service and when Anderson got there (my parents brought the kids up for us) he ran up to Grandpa B (one of his favorite buddies) and said "Granny B is in heaven with Jesus." I dreaded the time when Anderson would ask where she was but this moment was so sweet. I had to fight back the tears.

This is a picture Lee snapped on his iPhone of grandpa holding her hand. I love this picture.

a new look

2010-03-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

its a little pink and browny but b/c i am not the most techy person in the world, it took me forever to make a new header (in photoshop) and now i am sleepy so this will be it for a while. yes, it took me a long time to figure out how to do JUST THAT. Who knew making words in to a picture could be so hard to figure out? but, there is nothing wrong with a little bit of girliness in your life!!!

some hope for hair in the future

2010-03-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

So it is offten joked about that of all people in the world, I, miss bow lovin and all things girls obsessed would birth a daughter with no more hair at the age of one than my right arm. And my arms are not hairy. But lo and behold, a ponytail! Yes I know it is lame, but its there and I think it is pretty darn cute!

Jesus Loves Me...

2010-03-01T07:29:00.000-08:00

Anderson has been having a tough time going to Sunday school at church lately. He panics on Sunday mornings when we start getting ready and so this week, we brought Anderson to "big church" with us instead of putting him in Sunday school. He loved it. Maybe b/c we were in the balcony, up high and he thought that was pretty cool, or maybe b/c he knew if he didnt behave he would have to go to Sunday school, but either way, he did a great job. There was a guest couple that did the sermon and at one point the wife said "Jesus" like 5 times in a row and it really grabbed Anderson's attention. So then it got really quiet and Anderson starts singing, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so." I gave him the shhhhh sign and he got kind of embarrassed so he crawled up in my lap but he just kept on singing away quietly to himself. It was precious. I love that he is finally starting to learn the words to his favorite songs and that he likes to sing them all the time.

I thought the blog was due for a video. So here is my little music man. He is sooooo not a fan of the camera so it took a lot of prodding. But here he is in all his Wiggles shirt wearin, boxer brief lovin, glory!

Circus

2010-02-27T15:52:00.000-08:00

Lee and I took Anderson to the Circus last night and had a good time. It was a little too long for Anderson (3+ hrs plus it started at 7:30) so we didn't stay for the whole thing but it was a good time and we really enjoyed some one on one with him.

When we got there, he spotted these HUGE balloons and just had to have an orange one.

He was really proud of that balloon...

Until the show started and he saw all of these glowing in the dark.

Getting stickers from the clowns. He actually really like them.

Clowns noses. Anderson would have nothing to do with this.

Need a Good cry?

2010-02-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

And I mean that, so don't continue reading this blog unless you are prepared.

www.laylagrace.org
This story has stolen my heart. I shared it with a few of you on Facebook b/c I want you to go to facebook and become a fan of Ruffle Butts. If you do this, they will donate $1 to Layla and her family. Please go do this!

This story has grabbed my heart for so many reasons. But one thing is that I am just in awe of this little girl's parents and their amazing faith in our God in heaven. They give him all the glory for her life however short it is and recognize the true gift they have in Layla.

So, read on. If you dare.

Lazy Day

2010-02-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

We're having a lazy day. Anderson isn't feeling well and I am still recovering so here we lay at 11am, still in pjs (all of us!), and not really worrying about what comes next!

TV trans

Boo, chillin in her favorite spot.

See the brass fireplace??? This is my first project in the paint the house marathon that starts next week! Before and after pics coming soon!

Even Macy dog is takin it easy.

1st black eye

2010-02-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

adri is quite the bruiser. she is in to everything, climbing anything and moves faster than we can catch her most of the time. i'm not going to say WHO was watching the kids when this happened, but lets just say this happend on a weekend. ;)

as you can see, it knocked the sillies right out of her and she is really not doing well after the incident.

heeheehee

2010-02-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

I am watching my cousin's daughter, Ella this afternoon. They are HUGE KSU Wildcat fans as is my entire family practically. I am sure they will want to frame these pics!!!

Dad Calls This One "Adri Loco"

2010-02-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

Today we met Dad for lunch at Las Fuentes. Adri loved their music.

Siblings

2010-02-03T20:21:00.001-08:00

Anderson lately has really been loving Adri. It is so precious. Talk about melting a moms heart. The other day, I was laying Adri down for a nap and he says, "wait mommy, wait. I want to tell Boo (thats what he calls her) night night." So he meets me in the hall reaches up to kiss her and says "night Boo, i love you." This recent attention from Anderson couldn't make Adri any happier. It absolutely thrills her to get attention from him which makes this all the more precious. This past weekend we were at Lee's grandparent's house and Adri was walking from person to person (mostly just to get the over zealous praise from her adoring fans). She was hestating to walk to the next person and when Anderson saw this, he stepped in and held out his arms to her. She lit up like no other and drunken cowboy walked right over to him. He grabbed her and said "good job boo!" She had a grin from ear to ear. I have seriously never seen her so happy. So maybe you had to be there, but it was the cutest thing ever. I hope that they become great friends as they grow up. I love to see Anderson look after Adri and I love to see her look up to him.

These aren't from the same day, but since that day, they have done this quite a bit.

Drunk cowboy walk.

Walking to Bubby

Blessed

2010-02-03T19:50:00.000-08:00

Lee and I have been so blessed with some great friends. I don't really miss living in Wichita, or at least our lifestyle there, but if I can say one good thing about it, it is that we made some of the greatest friends. Friends that I truly and dearly miss. Tonight, one of those families came for a visit and it was a blast! Heather and I met at a garage sale in our neighborhood of all places. They lived down the street from us and we were at a neighbor's sale. We were both pregnant and had little boys and when we started talking realized that we were due within a week of one another and our boys were 2 weeks apart. It was just a friendship meant to be. Our boys are great friends (one of Anderson's only male friends) and all of us adults enjoy eachother as couples as well. Here are a few cute shots of the boys playing. I sadly didn't get any pics of Adri and Logan, but honestly, Brendan and Anderson kind of stole the show tonight.

Bath Time and Play doh madness. Yes, I let the colors mix!!

This picture pretty much somes up the night.

Adri was pooped after all the action. Here she is chillin out which is a very rare occassion around the Leinwetter household.

Seriously!

2010-02-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

Got this in an email and instead of forwarding it on, thought it would make a fun blog post. Some of these really made me laugh.

A lot of truisms here….

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page letter that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

Our little ham

2010-02-01T20:07:00.000-08:00

since I am about to ruin all you Bachelor lovers day in the next post, here is a video of our crazy girl playing with her food.

hate to break the news...

2010-02-01T19:18:00.000-08:00

so word on the street is that Jake chooses Vienna in the end. BLECK!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't stand her. I don't know what it is, but I am not a fan. Here's what I've herad...

Ally leaves the show next episode. No rose ceremony b/c she chooses to leave.

Gia gets dumped the next round and he chooses Vienna over Tenley in the end. They do not get engaged and I hear it doesn't work out. Well, I could have told him that! Poor Jake. He did such a great job being genuine and sincere. I really wish he would have found what he wanted and all of us could have witnessed it.

I also hear Tenley is the next Bachelorette. I could handle that. She's a cutie.

Here they are. GAG!

Go Hawks

2010-01-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

We are hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa L cheering on the Jayhawks as they take on K State tonight. Rock Chalk JayHawk, GO KU!!

Anderson couldn't peel his eyes away from the TV long enough to look at the camera.

Silly face. This is the best I could get tonight.

Adri's Birthday Party

2010-01-18T20:31:00.001-08:00

Adri's 1st birthday party was on Dec 14th. It turned out super cute. She had a blast and so did big brother and cousin, Ella who got to help open presents. Here are a few shots from the party.

The spread.

Happy Birthday to me!

Cousin Ella, Adri and Anderson ready for some cupcakes

Eating the cupcake, one sprinkle at a time

MMM! This cake is great! Almost as good as that lollipop they gave me a few weeks ago.

She loved opening gifts but took it very seriously.

Her first set of pearls. So sweet!

Adri loved her pink pony

Ella couldn't wait to try out the pony (the gift she picked out "just for Adri")

More to come. I am off to bed for now.

Play Doh Dilemma

2010-01-16T14:05:00.000-08:00

Help me. I am having a small dilemma with play doh and I need some advice. This is going to be so silly to some of you, but I really want to hear what others do about this. First, let me say that I am a somewhat "particular" (I do not like to use the other word that belongs in the same word family as our rumps) person when it comes to cleaning and organization and believe that everything has its place and should be kept as nice and neat as possible for as long as possible. So play doh has become my greatest enemy lately. Anderson wants to play with more than one color at a time and well you all know good and well what happens when multiple colors are out of the containers at once. You no longer get red, orange, yellow and pink, but a new batch is made. Swirly play doh. I personaly hate swirly play doh. The more you play with it, the uglier it gets. It becomes brownish grey and yuck. It is so unorganized and dirty! So does it really matter??? Am I being too particular about this? Do I let him use the play doh to his hearts desire and buy more when it gets yucky? Or is this a good way to teach him to take care of his toys (in this case play doh) and keep it to one color at a time? What do you do about your play doh??? Help! :)

Pics are coming soon! Lots of updates (birthday party, christmas, snow, etc.)

Chocolate

2009-12-14T20:18:00.000-08:00

(kc, you will be able to relate to this moment!)

So I was waiting in the car loop on Friday to pick Anderson up from school. As his teacher brought him out to the car, I noticed he had quite the bruiser on his cheek. I thought maybe he fell or something so when they got to the car I said "wow anderson, looks like you took a tumble today." the teacher told me that actually he got scratched by a kid in another class while playing at recess. When I looked closer I saw that yes, those were definitely fingernail scratches on BOTH of his cheeks. They were pretty nasty. I was a little upset with the situation (i had lots os questions- why didn't I get a phone call? how was the situation handled at school? what did anderson do when it happend? did he instigate the feud?) but I am very careful not to talk about my kids in front of them so I got the basic info from the teacher and left it at that.

Well.... on the way home I was asking Anderson about the incident.
Was it Jackson? "no, not Jackson."
Was it Courtney? (this is his favorite girl he told me once), "no mom not Courtney."
he said "A different girl, mom."
A different girl? "yes, different one"

then he kept saying "chocolate."

Oh, did they give you a piece of chocolate b/c you were sad??
"no mom", he said, "chocolate girl. chocolate girl."
So I was a bit confused until it dawned on me what he meant. Anderson, I ask, did she have brown skin? like her arms and hands?

"yes, chocolate girl scratch me."

oh dear, what do you do????

At least it wasn't in public or in front of her parents!

Almost a 1 year old!

2009-12-04T12:14:00.000-08:00

Adrianna will be 1 in 6 days. I can't believe it. Her birthday party is a Sweet Shoppe/Candy theme. Its going to be super cute. Her invites turned out adorable and my dear friend Amanda, who takes all my kids pictures b/c she's the best, used a bunch of the photos from her invitation photo shoot to make a collage. I would wait to post a pic of it b/c I don't want to spoil its cuteness at the party, but it is so cute that I can't wait til after the party. So, here it is.

My personal fav is the one in the middle row, on the far right. She is looking at the lollipop and if she could talk, she would be saying "I LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH! YOU ARE THE GREATEST THING THAT HAS EVER TOUCHED MY LIPS!!!"

Needless to say, Adri loved her lollipop and it sure made for some cute pictures.

Adri loves her shopping cart

2009-12-04T10:57:00.001-08:00

...and dancing!

Shootin Hoops

2009-11-20T16:21:00.000-08:00

So lately our family has spent most of our time doing 2 things. 1- shootin hoops and 2- having dance parties in the family room. I will spare you vidoes of the dance parties, but here is Anderson showing off his skills.

HELLO!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-18T13:56:00.000-08:00

So I know it has been forever. Thank you to those of you who refuse to let me go too long without posting before you are sending me reminders and relentlessly asking about blog updates. :) OK!! Here! Here is what we have been up to.

KU football games. We had season tickets this year and got to go to all but one home game. It was fun even though KU has had far from a good season.

We've also been known to veg out at home and cheer on the Red Raiders.

In the beginning of October we said goodbye to Gma and Gpa L's basement living quarters. Here are the kiddos enjoyingsome sun on Gpa's front porch.

Anderson got a big boy bed and LOVES it. He loves his new room too. He insists on taking anyone that comes over to the house upstairs to see it.

A trip to Texas! One of my best friends god married in Austin on Oct 25th. It was a fun weekend getaway. The wedding was beautiful. She picked great bridesmaid dresses! I was pumped about having a dress to wear again sometime. :)

Carved some pumpkins and roasted our pumpkin seeds.

Dad and son club top secret meetings in the basement.

Adri is a very busy little bee. She is such a blessing to our family. She is one of those babies that just lights up a room. I pray that she can keep that spark as she grows up. I love that about her. She likes to tell us every opportunity she gets that she is "SOOOO BIG!" She has been trying out her walking feet for a while and just about has the hang of it. Watch out!!!!!!!!!!!

Anderson discovered a hidden treasure in the basemet. His train set that he got from uncle Bryan for his 2nd birthday. Score! "want to play trains with me mom?" I hear this question about 10 times a day. Of course the answer is always, yes. :)

Sometimes Macy likes to play trains too.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

We had a couple of friends over for dinner and some trick or treating on halloween night. The kids had The Wizard of Oz theme going on. The kids had a blast getting candy. Anderson realized after a few houses in that if he grabbed with his own hands instead of letting the people at the door hand it out, he got a lot more. Luckily people thought it was cute. Everyone excpet for his mom of course. Manners PLEASE!

My mom, dad and aunt Linda escaped from the nursing home and decided to pay us a quick visit before the nusring home staff came looking for them! It was soooo funny to have them come surprise us at our party. We got the biggest kick out of it. Anderson kept pointing to my mom and saying "uh oh, your hair!"

Here's the kid crew

Dorothy, Wicked Witch and Lion

Eating some candy!

Trick or Treating with AJ who was actually a deviled egg but left the egg part at home. It was a cute costume idea. Kurt and Jen won the costume prize.

Hippo

2009-10-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

So probably the most moritfying moment I have had as a mom happend a few days ago. I was with the kids at McDonalds. It was just me. I had to run to KC for the day to go shopping for a wedding this coming weekend. Anyway, we sat by the drinking fountain area and were eating our chicken nuggets and apples when a very large lady walks in. Both my kids immediately begin to stare at her. I cannot seem to distract them. Not even Adri. Well this lady comes over by us to get her drink and she looks at me and my kids who are still staring in disbelief and smiles a little bit. I was a little embarrassed so to save my face, I looked at Adri and said, "can you say hi?" thinking she would smile and wave. Adri doesn't perform for me this time so then the lady looks at Anderson and smiles. And thats when it happend,

Anderson looks at me with the most curious face and says "is that a hippo mommy?"

yep. he said it. loud and clear.

i pretented to not hear him. she did the same and then went to sit down and eat. now any of you who have been around a 2 year old and tried to pretend you didn't hear them know exactly whats coming next.

anderson, a little bit louder this time (since i obviously didn't hear the first time) begins a series of questions that i am guessing will take me a long time to ever forget and recover from.

It went a little like this...

"what hippo eating mommy?"
"hippo sit in that chair?"
"hippo get a drink?"

i turned all shades of red i am sure. i tried to act like he was saying purple instead of hippo. "no, thats not a purple chair, anderson. its silver" i don't think i was able to save the moment.

needless to say, we left McD's very quickly. Anderson had to finish his dinner in the car while i tried to bury myself in a hole somewhere.

God bless 2 year olds and their sweet curiosity. i think we need to take a trip to the zoo so we can talk about how hippos live in the zoo, NOT at mcDonalds.

:)

Still Alive and Kickin

2009-10-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

well, its been a whirlwind of craziness since closing day on our house. we STILL do not have interent/phone so bear with me while i wait as patiently as i can for good old Cox to come out AGAIN and get me connected to the world. til then, no pics of what we have been up to. but we are slowly getting settled in to the house. kids rooms are getting painted this week. new lights and bathroom fixtures are on deck for the next few projects. i am exhausted. it is sooooo hard to move in and get organized with 2 munchkins around needing me all the time. thats ok, they are worth it! hoepfully some pics of the new place will be up shortly!
Til then,
Happy Fall Ya'll

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

After an HOUR of sitting next to Anderson on the potty, he finally went poo poo!!! We have had the pee pee thing down for a long time now, but poo was a whole other story. Well, today it happend. I am so proud of him. He was quite proud too! A few weeks ago I took him to the toy store and let him pick out ANYTHING he wanted. He picked a train for his Brio train set. I told him at the store that we could buy it and take it home but that he couldn't open it until he pooed in the potty. It took him a while, but he finally wanted the train badly enough that today, he sat on the potty for an hour until he went. He was sooooo pumped when I opened the box and got the train out. He kept jumping around saying "train mommy, i poo poo mommy, train, please!" Here he is playing with his train. I couldn't even get him to look up for a split second snap shot.

Here is Adri cheering for her brother!

2 Teefers, Happy Birthday Daddy, and Hanging out at Gage Park

2009-08-24T13:52:00.001-07:00

Adri woke up saturday morning with not 1 but 2 teeth! Here she is in all her teething glory! Such a big girl!

Lee Celebrated the big 3-0 on Saturday. He went golfing in the morning with his brother and a friend from Wichita and then we had dinner with his parents that night. Sunday we went to Lawrence to celebrate with his gma, gpa and aunts and uncles.

Adri tried some of gpa's homemade ice cream and really loved it!

Eating cupcakes and ice cream and opening gifts

Anderson decided that using his hands was too messy so he just dug in with his face!

We have been going to Gage Park a lot lately. Its lots of fun. There is a train that you can ride all the way around the park, a lot of playground equipment and a carousel. Anderson loves when we get to go. We went a few weeks ago with grandma and grandpa L and last Friday with Mimi. Here are some snapshots of our time there.

Anderson with his Mimi just after boarding the train (no he is NOT picking his nose. I promise.)

Self portrait of the whole gang

With Grandma L on the Carousel

halloween 2009 preview

2009-08-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

We are teaming up with some other friends and creating the cast of Wizard of Oz this year. Over done? Yes. Still cute? Of course!

Here is part of Adri's costume. I made her a tutu and bought some black and white striped BabyLegz. She will wear a black onesie and some mary jane shoes. Still on the hunt for a baby sized hat that I can doctor up and make cute.

The Wicked Witch of the West has never been so cute!

Can't get this one to rotate. :(

Adri Claire

2009-08-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

Adrianna has been lots of fun lately. She is such a little ham and knows just how to get you to pick her up whenever she wants you to. Lately we have been working on crawling. She still can't quite figure it out. She can get up on all fours, but doesn't know what to do after that. Still no teeth, but I will be surprised if one doesn't pop up by the end of this week. Seems like she has been working on one the past few days, which means lots of fussing, fevers, drooling and chewing things. Her funniest habit right now reminds me off "nessie" in the Twilight books. When she wants you to come over to her, she reaches out towards you with one arm and tries to touch you. Its so funny. I always call her "ness" when she does it. I just wish she had the same gift (for all you twilight readers, you know what i mean). Anyway, here is our little doll. Sweet as can be.

What happens when you give a baby a basket of toys to play with?

This!

Doing the "Nessie"

Pre School

2009-08-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

We enrolled Anderson in pre school. Last night Lee and I went to parent orientation. It was a little surreal. Conferences, home visits, music programs, school carnival, can this be real?? Is it already that time???? Can he already be old enough for all this???? Wasn't he just born?? Crazy how time flies!

Here are a few pics of what our big boy has been up to lately.

new favorite hiding place

peek-a-boo

riding the merry-go-round at the carnival in Holton

riding the airplane ride at the holton carnival

cruisin for babes

Rub a Dub Dub 2 Babies in the Tub

2009-08-19T06:59:00.001-07:00

Well, one baby and one "big boy" in the tub! First bath together. Anderson thought it was great to have someone else to dump water on. I asked, "who gets washed first?" and he said, "baby!" hmm, somehow I get the feeling he wasn't just trying to be nice. :)

Lee and Bryan

2009-08-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Stumbled upon this cute pic of Lee and his brother, Bryan on facebook today. This was taken when they were in Tahoe a few weeks ago. I think they were having a little fun, huh??

So I post this pic on my blog, and when I go to check to make sure it posted, I realize that this cute picture of my sweet husband and his cute little brother has been ruined by a crazy man in the background.

Oh, wait, thats John Ayres!! Looks like he is having some fun too! (sara, if this embarasses you, i am soooo sorry.)

The Future Residence of the Leinwetters!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-07T15:18:00.001-07:00

I am excited to announce that we have a signed contract on a house. We are set to close on October 2. We are thrilled! The house will be a great one to raise our family in. Our new address will be 3520 SW Alameda Drive. Here is a pic of our new place. And I can call it "our" because the papers are signed!!!! :)

Kids Say the Darndest Things and Some Cute Anderson-isms.

2009-08-04T10:20:00.001-07:00

So the other day we were coming home from a county fair in Holton, KS. It was like 10:30 at night, I thought surely Anderson would have been passed out from the car ride home, but no, he chit chatted the entire ride home. So anyway, I got him out of the car and as we started to walk inside he points to the sky and says, "thats heaven mommy." I said "what?" and he said again, "thats heaven mommy, up there in the stars." Talk about melting your heart away. I had to fight back the tears and then took the opportunity to tell Anderson about Jesus living there and share about God's love for us. It was a pretty cool conversation to have with your 2 year old. I am thankful for the chance to get to share that with him.

Some other cuteness that Anderson has been up to lately-

Hugs-he is in that cute stage where he runs full speed at you and then throws himself in your arms. LOVE IT! He also has to hug everyone in the room before he leaves to go anywhere.

"ok"- anderson follows every request with an "ok" as if his request was your idea in the first place.
the best way to describe this -ism is to give you an example of it. The conversation would go something like this...
Anderson- "mommy, i want a sucker"
Me- "you would like a sucker?"
Anderson- "anderson sucker. OK!"

trucks and tractors- he is obsessed. he can tell the difference between an excavator, dump truck, tow truck, pick up truck, tractors, lawn mowers, you name it, he knows it.

swimming- he has been a little fish this summer. it helps that there is a pool in the backyard! he loves to swim and even goes off the diving board.

gummies- he has gummy vitamins. he gets 2 every day and he will not let you forget to give them to him. he always likes to pick which color he gets. he usually chooses orange and pink.

those are some off the top of my head. i could share some other, not-so-cute habits he is in to right now, but i'm hoping those will pass soon! :)

6 Things That Make Me Happy

2009-07-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

So I have been tagged by my friend Elizabeth H to blog about 6 things that make me happy. So here is my list. Besides the obvious (my family and kids), 6 things that make me happy are...

1- Projects. I love to start and finish a project of any kind. Mostly sewing projects have been consuming my project time right now but I love any kind. Crafts, cooking, sewing, etc.

2- Fixing up my home. This obviously is a happy place that I haven't been to lately, but soo dearly miss. I take pride in my home and the things in it. I love finding new pieces of furniture, art for the walls, or knick knacks to put around. Home decorating is by far one of my most favorite things to do. I feel at peace when my home is tidey, organized, and pretty.

3- Macaroni and Cheese served with Hot Dogs. My favorite meal. :)

4- Doing things for others. I truly find joy in helping others with anything they need. This is almost to a fault for me b/c I sometimes forget that not everyone else in the world is like that.

5- Being around people. I am a people person. I need very little alone time and thrive off of relationships I have with others. I don't necessarily have to be doing anything with others, I just like to have others around.

6- Clean sheets. Nothing is better than crawling in to a freshly laundered hospital cornered bed. I also love white sheets for some reason. I don't know why, I just prefer white sheets. The ones I have now (well the ones in storage) are perfect. They are nice and thick, so so soft and bright white! I get happy just thinking about it. :)

So there are 6 random things that make me happy. What makes you happy?

Mild Case of the "I wants"

2009-07-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

So I am thinking about all the things I want right now and since I can't go buy everything I want, every time I want something, the next best thing to do is blog about it.

Now, before you go thinking I am an ungrateful brat...
I LOVE my life. I am blessed with a wonderful husband, 2 beautiful children and loving extended families. I couldn't ask for a better life. I am grateful for all that God has blessed me with. He has given me more than enough to be thankful for. This is simply a wish list of things that I have been keeping my mind on purchasing lately.

Top of my list- This baby food maker. SOOOOOO cool. WANT IT!!!!!
It does everything for you. Steams, purees, cooks, defrosts (if you put already frozen puree in it). You can use fruits, veggies and even meats! I think its a pretty cool gadget.

A king sized bed and new bedroom furniture. Not the one picture. I couldn't find one that I wanted on the internet. (I know, I don't even have a house to put it in. Lee reminds me of this everytime I mention a new "I want")

A new car seat for Adri. She is in a temporary until we pick one out. I got Anderson the Britax Roundabout, but am thinking about the Marathon for Adri. It will last her longer.

A cute swimsuit that will make me look like the bikini models in Victorias Secret cataolg. :) Ok, so thats far fetched, but at least something that can conceal the fact that I have had 2 kids and my tum tum just isn't quite as flat as it used to be.

Diamond earrings, pretty, sparkly, big ones! :)

Eyeglasses. Yep, its time. I went to the optometrist a month or two ago just like I do every year and every time I go, everything is great, see you next year. Well this time, they handed me a small peice of paper and said "here's your prescription." What?? Prescription for what? You mean, I need glasses??? No, I could see everything just fine, I swore I was doing great. Apparently not. Lee even told me that he was thinking that I needed them lately. He just didn't want to say anything. What a dear!

Thats all...

For now ;)

2009-07-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

Where do I begin. I guess with a thankful heart that my baby girl is alive and well. From there, let me explain about the most horrific thing that has ever happend to me. I was running some errands with the kids on Wednesday and made a stop at JoAnn fabrics. The kids were both in the shopping cart (Adri in her infant carrier/car seat). As we left the store, I walked to the handicapped ramp to get to the parking lot. Just as the sidewalk turned in to parking lot, I hit a grove in the pavement. Faster than I could blink, Adri's car seat was launched out of the cart. She landed first right on top of her head, bounced up, landed on the side, bounced again and then finally ended up face down in the parking lot. If you think that was bad to read and visualize, you can probably imagine how horrifying it was to watch. She was literally bouncing around like a super ball on the concrete. Adri was strapped in snuggly to her to car seat and I believe this saved her life. I immediately called my father in law to come pick me up so we could take her to the hospital. A man who had seen it all happen came out of one of the stores and asked if I was alright. This is when I lost it completely. I fell to the ground and just started crying hysterically. Some other women rushed out to help. One said she was a nurse so I handed her adri. One was just squeezing me as tight as she could to stop me from shaking and kept telling me it wasn't my fault and that I am not a bad mom (i am not sure if i was saying that i was or not. i just know i was a mess), and the other was keeping an eye on Anderson. To make a long story short-er, we ended up taking her to the ER. She was acting fine but the PA wanted to get a CT scan just to make sure there was no bleeding. The CT showed that she had 2 skull fractures on her right side. However, luckily, there was no depressions (sunk in spots) or bleeding. Adri needed to stay over night for observation. However, the hospital in Topeka didn't have the proper staffing to take care of her if a problem were to come up so she was transported to Chilren's Mercy in Kansas City. They were AWESOME there. My sister, bless her heart, stayed with me at the hospital b/c Lee was still in Wichita. she slept on some cushions on the floor :( we were released to go home the next day. Adri is ok. She has minimal swelling and bruising. We are soooooo lucky. I really expected to flip her over and find her dead or knocked out but she didn't have a mark on her. In fact had it not been for her cry that was a little "off" i wouldn't have thought there was a problem at all. I on the other hand am having a terrible time getting over the incident. I just keep seeing it happen over and over again in my head. I know time will heal me, but it is all pretty raw right now. We were able to snap a few shots of Adri. as you can see, she is doing ok.

Sleeping soundly at Children's Mercy after a long day

Chewing on the insurance card at the ER.

Getting ready to take her first ambulance ride.

Last Post from Wichita

2009-06-23T08:18:00.001-07:00

The moving van is sitting out front and the men are loading like crazy.

Well, all but a few boxes...

All Boxed Up

2009-06-22T12:50:00.001-07:00

The house is all boxed up. Moving van loads tomorrow and delivers our stuff to the storage unit on Wednesday. What a bittersweet day. Lee and I are looking forward to our new beginning in Topeka but will miss our friends and home so much. I have been fighting back tears all day and know that at any moment, I am going to break down. Hopefully I can at least wait until Lee gets home so I have someone to cry with. Adri is at day care and Anderson went home with the in-laws so its just me sitting here in my home with floor to ceiling boxes all over the place. :(

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to look for a new house. Slim pickins in Topeka right now and I don't see any signs of the market picking up. But you never know! :)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-06-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

I just noticed I have been using a lot of these !!!!!!!!!!!!! lately. I guess I am very passionate about the things going on right now!!!!! :)

Pee Pee in the Potty!!!!!!!!!!

2009-06-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

Anderson had his first pee pee in the potty tonight!! He was so proud of himself. Mom and Dad were a little proud too!!!! I took a picture after the fact but he wasn't to thrilled about my photography session. He was more interested in getting off the potty and collecting his reward, a sucker. Of course he chose the "geen" one.

Go Bubby!!!
(thats our name for anderson)

For the Love!!!!!!!!

2009-06-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

So it is final, we are NOT new home owners. The sellers accepted our last offer from May. But then they came back and said that we HAD to close by June 30th or they wanted $1000 more. Turns out that its darn near impossible to close in 2 weeks so we made an offer to buy the house and close on July 10th but we wanted to take possession on the 25th and pay them rent for the days that we were in the house before closing. Well, all this time they are accepting other offers on the house (which shouldn't be allowed since the house was "under contract" and quite frankly makes me upset but what can I do about it? Nothing) and so the sellers were basically just playing us until they got a better deal from one party or the other. So they took the other offer b/c they weren't wanting to take possession before closing like we were. ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!! However, I am glad that I won't have to deal with the most irrational people in the world anymore. Seriously, this guy wanted to add $100 to the asking price of the home b/c of the amount of lightbulbs that he was leaving with the house. Need I say more about being irrational???

Looking on the bright side, Lee and I have a great basement to live in at his parents house. They live on a lake and have a pool. What else could I ask for in a summer home??? Live in grandparents, well got that too! This is also a huge answer to our prayers about this house. We have been praying for God to make this decision for us obvious and since we have done everything in our control to get this house and it isn't working out, I know that God has better plans for us. I was actually more relieved that it didn't go through so that tells me something too.

I guess it was a jinx to post about the house afterall so in the future, don't expect to see any posts about a house until we have closed on it! ;)

Well What Do You Know!

2009-06-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

So the people selling the house I blogged about last week decided to take our offer after all! Lee and I are really excited. We will close sometime before June 30th. Don't know for sure when until we talk to the bank tomorrow to figure out how fast they can get an appraiser out there. I don't know if I already said all of this but the inspection has already been done, needed repairs made, we are waiting on the results of the radon test (which will be in on Friday) and then the house is ready to go.

Let the moving madness begin!

Here is the house. I am not calling it OUR house yet. I don't want to jinx anything ;)

no rest for the weary

2009-06-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

went to get in bed
no sheets..cross fingers that they are in the dryer
check dryer... no luck
check washing machine
there they are... wet

growl,

put sheets in dryer... remembered to START the dryer (sometimes i don't)
what to do for 70 minutes while they dry???

facebook, catch up on friend's blogs, write birthday thank yous (yes i know that was a month and a half ago), do dishes, check email

that only took 30 minutes.

waiting.... waiting... waiting....

oh yea, i have a book to finish!
off to read Eclipse!!!

Tonight I will be thankful for warm sheets and a freshly made bed to crawl in to. Even if I had to do it myself. :)

When a Good Idea Goes Bad, Sweet Potatoes and Feeding Sister

2009-06-11T14:46:00.001-07:00

Remember Lee's genius idea of turning an old pack-n-play into a homemade ball pit. Well, sometimes good ideas take a turn for the worse. Anderson has now decided that the most fun thing he can do right now is throw all of the balls OUT of the ball pit leaving quite a mess to pick up. I am actually surprised it took him this long to figure out this fun game.

Adri had sweet potatoes for the first time. We took this event outside b/c we knew it was going to be a mess.

Anderson wants to put anything he can find in Adri's mouth (toys, pacis, bottles, blankets) so when I left a bottle on the kitchen table for a sec, he was quick to take the opportunity to "feed" DeeDee (thats what he calls her). She was just thrilled that he wanted to pay attention to her.

Please notice mismatched PJs and take one guess at who dressed Anderson for bed the night before. ;) Kate M.-this reminds me of one of your recents posts. :)

Not so much...

2009-06-08T20:24:00.001-07:00

So we countered the sellers counter offer and eventually turned down the seller's second counter offer. Bummed?? Not at all! We were interested in the house for a short term home only for a certain price (which is a very fair price for the house and area) but the sellers weren't willing to take it so we walked. I am somewhat happy b/c it was going to be a lot of work to get moved in so soon. Would I have gladly done it? Of course.

So the house hunting continues. And thats ok.

New House???

2009-06-07T07:07:00.000-07:00

I went to Topeka on Thursday b/c Lee was on call Friday night and I thought it would be a good time to get one last house hunt under our belts before we gave up on finding a house until we moved there in 3 weeks. Well... There was a house that was on the market a few months ago and I came in town just to see it and the day we were going to look at it, it went under contract (it actually got 4 offers on the same day!) so I was unable to see it. BUMMER!

So on Friday my dad calls and says that the contract on the house fell through b/c the buyers wanted to close on it later than the original date. This is perfect for us b/c literally the house is ready to go (inspections done, problems fixed) and owners are ready to move out ASAP. So we went to see it and we put in an offer this morning. I know this is a lot of story just to say we found a house, but I just thought it was cool that it came back on the market when I was actually in town. I think it was a sign!! Here is a pic of the house. Its an older home but its so cute and will meet our needs perfectly for the next 3 or 4 years.

Say a little prayer that things go well and it can be ours!

Fun times with Nick and Na-wee (Natalie)

2009-05-29T22:09:00.001-07:00

Our friends the Brueggemanns are moving this weekend and so we have been getting as much time with them as we can. We went to the Kansas Cosmoshpere a few weeks ago, took a zoo trip last week and this week we visited Old Cowtown (the original city of Wichita when it was founded in the 1800's). That same night we all went and saw the "Ring of Fire" that surrounds Wichita's famous Keeper of the Plains. It was fun to spend some quality time with our friends whom we will miss dearly.

At the Keeper of the Plains

Cowtown-driving the wagon

Cowtown- trying to get Rosie the cow's attention

Walking with Nick to the zoo

You've GOT to be kidding me

2009-05-29T21:58:00.001-07:00

So the other day I was driving and saw this sign...

My first thought was that I would need to blog about this. But then I realized that this was so absurd that you would have to see for yourself. Luckily I had my camera in the car so I turned around to take a picture and low and behold, this is what the other side of the sign looked like...

Please tell me these people aren't serious. I wanted to drive by the "sayul" just to see, but didn't have time for lollygagging. :(

Day at the Zoo

2009-05-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo today with my friend Hilah and her little boy, Nile. It was cold outside but the animals were really active so that was fun!

Anderson got to feed one of the giraffes at the feeding booth. He loved it even though you can't tell in the picture. :)

Bennett the giraffe.

Eeek! Don't bite me.

Petting a lamb at the petting zoo.

At the new tiger exhibit. Climbing with Nile.

Can I get an AMEN!

2009-05-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else feel like ALL they do all day long is clean their stupid kitchen. I swear I clean it up and 5 minutes later, I am cleaning it again. What is wrong with me???? I am so sick of cleaning the kitchen!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need a maid. and a cook, and a gardener, and a nanny, and a laundry folder. hmm, what else can I add to my list of "I wants" :)

My friend said she saw a sign that said- "If evolution really worked, then why don't moms have more arms?"

Hmm?? Good question.

Prayer Request

2009-05-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

Some of you knew that my sister and Kurt found out they were expecting a little one this December. They told me on Eater Sunday with a special egg stuffed with aunt and uncle gear. Lee and I were so excited to hear their news. We took them to Lee's clinic and got an ultrasound pic. Jen was only 6 weeks, so there wasn't much to see, but we got one nonetheless. Last week Jennifer began having some spotting and cramping and finally went to the ER Sunday night. There they did a sonogram where they could see the baby but could not find a heartbeat. We are all just heartbroken. To make matters worse, it seems like everyone around Jennifer (lots of friends and co workers) is having a baby right now or just getting pregnant. Its been really hard for me to accept. I just don't get it. Why? Why? Why? Its just not fair. Not only does she lose a baby, but babies are thrown in her face all the time. Jen is has a really good attitude about it. She is grieving, don't get me wrong, but she is working through it with a positive attitude. I know that she and Kurt are going to be amazing parents some day. And I try to remind myself that God is in control, but sometimes its just not that easy. So anyway, if you could please keep my sister and her husband in your prayers, I know they will appreciate it.

I look forward to the day I can announce Jen's pregnancy on my blog AND the arrival of my first neice or nephew. :)

Cereal Time!

2009-05-17T19:50:00.001-07:00

Adri (my little Fatty Cake!) tried rice cereal for the first time and LOVED IT!!!! It took her about 3 tries and then she took to it like a champ.

This is serious business

MMMM!

Give me more.

River Festival

2009-05-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

We went to the Wichita River Festival on Saturday. It was fun. Ate some yummy food, got some kettle corn, walked around, people watched. Good times!

Mom and Adri

Anderson spotted a firetruck and had to get closer

Hangin out

Fun Things Going On

2009-05-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I spent a few days in Topeka house hunting. No luck. It was very discouraging, but we had a good time visiting. Uncle Kurt took Anderson out to Gage Park. They rode the carousel, fed the ducks and as much as Anderson is in love with "choo choo trains," he was terrified when the real thing came along and so instead of riding the real one, they rode the "broken choo choo." Ever since then, anything that isn't moving is "broken."
Here are some pics from their day.

On Saturday, we celebrated Mother's Day with Grandma and Grandpa Leinwetter. We got our first boat ride of the year. It was a beautiful day.

Made for the Water

Helping Grandpa drive

Whitney's Wedding

2009-05-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

2 posts, right in a row! Can you tell I have house chores to do and I am procrastinating???

Anyway, we had a GREAT weekend in College Station, TX celebrating one of my bestest friend's weddings. It was beautiful and I loved getting to see all of my girlfriends in Texas.

Pics from the rehersal dinner

Pics from the wedding day-
Whitney was a gorgeous bride. She looked like a little Barbie doll. The next morning, Whit and Patrick (her new husband!) came to the hotel where we all stayed at and we were all sitting in the hall of the hotel looking through eachother's pictures on our cameras. Patrick was looking too and he said "man, my wife is hot!" I thought that was so cute.

Update on the Leinwetters

2009-05-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy few weeks since Anderson's birthday. SOOOO much going on. Here are few highlights from the last month.

Anderson's birthday party was so fun. It was western themed and I made all the kids stick ponies as party favors. They were a hit. Here is a video from the party and some pics of the kids.

Singing Happy Birthday

Stick Ponies

Some snapshots from the party

Easter-
We spent Easter here in Wichita. My parents, sister and Kurt came in to town and went to church with us. We came home and had a fun time visiting, hunting eggs and eating a yummy lunch.

Anderson hunting for eggs.
can't get video to load, check back

Some pics from Easter
\
Anderson with his loot.

Adri and AJ

Anderson and mom

First time to eat some Peeps. He loved them.

Little Miss Muffet...

"Mimi, help me get those jelly beans out of this silly egg."

The weekend after Easter, our families came in to town and helped us get some work done on the house so we could get it ready to sell. We painted the entire exterior of the house, tore out the fence, did some landscaping and well, it worked! The Monday after everyone left, someone came to see the house (wasn't even on the market yet but we thought we would give a stab at selling by owner) and they called 10 minutes after they left and said they wanted to buy it!! We wrote up a contract the next weekend and "voila!" House sold! What a blessing and huge answer to our
prayers. Here is a before and after. We ended up painting the same color to save some time but we FINALLY painted the garage door to match the house (something i have wanted to do since we moved in 3 years ago) and painted the shutters black instead of blue. It really looks a lot better even though we only made small changes.

Before

After

Thanks to my mom and dad, lee's mom and dad, my sister, brothers-in-law, gma and gpa bryan for coming to help!

Adri turned 4 months on April 10. At her 4 month check up she was 26 inches (90%) and 13 lbs. 15 oz. (50%) I will say she doesn't look she is in the 50%ile in weight. Her 3 chins and fat rolls on her legs make her seem a lot bigger. Bottom line though she is a happy healthy baby and I couldn't ask for anything more.

Sitting up like a big girl!

If you have a baby girl and do not own a pair of Baby Legs, you must go get some now. They are soooo cute. Adri gets lots of compliments when she wears hers.

DR. DAD IS BOARD CERTIFIED!!!!
Lee took boards a few months ago and we just got the results back that he passed which means he is a Nationally Board Certified Physician. We are so proud of his hard work. He is a great doctor. I love going in to his office when I take the kids for their appointments and seeing him do his thing.

Lee and I left the kids with my mom and took off to Texas for my friend Whitney's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding. I will post pics of that next time I get a chance. Right now my children are needing some attention. GTG!

I will leave you with this picture of my little Red Raider gettin his guns up! I'm so proud!

Happy Birthday Anderson!

2009-04-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

So far we have had a great bday! Last night I blew up about 30 balloons to have all over when he woke up and made a banner for him to run through (like the one I made last year). He LOVED all of it. Here are some videos of our morning fun.

mom serenading him first thing this morning.

running through his banner

playing with balloons

Birthday Playdates

2009-04-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

We had some kids over to play today. It was fun but a little crazy with 8 kids running around. I made some snacks and these cute little ice cream cone cupcakes decorated as what else but basketballs. These are my favorite way to eat a cupcake. My mom used to make these same treats for me to take to school when I was a kid so they brought back some fun memories.

Almost 2

2009-04-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Guess who turns 2 one week from today???

Rolly Polly

2009-04-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

So at my bible study, there is a mom who has a baby girl born on the same day as Adri. She brings her to the group instead of leaving her in the nursery. So anyway, yesterday the baby was on the floor and rolling over all over the place. I thought, gee, I need to get Adri more tummy time, she is no where close to rolling over. I have been so bad about that with her. When Anderson was a baby, I was so good about giving him lots of tummy time. But with Adri, I just don't think about it. Well yesterday, I laid Adri down under her playmat and came back to see this. I'll be darned the girl rolled over on to her tummy.

SNOW!! Yes, at the end of March!

2009-03-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

Anderson's first snow came this weekend. We bundled him up and went outside with him to play in the snow and can you guess what he wanted to do? Yep, play basketball. Seriously, all this snow and the kid wants to shoot hoops. We eventually coaxed him into a sled ride and snowball fight and even got a snowman built.

this was the lake behind our house. it was so beautiful with the ice and since it was still warm out, the lake was not melted. i am not usually a scenery person, but even i was blown away by how pretty it was.

Adri loves sitting in her bumbo seat so she can get in on all of Anderson's action and the things going on during the day (the ceiling and floor get old i am sure). Yesterday, bless her little heart, she fell asleep sitting in it.

week in reveiw

2009-03-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

WOW! I just got back from being in Topeka with family for a week. It was a great stay. I always love going to Topeka. Its just nice to be by our families. I hope so much that we can move there this summer. :) Here are a few pics from the highlights of the week. Gma's funeral was Saturday. It was very nice. Then we celebrated March and April bdays and Larry's retirement with the Leinwetterson Sunday. The week ended with a girls shopping trip to KC and a last minute visit with some dear old friends. I was ready to be back home and be with Lee, but I would be lying if I said I wanted to go home. I love being in Topeka. Just wish my hubby could be there too!

Bath time. Quack! Quack!

The anderson girls and grand-girl, went for a shopping trip in KC last week. It was fun to hang out just us girls. On our way home, our dear friends and old next door neighbors from St. Louis called and were in Lawrence, KS (just 30 minutes away and right on our way home!) so we met up for ice cream and a quick visit. It was so good to see them. This is my sis, out friend Jodi and me.

Grandma E and baby Tessa at our birthday party last Sunday.

blowing out the candles. Anderson blew and blew but just couldn't get one blown out.

Uh Oh! Another basketball lover.

After grandma's funeral. It was an emotional service, but a beautiful tribute to her life.

Anderson in his suit. He was such a little ham!

cute kid pics

2009-03-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

how a princess sleeps...

Adrianna is in to grabbing anything and everything she can get her hands on and sucking on it. Last night she was talking and laughing (more like squealing) with her toys on the baby gym.

must eat elephant!

These are my balls!

playin in my ball pit (its been 1 month and he STILL loves this thing!) We've also taken a liking to putting anything and everything possible on our head. Buddy is his favorite so far. Other front runners would be dad's shoes, macy (hasn't worked out so well), adri's bumbo seat, and cups.

saying "cheese" (and eating cheese) at mimi and poppy's